My goal for the last six years has been to hold a meeting about free market health care reform. This meeting presents a strategy for turning back PPACA (aka, ObamaCare). I am willing to drive anywhere within a days drive of Salt Lake for free (That's about seven hundred miles). If I travel further I would have to find a way to fund the trip.
PPACA was premised on the assumption that insurance is the only possible way to fund health care. Because insurance is the only way to fund health care, we must force people into insurance plans and doctors into HMOs.
This assumption leads to the false dichotomy that Health Care must either be funded by big insurance or by big government.
The way to stand against a false dichotomy is to strike at the false premise behind the dichotomy.
My meeting begins with a presentation about the mathematics of funding health care. (FWIW: I used to work as a computer programmer for a state owned insurance company writing programs to track claims and calculate premiums. The presentation is based on experience). I then create a mathematical model for self-funded health care that I call "The Medical Savings and Loan.
With two models on the table I then show how and why group funding of individual consumption leads to inequities. The presentation ends with an actionable model and action items that can be used to defeat the socialization of health care.
Admirers of Dr. Ben Carson would love this presentation. The presentation goes miles beyond Dr. Carson by showing how we can achieve this vision in a relatively short time span.
I need to emphasize. The Medical Savings and Loan is a business model. It is not a government program.
A group of people who wanted to make a big impact on the health care debate could invite me to a meeting. If they like what they hear, I would discuss the action item. The action items is not a government program.
Did I mention? I am not talking about a government program. I believe that funding health care is a business problem and that we need business solutions. The action item is not the creation of a new government agency. The goal is the creation of a better model for funding health care. The model would be implemented as a business, not a government program.
Although there is a raging culture war, the program is not a conflict driven or culture war approach to health care.
It is a data-driven, science based mechanism for funding health care.
As mentioned. I live in Utah. I am not LDS. The meeting is neither pro-LDS or anti-LDS. Truthfully, I don't find LDS and interesting topic.
I notice that the most prominent LDS leaders are all lined up for socializing health care through health exchanges. I am critical of Harry Reid, Mitt Romney, Mike Leavitt, Jon Huntsman, the Utah Health Exchange, and the Sutherland Institute which have all played negative roles in the health care debate.
Since I live in Utah, I may find it necessary to address the negative role that Harry Reid, Mitt Romney, Huntsman and Leavitt have played in the health care debate, but I really am not interested in such political discussions.
IMHO, politics is something that gets in the way of good decisions. We need an approach to health care reform dedicated to making better decisions.
If you are interested in this presentation, please use my Contact Form. I would be happy to give the presentation anywhere within a day's drive of Salt Lake, but I would have to come up with a funding mechanism if I had to go further than that.
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Friday, January 10, 2014
On Starting From a Blank Slate
Yes, there are trillions of dollars invested in the current health care establishment. That aside, I believe that there is merit to engaging in conversations in which one discusses the funding of health care as if it were a blank slate.
While a blanket replacing of the health care apparatus is foolhardy, the discussion can provide insight into health care that can be used to modify the system.
The actual way I approached health care reform is quite interesting.
I was a mathematician who studied the foundations of mathematics and logic. I worked as a programmer for a state owned insurance company. I wrote programs to track claims and perform the actuarial analysis used to calculate premiums. I worked closely with auditors and professional certified actuaries.
I was paid $5.00/hour. The actuaries were charging in excess of $180 per hour. The company was eager to have me do as much of the leg work as possible and gave me unprecedented access to the data, the beautiful data.
I became deeply disturbed by the underlying structure of health insurance. As I analyzed the data I realized that the group funding of individual consumption was creating inequities and systemic risk in health care.
I can easily demonstrate these inequities and system risk if ever anyone came to the presentation that I've been advertising for the last six years!
I was working for a state agency. I saw that the inequities created by insurance (the group funding of individual consumption) existed in both state run insurance pools and private insurance pools.
The problem is not with the entity that runs the pool but with the mathematical model at the foundation of group funding of individual consumption.
Give me a whiteboard and an hour and I can demonstrate this.
Discovering problems is easy. Solving the problem is difficult.
In my quest for a solution, I engaged in two thought experiments. The first thought experiment I asked myself the question: "How would I use object technology to re-engineer an insurance company to the inequities that I found in health care?"
Yes, that is the type of question that curses around inside this muddled brain of mine. Come on, I am a mathematician who read every single computer book that I could lay my greasy little fingers on.
I did a great deal of computer modeling. I made use case studies of all of the positions in health care. I read all the literature I could find on computer models in health care.
After this first thought experiment, I engaged in a second thought experiment. In this second thought experiment I asked the simple question: What if I had a blank slate. How would I go about funding health care if I came across a culture that did not have health insurance that was desirous of finding ways to fund advanced health care?
I created a second absolutely pure free market model for funding health care that starts with people getting in a room and discussing the challenge of funding health care from scratch.
I merged the two ideas together. I gave the project the campy name "The Medical Savings and Loan."
There is one more very interesting thing that happened to me. I attended a lecture by a Marxian professor. This Marxian professor explained how the left could use the insurance industry to transform a free nation into a socialized nation.
Having worked in insurance and having witnessed the inequities caused by insurance, I believe that my Marxian professor was right. The left can use insurance to transform a free people into a socialized people.
Being the impertinent little snit that I am. I took the ideas of my Marxian professor and asked the question: How could one go about using the funding of health care to transform a socialized nation into a free nation?
By free, I mean the classical liberal ideals of freedom. I define "classical liberal" as "the application of classical logic to the question of liberty."
The US Founders had a classical liberal arts education. The foundation of this education was the Trivium. The three legs of the Trivium are Grammar, Classical Logic and Rhetoric. I consider the US Founders, Adam Smith and numerous other thinkers to be Classical Liberal.
I should mention, Hayek, Von Mises and several other authors of the Libertarian bent considered themselves classical liberal.
I suspect that people who consider themselves Libertarian, Classical Liberal or simply Anti-Statist would love my presentation on health care.
It turns out that I just happen to live in the most conservative area on this planet West of Iran. I live in Utah. (Here are some pretty pictures of Utah).
Back in the 1980s and 1990s, I tried to generate some interest in free market health care reform. I was active against Hillary Clinton's attempt to socialize health care in the 1990s, but I was completely dismayed to discover that "Conservatives" had no interest in advancing free market health care. Conservatives love employer based health care because insurance concentrates wealth in the pockets of their friends and helps keep workers in check.
For the last six years, I made a completely futile effort to find Conservative interested in overturning PPACA (aka ObamaCare). To my dismay, I could not find a single group within 700 miles of Salt Lake City willing to spend an afternoon discussing health care.
Anyway, I created a presentation. The presentation starts with the idea of building a health care system from a blank slate. I end up building a model for health care that I had actually created by an effort to re-engineer an insurance company along free market principles.
I believe that this multifaceted approach to funding health care makes for a much more interesting discussion of health care.
Of course, I don't know that for sure. Every time I've brought my presentation to a "conservative" group, I was shown the door the moment the people in the group realized that I am directly challenging the big money in health insurance.
After six years of having every door slammed in my face, I believe it a proven fact that Conservatives are disingenuous in their claims of being defers of freedom.
So, as it stands, I am simply left here staring at the scenery. Speaking of scenery, if you aren't interested in the pretty pictures of Utah, I have a pile of pretty pictures from Arizona. Quite frankly, I am content just to be. and I enjoy staring at scenery.
While a blanket replacing of the health care apparatus is foolhardy, the discussion can provide insight into health care that can be used to modify the system.
The actual way I approached health care reform is quite interesting.
I was a mathematician who studied the foundations of mathematics and logic. I worked as a programmer for a state owned insurance company. I wrote programs to track claims and perform the actuarial analysis used to calculate premiums. I worked closely with auditors and professional certified actuaries.
I was paid $5.00/hour. The actuaries were charging in excess of $180 per hour. The company was eager to have me do as much of the leg work as possible and gave me unprecedented access to the data, the beautiful data.
I became deeply disturbed by the underlying structure of health insurance. As I analyzed the data I realized that the group funding of individual consumption was creating inequities and systemic risk in health care.
I can easily demonstrate these inequities and system risk if ever anyone came to the presentation that I've been advertising for the last six years!
I was working for a state agency. I saw that the inequities created by insurance (the group funding of individual consumption) existed in both state run insurance pools and private insurance pools.
The problem is not with the entity that runs the pool but with the mathematical model at the foundation of group funding of individual consumption.
Give me a whiteboard and an hour and I can demonstrate this.
Discovering problems is easy. Solving the problem is difficult.
In my quest for a solution, I engaged in two thought experiments. The first thought experiment I asked myself the question: "How would I use object technology to re-engineer an insurance company to the inequities that I found in health care?"
Yes, that is the type of question that curses around inside this muddled brain of mine. Come on, I am a mathematician who read every single computer book that I could lay my greasy little fingers on.
I did a great deal of computer modeling. I made use case studies of all of the positions in health care. I read all the literature I could find on computer models in health care.
After this first thought experiment, I engaged in a second thought experiment. In this second thought experiment I asked the simple question: What if I had a blank slate. How would I go about funding health care if I came across a culture that did not have health insurance that was desirous of finding ways to fund advanced health care?
I created a second absolutely pure free market model for funding health care that starts with people getting in a room and discussing the challenge of funding health care from scratch.
I merged the two ideas together. I gave the project the campy name "The Medical Savings and Loan."
There is one more very interesting thing that happened to me. I attended a lecture by a Marxian professor. This Marxian professor explained how the left could use the insurance industry to transform a free nation into a socialized nation.
Having worked in insurance and having witnessed the inequities caused by insurance, I believe that my Marxian professor was right. The left can use insurance to transform a free people into a socialized people.
Being the impertinent little snit that I am. I took the ideas of my Marxian professor and asked the question: How could one go about using the funding of health care to transform a socialized nation into a free nation?
By free, I mean the classical liberal ideals of freedom. I define "classical liberal" as "the application of classical logic to the question of liberty."
The US Founders had a classical liberal arts education. The foundation of this education was the Trivium. The three legs of the Trivium are Grammar, Classical Logic and Rhetoric. I consider the US Founders, Adam Smith and numerous other thinkers to be Classical Liberal.
I should mention, Hayek, Von Mises and several other authors of the Libertarian bent considered themselves classical liberal.
I suspect that people who consider themselves Libertarian, Classical Liberal or simply Anti-Statist would love my presentation on health care.
It turns out that I just happen to live in the most conservative area on this planet West of Iran. I live in Utah. (Here are some pretty pictures of Utah).
Back in the 1980s and 1990s, I tried to generate some interest in free market health care reform. I was active against Hillary Clinton's attempt to socialize health care in the 1990s, but I was completely dismayed to discover that "Conservatives" had no interest in advancing free market health care. Conservatives love employer based health care because insurance concentrates wealth in the pockets of their friends and helps keep workers in check.
For the last six years, I made a completely futile effort to find Conservative interested in overturning PPACA (aka ObamaCare). To my dismay, I could not find a single group within 700 miles of Salt Lake City willing to spend an afternoon discussing health care.
Anyway, I created a presentation. The presentation starts with the idea of building a health care system from a blank slate. I end up building a model for health care that I had actually created by an effort to re-engineer an insurance company along free market principles.
I believe that this multifaceted approach to funding health care makes for a much more interesting discussion of health care.
Of course, I don't know that for sure. Every time I've brought my presentation to a "conservative" group, I was shown the door the moment the people in the group realized that I am directly challenging the big money in health insurance.
After six years of having every door slammed in my face, I believe it a proven fact that Conservatives are disingenuous in their claims of being defers of freedom.
So, as it stands, I am simply left here staring at the scenery. Speaking of scenery, if you aren't interested in the pretty pictures of Utah, I have a pile of pretty pictures from Arizona. Quite frankly, I am content just to be. and I enjoy staring at scenery.
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Why The HCAA?
IMHO, the freedom movement needs to create an organization that has a single focus on creating a savings based mechanism for funding health care.
My opinion is based on direct observation of the political debate.
In the 1980s and 1990s it was clear that insurance had destroyed the pricing mechanism in health care and had created systemic faults in the financial system.
There was a great deal of academic interest in creating a savings based health care program. There numerous academic treatises about the advantages of savings based health care, but there were none of the groups (besides myself) delved into the question of how to make savings based health care a reality.
Big insurance companies approached savings based health care as follows: They asked: How can we add a savings component to insurance in a way that would increase profits?
Big insurance created plans that added a Medical Savings Account to high deductible insurance.
The first plans were not popular as people realized that the high deductibles dramatically increased cost of people with chronic conditions and left people more exposed.
The Bush Administration wanted to pass a prescription drug bill and massive expansion of Medicare. To appease Libertarians, they tossed a tax exemption for "Health Savings Accounts."
A tax exemption only helps people who have a high tax bill.
The HSA/HDHC combination wreaks havoc on the health of the working poor. The working poor get no benefit from the tax exemption. They are unable to save money. The high deduction reduces access to care and reduces use of preventative care.
Back in the 1980s, I created a business model called "The Medical Savings and Loan."
The model starts by giving clients a "Medical Savings Account." I supplement the accounts with a loan reserve and grant program.
The program starts with the mantra: Those who can self-fund their care should. We give each client a Medical Savings Account, a share in a loan reserve and access to a Health Care Advocate. The advocates have a data driven program that simulates expected future health care expenses to help clients develop a savings plan. The advocates will help clients find the right doctor and help negotiate health expense.
The program sets aside a huge amount of money for people who cannot afford their care. The amount of money set aside is determined by an actuarial analysis of medical expenses.
Clients have an account containing their money. They have access to a huge loan reserve from which they can make interest free loans. Most importantly, they have access to a professional negotiator who is familiar with the local health care system.
This gives the people who can self fund their care the resources to self fund their care. This takes care of about 95% of the public.
The program has a huge grant pool to help people who can't afford their care. The program gives grants to these people.
This program is different from the HSA/HDHC program because it makes the savings account the focus of care and not the insurance policy.
I tried developing this program in the 1990s. I contacted all of the think tanks I could find and there was absolutely no interest.
I used to have access to some health care data. All of the simulations I ran on real world data indicated that the Medical Savings and Loan does a more equitable job of distributing health care than standard insurance, the HSA/HDHC or socialized medicine models.
For thirty years I've been sitting here with a program that would realize the dreams of Dr. Ben Carson and numerous other free market thinkers.
Bringing this program to fruition is just a simple matter of a small group of dedicated patriots getting together to form an organization called "The Health Care Advocates Association."
The HCAA would then stand up and say: "Hey world. We have a savings based alternative to insurance. We have a mathematical model that suggests this would do a better job than the Health Exchanges, Insurance or Socialism.
Here is the real kicker. The Medical Savings and Loan creates a data driven system that can compare the results of different approaches to financing health care.
It would be possible to create an experiment in which 10,000 or so people engage in the Medical Savings and Loan. We could then compare their health experience with ten thousand people stuck in traditional insurance or who are using the HSA/HDHC model.
My simulations indicate that this model provides better care for the working class and small business owners. The program gives people tools and incentives for negotiating the best price for care; which should improve the quality of care and reduce prices.
All that needs to happen is for a group of libertarian leaning thinkers who want to save the American Experiment in Self Rule to get together to talk about free market approaches to health care reform.
What's funny is that this dream can never happen because I live in the most conservative state in the nation. By living in the most conservative area West of Tehran, I've learned the dreaded truth about the conservative movement. Conservatives only use free market rhetoric. The aim of the Conservative Movement is to create massive social institutions to create a class society that Conservatives love.
Anyway, for the last six years I've been trying to find people with enough interest in defending freedom to attend a presentation. The presentation induces the mathematical model I used, then solicits people to join the HCAA.
I don't want to put the presentation online because I realized that, unless we get an organization that is dedicated to bringing free market health care to fruition, the presentation will be nothing more than base agitation and that big insurance will simply use the base agitation to advance bad implementations of the health savings concept.
My opinion is based on direct observation of the political debate.
In the 1980s and 1990s it was clear that insurance had destroyed the pricing mechanism in health care and had created systemic faults in the financial system.
There was a great deal of academic interest in creating a savings based health care program. There numerous academic treatises about the advantages of savings based health care, but there were none of the groups (besides myself) delved into the question of how to make savings based health care a reality.
Big insurance companies approached savings based health care as follows: They asked: How can we add a savings component to insurance in a way that would increase profits?
Big insurance created plans that added a Medical Savings Account to high deductible insurance.
The first plans were not popular as people realized that the high deductibles dramatically increased cost of people with chronic conditions and left people more exposed.
The Bush Administration wanted to pass a prescription drug bill and massive expansion of Medicare. To appease Libertarians, they tossed a tax exemption for "Health Savings Accounts."
A tax exemption only helps people who have a high tax bill.
The HSA/HDHC combination wreaks havoc on the health of the working poor. The working poor get no benefit from the tax exemption. They are unable to save money. The high deduction reduces access to care and reduces use of preventative care.
Back in the 1980s, I created a business model called "The Medical Savings and Loan."
The model starts by giving clients a "Medical Savings Account." I supplement the accounts with a loan reserve and grant program.
The program starts with the mantra: Those who can self-fund their care should. We give each client a Medical Savings Account, a share in a loan reserve and access to a Health Care Advocate. The advocates have a data driven program that simulates expected future health care expenses to help clients develop a savings plan. The advocates will help clients find the right doctor and help negotiate health expense.
The program sets aside a huge amount of money for people who cannot afford their care. The amount of money set aside is determined by an actuarial analysis of medical expenses.
Clients have an account containing their money. They have access to a huge loan reserve from which they can make interest free loans. Most importantly, they have access to a professional negotiator who is familiar with the local health care system.
This gives the people who can self fund their care the resources to self fund their care. This takes care of about 95% of the public.
The program has a huge grant pool to help people who can't afford their care. The program gives grants to these people.
This program is different from the HSA/HDHC program because it makes the savings account the focus of care and not the insurance policy.
I tried developing this program in the 1990s. I contacted all of the think tanks I could find and there was absolutely no interest.
I used to have access to some health care data. All of the simulations I ran on real world data indicated that the Medical Savings and Loan does a more equitable job of distributing health care than standard insurance, the HSA/HDHC or socialized medicine models.
For thirty years I've been sitting here with a program that would realize the dreams of Dr. Ben Carson and numerous other free market thinkers.
Bringing this program to fruition is just a simple matter of a small group of dedicated patriots getting together to form an organization called "The Health Care Advocates Association."
The HCAA would then stand up and say: "Hey world. We have a savings based alternative to insurance. We have a mathematical model that suggests this would do a better job than the Health Exchanges, Insurance or Socialism.
Here is the real kicker. The Medical Savings and Loan creates a data driven system that can compare the results of different approaches to financing health care.
It would be possible to create an experiment in which 10,000 or so people engage in the Medical Savings and Loan. We could then compare their health experience with ten thousand people stuck in traditional insurance or who are using the HSA/HDHC model.
My simulations indicate that this model provides better care for the working class and small business owners. The program gives people tools and incentives for negotiating the best price for care; which should improve the quality of care and reduce prices.
All that needs to happen is for a group of libertarian leaning thinkers who want to save the American Experiment in Self Rule to get together to talk about free market approaches to health care reform.
What's funny is that this dream can never happen because I live in the most conservative state in the nation. By living in the most conservative area West of Tehran, I've learned the dreaded truth about the conservative movement. Conservatives only use free market rhetoric. The aim of the Conservative Movement is to create massive social institutions to create a class society that Conservatives love.
Anyway, for the last six years I've been trying to find people with enough interest in defending freedom to attend a presentation. The presentation induces the mathematical model I used, then solicits people to join the HCAA.
I don't want to put the presentation online because I realized that, unless we get an organization that is dedicated to bringing free market health care to fruition, the presentation will be nothing more than base agitation and that big insurance will simply use the base agitation to advance bad implementations of the health savings concept.
Saturday, January 4, 2014
The Goal of the Health Care Workshop
For the six years I've been on a quest to have meetings with people who want free market health care reform.
The meeting would begin with a presentation. The presentation will say that funding health care is a business problem and that the inequities we see in the current health care system are the result of a flawed business model.
If the problem is the business model, then the solution is to create a new business model.
The presentation ends with an action item. The action item is to create a new business model.
A business model is an abstract concept. What we would be doing in this stage of the game is discussing different business models and how the different business models interface in the world at large.
In my humble opinion, this stage of the game is extremely important.
The US Founders realized that government places artificial limits on people. By creating a limited government, the Founders removed limits on the people.
The Constitution was a profound statement. The statement says: "Don't look to the government for answers. Look toward each other."
To execute on the Founder's vision, we need to meet together as free people and create businesses that solve the problems of our day.
If we wish to make the American Experiment in Self Rule work, Americans need to move beyond this constant chatter about the government and delve into discussions about how an unlimited people can solve the challenges of the day.
It is my belief that if people got together and started talking about solving the health care problem with different business models, they could have a huge impact on the debate.
The GOP has been trying to defend against PPACA through obstructionism. I reject the obstructionist path. I belief in a constructive path. This "classical liberal" approach I wish to follow solves a social problem by creating new businesses.
The reason I don't want to publish my presentation online is because the presentation is not the end goal. Creating a business model is the goal.
It is possible that I would have to give the presentation a dozen times before finding people willing to invest time in creating a new business model. I don't mind that at all. I have never shied away from hard work.
I would rather give the presentation a hundred times to find people willing to do the hard work of starting a new business than just willy-nilly selecting people at random. For creating a good model is hard work and will will be working on a business model in a challenging environment.
As you see, health care is a highly regulated industry. The regulatory system has been captured by the insurance industry. The primary concern of insurance regulators is to keep newcomers out and to keep the money flowing to the insider cronies.
However, there is a huge population which is deeply unsatisfied with the insurance industry. If a group created a new business model and there was public support for trying the new model, it would be possible to overcome the inertia of regulation.
We are a year or two away from being able to realize the creation of businesses that use the new business model.
If business model exists and there is a group to support the business model and there is a demand for businesses to execute the model; then the business will come into reality.
So, my goal for the last six years has been to get a group of people in a room. I would give a presentation on free market health care reform. If there was interest in creating a business model, the group would engage in the academic exercise of creating a business model. This would involve research, writing contracts, etc..
What is the cost of holding a meeting? The cost is essentially nothing. Attending a meeting takes one afternoon.
Even if you don't like me or my proposed business model, the act of talking about an alternative to insurance might have a positive effect.
PPACA is premised on the assumption that group health insurance is the only possible way to fund health care.
If a group meets and talks about free market alternatives to insurance, the group would poke a hole in this false assumption.
If the group created a peer reviewed business model that presents an alternative to insurance, the group would poke a larger hole in the false assumption.
Creating a business model that that segments of the market finds superior to employer based health insurance would rip a gushing tear in the false assumption. If people began executing on the model, the house of cards called PPACA just might come crashing down.
The process I propose is simple. I created a silly little presentation about free market health care. The goal of the meeting is to gather people who are interested in free market health care reform.
The meeting closes with a workshop. The workshop starts, at an academic level, the process of creating a business model.
I created a legal entity called "The Health Care Advocate Association." My idea is that the HCAA will be a membership organization that defines the new business model.
For the first year, the group would be a for-profit educational association engaged in an academic quest of discussing business models.
In this incubation phase, the group will seek to piece together enough resources so that if a business sought to implement the business model, the HCAA could provide support to the business.
I guess I should point out that the founding members of the HCAA would have the ground level position in the creation of a new business that might eventually handle several hundred billion dollars in revenue.
So, yes, you would come to a meeting to listen to an insufferable buffoon talk about the mathematics of funding health care. You will have to donate some time to create a business model.
After spending several tedious weekends talking about the mathematics of health care, you will meet a multi-million dollar business owner who is so upset at her insurance company that she is willing to pay you big bucks to implement the new business model … and guess what, you just set yourself up for life.
The potential is there, but to get the ball rolling I need to meet people who want to save the American system in self rule.
The presentation is not the end goal. It is a step to the second goal which is the creation of an entity that defines a new business model.
Creating the business model is a tedious chore. If you ask people like Warren Buffett, Bill Gate and Steve Jobs, they will tell you that the point of creating a business model is eventually to execute on a business.
I love the start up environment. Quite frankly, in my opinion, this whole thing is extremely fun.
Unfortunately, I live in Utah. Utah has a closed culture which is hostile to business innovation. I would be happy to travel if there was a group within a day's drive of Utah willing to to through this process.
Better yet, a person could travel to Utah to attend the workshop.
Utah just happens to have the best snow on earth. A person could come out to a ski vacation in Park City, Snowbird, Alta, Brighton or Solitude. After spending the day skiing, they would endure the presentation.
During the next day, people would go to a ski area where they would sit on a chair lift talking business and politics. They would ski down the slope then get on another ski lift and talk some more about business and politics. Again they would ski down the slope and get on another lift talking about business and politics.
You will probably break for an hour. Eat a gourmet hamburger, then get on another lift to talk about business and politics and ski down another slope. You will repeat this process until you either break a leg or it gets dark.
After spending a vacation at a world class ski resort, you will go back to wherever with new insights in funding health care and a cast. (Hopefully you won't go home in a cast, most people end their ski vacation with a funny raccoon shaped sunburn outlining the goggles they wore skiing.
GetSkiTickets.com and Liftopia offer online deals on ski tickets.
The meeting would begin with a presentation. The presentation will say that funding health care is a business problem and that the inequities we see in the current health care system are the result of a flawed business model.
If the problem is the business model, then the solution is to create a new business model.
The presentation ends with an action item. The action item is to create a new business model.
A business model is an abstract concept. What we would be doing in this stage of the game is discussing different business models and how the different business models interface in the world at large.
In my humble opinion, this stage of the game is extremely important.
The US Founders realized that government places artificial limits on people. By creating a limited government, the Founders removed limits on the people.
The Constitution was a profound statement. The statement says: "Don't look to the government for answers. Look toward each other."
To execute on the Founder's vision, we need to meet together as free people and create businesses that solve the problems of our day.
If we wish to make the American Experiment in Self Rule work, Americans need to move beyond this constant chatter about the government and delve into discussions about how an unlimited people can solve the challenges of the day.
It is my belief that if people got together and started talking about solving the health care problem with different business models, they could have a huge impact on the debate.
The GOP has been trying to defend against PPACA through obstructionism. I reject the obstructionist path. I belief in a constructive path. This "classical liberal" approach I wish to follow solves a social problem by creating new businesses.
The reason I don't want to publish my presentation online is because the presentation is not the end goal. Creating a business model is the goal.
It is possible that I would have to give the presentation a dozen times before finding people willing to invest time in creating a new business model. I don't mind that at all. I have never shied away from hard work.
I would rather give the presentation a hundred times to find people willing to do the hard work of starting a new business than just willy-nilly selecting people at random. For creating a good model is hard work and will will be working on a business model in a challenging environment.
As you see, health care is a highly regulated industry. The regulatory system has been captured by the insurance industry. The primary concern of insurance regulators is to keep newcomers out and to keep the money flowing to the insider cronies.
However, there is a huge population which is deeply unsatisfied with the insurance industry. If a group created a new business model and there was public support for trying the new model, it would be possible to overcome the inertia of regulation.
We are a year or two away from being able to realize the creation of businesses that use the new business model.
If business model exists and there is a group to support the business model and there is a demand for businesses to execute the model; then the business will come into reality.
So, my goal for the last six years has been to get a group of people in a room. I would give a presentation on free market health care reform. If there was interest in creating a business model, the group would engage in the academic exercise of creating a business model. This would involve research, writing contracts, etc..
What is the cost of holding a meeting? The cost is essentially nothing. Attending a meeting takes one afternoon.
Even if you don't like me or my proposed business model, the act of talking about an alternative to insurance might have a positive effect.
PPACA is premised on the assumption that group health insurance is the only possible way to fund health care.
If a group meets and talks about free market alternatives to insurance, the group would poke a hole in this false assumption.
If the group created a peer reviewed business model that presents an alternative to insurance, the group would poke a larger hole in the false assumption.
Creating a business model that that segments of the market finds superior to employer based health insurance would rip a gushing tear in the false assumption. If people began executing on the model, the house of cards called PPACA just might come crashing down.
The process I propose is simple. I created a silly little presentation about free market health care. The goal of the meeting is to gather people who are interested in free market health care reform.
The meeting closes with a workshop. The workshop starts, at an academic level, the process of creating a business model.
I created a legal entity called "The Health Care Advocate Association." My idea is that the HCAA will be a membership organization that defines the new business model.
For the first year, the group would be a for-profit educational association engaged in an academic quest of discussing business models.
In this incubation phase, the group will seek to piece together enough resources so that if a business sought to implement the business model, the HCAA could provide support to the business.
I guess I should point out that the founding members of the HCAA would have the ground level position in the creation of a new business that might eventually handle several hundred billion dollars in revenue.
So, yes, you would come to a meeting to listen to an insufferable buffoon talk about the mathematics of funding health care. You will have to donate some time to create a business model.
After spending several tedious weekends talking about the mathematics of health care, you will meet a multi-million dollar business owner who is so upset at her insurance company that she is willing to pay you big bucks to implement the new business model … and guess what, you just set yourself up for life.
The potential is there, but to get the ball rolling I need to meet people who want to save the American system in self rule.
The presentation is not the end goal. It is a step to the second goal which is the creation of an entity that defines a new business model.
Creating the business model is a tedious chore. If you ask people like Warren Buffett, Bill Gate and Steve Jobs, they will tell you that the point of creating a business model is eventually to execute on a business.
I love the start up environment. Quite frankly, in my opinion, this whole thing is extremely fun.
Unfortunately, I live in Utah. Utah has a closed culture which is hostile to business innovation. I would be happy to travel if there was a group within a day's drive of Utah willing to to through this process.
Better yet, a person could travel to Utah to attend the workshop.
Utah just happens to have the best snow on earth. A person could come out to a ski vacation in Park City, Snowbird, Alta, Brighton or Solitude. After spending the day skiing, they would endure the presentation.
During the next day, people would go to a ski area where they would sit on a chair lift talking business and politics. They would ski down the slope then get on another ski lift and talk some more about business and politics. Again they would ski down the slope and get on another lift talking about business and politics.
You will probably break for an hour. Eat a gourmet hamburger, then get on another lift to talk about business and politics and ski down another slope. You will repeat this process until you either break a leg or it gets dark.
After spending a vacation at a world class ski resort, you will go back to wherever with new insights in funding health care and a cast. (Hopefully you won't go home in a cast, most people end their ski vacation with a funny raccoon shaped sunburn outlining the goggles they wore skiing.
GetSkiTickets.com and Liftopia offer online deals on ski tickets.
Friday, January 3, 2014
Six Years and Counting
The Health Freedom Workshop was a bust. Six years into this effort. I have yet to find a conservative within 700 miles of Salt Lake City who is willing to talk about free market alternatives to ObamaCare.
Utah is a closed society. So, once again I am looking beyond the Zion Curtain and thinking of giving in to wanderlust.
There is a FreedomFest going down in Las Vegas from July 9-12. They are charging $400 to attend. That is simply too much. I can't afford to attend the event, but if there were people wanting to discuss free market health care reform either before or after Freedom, I could make a drive down into the Western Desert.
I just discovered something much more interesting.
Dr. Ben Carson will be at the Western Conservative Summit in Denver from July 18-20
Dr. Carson is the only national voice I've heard actually talking about a true savings based health care system
I've been working on developing a savings based health care system since the 1980s.
If I could get my research into the hands of Dr. Carson, it might be possible to make true free market health care reform a reality.
(BTW: The HSA/HDHC combination is a bad mix. It is easy to prove why this is so. Please, don't tell me an HSA+HDHC policy is savings based. It is not. It''s just a tax break for the wealthy.).
My big problem is figuring out how to get the money for the event, gas and a hotel room every other night. I burned up all of my personal savings trying to find people interest in defeating ObamaCare. Traveling costs money. When I travel, I like to stay in a hotel every other night to recharge the camera.
Since the Western Conservative Conference is in Denver, I could take pictures of Colorado along the way. I might be able to get something from a huge pile of photos.
My one big hesitation about the Western Conservative Conference is that I am not a conservative. A conservative is closed-minded.
I believe that people should engage in intellectual inquiry. Unlike Conservatives who simply blow partisan hot air, I believe strongly in vigorous research of issues and the scientific method.
It is funny though. Living in Utah, the most Conservative area West of Iran, I've come to see modern conservatism as a big a threat to liberty as modern liberalism. If I had to spend three days listen clap trap about how "conservative" means freedom and "liberal" means slavery; my head might explode.
This Conservative belief that freedom is slavery and slavery freedom traces to the father of Modern Conservatism -- Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831). I will have to bring along a library with Hegel, Machiavelli and Plato. That way when people start pounding me over the head with their Hegelian belief that Freedom is Slavery (Conservatism), I can pound back.
Of course, here I have to ask: It is fair to go to an event called "conservative" when I am adamantly opposed to the views of Hegel, Machiavelli and Plato (the intellectual fathers of Conservatism)?
The conference is at a place called "Colorado Christian University." Christian Conservatism is a little different than LDS Conservatism which is about as Hegelian as one can get.
But, my goal isn't to discuss philosophy. My goal is simply to find people who are interested in defeating PPACA. If Dr. Ben Carson is at the Western Conservative Conference, there might be people who are interested in free market health care reform.
Utah is a closed society. So, once again I am looking beyond the Zion Curtain and thinking of giving in to wanderlust.
There is a FreedomFest going down in Las Vegas from July 9-12. They are charging $400 to attend. That is simply too much. I can't afford to attend the event, but if there were people wanting to discuss free market health care reform either before or after Freedom, I could make a drive down into the Western Desert.
I just discovered something much more interesting.
Dr. Ben Carson will be at the Western Conservative Summit in Denver from July 18-20
Dr. Carson is the only national voice I've heard actually talking about a true savings based health care system
I've been working on developing a savings based health care system since the 1980s.
If I could get my research into the hands of Dr. Carson, it might be possible to make true free market health care reform a reality.
(BTW: The HSA/HDHC combination is a bad mix. It is easy to prove why this is so. Please, don't tell me an HSA+HDHC policy is savings based. It is not. It''s just a tax break for the wealthy.).
My big problem is figuring out how to get the money for the event, gas and a hotel room every other night. I burned up all of my personal savings trying to find people interest in defeating ObamaCare. Traveling costs money. When I travel, I like to stay in a hotel every other night to recharge the camera.
Since the Western Conservative Conference is in Denver, I could take pictures of Colorado along the way. I might be able to get something from a huge pile of photos.
My one big hesitation about the Western Conservative Conference is that I am not a conservative. A conservative is closed-minded.
I believe that people should engage in intellectual inquiry. Unlike Conservatives who simply blow partisan hot air, I believe strongly in vigorous research of issues and the scientific method.
It is funny though. Living in Utah, the most Conservative area West of Iran, I've come to see modern conservatism as a big a threat to liberty as modern liberalism. If I had to spend three days listen clap trap about how "conservative" means freedom and "liberal" means slavery; my head might explode.
This Conservative belief that freedom is slavery and slavery freedom traces to the father of Modern Conservatism -- Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831). I will have to bring along a library with Hegel, Machiavelli and Plato. That way when people start pounding me over the head with their Hegelian belief that Freedom is Slavery (Conservatism), I can pound back.
Of course, here I have to ask: It is fair to go to an event called "conservative" when I am adamantly opposed to the views of Hegel, Machiavelli and Plato (the intellectual fathers of Conservatism)?
The conference is at a place called "Colorado Christian University." Christian Conservatism is a little different than LDS Conservatism which is about as Hegelian as one can get.
But, my goal isn't to discuss philosophy. My goal is simply to find people who are interested in defeating PPACA. If Dr. Ben Carson is at the Western Conservative Conference, there might be people who are interested in free market health care reform.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Creating a System that Works
PPACA (ObamaCare) is clearly a failed law and a failed system.
Despite it being a bad law, the system in already entrenched. The only way to uproot this failed program is to create an alternative that will work.
This is the goal of the Health Freedom Workshop that I hope to host tomorrow (on Thursday 1/2 at 6:30 PM). The workshop will present a detailed mathematical model for funding health care that can be easily be implemented.
The structure is quite similar to the ideals espoused by Dr Ben Carson but from the perspective of a system engineer. I worked setting up programs for insurance companies.
The workshop involves creating a model of a free market based health care system compared to employer based insurance.
It takes an hour to present the models, but the models are extremely clear. This introduction simply has to come in the form of a workshop because if someone fails to understand the model, they would miss the reasons why this very simple system could undermine support for PPACA.
The meeting is in Mill Creek Township (that is the town Southeast of Salt Lake City). The meeting starts at 6:30 PM. I will boil up a Dutch Oven of chili to feed people who miss dinner for the meeting.
The meeting will involve me yammering for an hour followed by an open discussion.
You can sign up on Freedom Works. Just log in with your twitter account. I will email you the exact address.
Despite it being a bad law, the system in already entrenched. The only way to uproot this failed program is to create an alternative that will work.
This is the goal of the Health Freedom Workshop that I hope to host tomorrow (on Thursday 1/2 at 6:30 PM). The workshop will present a detailed mathematical model for funding health care that can be easily be implemented.
The structure is quite similar to the ideals espoused by Dr Ben Carson but from the perspective of a system engineer. I worked setting up programs for insurance companies.
The workshop involves creating a model of a free market based health care system compared to employer based insurance.
It takes an hour to present the models, but the models are extremely clear. This introduction simply has to come in the form of a workshop because if someone fails to understand the model, they would miss the reasons why this very simple system could undermine support for PPACA.
The meeting is in Mill Creek Township (that is the town Southeast of Salt Lake City). The meeting starts at 6:30 PM. I will boil up a Dutch Oven of chili to feed people who miss dinner for the meeting.
The meeting will involve me yammering for an hour followed by an open discussion.
You can sign up on Freedom Works. Just log in with your twitter account. I will email you the exact address.
The New Years Starts on a Low Note
Happy New Years.
There is still not a single sign up for my Health Freedom Workshop here in Salt Lake City.
BTW The fact that no-one is interested in my event doesn't bother me. What bugs me is that there are no other events I can find in the area where people are standing up for liberty.
Defending our health freedom is the most important issue of our day. If no-one stands up for freedom, then freedom will be lost in our generation.
Utah United was a well funded group with. There is not a single event in their 2014 calendar.
My health freedom workshop is not a diatribe against ObamaCare. The presentation is not a state program. I create an alternative business model for funding health care and argue that the inequities in health care are the result of the business models used to finance care.
This presentation provides a framework for discussing free market health care reform.
I understand that people are put off by me. What bothers me is that no-one in this "Conservative" movement seems to be interested in discussing the issue.
Health care is a complex issue that simply has to be discussed face to face. The complete lack of interest in the subject has me deeply concerned.
I might reschedule the program. I would like input on the date. I am willing to travel. I do not have money to travel, so if I have to travel I have to figure out how to pay for the trip. For example I could host the presentation alongside a fundraiser to pay for the gas and hotel. If 20 people in Phoenix were interested in the presentation and we raised ten dollars a piece from the attendees, we would go a long way to paying for a hotel and the gas.
Anyway, my presentation is scheduled for tomorrow. 1/2/2014. You can sign up using your twitter account. I will make a huge pot of chili tomorrow in anticipation of the event.
There is still not a single sign up for my Health Freedom Workshop here in Salt Lake City.
BTW The fact that no-one is interested in my event doesn't bother me. What bugs me is that there are no other events I can find in the area where people are standing up for liberty.
Defending our health freedom is the most important issue of our day. If no-one stands up for freedom, then freedom will be lost in our generation.
Utah United was a well funded group with. There is not a single event in their 2014 calendar.
My health freedom workshop is not a diatribe against ObamaCare. The presentation is not a state program. I create an alternative business model for funding health care and argue that the inequities in health care are the result of the business models used to finance care.
This presentation provides a framework for discussing free market health care reform.
I understand that people are put off by me. What bothers me is that no-one in this "Conservative" movement seems to be interested in discussing the issue.
Health care is a complex issue that simply has to be discussed face to face. The complete lack of interest in the subject has me deeply concerned.
I might reschedule the program. I would like input on the date. I am willing to travel. I do not have money to travel, so if I have to travel I have to figure out how to pay for the trip. For example I could host the presentation alongside a fundraiser to pay for the gas and hotel. If 20 people in Phoenix were interested in the presentation and we raised ten dollars a piece from the attendees, we would go a long way to paying for a hotel and the gas.
Anyway, my presentation is scheduled for tomorrow. 1/2/2014. You can sign up using your twitter account. I will make a huge pot of chili tomorrow in anticipation of the event.
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