Zane Safrit

Healthcare Reform: Do we receive the best value?

Ok. Today we still measure value in dollars. What will we have to pay in 2010 to receive the same value from our health insurance premiums?

According to this article in BusinessWeek, to receive the same quality of care in 2010..

• Businesses will pay 7% more
• Their employees will pay 10% more.

By businesses I mean those business which offer health insurance to their employees.

Obviously, their employees means those employees whose health insurance is offered as an employee benefit.

For businesses, this 7% increase is on top of the 149% increase in those costs since 2000.

Did they receive 149% more value...?

Perhaps, not. A recent poll published by Forbes ranks our country as the 11th healthiest in the world. Forbes, hardly a bastion of socialist pandering, ranked Iceland, Sweden and Finland, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, Denmark, Canada and Austria as healthier than us. You’ll note that each of these countries has a...wait for it...nationalized healthcare program.

Personally, the ideology of our healthcare system is irrelevant to me. Despite the noise of its proponents and their tactics, ideology is irrelevant. The data is important. Based on the data, which system delivers the greatest value?

Clearly, the data* shows our current system fails to deliver comparable value. This failure to deliver value only increases as you realize that our healthcare system absorbs 16% (and rising) of our GDP compared to 11.3% for Switzerland, 11% for France (France!), and 10% for Germany.

So, who gets the greatest value for our current healthcare system and its strangulation of our economy? Not us, the customers.

* Kaiser Family Foundation report in PDF.

Healthcare Reform: What about the children?

I believe the children are our future
Teach them well
And let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty
They possess inside

Whitney Houston wrote and sang this in The Greatest Love of All.

The lyrics came to mind as I read this statistic:

Uninsured children are 60% more likely to die in the hospital than insured children regardless of medical condition, according to a large-scale study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University. Modern Healthcare (registration and annoying Dell popups req'd.)

Regardless of medical condition. That phrase caught my attention. All things being equal (same gender, age, condition, stage of diagnosis), the child with no health insurance coverage has a 60% greater risk of dying IN the hospital than their counterpart whose parents can afford health insurance.

Maybe that statistic rings...abstract. Maybe it does not connect. Here's where that statistic starts to apply: Lack of health insurance may have contributed to nearly 17,000 deaths among hospitalized children nationwide in the past 20 years...

17,000...in 20 years...That's 850 children per year, nationwide. 17 children per year, per state. 17 children per year, per state, for over 20 years died because their parents could not afford health insurance.

17,000 sets of dreams and skills, talents and strengths, lost.

17,000 families...devastated with the loss of a child.

17,000 parents being forced to bury their child.

And all because...what? Profit? Stock prices? Shareholder concerns? Quarterly results? CEO bonus plans? Companies too small to afford health insurance for their employees, too small to pay the wages necessary to provide health insurance for their employees and their families?

Sadly, the conversation on healthcare reform centers around costs. The costs are measured in...dollars.

What if we changed that term to lives?

What if we measured the costs of our current system, and any reforms, by the lives it saved? Or did not.

What if we discussed healthcare reform in terms of the lives saved, and the families, the dreams, the contributions with those saved lives...to our communities?

Would that make a difference? 

* Photo credit: istockphoto, pixdeluxe

Upcoming Radio Guest: Tori Tuncan, founder of Lend4Health

Tori Tuncan, founder of Lend4Health may be one of the most inspiring guests on this show. That says a lot; a regular stream of great guests generously share their time and tips and resources on their shows. Her organization, Lend4Health, is a non-profit organization that facilitates community-funded, interest-free micro-loans as a creative funding option for individuals and groups seeking optimal health. Currently, Lend4Health is facilitating loans for the "biomedical" treatment of children and adults with autism spectrum and related disorders.

Her sentence says so much.

It's not about her. There's nothing on this site about her, her passion, her journey...

It's all about those in need. The only content is those in need who Lend4Health can help and how they can help and how you can help.

Lend4health is a community, an open and transparent community.

Tori's a very smart, organized, efficient, entrepreneur. She saw the potential with micro-finance lending used with Kiva and Grameen Bank to solve an unmet need: affordable healthcare for those and their families who suffer from a vexing, debilitating disorder.

I'm delighted she has found the time to share her story of her purpose and her startup: Lend4Health.

Join us, Monday, October 19 at 9:30 AM, Central. You have two listening options:

LIVE

1. Listen in streaming on-demand at this link.

2. Live call-in. Join the conversation. Call 646-915-9212 during the show, 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM, Central.

ARCHIVED

1. Listen in streaming on-demand at this link.

Highlights from My Conversation with Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum

Dr. Teitelbaum is a board certified internist and Medical Director of the national Fibromyalgia and Fatigue Centers, Inc. He is the author of the perennial best-seller From Fatigued to Fantastic! which has sold over 500,000 copies. The 3rd revised edition from Avery/Penguin Group USA publishes on October 4, 2007. In Pain Free 1-2-3 (McGraw-Hill, April 2006), Dr. Teitelbaum outlines a step-by-step program that can help anyone identify the source of pain and understand how to alleviate it. Three Steps to Happiness: Healing Through Joy (Deva Press 2003), provides a blueprint for creating and maintaining a natural state of happiness and vitality at any time.

He is the lead author of groundbreaking “gold standard” research on effective treatment for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia, which was published in the Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, volume 8, number 2 in 2001. Up to 24 million Americans are chronically fatigued. And as many as 12 - 13 million are diagnosed with either Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and/or Fibromyalgia. Dr. Teitelbaum shared his tips and resources to address our nation's personal energy crisis and allow us to leave the vibrant lives we deserve.

You can listen in streaming on-demand at this link. Warning: a heckler joins for about 10 seconds, screaming obscenities for the last 2-3. Dr. Teitelbaum handled this very well. And BlogTalk Radio’s host controls allowed me to remove the caller immediately.

What projects are you working on right now?

Our general goal is to make effective treatment available to everyone using natural and prescription therapies, which is not part of the big pharmaceutical money game. We have an iPhone application called Natural Cures which is currently available to the public free of charge, but will increase to $1.00, so download it now. Once downloaded to the phone, you are able to search any illness and find any natural or Rx remedy. Health Fact has a nutritional primer and soon an herbal primer. My book, “I am Beating Sugar Addiction Now” is coming to press shortly and my next book will teach people how to recover from the difficult economy and how to get their life back, physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Congratulations on being recommend in Oprah magazine and that issue has been out for a few weeks now. What has been the impact on your business?

After the mention, I received a call from Dr. Oz to be on his show in 3-4 weeks. The impact has been interesting. I think the general economy has been picking up and I can see that our product sales have increased. Things are healing and this is a good thing. Most businesses have taken such a hit, but I think things are turning around for the better. It is like spring time for the economy. It is time for small businesses to heal on all levels. This takes the lead for healing our whole country.

Why does your program work so well for so many, when seemingly all others especially Western drug treatment has failed?

It is important for our listeners to understand what drives Western medicine. I appreciate it, but there are many weaknesses. Basically in medicine today, for anything to be promoted for use, it has to be very expensive and patentable. The way the system is set up, it must go through the FDA process, which costs $800 mil. If it something is not patentable, that money is lost, no matter how well proven that treatment is. On the flip side, no matter how deadly or dangerous or infective to other treatments that are out there, if it can show statistical benefit, not clinical over a placebo, without being too dangerous, that is all it takes for FDA approval, even if it kills just a few people. Medicine is no longer based on what is safe and effective; it is based on patent and dollars. This is so dangerous. We are moving towards change, but it takes a great deal of time and energy.

You suffered from Chronic Fatigue in medical school. Was it identified with that term then and what was your experience in dealing with it?

Back in 1975 I had a nasty viral infection that I called the drop dead flu. We could not tell what it was. I was bedridden and had to drop out of school. I became homeless at this point as I was paying my own way. My medical professors knew there was a virus but could not identify it after six weeks. They figured I was depressed. In medical mentality there was a rule of thumb, that if the docs didn’t know what was wrong, they think the patient is crazy. I had the disease and they had no idea what it was. I learned how to treat the virus much better while I was homeless. I met naturopaths and herbalists who taught me how to get well and I soon recovered. I did go back to medical school and got my honors. Through my studies, I learned that 91% of patients improve when treated on an energetic level.

Tell us about your journey with alternative medicine.

I read a great deal of medical literature, beyond funded medical studies. I did an extensive amount of research based on some of the questions that patients had regarding natural treatments. Most physicians do not read any of this information nor are they interested. They only read the materials put out by the pharmaceutical companies.

When did Western Medicine begin to accept Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia as valid distinct disorders?

About 15 years ago. An important thing happened about one year ago. For the first time ever, three new medications were approved by the FDA for Fibromyalgia pain and because of that, companies are spending millions of advertising dollars to inform the public. They realized there is money to be made; however, it has also brought to light that it is a real disease.

I want to be able to help people effective treat their disease as well as to recognize if they have it. Basically the symptoms are: exhaustion and lack of sleep. It is a paradox and doesn’t go away with vacation. If you ache all over and have brain fog you have CFS until proven otherwise. Most doctors will not acknowledge some of the symptoms exist. They represent the energy crisis in your body. The fuse that is blown in the body is sleep.

You have a SHINE protocol based on these symptoms. What is that?

It is an acronym: how to restore energy production which turns on the circuit breaker.

The "SHINE Treatment Protocol" is an itemized list of all the common treatments for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia, both natural and prescription, that can be used by a patient or practitioner. A personalized treatment plan can be created from this list by identifying the underlying causes of these two, based on an analysis of the patient's particular symptoms. SHINE stands for:

S: SLEEP - You need 8 hours per night and there are many natural remedies to help.

H: HORMONAL SUPPORT- in the medical field, we confuse the normal rage with healthy, which has nothing to do with health. It is based upon computing the standard deviation. You need to treat the hormones and compare to the symptoms using bio-identical hormones. These are cheap and most docs will not even look at them.

I: INFECTIONS– because our immune systems are not working properly when people have these illnesses. People tend to get yeast infections or an overgrowth of Candida. Basically it is really odd in medicine because there are no tests for normal as compared to overgrowth of yeast. Doctors say there is no such thing as an overgrowth.

N: NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS- Optimal nutritional supplementation is essential. Many nutrients can be depleted as a result of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Fybro Myalgia. B-12, magnesium,... as well as your basic A, B, C and D vitamins need to be supplemented at a level that your average over the counter multivitamin cannot provide.

E: EXERCISE- Exercise as able. After 10 weeks on the 4 steps above, you will be able to slowly increase your exercise-without being wiped out the next day!

35:50

I do recommend that people go to the Fibromyalgia and fatigue clinics as these physicians are experts in these diseases. The doctors know what they are doing.

What is your reasonable aspiration or hoped for goal* with all that you are doing?

Short term: heal our healthcare system. Basically right now I am looking to be involved that people have access to natural remedies and teaching people they can be empowered in their own health. A big part of this is bypassing the pharmaceutical companies. I had the great opportunity to speak with President Obama and Michelle on these issues and there are some processes/laws in creation to work on this task.

You mentioned that some of these changes and reforms are already happening in our healthcare system. Why are you so optimistic?

The system will reform or collapse. There is a certain evolution and growth that occurs with what is common sense and necessary. The public is able to go online and get the information they need and get their own tool kits. People have a certain common sense about them.

On a recent appearance on Good Morning America, you said we suffer from a personal energy crisis that is far greater than an oil crisis. Why and is this worse now with the economy?

This is absolutely what is going on. How many listeners don’t need more energy? People go into the doctor’s office saying “I have fatigue and I have pain.” Pain is an energy crisis. Doctors are not trained in this area. A lot of this is occurring due to our nutrition. One third of our nutrition comes from white sugar and white flour, which are devoid of vitamins and minerals. The government forced companies to enrich the flour with a few nutrients. This is like one third of a loss of your paycheck. This detriment leaves us nutrient deficient and adds on lack of sleep and things are speeding up exponentially. The good news is that all this is treatable. We can help the body handle what is in the environment. Our vitamin powder and energy powder or some from the health food store can help combat this health crisis. Also, go out in the sun – your body needs sunshine!! Vitamin D is a critical hormone/nutrient. Just avoid sunburn, not sunshine. The lack of sun causes overwhelming amounts of cancer.

50:26

You offer wonderful advice with a simple phrase: Follow Your Bliss. What do you mean?

I have always said, if you get people healthy and they go back to a life they hate, I guarantee that they will get sick again. You can’t just treat only the physical component – the disease will pop up somewhere else. You need to treat the whole person. Check in with your feelings - Your gut reaction. Cut out the things that feel bad. Follow your bliss!! You will be filling your life with wonderful positive things and as you continue this thought, more positive will surround you.

Looking at the rise in chronic diseases, it looks like we are working at jobs we hate. Would you connect the two?

I am not sure we are doing more of jobs we hate, but I do presume our entire nutrition and environmental atmosphere is more damaging. I think more people are starting to wise up and do what they love and people are shifting their focus and their lives.

Where can people find your FREE weekly newsletter?

The website is Vitality 101. There is a lot of fun and useful information and even a joke of the day.

If we speak next year, and I hope we do, what will you celebrate with us?

Celebrating my new book, “I am Beating Sugar Addiction Now” as well as my next book. Maybe I will even be on Oprah.

Caller: Do you see a shift in the healthcare field to where we will start to see more people come in looking at naturopathy and alternative medicine?

I believe so. I think health insurance should be catastrophic coverage only and natural treatments are out of pocket. We already know there are more visits to naturopathic doctors than traditional medicine. Natural remedies are a growing area and this scares the pharmaceutical industry.

Disclaimer: I was introduced to Dr. Teitelbaum by our mutual friend Dean Draznin. Dr. Teitelbaum, Dean and I spoke earlier this summer about what Twitter could do for him. Dean is founder of Dean Draznin Communications which serves as Dr. Teitelbaum's PR firm. I scheduled this show working with Dean. Recently, my wife joined Dean Draznin Communications. I received no remuneration for this interview, nor asked for any. But I did convince my wife to bring home a sample box of Dr. Teitelbaum's Energy Revitalization from her office. And it's great! I feel clear, focused, with energy but not jittery. I slept well. I worked out at the gym yesterday and still felt like working in the yard for a couple of hours the next day. That's a first.

Radio Guest: Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum, author of "From Fatigued to Fantastic!"

Dr. Teitelbaum is a board certified internist and Medical Director of the national Fibromyalgia and Fatigue Centers, Inc. He is the author of the perennial best-seller From Fatigued to Fantastic!, which has sold over 500,000 copies and is now in its 3rd edition.

He is the lead author of groundbreaking “gold standard” research on effective treatment for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia, which was published in the Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

In April 2002, he was editorialized in the Journal of the American Academy of Pain Management, where his integrative treatment protocol was recognized as “standard of practice” for chronic pain conditions.

Why? Dr. Teitelbaum offers real-world proven solutions for chronic maladies that effect 25+ million Americans. Chronic is defined as:

1 a : marked by long duration or frequent recurrence : not acute <chronic indigestion> <chronic experiments> b : suffering from a chronic disease <the special needs of chronic patients>
2 a : always present or encountered; especially : constantly vexing, weakening, or troubling <chronic petty warfare> b : being such habitually <a chronic grumbler>

Chronic diseases, being always present, marked by long duration, are significant contributors to our unhappiness, rising levels of stress, declining levels of productivity and innovation and...a further drain on our economy through the increased costs of healthcare required for their treatment.

Readers of this blog know I'm passionate about healthcare and small business. And while there's been a brouhaha about our healthcare system and the need for its reform...few people are talking about solutions for...chronic disease and tools and resources to allow each of us to be adults and take responsibility for our own healthcare. If we do that then pre-existing conditions no longer exist.

Join Dr. Teitelbaum and I, Monday, October 5 at 1:30 PM, Central, to talk about his proven standards of practice and solutions for these two chronic conditions. And maybe find some renewed energy levels ourselves. Here are your two listening options:

LIVE:

1) Listen in Streaming On-Demand at this Link

2) Call-in During the Show at 646-915-9212.

LATER

1) Listen in Streaming On-Demand at this Link

Here's a sample of Dr. Teitelbaum's appearances and tips from appearances on major media outlets:

4 Tips to Live to 113...and Be Happy, too.

1). Eat Two Meals a Day. Breakfast and lunch; no dinner

"I think you should push back from the table when you're still hungry," Breuning said. "You get in the habit of not eating at night, and you realize how good you feel. If you could just tell people not to eat so darn much."

2). Eat Fruit. Eat a Lot of Fruit.

"I eat a lot of fruit every day."

3). Drink plenty of water

"I drink water all the time," he said, and just a bit of coffee. "I drink a cup and a half of coffee for breakfast and a cup with lunch."

4). Work Hard

"Work doesn't hurt anybody," he said, mentioning that he had two jobs, one working for the Great Northern Railway until he was 66 and the other as manager/secretary for the local Shriner's Club until he was 99.

Walter Breuning is 113 years old. These are his four tips to live not only healthy, but happy. You can read his story in USAToday, Two-meal diet aids in oldest man's longevity.

I’m thinking these 4 tips are the healthcare reform we need. Then what big pharma spends on advertising, or the healthcare industry spends on lobbyists, or what our congressional ‘leaders’ say vs do for our healthcare system, or the campaign contributions they receive...becomes obviously irrelevant.

I’m done now. I need to eat my fruit, drink my water.

Healthcare Costs: The Borg that swallowed our economy

According to the 2009 Employer Health Benefits Survey of the Kaiser Family Foundation, health care in America now costs $13,375 per family.

The figure was up 5% in a year where inflation was actually negative and wages rose just 3%.

At the present rate of inflation, by the way, health care will cost over $30,000 per year, per family, by the end of the next decade. So how long do you want the political dance to continue? Dana Blankenhorn, How health reform and health IT reform are linked.

That change reflects an increase of 125% over a period of 11 years.

Our economy must grow by the same amount, 125%, over the same 11 years, in order for healthcare costs to not absorb a greater share of our GDP.

How reasonable is that?

According to this graph from the IMF, our economy grew a little less than 60% from 1990 to 2006.

16 years, 60% total growth in GDP. With 5 more years our economy generated half as much real growth in GDP.

Can our economy grow 125% over the next 11 years?

The FDA Wants to Regulate...Social Media?

Huh. Pharma Marketing Blog says Let's Respond to FDA's Questions Regarding Its Regulation of Social Media

According to his post, the FDA posted its request for hearings on the Promotion of Food and Drug Administration-Regulated Medical Products Using the Internet and Social Media Tools. Given the buzz on social media, especially Twitter under the hashtag of #fdasm, they could...if they looked, see the power of social media.

But, they can’t, at least on Twitter. Someone else has the Twitter username FDA.

That may be the biggest problem for the FDA. They’re proposing regulations for a resource they do not use. How do you regulate what you do not use? That’s like Twitter changing Terms of Service when they use Twitter much, much, less than their members use Twitter.

Ok. It’s worse. At least those who provide us Twitter, use Twitter, somewhat.

Back to the FDA. A survey has been created by the FDA to gather responses from the public. You can participate in the survey offered by Pharma Marketing Network. (Sure, a wiki forum would have been more useful for gathering responses and creating a live-lab, social-media petri dish, to study the responses and the community of those interested in those responses. But, again, the FDA doesn’t use social media.)

My only response to the survey would be a letter:

Dear FDA,

Regulate drug and food research and production. Provide for its safety and proper use. Concentrate on that. That is your strength. (Ok, it could be with adequate mandates, funding and personnel. )

An open, transparent, conversation by the public with social media quickly exposes any untruths propagated by...anyone, a drug manufacturer, their PR agencies, the minions of either, doctors paid in some form by drug manufacturers, big pharma lobbyists, even members of Congress. But, they expose them only after damages are done to unsuspecting patients.

Your limited resources are best used to prevent that damage from happening.

Then we, the public, using social media tools like blogs and YouTube and Twitter and Facebook can talk about your successes, instead of your failures. We speak too often, too frequently, with too much damning data about the latter now.

Thank you,

Zane Safrit

Here's One Reason Why Healthcare Reform Has Stalled

No. It's not townhall meetings.

It's money. And in particular, donations from the healthcare industry to members of Congress elected to represent our interests. Not theirs. (Remember?) According to this article in a recent USAToday article:

As the debate intensifies in Congress, health care sector contributions to lawmakers on the committees overseeing the massive change to the nation's health care system are on the upswing — rising 8% between the first and second quarter of the year, according to data compiled by the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics.

In the first six months of the year, health care interests donated $19.7 million to all federal lawmakers. More than 40% — $8.1 million — went to the campaign and political action committees of lawmakers on the five House and Senate committees that are working on health care.

I love the spokesperson for members of Congress who first claim the donations are completely legal (ok...) and the same member of Congress pays no attention to his donors and their amounts donated. Jill Kozeny, spokesperson for my US Senator Chuck Grassley, said Grassley "accepts campaign donations that are legal and come with no strings attached."

Of course. Everyone gives donations of hundreds of thousands with no strings attached. Aren't those donors from the healthcare industry generous...with Congress.

Now, we might have affordable healthcare if instead the healthcare industry lobbyists took both their generous spirit and their dollars and donated them instead to:

* healthcare clinics providing services for those who can't afford to pay
* hospitals going bankrupt providing services for those who can't afford to pay
* healthcare needs for those who can't afford to pay
* health insurance premiums for those who can't afford to pay

But then, what would the lobbyists do? Oh, fulfill the purpose of their clients: providing healthcare.

Be sure to read the USAToday article. It includes a table that shows the campaign donations received by members of Congress from the healthcare industry in the past 6 months. Whew! A lot of money going to a lot of Congress members. Here's where bi-partisanship is found in the tarnished glory of our members of Congress.

Worried about healthcare rationing?

We should be; it's already here.

That's why 15% of our population cannot afford health insurance.

That's why:

• ;24 percent of Americans reported that they did not get medical care because of cost.
• Twenty-six percent said they didn't fill a prescription.
• 22 percent said they didn't get a test or treatment.

That's according to a study in 2001 by Health Affairs.

We ration healthcare based on the ability of patients to pay. We ration healthcare based on...money. Not need.

As David Leonhardt wrote way back in June:

The argument over rationing is between rationing well and rationing badly. Given that the United States devotes far more of its economy to health care than other rich countries, and gets worse results by many measures, it’s hard to argue that we are now rationing very rationally.

It is astonishing that another constituent group is being fed, and fed successfully, the ; claim that free-markets behave rationally and thus ration their products and services well, on their own, with invisible hands and no need for visible hands of regulatory hand-holding. I thought the recent meltdown of our unregulated financial markets would have freed everyone in this country of that illusion. It's even more astonishing when so ; much data shows our free-market healthcare system in reality, in performance and results, is more like an oligopoly than a free-market system rationally assigning its assets to meet the needs of the market.

I do credit the healthcare industry for its ability to ration its PR and lobbying resources effectively to counter any encroachment of competitive alternatives. They, or their minions of lobbyists and pr agencies, have successfully sold the lie that a free-market system is comprised of one provider in each state being authorized to offer its services. And these single providers are networked into national brands whose stock is traded on the national markets. Beautiful.

Links:

Washington Monthly: Rationing
David Leonhardt: ; Healthcare Rationing Rhetoric Overlooks Reality.
Ezra Klein: A rational look at rationing
Ezra Klein: We ration. We ration. We ration.

Data Worsens with Personal Bankruptcies, Healthcare and Health Insurance

* 50% Illness and medical bills caused half of the 1,458,000 personal bankruptcies in 2001, according to a study published by the journal Health Affairs.

* 2,000,000  2 million of our friends, family members, colleagues, neighbors...are affected by these personal bankruptcies caused by healthcare expenses.

* 56% of those filing bankruptcy for healthcare costs owned a home.

* 30% of those filing bankruptcy for healthcare costs had their utilities cut off.

* 61% went without needed medical care.

* $13,000 The amount of uncovered medical bills at the start of an illness by those with health insurance.

* $35,000+ The average medical debts for those with cancer.

The statistics above were reported in 2005 from a study conducted by jointly by Harvard's Medical School and Law School and published in Health Affairs. The article Medical Bills Leading Cause of Bankruptcy, Study Finds was published in Consumer Affairs in February, 2005. 

And this data inspired the leaders of  the best healthcare system in the world to improve since then, right?

Wrong.

Medical problems caused 62% of all personal bankruptcies filed in the U.S. in 2007, according to a study by Harvard researchers. And in a finding that surprised even the researchers, 78% of those filers had medical insurance at the start of their illness, including 60.3% who had private coverage, not Medicare or Medicaid.- BusinessWeek, June 2009

Wrong, again.

A new study published in the American Journal of Medicine has found that bankruptcies due to medical debt rose 50 percent from 2001 to 2007.- Health Related Bankruptcies Up 50%

I want to see the costs of these personal bankruptcies to business.  The costs to business would be in lost productivity and lost revenues. And compare them then to the costs of health insurance for their currently uninsured employees.

I would love to see the costs of these personal bankruptcies compared to the costs of social programs with medicare, medicaid, Schip, healthcare clinics, that compensate for the lack of affordable and complete health insurance.

 I'll bet my senator Chuck Grassley and Nancy Pelosi, both, a year's supply of one daily latte at Starbucks that universal, single-payer, healthcare that covers all healthcare expenses will prove ultimately more affordable.

Note: I choose Starbucks for he convenience of their gift-card So, Senator Grassley or Speaker Pelosi, if you can present data that shows the costs to our economy and our federal budget is less from the current system where 62+% of all personal bankruptcies arise from the uncovered costs of medical care (even when 78% of those filing for personal bankruptcy as a result of uncovered medical expenses had health insurance) I'll buy each of you one latte each day for 365 days. ( That's a small latte.)

And you can drink that latte and continue with our current healthcare system.

But if you can't (and you won't), then you have two options:

1. Buy me and every American the same.
2. Do the right thing. Honor your oath to us. Work together to devise a healthcare system that delivers the same level of care you receive as a member of Congress...without risk of personal bankruptcy.

5 Ways You Can Join the Healthcare Reform Debate

Educate yourself

Read. Read a lot. Read lots of sources. Ask questions. Read more. Educate yourself. It is our healthcare system. And that includes you. And your family.

Here's a link to Read the Bill 101 from US Health Crisis blog. It explains how a bill from Congress is organized and presented in text, and tips on how to read through the bill all the while taking notes. And there's a link in the post to a PDF version of the bill itself. Judge for yourself if the fear and hysteria is justified or manipulated.

Comment on healthcare reform

Write a letter to your editor. Leave a comment on a blog. Call your elected officials. Talk about it at dinner parties and backyard barbecues. Help people look at the terms, what they mean, what they don't, why fear isn't helpful.

Ask others

• Do you know...?
• Did you read...?
• Do you understand...?

Tell elected officials

Call them, write them. They do listen. They do respond. They respond to what and who they hear.

Make your voice one of them. Make your company one of them. Make your community one of them.

Don’t Rant.

This is difficult. Our healthcare system offers a lot of rant material.

Ranting helps you and others overlook all that works in our healthcare system. Inspirational leaders, problem-solvers, models that work, are hidden underneath all this rantable material. Trust me. I know. I’ve ranted. I’ve missed solutions, resources and leaders.

Here is a free ebook that I and others created to share our ideas on how to reform our healthcare system. It's called: Healthcare Reform: it's our debate, too.

Some ideas in it are outrageous. Some outrage.

What are yours? Comment here and share them. Or share them elsewhere. Feel free to pass this to others. I don’t care who. I don’t care if they come back here to comment. But join the healthcare reform debate. It’s our healthcare system, too. And that includes you.

How Much Does Big Pharma Spend on Advertising?

How much does Big Pharma, aka the drug manufacturing industry spend on advertising?

• 24.4% of sales in 2004, or $57 Billion.

A report published in Science Daily in January 2008 showed Big Pharma spends as much as 24.4% of total revenues on advertising in 2004. That’s nearly twice the amount, 13.4% they spent on R&D during the same time period. With total domestic sales of $235 billion in 2004, they spent over $57 billion in advertising.

However, the advertising is productive:

In 2006, Americans bought 42% of the world’s prescribed medicines. We have 5% of the world’s population. - Healthcare Reform: it's our debate, too.

Do you want to participate in the debate about your healthcare system?

Here's one way: The link is to a free ebook, Healthcare Reform: it's our debate, too , that encourages you to participate in the debate on reforming our healthcare system.

Download it. Read it. Share it. Pass it on. Leave your ideas here. We'll issue new editions that may include your suggestions.

Or, download it. Read it. Disagree. Share your ideas. Pass it on. We may add your ideas, too.

If we don't include your ideas, we'll explain why.

The point here is to encourage more of us to connect, communicate and collaborate to find solutions for our healthcare system.

Free PDF: Healthcare Reform: It's our debate, too

Download Healthcare_ebook_FA5

Have you noticed, we the consumers, are not invited to the healthcare reform debate? Those debating changes to our healthcare system and the same ones who created it. They also are the same ones with vested interests in the current system.

We can reform our healthcare system. We have to participate in its debate. We have to offer our ideas. Our ideas to reform our healthcare system. Otherwise, it remains...their healthcare system.

This is a first-step. It's only a first-step.  It's not the only one. Take this step here. Or find a place to take a step, your step. And make this healthcare reform debate, our debate, too.

Can Healthcare Reform Reverse the Trends in Obesity?

Daphne Leigh blogs at Just So You Know...Getting Feisty about Healthcare Communications. And she tweeted* a question the other day. It was How's health reform gonna address this? The this in her question was the obesity epidemic.

Now, unlike the swineflu whatever, obesity is an epidemic. Check out this interactive map she linked to. It's provided by the CDC. Scroll down quickly or just hit refresh. You'll see the changes over the past 20+ years for the rates of obesity here in the US.

Here's the comparison of the first and last years of this survey.

* FIRST: 1986. ALL states reported LESS than 15% of their population were obese.

* LAST: 2008. ALL states reported MORE than 15% of their population obese.

According to the CDC's site: Obesity is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, certain types of cancer, and type 2 diabetes.

And USAToday shared this article Cost of Treating Obese Patients Soars to $147 Billion. WASHINGTON — Obese Americans — those who are 30 or more pounds over a healthy weight — cost the country an estimated $147 billion in weight-related medical bills in 2008, double what it was a decade ago, a new study shows.

Overall, an obese patient has $4,871 in medical bills a year compared with $3,442 for a patient at a healthy weight.

Issues like single-payer, socialist healthcare, rationing by bureaucrats in a health insurance company (now) or the federal government (possible) or by income (now), medicare reimbursements, mandated health insurance, uninsured...are what's being discussed in the media and DC.

Issues like the real epidemic of obesity and its impact on our companies, our communities, our nation, our families, our lives...now and in the future, seem to be overlooked in what's called the  healthcare reform debate.

Maybe, that's the problem. 

The healthcare reform debate we see going on around us in the media and in DC, is too little about our healthcare and too much about our money: who gets it and how much. And we're not even invited to participate.

Daphne Leigh is on twitter at DaphneLeigh. You should follow her there and read her blog, too.

Who's not invited to the healthcare reform debate? Us

You and I. We're not invited. As consumers or voters.

Oh sure, we, healthcare consumers and voters, are invited to sit back and watch. But we're neither invited nor allowed to participate in the conversations with the decision-makers.

The recent White House Summit on Healthcare Reform held in March invited all the experts who have built the current system or allowed it to persist. Each of these have vested interests, careers and incomes, attached to the current system.

Asking these same people to correct the system which they've allowed to be perpetuated on us is like asking your IT guys to change their processes that generate  their bonuses and salaries, perks and favors.

And to his credit, President Obama has held townhall type meetings with voters with some open Q & A.  For stagecraft, this was excellent. But those meetings were few in number, limited in duration and allowed questions to be asked, answers to be given and concerns forgotten in the face of the daily influence of those who've created our healthcare system.

Oh, sure. We can call our representatives. Some will even listen genuinely. The highest percentage would be the recent arrivals, the first-termers.

But when the healthcare industry can spend $1.3 million...per DAY...or roughly $20,000 per day per member of Congress, to lobby just our representatives in Washington...it won't be long before we're not invited and their listening becomes nothing more than a nod to us and a wink to their donors.

And in all fairness, would you vote against the hand that feeds you $20,000 a day in dinners, receptions, donations, pre-packaged stances, talking points, and more?

Oh. Those numbers are from 2008. Healthcare industry lobbying budgets are up over 40% this year.

Do you have an extra 40% in your budget to lobby congress? No? Oh, wait, we're paying for that increase in lobbying efforts with our higher premiums and higher pharmacy costs and higher co-pays or no-co-pays.




One of the fundamentals of growing a brand, building customer loyalty, generating word-of-mouth, lowering costs, delivering what's needed, innovating and marketing is...ask your customers.

The healthcare industry has asked their customers. It's Congress, they've asked. And it's each other they've asked. Their products, solutions, service are directed there, not here for us. That's the conversation they all are having. And we're not invited to that one.

But that doesn't make us victims. We have to find other forums to have our conversation and to force change that meets our needs. Fortunately, with social media we can have them.

My Top 14 Healthcare Tweeters...so far

Below is a short list of my favorite members of Twitter whose passion is healthcare.  Each of these members consistently tweets links to excellent resources on healthcare, its challenges and opportunities, successes and failures and the reform debate (such as that is). If you're interested in Healthcare, you should follow them on Twitter.

2healthguru

kevinmd

jenmccabegorman

medxcentral

lend4health

ebechtel

CmSchroed

Mallikarjunan

Strategichealth

ConsultDoc

heartshealth

trishtorrey

ahier

Pediatricinc

Please recommend others on Twitter with a passion for healthcare solutions, an eye for great and useful content to share, and the desire to share it. We need all the resources, including community and discussions and links, right now.

Just to reiterate, the focus here is on solutions and the resources to achieve through the community on Twitter. There are other places for ideological leanings, or lobbying firms staffed with PR execs posing as independent research organizations.

I know I have overlooked some on Twitter I now follow who meet this criteria. The oversight rests with my organization skills for this project. Remind me kindly.

My Healthcare is Killing Me: I recommend it

I recommend the ebook (and site), My Healthcare is Killing Me.

Why?

Let’s look to its reasonable aspiration* or hoped-for goal. In the words of their authors at Change Healthcare, the book seeks to educate, encourage, and reward savvy healthcare consumers...

If you already are a savvy healthcare consumer, then they arm you with more tools and resources in your negotiations with healthcare providers, primarily health insurance companies as they set the prices for the providers.

But, more importantly perhaps, I think they go one step farther. They create....savvy healthcare consumers. The state of our healthcare system, and its poor delivery of quality to its consumers, indicate the majority of healthcare consumers are not savvy.

This book will move  us all quickly up the path to becoming one.

The book is:

• smartly written
• concise( 60 pages )
• well-designed
• well-illustrated
• free

And these help it fulfill it's vital purpose as the healthcare reform debate heats up. And as we, the consumers, realize we must participate in this debate.

Arm yourself with knowledge from  My Healthcare is Killing Me. Then join the debate.

* reasonable aspiration is a term coined by author, consultant and coach, Erika Andersen, in her excellent book, Being Strategic. She defines it as our hoped-for goal.

Are your business rules based on your principles?

I came across two articles this week on Canada's banking system. One was on its success, its ability to survive and avoid the current banking crisis. Why Canada's Banks Don't Need Help.

Consider that the Geneva-based World Economic Forum... earlier this month ranked Canada's banking system as the soundest in the world. The U.S. came in at No. 40.

The other article was on how those same rules wouldn't work here in the US, according to a banking expert: Canadian Bank Rules Don't Fit US Model.

Banking rules that spared Canada's big banks from the woes that hit global rivals would not work in the United States because of cultural differences..."You need principles-based rules and we're* (the U.S.) not going to do it."

The message could not have been any clearer, don't you think?  These two articles conveniently juxtaposed at one business site that show the failings of our system vs the success of another make it clear.

But we've already understood this by now. Business models, and cultures,  lacking principles are doomed to failure. Their failure arises as their business model implodes from their own unbridled excesses.  They have no foundation to stand on with the changes in personnel, markets, economies, technology...They have no compass to guide them through the storms of change.

So. Are your business rules based on your principles?

Note: There's another time to digress into the discussion of free and open markets, transparent and full access to knowledge and information by all parties involved so that the consumer can make an informed decision, business models with proper incentives that reward achievements that build a sustainable brand, empowered regulatory bodies, etc.

* I for one wish the speaker whose quote I bolded would ask before he spoke for me.  I know my culture is not one based on the lack of principles. Sure, there are those who have abused the trust we gave them and maybe we empowered them with our priorities that made us too busy to acknowledge the obvious blunders and excesses they gladly incentivized themselves to carry out. But if our culture was not based on these principles we would not be correcting the excesses incurred from allowing one powerful industry to violate our principles.

One last thought: Can Canada help us with our healthcare system? They seem to run their banking industry quite well. Maybe they know how to run a healthcare system?

Investing in the #1 outcome: healthier employees

Workforce Management offers wealth of useful tips and articles to help you with...workforce management. Here's their most recent useful offering Paying for Healthier Employees, not Just Health Care.

The article goes on to list some changing business models in the employer-sponsored healthcare market that are favorable to employers, employees, their families and even healthcare providers. The new dynamic is paying for outcomes.

Digression: Don't you laugh when you read that the healthcare industry consider paying for outcomes a new business model? It's a dark laughter. But, only our healthcare industry could judge paying for outcomes as an innovative idea. I can't think of another industry that doesn't understand and embrace the idea that their customers pay them for...a positive outcome from the use of their products or services.

Still, better late than never.

And as expected this change did not arise from within the healthcare industry. It arose from...their customers. Businesses who see investing in their employees' health as a top priority.

Pioneered by employers, these contracts are helping to refocus the culture of health care so that instead of paying for a service, employers pay to improve a person’s health.While overall costs may not go down, these kinds of guarantees mean employers will be spending their health care dollars more effectively. Rather than paying for health care services, employers will be paying vendors only if they can show they’ve improved the health of employees.

That last sentence says it all: 

Rather than paying for health care services, employers will be paying vendors only if they can show they’ve improved the health of employees.

The article profiles two examples of outcome dependent programs that deal with heart attacks and asthma attacks. There are penalties to the healthcare provider if what they provided did not delivered the desired outcome. In these cases, the desired outcome was the avoidance of either, a heart attack or an asthma attack that resulted in an emergency room visit.

There is hope. 

Hat tip to Susan Poirier, CEO of Ace Concierge, for the link.