30 Second Insurance Tips©

Tip #319- Is It “Listening” If You Stage The Questions?

Early Friday I had a call from the Governor’s Office asking if I’d be part of a listening session with Vice President Pence the very next day.
The private meeting barely lasted 30 minutes including greetings and photos.  There were just 16 people; four were politicians (Pence, Governor Walker, Reps Sensenbrenner and Grothman), one was a lobbyist, leaving 11 “business leaders” to testify. Several clues suggest the six who were called on had been pre-selected. They talked only about how their high premiums had affected their personal lives or businesses. The Vice President thanked them for their “powerful, eloquent and deeply inspiring” statements.
But I swear, it sounded precisely like the countless listening sessions I attended before the 2010 passage of Obamacare.
The Affordable Care Act was mostly about insurance reform. In its present state, so too is the American Health Care Act. Then and now, they’re still missing the point. As long as the cost of health care continues to “skyrocket,” so will health insurance premiums.
My prepared testimony is posted on our website here. While it may not fit the narrative being pitched by politicians – on both sides of the aisle – I’d ask that you read it and give me your feedback.
Thank you.
Compliments of JS online, you can read an account of the meeting at this link. The Business Journal’s Rich Kirchen has pictures and a report here