Summary: “Trillions have been redistributed from the American workforce to the health care industry, creating an economic depression for the middle class,” Dave Chase writes over on Forbes, introducing a lengthy interview with multiple quotes from my acquaintances Bill Rusteberg and Mike Dendy, who featured in this post I wrote three years ago. “The Washington Post and Vox have done excellent reporting that shows U.S. spends so much more than other countries for one simple reason — price. The good news is that some have found the solution to severe pricing failure, however so few have that the Middle Class is in a 20-year long economic depression that is at least 95% due to healthcare…. it is clear that the explanation for the strangest presidential election has been badly misreported. At most, immigration and globalization account for 5% of wage stagnation (on the latter, a big reason for jobs moving overseas are healthcare costs). In other words, a minuscule portion of the wage stagnation is due to foreign countries. We’ve gone to war for much less than what healthcare has done to America. In order to end the assault, one must look at the underlying drivers — not the symptoms…. There are a number of tricks the industry plays on healthcare purchasers but none is more pervasive, yet easy to fix, than PPO Networks. This has caused Americans to spend 30-50% (over $1 trillion per year) more than necessary resulting in nest eggs getting crushed and putting millennials on the path to be indentured servants to the healthcare industry.” Dave Chase, “Have PPO Networks Perpetrated The Greatest Heist In American History?” Forbes.com.
Jeanne Pinder is the founder and CEO of ClearHealthCosts. She worked at The New York Times for almost 25 years as a reporter, editor and human resources executive, then volunteered for a buyout and founded ClearHealthCosts.
With Pinder at the helm, ClearHealthCosts shared honors for the top network public service journalism project in a partnership with CBS News, as well as winning numerous other journalism prizes.
She was previously a fellow at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at the Columbia University School of Journalism. ClearHealthCosts has won grants from the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York; the International Women’s Media Foundation; the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation with KQED public radio in San Francisco and KPCC in Los Angeles; the Lenfest Foundation in Philadelphia for a partnership with The Philadelphia Inquirer; and the New York State Health Foundation for a partnership with WNYC public radio/Gothamist in New York; and other honors.
She is one of Crain’s Notable Women in Tech. Niemanlab wrote of ClearHealthCosts that “The Internet hates secrets.”
Her TED talk about fixing health costs has surpassed 2 million views.