Just a few months shy of the 10-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, as it has been widely known, the future of America’s general health never has looked more bleak.
One reason is that millennials, members of a generation defined as those born between 1981 and 1996, are sicker than the generation before them, both physically and mentally.
This phenomenon came to light as the result of a Deseret News report by Lois Collins. It was based on a new study by Moody Analytics for Blue Cross Blue Shield titled, “The Economic Consequences of Millennial Health,” and on interviews with health care professionals.
Over time, illnesses that millennials don’t attend to at an early age will significantly increase the overall cost of health care, even as they cost members of that generation as much as $4,500 per person each year in reduced income.
Obamacare’s main weakness was that it sought to increase the number of insured Americans without any attempt at reducing the overall cost of medical care. In the United States, insurance generally is tied to employment, and it separates patients from the true cost of the care they receive. People generally concern themselves with premiums, deductibles and co-payments, not with the actual costs of procedures.
Without the competitive market pressures caused by direct consumer involvement, the system lacks the downward pressure on costs that could increase access while spurring greater innovations.
The Trump administration has tried to force hospitals to reveal the prices they have negotiated privately with insurers. That has led to a lawsuit against the administration by a coalition of hospitals.
It is, however, exactly the type of thing that could begin to get health care costs under control.
Meanwhile, millennials are facing a future of expensive care and diminished life expectancy, if nothing is done. The national lifespan already has begun to decline after decades of uninterrupted growth.
Experts are trying to understand why millennials — the oldest of which now are in their 30s — are experiencing so many health problems. Some blame new technologies that dehumanize and isolate people. Terrorism poses new threats to everyday life, which can increase anxiety and lead to mental health challenges. Others point to screen time from tech gadgets that lead to sedentary habits and a host of physical problems.
Each of these is likely to blame in some way. Clearly, mental health challenges are becoming more common. The only good to come from this is that it ought to spur insurance companies and the culture in general to treat mental health problems on a par with physical problems.
Unfortunately, however, Congress seems mired in partisan mud when it comes to health care — a perfect illustration of the need for bipartisan, compromise-based solutions. Obamacare passed in 2010 with no Republican support, and that has turned health care into a study in irreconcilable differences ever since.
Given the deteriorating state of the rising generation, health care may be the most important domestic issue with which Washington could concern itself. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget reports the United States spent about $3.5 trillion on health care in 2017, which represents 18% of the nation’s economic outlook and is a figure higher than any other country on earth. The federal government accounted for $1.5 trillion of that.
The health of millennials is only the latest reason for Americans to consider what they are getting for all that money, and how they might be able to do better.