Business leaders tackle healthcare matters

Healthcare costs, insurance premiums and the forces behind rising prices were among topics of discussion at the San Marcos Area Chamber of Commerce’s inaugural State of Health luncheon Friday at the San Marcos Convention Center.

Jason Mock, president and CEO of the chamber, and Mayor John Thomaides made introductory remarks. Anthony Stahl, CEO of Central Texas Medical Center, was the keynote speaker and moderator of a panel discussion.

Stahl used a quote from Walter Cronkite — “America’s healthcare system is neither healthy, caring nor a system” — to illustrate the problems that people see with the industry. Stahl said the system is bloated, highly regulated and expensive, and that deductibles are rising faster than premiums, wages and inflation. He also addressed the lack of access to mental health treatment; his presentation showed that 18 percent of adults in the U.S. have a mental health condition, and more than half of those received no treatment in 2017.

And patients are not the only people encountering obstacles within the system; healthcare providers are fighting for more leverage with insurance companies, cybersecurity risks are a concern, and the opioid epidemic is creating an influx of emergency room visits and deaths due to overdose.

Meanwhile, heart disease is on the rise in America — Stahl cited figures showing that 16.5 million Americans over the age of 20 are living with coronary heart disease — and diabetes and obesity have become more prevalent in every state in the country since the mid-1990s.

“We are becoming a sick nation,” Stahl said, and that is the main cause for the increase in healthcare costs.

In the 1980s, our country spent less than $1 trillion on healthcare; as a country, we are expected to spend $3.7 trillion on healthcare this year.

“That is unsustainable. It is unsustainable for our economy, it is unsustainable for our businesses. Something is going to have to change.”

Stahl then led a panel discussion with Jeff Lundgren, the chief healthcare and immigration lobbyist executive director for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Jeff Moseley, CEO of the Texas Association of Business; and Earl Maxwell, CEO of the St. David’s Foundation. The panel touched on the challenges that healthcare costs pose for small businesses, the opioid crisis and its effects on the workforce, tort reform, telemedicine and company wellness programs.

The panel also discussed the effects of the Affordable Healthcare Act and what to expect with parts of the act repealed. Lundgren said that many in the business community consider some politicians’ push for “Medicare for all” to be a threat. Moseley said that the public is likely to “slam their hand down and demand some kind of expanded Medicare.”

Maxwell voiced his hopes for changes in the healthcare industry and its costs, saying that he is nearly certain that in the next five or 10 years, medicine will “go through a massive change” driven by consumer demands and by young healthcare providers using technology and data.

“The consumer is poised for a big revolution,” he said.