Here’s a link to the actual video footage from the Staten Island Advance editorial board meeting that McDermott & Thomas Associates President Patrick McDermott took part in along with Rep. Michael McMahon and other community leaders:
http://videos.silive.com/staten-island%20advance/2009/08/staten_island_advance_editoria_4.html
(Mr. McDermott’s segment starts at 6:15)
In the first 15 minutes of the video footage, Rep. McMahon takes questions on everything from drug companies to medicare spending as well as reducing utilization without losing quality outcomes. The remaining 12 minutes or so, he’s asked about the politics behind the bill. McMahon talks about how he thinks there are both good and bad merits to the bill but overall he feels it’s trying to do too much too quickly without enough effort in educating the American public as to why reform is so important.
Let us know what you think!
Check out the following article. It’s an interesting one in that it displays how a Democratic Congressman from a mostly Republican district is struggling with whether or not he can support the current Health Care bills as they read now.
The article stems from an editorial board meeting held by local Staten Island newspaper, the Staten Island Advance, where Rep. Michael McMahon and other prominent Staten Island community leaders took part in a discussion on health care. Many different views, ideas and opinions were discussed which are highlighted in the article. Our President, Patrick McDermott, participated in the meeting and is quoted in a few places.
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/08/staten_islands_mcmahon_in_heal.html
His picture is the fourth down.
August HR Insider – Great info on how Medical Insurance plan design can result in Healthy Lifestyles for your employees. Also some info on HealthCare Reform – http://ping.fm/vrSI9
The future of Health Care is upon us. With daily discussion on multiple bills being negotiated on Capitol Hill and publically discussed amongst several mediums and forums, the team at McDermott and Thomas have been playing close attention.
In fact, our Founder and President, Patrick McDermott, has been playing an active role in advocacy participating in the National Association of Health Underwriters fly-in on Capitol Hill this past July. More than 1,000 professional health insurance advisors, agents, brokers, consultants and employee benefit specialists from 49 states met with nearly 400 Senate and House offices as part of the effort.
As the House and Senate actively debate comprehensive health care reform legislation, this joint grassroots fly‐in was designed to provide an opportunity for the health insurance agent and broker community to send a strong message to Congress to preserve the private delivery of health insurance and to oppose the creation of a government‐run public plan.
Mr. McDermott met with several New York based Congressmen including Rep. Michael McMahon (D-New York) and the legislative staff for Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York). In his meetings, he was able to reference the unintended consequences of a public plan not only from the standpoint of the insurance advisor but also also how it could negatively affect providers from his expereince as Chairman of Staten Island University Hospital and his board work at the North Shore Long Island Jewish Hospital System.
Additionally, later this month, Mr. McDermott will participate in a Staten Island Advance editorial board meeting with Rep. McMahon and other prominent Staten Island community leaders to discuss health care. He’s also been invited to a dinner with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at the end of August to discuss Staten Island issues related to business, community and health care.
Stay tuned to this blog to read about the outcomes of these meetings as well as other news related to health care and employee benefits.
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McDermott & Thomas Associates is a firm specializing in Employee Benefit Planning, Insurance Planning, Retirement Planning, Payroll and Human Resource Outsourcing. The company was established in 1980 and has offices in Boston, MA, Princeton, NJ and Staten Island, NY. The firm insures clients primarily located in the North East with a specialization in assisting companies that are newly Incorporated and/or expanding into the United States for the first time.
Ryan McDermott, Managing Director of McDermott & Thomas Associates, will be hosting an event at the Boston Irish Business Association (BIBA) on September 9, 2009. This will be BIBA’s kicks off event for its 2009-2010 Evening Networking Season as well as its launch under its new name. McDermott was recently installed on the board of BIBA and has taken an active role in developing future programs as the Chair of the programs committee.
The theme for the evening will be Life Sciences and our guest speaker will be Frank Reynolds, CEO of Invivo Therapeutics, an emerging Medical Device Company focused on paralysis treatment. InVivo has received numerous awards including $500,000 from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center as part of MLSC’s Accelerator Loan Program.
To read more about the details of the event and to RSVP, please click here:
http://events.linkedin.com/ICCUSA-Evening-Meeting-Evening-Life/pub/98808
About BIBA: BIBA is a non-profit membership organization with a clear focus on business and the development of economic, commercial and educational links between the United States the island of Ireland and Europe. Our membership consists of a broad cross-section of businesspersons, professionals and entrepreneurs from Ireland, Northern Ireland and the U.S. BIBA is managed by a board of Directors selected from the membership of the group.
About Invivo Therapeutics: InVivo Therapeutics Corporation is a Cambridge, MA medical device company focused on combining polymers and stem cells to restore function in individuals paralyzed as a result of traumatic spinal cord injury. The company was founded in 2005 on the basis of research initiated in the laboratories of Robert Langer, PhD, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Jay Vacanti, MD, of the Massachusetts General and Children’s Hospitals in Boston, and Yang Teng, PhD, MD, of Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
