Why the Healthcare Machine Is Broken

Douglas Perednia

 

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

—Leonardo da Vinci

One of the guiding principles for building efficient and stable systems is moving toward simplicity at every opportunity. No engineer would ever build a machine that has more parts than required—especially moving parts that create wear and tear on other parts of the machine simply by virtue of their existence. Given this, why does our healthcare system have so many parts? Which parts are the most troublesome, and how can they be removed—or if they can’t be removed, how might we mitigate any adverse impact that they might create?

Why So Many Parts?

No one actually planned the U.S. healthcare system. Rather than being laid out ...