If you live anywhere in America, you already know the cost of healthcare has gotten completely out of control. According to a recent KFF survey, just under half of U.S. adults say it’s difficult to afford healthcare, and about one-third have postponed getting the care they need because of cost. We are also the only wealthy, developed nation without universal healthcare. So how did we get here — and more importantly, what can we do about it?
This week on the HerMoney podcast, Jean Chatzky sat down with Dr. Jordan Grumet to talk about his new book The Healthcare Heist: How Physicians and Patients Can Unite to Transform Healthcare. A hospice physician who spent over two decades watching families navigate impossible decisions while drowning in paperwork and bills, Jordan has a clear-eyed diagnosis of what’s gone wrong, and a roadmap for how we fix it.
We Are Paying Double and Getting Less
Here’s a number that should stop you cold: the United States spends roughly $13,000 per person per year on healthcare. Most other wealthy nations spend around $6,000 to $7,000. We’re paying double, and yet by almost every measure, we’re getting less.
Jordan opens the book with the story of Mary Lou Retton, Olympic gold medalist, American icon, Wheaties box legend. What most people don’t know is that after a divorce and a lifetime of sports-related surgeries, she found herself without health insurance. When she was hospitalized for months with pneumonia, she emerged with a bill of nearly half a million dollars and was forced to crowdfund her care.
“This is not just a problem of poor people,” Jordan told me. “This is a problem of everyone.”
So where is all that money going? According to Jordan, it’s being siphoned off by a web of third parties — insurers, pharmaceutical companies, private equity firms, electronic medical records companies — who have inserted themselves between doctors and patients, extracting profit without delivering care.
Three Things You Can Do Right Now
Jordan is calling for a revolution. But he’s also practical, and he knows that revolution starts with the small decisions we make every day.
1. Ask for generics. If your doctor is prescribing birth control, hormone replacement, or any other medication, ask whether a generic is available. “You’re basically thumbing your finger at the pharmaceutical industry,” Jordan said. Generic drugs are often chemically identical to their brand-name counterparts.
2. Choose physician-owned practices when you can. When you have a choice, for a mammogram, a procedure, even a primary care visit, ask whether the facility is physician-owned or corporate-owned. The difference matters, both for your wallet and for the quality of your care.
3. Appeal denials. If your insurance company denies a test or a treatment your doctor has ordered, appeal it. Jordan says you’d be amazed at how often appeals succeed. Much of what gets denied is being decided by AI, not humans, and appeals put a human back in the loop. “Appeal, appeal, appeal,” Jordan said.
The Bottom Line: You Have More Power Than You Think
American healthcare is broken. But it didn’t break by accident, and we are not powerless to fix it. The third parties are profiting from our confusion and are counting on us to feel overwhelmed, to pay the bill without questioning it, and to assume the system is too big to fight.
It’s not. Ask for the generic. Choose the independent practice. Appeal the denial. And the next time your doctor is 30 minutes late, consider that they might have just walked out of a room where they delivered devastating news to a family, and that they are fighting the same broken system you are.
We’re in this together. And together, according to Doc G, is exactly how we win.
MORE ON HERMONEY:
- Why Healthcare Might Be The Biggest Threat To Your Retirement Plan
- Ask Jean: “How Do I Find The Best 529 Plan?”
- The Widow’s Tax Penalty: What Happens When You Go From Married To Single
And if today’s conversation has you thinking harder about protecting your financial future, Jean’s new book The Forever Paycheck is your guide to building a secure, steady income stream in retirement.
