This series has an ambitious goal. The goal is to remind most of us that we still retain power in the healthcare industry, until we become sick. That power, however, must be exercised if we hope to stop having the healthcare industry happen to us.
THE FOCUS HERE IS TO REMEMBER THAT WE ARE THE EMPLOYERS.
Washington has become a reality show, with all the posturing and character development and silliness of those shows. Entertaining, maybe, but distracting us from the very issues that are crippling our economy and our power to realize a government that is responsive to a well-informed body of citizens.
I should stop being surprised, but I’m still surprised when I see the President on his second term campaign tour saying things like, Republicans are “trying to mess with me,” instead of doing their jobs. (Search Obama, messing with me for lots of cites.) Unpresidential? You bet. Straight up reality show manipulation of the audience? You bet. Illogical to accuse Republicans of poor job performance as he, the President travels campaigning around the country instead of doing real work? I think so.
Obamacare stands as a concrete example of what happens when we buy into the reality show instead of using our own ability, AS EMPLOYERS, to exercise our voices in the healthcare industry. Many were surprised to find out that legislators hadn’t even read the law before it passed. Many have changed their minds about the law, and many others will only realize what it is they supported or opposed as they “experience” the law for themselves. But what have we been doing? Watching too much TV and getting distracted from what our employees have been doing.
Where’s our power in carving out the ongoing adjustments that are and will be made to Obamacare? It starts with no longer tolerating the reality show, because like every reality show, the reality element is lacking and ultimately, when we turn the TV off, we are the ones who have to live with the reality of voting for and paying for the Washington Reality Show cast.
October 2013 is upon us. In addition to the changes in the healthcare industry that have occurred since Obamacare’s passage, more are scheduled to occur. Obamacare is far from the “done deal” Democrats would have you believe as their reality show characters argue that Obamacare is law comparable to Moses’ 10 Commandments rather than susceptible to change via judiciary and Congress.
Your power model. The most important thing that we should know is that WE are paying for this, the whole thing whether it’s a government program, a legislator’s salary, the President’s Road Show, or a physician’s fee. WE are the employers. Somewhere along the line, we lost sight of the fact that WE are employing the healthcare industry, all of them.
For older Americans, and smoking Americans, and younger Americans Obamacare codifies premium increases, puts them right in the law (refer to this blog’s “Are You Safe From Higher Premiums under Obamacare if You’re Fat? For Now”).
There were no loud voices, no reality show representation concerning these broad categories of people being thrown under the bus, probably because we were believing the “show” instead of clearly communicating our expectation that our governmental representatives, voted in and paid for by US, provide true and complete information about what was being done by our employees.
As employers, what should we be doing? Depending on your own management style, this might be communications with your current representatives, clear communication with candidates about how you want them to stay on task, with a realistic eye towards reality, and that requires that you know your own business, what you need your employees to do.
Right now Obamacare is happening to us. We’re the worst possible employers in my opinion, allowing our employees to run the show without our meaningful input. If you like reality TV, you can watch the Obama channel or the Tea Party news reports. None of those people are going to be living with Obamacare the way you are. Reframe the conversation with your questions, with your answers, and with a clearly outlined expectation of how you want your employees to perform with the money you pay them.
For myself, as a citizen, I want the Republicans to stop wasting time and collecting paychecks on continued pitches to get rid of Obamacare, first, because it’s a lazy-man’s approach, “Get rid of everything and start over doing it our way,” only to go through the same waste of salary as yet another imperfect healthcare bill gets passed, and second because outside the world of reality TV, Obamacare has been going on in our institutions both public and private for over three years, and it’s unrealistic to expect that hospitals, insurance companies, physicians, government will all be able to simply STOP. Instead, redirect where we’re going with the healthcare implementation, where there is a possibility of effecting change.
For myself as a citizen, I want the Democrats to STOP wasting time campaigning. All the travel expenses, on-the-clock time wasted discussing the same nonsense or trying to sell us is a budgetary outrage. Obamacare isn’t perfect. Address Republican concerns to the American people truthfully and completely. Rather than one more stump speech I’d rather see a real discussion between two legislators concerning a particular detail of the law.
If your representatives don’t respond to your concerns, vote them out. We’re paying them too much money to be reality stars, and by the way, they voted themselves out of Obamacare.
Step one, YOU are the employer. Without YOU there is NO healthcare industry.
