Unconventional Thinkers: Len Nichols
Aug 10th, 2009 | By Dawn Rivers | Category: SpecialsI know I keep saying this but it is a great pleasure to me to have a conversation with somebody who thinks for a living.
So many people don’t — think, that is — that it is pure joy to encounter somebody who not only does but does it well enough that they get paid for it.
In all the time I’ve spent listening to pundits and experts pontificate about health care reform, I keep hearing about the need to cover everybody and I keep hearing about the problem of how to pay for it.
Dr. Nichols was the first person I’d encountered who addressed the issue of how the insurance companies make money in a new universe that includes a universal health care system.
And that was the piece that has always bothered me about it, partly because the insurance companies are going to need to figure out where their profits will be in order for them to buy into whatever reform is put into place, and partly because (as you know if you’ve been reading my blogs for awhile) there are cost problems inherent in using insurance to pay for something you want to purchase regularly, like well-patient care.
Besides, talking about health care reform in terms of new and innovative business models can’t but appeal to a microbusiness owner, right?
For more information:
New America Foundation Health Policy Program
