Elon, I Triple-Dog Dare You to Fix Healthcare.
From Da Vinci, to Nikola, to Marie Curie and Steve Jobs, the greatest minds have always taken on the biggest challenges. Hell, if it's not impossible it's not exciting enough to get out of bed for each day. It kind of sounds like Elon Musk, but for some reason Elon hasn’t touched healthcare
Solar roofs for clean energy? Why not. Single handedly reinvent the electric car market? Sure. Frustrated in traffic? Turn a tweet into a traffic solving business. Create reusable rockets to kick of a private space race to Mars? Well, if Nasa won’t… And now Neurolink is changing the lives of paralyzed patients with sci-fi based technology? Child’s play.
But, maybe he hasn’t been to a doctor recently? Maybe he doesn’t talk to his employees about their experiences? It is actually harder to see a doctor than buy a Tesla.
So why not fix healthcare? I doubt that its because he is afraid of a challenge. Lord knows its not a shortage of revenue. And, Elon is not the type to walk away from a challenge just because other billionaires tried and failed (sorry Jeff).
Maybe, like the rest of the world – he doesn’t think it can be done. On some level, I wouldn’t blame him after the losing streak of fortune 100 companies (here’s looking at you Walmart, CVS, Walgrens, Google, and Amazon) that have are starting to pull out of healthcare because their MBAs can’t make it work. Then again, Elon isn’t the type to let MBAs run businesses.
When his first SpaceX astronauts land on Mars, are they going to have to check with their insurance to find an in-network participating HMO style physician? Or will they warm up their StarLink, ping their personal physician and get down to business?
I refuse to live in a world where Martians get faster, easier, cheaper care than we do on earth. And, so do a whole lot of physicians who are part of the DirectCare revolution who are fixing healthcare by putting patients first.
But, the innovations aren’t just happening in primary care, there is a physician owned hospital in Oklahoma that lists prices and provides care at a 90% discount to the non-profit hospital down the street. There are now specialists jumping into the DirectCare space. And, Mark Cuban has jumped into the drug space, but there are also still people with lower prices than him – like me for example.
While Cuban might be able to scale his business, and I am trying, but there is room in this market for competitors.
So Elon, If you can send electric cars to mars and tunnel under Vegas and help a paralyzed man play video games, then we can get rid of copays, make office procedures free, and lower the cost of medications and labs by 95%. Those savings alone can decrease insurance premiums by 30-60%. And thats just the beginning…but how far and fast can we all go with your help?
Dr. Josh Umbehr, M.D. is a Family Medicine Specialist in Wichita, KS.
