Features
With Rotarians in Office
Well, the race for the next president of the United States has already begun. The amount of dollars being collected by wanna-be candidates is excessive and appears to be growing. Why are they starting to campaign so early?
From this onset, I am afraid that the government will be at a standstill for another 15 months. After all, why should two political parties, Democrats and Republicans, work with one another? They each have to show their party is different, and we, who are paying for all this, are not even considered. The word “bipartisan” seems to mean to these politicians that “you have to do things my way,” and there is no room any longer for a meeting of the minds.
Thus far, I have heard talk from the candidates about all sorts of programs designed to ensure that health care, which is our business, would be protected and all American citizens would receive only the finest attention possible.
Let me ask if the competitive bid will bring better health care or only drive things to the very bottom of the barrel? Under competitive bidding, are only the least-expensive items to be the standard? Certainly the government can recognize the damage that this will do.
I have been an active Rotarian for many years. As such, I try my very best to comply with an oath I have taken called the Four-Way Test. If you are not a Rotarian, this is a pledge so that “of the things we think, say or do,” we ask:
- Is it the truth?
- Is it fair to all concerned?
- Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
- Will it be beneficial to all concerned?
Perhaps if the politicians were all Rotarians, they would honor the second test: Is it fair to all concerned? If politicians thought about how our citizens would benefit, then we might make some progress.
As a teenager I campaigned for Wendell Willkie, and in every presidential campaign since then — and I am now a senior citizen — I have looked not for a political party but at what I thought the candidates would accomplish. Yes, I have been disappointed, but I still look to the future as being bright for our industry.
A battle has begun. Lawsuits have been filed to bring an end to the competitive bid, which CMS thinks will resolve all its problems. It will not. Until congressmen forget their political parties and consider what is best for all Americans, there will be no system that can untangle Medicare and Medicaid and bring these programs to where they can provide services to those who require them.
