![]() To do that, we need to focus on the ecosystem of people who provide care," he says. To do that, we need to focus on innovation. Then he embarked on a mission to solve those problems, to advance healthcare equality and affordability. Upon returning to the private sector in 2017, Slavitt led town halls, where he spoke with people about the problems they experience in the healthcare system. "When I left the Obama administration, I was 50 years old, and I decided that instead of looking through the lens of 'What do I want to do every day?' or 'How much money do I want to make?' or even 'What kind of issues do I enjoy being involved with?' I decided to ask the question, 'What could I help change? What problems could I help solve?' " he says. "I think what motivates me today is I ask myself the question, 'What could be different in this country 10 years from now, and what can we be working on today to get there?' " Slavitt says. That company, Health Allies, was acquired in 2003 by UnitedHealth Group, where Slavitt worked in a variety of leadership roles, including group executive vice president for Optum, until he took a job with the federal government to fix amid a sputtering rollout. The following year, Slavitt founded a company focused on trying to help people who were underinsured or lacked health insurance altogether. His widow and their kids moved in with Slavitt and his wife shortly after they married. ![]() strategy consultant, says he got his start in healthcare when his former college roommate died of a brain tumor in 1998. Slavitt, who has worked as a Goldman Sachs investment banker and a McKinsey & Co. "I would say there are probably some Republicans who believe that people should be able to not be discriminated against for having a preexisting condition, but I have never seen it in any Republican policy yet-and I don't say that with any joy," he adds. "And I think the Republicans have a very difficult case to make, given their position on the lawsuit to repeal the ACA, given all of the repeal votes they've taken without any valid replacement, without having a plan." But I think the American public is probably smarter now than it ever was before about looking at votes, not quotes," he says. "I think they recognize that they have to say they're not in favor of taking preexisting condition protections away. But the preexisting condition protections in the legislative proposals brought forward thus far by the GOP have generally been less generous than the ACA's protections, and the Trump administration has argued before a federal appeals court that the entire ACA is invalid.ĭoes that mean Republicans are disingenuous when they claim to support preexisting condition protections despite opposing the ACA? The rhetoric was especially prevalent on the campaign trail ahead of the 2018 midterm, as voters cited healthcare as their top concern. Republican politicians, including the president, have voiced support for protecting people with preexisting conditions. "It's between a party that is focused on indeed allowing everyone to have access to affordable healthcare and a party that wants to end preexisting condition protections and repeal the ACA, and I think that is a major contrast that is going to be at the heart of the 2020 election." "I think it's important to remember that the choice the country has to make today is not a choice between Medicare-for-All and some other form of universal coverage," he says. The starkest contrast between those two options centers on preexisting conditions, he says. Slavitt says the Democratic candidates campaigning for the White House in 2020 need to differentiate themselves from the Trump administration's approach to healthcare policy. "But I'm going to say that I don't believe the administration is doing nearly enough to grasp the challenge that most Americans face when affording their healthcare." "All steps are helpful because there's no one silver bullet," he says.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |