Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Obama Whitehouse Hangout…what does it have to do with Health Care….NOT

 

I happened to sit in on the Google + Hangout on the Live Stream. There were only five active participants allowed. The questions were drawn from a pool of pre-submitted YouTube videos sent to the Whitehouse. Initially the guidelines were the most popular questions or watched videos watched by YouTube Videos would be addressed.  However at the last minute the guidelines were changed to the White House Selected questions.

The questions were from the usual list of candidate debate issues. It was a well manicured session from ‘the groupies’ with all smileys and nods,and thank you Mr. President.One of the questioners grilled Mr. Obama about the lack of employment opportunities for engineers, one sector of the economy that is supposedly was recovering quickly  Mr. Obama went so far as to ask one of the participant spouse’s to send his professional resume to him to assist his job search in engineering.

Some topics avoided:  SOPA, OWS, Education Costs

There was no discussion about healthcare and/or Obama care.

Mr. Obama and his managers obviously think healthcare is off the radar.

Even if healthcare was on the radar the committee of inquisition would not have known the right questions.

 

1. Will there be an ACO in my neighborhood? (Will I even have a doctor?)

2. Why doesn’t my doctor look at me during my visit instead of his computer?

3. Why did Google hibernate it’s Google Health personal health record?

4. Why (an what is) a Medicare Demonstration Program ?  Why haven’t the results been widely published from the Congressional Budget Office regarding their failure to control costs.?

5.Can HIPAA be waived voluntarily by patient and provider for the use of social media to improve efficiency and drive down the number of office visits and expense?

I summed it up like this when I was asked how it went. My response,  “I decided at half time to go out to get soda, popcorn, and a hot dog, then decided not to go back. The second half was like the first. no last minute touch down runs….interceptions, or fumbles.   At least the hot dogs were ballpark fresh !

No comments: