Lots of talk is underway about breaking up the big tech companies because of their influence and size. Companies like Alphabet (parent company to Google and YouTube) and Facebook have an outsized impact on social media. The same is true in heath care, except that the influential organization is not a for-profit company, it’s the U.S. government. Facebook’s 2018 revenues were $56 billion. Alphabet’s were $137 billion. And Medicare…the program spent $706 billion in 2017. If we’re talking about breaking up social media companies because of their influence and size, shouldn’t we consider breaking up CMS, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, too?
Key Citations

* European Union’s rules on data collection: EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
* Study about the payback of investing in safety net programs: WSJ
* CMS Administrator’s editorial against Medicare-for-All: WSJ

Transcript
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Welcome to The Powers Report Podcast. I am your host, Janis Powers. The show brings you candid, unique and data-driven perspectives on the health care industry. I believe that any solution that is going to positively impact the American health care system has to satisfy two major criteria: financial viability and behavioral incentive alignment. In other words, access to high quality care can only be achieved if we can afford it, and if we behave in ways that optimize our health. Please subscribe to our show on iTunes or on your preferred podcasting platform and connect with us on social media. Again, this is Janis Powers, and welcome to The Powers Report Podcast.
This podcast is about doing the unthinkable: breaking up CMS. Yes, CMS, the organization that oversees Medicare and Medicaid. Many people want to expand Medicare with different permutations of Medicare-for-All. I think we need to do the exact opposite. And we should look at what’s going on in the tech world for some guidance.
Anti-trust talk is sweeping the corridors in Washington with regard to the big tech companies. Facebook, Google and Twitter are under scrutiny because of their dominance in the social media world. What you post, what you like, what you are curious about…all of that is saved, sorted and sometimes, sold. There are legitimate concerns over how these and other companies use data and about their inability to control content on their platforms.
The European Union has already taken action. The General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR, outlines a series of regulations about how companies can collect and use your data in the EU. The companies must follow rules related to deleting information, having people opt in instead of opt out, allowing users to correct personal information, etc. It’s great for consumers but a massive headache for the companies. There’s concern that GDPR-type rules will find their way across the pond to the U.S.
That, or we could just break up the companies.
Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world. It has about 2.4 billion active users. It also owns Instagram, the popular image-intensive platform, and WhatsApp, a messaging service used predominantly internationally. Sometimes by terrorists. Alphabet is the parent company for Google and YouTube. Google is by far the largest search engine in the U.S., with about two-thirds market share. Five billion videos are watched on YouTube every day, with an average viewing time on the platform of 40 minutes.
These companies have been around for less than 20 years but their grow...