Blog Entries tagged 'politics'

Who Is Regina Herzlinger?

shades — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:00:00 +0100

For starters, she speaks our language. And that is the language of Consumer Driven Healthcare. A brief expose' of her positions are outlined in the December 22 edition of Business Week and worth a read. If time is tight, keep reading below for a summary and maybe even a few thoughts of our own (maybe).

Regina Herzlinger is a professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and she advocates neither government nor employer based healthcare. [...]

Why is Healthcare So Friggin' Expensive? Reason # 11

shades — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 22:00:00 +0100

Last month we posted an article that hit on the "Unscientific Top Ten Reasons Why Healthcare is So Expensive." Today we are here to offer you unscientific reason #11.

The U.S. Government doesn't trust you any further than they can throw you.

HDHPs and HSAs, by nature should save you money over traditional health insurance. BUT, the Government in all its wisdom/paranoia does what they can to undermine their efficiencies.

In this case, they passed some leg [...]

What The Heck Is E-Health?

shades — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:00:00 +0100

So if I lay down on top of my computer, is it somehow going to make me healthy? Or maybe if I spend 8 hours a day doing health related Google, Yahooo, MSN or some other search engine searches, will that make me more e-healthy? Perhaps if I stick my hand in the VCR and push play, that will give me a nice jolt of Electronic Health?

The answer is "D." None of the above.

E-health is one of those terms we hear all the time, but maybe aren't quite sure what it [...]

How The Pinch Stole Healthcare.

shades — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:00:00 +0100

Every Blue down in Blueville liked Healthcare a lot...

But the Pinch, who lived to the left of Healthcare did NOT!

The Pinch hated Healthcare, the whole Healthcare system!

Just don't ask why, only he had the wisdom.

It could be his head was screwed on to the left,

It could be his ears were plugged up and deaf.

But I think the most likely reason of all,

Was that he thought the Blues brains were much much too small.

But whatever t [...]

Goodbye Joe the Plumber. Hello Dan the Street Super.

shades — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 22:00:00 +0100

Dan Crowell represents the changing face of health and healthcare in America. Dan is the street superintendent for the city of Lafayette, Indiana. Now I don't know Dan but I read about him JConline.com, the online edition of the Journal Courier Newspapers of Lafayette and West Lafayette Indiana.

Both cities, faced with ever rising healthcare costs have joined together to save money on health insurance and to promote healthier employees. One of the keys to their st [...]

Beans, Tea Parties, Witch Trials - Massachusetts Healthcare Reform 2009

shades — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:00:00 +0100

About the only things I know about Massachusetts have to do with beans (Blazing Saddles), a bunch of whiteys dressed up as Indians (wonder if they were wearing wigs?), and burning witches at the stake (now that's hot).

Being from the Deep South, my purview of the rest of the country is somewhat narrow, and I suppose for every one of us, there is enough history, news, and politics in our own states to keep up narrowly focused and narrowly minded for a lifetime. Thank God, [...]

Reading The Tea Leaves Of Obama's Healthcare Reform

shades — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:00:00 +0100

One thing everyone agreed on regarding the Obama presidential campaign was that he picked his messages and stuck to them. And one of the ones that stuck to me, in fact, with all the media coverage I felt like it was nailed to me with a hammer and sixteen penny nails, was the notion that if you liked the health plan your employer offered you could keep it, but if you didn't you could have the same insurance federal employees enjoy. And for employers if they didn't [...]

Politically Speaking, Is There A Middle Ground In Healthcare?

shades — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:00:00 +0100

Ron Klar, a guy way smarter than me when it comes to healthcare, the healthcare debate and fixing the problems related to our Nation's ills, wrote a terrific article just before the election entitled, AmericarePlans: A McCain-Obama Hybrid Proposal posted on Health Affairs, The Policy Journal of the Health Sphere. Being the last guy on the grape vine, it took awhile for me to intersect with his article.

I'm not going to regurgitate the article here as it is much bett [...]

I Heart Health Care For America Now...

shades — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:00:00 +0100

....NOT!

I saw a humorous YouTube video which led me down an interesting path of reflection and reinforced the extremes in thinking some people have on healthcare in America. Healthcare is a complicated social issue, and to the best of my knowledge there is only one only perfect solution. And that's perfect health.

I've included the video here as it is humorous, but I present it with a large caveat. Health insurance in America is in [...]

Why Is Healthcare So Expensive? The Unscientific Top Ten Reasons Why.

shades — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 23:00:00 +0100

I have an HDHP. When I go to the Doctor to have them look at the creatures crawling around in my throat, causing me to itch all over, or making my hair fall out in clumps, I am expected to pick up the full tab until I hit my deductible. I even have a little stash of money, called an HSA to pay for it. BUT, I don't pay a nickel when the Doctor is done with me. Not immediately.

The Doctor has to put in a claim to my insurance company, the insurance company tell [...]

Hatchet / Scalpel? McCain / Obama?

shades — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 23:00:00 +0100

From 1861-1865, during the War Between the States, a wounded soldier laying in a field hospital bleeding to death from a horrific injury to his arm or leg would have it amputated in a few of seconds (repeat seconds) with a draconian surgical saw, with little antiseptic, and sometimes even with no anesthesia. These were life or death moments and neither time nor tools existed to properly address the issues medically. Split second decisions were made and executed in attem [...]

Healthcare Ain't Rocket Science....

shades — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:00:00 +0100

.......it's actually harder.

Remember a few years ago when this outfit called the X Prize Foundation paid $10 million for the first privately funded manned space flight? Quite a contest. Quite a feat.

Well yesterday, WellPoint and the X Prize Foundation announced a new competition offering $10 million for solutions that can impact positive change in health care cost and quality.

Nice prize. Tall order. But just damned cool.

Now if you are i [...]

Health Care, Politics, and Pool Pals

shades — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 23:00:00 +0100

So there's all kind of buzz on the internet today regarding the Doug Holtz-Eakin's conference call on McCain's health plan over the weekend. Basically, he wanted to set the record straight, or at least defend the McCain plan from the general assault that Mr. Barack Obama and Co. mounted against McCain's health care policy. If you are like me, you're probably asking, "what is a Doug Holtz-Eakin and what does he know about anything?"

Holtz-Eakin [...]

McCain and Obama on Healthcare and Health Insurance

shades — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 23:00:00 +0100

If you are interested in digging into the details of the candidates' health care initiatives, we recommend that you go to their websites and well, dig. If you want a quick overview, we'll try to help you a bit with this posting. We've taken the liberty of doing some sifting and come up with a couple of videos that give some insight into the candidates' positions on health care, health insurance, health savings account, wellness and so forth.

Obama: The New Black Moses

shades — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:00:00 +0100

It would appear, as the DNC national convention draws to a close, The New Black Moses has come to lead the American people from their adversity and their bondage of slavery. From the depths of the heart of darkness. A great leader to save a people incapable of saving themselves.

If we believe what we hear from those who create fear for the sole purpose of propagating their solution; our country is in shambles, it sits at the lowest point in our still short history, is rife w [...]

HSA 'Grab Bag' 101 - Medicare Part D

shades — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 23:00:00 +0100

So if this is your first exposure to the Gradock Bulletin's ‘Grab Bag Series' you are kind of jumping into the middle of the game. No problem with that but you may want to go back and read the first one or two in the series that started this little snowball (and it's still fairly little right now) down the hill.

Also, if you read this on a fairly regularly basis you might be used to a bit more humor (or attempts at it anyway) than has been injected in [...]

HSA 'Grab Bag'

shades — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 23:00:00 +0100

If you're really tuned into the world of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and High Deductible Health Plans this whole ‘Grab Bag' concept is yesterday's news to you. That said, most folks reading this have probably never heard of it and I, while I have heard of it and perused it, have been avoiding it like the plague.

Despite of its thought provoking and generally stimulating name, ‘Grab Bag,' the thing is what it is. It is also known as IRS Notice 2 [...]

July 4th: Consumer Directed Health = Independence

shades — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:00:00 +0100

The folks at The Gradock Bulletin recommend that in honor of our nations' birthday, we spend a little bit of time thinking about the concept of independence and how it relates to our desire to take control of our healthcare needs.

For those who flunked American History in school, our founding fathers (the guys with the wigs) got really sick of the King of England sticking his hands into their pockets and telling them how to run their lives. Remember that "taxation without [...]

Healthcare Largesse

shades — Mon, 12 May 2008 23:00:00 +0100

Back in March, Shawn Tully, editor at large at Fortune Magazine wrote an incredible article on our professional presidential politicians' positions on healthcare policy entitled, "Why McCain Has The Best Health-care Plan." Not only did the folks at the Gradock Bulletin think it was good, but when they went to find the link for the article to include in this blog saw the many other bloggers felt similarly. As an aside, "at large", what does that [...]

"Obama backers wince at Wright's remarks"

shades — Thu, 01 May 2008 23:00:00 +0100

Was the lead headline on USA Today's Politics page earlier this week. It consumed a half page and 3 photos. Down below the fold in the paper was and article on McCain's healthcare plan. While disappointing, we know that it is not any candidates' healthcare plan or any policies that are selling papers, but rather the Reverend Jeremiah Wright sucking up his 15 minutes of fame.

With that mini-rant out of the way, Gradock can make a couple of comments on Mr. Mc [...]