According to the Commonwealth Fund, it is estimated that we spend at least 30% of our healthcare budget on administrative expenses, and in total, they estimate that we pay up to 60% in excess spending on healthcare when compared to other western countries. That is insane and does anyone feel we are getting what we pay for?

See the chart below.

Components of Excess U.S. Health Spending and Estimated Shares

Component	Share of excess spending
U.S. pays more in administrative costs of insurance	~15%
U.S. providers spend more on administrative activities	~15%
U.S. pays more for prescription drugs	~10%
U.S. physicians earn more	~10%
U.S. registered nurses earn more	~5%
U.S. invests more in medical machinery and equipment	<5%
Sum of components estimated	~60%

There are other cost drivers, including the general health of Americans. While we see yearly increases in costs, those costs are not showing up in the salaries and reimbursements of most healthcare providers who are being paid less in many cases, so where is the money going?

As someone who is covered by Medicare, my costs have dramatically dropped compared to private insurance. Imagine how someone feels when they feel the full amount of their current premium since the subsidies are currently not being extended due to a preventable government shutdown. While I agree with the ethos behind the shutdown, without any changes, our costs will continue to skyrocket and this is a great time for our legislators to discuss real solutions. That solution is something every 65 year old has access to.

The current problem is obvious to all of us.

For most of us, we wait for doctor visits; we have seen massive consolidation under Obamacare, and ironically, many Americans have signed up for inferior Medicare Advantage plans because of bait-and-switch tactics which again a ramping up both in the mail and on television. Imagine, finally being able to switch into much better coverage because you earned into it, and then you chose an inferior plan that is full of administrative headaches when traditional Medicare which isn’t perfect has a straightforward cost controlled method of reimbursement.

Healthcare costs and the administrative burdens behind Medicare Advantage plans are absurd and there is no advantage or true cost savings. If you are ill and cannot fight, you can be bankrupted by healthcare costs under our current system. So many are underinsured, and the copayments and deductibles are part of the problem that was hatched by Cigna Healthcare years ago. Their consumerism idea has cost us so much, increased consumer health costs and acted as a deterrent to getting the care you needed when you needed it. By the way, Cigna executives also hatched the Harry and Louise commercials that killed the Clinton Universal Healthcare idea in the early 90’s which would have prevented most of what we experience today.

Worse, during the recent shutdown, we are now held hostage to bad legislation that makes healthcare worse and reduces Obamacare subsidies, which improves affordability for some of us because the government has supported our crazy prices. Just wait until people stop dropping coverage as of January.

There is a better way for the richest country in the world. Expand Medicare now. We must be honest; the experiment with private insurance has failed, fully include chiropractic in Medicare immediately, and remove the burden on the populace. Like social security, it is a safety net that is long overdue. Healthcare should be affordable and available to all of us.

Forget the politics; healthcare is a tax, no matter how you think about it. Medicare is a public-private partnership and a proven social system that is scalable. Forget the complexity and the profits of middlemen. Do it for our citizens. We can no longer afford this.

If we really believe in a MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) movement, we need to keep the population healthier by growing better food, making it affordable since food is medicine. Farmers who are now suffering with no buyers for soybeans after our China dealings should grow what we should eat and be encouraged to grow organic produce like they do in Europe. Hydroponic farms can grow certain crops year round with little interference from pests.

Healthier people consume fewer drugs, are not usually obese and require fewer doctor visits. Health does not come from a pill. In time, we will find many who have been on Ozempic improved some health problems but unless we eat better, they are likely to have muscle wasting and other problems we do not have yet although these side effects along with early bone loss are likely coming. You can be thin and less healthy.

From my perspective, chiropractic helps you move and function better. Chiropractic is always affordable, safe and proven effective.

Health span or life span. Health span is the amount of healthy years, while lifespan is how long you can exist. One of the first things we should do is Make Healthcare affordable again in the USA. This way a job loss does not mean you are uninsured and your problem that will be easy to solve does not become a chronic problem with lasting damage to your systems or joints. We can do better America.