Healthcare is Sick. Let's fix it!

Imagine walking into a Wal-Mart, having a rough idea of what you want. You talk to a couple people and are told what you need. It fills a shopping cart half-full. You go to the checkout, present a discount card, and are told you owe $20. What a deal! You then look over at someone in the next lane--someone who didn't have a discount card--and just wanted a pack of gum. They paid $33. You leave confused.

Yet this is how healthcare in the US works. We see to a clinic or hospital with a concern, are told what's wrong with us, and the paperwork is filed. The co-pay is decided by a contract most of us will never read and written to a level of education that most people don't attain.

Most people find the current US healthcare system  "broken" (whatever that means) and note (correctly) that the US spends more than other Westernized countries on healthcare (based on GDP), yet doesn't have a longer life expectancy to show for it.

Some point to other countries with a fondness for things not completely understood, much like we look at an attractive man/woman without seeing their flaws. France has been cited as one example, but its costs are climbing. Sweden's health care system is more similar to the US--but is more upfront about payment for noncitizens and more restrictive about care. Finally, Canada's system (now 50 years old)  is made up if 15 different governmental entities, and isn't all-inclusive.

A purely market-based system isn't the cure; people who urgently need care don't have time to shop around. Conversely, a purely government based single-payer system often restricts care due to supply and demand.

Thus, there will need to be some continued government oversight while maintaining significant private infrastructure. Those who can afford to pay must pay their way, while those who can't afford to pay also shouldn't be afforded plastic surgery and other luxuries that only money can buy. We'll need to refine the current system--not start all over, just refine things and be open to new ideas and (here's a novel idea):

Compromise.

8/15: More on 80/20

I work 2 jobs, which is sometimes stress-inducing. Recently, it’s become a knowledge base, as I see skills transfer from one job to the other. Several times this week I’ve seen the ‘80/20’ rule (which I’ve discussed earlier) come into play.

 

Specifically, at one job, there’s a large but very low margin customer. We make almost no money in the account, but it helps absorb fixed costs, so any profit is better than nothing. (Still, it takes few sales to ‘regular’ accounts to generate a larger profit than all the time and effort that are needed for the low-margin account.) At this job, we’re very conscious of the 80/20 rule, so all this effort for little money can be frustrating.

 

It pays dividends at the other job, where few of my coworkers know about ‘80/20’. I use the knowledge gained both in one job and in real life to educate coworkers at the 2^nd job about 80/20. I encourage others by showing them how a few sales that are higher-dollar amount take the same amount of effort as a few sales of low-dollar amount transactions.  However, higher-dollar transactions generally make the employer more profit, which benefits all who work there. Uniformly, I see the point ‘sink in’ quickly. (Side note: my sales skills are enhanced at both jobs, mainly through my work at the 2^nd job, so the 1^st job benefits from the 2^nd job.)

 

Wrapping up this entry, I sometimes ask myself why I spend an inordinate amount of time doing things with little benefit. This is especially true with leisure time: at the end of the day, how did I invest my leisure time? For most people, 80% is wasted; 20% is used productively. We generally look for more leisure time in our lives, so staying organized (writing down lists, etc) is more essential than ever…100% of the time.  

 

Marriage

I look down at my left hand many times a day, and it’s a constant reminder of a promise I made 8 years ago. 

The ring I see is a constant reminder of a promise to love my wife. However, there’s so much more to a marriage than love—there are many skills that my wife and I use daily.  

Marriage is the ultimate expression of the art of compromise. Things aren’t my way, they aren’t (always) her way; we compromise. I listen to her and respect her opinions, and she does the same to me. We talk about what we want to do at any given day. Sometimes I end up shoe shopping with her; other times, she ends up watching football with me. Some single friends of mine ask me “How do you do that? I hate shopping!” They’re missing the point. I do things with my wife not because I like to do all of the things she likes to do, but because I enjoy spending time with her and I’ve found that sometimes we deviate from our initial plan to do other things (volleyball, softball, bicycling, running, watching a movie, etc) that lead me to find other activities that I didn’t know I liked…but she makes me grow as a person.

The risk (going shopping with her) lead to multiple rewards (growing as a person; becoming more active; making more social connections). Marriage is a compromise that pays ongoing benefits.