Purple Solutions

The title Purple Solutions is a symbolic combination of the colors that represent America’s two main political parties and their opposing beliefs about how to provide healthcare in America. Those on the Democratic (“blue”) side of the aisle often advocate for a single-payer system paid for by the government. Under this ideal is a range of opinions from “Medicare for All” to supporting and expanding the Medicare system to allow for private provider additions. On the Republican (“red”) side of the aisle, supporters favor a free market system with price transparency and believe that market forces, not the government, will fix the current system. Republicans and Democrats can’t agree, and yet rational compromise is desperately needed. Perhaps the best solution to better healthcare in America lies on both sides, amidst all this political hyperbole.

Hear from Dan.

I am Dan Sem, co-author and editor of the Purple Solutions book. I also serve as Director of the Rx Think Tank, and as Dean of Business at Concordia University. I have over 25 years of experience as a professor and as a healthcare entrepreneur, trying to find better ways to improve health outcomes for everyone – whether it be through new medicines or new ways to deliver healthcare to patient-consumers. I am a passionate advocate for healthcare consumers and the front-line providers of healthcare, and I want to help drive a grassroots healthcare revolution to provide better, more affordable care to all Americans. What we have now is broken in many ways, but could easily be the best healthcare delivery system in the world – if only our politicians would listen to facts, data, sound logic, economic principles, and be willing to compromise to find bipartisan or hybrid solutions that work for all of us.

A peek inside Purple Solutions.

“So where do we point an accusing finger for the creation of our dysfunctional healthcare system in America? It is likely true that for the most part those in government and those in the medical provider world sincerely want to help patients and provide quality, accessible healthcare. They likely have good intentions. But there are dysfunctional incentives in our system, and there are also those who are gaming the system for financial gain. Is big government or big corporations at fault? Perhaps both. Too much concentrated power and decision-making in government or large corporations is equally bad. We need power and decision-making in the hands of patients and the providers (e.g., physicians, nurses) who directly help them and are on the frontlines of healthcare delivery. This book presents a case for purple solutions that aim to empower the consumers of healthcare (the patients) and the providers (physicians, nurses, and the like), rather than big government or big corporations, with the clear goal of providing more accessible, higher-quality and more affordable healthcare. Unfortunately, there is no powerful lobby group for this goal.”

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“These wide-ranging essays propose pragmatic answers to the broad array of dysfunction, perverse i...

“Private companies have adopted many pragmatic solutions to lower health costs. If adopted broadly...

“America’s healthcare debate has long been a red-versus-blue affair, focused on how we pay for c...

“Like the shot heard round the world, Dan Sem fires a bold and brave wake-up message that every Am...

“Purple Solutions provides the most substantive account of what is ailing our country’s healthca...

“If you want to be infuriated, this is the book for you. The chapter on PBM sleight-of-hand alone ...