Rowe Talks Healthcare Economy

Dr. John Rowe, the chairman of the UConn Board of Trustees and former CEO of the health insurance provider Aetna, Inc. came to UConn Tuesday night to give a presentation entitled "The Economics of Healthcare."

Rowe was presented by the Global Leadership Commission, a group of UConn Honors students that "seeks to provide a forum for bringing well-known, respected, and dynamic individuals from Connecticut and around the world to the UConn community at Storrs."

"Dr. Rowe is a very influential leader in Connecticut and at the University, we think it's important for students to have this interaction with him," said Sarah Sokoloski, a 6th-semester communication disorders and Spanish major who is part of the Global Leadership Commission.

Rowe was a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, the president of the Mount Sinai Hospital and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and chairman and CEO of Mount Sinai NYU Health.

Rowe's speech began by dispelling some myths about the healthcare industry. Using a system entitled the "Health Care Misery Index," Rowe demonstrated that though America's current healthcare problems are often said to be at an all time high, they are actually much better than they were forty years ago because of the advent of Medicare and Medicaid.

He did, however, highlight many of the problems with the current United States health system.

"Other countries spend less with better results," Rowe, said referring to projections that indicate that by 2013, health care costs will take up 18 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the United States, a number that most experts say is far too high.

Rowe then discussed the three main factors that raise health care costs, aging, new technologies and government regulation. "As you get old, you get sick." Rowe said. "And new developments like many anti-cancer drugs are very expensive."

He particularly focused on state mandates that drive up costs.

"Health insurance companies misbehaved in the 80s and 90s," Rowe said. "As a result, legislative mandates were handed out, and they went a little far."

Mandates were originally intended to make sure adequate care was given, according to Rowe. Health insurance companies eventually went too far and began to cover such seemingly benign health issues such as jetlag and that there is a direct connection between the amount of mandates a state has and the amount of uninsured people in that state.

In suggesting ways that health care could be fixed, Rowe first expressed his belief that there is a disconnection between people and their health care costs. If people were more in tune with the situation, health care would only improve.

To demonstrate this, he shared a story about two of his daughters. After one daughter giving birth, Rowe asked how much she believed the entire procedure cost. She assumed roughly $15 since that was her copay. His other daughter said that the $15 was merely the insurance companies cost, and the procedure itself probably cost upward of $1,000. According to Dr. Rowe, child birth cost close to $20,000. This lack of transparency between patient and provider hurt the overall industry, Rowe said.

Rowe also highlighted the need for a change in the culture of medicine. Doctors used to run every test possible to insure that absolutely nothing was wrong. Because of rising costs, it is much more important for Doctors to work efficiently and not waste limited resources, so that the overall cost of keeping America healthy can come down, he said.

"I think he was very impressive," said Jessica Nethin, a 6th-semester human development and family studies major. "I think it is important to get an educated point of view on health care because it affects everyone."

"He was very knowledgeable," said Chad Sagnella, a 4th-semester molecular cell biology major."It was rather superficial, but it was very good."

"I think its very valuable from my point of view because this isn't a topic that is part of the college curriculum," Rowe said. "Generally, undergraduate students don't get a chance to learn about it. We need to make young people aware of how the system works so we can develop people to try and fix it."