Health Care Reform brought to you by ?

In For Your Consideration, the consistent principle that will guide postings is that we are rarely given an assessment of the monologues, dialogues, or multi-logues that are clamoring for our attention every day. At least not an assessment that is unconcerned with a partisan view. The blog will attempt to step-back from the “messages”, sound-bites, and posturing that are flooding every form of media whether they are offering re-plays, reporting and/or commentary on topical issues. The postings are intended to present an independent perspective on any given issue, a view that you do not get from our leaders or representatives; be they political, cultural, religious, or social. I seek to offer an assessment of what is overlooked or unexamined, and bring something to the discussion that might illuminate what has been relegated to the dark corners because it takes effort to ask, seek and know.

By examining “issues of the day”, an outsider’s view is put forth to contrast with the experts and professionals who know what is important, what you should understand and how to inform you about it. It is unlikely that these views will be those of your friends, colleagues, and neighbors; those of groups or organizations to which you belong, and just as unlikely to be your own. But in presenting these perspectives, the blog will expect you to decide if the views are perhaps the ingredient that you have been missing; or the key that unlocks the riddle that the issues have become. Perhaps a strange view is just what you wanted delivered for your consideration.
As Benjamin Franklin said, “Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain; and most fools do”. While some criticism will be difficult for me to avoid, I would consider myself as having failed only if I do not offer an alternative meaning to or proposal for addressing the same issue.
So it would seem a good time to begin.

Health Care Reform, this appears to be a current and popular issue of the day. There is and has certainly been plenty of furor over the Health Care Reform debate in the news, political point-of-view and late-night comedy shows; and last night in the Presidential address to a joint-session of Congress. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of reporting and debate seems to be on what it is or isn’t; what it will cost or where the funding will come from; who will be in control of medical decisions: the government or your doctor & you; and whether it is an attempt at socialism or a responsive protection/guarantee of individual rights. These and other points are framing the public discussion; but not only do these issues consume the discussion, they also constrain the space in which the debate is taking place. As important as any of the above issues may be, they overlook more important and relevant ideas and decisions that are truly central to Health Care Reform and essential to creating a solution that will deliver the world-class health care system that Americans should demand of and for our country. And I won’t comment upon the vast amount of distracting idiocy that is treated as if it were meaningful comment.

If we assume that the government might actually find a way to get something done, then we can expect to see yet another program or set of programs that will establish rules and guidelines, processes and procedures, and committees and boards that will oversee the implementation of the plan. You know, just like the government has done for all those other highly efficient and cost effective programs. And therein lies the ‘blind-spot’ that the reform effort suffers from. Congress and the administration are approaching the solution with the same mind-set, methods, and means that they know and understand.

Isn’t there an old joke that crazy is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome? Well, looking to the folks who brought us Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Drug Proscription Program and the “un-funded mandate” is absolutely the place I would go for a solution to Heath Care. That is, if you’re crazy and you expect a different result.

How then do we get Health Care Reform? Because, do not doubt that we do indeed need it.
The answer is that we need the government to realize that their role is to create a reform effort that uses the very engine that created the greatest economy in the world: Capitalism. America has demonstrated time and again that if people are motivated to find better ways to do things, to more profitable products and services that the market-place demands then you can deliver the type of low-cost and responsive services/products that we need created in the Health Care environment.

If you wonder why I think our political leaders are unlikely to develop a good Health Care Reform plan, I would turn to Mark Twain who expresses my general assessment of our governmental leaders: “Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.”

For the next post, let’s consider the following: What would make the medical and insurance industries seek better ways to provide better and lower cost products and services?