Opinion: Healthcare for 1% of the cost

There is a general consensus that U.S. healthcare needs major reform. Can reverse innovation—innovations originating from poor countries—provide one important answer? Most definitely. In the U.S., the approach is to spend more money on major technological advances and come up with innovative products and solutions. In poor countries, the innovation paradigm is just the opposite: spend less and innovate new business models. Poor countries face severe resource constraints. They just cannot afford to spend a lot. Constraints need not be limiting, they can actually be liberating. By comparison, there is something highly inefficient about the health care delivery in the U.S.—and much to learn from poor countries.