ROTARY CLUB OF NEEDHAM
NEWSLETTER
October 20, 2009
Ryan led us in the pledge of allegiance, Ron led us in "My Country Tis O Thee" and Darrell led us in prayer.
GUESTS:
none
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Ryan acknowledged Gary, the Pancake team and the Club for the Pancake Breakfast. Gary thanked Deb and John for their help; Jim (Dictronics) and the Brown family for their help (thanks to Jeff and Holly); Lois for her help with getting the Selectman; Erica for the signs. Lois thanked Gary and Deb. Ticket sales generated $1,740 at the door (358 tickets). Thanks to Bill Paulson and Prudential for their contribution of the Patriots tickets. The raffle earned the Club $185. Chris was recognized for selling many new placemat ads.
Speakers: Greg has October; John has November and Karen has December. Bill Rosenthal volunteered to take Jan.
There will be a Holiday Party at the Sockol's in December. Date TBA. There will be no meeting between Christmas and New Year's. (12/29). Please let Jim know so the speakers can be added to the website.
There is a Rotary UN Day trip on Nov. 7th. Please contact Tom Polito if you are interested.
The Annual Foundation Dinner is on 11/11 at the Dedham Hilton. You can sign up online.
The Football Dinner is in Wellesley on Tues. Nov. 24th. There is no lunch meeting that week.
Darrell discussed about the Thanksgiving Dinner. Setup is on 11/25. Wingate will be providing the pies- thank you Deb and Wingate. Jim asked if the Club could use the contributions from members that we normally get for pies for anything else.
Karen mentioned that the District is chartering a bus to the Annual Convention in Montreal in June. There is a special rate for 100 rooms. You can still sign up for a room whether or not you take the bus.
John Wood, the Founder of Room to Read will be at Eliot School on 11/6.
Gary thanked the Needham Sheraton and Roche Brothers for their help with the Pancake Breakfast.
BIRTHDAYS: Gary and Jon Kleiman
HAPPY DOLLARS:
Ron for his (and Lois's 66th anniversary!!); Chuck for a college visit to his daughter; Gary for the Library Gala; Greg gave $20 for missing the Pancake Breakfast. Deb gave a HD because she is going to Aruba! Dr. Peter Smulowitz (speaker) gave a HD for meeting new people.
50/50 RAFFLE WINNER:
George (however he did not pick the King of Diamonds)
Humor:
South Dakota
Indians
It's late fall and the Indians on a remote reservation in South Dakota asked their new chief if the coming winter was going to be cold or mild.
Since he was a chief in a modern society, he had never been taught the old secrets. When he looked at the sky, he couldn't tell what the winter was going to be like.
Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he told his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the village should collect firewood to be prepared..
But, being a practical leader, after several days, he got an idea. He went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and asked, 'Is the coming winter going to be cold?'
'It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold,' the meteorologist at the weather service responded.
So the chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more firewood in order to be prepared.
A week later, he called the National Weather Service again. 'Does it still look like it is going to be a very cold winter?'
'Yes,' the man at National Weather Service again replied, 'it's going to be a very cold winter.'
The chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of firewood they could find.
Two weeks later, the chief called the National Weather Service again. 'Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?'
'Absolutely,' the man replied. 'It's looking more and more like it is going to be one of the coldest winters we've ever seen.'
'How can you be so sure?' the chief asked. The weatherman replied,'The Indians are collecting fire wood like crazy.'
Speaker:
Peter Smulowitz, MD, MPH lives in Needham and is a faculty member in emergency medicine at BethIsraelDeaconessMedicalCenter and BIDC Needham.
Dr. Smulowitz thanked the Rotary for our hospitality and inviting him to speak. The topic is Healthcare and Healthcare Reform.
3 options:
1.
Universal Healthcare- everyone has health insurance
2.
Single Payer: Government paid (not owned) coverage
3.
Socialized medicine: Government owns and operates facilities and physicians
Why redo health insurance? People feel they need access to healthcare. We spend more per capita than other Western countries and deliver less. In 4 years it is estimated that the cost of family coverage will be around $35,000 per year!! 3/5th of all bankruptcies are due to medical bills. Many foreclosures occur even when people have coverage, but not sufficient to pay catastrophic bills. Dr. Smulowitz reviewed briefly the Legislative process to get a bill to Congress and the House.
These are the main points:
1.
Health insurance exchange (ie., Connector in MA); provide a shopping mall for small businesses
2.
Regulation of insurance industry (exclusion for pre-existing conditions) remove low life time limits
3.
Expanding Medicaid (include people up to 150% of the Federal Poverty level); cover single men- subsidies and tax credits
4.
Public option- similar to Medicare; government collects and provides insurance- pays bills; another "option" to provide coverage.
The question will be whether the Public option will actually provide a competitive option which will influence cost controls for the insurance companies. Costs are going up and cost control is seen as a critical component to providing affordable healthcare coverage in the future. There is a question whether States will be able to opt out of the Public option and whether there is enough support in Congress for a Public option.
There is also a discussion about the need to review and change how physicians are compensated (outcome vs. time) and a need to have malpractice reform to reduce the need for "defensive" medicine.
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Rotary Club of Needham
