Viewing private and federal spending as separate silos makes sense from a claims data perspective, but can it really provide an accurate model of how cost pressures are playing out in the lives of patients and practitioners? I doubt it.

We won’t even get into the matter of the large and growing out-of-pocket holistic healthcare economy. That seldom factors into “big picture” statistical modeling because it still represents a relatively small segment of the population and it doesn’t have any direct bearing on either the federal or the private payors.

The fact that the holistic and functional medicine movement might have some meaningful answers to our nation’s healthcare challenges somehow doesn’t seem worth investigating.

Besides, it’s really fun to watch those clowns twist those brightly colored balloons into ever more complex and fascinating shapes, isn’t it?

END