May 22nd, 2010
You should take a look at the vaccine song on you tube.
My mom used to work in a polio ward before polio vaccine was invented. She told me horrible stories about watching kids die. I don’t doubt that there are vaccine manufacturers who have been less than 100% careful in their production. I don’t doubt that some vaccines have been released before they were thoroughly tested. I imagine there is such a thing as over-vaccinating children. But it is also clear to me that some horrible illnesses like polio, small pox and TB have stopped being the heartbreaking family destroying killers that they once were.
As a business speaker, I would not want to develop some new material about risk management that uses the resurgence of polio as a lesson in disregarding the potential impact of risks we assumed had passed. We do need vigilance and persistence to make sure former risks do not become future risks.
Tags: illness, polio, small pox, TB, vaccine
Posted in business speaker, health care debate, people, politics | Comments Off
March 23rd, 2010
As a business speaker, I am always amused and sometimes appalled at hearing legislators, board members and committee members speak their minds. Clearly the nation’s health care system needed big changes. Did we get the changes we needed? Do we even know what we needed? Will the issues of quality of care and preventative activities get the prominence they deserve?
If you listen to what the people say who did not support this bill, we have just thrown our nation and our collective futures to the dogs. That seems a little over-reactive to me. My impression is that the party out of power tends to spend more time posturing than anything else.
It reminds me of playing street hockey back in Brooklyn when I was a kid. There was this one guy from a few blocks over who liked to play hockey against my block. He was always starting fights and being a sore loser. One time he skated hard at me to try and check me against a parked car. You see the cars parked in the street served as our “boards”. He missed me because I moved out of his way. He slammed into the car and crashed all over himself, falling to the street. He jumped up and started yelling about how he hit me hard and I went down and I was a sore loser. I had to laugh out loud. But after a few minutes of his speech, a few kids thought he had actually checked me to the street, even though they saw what happened.
Politics, like street hockey, has some odd moments.
Tags: brooklyn, business, cars, dogs, health care bill, hockey, legislators
Posted in Management, business speaker, dogs, health care debate, marketing, people, personal growth | Comments Off
November 8th, 2009
I have been talking to a few people about health care and health insurance issues recently. I heard one business owner tell of a new plan he is putting in place. It will not have co-pays. I will be a simple plan that kicks in with coverage after an employee spends $1,500 out of pocket for an individual or $3,000 for the family for the year. The company will also set up a health spending account to allow people to pay this amount with pretax dollars. The plan will cost the same as their former plan that had co-pays and prescription drug discounts. At first blush his makes sense. It seems simplified and sensible. But if you do the math, those people who do not use much health care in a normal year will not only be paying the same level of premium as last year, but will also have to come up with another $1,000 or $2,000 to pay out of pocket. For most working people who live paycheck to paycheck and who spend 101% of income anyway, this will be difficult. Maybe it is the best structure to keep unnecessary usage of health services at a minimum, but it may also cause people to stop spending on normal check-ups and preventative care, hoping to use the insurance only for a big event. It is hard to say how it would eventually take shape. If I had an executive coaching client who brought me in to give guidance on choosing a new health care plan, it could get complicated. No matter which way you go with it, there will be some pain of adjustment and some additional cost. I think if I were designing a health care plan, it would involve involve a weekly message for everyone and a daily nap. Maybe you can help me put it together? Maybe a public speaking campaign extolling the virtues of massages and naps is in the works. In any case, I can assure you that whatever new health care plans come about in the near future, we will all only be partially happy.
Tags: health plans, massage
Posted in health care debate, personal growth, politics | Comments Off
October 1st, 2009
The health-care debate ,or should I say argument, continues. I am in favor of private enterprise creating wealth. That is why I am involved in private enterprise: I am determined to create wealth for my circle. But isn’t part of the health care problem the fact that wealth is created by procedures and treatments, not by people being healthy? What would our health care system look like if the economic incentive was built on health and well being…and there was a dis-incentive to illness, treatment and procedures? Perhaps the healthcare plan should be built around everyone getting a massage twice a month and walking 3 miles four times a week?
The problem is that everyone bears the burden of the costs of treating sick and injured people. We either pay through higher insurance rates, higher taxes or higher service fees. For example, if someone chooses not to wear a helmet while riding a motorcycle and dumps the bike, you and I bear the cost of fixing those skull fractures. How is that fair?
So how do we build a system that makes the medical community wealthy when people are healthy? How do we build a system that costs the least to consumers, when they are eating well, exercising regularly, getting plenty of rest and doing their stretching and relaxation exercises?
Tags: healthcare, motorcycles
Posted in health care debate | Comments Off
