"Save the next life." That pragmatic, optimistic philosophy kept Minnesota health care troubleshooter extraordinaire Andy Slavitt moving forward as the death toll mounted during the COVID-19 pandemic's darkest days.
It's also excellent advice for a nation still trying to defeat the virus that halted ordinary life in 2020 and is once again threatening normality, with new variants wreaking havoc. This reality makes Slavitt's new book, "Preventable," an early look at what went right and wrong, a valuable public service.
Slavitt is a former health care executive perhaps best known for fixing the near-fatal technology flaws in the Affordable Care Act's online insurance marketplace. He also ran the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under former President Barack Obama, overseeing two public programs that provide care to millions of Americans.
So it's not surprising that this former Edina resident couldn't stay on the sidelines as COVID swept in. With a personal network of influential political, technology and health leaders, Slavitt worked the phone to gather data and expertise. He often synthesized the info faster and more coherently than health officials, becoming a communications force via TV news, Twitter and a podcast. Those who have tapped his expertise include former President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and President Joe Biden, who asked Slavitt to serve on the White House COVID response team.
Slavitt's book offers an insider's look at managing this historic crisis, with dramatic moments occurring in Minnesota. But it's more than a retrospective. It pushes readers to look ahead, offering short- and long-term fixes to strengthen the nation. The book's proceeds will go to charity.
Unsurprisingly, the former Obama administration official did not find much praiseworthy in Trump's White House. Slavitt accurately points out the folly of Trump leading the revolt against his own response, urging the public to "liberate" themselves from infection-control measures.
Slavitt also takes aim at the "yes men" surrounding Trump who served neither him nor the nation well. Advisers had to know that the pandemic was a long haul, not short-term. Had Trump communicated that, he could have saved lives and even strengthened his own re-election chances, because Americans would have respected straight talk about the challenges ahead.
None of this comes as a surprise to anyone following the news. The value, however, is in the details. The scenes and willingness to name names (Minnesota-based 3M fares poorly in the book) drive home a critical lesson: leadership matters. And when it's absent, there's a ripple effect reflected in poor decisions at other agencies, such as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But Slavitt also turns a critical eye to the rest of us, and accurately wields the word "selfishness." Many descendants of those who sacrificed to win World War II have lost sight of the collective good, resulting in resistance to mask-wearing and risky behavior fueling viral spread. "Let's face it: the pandemic showed us some of our ugly and we should think about starting there," Slavitt wrote.
The book provides a sensible list of reforms to address the public health weaknesses COVID revealed. Among them: replenishing the national stockpile of protective medical gear; a new agency that forecasts disease spread in the same way as the National Weather Service; clear guidelines for airport quarantining, and creating a center of excellence for diagnostic testing.
But Slavitt also adds bigger, blue-sky challenges such as ensuring paid medical leave for workers, affordable housing, livable wages, national broadband and tying health insurance to existence — not employment. Slavitt is skeptical about their chances, but the "save the next life" philosophy requires all of us to keep trying.
"If we count on just the technical stuff to save us," Slavitt said in an interview referring to narrow pandemic-specific reforms, "and don't learn the bigger lessons and act on them, I think we're making a big mistake.''
