Sunday, September 13, 2009
Healthcare Reform hits home!
As many of you know I work for a medical device company - BBraun Medical. As congressional leaders continue to reach for anything that might gain traction in the health care debate - they are now considering a tax on medical manufacturing companies to the tune of $40 Billion. OK this makes a lot of sense...lets tax the evil capitalist medical device companies because they are rich and can afford it. Guess what folks, even if this is the case(and it's NOT), what do we all know will happen when companies are faced with increased cost? They raise their prices! This idiotic idea that taxing health care companies will somehow reduce the cost of medicine is classic liberal mentality to "tax the rich" and "spread the wealth". Ultimately it leads to higher costs and a system more broken than before.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Thoughts on Healthcare reform and HR3200 specifically.
Does America need Healthcare Reform? Is HR3200 the right kind of reform?
Yes and no. First of all if you have not read HR3200 yet – you should. Just Google HR3200 and download the bill in .PDF format. Do it today and read it.
There are a few things that get lost in all the bickering and fighting going on with this issue. So let’s make a few points. First, every single person in America – even illegal immigrants are currently covered catastrophically. What does that mean? You can currently walk into any state funded or city funded hospital in America and receive medical attention and anything else you need. Recently many private facilities have adopted the “do not turn away” approach as well. Technically speaking the U.S. does offer healthcare coverage for every person in the country. The questions arise when discussing issues like routine exams, physicals, and ongoing medical conditions like cancer and other illnesses.
America does need reform in this area, I would agree. However what we really need is insurance reform, tort reform and pharmaceutical reform. Without these three things – nothing else works. Any healthcare plan that does not include reform in these areas is doomed to failure. Ah, but there is a major challenge: The attorney lobby owns the democrats and the insurance lobby owns the republicans – so we have old fashioned Washington grid lock. What lacks is the leadership to make both sides give enough to pull this off and make it work.
What we know for sure is that Medicare is just about totally bankrupt and even President Obama himself said the system has about ten more years to live. So do we really want a government run healthcare plan – when they can’t even keep the one we have solvent? Anything the government tries to manage becomes the deep dark whole in which billions of dollars flow into and we just never seem to get the ROI that is expected. We need key leadership to make the changes necessary to create the kind of change this country really needs. A government run healthcare plan is NOT the way to go. And certainly not a single payer healthcare plan.
OK, so what do we do about the roughly 46 million Americans or 15% of the population that do not have healthcare coverage? This group is mostly made up of people in their 20’s and older folks who are pre-Medicare ages. The younger ones I am not as worried about because they are basically healthy and other than catastrophic things (of which are covered) they will probably get along just fine until they can afford healthcare coverage. The older folks are who I worry about because they are having heart trouble and getting cancer and other diseases. We could in fact lower the age for Medicare eligibility to say 50 and capture all those folks in this category. Obviously it would require a re-structuring of Medicare so it can remain solvent – but it is an option with an existing plan that is already in place.
So let’s look at those three key areas I discussed up top. Insurance reform; why are insurance rates and certain coverage’s completely out of line and in some cases not covered at all? Lawsuits. Because of the out of control casino style judgments in many of these frivolous lawsuits – doctors are forced to order way more tests than they should or normally would – just to cover themselves in case something is missed. In the 90’s they were dubbed “lawsuit Millionairs”. There are doctors that I know personally – surgeons, OBGYN’s and others who pay in excess of $500,000 per year for malpractice insurance – that is crazy! Lawsuits with HUGE judgements drive up the cost of healthcare astronomically.
Next we need to bring the margins down on these ridiculously high drug costs. I know that drug companies have overhead and development costs - but lets face it - by not allowing other companies to have access to patented formulas, and the drug companies ability to keep them locked up for X many years, leads to overtly high drug costs. All they have to do is shorten the time frame before drugs go "generic" and that will solve that issue. Generic drugs are cheap - problem solved. Right now drug companies hold patent rights on drugs for 7-10 years. Just shorten that time to 3 years.
So this then brings me full circle to the leadership issue. President Obama needs to take a page from a recent great leader before him and look to what worked and rallied both parties and all of America to embrace MAJOR change. Do you remember the Tax Reform Act of 1986?
In 1986, Ronald Reagan and Bill Bradley were able to create a legislative miracle. They created a tax reform that stripped loopholes, political favors, payoffs, patronage and other corruptions out of the tax system. With the resulting savings, they lowered tax rates across the board. Those reductions, combined with the elimination of the enormous inefficiencies and ridiculous incentives that go into tax sheltering, helped propel a 20-year economic boom. The current proposed health care plan HR3200 proposes to fix our extremely high-quality (but inefficient and therefore expensive) health-care system with 1,000 pages of additional complexity -- employer mandates, individual mandates, insurance company mandates, allocation formulas, political payoffs and myriad other conjured regulations and interventions -- with the promise that this massive concoction will lower costs. It needs to be stripped and simplified NOT made more complex....Dems and Repubs alike rallied behind Reagan and his reforms - because they were true reforms not added government bureaucracy. This is what this country needs and what scares me about the proposed healthcare plan.
America needs a strong leader now more than ever - I guess this is where I want President Obama to step up and be the leader I think he could be and abolish the grid lock! It's this very kind of stalemate that will continue to eat up cost and NOT solve the real issues.
Yes and no. First of all if you have not read HR3200 yet – you should. Just Google HR3200 and download the bill in .PDF format. Do it today and read it.
There are a few things that get lost in all the bickering and fighting going on with this issue. So let’s make a few points. First, every single person in America – even illegal immigrants are currently covered catastrophically. What does that mean? You can currently walk into any state funded or city funded hospital in America and receive medical attention and anything else you need. Recently many private facilities have adopted the “do not turn away” approach as well. Technically speaking the U.S. does offer healthcare coverage for every person in the country. The questions arise when discussing issues like routine exams, physicals, and ongoing medical conditions like cancer and other illnesses.
America does need reform in this area, I would agree. However what we really need is insurance reform, tort reform and pharmaceutical reform. Without these three things – nothing else works. Any healthcare plan that does not include reform in these areas is doomed to failure. Ah, but there is a major challenge: The attorney lobby owns the democrats and the insurance lobby owns the republicans – so we have old fashioned Washington grid lock. What lacks is the leadership to make both sides give enough to pull this off and make it work.
What we know for sure is that Medicare is just about totally bankrupt and even President Obama himself said the system has about ten more years to live. So do we really want a government run healthcare plan – when they can’t even keep the one we have solvent? Anything the government tries to manage becomes the deep dark whole in which billions of dollars flow into and we just never seem to get the ROI that is expected. We need key leadership to make the changes necessary to create the kind of change this country really needs. A government run healthcare plan is NOT the way to go. And certainly not a single payer healthcare plan.
OK, so what do we do about the roughly 46 million Americans or 15% of the population that do not have healthcare coverage? This group is mostly made up of people in their 20’s and older folks who are pre-Medicare ages. The younger ones I am not as worried about because they are basically healthy and other than catastrophic things (of which are covered) they will probably get along just fine until they can afford healthcare coverage. The older folks are who I worry about because they are having heart trouble and getting cancer and other diseases. We could in fact lower the age for Medicare eligibility to say 50 and capture all those folks in this category. Obviously it would require a re-structuring of Medicare so it can remain solvent – but it is an option with an existing plan that is already in place.
So let’s look at those three key areas I discussed up top. Insurance reform; why are insurance rates and certain coverage’s completely out of line and in some cases not covered at all? Lawsuits. Because of the out of control casino style judgments in many of these frivolous lawsuits – doctors are forced to order way more tests than they should or normally would – just to cover themselves in case something is missed. In the 90’s they were dubbed “lawsuit Millionairs”. There are doctors that I know personally – surgeons, OBGYN’s and others who pay in excess of $500,000 per year for malpractice insurance – that is crazy! Lawsuits with HUGE judgements drive up the cost of healthcare astronomically.
Next we need to bring the margins down on these ridiculously high drug costs. I know that drug companies have overhead and development costs - but lets face it - by not allowing other companies to have access to patented formulas, and the drug companies ability to keep them locked up for X many years, leads to overtly high drug costs. All they have to do is shorten the time frame before drugs go "generic" and that will solve that issue. Generic drugs are cheap - problem solved. Right now drug companies hold patent rights on drugs for 7-10 years. Just shorten that time to 3 years.
So this then brings me full circle to the leadership issue. President Obama needs to take a page from a recent great leader before him and look to what worked and rallied both parties and all of America to embrace MAJOR change. Do you remember the Tax Reform Act of 1986?
In 1986, Ronald Reagan and Bill Bradley were able to create a legislative miracle. They created a tax reform that stripped loopholes, political favors, payoffs, patronage and other corruptions out of the tax system. With the resulting savings, they lowered tax rates across the board. Those reductions, combined with the elimination of the enormous inefficiencies and ridiculous incentives that go into tax sheltering, helped propel a 20-year economic boom. The current proposed health care plan HR3200 proposes to fix our extremely high-quality (but inefficient and therefore expensive) health-care system with 1,000 pages of additional complexity -- employer mandates, individual mandates, insurance company mandates, allocation formulas, political payoffs and myriad other conjured regulations and interventions -- with the promise that this massive concoction will lower costs. It needs to be stripped and simplified NOT made more complex....Dems and Repubs alike rallied behind Reagan and his reforms - because they were true reforms not added government bureaucracy. This is what this country needs and what scares me about the proposed healthcare plan.
America needs a strong leader now more than ever - I guess this is where I want President Obama to step up and be the leader I think he could be and abolish the grid lock! It's this very kind of stalemate that will continue to eat up cost and NOT solve the real issues.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
A tough week!
Last week was a very difficult week for many reasons. Troubling, confusing, frustrating, tiring, numbing – all words to describe the week. I am sure there are more good words, but these are all that hit me at this moment. Much like the death of a close family member or a trusted friend – the emotions of last week left one feeling blah and tired. Perhaps because the folks involved were so close? Perhaps because so much was and is at stake? Perhaps because now, forever lives are changed – never to be quite the same again. What happened is not as important as what was learned from the experience. Clearly when something like this occurs it causes you to reflect and take account of your own life and your own values. Could this happen to me? Would I/could I allow this to happen in my own life? The answer is absolutely yes! We are all possessed with the human condition. We all fall short and occasionally fall down all together. So how do we respond? Clearly we are not in a position to judge seeing as this could easily happen to us. After the anger subsides then you must offer grace and mercy. The very same grace and mercy that God extends to us through Jesus Christ when we falter. After repentance comes healing. In the end this process brings hope! Hope that next week will be better, healing will occur, and life will continue! And sure enough it has and will the next time too. Thank you Lord for the grace you grant us all – help us to measure our fellow brothers and sisters as you measure us – and extend the same grace and mercy that you offer us when we fall down when we repent and beg your forgiveness.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Medical Device Industry
I have been involved in the Medical Device Manufacturing/Sales marketplace for over 20 years. What is great about this market sector is that it has always been a safe place to weather virtually every economic storm. Even in the tumultuous times we are now in, customers are still buying, upgrading and staying competitive. This is a good thing for the overall economy as well. People will always get sick and there needs to be stability in this sector in all times to support the illness's that besiege us from everywhere. In fact, in these times of high stress and fatigue, it could be argued that illness is even more rampant and to have stable health care is critical to the overall well being of our population. Yes, the rising costs of health care need to be evaluated and managed, however we must be very careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water. There are many things - in fact most things work very well in this industry. We need to look closely at those things that really drive up health care cost's and make adjustments where necessary. So what is one of those areas? TORT reform is HUGE? It is because of frivolous law suits and GINORMOUS settlements that have dramatically increased insurance rates and premiums. The reason people are uninsured is because they can't afford the insurance premiums. Insurance premiums are sky high because the insurance companies have to maintain stability - and when they lose HUGE settlements they have to re-coop their losses somewhere. The proverbial "brown stuff" floats down hill and ultimately lands squarely on each of our shoulders individually. Something to think about!
Monday, February 16, 2009
Red Dinner 2009!
Red Dinner has become a HUGE Valentines Day tradition at our house. Kelly began this tradition long ago when the kids were little with just a few red items served as part of the meal. Since that first meal it has progressed to EVERYTHING is red - including the red heart shaped butter, the red heart shaped ice cubes in the glasses, yes even red bread! This meal is a lot of fun. As Kelly admits however - it is a ton of work. Many of the red items need to be prepared in advance - like the butter and ice cubes. In recent years we have shared red dinner with family and friends and it always puts smiles on everyone's faces to see the final product. I am amazed at what this meal has evolved to over the years - and it is just one of the ways my amazing wife has continued to bring joy and laughter to this family. Her hard work and extra effort is our gain - she is truly an amazing lady with so much creative talent - it even comes out in the food she prepares on nights like red dinner night. Last night Kelly capped of the amazing red meal with little heart shaped red velvet cakes with red cream cheese icing - YUM! EVERYTHING is better with cream cheese icing. Hats off to Kelly for another successful and amazing red dinner - can't wait for next year!
Who am I?
I find myself asking this question more and more these days? There is so much "clutter" in the world telling us who we should be/need to be. So who am I? Why can't I have more, do more, be more? Why am I afraid to let others truly see who I am? But, if I don't even know who I am - maybe that's where the fear lies? Why am I so controlling? Why do I always have to win the argument? Why do I struggle with my ability to surrender it all to God? Surrender seems like loss, like becoming less - only "losers" surrender! Once again I find myself caught up in the the worlds interpretation/translation of surrender. What does God's interpretation of surrender look like?
Who is my argument with anyway? Is my argument with God? Perhaps I am just arguing with myself? I want to have it all, be all, do all, end all - Am I trying to be god?
A.W. Tozer said, “The reason why many are still troubled, still seeking, still making little forward progress is because they haven’t yet come to the end of themselves. We’re still trying to give orders, and interfering with God’s work within us.”
WOW, there it is - control - who has control? We think we do, but in reality it is only a facade - our own reality, not reality. We have no control. Life happens and we are unable to control it or stop it. We say, "let go and let God" - but somehow for some reason we always take the reigns back from God.
Reading some C.S. Lewis recently caused me to realize that my thoughts are certainly not new - He struggled with these issues too? Once again I am reminded that life is about the struggle not about the destiny. There is no such thing as "winning at the end" - it's about winning one day at a time, by submitting all to God each and every day. And then perhaps we begin to see our true selves emerge as the whole human that God intends us to be....maybe some day I will get this....someday, but today I have things I must get done....
C. S. Lewis observed, “The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become – because he made us.He invented all the different people that you and I were intended to be. It is when I turn to Christ, when I give up myself to His personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own.”
Who is my argument with anyway? Is my argument with God? Perhaps I am just arguing with myself? I want to have it all, be all, do all, end all - Am I trying to be god?
A.W. Tozer said, “The reason why many are still troubled, still seeking, still making little forward progress is because they haven’t yet come to the end of themselves. We’re still trying to give orders, and interfering with God’s work within us.”
WOW, there it is - control - who has control? We think we do, but in reality it is only a facade - our own reality, not reality. We have no control. Life happens and we are unable to control it or stop it. We say, "let go and let God" - but somehow for some reason we always take the reigns back from God.
Reading some C.S. Lewis recently caused me to realize that my thoughts are certainly not new - He struggled with these issues too? Once again I am reminded that life is about the struggle not about the destiny. There is no such thing as "winning at the end" - it's about winning one day at a time, by submitting all to God each and every day. And then perhaps we begin to see our true selves emerge as the whole human that God intends us to be....maybe some day I will get this....someday, but today I have things I must get done....
C. S. Lewis observed, “The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become – because he made us.He invented all the different people that you and I were intended to be. It is when I turn to Christ, when I give up myself to His personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own.”
Saturday, February 14, 2009
The newly passed "spending bill", er I mean stimulus package...
How can anyone stay quiet on this subject? Where is all the discussion about this new “spending bill” that congress passed this week? This is NOT a discussion about Democrat or Republican – liberal vs conservative; this is a common sense discussion about right and wrong? This is the largest most massive bill EVER passed in these
The issue and the discussion here is NOT about whether this “stimulus” package will work or not – unfortunately we won’t know for a while – so this is not the point of this discussion. The point for me is that this new president promised us transparency and clarity, honesty and openness. So far we have not seen that demonstrated by this administration. Where is the transparency? Where is his leadership to stand up to the fellow democrats who loaded this bill with pork spending? There are 100’s of items in this bill that have nothing to do with stimulus and everything to do with the normal spending that this congress has been so anxious to get to.
I for one am hopeful that I am completely wrong about this bill. I hope somehow it works because we desperately need it to work. But here’s the deal, just like everything else in life – when something is hidden, or accomplished in the dark – then it is probably not something worthy to be illuminated – but rather should be exposed to the light so that all can bear witness to it’s real purpose. Full transparency, full disclosure, letting full light illuminate all the details – isn’t this what we all need to be about?
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