It’s been a very very busy time.
First, I’m pretty darn excited to note my alma mater’s football team goes into it’s match with Notre Dame ranked 12th in the nation. As a long-suffering Syracuse alum, this is territory we haven’t seen in decades.
Perhaps we’ll see Chris LeStage’s LSU Tigers in a Bowl Game???
OK, on to work.
The National Work Comp and Disability Conference is fast approaching. You can get a discounted registration here.
A bit further out on the schedule is WCRI’s annual confab – which will be in Phoenix AZ next February 28 – March 1. You can get the details here. DO NOT WAIT to register; this always fills up so don’t procrastinate.
Next, a best-in-class work comp safety program is the product of a “great team” led by a very experienced and very competent leader. Joe Molloy at Northwell Health is innovative, focused on the right things, and committed to partnering with service suppliers. Joe’s team has reduced lost work days at a giant healthcare system by a third.
More proof of the ongoing effort by health insurers to move the US to single payer…this insidious plan is bearing fruit as we just received new evidence of its effectiveness – Americans don’t like their health insurance.
According to a national survey by ACSI, consumers rank their satisfaction with health insurance as equal to airlines. “Health insurance satisfaction is flat after two years of gains, staying lowest in the Finance/Insurance sector” Ouch.
I find it increasingly likely we’ll have some form of single payer, perhaps Medicaid for all – within a decade. Health insurers continue to piss off customers on a regular basis, can’t control health care cost increases, and are lousy at branding.
They do have gazillions of dollars which they will spend to kill MFA or any other version of single payer – and they are pretty darn good at the government lobbying thing.
That said, when things can no longer continue, they won’t.
What does this mean for you?
It’s not a question of “if” we end up with single payer, it’s a question of when.
Thanks for sharing the Northwell Health article Joe. It’s great to see more and more attention paid to EFFECTIVE injury and claim prevention programs clustered with simple best practices in claims management to deliver great results! I like the “Safe Patient Handling Olympics” idea. Good Stuff!!
Joe –
1. I agree with you about the eventual move to some form of single payer. It’s the “when” and “what will it look like” that fill me with fear and dread.
2. Regarding healthcare, I am growing increasingly doubtful about the validity of Stein’s Law, which you paraphrased.
3. As a Catholic boy with a 16-year Jesuit education, I’ll put a bottle of decent wine on Notre Dame.
Hello Tom – re Stein’s Law, my sense it is always correct – over the long term. which can be a long time.
I’ll take that bet – and not to worry, I won’t bring a bottle of Finger Lakes Riesling if ND is fortunate enough to pull off a win.