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President’s Message

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Would your health improve if you ate less and exercised more? If you don't always put that knowledge into action, don't feel alone.

An employee benefits and human resources consultant recently surveyed thousands of employees and dependents covered by employer-sponsored healthcare plans. More than 80 percent of respondents said smart choices in daily life have the most influence on health, even more influence than affordability or access.

More than half also reported they don't exercise as often or eat as carefully as they should.

Is there a parallel between the choices we face as individuals wanting to be healthy and the choices our industry faces overall?  On an individual level, we have a good idea of what our choices should be. Industry-wide, it's a different story. Is there waste in the system? Can we agree on where and what to do about it? Can we agree on a method for calculating healthcare costs and make this information readily available to consumers? (Nearly half of the respondents to the employee survey said they would make better decisions if they knew how much healthcare actually costs.)

No single entity--consumers making better and more informed decisions, payers bringing new products to the marketplace, providers scrutinizing their methods to determine which are most effective, or employers continuing to cover the majority of their employees' healthcare costs--will be effective alone.

Fruits, vegetables, grains, low-fat protein and regular exercise are part of a "balanced" lifestyle. We also need to "balance" the overall picture of healthcare industry health.

As a provider-owned PPO encompassing more than 100 payers and, indirectly, thousands of consumers, Midlands Choice plays an important role in facilitating the discovery of what that balance should be. It's a role we look forward to continuing to play, on behalf of stakeholders and their variety of perspectives, in the months to come.

Thomas E. Press
President & CEO