Cigna CEO Explains The Problem With Healthcare In America

The CEO of health insurer Cigna, David Cordani, says the problem with America's healthcare system is that most of the money is being spent on intervention after people already are sick. Cordani believes we need to spend more money and resources keeping people healthy in the first place.

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Following is a transcript of the video:
Sara Silverstein: And do you think it makes sense at all for healthcare to be tied to employers anymore given how much our workforce has changed?

David Cordani: Yeah so in the United States greater than 50% of Americans today get their health services support through an employer. That, that is a manifestation from a long time ago post World War II wage controls that existed, but, but we are where we are. Answer to your question is yes, I do. And the reason why is: an employer actually has a vested interest in helping to keep their employees healthy, and productive, and present from a work standpoint. Two, the worksite and the culture of an employer create some mechanisms to engage an individual, ways to communicate, ways to provide on-site care, ways to provide peer support, program support, etc. So there's incentive alignment, there's culture you could pull against and support it, and then there's delivery mechanism. So we think the answer is yes, and we have a ton of bright spots where we could point to employers that have innovated with us and we've innovated with them. And their employees and therefore their business is better off and those employees family members are better off because they're getting better, more comprehensive healthcare.

Silverstein: And what do you think makes America different? Why are we spending so much on healthcare? Can you point to one thing that like our policies, or something in America that is a problem?

Cordani: Yeah, so our system is quite different, right? We're a global company, we do business all over the world. So we're able to see systems in the most developed OECD countries and developing countries around the world. There's multiple differences. First and foremost, the United States is the largest sick care interventionist system in the world. We spend the majority of our money and resources addressing people once they're sick. We need to spend some more of our resources keeping people healthy in the first case, and identifying people who are at risk of health events and lowering those health risks. Some other countries do that better through social service support, poor community based health support, etc. Secondly, we have more specialists and more hospitals per capita than any other OECD countries and less primary care, be it OBGYN, pediatrician, family practitioners, and, and we need to moderate that a little bit, to, again, help coordinate the whole person on the front end. There's trade-offs in the way we've built our system. As a company we've had great success partnering with physicians through what we c--all, “Collaborative Accountable Care” relationships, we have 375 of which that are up and running with physicians, and another 125 with hospitals, and working more comprehensively. But in a nutshell, we wait too long in terms of trying to fix somebody once they're sick, as opposed to engage on the front-end and keep people healthy in the first place, that's where Cigna expends a lot of resources. Secondly, we spend a lot more money on the high cost intervention, as opposed to enabling the primary care physician, the geriatrician, the pediatrician, to have more resources to help to coordinate care for individuals. And we have a different pricing scheme relative to some of our services, be they pharmaceutical or otherwise, versus other parts of the world.

[sillysmack]

Whatever it is, I'm sure it has nothing to do with Cigna's 2.32billion 2017 net profit ... right?

[ZaDowlan]

Disagree. Why does everyone assume that the employer has an interest in caring for the employee. You people I see with this viewpoint obviously have never worked a shitty job before. Employers don't care and they don't have to. Look at what wal*mart has been doing for years.... internationally part timing as many employees as possible for the explicit purpose of not paying for a health insurance benefit they don't have to.

[your_being_led_by_your_nose]

WAIT a FREAKIN minute. You have a Cigna CEO explaining what’s wrong with healthcare? REALLY? That’s like having an agent tell you what’s wrong with baseball. You’re looking at much of the problem.

[steeldriver]

I’ve had BCBS the last 8 years and just switched to Cigna. So far not a good move. My asthma medication went from $25/month to $350/month.

[commonsense]

The reason it’s expensive is because America took something that was vital to a country’s survivability and made it into a for profit industry!

[Dominikmj]

I think the whole interview is bogus! Asking the CEO who basically monetize on a crooked system, what are the real problems of American healthcare? And then not even be prepared to ask hard questions (which are fact-checked beforehand}? What kind of journalism is that?
Prevention is for sure one reason. But more importantly, it is the cooperation between big pharma, politics, hospitals etc. which overbloats the healthcare system.
A lot of pharmaceuticals, apparatuses and other things you need in hospitals and healthcare are overpriced. At times one has to use common sense and compare and question prices!

[GameplayTwist]

Her first question was if healthcare should be tied to employers and he said yes because employers want healthy employees and then he said reason number 2 is because its good for communication, onsite care, peer support, program support and incentive alignment, culture you can pool against, and then there is delivery mechanisms, so we think yes, health insurance should be tied to employers. There are bright spots and we have been able to innovate with employers and provide better more comprehensive healthcare.

That's what he said. If I was the interviewer my next question would be please explain what you are talking about in regards to each of those things. How is employer based healthcare better for Communication? All healthcare info is restricted and private you don't walk into a employer like a school nurse and chat about your health. What do you mean onsite care? What do you mean peer support? What do you mean program support? What do you mean incentive alignment? What do you mean a culture you can pool against? What delivery mechanisms are you talking about? What kind of innovation are you talking about? Also later he said this innovative system provides better more comprehensive healthcare but then he went on to say our doctors need to have more types of other doctors to send people to, so isn't that exactly the opposite of a better more comprehensive healthcare system he is claiming is working? I honestly would like to have answers to all of these questions. I have many years experience in the healthcare system and have no idea what he is talking about.

[ickcall]

Not even 30 seconds in I got such a good laugh when this guy said, "An employer actually has a vested interest in helping to keep their employees healthy, productive and present from a work standpoint" Lmao

[habbershum]

In a nutshell, I don’t care about patients, I want that money. If you can’t pay then too bad for you. Should of made more money.

[vandertuber]

We need Universal Healthcare. Do not trust this guy with your health and your life.

[samtermaine]

Let's hear more about Cigna and less about what's actually wrong with healthcare. But because I have healthcare through my employer I have little to no choice...bravo BI

[dalebuckner]

Cigna CEO David Cordani made almost $79, 000, 000 in 2020. His job as leader of a "for profit" insurance company is not to pay for your healthcare...it is to maximize profits and shareholder returns.

[idontknowwhatiamdoing]

1:38 we need to spend more resources on keeping people health. Tf if your the insurance we pay you to help us pay later on not making it hard for us to cut the prices I had to call for 47 minutes just for you guys to just pay 138 meanwhile I payed over 5, 000 on this stupid ass insurance

[rhianc]

All the developed countries had these conversations in the 1960s and dealt with it. Why are we 60 years behind them?

[Aluapay]

I was a victim of a drunk driver. He was convicted and sentenced. As a result, because the injury was NOT MY FAULT, I was expected to reinburse APWU/Cigna over $63, 000.00 the costs of my medical expenses. When I appealed they offered me to set up a payment plan. When I appealed again they offered to accept half of what I got from my car insurance settlement. The other half did go to out of pocket medical expenses. The man who hit me I gave them all his info, I told them to go after him. He's suppose to give me restitution but he hasnt. Why do they do this to crime victims. they said they are sorry for the trauma he caused me. APWU/Cigna has caused me more trauma. We are now seeking legal advice. READ THE FINE PRINT.

[MichaelJayValueInvesting]

70% of all health care costs can be avoiding by just living a proactive healthy lifestyle

[orjihvy]

The guy is talking his pocketbook. Amazing how he does it with such a straight face. Wonder where he got his MBA.

[andrewC]

Be a good dog an be healthy. Well take care of you. Hell, we'll even take you for a walk. Wtf is this shit. When are the people gonna learn and rise above this shit?!?

[upinsmoke]

I was willing to give him a chance, but he's saying that we need to spend more money keeping people healthy in the first place. So why are insured people with cancer going bankrupt?

[youtou]

Reporter: why are prices so high? Let's ask the CEO of a FOR PROFIT health insurance company. They'll be honest!
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