Guest Post by Scott Adams
For the past year I have been working with the UC Berkeley start-up ecosystem – the largest in the world – to help improve their efficiency. I seed-funded a project to build a website that connects entrepreneurs, advisors, and investors in the Berkeley area. But I’m also going to highlight in this blog some Berkeley start-ups that can substantially lower healthcare costs in the future.
Today’s focus is on DeviceFarm, a start-up that cures toe fungus using a patent-pending combination of plasma gas and a special liquid concentrator. You can see more on their website, here.
Disclaimer: I recently invested in this company. This is not a solicitation for additional funding.
Toe fungus is mostly a cosmetic problem unless you have diabetes. But if you are diabetic, toe fungus greatly increases your odds of amputation. DeviceFarm estimates that an effective treatment for this condition could prevent 45,000 diabetic amputations per year at a collective savings of $1.7 billion in healthcare expenses. (Current treatments are relatively ineffective.)
Let me say this again. This little machine might (if the clinical trials work out) prevent up to 45,000 amputations per year. Forget about the cost savings for a minute. Just think about how big a deal that is to quality of life.
Now multiply that sort impact by the dozens of health-related start-ups out of UC Berkeley alone. Now consider all the other start-ups around the world and you can see how much “stranded” potential there is because the start-up world is fragmented and inefficient.
Now imagine a world in which the President of the United States is an entrepreneur at heart and one of his biggest challenges is to make healthcare affordable and available for all Americans. And now imagine that this president is the best salesman you have ever seen, and he wants to streamline the process of doing business in this country.
See the opportunity?
I’ve seen scores of start-ups that will dramatically lower healthcare costs if their products get to market. All they need, in most cases, is a combination of investment, business advice, and some help getting through all the red tape. That’s the sort of help a Trump administration could provide without spending a dime. Trump knows how to put a spotlight on things, and the world’s attention follows.
I can imagine several ways to approach a solution. One way is for the Trump administration to encourage the creation of “strategic pools” of start-ups by category. One pool would involve start-ups that can lower healthcare costs for the benefit of all. Another pool might do the same for education, the military, and so on. Then the government could encourage investors to look at those start-ups first, as a patriotic service to the country.
You don’t want the government trying to pick winner and losers among start-ups, but the government can ensure that the ones with the most potential to help society get a fair look by private investors.
As a service to the country, I’ll be spotlighting more UC Berkeley start-ups that can change the world if they get the right kind of attention. Once you see several of them in a row, you’ll understand how big the opportunity is. I’ll only be scratching the surface.
Answer is simple:
End The FDA!!!!!
Have all the hospitals post their rates online. Let consumer choice drive prices down.
Are you kidding? Ask them what a procedure will cost – it will take about 2 weeks to get an answer.
…and then they lie.
Not just hospitals, but everything. If anything is mandated, it should be price discovery.
When I didn’t have insurance, and now, since I have to pay out of pocket for a lot of things, I ask how much things will cost before I choose. Except for one testing facility, I have had a ridiculously difficult to impossible time getting an answer from anyone.
I’ll bet you can call up your local plastic surgeon or laser vision correction offices and get prices.
A cost vs benefit analysis would be handy, also an effectiveness comparison to the standard treatments.
“You don’t want the government trying to pick winner and losers among start-ups, but the government can ensure that the ones with the most potential to help society get a fair look by private investors.”
Uhhhhhhh……….isn’t that the same as the government picking winners and losers?
Let the market decide.
How about everybody starts to pay for their own “mostly” self-inflicted illness. I am certain that if people had to dip into their own pocket for treatment they would make different choices. I am sick and tired of hearing people making choices (bad ones at that) because they think that someone else is paying the bill. Stupid is as stupid does. I refuse to participate in this mess.
Scott’s premise is faulty. The government and all associated with health care are not interested in cures or saving lives. It’s a sick care business, and Big $$$$ is spent to make sure it stays that way.
And cut through the red tape? See above, plus, from what all I’ve read, the AMA, Big Insurance, Big Pharma and the FDA have such a stranglehold on everything, almost NOTHING gets approved. Throw in obamacare and I can’t imagine why anyone would even bother.
One of my biggest hopes is that Trump destroys all this. Not holding my breath though…
Teri…right-o
Scott Adams proposal is trying to improve a slice within a immensely corrupt and bureaucratic system. Like a snake, you have to cut the head off.
oh-oh, forgot to change my name back
Toe Fungus?
Like Camel Toe?
That shit is nasty. Some pig gave that to me.
A real hassle.
hoof and mouth disease??
Karl Denninger has the right idea over at market-ticker. He thinks we’re being ripped off by 90% and in many cases that can be proven just by comparing what an MRI, say, in Japan costs (about $500) with what one costs here. You could easily fly rt to Japan, have it there, and pay less than here in the U.S. Same with drugs. Here they cost as much as 1,000% more! But don’t bring them into the country; it’s a felony. Why? Answer: BIG PHARMA!
yep, all we need to do is enforce EXISTING anti-trust laws
ROFLMAO!!!