Asking the Wrong Questions

For the first time since 2000, Gallup has found a majority of Americans now feel it is not the federal government’s responsibility to make sure all Americans have healthcare coverage. According to a recent poll, 54% now feel it is not the government’s responsibility as opposed to 44% who say it is. 

Gallup also found most of those interviewed still think health care system has some major problems, don’t like the costs, but are generally satisfied with the care received when needed.

Whether or not it is the federal government’s responsibility to make sure American’s have health insurance isn’t the real question. If the question was changed to, “Is it the responsibility of the federal government to make sure American’s have access to affordable health care?” the answer results might be different. Considering the fact that health care costs are now impacting the entire economy, I know I’d say it is.

It’s pretty amazing that after all that has happened we’re still having separate discussions around these topics and haven’t put them together. Health insurance financing of health care and an affordable health care system are related.

The Health Care system is moving in the right direction but is resisting the change any way it can. It’s going slow. Until we bring the general public on-board, making the changes that are going to be required is going to be much more difficult. If we used Gallup’s numbers and assume over half the country may be resist the changes that are coming because they don’t understand them, the challenge may be overwhelming.

That is why educating the public about what is going on and getting them engaged critical. They are going to need to be more engaged than they are today to make the change happen.

Now Fix the Affordable Care Act

The election is over. It was close, but not as close as some thought it might be. At least we now have an idea of the direction we’re heading as we try to fix health care. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is certainly not perfect and not too many folks actually like it (it’s expensive and very few understand how the pieces of the law are all supposed to fit together). But it’s what we have to work with.


The House of Representatives continues to be controlled by the Republicans and the Senate by the Democrats. And we have a Democratic President. No change from where we were before. The respective numbers changed slightly in both the House and Senate, but the overall picture looks the same. Hopefully, the two sides will start working better together more than they have been the last four years.

The pundits are analyzing the results. Some think President Obama has a “mandate” from the general population. I don’t think so. He was simply given more time to deliver results. This wasn’t a mandate, it was a message. Most of the general public is exhausted from the process and simply wants Washington to start fixing what needs to be fixed and quit the political warfare that has already cost us our debt rating has brought us close to the “fiscal cliff” that will occur on January 1 if some pretty bold actions aren’t taken, and the debt and costs continue to grow and the average citizen continues to feel the results. We won’t fix our problems if the two sides don’t start working better together. President Obama needs to lead by example.

Now would be a good time for both sides to sit down and re-evaluate the intent and status of the Affordable Care Act implementation. They should get rid of the costs and unnecessary bureaucracy that may not make sense considering our current economic picture. Some of the ideas that might have seemed logical in 2009-2010 may not be all that logical today.

The Affordable Care Act has some good ideas but in many ways misses the point on the fundamental problem we need to address. The ACA focusses on access (getting everyone into the health insurance pool; mandating health insurance) and doesn’t really deal with the costs until we’re further down the road. Cost is the issue. Including more people in a system that doesn’t immediately address the costs of health care is going to make the Affordable Care Act much more expensive than anticipated- ultimately losing any support from the general public it might have had.

Consumers/individuals will need to get on board at some point if the Affordable Care Act is going to work. Those in Washington can set the tone by doing what is right and doing what makes sense for us today.

Both sides need to have open minds. Instead of barreling “full steam ahead” regardless of the costs just to meet deadlines, DHHS (Department of Health and Human Services) should step back and (as a good Top Gun quote goes) “evaluate what has happened so you can apply what you’ve learned.”

Washington needs to work together to fix what needs fixing.

That’s what we elected them to do.

Election 2012- We've Only Just Begun

The election is Tuesday. Most are going to be glad when it’s finally over. But it’s really not going to be over- no matter who wins. It’s only the beginning.


We have some serious issues to address in this country. We can continue to kick the can down the road like we’ve been doing but we’re running out of road. And the stakes just keep getting bigger. We’re sitting here like the proverbial frog in the slowly boiling pot. We feel things getting hot, but we are not able to ask for a helping hand to get us out. Our politics won’t allow it.

It’s very likely that deciding the Presidential election on Tuesday may be a drawn-out affair. It is going to be close and could result in a president who has won the electoral college not the popular vote. That is not necessarily unusual. George W. Bush, Harry Truman, Woodrow Wilson (both times), Grover Cleveland (both times), Rutherford Hayes, Thomas Jefferson, and others have experienced the same thing. But this one may be different. Boatloads of lawyers are standing at the ready to challenge any and all aspects of the results. It could pull the country further apart rather than pulling us together.

At this point, it looks like the House will continue to be controlled by the Republicans and the Senate controlled by the Democrats. This hasn’t worked out all that well over the past four years. The emotions, the events, and the politics have created the most partisan Congress we’ve ever experienced in this country.

While the political process becomes more polarized we look ahead to “fiscal cliff” and the suffocating costs of health care we still have to address. Addressing them the right way will require real teamwork and collaboration between the parties and their constituents to reach some consensus on how to move forward. That’s the way a democracy is supposed to work. If we decide to keep growing further apart, every American is going to feel the consequences in some way or another.

So, no matter who ultimately “wins” the presidency on Tuesday (or whenever it is finally decided) this is only the beginning for the rest of us. Just because the election is settled doesn’t mean we can all shut-off our minds and move on to other things. There is too much at stake. We have a role we need to play to continue to hold those we have elected accountable and setting a direction that is good for the country and not based solely on a single political ideology. Believe it or not, both sides have some good ideas to share. Neither one has a lock on being right. While the elections may set a direction, we (the citizens) can do a lot to set the tone and demand the results.

We have a choice- not only about who is leading our country but about how it is going to be led. Now more than ever we need to stay involved and stay engaged and remain an integral part of the political process. If we continue to let individual party-ideology reign as the key determinant of how we're going to work in America- we're all going to lose. The choice is ours.