Free Our Health Care WOW!!

Over the past almost 60 days, the link to the “Free Our Health Care NOW” petition has been the 5th most clicked link out of the 200 or so postings on this site.  Which means you (if you were one of them) helped contribute to the over 1,012,000 signatures to date on the petition.  I first stumbled across the petition in Forbes Magazine in early June, and several radio talk show hosts have helped blow the doors off this thing by encouraging folks to give some thought to their health care as well as the general and future health of our nation. 

Like a snowball down the side of a mountain, the engagement of the American public in the discussion around their future health care has been profound in my opinion, and the snowball has an enormous amount of momentum which will hopefully influence, in a positive and productive manner, the ultimate outcome of the debate.

If you have already taken a look at the petition and it represents a vision of healthcare with which you approve, I would encourage you to share it with as many friends and colleagues as possible (please feel free to send the link to this posting or straight to the petition).  If you have not yet seen the petition, have a look below and you can take it on your own from their.  Be a part of keeping  the momentum going through September and as long as the debate continues.

Over 1 million signatures.  I would say this is definitely a Free Our Health Care WOW kind of moment.

http://www.freeourhhealthcarenow.com

Health Savings Account Heresay – A Note To Congress

For the past couple of years I’ve heard the Democrats don’t like Health Savings Accounts because they feel like Republicans and the Bush Administration crammed HSAs down their throats.  Now I don’t know any of our nation’s Senators or Representatives, but I do know what it is like in business to have things crammed down one’s throat.  It leaves a bad and memorable taste in ones mouth, even, if fundamentally, I understand the concept and perhaps can acknowledge that whatever the medicine is, is not totally bad.

Many Democrats and policy advocates have ripped high deductible health plans and HSAs as not being “the solution” to our countries healthcare woes because these plans encourage individuals to ignore their health for fear of actually having to pay for their healthcare.  Although the the first part of the answer above is totally a political play (because no one; not Bush, the Republicans, or HSA advocates have ever suggested that HDHPs and HSAs are “The Solution” to the nation’s healthcare challenges), there is some logic and truth to the second half of their argument for some people.

On one hand, myself as an example, I have used my situation (former corporate geek, now independent businessman and still geek) to become educated about my health insurance options, to become involved in my health from the perspective of starting and maintaining an exercise and and improved nutrition regimen in order to reduce my demand for healthcare.  On the other hand, there are others, who, if not forced to save for their healthcare every day through their employer or through individual plans with very low deductibles; at times of need, they will not have enough money to pay for basic healthcare for themselves and their family.  In these instances, healthcare is not a priority until it is needed.  And then, unless pre-paid, it is burdensomely unaffordable.

I think one thing Congress, The President, and healthcare policy wonks alike could agree upon is that we are a nation as a whole that does not value wellness.  We do not educate our children particularly well when it comes to basic nutrition nor do our public and private institutions lead by example in terms of what we feed our children  (have you been to your kids school cafeteria lately?).   We are not educated to monitor our bodies for early signs of greater problems down the road.  We are not given much incentive to understand the true costs of our own healthcare or that of our children.  I also think our Congress and policy makers would probably agree  it would be their preference for individuals to participate, at a greater level, in their own healthcare than is done on average today.   

Perhaps to some people HDHPs along with HSAs taste like bad medicine.  But as a tool to better health and greater responsibility, they are proving to be effective.  Not in absolute terms for every single person, but overall data is showing they work. 

As the debate around healthcare continues, I would challenge those in Congress who likely agree with the comments above privately, but who perhaps have drawn a line in the sand politically, to step back and look at the fundamentals of what HDHPs, HSAs and CDH offer.  Then figure out how to take something that is logical and sound, but maybe a political mutt, and put their own stamp of improvement on it.  They have the power to make it a more universal tool.  It can benefit more people to not only participate  more actively in their own health and wellness but to also give more people greater protection when events and circumstances occur in their lives that require more than they have.

I think it is time for those who have stood politically against consumer driven health to pick up a shovel full of sugar to make this medicine go down better for all.

What is the one thing Congress, the President and the Big Lebowski have in common?

 

Gutterballs….

Stimulus, healthcare, political appointmnets, bailouts, energy, education, the economy, you name it; it is totally surreal.  I look at these guys and gals on TV and all I see is “The Dude.”

But the thing is, if I want to see The Dude, I can rent the movie.  Blockbuster or NetFlix would be happy to let me have it for a few bucks.  And if you’ve never seen it, it’s worth a watch for most, a religion for some, and just plain head scratching to the rest. 

For a little refresher, check out the  youtube clip below.  If it’s gone before you get to see it, apologies.  Go rent it.