00:00Here we are again on a very familiar topic. I just left the aging committee and it was
00:10about health care transparency. All the gimmicks insurance companies and hospitals employ in
00:18a market that lacks it completely and even becomes a bigger issue, of course, the older
00:26you get, because you're going to engage the health care system even more. I think it does
00:30operate almost like an unregulated utility. I've said it so many times, I almost feel
00:36like I'm getting blue in the face saying it, but the industry has never had to comply with
00:42any of the normal features that make a market out of something, which is full transparency,
00:51an engaged consumer, no barriers to entry, and yes, price transparency. Every other industry
00:59deals with it. We don't have it here. Senator Sanders and I have introduced a bill that
01:06tries to be as global as it can get to put this into play. I know it can work. I wrestled
01:13with it in my own business. There was nothing on your P&L that was harder to control than
01:19health care. This was back in 08, and the company was one-fifth the size it is now.
01:25If I had not tackled it in an entrepreneurial way, to number one, engage the health care
01:31consumer. For those that can afford it, they need to be out there shopping around, dealing
01:40with you like you would if you'd buy a big screen TV. I know many people would travel
01:4550 miles to save 50 bucks on a $1,000 item. We don't have any of that dynamic. It's sad
01:53on what is the largest part of our GDP that we've got to wrestle with it like we do. The
01:59reason we have medical debt is because it costs too much in the first place. Until we
02:05reform the industry, and in any other kind of industry that's a monopoly or an oligopoly,
02:13it's called a utility. And utilities get regulated. If the industry doesn't wake up, that's exactly
02:21what's going to happen. Sadly, that's kind of where it's gone in almost all other countries.
02:25That gets the cost of health care down to closer to 10 to 12% of our GDP. I'd like to
02:32ask Dr. Bai about what would happen if health care was in that realm of full competition,
02:44transparency. Can we fix it? Or is it too far gone to where you'd have to do what many
02:50other countries have done? It's a one payer system. Because that's what happens, that's
02:55what a utility is. You sooner or later are going to get regulated by government. Are
03:00we too far gone, or can the system still be fixed? No, we are not. Tell me why we can
03:08get this bill passed and maybe start cracking the industry to where it's performing like
03:13most other segments of our economy. The Brown-Sanders bill is an amazing bill. The details in that
03:20bill ensures transparency and promotes competition. And more importantly, in the short run, can
03:26make sure medical debt and the medical billing integrity is preserved. So in the short run,
03:31we know the numbers are right on the medical debt. In the long run, think about the three
03:35things. Number one, patients. Patients who have more control of their medical care dollars
03:41and they can shop around, can benefit personally directly from lower price and higher health.
03:47Not higher health insurance, but higher health status. But then the employers will get all
03:54the freedom, got a flexible design of their benefits. So they can just have more freedom
04:02to fund or purchase health care for their employees. And number three, more importantly,
04:08the physicians will get all the freedom to innovate and deliver care. So we have all
04:13the innovation for both care delivery, for innovation in medical care, as well as how
04:20we design the benefit. So eventually, this is going to work because it relies on two
04:24important forces. Number one, on the buy side. People want the cheaper and better things,
04:30including health care. Then on the sell side, all the innovators and providers, physicians,
04:36want to make money. But in this process, they innovate and get the best things for consumers.
04:40Well, thank you. And before my time runs out, to me, this would be the most transformational
04:47bill that I've seen since I've been here. And I know how hard I worked on it to fix
04:53it in my own company. It can be done. Sooner or later, the industry is going to have to
04:58wake up and get with it. I want to say, shout out who else is on it. Bipartisan quickly.
05:06Senator Smith, Senator Hickenlooper, Senator Grassley, Senator Coons, Senator Hassan, Senator
05:13Ernst, Senator Baldwin, Senator Warren, Senator Fetterman. Every senator in this U.S. Senate
05:21ought to be for taking the biggest sector of our economy and turning it into something that's
05:27going to be responsive to health care consumers. Thank you, Chairman Sanders.
