This is a long one, but it should provide you with brain food for the current health care reform debate.
Those of you who know me know that I am direct, straight-forward and try to cut through the fluff and get to the point. That’s why I have moved on from corporate America where the politics and bureaucracy stifles momentum. When I read about health care “reform” and see the maneuvering, it makes my blood boil.
A few weeks ago, I was reading Newsweek and came across an article about health care reform. The graphic introduction summarized what to expect:
▪ You will be required to buy health insurance
▪ Exchanges will provide affordable plans
▪ You cannot be denied coverage based on a pre-existing condition
▪ “Cadillac” plans may be eliminated
▪ Your kids can stay on your insurance longer
▪ Costs will be capped
▪ The government may help you pay your premiums
▪ Medical drug benefits will improve
▪ Riskier customers cannot be charged astronomical premiums
▪ Medicaid will service more people
Well, it sure sounds like a little something for everyone. It’s a program all right. There is what I will call a “consumers bill of health care rights” but, there is nothing really about reform. And, reform in my books includes accountability. Accountability by the vendors, providers AND patients. 
I spent some time in the benefits area of health care and still get Employee Benefits News, a publication that does a good job of presenting various issues and a range of views. I found the following article in the December 2009 edition. Health care reform in six steps – well, not maybe steps, but definitely what needs to be fixed and the stakeholders of accountability.
What does this have to do with SMART business? Hmmmm….you tell me.
A fix in six – Six steps to achieve cost-effective health care reform
By Christy Yaccarino
From the December 2, 2009 issue of Employee Benefit News located at
Much has been said about how best to reform the U.S. health care system. Yet, for all the opinions and proposals, I haven’t seen one that truly makes sense.
There are pieces of each proposal that are great ideas, but we have to take those pieces and put them together to formulate a plan that makes sense. Most politicians don’t fully understand the health care system and the staggering costs that employers face year after year as they cover their employees.
Yet most employees, and most Americans overall, are happy with their health care – they just want it to cost less. It’s possible to control costs while keeping the employer based health insurance model in place by following my six steps to health care reform – six steps that don’t total anywhere near the $1 trillion pricetag of current proposals….