The Health Reform has bill has now made it to the floor of the Senate.  But the only good news about that is that our nation's healthcare is now on the front pages every day.  The bad news is that the bill hardly does a sufficient job at addressing continuously rising costs, chronic system inefficiencies, increased lifestyle induced diseases and many other problems inherent in the system.  This array of healthcare issues has hurt our economy, our productivity, our profits and our nation’s ability to remain competitively powerful in a global market.

Is the government-led plan a good way forward?  We argue that it is not.  As the world's most successful free-market economy, the US is in a strong position to avoid the socialized medicine disasters of Europe and Canada, and leverage the power of healthcare consumerism to drive positive change

Our nation’s business leaders can and should act in a responsible and proactive manner to help address some of the challenges of healthcare in this country.  It has begun, but there is much more that needs to happen.  The focus of new and innovative initiatives needs to shift from the supply to the demand side. 

Individuals must begin to take greater personal responsibility for their own health, and corporations, as employers, are best suited to drive that social and behavioral change needed in order to reverse the negative trends and move toward positive transformation.

Why Healthcare Matters tells the story of our dysfunctional healthcare system and a population not properly motivated to change.  It also outlines the strategies and actions for business leaders to employ within their own organizations.  This has begun among several leading edge organizations.  That early success must be applied across our corporations. 

Only with real transformative change, instituted from the top, can our nation’s businesses hope to remain competitive over the next few decades. 

Despite the current Administration's plan to nationalize healthcare, effective alternatives to create free-market solutions and demand-side strategies abound. 

Why Healthcare Matters from HRD Press is available on Amazon