Tag Archives: healthcare policy

Smoke on the Water: Fireworks in Cleveland

Posted on October 6, 2011 by
fireworks1

I spent the early part of this week attending the Cleveland Clinic Medical Innovation Summit and, despite the fact that the Cleveland Clinic stubbornly insists on holding it’s conference in Cleveland (aka The Mistake on the Lake), it was well worth attending.

Cleveland is an interesting town. Once upon a time, when old white men roamed the earth in cars driven by chauffeurs, Cleveland was the nation’s fifth largest city and had the highest number of Fortune 500 headquarters of any US city. Today, the Cleveland Clinic is the largest employer in the city, which is known also for a river that used to spontaneously combust and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (the perfect song for this occasion is clearly Smoke on the Water). In a way Cleveland is the perfect place to honor aging rock stars, as they can pick up a statuette and an angioplasty on the same trip. By the way, the river doesn’t catch fire anymore I’m told. I was worried because the Clinic hosted a pretty impressive fireworks display over Lake Erie for their 1500 guests and no doubt most of us expected … (read the rest)

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Waiting for Elephants

Posted on September 28, 2010 by
It's Getting Lonely In Here

A few weeks ago, right before the first California Senatorial Debate between Barbara Boxer and Carly Fiorina, I received a call from a local TV station asking me if I would be willing to be on standby to give an on-air quote about whatever the candidates said about healthcare and health reform.  The producer’s theory was that since healthcare was one of the most vociferously debated topics at the federal level, surely this topic would be featured prominently in the debate.  “Sure,” I said, and studiously watched the debate and sat by the phone like a 16-year-old waiting for a date to the prom.

Well guess what?  That call never came.  My 15 minutes of fame? Denied!  I can hear my Father now, “If you sit by the phone, it isn’t going to ring. You have to play hard-to-get.”

Why did the call launching my TV career fail to arrive?  Stunningly, not one single word about healthcare was uttered during the Senatorial debate.  Not one.  Hard to believe given that healthcare is allegedly one of the most critical issues our nation faces, consuming an ever-increasing portion of our gross domestic … (read the rest)

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