It’s Time to Disrupt the American Health Care System

A woman walks past a hospital in Washington on Jan. 2, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Commentary

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was a controversial pick to be secretary of health and human services, and many question or outright oppose his views on health. But he couldn’t be more right to sound the alarm over America’s chronic illness crisis.

Sixty percent of adults suffer from at least one chronic disease, and 40 percent battle two or more. Only 12 percent of Americans are metabolically healthy, with poor diets alone contributing to more than 500,000 deaths each year. Factors such as poor diet have led to obesity rates of 42 percent—marking the first time that the national average has exceeded 40 percent.

This is happening while Americans spend 8 percent of their annual income on health care, more than any other high-income country in the world. Despite all of that spending, Americans have lower life expectancy and higher rates of death and disease compared with countries such as Australia, the Netherlands, and the UK.

The data tell a discouraging story: The United States ranked last on key metrics, including affordability, equity in accessing health care, and health outcomes, including longevity and avoidable deaths.

Measures are being taken to reverse this trend, especially in the food industry. The Food and Drug Administration has banned red dye No. 3, and states are considering removing junk food from food stamp programs. While these efforts are crucially important, there is still much more to be done. Merely addressing outcomes is not enough. We must identify and resolve the root causes.

That’s where health care can learn from the tech sector. The main objective of technology leaders is to constantly innovate. Without innovation, companies that were once industry leaders quickly become obsolete. Nowhere is this seen more clearly than in the world of AI, where change happens in the space of days and weeks rather than months and years.

In tech, bureaucracy is low, and innovation is correspondingly high. The same cannot be said of health care. As an industry, health care is primarily bureaucratic, albeit highly fragmented and complex. While there is good reason for a level of oversight and regulation because of the nature of health care, innovation and improvement must still be prioritized. Otherwise, the health care industry will stagnate.

Some might say it already has.

Innovation is the solution to this problem because, at its root, innovation is about disruption. Innovation charts a new way forward, providing alternative viewpoints from which problems can be addressed. This is what the health care industry has needed for decades.

While important innovations have been made in health care and medicine, especially in areas of treatments and technology, we must apply that same disruption to deeper, systemic needs such as increased efficiency and outcomes across population health, experience of care, and per capita costs.

These problems affect everyone and are holding the U.S. health care system back from truly moving forward. Health care should always be human-centric, solving problems that average, everyday people face.

To achieve this, we must foster a culture of innovation. Policymakers, health care leaders, and entrepreneurs must work together to create an environment in which new ideas can thrive. We should embrace this new venture mindset, looking at the problems facing health care as opportunities for improvement rather than unchangeable realities.

One area with immense potential is artificial intelligence. AI can help revolutionize diagnostics, personalize treatment plans, and optimize hospital operations, reducing both costs and inefficiencies. Similarly, wearable technology and remote patient monitoring can empower individuals to take control of their health, shifting the focus from reactive care to proactive wellness.

But technological innovation alone is not enough. We must also rethink how health care is delivered by expanding access to community-based care, improving nutrition education, and addressing social determinants barriers to care. The reality is that chronic disease cannot be solved in hospitals and clinics alone—it requires a holistic approach that integrates public health, food policy, and economic support systems.

The future of health care depends on our willingness to challenge the status quo. If we continue to accept a system that prioritizes short-term fixes over long-term solutions, we will remain stuck in a cycle of rising costs and worsening outcomes. However, if we embrace innovation—both technological and systemic—we have the opportunity to build a health care system that is not only more efficient but also more equitable and effective.

The time for action is now. The health of our nation depends on it.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.