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In the News: Peter Long Tells the California Health Report, 'The Current System Just Doesn't Work'

Long, senior vice president at Blue Shield of California and Laura Landy, president and CEO of The Rippel Foundation, tell the publication about the Foresight initiative

Peter Long, senior vice president at Blue Shield of California and Laura Landy, president and CEO of The Rippel Foundation, co-authored a report in California Health Report about the Foresight initiative.

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Our current system simply doesn’t work. Health care costs are out of control. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, an international public policy organization, the U.S. spent $3.5 trillion on health care in 2018—just over $10,000 per capita. That’s about twice as much as other high-income countries.

The spending doesn’t result in better health outcomes. In California, the burden of ailments like drug addiction, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and chronic kidney disease is soaring. Mental health challenges also take a tremendous toll: depression, anxiety and suicide are all among the top 10 causes of premature death and disability for Californians in the prime of their lives.

These challenges are compounded by pervasive health inequities along racial and ethnic lines. According to the CDC and other sources, African-Americans in California die from cancer, diabetes, heart disease and many other diseases at much higher rates than their white counterparts. 

Read the rest of the story here.