HEALTH CARE REFORM!

 NOW WHAT?

Who is Mike Shaw?

Hello and Welcome,

My name is Mike Shaw I am an Insurance Professional with over 30 years of first hand experience of marketing Medical Insurance in the USA, and marketing “Private Medical Insurance” as it is known in the UK. I believe my back ground as a small business owner and a regular patient of the “One payer” delivery system in the UK positions me to offer you a totally different perspective on the effects of the new legislation.

My experience includes 15 years in the Southern California market, marketing predominantly Group Medical Insurance to “small business” employing 2 to 50 employees. However in the UK my focus was on “Blue Chip” household names such as Coca Cola, Bristol Myer Squib, Air France and Solomon Brothers were listed amongst my hundreds of clients.

So why, you may wonder  would Major Company’s who are already mandated to pay significant subscriptions via high taxes to fund “The National Health Service” (the NHS as it is known in the UK?)why would they want or need to purchase additional private Insurance to cover their employees?

When we approached prospective clients with our privatized insurance products the business owners sighted many reasons as to why there was an urgent need for an alternative delivery system to supplement the inefficient and out dated “socialized system” 

Our clients were looking for a solution to the challenges of attracting and retaining high quality employees in competitive markets.

Consequently it was never a difficult decision for the decision maker to purchase privatized products.

The employer’s most common concerns and complaints about the NHS were, out dated facilities, old out dated equipment and the lack of qualified staff.

Even though there was general agreement that access to urgent or emergency care was “adequate” Employers were seeking a more efficient delivery system for their employee medical care for non-urgent or emergency care.

The second and most pressing need stated was to enable employees to gain access to needed health care for treatment that they were currently unable access in a timely manner due to excessive wait periods within the NHS system.

The wait periods frequently lead to employees being absent from work totally disabled or being unable to perform his/her job efficiently, while waiting for what are termed “elective or selective” treatments.

Typically, the wait periods for elective treatments could be up to several years. Treatments deemed to be elective or selective include but are certainly not restricted to spinal problems, hip replacements and knee replacements. Even the treatment of mild heart attacks could be considered as elective!

Ironically due to the continued lengthening of the wait periods for treatments the current trend in the UK is for the government to contract with the many purpose built privately owned modern and efficient facility’s that now are being established. The privately owned organizations reflect the improvement found in the latest equipment and modern facility’s. These facility’s are well equipped and adequately staffed to take over the treatment of people who are currently on the NHS wait list for ”elective procedures” Generally the wait period for these facility’s is measured in weeks and some times days!

So with the move towards “socialized medicine” or “a one payer system” here in the USA what effect and impact will the Health Care Reform bill have on individual’s and business owners ability to have timely access health care here in the USA?

The Health Care Reform bill also referred to as “Obama Care” was signed into effect on March 23 rd 2010. So how will this massive piece of legislation impact the way US citizens purchase and utilize Health Care and Health Insurance for the next decade and beyond? Time will tell, but make no mistake this legislation will effect everyone, Individuals and Business owners a like and will have a significant impact on how we as individuals and business owners manage the cost of and access to health care.

Time alone will tell whether or not “Obama Care” will follow the same path as the English system on which it was modeled?

Will the US system like the NHS system evolve into a huge inefficient government bureaucracy (next only in size to the British army bureaucracy) where a huge percentage of the available resources are required for the maintenance of the bureaucracy rather than directing the resources required for the treatment of the patients? The irony is the NHS has turned full circle and is now looking to the private sector to solve its most pressing problems!

For readers who are interested, I have written a report which incorporates a series of five articles in which I will cover the time line and the implications of any non compliance with the laws applicable within “The Health Care Reform” bill.