Imagine something so insidious that it leads to the following: over 750,000 personal bankruptcies per year. In Bill Gates’ recent TED talk, he described it as the factor that is devastating education budgets and is leading to a pitting of old versus young; it impairs U.S.-based automakers by adding a $2000 “tax” on all of their vehicles; many believe it is the primary driver of the jobless recovery. Despite corporate profits being at record levels, many corporations simply aren’t hiring as a result. In the startup arena, it can keep people from moving to a startup. What is it? Healthcare hyperinflation. It won’t be long before $1 out of every $5 in the U.S. economy is spent on healthcare despite the U.S. ranking 31st in the world in terms of health outcomes. Founded by Dr. Samir Qamar in Monterey, MedLion recently opened a clinic in the heart of Silicon Valley with a model that is revolutionizing how primary and urgent care are delivered ( Disclosure: MedLion may become a customer of my company, Avado.com, which is why I am so familiar with it. ) Their breakthrough model is enabled by disintermediating insurance companies from their encumbrance of day-to-day healthcare. This allows them to dramatically reduce the cost of day-to-day healthcare.