To Blog or Not to Blog

I faced a dilemma yesterday. I left my office and caught CNN where a much chagrined Elliot Spitzer, governor of New York, was making his one-minute apology to his family. It is alleged he is caught up in a prostitution ring as Client No. 9.

The question became whether to post a blog about this or not. Arguably, Spitzer's ongoing battle with big brokers in the financial world ties him to the world of business insurance. His excellent work as the governor of New York in negotiating a deal with seven insurers to get the Ground Zero rebuilding effort off the ground certainly makes him a business insurance topic. Insurance brokers took notice of his efforts in 2004 and significant changes went on internally at some of the largest brokers. If you are a business owner and want to get really angry with your health insurance broker take a look at this post from Managed Care Magazine. These are the kinds of business practices Spitzer targeted. This is why Spitzer is tied to the topic of insurance reform.

Whether you believe in universal health care or not, having Governor Spitzer (a Democrat) on one end of the country and Governor Schwarzenegger (a Republican) on the other pushing for reforms in health care insurance pretty much guaranteed some kind of change. I post about Spitzer because it raises the question: If Spitzer resigns and, with the Governor Schwarzenegger's plan dead in committee and Mitt Romney no longer a presidential candidate, does that mean state initiated health care reform is no longer a viable option at the national level? It is unlikely that any of the three viable presidential candidates are going to position themselves with reform plans from these states directly. This is unfortunate because Spitzer positioned New York to be a leader in health care reform, reducing Medicaid costs by 1.9%, and fighting to provide health care coverage to children by suing the federal government over some federal mandates imposed on states.

Health care reform, critical to controlling business insurance costs, lost something intangible yesterday.