I just returned from Wisconsin, and yes, it was as bitter cold as had expected. How people live in that cold is beyond me!
Other than the bitter cold though this was a great event. We had around 180 people show up to see our play and had the opportunity to work with a fantastic cast put together at the last moment. I really want people to know that we (Eric Johnson and I) are not doing this alone. Yes, we travel the country with our traveling road show, sometimes bringing along our Health Care Now actress, Audra Sullivan but we are not the only people working with this play.
Everywhere we go we are surrounded and supported by people that are just as dedicated to educating the general public on these complex and confusing issues regarding health care and health insurance as we are. A huge shout out this week to the cast that participated in the Madison WI trial and especially to Megan Purtell for helping us put this event together.
On Thursday of this week we are off to Indianapolis Indiana to put the show on again. At this event they are expecting around 400 - 500 people!! Yikes, yes, I am a little nervous. The president of my PR Firm, Rodger Roeser and his assistant Allison Brinkman will also be in attendance AND will be video taping the event (which terrifies me). Within a week or so we should have a video up and running on our website for public viewing.
The disclaiming under the video will be "Please keep in mind we are insurance professionals pretending to be actors, pretending to be attorneys... for the good of the cause" : )
So, wish us luck and keep us in your prayers as we continue to travel around the country bringing our message of honest and complete information regarding the incredibly important issue of accessing health care to all that will take the time to attend and listen.
Check out our website at www.altbenefits.com for a theatre near you!!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Lobbying in Washington DC
I just returned from Washington DC where I, along with about 700 other members of the National Association of Health Underwriters attended our annual Capital Conf. We spent two days on capital hill lobbying for specific health care reform bills with our senators and congressmen(and women).
This is by far my favorite conference. To go into your representative's office and sit down at a table with them or their legislative aide and discuss the issues that concern you is absolutely facinating!
We discussed issues on the expansion of the Schips program, improvements for health savings accounts that we believe will encourage further adoption by employers, and several others. For a full list of issues we talked about visit the nahu web-site at www.nahu.org. We also talked about NAHU's Health Access Plan. This is our recommendations for reforming health care while still keeping it in the private market. If you'd like to read through these recommendations also visit the nahu web-site, on the front page go to "What are we doing about Single Payer" and click on the Health Access Plan. As always, I would love to get your feedback, suggestions, critisisms, etc. This is how the system works!!
I also did a 2 hour presentation on Consumer Directed Health Care for the San Antonio Association of Health Underwriters. They are a great group of people and had about 175 agents and employers in attendance. Thank you to Will Haff the president of the association for inviting me to speak there.
This week I am off to Wisconsin where it is 11 degrees to do the play "America's Health Care System on Trial". You know I have to be passionate about what I do to go Wisconsin in the freezing weather. I grew up in Ohio but have been in Texas for over 20 years, so, the bloods a little thin : )
If you havent seen our play YOU NEED TO! I will be in Indiana on the 29th of Feb, Central KY on the 4th of March and then back to Dallas for a presentation at the Studio Movie Grill in Dallas. This is one you could easily attend!! For more information about the Dallas presentation visit www.dahu.org. This is something you need to see BEFORE you make up your mind about who has the best plan for health care reform. The promises of FREE HEALTH CARE FOR ALL may just be too good to be true.
We present both the private and government side of health care and of course, its a comedy so I promise you won't be bored!
Have a great week and say a little prayer for me out in the cold.
This is by far my favorite conference. To go into your representative's office and sit down at a table with them or their legislative aide and discuss the issues that concern you is absolutely facinating!
We discussed issues on the expansion of the Schips program, improvements for health savings accounts that we believe will encourage further adoption by employers, and several others. For a full list of issues we talked about visit the nahu web-site at www.nahu.org. We also talked about NAHU's Health Access Plan. This is our recommendations for reforming health care while still keeping it in the private market. If you'd like to read through these recommendations also visit the nahu web-site, on the front page go to "What are we doing about Single Payer" and click on the Health Access Plan. As always, I would love to get your feedback, suggestions, critisisms, etc. This is how the system works!!
I also did a 2 hour presentation on Consumer Directed Health Care for the San Antonio Association of Health Underwriters. They are a great group of people and had about 175 agents and employers in attendance. Thank you to Will Haff the president of the association for inviting me to speak there.
This week I am off to Wisconsin where it is 11 degrees to do the play "America's Health Care System on Trial". You know I have to be passionate about what I do to go Wisconsin in the freezing weather. I grew up in Ohio but have been in Texas for over 20 years, so, the bloods a little thin : )
If you havent seen our play YOU NEED TO! I will be in Indiana on the 29th of Feb, Central KY on the 4th of March and then back to Dallas for a presentation at the Studio Movie Grill in Dallas. This is one you could easily attend!! For more information about the Dallas presentation visit www.dahu.org. This is something you need to see BEFORE you make up your mind about who has the best plan for health care reform. The promises of FREE HEALTH CARE FOR ALL may just be too good to be true.
We present both the private and government side of health care and of course, its a comedy so I promise you won't be bored!
Have a great week and say a little prayer for me out in the cold.
Friday, January 4, 2008
The Gift
A book I recently read over the holidays written by Richard Paul Evans. Its a wonderful book, a heartwarming story, one that will more than likely make you cry. I did.
When you read a good book hopefully you come away with some little nugget of wisdom that you carry with you forever. Reading The Gift, I came away with several. I want to share with you a paragraph from the end of the book. I wont give the story away!
"We all have need of healing. And while our world spends billions of dollars each year on pills, potions, and procedures it is all a shadow of what we need most. What good is a life prolonged if it only extends the season of cowardice and sin? What good is a new heart if it's only to be filled with hate, or regret, - or new eyes, if all they can see is criticism and intolerance? Perhaps the artificial heart is the perfect metaphor of our age."
I dont know about you but that really spoke to me. Everyone has a different opinion of our health care system, what is broken, how we should fix it, etc.. Maybe we should all stop and take a few minutes at the beginnng of this new year and think about what's really broken, in each one of us. At the risk of getting weepy on you (which is completely unlike me : ) ) I'd like to pose this question to each and every person that reads this blog.
Its a brand new year and we all have the opportunity for a fresh start. Imagine if you will if we started the year with an attitude of gratefullness for what we do have instead of resentment for what we dont have. What if we forgave that person that wronged us instead of looking for ways to seek revenge? What if we looked for one small thing to do each day to help someone else? Just imagine what this could / would do to lift our spirits!! A better attitude, less stress, a feeling of being useful instead of useless. Probably would save billions in health care costs and the world would be a better place!
So that's my New Years blog.. my challenge to all that read this. Lets make this a year of forgiveness, gratefulness, and prosperity! Oh, and my New Year's resolution... to blog more often so Rodger, my PR guru will be filled with gratefulness towards me : )
When you read a good book hopefully you come away with some little nugget of wisdom that you carry with you forever. Reading The Gift, I came away with several. I want to share with you a paragraph from the end of the book. I wont give the story away!
"We all have need of healing. And while our world spends billions of dollars each year on pills, potions, and procedures it is all a shadow of what we need most. What good is a life prolonged if it only extends the season of cowardice and sin? What good is a new heart if it's only to be filled with hate, or regret, - or new eyes, if all they can see is criticism and intolerance? Perhaps the artificial heart is the perfect metaphor of our age."
I dont know about you but that really spoke to me. Everyone has a different opinion of our health care system, what is broken, how we should fix it, etc.. Maybe we should all stop and take a few minutes at the beginnng of this new year and think about what's really broken, in each one of us. At the risk of getting weepy on you (which is completely unlike me : ) ) I'd like to pose this question to each and every person that reads this blog.
Its a brand new year and we all have the opportunity for a fresh start. Imagine if you will if we started the year with an attitude of gratefullness for what we do have instead of resentment for what we dont have. What if we forgave that person that wronged us instead of looking for ways to seek revenge? What if we looked for one small thing to do each day to help someone else? Just imagine what this could / would do to lift our spirits!! A better attitude, less stress, a feeling of being useful instead of useless. Probably would save billions in health care costs and the world would be a better place!
So that's my New Years blog.. my challenge to all that read this. Lets make this a year of forgiveness, gratefulness, and prosperity! Oh, and my New Year's resolution... to blog more often so Rodger, my PR guru will be filled with gratefulness towards me : )
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