Author: greg@seek1st

Health Care Reform: What’s the PROBLEM?

Don’t read that title wrong–I’m not saying there isn’t a problem. I firmly believe there is. But I’m not sure we’re going about solving it properly.

In any problem-solving process I’m familiar with, the first step is defining the problem. This step is critical, but often not properly performed. Poorly defined problems result in misguided solutions.

Our politicians are presenting lots of solutions, but I’ve yet to hear a clearly defined problem statment. “America’s health care system is broke” is not a problem statement. What’s broke? What are we trying to fix? What will it look like when we fix it?

Without a clearly defined problem statement, we’re almost assuredly going to fail in any attempt to fix the problem. So, What’s the PROBLEM???

To get the discussion started, here’s my attempt:

Adequate, affordable health care is not readily available to all US citizens.

Lots of weasel words in there, that need further definition. That would be the next step of clearly defining the problem. However, I don’t think we start with a solution (universal health insurance, government provided medicine, tort reform, etc) until we’ve agreed on the problem we’re trying to solve.

So, have at it. Take my attempt at a problem statement apart; post your own.

Health Care Reform-what WON’T work!

So what’s the answer? I know what’s not the answer: Demonizing either side, disruptive scare tactics, pithy sayings and talking points, or solutions concise enough that you can Tweet them. The rhetoric is nauseating. A real, positive solution is impossible to achieve the way the conversation has proceeded to this point. I’m talking to both sides.

I honestly think the President is doing a relatively good job trying to move a major issue forward, and trying to do so in a constructive way. Does he have an agenda–OF COURSE HE DOES! If he didn’t have one, what good would he be as a leader? Is it an evil agenda, a negative agenda–I don’t think so. Am I saying he’s right? No! (I’m not saying he’s wrong either–I’m saying I disagree with his proposals as presented. That’s fundamentally different than saying he’s wrong). He’s at least trying to have an intelligent conversation. Is he engaging in the mudslinging? Yes, but it’d be hard to avoid. When the nitwit Republican Senator DeMint made the statement “If we are to stop Obama on this, it would be his Waterloo. It will break him”, it’s pretty hard to fault the President for fighting back.

I mean, come on…what’s the priority here??? Fix health care, or “break” the President? If it’s the latter, we may have bigger problems than health care reform. Who among us, when trying to do our job overheard someone saying “this is our chance to break him” wouldn’t fight back? That statement wasn’t about health care, it was about the ugliest form of party politics–not standing for anything, simply opposing the person currently in power in order to depose him in order to gain that power for yourself.

The proponents of the President’s plan don’t get a pass from me either. Speaker Pelosi, among others, has characterized those who express an opposing opinion as uninformed, and even unpatriotic. Both sides appear to be focused more on defending their position and attacking those who disagree, than they do about solving problems.

Let’s get back to discussing the details, honestly evaluating the pros and cons, and proposing possible solutions, instead of calling the other side names, and labeling their ideas with inflamatory words that don’t add any value to the debate.

Health Care Reform: Part 2

The other side of the coin: As stated in my previous post, I think what we have now needs some fixing. However, I’m not at all convinced that government-run health care is the answer. As a recipient of government-run health care for all my adult life, I appreciate the price, but it’s not the best service you can receive. Not to badmouth military health care at all, just acknowledging the limits of what they can do given their budgets, regulatory constraints, etc. And I believe the military does a much better job running their health care than any other government agency would–DoD is strongly incentivized to take good care of their most valuable resource (servicemembers), and the people in military treatment facilities take a great deal of pride in honoring our retirees’ service by treating them well. I don’t thing you’re going to get that same kind of service from the Federal Health Care Bureaucracy, whose charter would be to take care of Joe SixPack. I don’t think there’s too many good examples of socialized medicine providing better care than what we have in the US today for the majority of people.

I also don’t believe the government can be more efficent at running a business than the private sector. I’m not saying that the market should be allowed to resolve this itself. A pure market will achieve maximum efficiency, but it’s ruthless, and health care is not the place for ruthless. Also, what we have today is far from a pure market. There’s already a lot of government regulation, insurance expense, welfare programs, etc, that keep the market from resolving this issue itself. But I think this is not an instance where the government needs to take over the operation. That makes sense for certain services (national defense, interstate commerce, primary education, fire protection, etc). I think a strong argument can be made that medical care doesn’t fit that the criteria to justify government operation.

Let’s talk about Health Care Reform! Yaay! :)

OK, I’m really frustrated on this one. I’m torn in different directions.

On the one hand, The system’s not working well. Costs are out of control; and it’s a death-spiral. A lot of people can’t afford quality health care, so they go without. And they continue to go without until their health deteriorates to the point they have to do something about it. Then they’re often forced to destroy their finances, or take advantage of treatment policies that say that hospitals can’t turn away critically ill, or rely on government programs. It’s demoralizing, depressing, and it’s destroying lives, physically and emotionally. It’s also a drag on our economy. Preventative health care, like preventative car maintenance, is much cheaper than catastrophic treatment. And ultimately others pick up the cost of that catastrophic treatment for those who can’t afford their own care.

This one is kinda personal. I’ve got a very close friend who’s battling for his life. He DOES have insurance, but his out of pocket expenses are still bankrupting him. And he’s too proud to take help from others, so he’s probably going to take himself off the transplant list. His reasoning? He can’t afford the debt himself, and if he keeps working till he dies, his employer-paid life insurance will take care of his current debt load, instead of burdening his family even further to get the life-saving operation. Not at all rational, but it shows what this kind of long-term stress can do to an intelligent human being.

Our nation should be able to provide better health care to our citizens (note I said “nation”, not necessarily “government”).

Today wraps up our vacation at Disneyworld, which bills itself as “The Happiest Place on Earth” and the place “Where All Your Dreams Come True.” it’s neither. Don’t get me wrong…I had a great time, but it was because I was here with my wife and daughter. That’s my Happiest Place on Earth-where my family is.

This place also made me think. I posted earlier about the riches spent to build this place. It IS impressive. We’re watching the nighttime parade at the Magic Kingdom. The showmanship, attention to detail, and excellence exhibited by the Disney organization should inspire each of us in our own jobs. I know–we’d all work hard and settle for nothing less than excellence if we worked at Disneyworld. Wrong! Some of these tourists are NOT happy–they’re downright mean and angry! But the “cast” always responds cheerfully. I wish I always had that attitude at work.

The design and engineering are also amazing! If you pay attention, you notice all sorts of details that make this place beyond the ordinary. In Animal Kingdom, the concrete paths look like real dirt trails, right down to the boot prints and bike tracks formed into it. They do the little things with excellence, not just the big things.

However, in the end, the experience left me feeling unfulfilled. I’ve wanted to go to Disneyworld since it opened. I imagined it to be magical. It’s not. It’s…nice. But for me, it’s turned into a metaphor for all the temporal things that we desire…Disneyworld as kids, and later cars, money, jobs, power, or prestige as adults. IF we ever attain them, we realize they aren’t all we imagined. We wind up unfulfilled. Like King Solomon said (a man who had it ALL by any measure of worldly success):

“Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.” Ecclesiastes 1:2

In the end, I agree with Solomon. Theres only one thing in this life that brings true fulfillment. If you don’t want to read his whole treatise on the emptiness of worldly success, you can skip to the ending, at Ecclesiastes 12:13.

Excuse me now while I watch the fireworks.

Communication thoughts…

Two quick thoughts before we head out for the day in Disney World. Both come from communications that I didn’t need to do, and could have very easily not initiated:

1) Talk about the uncomfortable things with the people that are really important. It’s much easier to bottle them up, and let them set. That’s how vinegar is made. It’s not going to be good for your long-term relationship, or for you.

2) Take the time to do those dumb little things for other people, even when you think it might be corny, or a waste of their time. God has a way of prompting YOU to do something that turns out to be what someone else needs, just when they need it. Most of the time, you don’t even get to know that you made a positive impact on that person at that particular time. Sometimes you do, if nothing else because they write you a note and let you know. So the next time God brings someone to mind for you to send a note to, or a gift, or just to call and say “hi, how’s it going?”, do it. You may be the difference in their day. And who knows–their note of “thanks” may be just what you needed to hear when you heard it.

Kinda cool how God works all that out in our lives, if we’re only willing to cooperate, huh?

Greetings from Disneyworld! We just arrived here after 2 days at a leadership conference in Orlando. The conference was an awesome opportunity to hear several great speakers discussing radical ideas to have influence in our changing world.

Four hour later i’m riding a monorail in a fantasyland. This is my first time here, and it’s overwhelming. Too many choices! We’ll be here for three and a half days, and there’s no way to experience it all. It’s hard to reconcile the news of unemployment, poverty, and suffering in our news today with the luxury and unlimited riches on display here. Two thoughts:

1) Americans in general have had it so good for so long that we (I’m certainly one in that “we”) don’t know what real poverty and suffering looks or feels like;

2) It’s hard to believe our economy’s in terrible shape when you see how much we spend on having fun. Or is that part of the cause of our economy’s terrible shape?

Why does my daughter have a constitutional right …

In the state of Alaska, my 16 year old daughter has a “constitutional right” to an abortion without my notification or consent, but she has to have my permission to:
-register for school
-get a tylenol from the school nurse
-get her driver’s license
-receive any other medical procedure other than an abortion

She can’t even get married without my consent! In our state, if she were 14 or 15, she would require a court order to allow her to marry, but she can get an abortion (if she were pregnant-probably should have stated that earlier!) without anyone’s approval.

This “right” was determined by our state Supreme Court when it ruled in 2007 that a 1997 law requiring parental consent for minors to have an abortion was an unconstitutional violation of the minor’s right to privacy.

Our legislature has attempted to pass a new law addressing the Court’s concerns. Additionally, a citizens’ initiative has just been approved for the ballot, making it illegal to perform an abortion on a minor without parental consent. That initiative is being challenged in court by Planned Parenthood.

Set aside your position on abortion for a minute. Does this make sense? We grant parents almost unlimited access to all aspects of a child’s life, and in fact parents are expected to make decisions for minors in all other major aspects of their life. Why not when making decisions regarding dealing with an unplanned pregnancy? Certainly this has to be a traumatic time in the young girl’s life. Fears, emotions, societal pressures all crashing around in her head, and this time she doesn’t need her parents’ support?

I have some theories on the why, but I’ll hold off. I want to understand the full spectrum of positions on this issue. Your thoughts?

An object lesson in understanding?

While working on my post about anger, I ran across this article, which, as is typical with how my brain works, led me down this rabbit trail. So here is a post spawned by a post:

FT.com / UK – Obama retreats on police ‘stupidity’ in Gates race row:

“The furore(sic) over the Gates affair has divided opinion among US citizens, most of whom are as ignorant of all the facts of the incident as Mr Obama admitted he was”

I like the quote above from the London Financial Times article. I think it’s very telling, and in my mind reinforces one of the underlying concepts of “seek 1st”: Seek first to understand.

-President Obama made an arguably ill-considered statement when he characterized the officer’s actions as stupid. He probably did so based on a conversation with his friend (the Harvard Professor who was arrested in his own home, arguably because of his own angry behavior). Who among us hasn’t responded rashly and with righteous indignation, when one of our friends relates how they have been wronged by some powerful entity?

-The media: I first heard of this story while working in my office cafeteria, with the TV on in the background, tuned to a cable news network. The passionate anchors were nearly hyperventilating over some issue, and I was concerned, so I started listening. They did a pretty good job of trying to represent both sides of the issue, but first and foremost, they were getting wound up, and getting their audience wound up, because the President said something rash, that proved to be inflamatory.

-The American public responded (or at least that portion which was covered by the national media–did we get a true picture or not?). No matter which side each individual came down on, they landed quickly on a position, and then defended it with ferocity.

One of the fundamental truths, in my mind, that was missed, by the failure of all concerned to seek understanding first, was that the President reacted to the situation like just about any American would- he opened his mouth and stated his opinion, without performing due diligence to know all the facts. Biggest difference is that unlike most of the rest of us, Mr. Obama has a microphone under his chin 24 hours a day, and his words, rightly or wrongly, are soon broadcast to most of the world.

Aren’t you glad you don’t have to live under that kind of microscope? I think I would vacillate constantly between “I’m not saying anything, so they don’t have anything to villify me over” to “This is stupid, I’m going to say what’s on my mind, and quit worrying about what everybody thinks.”

I’ll admit: I don’t know all the details either, so I’m as guilty as the rest of us–

I guess that’s part of my point?

Why are we so angry?

A quick glance at the cable news channels, the local newspaper website (what do we call it once they stop producing a paper?), a drive around town, or a conversation with co-workers, all seem to yield a similar underlying sentiment:

anger

Have you noticed it? Am I mischaracterizing it?

It took me a while to come up with this analysis, and I acknowledge that I may be incorrect. But, here are some examples:

-The nation’s response to our President’s recent statement about the actions of a police officer in New England.

-The response of some local forum commenters to an article about ConocoPhillips’ quarterly financial statement release (they were highly offended at the “dismal” returns of $1.3 billion-never mind that it was a return on investment of less than 4%)

-The response of many in my home state of Alaska, and throughout our nation, to our recently resigned Governor’s actions of, well, everything. For those of you who missed it, she stepped into the national spotlight about 8 months ago as the Republican candidate for VP. She was adored by half the country, and despised by half.

  • Many here were angry that she left the state to campaing for VP.
  • Upon her defeat, many were angry at her for returning to be Governor.
  • After a tumultuous half-year, she resigned from being Governor, angering many (including those who were angry at her for being Governor?).
  • After being elected in part on a promise of being open and transparent, she was chastized for having a private e-mail account that she apparently used to govern in private.
  • Upon establishing a Twitter account, she was chastized by many for sharing what she was thinking.

-The reaction of a local driver the other day, who after crossing three lanes of traffic to cut me off, made it a point to LEAN OVER TO THE PASSENGER SIDE WINDOW in order to ensure I saw his one-fingered salute when I changed lanes to pass him?

As you might be able to detect from my points above, I don’t approve of these examples. Am I angry? Yeah, kinda. I guess I’m frustrated, more than angry. Why are we so angry about everything?