Tag Archives: health care reform

Does Your Business Need to be Leaner and Meaner? (Part 1)

I’ve been surprised by the tone of my clients’ conversations since the beginning of the year. They want to get tougher. They want to plan more. They want to find the chinks in their armor, and sharpen their weapons. These … Continue Reading

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Health Care Costs: Is Medicine a Market?

There is an excellent article in The New Yorker comparing the production and quality control methods of the Cheesecake Factory to certain advances in “Big Medicine.”  It focuses on the savings available from large health systems through standardization and quantity purchasing. In reality, … Continue Reading

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It’s Time for the Boomers to Step Up

Why I Need to Say This Three years ago I wrote an open letter titled “Last Chance to Save America” and sent it to my entire email list. It went viral, and I received almost a thousand emails in reply. … Continue Reading

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Do you understand where this is going? Four

I ran into a friend in the gym the other day. he is the President of a tech company providing IT services to the government. What they do is highly skilled and highly sensitive.I asked him how his business was … Continue Reading

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Do you understand where this is going? Three

We worked on an interesting hypothesis with a client the other day. He has 100 employees (or close enough to make the math easy.) The company pays for 75% of each employee’s health insurance. Additional coverage for the family is at … Continue Reading

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Do you understand where this is going? Two

Between 1997 and 2009 I had one client audited by the Department of Labor for Wage and Hour compliance. In the last 90 days I’ve had two. The first had an auditor who brought along a trainee. The second brought … Continue Reading

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Do you understand where this is going? One

One of my TAB Board meetings has an insurance broker who followed the reform debate closely. The discussion was illuminating. It is one of many that I’ve had in the last three months, and it’s all beginning to come together. … Continue Reading

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Just sign here

In January of 2000 I was asked what I thought the first big change would be in the new century. I said (and it’s been documented elsewhere) that we would have a national health care plan by 2011. It wasn’t … Continue Reading

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Is America the next Rome?

James Fallows has written a massive, thought-provoking  article about America’s current social, political and economic issues in The Atlantic. Like so many of us that have spent time overseas, he looked at the US with fresh eyes on his return.In Fallows’ case, … Continue Reading

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Attrition Opportunities

A client of mine used a great term in a conversation last week. Someone asked him if he had instituted any reductions in force (layoff, for those on the receiving end) in his company. “No,” he replied “but we’ve had … Continue Reading

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The Triple Threat: Phase II

Okay, I’m stepping away from the sales compensation series for a day, and admitting something to everyone. I’ve been writing the blogs on sales comp in order to duck the one I didn’t want to write. I am by nature … Continue Reading

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Socialized Medicine, or Capitalized Medicine?

In 2000 I was asked by a client to make a single business prediction for the new millennium. It was “By 2011, we will have some form of national health care plan, and small business owners who have been priced … Continue Reading

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