As a practicing podiatric physician and surgeon with nearly 30 years in Alaska, and as the owner of multiple ambulatory surgery centers, medical practices, and clinics, I bring a unique perspective on both the economics and business of healthcare and what it truly means to serve Alaskans with dignity and excellence.
I still recall my childhood in the 1970s, when my family doctor suspected a serious heart condition. We waited nearly a year for a pediatric cardiologist to visit Anchorage, many miles away from my home on the Kenai Peninsula, for an evaluation. Those anxious months left my parents and siblings deeply worried. In the end, it was just a harmless heart murmur requiring no treatment. That experience highlighted Alaska’s longstanding need for better access to specialty care, a gap that has persisted for decades. The oil pipeline boom changed everything. A surging economy drew specialists from across the country, lured by high pay and our unmatched quality of life. Alaska’s healthcare flourished.
Today, the story has reversed. A struggling economy fueled by rejected resource projects, shrinking revenue streams, and widespread scarcity has eroded pay, quality of life, and healthcare access across every sector. A strong healthcare system rests on four core pillars we all share:
1. High-quality care
2. Easy access without long wait times
3. Reasonable costs
4. A system that prevents burnout and high turnover among our dedicated healthcare workforce.
Economics drives it all. Reviving a booming Alaska economy is the single most powerful engine to fix these issues by boosting revenue, attracting providers, and easing scarcity. True reform must embrace market principles to lower costs and increase competition. Senator Rand Paul, a physician himself, has championed ideas that align closely with real-world needs, including:
1. Dramatically expanding Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) to make them available to all Americans (not just those with high-deductible plans), raising contribution limits significantly (e.g., up to $24,500 annually in recent proposals), and broadening allowable uses to include premiums, gym memberships, supplements, and more, empowering individuals with tax-advantaged, portable savings for healthcare.
2. Expanding Association Health Plans (AHPs) to let small businesses, sole proprietors, gig workers, and individuals band together for better negotiating power and lower premiums
3. Allowing insurance sales across state lines and promoting flexible, affordable coverage options.
4. Repealing burdensome ACA mandates while protecting those with pre-existing conditions through targeted mechanisms.
It’s high time Alaska ends the Certificate of Need (CON) process. This outdated regulatory barrier creates small monopolies, stifles competition, blocks new facilities and services, and drives up costs unnecessarily. In a state as vast and underserved as ours, we need more providers and innovation, not government gatekeeping that protects incumbents.
We should also pursue synergies between government-funded systems like the VA and Indian Health Service where feasible at the federal level, improving efficiency without duplication. Reversing the mistake of Medicaid expansion which added surges of patients and inflated costs in private insurance pools would help stabilize markets. Likewise, reinstating the ability for insurers to offer catastrophic (high-deductible) plans (the norm before the ACA) would give young, healthy Alaskans affordable coverage they actually value, without mandating bloated benefits they don’t need.
My real-world experience running practices and surgery centers, combined with an MBA focused on healthcare economics and business, has shown me the complexity of these challenges. But the path forward is clear: unleash competition, cut red tape, empower patients and providers, and reignite Alaska’s economy. Only then can we deliver the accessible, high-quality, affordable care our people deserve.
I’m Matt Heilala, running for Governor.