Health Bill

I try to return all emails I receive and was just overwhelmed yesterday on my email on the Supreme Court decision.


First let me say that about 60% of the respondents agreed with the decision with 40% opposing.

Many of you asked why I agreed. I can’t respond individually to all of you so I will give you my thoughts in this email.

First I agree with those of you that made the point that this is not a perfect bill. In my opinion it did not have enough cost containment measures and at the end of the day the effectiveness of the bill will be judged on how it controls and reduces cost.

The reason I supported the bill is that clearly and I think almost everyone will agree our health system is broken. The US spends 50% more on health care cost than any other industrial nation. I is now about 18% of our gross domestic product.

This bill has the potential to bend the cost curve of health care cost and get more people insured. The guaranteed issue portion of the law could only be done with the individual mandate. It has been estimated that there could be a 3% to 9% reduction in cost by the people that will be obtaining health insurance.

But more importantly there is the potential that we now have in place the mechanism to reduce cost. The Exchanges could be a game changer. In California the Exchange will not only negotiate rates but can demand efficiencies from providers and insurance companies

If we put in place pay for performance guidelines[ currently we are a pay for procedures], evidence based medicine, an integrated delivery system, disease management , implementation of electronic medical, records and reduced administrative cost just to name a few reforms we can truly impact health cost in this country.

But we must do more than just reduce cost. We must increase the quality of our health care. Right now we are near the bottom the pact in the areas such as infant mortality and longevity of life.

The only thing we lead the world in is life expectancy once you reach 80. The problem is you have to reach 80 first

This will not be easy as we are talking about $2.8 trillion dollars and there is a lot of special interest. We as small business owners and citizens must better understand the health bill and demand that our health system be more efficient.

I welcome your comments.



Scott Hauge

President