Guess who’s coming to dinner?
December 17th, 2008 by 
David E. Williams of the Health business blog
From the New York Times (Insurers Seek Presence at Health Care Sessions)
When supporters of President-elect Barack Obama hold house parties to discuss ways of fixing the health care system over the next two weeks, they may find some unexpected guests.
The health insurance industry is encouraging its employees and satisfied customers to attend. A trade group representing some of the nation’s largest health care businesses, including drug companies, is organizing several meetings. The American Medical Association and other medical societies are encouraging doctors to get involved.
The Maine Medical Association will convene a community discussion on Dec. 30. Group Health Cooperative of Seattle has sent e-mail messages to 35,000 subscribers encouraging their participation, and one of its doctors plans to lead a session next Tuesday.
The meetings, originally envisioned as a way to make good on Mr. Obama’s commitment to “health care reform that comes from the ground up,” could thus turn into living-room lobbying sessions involving some of the biggest stakeholders in the health care industry.
I think the angle for this article is off base.
It reminds me a bit of a scene from my youth, when I went with my family to hear a Marine Corps band play at one of the local parks. When an electrical storm threatened, the band called off the performance, fearing for their personal safety (and probably for their instruments, too). A man in the crowd yelled that he was upset since he paid taxes and now was being deprived of the band performance that those taxes paid for. The conductor of the band, a Marine officer, pointed out that members of the band paid taxes, too.
Health care is one of the biggest industries in the country, and it’s completely legitimate for people who work in the industry –and certainly for satisfied customers of the industry– to show up and express themselves like any other citizen. The opinions of doctors, insurance companies employees and so on should be welcome. People who work in the industry are also more likely than lay people to know what they’re talking about. And not everyone who works in health care is anti-reform.
I’d be disappointed if industry groups come to dominate these discussions, but somehow I don’t think it’s going to happen.
Posted in Policy and politics | 
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December 29th, 2008 at 3:58 am
[...] The holiday edition of Grand Rounds is up at Highlight Health, and there’s lots of good reading over there. The Happy Hospitalist has a copy of a letter written by a child titled “when I am 30″ that will make you smile. And David Williams at Health Business Blog has written a good article about who should be invited to the house parties that are going on across the country this month to address health care reform. Americans are getting together in small groups to brainstorm ideas for improving our health care system, and apparently there are people who are upset that some of the brainstormers are representing health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, medical providers and people who are satisfied with their private health insurance. I agree with David that everyone should be welcome at these meetings. Jay and I are in the health insurance industry, but we’ve been writing about progressive reform for more than two years at the Colorado Health Insurance Insider. There are plenty of people in the health care industry who are genuinely interested in making the system more efficient and inclusive. And regardless of their views on health care reform, people who are in the health care industry should have just as much of a voice in this as anyone else. [...]