Living Well Journal

Is Bipartisanship UnAmerican?

For the past two years, I've been impressed with Rep. Paul Ryan's approach to fixing Medicare.  To my mind, he is the rare political leader who has spent years personally studying alternatives, and who has truly shown a willingness to reach across the aisle and engage in the long-lost art of bipartisanship.  

Ryan's partnership with Rep. Ron Wyden (D-OR) in introducing the Ryan Wyden Medicare Plan is one example of what we need more of in Washington.

Our constitutional republic was forged in the crucible of vigorous bipartisanship: strong-willed leaders with widely differing worldviews listening to, learning from and persuading one another and ultimately settling upon a solution set that could work.  Over 236 years later, despite all its flaws, it's still the best plan ever conceived by man.  But it cannot survive without a spirit of bipartisanship.

I'm sick of voices on both sides assailing the temerity of these congressmen daring to work in a collaborative way to save such a critical program as Medicare.  It's time for some adults to stand up, lay down the rhetoric and begin to forge viable solutions together.

I found this short article to be a helpful summary of what the Ryan Wyden Medicare Plan actually proposes.

Paul Ryan's Plan for Medicare

How Will You Measure Your Life?

I am one of those guys who seems to stumble over rare gems long after everyone else may have already found them!

One such gem is a (now) classic 2010 article by one of the world's leading experts on innovation, Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen, entitled "How Will You Measure Your Life?" (Harvard Business Review, July 2010).

It's rare to find much wisdom in professional journals these days, and that makes Christensen's article really profound.  After facing cancer and surviving, he came back to his work with a fresh appreciation for the fact that the most satisfying purpose and happiness in life comes not from our achievements but from our relationships ... and yet few of us apply the principles of effective strategic investment in our private lives that we do in our business lives.

"If you’re not guided by a clear sense of purpose, you’re likely to fritter away your time and energy on obtaining the most tangible, short-term signs of achievement, not what’s really important to you."  

Take a few minutes to listen to an interview of Dr. Christensen by Charlie Rose in January 2011.

How Will You Measure Your Life?

How Much is your Health Plan Worth?

Here's a real paradox for you:  

• 64% of employees in the US consider their employer's health benefit plan to be by far the most important benefit of their job, and
• 62% of employees have no idea at all what their employer pays for those benefits (and the rest estimate it at less than half the actual cost).

It's a paradox, in my mind, because we are entering a new era where defined-benefit health plans offered by employers are giving way to defined-contribution plans that will require CHOICES by employees; and those folks are likely to experience serious Sticker Shock when they see the real price tag.

That's what struck me about a recent report by The National Business Group on Health:  Perceptions of Health Benefits in a Recovering Economy