Well, We Did it!!!

What is being hailed as landmark legislation, that has significant national implications, was signed into law this past week by our Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr.. HB188 was the second piece required to establish an additional health insurance market in the State of Utah that will bring correction and greater choice to all Utahns.

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About two years ago, I was at a meeting and heard a speaker named Dr. Norman Thurston talking about the need of true health reform. Norm (standing second from the left in picture) is the head economist of health for the State of Utah. He indicated that Utah’s new Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. was committed to bring reform to the market and had the political will to turn over the whole system, if needs be.

Understanding the serious issues regarding the costs of health care, I still found that comment incredulous since Utah did, and still does rank 50th out of all states, as having the lowest health costs in the nation. He also talked highly about Massachusetts’s The Commonwealth Connector as a model the Governor expressed interest in. Though innovative, the Commonwealth Connector is a socialist state ran program that I knew myself, and most Utahns, would not have any appetite for.

I approached Dr. Thurston and asked if he would attend a FirstWest board meeting to discuss his ideas, to which he agreed. At the board meeting, as I listened to his comments and the conversation between Dr. Thurston and our partners, I had an epiphany. I knew how we could accomplish this. At the end of the meeting I asked Dr. Thurston if he would accept some collaboration from us, --that I was confidant the goals they had could be accomplished with a private sector solution with some government facilitation. He agreed, and hundreds of consulting work hours later, lobbying, threats from my industry peers and insurance companies, the nation’s first defined contribution insurance portal came into reality on March 11, 2009.

There were only about twenty five invited individuals at the signing ceremony, not counting an additional dozen, or so members of the press. After the ceremony, Utah’s Speaker of the House David Clark thanked me for all of our work and effort, and for also bringing the process back to the right principals when the political winds blew it back to the benefit of special interests, or a socialist solution. He said there was at least two significant times that this legislation would have failed without our intervention. Understanding the significance of the project, that probably is the nicest compliment of my career.

I could write a book about all that has transpired in the past months, but won’t in the interest of time, and also for confidentiality reasons. For now, we will continue to work for health reform with a new consulting contract with the State of Utah. I have also been recommended for a Governor’s appointment to the new board which will govern the new defined contribution exchange (portal). I should receive that invitation in the next two weeks and then to the Senate for approval in mid-April.

There has been an incredible amount of irony that has come out of our efforts that I may blog about at a later date. One example is we have been invited to visit The Commonwealth Connector on April 16th and 17th to discuss our plan and compare notes. It will very interesting for me to have that access and see what we can learn together, and if any of my conservative views can have an influence on the way they do things in a liberal state like Massachusetts.

Anyway, it has been an amazing ride for a slow talking, hick kid from Springville, Utah.