Transcripts For CSPAN Axios Discussion On Health Care 202407

CSPAN Axios Discussion On Health Care July 11, 2024

Coronavirus cases in the united states. Hello and welcome to axios virtual event, health care 21. I am sam baker coming from my home in washington, d. C. I would like to thank United Health group for making these conversations possible. I would like to welcome our audiences. You can follow along on twitter using the axios events. Over the next 30 minutes we will unpack the best way to unpack Health Insurance access and Health Insurance coverage in the united states, and what that path forward looks like both following the president ial election and in the midst of a pandemic that is getting worse every day. Our first guest today is senator thune smith of minnesota. Smithr, senator tina of minnesota. Thank you for joining us. Sen. Smith thank you, sam. It is terrific to be with everyone today. Sam i would like to start off to frame this conversation obviously, Health Care Access and Health Insurance coverage has been a very hot topic for a long time, but i think the pandemic has set of highlighted and illustrated some of the gaps we are dealing with in the system. We have seen millions of people lose their Health Insurance because they lost their jobs in the economic downturn, that obviously affects not just those people, but also their family members that use their Health Insurance. So i am just curious, how has that shaped or changed the way you view this problem, specifically of health care coverage. Do you see that differently now . Smith you raise a great point. Here we are in the midst of a Global Pandemic. And it is the pandemic that is surging in my home state of minnesota in the upper midwest. We had yesterday 56 deaths from covid19, the highest count seeave ever had, and as we infections go up and husband go up and receive deaths going up everywhere. This reveals some of the systemic inequities we have in our Health Care System, some of the weaknesses in our Health Care System, that we have to address. This is a long story for minnesota and people all over the country, the struggle to figure out how to get health care you can afford no matter who you are or where you live. Covid we know is not the great equalizer. It is revealing these fundamental inequities. Especially as we see in my state and all over the country, the disparities that are revealed by frontline workers, black and brown and indigenous people, older people, rural people, who struggle to get access to health care. So this should be a moment for us to address this. First, weve got to be focused on getting the pandemic in the control, and i have a lot of ideas on how to do that, but then look at how we are building toward a Better Future for health care and for americans. Sam one somewhat Positive Side effect of this terrible expense experience has been an increase in telemedicine. Which i know is something that has been very important to you. , whether ino happen congress or just the new administration to make that stick . This is a really important point, which is in the midst of crisis, we often make big leaps forward in innovation. We need to make sure that does not go away as we work away through this crisis. And that is where much of the case in telehealth. With the inability of people, people not reading it would to see their doctor, we have seen this massive expansion in telehealth not only for physical health, but also for things like Mental Health, where we have a dramatic shortage of providers and shortage of access to mental care all over the country. One thing i am excited about, how we can make sure these innovations in telehealth, and expanding it doesnt go away when the pandemic is over. Providers anding patients have really appreciated and have described to me as a lifeline. I could care a lot about the axis i care a lot about the access to Mental Health and in the midst of this pandemic, we know the need for Mental Health has exploded, whether you are a Frontline Health care worker, or whether you are a Senior Living with a lot of social isolation. The upsurge in depression, anxiety, and also Suicidal Ideation are going up dramatically. These are things that telehealth can also help, not as a complete substitution for in person care, but as a way of making care more accessible. Sam i want to come back to your point on Mental Health. But really quickly on telehealth, do you think the challenge here is reimbursement . We have seen medicare and medicaid bump things up to try to make change happen. Is it patient attitudes, sort of, internalizing this is the way to see my doctor . Is it something that needs to happen among providers, what . Is. Smith a crucial piece reimbursement. Cms provided waivers for reimbursement for video telehealth and even just phone telehealth to make sure access to care stood. And we need to make sure those higher reimbursement rates are part with a personal visit do not go away. That will make a huge difference for providers who need to be able to have a reimbursement that is sustainable. It is also, i think, partly a shift in attitude toward patients. And this is going to vary a lot depend on who patients are. Here is just one example of this, a story that i heard about a person in rural minnesota who needed Mental Health care. He was very unwilling to drive to the Doctors Office because it felt so exposed, and there still is so much stigma are on Mental Health. However, that ability to get care in the privacy of their own home made it more acceptable, because they were protected from that feeling of being exposed that is a barrier to people getting Mental Health care. So i think it can work both for patients as well as for providers, as long as we have reimbursements that actually work. Sam to pick up on your point about Mental Health, we have seen these reports that you alluded to that Mental Health and Behavioral Health issues have really increased during the pandemic, weather that his depression, substance use, anxiety the whole list you just articulated. Clearly the strong implication is that a lot of that has come from the lockdown measures and that isal isolation necessary to spare people from a deadly virus. I am wondering, is there a way that . Are what else is necessary to ensure people can stay healthy in both ways . Sen. Smith yes. Well, we have to be aware of all of the risks and costs of the pandemic. Even the costs that are not, i guess you could describe them is mentalndary, and a think health is definitely in that category. Being somebody who is always looking on the bright side, i believe that what we are also seeing is a greater recognition and a greater willingness to talk about Mental Health as something that is part of our whole health and not something that is separate and apart. We need to take this as a moment to continue to push through the discrimination and stigma that still exists around Mental Health. It gets to something i think is very important about steps we need to take to suppress the virus. Because we have clearly moved past the point where the only tool that we have in our toolbox is to ask everybody to stay home and not to go out. Thing particularly of the impact on people that are frontline workers and health care workers, and this gets to why it is so important that we have a Robust National testing and Contact Tracing and humane isolation strategy. So that people can be more likely to go about their business in ways that are safe. And this has got to be testing. It isnt just diagnostic testing, but also surveillance testing, which will be a path of getting our economy functioning while we are waiting for a vaccine to be broadly available. I have a bipartisan bill to accomplish this with sen. Cassidy louisiana, that is built around the idea of establishing state purchasing compacts to dramatically ramp up access to rapid testing, not only for diagnostics, but for surveillance. Sam speaking of bipartisanship, one final question here and i control of the, senate obviously is still up for grabs, we are going to be a deeply divided washington the matter what, Health Care Traditionally is not really a wellspring of bipartisan good feelings, what is realistic for people to expect here in the next year . Sen. Smith i come from the school of thought which says legislation,an bipartisan laws are always the most sustainable laws. We need to find ways of coming together around these issues. And lets remember that earlier this year, we successfully came together with a really significant responses to this Global Pandemic with the c. A. R. E. S. Act and other broadly Bipartisan Legislation that we passed. Us,onus will be on all of republicans and democrats, and with president biden, to address the needs that americans have and put aside our partisanship. The conversations ive had with minnesotans, they dont see health care as a political issue, they see it as an economic issue, they see it as a hugely personal issue about the safety and health and wellbeing of their families, their kids, and their parents. And i think that has to guide us when we look for Bipartisan Solutions like bill cassidy and i have around testing and Contact Tracing. And supporting rural health, which is another place where republicans and democrats can come together. Sam all right. That seems like a good place to leave it, senator. Thank you for taking the time in joining us today. Really appreciate it. Sen. Smith thank you, really appreciate it. Sam up next, we have a view from the top with axios cofounder and ceo, jim, and the ceo of United Health group. Thank you very much. It is now my pleasure to bring you a conversation with heather, the ceo of Optum Health Part of United Health group. Heather, thank you for joining us. Heather great to be here, thank you, jim. Jim can you give people watching of an idea of what what health group is, and United Health group is . Heather sure. United health group serves people across the country and across the globe, really working to make sure people have healthier lives and to make the Health System work better for everybody. We are in many aspects of health care. Our Health Insurance side and the benefit side of the business , that is United Health care which many people know about, healthen there are optum services, which encompass our data and technology segments, rx and pharmacy specialties businesses, together with our Optum Health Services Delivery Services through our optim care practices for Delivery Services and enabling providers and health businesses, which are military and veterans support Solutions Health goal programs and other , complex Care Management programs. Andrea for those three United Health care and we offer those three United Health care and other clients and customers. And we have a global part of our business that serves the countries around the globe. It is a large enterprise with a large focus and education to health care. So you have some of the best data, one of the best sort of lenses into what is happening in the Health Care System. Tell us about the effects of the Health Care System amid the pandemic, sort of the defining topic of our generation. What has it done to the Health Care System . Heather it is a great question. I appreciate that you asked about the health group and United Health groups purpose and function. A little bit of background, know that one of the things United Health group has focused on and has been amplified by the pandemic, is really an approach to a nextgeneration health and, you know, that means a couple of things. It means universal coverage. It means affordability for everyone. It means improved health care outcomes, and it means a better experience for consumers and practitioners, and we have been advocating for them for over 20 years, but also making sure we are part of the solution, working very hard, to advance those components of a nextgeneration Health System, and i guess what i would say is, what we learned from the pandemic, was that the things that already did not work in the system, you know, were even more broken, but then we learned that as we come together with private and public partnerships, we can advance very quickly, so about maybe a couple of examples. You know, we noticed that you know, we saw surprised billing. Surprised billing was an issue before the pandemic. It became an additional anxiety for consumers when, during the pandemic, people may have experienced a surprise bill. We know there is a solution to that, Publicprivate Partnership working together crating a creating a median that if your great will resolve a lot of surprise billing for people and anxiety and will reduce cost to consumers and employers by 40 billion. Those are the kinds of things that continue to be exacerbated by the pandemic. On the other side, things like telehealth. We needed telehealth before the pandemic. In the pandemic, we saw a greater need for telehealth. How did it show up . It showed up in the way we were able through federal regulatory and move that faster. Really last example, maybe i would give, is workforce. We could see a Workforce Shortage so advancing a 21st century workforce that is more virtual, that addresses population health, and that cant really go that extra, im that extra step, to address the Health Inequities weeks grades with covid as well. Once the coronavirus is gone and things are back to normal, how much of my medical care, especially routine physicals, etc. , should be done by telemedicine, saving people octor . To the d is it a tiny percentage . Half . How much . It is a great question and another thing i might point out where learning to this pandemic is that we are learning. We are learning what can be done virtually and then what is really still required to be done in person. And as we continue to adapt to better solutions, you know, we foundering the pandemic, letssy as a result of the pandemic, about half of the complaints have been virtual. Obviously, that was a result of shutdowns across the country, but in many cases what he found is we are able to give, to provide even more access to people that either as a result of stigma, barriers, or just lack of access to appropriate Behavioral Health and specialized behavioral services, really couldnt access it. So, i guess i would say, we are going to continue to learn how much can be virtual versus inpatient, as technology and data continue to evolve, as we continue to partner across the spectrum of public and private partnerships. We will be able to do even more. The biggest opportunity we noticed through this pandemic is the opportunity for people to continue to get their preventive services. Health screenings are so important. The ability to do that, and in many cases, some of that will have to continue to be in person but we are committed to being part of the solution to make that easier to access and bring it closer to home for people. The final question and maybe most important for people who do not have Health Insurance. How do you i have Health Insurance so if i get sick and need to get tested, im fine, but for people who do not have covered yet, how do you think about that . What is the easiest way to get to where we do have one had a percent of the populace and covered in a way 100 of the population covered in a way that does not slow down innovation in the Health Care System . It is a great question on top of mind for everybody as we look for opportunities to expand coverage. One thing that is important to start with, is that although the goal is 100 , lets not forget 90 have coverage today. And the 90 have stable coverage. Options based on success. It is really the result of proven Publicprivate Partnerships. Again, for example, the medicaid program, the medicare and Medicare Advantage program and employersponsored programs. So working from what we already know works. Start with medicaid. Medicaid is already covering over 70 million individuals. United health care is one of the largest participants in that program across the country. Think about expanding that in the 12 states that can continue to expand medicaid, and ensuring those individuals who are eligible are presumptively enrolled in it, always had a choice topped out, but if they are eligible, they can join medicaid. That wou

© 2025 Vimarsana