An economist proposes a redesign of the US system to provide universal health insurance coverage in an affordable way.

If there is something both sides of the political aisle can agree on, it’s that there is something deeply wrong with health insurance in the United States. What they can’t agree on is how to fix it.

The right blames everything on the Affordable Care Act, while those on the left say we need Healthcare For All. But what if there was another option?

In a recent paper published in JAMA, leading health economist and University of Chicago Provost Katherine Baicker lays out an innovative blueprint for health care—not to tinker with our system on the margins, but to redesign the entire thing. It’s a fascinating idea that takes us through the complex history of health insurance, how the web got so tangled up, and how we can straighten it out.

You can listen to Baicker explain his idea below:

Read the transcript for this episode.

Subscribe to Big Brains on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify.

Source: University of Chicago