http://www.thepowerofa.org/2009/08/a-major-health-care-concession/ Each day, associations create positive change in America and the world. Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:15:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 http://www.thepowerofa.org/2009/08/a-major-health-care-concession/#comment-49 Glenn Tecker Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:42:15 +0000 http://www.thepowerofa.org/?p=920#comment-49 From an asae member organization's signiture on the assae exec section listserve - %0 years of success and not too much of a stretch to a healthcare insurance co-op. GEBA, a non-profit, member-founded and member-governed voluntary =employee beneficiary association, strives to save our members money on =insurance and investments by offering high quality products and =services. Membership is open to employees and retirees of the United = States Intelligence Community as well as military and contractors =assigned to NSA-W. At GEBA, once a member, always a member. If you have =any questions about GEBA's products and services, please visit = GEBA - =Celebrating 50 years of service.=20 http://www.thepowerofa.org/2009/08/a-major-health-care-concession/#comment-48 Glenn Tecker Sat, 29 Aug 2009 19:02:36 +0000 http://www.thepowerofa.org/?p=920#comment-48 Senior conservative Republican Mike Enzi of Wy.is quoted as saying "I heard a lot of frustration and anger as I traveled across my home state this last few weeks," said Enzi, who has been targeted by critics for seeking to negotiate on legislation. He called for more competition among health insurers, for the ability of small businesses to band together across state lines to negotiate for lower-cost insurance plans, for tax breaks to help people buy insurance and for reducing malpractice lawsuits. These cost containment proposals could be the necessary trade-offs for increased access for the currently uninsured. this can be accompolished withpout a government run program by using government backed co-ops operating with a credit union model rather than an agricultural co-op model. Associations would be able to realize the potential of being a fulcrum for such programs. Bujt, only if supporters of increased access as a goal of reform do not allow the insurance industry's PR professionals to hijack the discussion of healthcare reform. In the 1990's it was hijacked by organizing and exaggerating concern about cost to the consumer; this time its being hijacked by organizing and exaggerating concern about the cost of big government. Leading experts in financial, political and business associations calculate that the U.S. is headed to second tier status among maturing economies if it does not control:[a] the escalating cost to insured consumers of its healthcare insurance system, and [b] the the escalating cost to government of caring for uninsured and untreated consumers in its healthcare delivery system. In a for profit dynamic - one persons cost is another persons revenue. Nonprofits have a long history of being able providing a satisfactory quality of life, income and incentive to the folks employed and served by them. Free enterprise advocates should relish competition to an increasingly consolidating industry. Universal access advocatres should relish the opportunity to fund expanded access by reducing unnecessary costs driven by defensive medicine and reimbursement for procedures rather than care. The problems are inter-related realities; not independent choices. Associations speaking with a unified voice on the issue of inter-dependence of these necessities could reframe currently irreconsibale positions and make the differnce in this debate. I'm concerned that the failure to bridge this gap may condemn the 501c3 and 501c6 communities to an era of increased acrimony - with the IRS code and SOX like regulation serving as a surrogate battleground for both sides - depending on who has majority power at the moment.