Another Election- Colbert and Stewart To The Rescue?

I wonder if all the ghosts and spirits of Halloween can stir up some miracle for many of the Democrats on Tuesday. I doubt it.

It looks like the balance of the legislative process is going to shift back to the right- the House and many Governors will likely be Republican when all of this is over. There is still a chance (an outside chance) the Senate may move that way as well. Many of the pundits have speculated that this shift will simply result in a partisan stalemate in Congress we have never experienced before. I suppose you can just add it to the list. We haven’t experienced a lot of this before.

George Will (Conservative columnist from the Washington Post) argues this is the way the Founding Fathers intended things to work; partisanship is natural and the different bodies making up our structure of government were never intended to be bosom buddies. They were intended to provide the checks and balances required to protect our freedoms and the rights and responsibilities outlined in the Constitution. Disagreement is good. Partisanship is simply the result of having political parties with different ideas. He thinks the process is working.

But, I wonder.

I wonder if the Founding Fathers envisioned a legislative process paralyzed by politics when the country needs it most.

There’s enough blame for this to go around to everyone. It's time to fix it.

Yes, the Democratic leadership went too far when developing some of the policies important to its agenda. They didn’t have a choice in some areas- in others they did.

In health care they went too far given the circumstances we were dealing with as a country. They very likely figured they had only one shot at reforming the mess we have today and had to go for all the marbles- and that assumption cost them. The process was ugly and the final product was so complex and undefined almost everyone remains confused about what it is. The responsibility for communicating the “messaging” about the big picture has been assumed by cable news since everyone else has done such a poor job. And, most of the population does not like the content of the messages we’ve been hearing. As expected, the focus on reforming the insurance market and getting everyone covered under some type of coverage has overshadowed the real reform that could save billions of dollars and many lives over time.

While the effort may have been too ambitious for the country at the moment there are still many things included the legislation that make a lot of sense. Unfortunately, we remain focused on all the bad stuff and very few even hear about some of the other positive steps.

Payment reform that rewards value as opposed to volume when setting reimbursement approaches for care delivery is a huge step forward. Coordinating care more effectively between care-givers, improving technology use, enhancing the focus on wellness and prevention as opposed to sickness, and expanding community health initiatives are all critical areas needed to fix what we have. They don’t get much play in the world of politics today but should remain a focus whether in a law or not.

The elections on Tuesday will (once again) shake-up the political make-up of our democracy at all levels. These elections may very well impact whether we can, in fact, be successful in reforming our health care system to protect our economic foundation down the road. I hope and pray that after these elections the two sides can work together toward a common goal of creating the health care system that is accessible and affordable for all citizens whether it’s included in actual law or not. It’s just the right thing to do.

After we digest the results on Tuesday maybe we need to look for an alternative approach. If they can’t do it in Congress, maybe we should ask Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert to help out.

It seems like they make more sense than anybody these days.

Health Reform- To Repeal or Not To Repeal

The emotions created by the election rhetoric are moving full-steam ahead. One of the mantras of the Republicans is to “Repeal Obamacare.” The Democrats are scared stiff and refuse to discuss anything that hints toward “bigger government”- thus, they aren’t even bringing up health care reform. Word has it that consumers/citizens are fed up with it anyway and have shut down. Big mistake if that’s what happened. Consumers/citizens need to get involved and need to be informed now more than ever. Not fixing health care (with PPACA or not) will only lead to an economic calamity even worse than the housing/mortgage crisis we’re trying to dig out of today.

So, what do American health care consumers want?

We know we need to fix what we have. The costs are unsustainable, the quality is irregular, the access is spotty, and, quite simply, too many Americans are being hurt (financially and otherwise) by the system we have today.

By all measures, we’re divided in our support of what was produced by Congress earlier in the year (PPACA). It’s safe to say most are not really familiar with the “big picture” with what was produced in the first place. The strategy and purpose of what our country needed to fix was overrun by politics and emotions. The fear of “big government” has become the prominent message as opposed to the proper message of fixing one of the major issues facing us as a nation and protecting the economic foundation of this country.

Most Americans are not familiar with the details of the legislation and have been influenced by the loudest talking points (I would argue that most of our legislators are not all that familiar either). And yet, we hear the message to “repeal Obamacare because that is what the public wants". Is it really what the public wants or is it that the Republicans simply want to stick-it to the Democrats?

Kaiser Family Foundation recently completed an informal analysis of eight major polls completed over the past month asking Americans whether they favored repealing the legislation we have today. They found the results were all over the board ranging from a high of 51% in an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, to a low of 26% in the September, 2010 Kaiser Tracking Poll. They determined the results were dependent upon how the questions were worded and where the questions were placed (as we all learned in Marketing Research 101).

A Bloomberg Poll completed in early October found consumers support (>70%) protection for high-risk individuals, eliminating pre-existing condition restrictions of insurance companies, and eliminating the Medicare prescription drug doughnut-hole as part of any reform initiative. They would like to get rid of the tax on employers for “generous” benefit plans and are uncertain of the individual mandate requirement.

There is no doubt that the PPACA is cumbersome, complex, and has been communicated extremely poorly. Many, many items in the law could be improved. We would have hoped the legislative process could fix what doesn’t make sense and keep what does. Unfortunately, with the way we are polarized today that’s not going to happen. This is a war between Republican and Democrat, nothing else.

If the Republicans are going to continue to call for a full repeal of the law (Michelle Bachmann) they had better have an alternative to replace it. They are only contributing to the confusion of the individual consumer by promoting their position today- and we need the consumer/public to be on board of anything is going to work.

One alternative is Republican Representative Paul Ryan’s, “A Roadmap for America’s Future; Version 2.0.” Ironically it includes many of the items already included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as part of his health care solution- there are parts of the legislation where both sides agree.

I guess even if you agree with it, it just depends from which side of the aisle you are on to determine if “Repeal Obamacare” is part of your mantra or not.

And, it’s a sorry state of affairs for the American people and no wonder we’re confused

A New Report Card For Our Government- Stay After School

If my kids would have brought home a report card like that reported in a recent Washington Post/Kaiser Foundation/Harvard University Poll evaluating the consumer perspective of the federal government we would have had a nice long chat. Not surprisingly, we don’t think our government is working very well- and the report card reflects it. This poll was conducted between September 22 and October 3, 2010 and included a representative sample of 2,054 adults over the age of 18. We’ve posted the survey results in our library if you want to dig into the numbers further.

Here’s how we graded our government:

The Military= B+

Our Own Representatives in Congress= C

The Federal Court System= C

President Obama= C

Democrats in Congress= C-

Federal Government in General= D+

Republicans in Congress= D+

Not a report card to be proud of (except the Military where I am extremely proud)

This is no surprise. Our economy remains very fragile and the unemployment created as a result of the Recession of 2008 remains too high. This recession hit hard at a very personal level to millions of Americans. The basic question we are struggling with is how much can or should the government be involved to fix the systemic problem we have created.

While we are stuck in polarizing politics (which will get even worse with the upcoming mid-term elections), nearly 80% of Americans feel our government can be run well. However, most feel it is currently dominated by special interests with a lot of money looking out only for themselves as opposed to the good of society in general.

Economists and citizens are statistically split between increasing government spending (50%) and avoiding deficits (46%) as components of the economic strategies necessary to dig out of the mess we are in. This will continue to be debated and studied for years in the future.

Almost all agree we are not getting the value out of the tax dollars we contribute to make our government work.

When asked whether the government actions threaten our personal rights and freedoms we are surprisingly at the same level we were at in 2000- before 9/11. Fifty-two percent of Americans feel the federal government interventions are not a threat to liberty and personal freedoms both in 2000 and in 2010. But, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and others are making inroads arguing otherwise.

Health care continues to be a primary item of uncertainty for most Americans. While they are skittish about the impact health care reform most remain uncertain and confused by the impact the PPACA will have on their lives.

These results are another indication that we have a long ways to go as a country. However, most Americans still believe that by working together and eliminating the self-interests dominating our political processes today we can make it work. Congress has a long road to climb to get Americans on board. It may take a change in the seating arrangement after the November election as part of the process. Either way, they are going to have to stay after school for quite awhile to improve on the grades they have today.