George Halvorson

The following post is being republished from a weekly Letter to the Employees of Kaiser Permanente.

Dear KP Colleagues,

One of our great strengths at Kaiser Permanente is our diversity.

We have a wonderful level of diversity among our caregivers and staff, and we have a...

Mother Nature clearly practices age discrimination when it comes to health.

U.S. government data for 2006 showed us that the average cost of care for a 20-year-old in America was about $2,600 per year. That same report showed that the average cost of care for a 45-year-old was double...

Health care is remarkably unconnected.

The lack of connectivity tools in health care is absolutely stunning.

Health care providers in America have a very hard time connecting and sharing patient information with each other. Most medical records are still sitting in individual paper files locked in metal...

How do most European countries achieve universal coverage?

Most people believe that European countries use the Canadian single payer model to achieve universal coverage.

Most people are wrong.

Only Canada uses that model. Canada actually makes private insurance illegal. Most countries in Europe successfully achieve universal insurance coverage using a...

We will spend about 17.6 percent of our GDP on health care expenses this year in America, primarily because we are not healthy in some very key areas.

We have the highest rate of diabetes in the world. We have nearly the highest rate of heart disease.

Why?

Because we...

We need an Orbitz for health.

We need consumers and patients in America to be able to make health care choices in a data-rich environment -- with clear information about care outcomes, caregiver performance, care effectiveness and price.

Health care reform should have a vision of real and meaningful choice.

Multiple studies have shown that health care in America is inconsistent, generally uncoordinated, almost entirely unmeasured, and far too often unsafe.

The death rate can vary by 60 percent for breast cancer surgery between two adjacent hospitals. The death rate can vary by more than 600 percent...

We can't fix care in America until we have universal coverage. We can't afford universal coverage if we don't fix care. They are a package. They both need to be done. Done well, both universal coverage and care improvement can be huge successes.

Why can't we fix care until...