Reshaping Healthcare: What We Can Learn From Alaska

By William H. Bestermann, Jr., MD

Southcentral Foundation in Alaska provides excellent healthcare for half the money spent on other patients in that state. What can we learn from them?

Southcentral Foundation is patient owned and controlled so the healthcare they deliver reflects the cultural and family values of the community they serve. (Photo source: iStock)

A recent poll as of mid-May 2020, found that health care is the number one concern of voters in the United States and for good reason. Americans pay twice as much for shorter lives and higher infant mortality compared with people who live in other developed countries. In other words, we are paying more for healthcare that does not meet our needs. Consider this:

• 50% more American babies die on their first day of life than in all other industrialized countries combined. Further, 21,467 infants die in the US each year.
• White Americans have infant mortality that is worse than Cubans. And twice as many black babies die.
• Life expectancy in the U.S has not kept pace with other wealthy nations. In fact, life expectancy decreased every year between 2014 and 2017.

Black voters should be even more concerned. Blacks die and become disabled at a younger age than other Americans. The reasons for voter concern are clear. That is the other end of the George Floyd story.