As we start 2025, healthcare in the United States is in rough shape. That’s not exactly news. In fact, our underlying system – if you can even call it a system – has been suboptimal for decades. I’ve been working in nonprofit care delivery system and health insurance for more than 20 years. Dissatisfaction and calls for change have been ever-present.
Yet, things feel different as I write this blog post in late December.
The public murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was revealing in many ways. The reaction to his death was shocking to me. When you get beyond the cruelness of the public comments, many of which openly celebrated his killing, it’s impossible to ignore the depth of frustration directed at healthcare and health insurance companies.
Recent public polling from Gallup confirms that people are more fed up than ever:
“Americans' positive rating of the quality of healthcare in the U.S. is now at its lowest point in Gallup’s trend dating back to 2001.
The current 44% of U.S. adults who say the quality of healthcare is excellent (11%) or good (33%) is down by a total of 10 percentage points since 2020 after steadily eroding each year.
Between 2001 and 2020, majorities ranging from 52% to 62% rated U.S. healthcare quality positively; now, 54% say it is only fair (38%) or poor (16%).
In addition to registering subpar ratings of the quality and coverage of healthcare in the U.S., few Americans -- 19% -- say they are satisfied with its cost.”
I see this sentiment in my daily social media feed. “Healthcare is broken” is a common refrain. And there are a lot of pointed critiques on hospitals, health systems and executives.
Some of this is fueled by algorithms that promote strife and encourage contentious comments, but you can’t wave it off. The polling cited above proves that.
It’s impossible to miss the state of healthcare today, which as I stated at the top, is in rough shape.
So where does that leave us for 2025?
The role of communicators and marketers
Here is something I strongly believe: most people working in healthcare – those delivering care directly, administrators and nonclinical support people like me - all want it to be better, more affordable and more accessible. Why?
First and foremost, most of us use healthcare ourselves. We must navigate the system, and most of us have experienced its failures for ourselves. It’s painful. And often too expensive.
In addition, our friends and family members use healthcare. We want it to be good for them.
We want positive experiences. As marketers and communicators, we want to hear the positive stories. We want to share them.
Finally, and most importantly, improving health care is just the right thing to do. Everyone deserves access to quality healthcare.
How we can have an impact and drive change
I think it’s necessary to maintain a good balance between realism and staying positive in the work we do. If we are overwhelmed by the negative aspects of healthcare today, we simply cannot enjoy our careers and help make a difference.
None of us are going to change the whole healthcare system on our own, but there are steps we can take. Here are three suggestions:
Advocate for change in our organizations
Vote for candidates who will drive change
Celebrate and help tell positive stories
Let’s look at each in a bit more depth.
Advocate for change in our organizations
Especially at leadership levels, we can be a voice that supports change. When there are process steps or new services that can ease the way for those we serve, we should embrace and champion them.
When decisions are being made, we should try to see them through the eyes of patients and their support systems.
We should listen to the feedback patients give us – it’s everywhere – and push to act on as much of it as possible.
If important conversations are not being had, we need to start them.
Vote for candidates who will drive change
This is more of a long-range tactic and outside of work, but it’s essential that we vote for candidates who have definitive ideas about how to improve healthcare.
If this is truly an inflection point in the debate around who deserves healthcare, how they get it and who pays for it in America, political change in Congress and the White House will have to drive any progress that gets made.
Healthcare was barely discussed during the recent presidential election. For something that so many people care about, that is incongruous.
From the Gallup survey:
“Americans' largely negative views regarding healthcare coverage and quality in the U.S. likely contribute to the widespread perception that the overall healthcare system has major problems (54%) or is in a state of crisis (16%). The seven in 10 Americans now holding these views is in line with the trend average of 69%.”
And more people see fixing access, cost and quality as a government issue:
“Sixty-two percent of U.S. adults, the highest percentage in more than a decade, say it is the federal government’s responsibility to ensure all Americans have healthcare coverage. The figure had slipped to as low as 42% in 2013 during the troubled rollout of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA's) healthcare exchanges. It has been as high as 69% in 2006.”
With the twin pressures of a lack of confidence in the current system and more expectation of the government fixing problems, something will have to give. It’s just a matter of how long it will take.
Celebrate and help tell positive stories
Good things – many good things – happen in hospitals and clinics every day. Life-changing events. Yet, we overwhelmingly choose to focus on the negative. What’s not working right tends to dominate the conversation.
Recently, I saw someone on LinkedIn assert that we shouldn’t share positive healthcare stories at all because doing so distracts from the real issues around poor quality care, inadequate insurance coverage and other problems.
I think that’s just plain wrong. We shouldn’t ignore when good things happen. It’s the fuel that helps keep us going in our professions.
If we fail to recognize the positives, this will be a truly bleak industry to serve. That’s also just not honest. Good things do happen. Often. And it's important to celebrate them.
A final look ahead to 2025
Understatement alert. Things won’t be easy this year! There is a lot of uncertainty with a new administration coming in. Labor issues will be contentious. The economy could have setbacks. COVID could have a surge. Bird flu is concerning. And on and on and …
Put simply, there are many unknows.
As marketers and communicators, we must stay focused on serving our audiences and taking actions that can help them.
That’s the best way to start 2025 off on the right foot. Assess your situation as things change and adjust.
And keep telling inspiring stories of caregivers and patients.
That’s something we’re well-equipped to do.
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