Current Issue Artciles
Corporate Wellness
Marcia Reid: Bullying: What are the Myths Surrounding Bullying and Harassment in the Workplace?
Rose Gantner Ed.D.: Running a Wellness and Health Management Program? Where’s Your Certification?
Ria Duykers: Corporate Wellness & Executive Health Programs: What are the Benefits of Providing These Services?
Kathleen M. Gorman, MPH and Ross M. Miller, MD, MPH: Relative Influence of Modifiable Health Risks on Employer-Related Outcomes
Corporate Wellness Magazin: In this issue, we wanted to highlight one of our 2011 Corporate Wellness Leadership awardees for their innovative wellness initiatives.
Jennifer Turgiss : Healthy Workplaces: Leading Organizations Get Ready for June’s National Employee Wellness Month
Column
Kevin L. Shrake, FACHE: Healthcare Reform: Using Rebates to Turn Bills into Cash
Manish Nachnani: Social Media Health Revolution
Michael A. Schroeder: Group Captives: An Appealing Alternative
Sibyl C. Bogardus, JD: Bronze to Platinum Health Plans: What Will It Mean?
Dr. Gene Lindsey: ACOs: Healthcare’s Best Hope
Self Funding
Brian Black: Health and Wellness: Five Apps That Will Help You Lose Weight
Dennis Toohey: Controlling Benefit Cost and Spending By Creating Your Own Marketplace
Thomas E. Dreisinger, PhD, FACSM: Chronic Low Back and Neck Pain: An Epidemic Out of Control
Ronald J. Ozminkowski, Ph.D., and Seth Serxner, Ph.D./MPH: Program Reporting: Using the Right Process to Tell the Story
Voluntary Benefits
CJ Scarlet and Shirlita McFarland: Situational Coaching Offers Lasting Impact
Doug Ross: Long-Term Care Insurance: Helping Others by Helping Yourself
Dr. David Stoneback : Voluntary Benefits as an Employee Protection Strategy
By: Jonathan Spero, M.D.: Transforming a Traditional Occupational Health Center into a Total Employee Health Cost Containment Center
Editorial
Jonathan Edelheit, Editor in Chief: “Raising the Bar”
Rhetoric of Politics in Our Industry
I normally try to stay out of politics. In fact isn’t that what everyone always tells you. Don’t mix politics or religion with business. This month I simply cannot sit on the sidelines anymore. Unfortunately, politics has become like reality TV. It is more about the ratings and drama than “reality.” Scenes are staged, some shows are scripted, and the producers edit films, switch up video and actually change the time sequence of events, solely for the purpose of making things look more dramatic and emotional. For those of you who don’t realize it, most things in Reality TV, are not really “reality.”
Politics has truly become reality TV. It’s no longer about what is good for the people or what is right or wrong, or what the moral high ground is. It is now about positioning, drama, emotion with an end focus on only one thing, getting reelected.
In Wisconsin and other states some Democrats went into hiding, some left the state to hold up voting indefinitely on Unions, one part of the legislation was requiring the Union members to pay for their own health insurance. Have we really fallen so low that politicians now go into hiding to hold up voting? Are we five years old again and playing hide and seek? Why is it that we are allowing our politicians to behave like children and take action that would never be tolerated as an adult or in the business world?
Everyone is getting caught up in the drama and not calling for an end to it. I find other editorials in benefits magazines, blogs from people in the health insurance industry, focus on blasting one political party, or blasting Obama or democrats on Healthcare Reform. What is happening is they are all keeping your eye off the real game. They are just part of the show, keeping you distracted and emotional.
Now that the Republicans have taken over the House of Representatives, do any of you really expect anything different? Do you see Republicans and Democrats working together and making change? Are you demanding change? Or are you trapped in the “reality” of it all.
