August 12th: Aug. 7th’s Tele-Townhall Question

I know this is futile, but here is the question I sent  in to White House for the “Tele-Townhall”.  Since I didn’t watch it, I have no idea if it was addressed, but since no one contacted me, I presume not.

 

 Let’s go with your numbers of  millions people not having insurance, for whatever reason.  When you add these millions to the current system (number of hospitals, doctors, nurses), it appears to me that you will have a larger demand for services than you can supply – creating the dreaded long-line syndrome that government processes are renowned for.  Add to this lack of supply the consumer’s inconvenience and costly time wasted by such a system, the fact that people are in pain and in need of immediate attention, and you have an unbearable situation.  I do not believe you can manage these kinds of demands.  Particularly when you cannot even manage to finance a basic rebate program  (cash for clunkers), or run an efficient DMV/IRS system.

 Worse, the sense of entitlement that comes from Government programs (the workers) creates a lackadaisical work environment, leaving the consumer uncared for.  It is one thing when you are only talking about our time and inconvenience at the DMV, DEQ, etc., but it is a much larger problem when you are talking about our health, our bodies, the vessels that host our very existence.

 Frankly, based on the government’s historical performance, I do not believe the government is capable of handling this. A new enthusiastic (and well-meaning) president is not going to change how this trickles down to reality.  It is foolish to entrust our health with an entity (government) that has such a losing track record when it comes to efficient systems.   Congress knows this, which is why they voted against the amendment that would require they get their health insurance through the government-run plan.

 What information (not rhetoric) can you possibly offer me as to how your healthcare reform is going to be different from your current inefficient systems? And if you actually believe you have an answer to this, why not first apply that answer/theory to your existing processes as a beta test, and if/when you are successful at rooting out waste and inefficiencies, THEN apply the process to something as large as healthcare reform?

 In my opinion, you are exhibiting the classic errors of new management – come in and change everything, asking questions later.