Charlie Wilson's War and Health Care Reform- can we ever get it completely right?

Insuring Resources Commentary

I finally just watched the movie, Charlie Wilson's War, the story of a renegade Congressman, a rich socialite and a rogue CIA agent who began the end of the Soviet Empire with the help of well-armed Afghan freedom fighters through a covert war.

The analogy to the battle for health care reform is apt as we inch closer and closer this fall to a reform package that could forever change the landscape of the American healthcare system. Or, like Charlie Wilson's War in Afghanistan it could come close and ultimately fail.

"These things happened. They were glorious and they changed the world... and then we screwed up the endgame"- U.S. Cong. Charlie Wilson.

Through the covert war in Afghanistan Congress spent over $1 Billion to oust the Soviets but failed to establish a sustainable infrastructure to support a democracy. As Charlie Wilson tried and failed to get just $1 million in funding to build Afghani schools and sustain the momentum from the war viewers are suddenly jolted into the present in our own minds with visions of Al Queda, the Taliban and our own futile overt war.

Full Circle

So what's all this mean for health care reform? Like rebuilding Afghani schools we need to ensure that health care reform brings us a sustainable health care future with incentives for quality care, reduction of waste through lean processes, and payment reform that incents quality and not quantity.

Let's get this right, THIS TIME, let's not do it halfway and leave the outcome unsustainable.