Health Insurance Underwriter

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Go Postal First

GCould President Obama use his significant political skills, charm and leadership to do the impossible? Could he actually decrease the cost of a service that has been increasing in cost for the last 50 years?

Could the president decrease the cost of a first class stamp by 10 cents? Could he do it in a way that was actually driven by cost decreases, while protecting quality and services? Could he do it by actually decreasing the costs of the United States Postal Service?

If you believe that the answer to this question is no, then why would we ever allow the president to reform health care, based upon his promises to decrease costs and expand access?

President Obama is bound and determined to propose and pass his health care reform ideas THIS YEAR, stating in his March 24 press conference regarding the economic crisis, “We will invest in reform that will bring down the cost of health care for families, businesses and our government...”

The president speaks with great eloquence and conviction that his administration and the federal government can actually reduce the $2.2 trillion that our country consumes in health care expenditures.

Not so fast. Should we believe that the federal government can really reduce of the cost of anything, let alone something as complex as health care? Should we really believe that the same federal government that gave us Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the $630 million Capitol Visitor’s Center and the $640 toilet seat can actually reduce the cost of one-sixth of the American economy?

Answering yes to this is akin to Charlie Brown trusting that Lucy is finally going to hold the football for him to kick.

Here’s an idea: Before we give our new president carte blanche authority to reinvent our world-renown health care system, let’s act with due diligence, requiring the successful completion of a pilot study first. I propose that we require the Obama administration to demonstrate its competence cutting other costs prior to enacting health care reform.

The pilot program goal would be to reduce the cost of a U.S. first class stamp by 10 cents.

Plain and simple, Mr. Obama, we ask you to reduce the price of a stamp by a dime by reducing the costs of the USPS while maintaining the same quality of service.

by Dave Petno Accelerated Benefits Hudson, OH dpetno@accben.com

Before you get started on your task, let’s list five key, non-negotiable items that will ensure that you are, in fact, cutting costs and not decreasing quality, services or playing a shell game with your revenue sources.

Non-Negotiable Items for the Pilot Program:

1. The program cannot decrease the cost of a stamp by increasing taxes, fees, surcharges or any other user fees that are ultimately paid by the citizens of our country.

2. The program cannot decrease the cost of a stamp by increasing the cost of other postage charged for other things at the U.S. Postal Service. This is called “cost shifting” rather than cost reduction.

3. The program cannot decrease the cost of a stamp by drawing revenue from other government agencies via transfer payments or stimulus dollars. You are not permitted to rob Peter to pay Paul.

4. The program cannot decrease the cost of a stamp by deteriorating the quality of the service or decreasing the number of services that are available. (For example, you can’t increase delivery times. Your mail delivery accuracy must remain just as high as before.)

5. The program cannot decrease the cost of a stamp by
making people wait longer to purchase or receive
services. Lines at the post office cannot get longer,
and waiting time to receive mail cannot increase.

This will be a huge challenge for the USPS. But I would ask you, if the president cannot reduce the cost of a stamp by 10 cents without violating the non-negotiable items, why would we ever allow him to tinker with one of the most crucial sectors of our economy?

Compared to health care, reforming the USPS should be a piece of cake.

In many ways, the USPS is very similar to the reach and geographic scope of the American health care system. On the other hand, no one would argue that the post office is anywhere near as complex an organization as a hospital.

The USPS is 100% government-owned and its footprint covers 100% of the country, as well as all U.S. territories. And, since the USPS is 100% owned and controlled by the federal government, President Obama could restructure the entire agency with one executive order.