A technology policy expert believes the ACA repeal will unleash and democratize the power of health technologies.
The individual consumer should be at the center of healthcare, not the government, writes Roslyn Layton, PhD, a visiting economics scholar at the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute, in a blog post for AEIdeas. To make this transition, a data revolution enabled by actionable policy solutions is necessary.
She charges the ACA was about "enshrining a system of political control: patronage of healthcare providers … and tethering of people to the state by fiat," but that patients can be empowered through a consumer-centered care model that would thrive if the ACA were repealed.
This model would recognize individuals as their own primary care providers and encourage people to promote healthy lifestyles. It would empower patients through technology, like telemedicine, which could drastically reduce appointment wait times and cost of care delivery, she writes. This model would also allow healthcare providers to give more individualized and efficient care so they could focus on higher order activities.
The ACA assumed peoples' health was based on luck, not choice, according to Dr. Layton. It forced people to be part of a system against their will and created a system toward treatment, not wellness and prevention. This market "systematically delayed, if not prevented" the development of data-driven technologies which focus on maintaining health.
"With the democratization of data, patients — not doctors, insurers or bureaucrats — are in the driver's seat. [Under the ACA,] the medical establishment, not the patient herself, owns the patient's personal data, exemplifying who controls the current system," Dr. Layton argues. "Repealing Obamacare will put people, not the government, in charge of their own health."
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