Tag Archives: health care reform

The Revolution has begun

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Has the Health Care revolution begun? I believe it has and my basis for this belief comes from reading the book “The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell.  The other reason comes from  my trip last month to the IHRSA convention when I had the chance to hear Malcolm Gladwell speak. In his presentation what really stood out to me was when he talked about what factors are involved in starting a revolution and how one event or idea can change everything, hence the ‘Tipping Point’. He asked the audience what causes revolutions?  Is it money? Political capital? Military strength? And then he answered the question by telling the story of the collapse of the Berlin Wall. What most people don’t realize is that the collapse of the Berlin Wall started by one event. That one event occurred a month before the wall fell and it happened in a small town in East Germany.  Essentially, what happened was a group of protestors gathered in a town to protest and instead of the police breaking it up they allowed the protest to continue. Well, word got around and people in the town heard about the protest and decided, well if the police did not stop them from protesting let’s go ahead and have our own protest. This continued day after day until millions of people in East Germany gathered  protesting and without any military push back  they began to tear down the wall. As Malcolm goes on to speak and states, “the revolution began all becuase one day the town police decided not to stop the protesting of the people of this small town and with that, other towns followed suite. Before you knew it, a month later, millions of people gathered to tear down the wall.”

Okay, so what is my point here and what exactly do I mean by the Health Care Revolution has begun? Well, in my opinion the Health Care revolution has begun because people are going to be forced to become healthy. Yes, I mean forced because  the additional 30 million people to the system with out the infrastructure will cause rationing. There is no argument to be made it will happen. If you get sick you will have to wait longer to see a doctor and the only way to avoid having to wait is to make sure you don’t get sick. This is where those of us in the fitness industry should rejoice. Health club memberships should increase and more people will seek our help, so that they do not get sick.

The lesson to take away today is that instead of sitting around waiting to see what happens to Health Care in this country be the first person out there to say, “hey I can help you stay healthy and free from illness” Find ways to benefit from this massive government intrusion into health care. Remember, there are always two ways to look at a problem. One, you can complain and do nothing or the second way, take the opposite approach and find a way to solve it and benefit from it.

Coach Dave

Help make a difference in health care reform

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The other day I wrote a blog post,“It does not matter what Health Care Bill gets passed because they are forgetting an important component”, and today I just received this email from someone from IHRSA asking me as a former supporter and lobbyist for the WHIP ACT to write again to my Congressional leaders. Coincidence? At first I was like hmmm but after thinking about it there has not been a single piece of legislation in the past decade that means so much to this country and that is why everyone’s voice makes a difference. Please see the letter and follow the links to write to your Congressional leaders and ask them to support the WHIP ACT. 

Coach Dave

 

Dear David:

As a past attendee of IHRSA’s Legislative Summit, you’ve spoken to your members of Congress or their staff. You know that it is your voice, more than the voices of the paid lobbyist, they want to hear from and listen to.  I’m emailing now to ask you to exercise that power and reach out once more and ask for their support

As you know during the last ten months, IHRSA has been actively working to include exercise as prevention as a part of health care reform, including passage of the Workforce Health Improvement Program (WHIP) Act and the Personal Health Investment Today (PHIT) Act. 

Right now, we need your help to generate support for efforts to introduce the WHIP Act as a floor amendment when health care reform is voted on in the Senate.  We know that the lead sponsor of the WHIP Act, Senator John Cornyn, with support from Senator Tom Harkin,  intends to introduce the bill as a floor amendment. To make sure that happens, we need your help to generate support for the WHIP Act from the other members of the Senate.  

As someone that has previously lobbied your Senators for support of the WHIP Act, would you be willing to reach out again now? This may be the most crucial time. You can use the link at the bottom of the email to send them an email message or click here to find their Capitol Office phone numbers (talking points available online).

Thank you again for your continued support of our federal health promotion efforts. Please let me know if you have any questions or need additional information.

Sincerely,
Helen
Helen Durkin, J.D.
Executive VP, Public Policy
had@ihrsa.org

It does not matter what Health Care Bill gets passed because they are forgetting an important component!

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I have one word that hardly ever gets mentioned when politicians talk about “Health Care Reform” and that is prevention. Now, I do not agree at all with President Barack Obama’s proposal and the democrats push for a public plan, but I will say that when they mention prevention being a  big part of the reform they get my attention. You see, I strongly believe that if we are ever going to change the “Health Care” in America then we need to change what our primary mission and message should be. Instead of each political party worrying about their special interest groups we need to make the message and mission to be all about prevention. 

 Our leaders talk about the fact that the issue of health reform has been being talked about for years and nothing has been done. Well, I am sorry to inform them but there has been good legislation (WHIP Act and PHIT Act) that has been introduced by IHRSA (International Health Racquet and Sport Association) and has had members of both parties sign on to the bill but the frustrating part is every time it is introduced it gets stripped out. You have to be kidding me. These pieces of legislation will help start us on a path to making exercise a key component in the changing of our health in America, so don’t me that nothing has been done because if these two bills would have been passed we would be a lot further along in putting prevention as a key reform element.

Also, let me make this clear, prevention is not a Democrat or Republican issue, prevention is something that every American can get on board with and if Americans are concerned about their health then they need to change their mindset and think of prevention as the key in this whole Health Care debate.

Finally, my take home point for you as a  fitness professional is that you need to learn more about the two legislative bills I mentioned earlier and write your congressmen and tell them to support it. Also, if you are looking to get more personal training clients you need to create relationships with physicians. I have started to see a shift in the medical industry and have noticed doctors prescribing exercise as a way to treat some of these preventable diseases. Start figuring out how you can make whatever Health Care Bill comes out of Congress, profitable for your business. Remember, I do not care what Health Care Bill they pass, real change is going to come from fitness professionals providing lifestyle changes for Americans.

Stay the path!

Coach Dave