World Sojourner : 3760

A few tenants for lowering price and increasing quality:

1. price decreases with full information

2. quality increases with full information

3. the less middlemen and more direct choice normally decreases price and increases quality

4. buyers need the freedom to choose whom they buy from when given full information

Reading the current (and seems to be final) healthcare bill it seems that the Dems have managed to craft a bill that’s not helpful to anyone.  Unless the Washington Post missed some major points, the insurance exchange and allowing insurance companies to provide national policies seem to be the only real value-added activities.

Hell, even the socialist government intervention (yet probably needed moves) of making it illegal turn down people with pre-existing conditions won’t come into full effect until 2014.  Sorry folks, you’re screwed for four more years.  I do wonder how the Dems will blame the Republicans for that little provision?  Considering the GOP has been – and let me be clear – completely useless in this debate, it just seems like a stretch.

The first steps in solving this very real problem could have been written on the back of a napkin.

1. A national website showing the price of all procedures at all hospitals and clinics.  Need an MRI in 75035? Search online.

2. The same website (with 800 number for those who don’t have web access) also shows reviews and feedback ratings on the doctors, and people doing the procedures.  Five stars to one star.  Mrs. M and I won’t buy a leaf blower without checking reviews but when it comes to medical activities – it’s a big black box.

3. Insurance – if we need them – then rewards (pays more) to those practices and hospitals that hit the balance between high quality care and low price. 

4. Provide incentives for states to start their own co-ops so there are more insurance choices.  We probably need to incentivize everything from government run to something liaise-faire to see which one really works. [real answer is to start phasing out insurance so you and I can argue over prices ourselves but I’m trying to stay somewhat realistic here]

5. Market exchanges, stuff mentioned as a decent idea above

There’s probably a few more needed ingredients but the above points seem essential.  Healthcare, like car insurance, needs to be more market and less government. Sure, there’s a need at the bottom for some more assistance.  I get that and to a lesser extent agree – so why not just expand Medicaid or Medicare? 

It just seems, from first reading, that all this debate on the correct approach has delivered a camel rather than a well developed horse.  We shall see what the future holds.  Mrs. M and I have a exit strategy, do you?

Apparently, the phrase ‘Tiger Talks’ are starting to enter the US vernacular.  What’s a Tiger talk?  That’s when a girlfriend or wife, while going through their man’s PDA, has the conversation about how their fella may get hungry on the road, but they better eat at home.  The ‘Tiger Talk’ phrase pinged another phrase called ‘Tiger Teams.’

Alissa’s old company in England had these.  Tiger Teams were (I think) groups formed for special purposes for a limited duration.  While the world’s number one golfer hasn’t been linked to any, uh, team events – I can imagine the phrase could fall out of favor pretty quickly.

Will the businesses care?  Probably not.  Language is dead there.  Yesterday I heard the phrase ‘gap-it-ization’ used more than once by consultants from another firm sitting beside me on the plane.  Luckily, the deck they were developing was so poorly done I doubt anyone would actually hear their new phrase.  No, it’s when a guy comes home and tells his significant other that they’re on a ‘Tiger Team’ and it immediately leads to the ‘Tiger Talk’ that the phrase will vanish.  And quickly.

A few more thoughts on the subject just to get all of this off my chest:

• Why did Gatorade drop the Tiger drink?  The ‘G’ replaces vital nutrients lost after strenuous activity.  A little repositioning of the brand and there’s defiantly a niche market.
• I always thought when Tiger tossed around that the number18, he was talking about the number of Majors he would like to win ….

I’m writing this from the quiet confines of my old college house in West Virginia.  Thanks to not needing to be in the Emerald city next week, I moved my travel plans and came into WV early.

Consulting, for all of its ills, does provide a lot of flexibility when it comes to work location.  Assuming you’re not onsite, it really doesn’t matter where the work gets done.  Dallas.  Morgantown.  Antarctica.  It just doesn’t matter as long as there is broadband.

A couple months ago I bought a Verizon Mobile Broadband card so I could have access to the Internet in airports and at my hotel without the need to get hammered on access fees.  What I didn’t bother to check was if Verizon had any service in West Virginia.  And, in a few words – it doesn’t.

I arrived on Friday.  After unpacking, I decided to try out the Verizon card.  I figured the speed would be less than Dallas or Seattle but didn’t expect a popup that read – warning – you could be charged up to $20 per Meg.

This popup was new so I decided to call the nice folks at Verizon and investigate.

Here’s my call:

Verizon: How can we help you?

Me: I have a Verizon Mobile Card but it reads something something Global Access and gives me a popup saying I may need to pay $20 per meg.

Verizon: Well sir, you know that your current account is only for the US and doesn’t work internationally.

Me: But, I’m located in West Virginia.

Verizon: Oh, is that near the Canadian border?

Me: If you consider 700 miles near the Canadian Border – no.  And it’s not near Cuba or Mexico either. 

Verizon: That’s all I needed – I don’t know these things – I’m from Arizona.

Me: [slack-jawed silence]

Verizon: Let me transfer you to technical support.

Me: uh, sure