Wall Street Meets Sabai Sabai
In this season of Light, we turn our attention to protecting care – because we can’t let the “Grinch” steal what people need most: timely access, trust, and compassion at the front door of the system.
When health care becomes a tug-of-war over dollars, incentives, and ideology, it’s easy for ordinary patients to lose – quietly, slowly, and expensively.
The Principle of Sabai
Sabai Sabai isn’t above you – it’s beside you. In Thai everyday life, sabai (สบาย) means ease, comfort, “I’m okay.” When people say “sabai sabai,” it’s a gentle doubling: take it easy, steady your pace, be at ease. Not a command from a pedestal – more like a calm friend at your shoulder when life is loud.
And right now, U.S. health care is loud – especially at the front door: primary care. When primary care can’t keep up, people wait longer, skip preventive visits, delay refills, and postpone early evaluation. Then conditions worsen, urgent care and emergency departments fill, and hospitals feel “capacity strain” that looks like a bed problem—but often starts as an access problem upstream.
A Modest Proposal
That’s why policy debates in Washington matter in efficient ways. In a December Politico report, Sen. Bill Cassidy describes a proposal he believes could win bipartisan support by shifting some Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) enrollees toward lower-premium bronze plans paired with funding deposited into Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) – while other ideas remain in play, including how Congress handles affordability and subsidy policy. However you feel about the politics, these design choices can shape what patients think in real life: costs at the point of care, whether they come in early, and whether primary care stays a doorway – or becomes more of a bottleneck.
These negotiations create the moment where Wall Street meets Sabai Sabai. We need financial rigor, incentives, and sustainability – but we also need steadiness, clarity, and human-centered design so the system doesn’t push ordinary people into delay, fear, and crisis. Sabai Sabai beside you means: stay regulated, read the policy clearly, choose wise partnerships, and protect what matters – starting with access to primary care.
Read the Politico report:
To assist and support this effort, contact Office@ConoverFoundation.org. Wall Street Meets Sabai SabaiTM is a mark and an initiative organized by the Mary Elizabeth Conover Foundation. All rights reserved. https://www.conoverfoundation.org/
