The Inconvenient Truth behind the Business of Healthcare”

The inconvient truth is that healthcare is not our biggest problem facing this country, its unemployment and the ability to grant people the opportunity to purchase their own healthcare.

By Brandon Brice

Policymakers, voters and our nation’s top experts have all argued that healthcare is the top issue in America second to only solving our countries unemployment crisis. Unfortunately, policymakers in Washington have once again missed the mark by not taking into full consideration that by granting healthcare to all, you forfeit the best in quality for all.

Healthcare experts suggest that the federal government should regulate cost by allowing the quality of healthcare services to equate to that of cost. What healthcare experts have failed to realize is this puts America in an economic bind. By suggesting that the government controls medical costs, won’t we see the basic principles of supply and demand fly out the door?The American worker deserves more than just rhetoric and arguing from Washington, they deserve feasible solutions.

Someone should ask the question, “Why is America’s healthcare system forcing hospitals and clinics to supply more services towards the cost of Medicaid, which results in forcing a price markups for any lost revenue experienced? We have adapted into a system that has transformed into a business; rather than putting the emphasis on the patient, or the healthcare recipient in need. In December of 2005, I met with a New York City physician about this topic and he stated, “It was more beneficial for doctors and primary care physicians to bill additional new clients, as opposed to focusing on the care and progress of current clients because of cost factors.

In 2008, we have millions of hardworking Americans who do not have access to healthcare. The business of healthcare has left people either without adequate healthcare or without the access to qualify for health insurance. Many Americans do not understand that health insurance and healthcare are two different services. Health insurance is nothing more than a method for purchasing healthcare. Healthcare experts and policymakers have proposed a med-care convenient credit card in order to be pay for America’s healthcare expenses, which I believe is a disaster waiting to happen and gives the federal government more power over the lives of Americans. We can observe the current failure of insurance plans that collect premiums to pay for benefits, for example monthly routine doctor visits and inexpensive prescription drugs.

Unfortunately, the inconvient truth of healthcare is that Americans don’t understand the system in and out, which allows corruption on many levels; the insurance companies, the hospitals and healthcare providers. The biggest challenge we face as a nation is how this nation finds a solution to get low income Americans the ability to have access to affordable healthcare. The inconvient truth is that healthcare is not our biggest problem facing this country, its unemployment and the ability to grant people the opportunity to purchase their own healthcare.

The United States has the best healthcare system in the world and that must not be ignored. As all things, there is an opportunity cost to having the best care services globally. As we analyze solutions to granting affordable access to all. We must look at methods of preventative measures first, keeping people out of hospitals repeatedly. We need more cost effective measures that target the patient or the recipient, not the insurance company.


Brandon Brice is a graduate of Howard University and is a former graduate of the New Jersey Eagleton Institute of Politics fellow at Rutgers University. As a long time member of Republicans for Black Empowerment. Brandon Brice has worked as a policy intern for the former House Speaker Honorable J. Dennis Hastert and has served as a fellow at the United Nations. He has been featured on C-SPAN’s Road to the White House; BET’s What’s At Stake and Hot97 with Lisa Evers. Brandon is a proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc, and attends the Greater Abyssinia Baptist Church in Harlem