Health Care Needed 'Red Team': Firing Line

Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.
-- General Colin Powell

The current health care debate provides us a good opportunity to learn some valuable lessons about leadership and planning.

The media reported this week that the president pulled back on his push for a "public option'' as part of his health care/health insurance overhaul. I say both because I cannot follow whether the plan is to reform health care or insurance. Or both.

I don't mind the confusion as it allows me to profit off of swings in health care stocks like Aetna(AET Quote), United Health(UNH Quote), Cardinal Health(CAH Quote).

The president most likely changed direction as a result of the spirited debate at town halls across the country. Congress has spent its August recess hearing from angry constituents and their concerns about the plan. It's interesting to watch the reaction of our leaders when their constituents know more about the details of the plan than they do.

Apparently, the public has little faith in the government to successfully manage a program that would effectively control 16% of the nation's economic output. The public seems to be tiring of a government that is promising a streamlined, equitable and cheap solution while being unable to explain how to pay for it without raising taxes or growing an already exploding deficit. And price is not the only concern.

The government has a poor track record when it comes to running large programs or organizations: Amtrak, GM, the Postal Service, Social Security, Fannie Mae(FNM Quote) and Freddie Mac(FRE Quote), and Medicare and Medicaid, to name a few. The voters see glaring examples of government buffoonery with cases like Bernie Madoff. The list goes on.