By Kevin Meyer
It has started even sooner than I expected. In this new era of supposed transparency and deliberation - at least that's what was promised - the over 2000 page bill to restructure one sixth of the economy was given 72 hours for peer review. Most of us in the real world outside of the beltway knew what would happen...
The Obama administration said Wednesday it would issue regulations to make clear that insurers must cover sick children, fixing what appears to be a glitch in the new health law.
Under current law, insurers may reject applications from someone who is already sick. The legislation aimed to ban that practice for children this year, and for adults in 2014. Some, including the insurance industry's lobby, read the bill's language to say insurers must cover the cost of care for children with pre-existing conditions who already have insurance, not that insurers must accept new young customers who are already sick.
That is one of the most important aspects of the bill, and ironically one both sides basically agreed on. It could have been easily passed a year ago under a kaizen approach instead of the kaikaku wallop.
2000 pages... 72 hours... one sixth of the economy. And less than 24 hours before the first problem is found and a band aid proposed. We all know what band aids do... add layers of complexity and cost. Remember how true lean companies approach PDCA - Plan Do Check Act - 60-70% of the time is spent on the Plan stage.
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