The Brutal Reality: Health Care Today = Increased National Debt

In their book "Confronting Reality; Doing What Matters to Get Things Right," Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan put forward a statement that has implications for everyone in our country today. They state, "To confront reality is to recognize the world as it is, not as you wish it to be, and have the courage to do what must be done, not what you'd like to do." Very appropriate to describe the reality of the financial situation in our country.

Last week, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, Co-Chair of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform submitted their "Co-Chairmen Proposal" for tackling the $13.7 trillion dollar debt facing our country. This debt is the result of the policies and entitlement expectations we have accumulated over the years (not just over the past two years) and was exacerbated by the Great Recession of 2008 experienced in the global economy. We are now facing a level of debt that jeopardizes the economic foundation of the country.

We have posted their proposal on our website at http://www.collaborationhealthcare.com/ and you can also look at it by clicking HERE.

We encourage everyone to take a look at it. It's only 50 pages and is mainly a "powerpoint on paper" highlighting the key messages. It has already been blasted for its lack of specifics. I look at it more as a starting point, not the final solution.

Those on the right have been critical because it includes tax and revenue increases. They believe there is already plenty of revenue- just not enough spending discipline.

Those on the left have been critical because it takes on some of the entitlements that have historically been off-limits; Medicare and Social Security.

The brutal reality is that we need some combination of addressing both.

Why is this topic included in my health care blog? Because health care (Medicare/Medicaid) is a major contributor to our debt and our lack of action in the past is impacting our businesses in the private sector and ultimately negatively impacting our economy. It's only going to get worse and it's time to quit arguing about the way to fix what we know needs to be fixed - and just do it. The impact of our debt is going to impact every American sooner or later. To fix our debt problem and our economy we must begin to change the way health care works whether we have laws that require it or not.

Some are still in total denial that the problem is as bad as others are making it out to be (AARP and the Natinal Committee to Perserve Social Security). On the other hand, David Cote, Chairman and CEO of Honeywell International and one of the committee members, was shocked to find out how bad our situation actually is.

The first founding principal of the Debt Reform document states, "We have a patriotic duty to come together on a plan that will make America better off tomorrow than it is today." America can come together when it wants to. Unfortunately it usually some type of crisis or catastrophe to make it happen.

The country has an opportunity to address a real issue before it is too late and becomes a catastrophe. This is beyond politics or ideology. It's time we confront the reality, become informed, and recognize it's going to take some sacrifice from everyone.

We have said before that fixing health care is critical to fixing our economy. Let's quit putting the ideology in front of the actions- as stated by Bossidy and Charan- "we need to have the courage to do what must be done, not what we'd like to do."