REEP Strategic Planning Meeting (11/1/06)

Well, I was AT the Strategic Planning meeting for REEP yesterday from 9 to 3 or so, and I didn't even win a door prize.

However, the fresh croissant and the soy/ginger beef with grilled asparagus for lunch were much appreciated...then they threw us out, of course, but it was nice.

More to the point, the Strategic P. meet makes it clear that the debate between, "individual responsibility," and, "social justice," camps continues in health care...

Basically, plans that talk about "choice," put the load on individuals ("Tastes great!!"), while plans emphasizing company and government contributions ("Less filling!!") use language about social structues.

There's a nice discussion of the limits of this sort of either/or thinking--morality vs. structure--in Cornell West's, "Race Matters..." another in a "New Yorker," of last year, and another take still in the latest, "News and World Report."

So that's the theory. In practice, it has to do with questions like this: if a generic drug is exactly the same clinically, and you don't have any problem with it other than the fact that it's...well...GENERIC...how much should your health insurance (and in the end, your colleagues) pay if you decide that you don't care if it's the same, you want the brand name drug anyway?

No -30-
Robert