ObamaCare

President Obama has moved onto two issues which have been a part of political dialogue for at least thirty years: health care and education. It seems we have been debating these issues for ions. I am beginning to feel we are in an Orwellian "forever crisis" in education and health care. And I actually wonder if there is a crisis in either.

There is no doubt that the cost of health insurance has increased. Dramatically. I have been a consumer of private health insurance for many years, juggling the costs, squinting at computer screens trying to find lower premiums and still have care when/if I need it. I am extremely healthy. I do all the things this current Administration wants to "nudge" us into doing: I have never smoked, exercise like crazy, keep my weight in check. I don't eat a lot of sweets, drink a lot of coffee, and don't visit the doctor often! But my premiums kept going up. Somewhere in this scenario, someone was making a lot of money off of my monthly payments.

On the other hand I am of the age where the medical profession likes to recommend lots of tests. Going to the doctor is no longer an hourly visit, it's days and days of hourly tests: mammograms, colonoscopies, bone densities. And when I sat down with the doctor for my "pre-surgery" exam for the colonoscopy, I realized all of this had become way overblown. I mean, millions of people before me had lived great lives without having some doctor stick a laser down their colon. But this doctor went through this draconian lecture about how often people get colon cancer, and oh, you're co-pay is $15 and the surgery is over $2000! Yikes!

While I have been supportive of addressing the costs of health care, I think we are still not ready, as a society, to deal with this issue full on. Just as other sensitive problems have taken years, sometimes decades, to solve, this one may just need more seasoning. It's personal, whether it is should Medicare cover hip replacements for our parents or whether a private insurer can decide not to allow a defibrillator. In the abstract we all "get it," but at the moment, when it's our mother, our brother, our child, we want what is best and available. We need time to have a longer national discussion. And frankly, our minds have been on the economy. On our neighbor's foreclosure, our bills, our friend's job.

And then there is education. I have also been an avid consumer of education. I've been to elite private universities and state schools. I have taught at both. I have lectured at elementary schools deep in the ghettos and private elite schools that have graduated some of our country's finest minds. While I am not a professional educator, it seems to me our education system is doing just fine. We're producing great kids who are smart, motivated, committed. Cranky up the education system to rely on "indicators," such as test scores or other quantifiable measurables always seems regressive to me. Measuring doesn't account for learning and the multiple ways we absorb life.

I am wondering about President Obama right now. He has mis-stepped on these two issues. And seems to have lost focus on financial industry reform, the economy, and other front burner issues. We need Obama to care, every moment, about those kinds of things rather than get bogged down in "problems" that seem to have been around for a very long time and are dug out of the closet by every single politician when they want easy votes.

Changing our Culture

Recently I have not agreed with New York Times columnist Frank Rich.  It's not that I haven't accepted his premise or even understood his ultimate purpose, but he has been, I think, a cheerleader for the current Administration when he severely chastised pundits during the Bush Administration for doing the same thing.  When you have a major opinion column in the major newspaper (or maybe the last newspaper standing) in America, you have some obligation to be a critical thinker.

It caught me by surprise when I agreed with his recent column about the culture of greed in America.  The conclusion of his piece is the same thing I have been saying: in order to get out economy back into shape, we need, we must, get our culture into shape.  We must stop reveling the symbols of greed.

Recently I had dinner with friends, one of the couple's is expecting their first child.  They have both made significant amounts of money, like many young couples in the Puget Sound region, off of a software located in Redmond, Washington.  They are excited and nervous.  The dinner discussion turned, a little prematurely perhaps, to schools.  It turns out it is a topic they have researched quite extensively, as well as nannies and dulas.  And their belief has essentially come down to finding the best private school for their child, hoping that eventually it will attend Harvard or another Ivy League school, so that the child can essentially repeat their financial success.

I idly wondered what they would do if the kid wanted to be a carpenter?

But I think the thing that scared me the most is not only are we a culture that worships money, but that money continues to purchase elite status in this country.  No doubt the child will have to achieve in school, but already it has a leg up on most children without the financial resources of it's parents who are easily weathering this depression.  Essentially, we continue to create a country of elites and the rest of us.

Yet, we are in a depression.  So who can blame the folks who want to watch CNBC and stock jockeys like Jim Cramer who exhort you to buy low, sell high, and make a lot of money in the stock market.  Who can blame anyone for wanting to be as comfortable as the couple expecting their first child, eagerly investigating the pluses and minuses of private schools and what contributions parents must make to get their child on "the list."

On the other hand, if we also realize that each person is of value, that we all have amazing gifts to contribute, perhaps the private elite school education isn't as important as the ability to give to our society.

We voted for change last November, but the change really must come within all of us.  It's time.

Education and Basketball

It all comes down to this!  Tomorrow, the Men's NCAA College Basketball Championship begins and on Friday, the Women's.  The tournaments are a big deal.  In almost every place I've worked, we have had office "pools" on the men's tournament.  Even all my fly fishing buddies run a pool (very cool prizes, lots of dry flies!).  

As President Obama begins his campaign on education reforms, it's interesting that our First Basketball Fan and Recreation Player, hasn't mentioned some interesting facts as we begin our orgy of watching basketball.  Graduation rates.  

The men's graduation rates, according to the NCAA, averages at 59%.  The women's of course is much higher, with at least fourteen teams in the women's tournament having 100% graduation rates.  

Given that a majority of teams in both tournaments are public schools and most if not all the players are on scholarships, isn't it outrageous that we are not doing enough to keep the kids in school?  The problem is, of course, that for the men, the lure of huge monetary rewards of playing in the NBA far outweigh a college degree.  The women don't have that problem.

So while President Obama is telling high school students they don't have an option about dropping out, maybe he should also tell men's college basketball players that they have a privileged place in our society.  A scholarship to study at some of the best schools in the country: Duke, University of Connecticut, Michigan State, Louisville, University of Washington.  And that indeed, a college degree is worth something.  Just look at Obama's aide and Duke football and basketball star, Reggie Love.  He graduated.

While you're enjoying the games think about how we can encourage higher graduation rates, lower attrition to the NBA, and of course, less corruption because of all the big money.

Now, go fill out your bracket.