Health Reform 101 – ‘None of the Ransomed Knew How Deep Were the Waters Crossed!’

Have you ever been sucked into the white waters of the Pacific after falling off your board; only to find yourself gasping for air yet unable to surface? It’s kinda frightening, even for the more accomplished surfers’ amoung us.

Ok you say, I got the visual, but don’t surf and what’s that got to do with health reform? It’s really quite simple. The oxygen (or change imperative ‘momo’) is gone, and the business owner of the reform narrative is desparately flailing for air. What was once seeminbgly brilliant political positioning, i.e., ‘you (the Congress) give me something I can sign into law, now appears to have degraded into a desparate ‘chicken dance’ in search of a tangible face saving political accommodation.

Yet, the war is over and the health insurance industry has already won. They’ve successfully enrolled us in their ‘faux hope’, yet compelling version of ‘The Matrix’. Never mind the 46 million uninsured, or the expanding ranks of the ‘diminishing returns’ under-insured, the dubious and seedy practices of cherry picking or worse yet retrospective recissions, while the relentless and intractable ‘evolution’ of the health insurance industry away from comprehensive (true HMO like) coverage to smartly branded (Edward Bernays could not have offered better ‘reframing’ counsel) ‘consumer directed health plans’, essentially re-defines the industry.

Why United, Aetna, WellPoint, the Blues, or their regional derivative iterations et al, so wholeheartedly embracing this dressed up risk shifting charade is not prima facia evidence that they can’t cut it, have patently failed the American public, and despite their scale, can not manage health risk let alone delivery systems is not front and center in the health reform conversation is beyond me. Where is the primacy of the ‘Mayo (collectively speaking of organically baked, physician group culture based integrated delivery systems) v. McAllen” (as proxy for fee for service sweat shops) debate?

To my great dismay, this tektonic healthplan (health insurance) risk shift is in some measure aided and abetted by well meaning, thoughtful and committed ‘health 2.0 entrepreneuers’ who passionately pursue web based technologies with intent to empower consumers in the crosshairs and rapicious appetite of the ‘resistence is futile’ health care borg.

In the end (and yes, it is over, for now…) that which plays out in Congress will be pure facing saving attempts to ‘put lipstick on a pig with whack a mole DNA’. The byproduct and amalgamation of this output alchemized by the forces of unreasonable change, leveraged by the vocal naysayers relentlessly pursuing their culture war agenda to pierce the veil of what seemed to be a Presidential mandate above reproach, will castrate once hopeful visions of the health reform we so desparately need.

In view of this dumbed down pseudo national conversation, I imagine more slack will be cut for the failed architects of the ‘HillaryCare’ initiative. Apparently, the Millenial answer was not to stay above the fray via Obama’s ‘Eight Principles of Health Reform‘, but perhaps pursue a more managed center absent artificial legistlative deadlines, coupled with enlightened curators of the conversation.