I’ve been watching in awe while mainstream media and the blogosphere alike are painting Sue Lowden to be a crazy person. The story? Sue mentioned in a town hall meeting in Nevada that one way to help ease the health care burden would be to barter with doctors. My perception is that she meant to say negotiate in price when you pay for your services in cash, but she has hardened her stance to include direct trades with health care professionals.
The democrats in Nevada have even launched a website mocking her directly: http://dscc.org/chickens. They mock her openly. “‘You have got to be kidding me,’ DSCC spokeswoman Deirdre Murphy said in a statement. ‘Sue Lowden is completely out of touch with Nevadans if she really thinks bartering chickens for checkups is serious health care reform.’”
We in the industry should be speaking out about this, and I, as you, have been guilty of taking this too lightly or being afraid. If the media is painting barter as a back-woods, backward way of doing business, then we need to step up and set the record straight.
The barter industry is a multi-billion dollar per year industry. We boast some of the best transaction keeping software systems. We have trained professionals, two industry associations in the United States and more beyond. There are three (that I know of) publicly traded barter exchanges in the world, two in the United States and one in Australia.
The barter industry is indeed a partial fix to the healthcare crisis facing America right now. It can make fluid what has become difficult: bartering.
I personally have traded for medical services more than once. I have had moles removed, eye-exams and glasses on numerous occasions, dentistry, chiropractic, family medicine, and more. I provided goods and services in exchange for those services.
I also have not had health insurance since 2003. I have not needed it. With the exception of the births of my last three babies, we have not had any catastrophic or difficult health situtations which would have required health insurance. We are still young and relatively healthy, and what medical needs we have are taken care of through barter. We pay cash for what we have to pay cash for and barter the rest.
Yes, a widespread glut of barter flooding the healthcare system would not be a good thing, but some of the needs like preventative care and simple family medicine could be dealt with on a barter basis without significant cash drainage to the system as it stands now. And in an organized barter situation, the doctors accepting the barter are glad because they aren’t tied down to what you give them…they can spend their barter dollars wherever they want.
While the world makes fun of Sue Lowden, the barter industry will continue to operate, somewhat in the background, and continue to do just what Sue suggests…barter for health care.
It’s a fact that hospitals are often never able to collect the 20% co-pay not paid by an individual’s health insurance company, from the individuals that required the hospital services and stays.
There’s at least one major hospital group that agreed to accept the 20% co-pay in barter for hospital procedures. The hospital gets their 80% cash from the insurance company as usual, and actually collects the 20% co-pay in barter upfront instead of maintaining it as an accounts receivable that is eventually non-collectable and written off as bad debt.
In addition, participating in a barter exchange drives patients to hospitals for procedures that they may not have had, if they had to pay the 20% co-pay themselves in cash.
Hospitals can then used the barter dollars they earn for advertising, purchasing supplies, or even better for employee bonuses and rewards.
Using readily available barter transaction software, hospitals can distribute the barter dollars they earned from co-pays to doctors, nurses and staff. Then they can use their rewards and bonuses to pay for dinners at restaurants, travel, vacations and local services available from the barter exchange.
The bottom line, is the hospital gets a new employee incentive that improves moral and minimizes turnover, at virtually no cost.
I have been preaching over and over and over again….that this industry needs to move out of the dark ages and reposition itself….. and spin BARTER as a step forward….NOT A STEP BACK.
This industry deserves better then a one dimension view of the majority…..and barter would see a massive increase across the board in public interest and greater profits, if it chose to change business as usual- via simple “re positioning” of their industry.
Ignorant or not….the public as a whole bases their opinion on what they are fed by the mass media…who basically spin what the industry presents……and these peeps have been fed a lot of chicken and goat meat over the years. That’s a shame.
That’s something the barter industry needs to accept some responsibility for.
Many in the barter industry don’t see it that way….but I can assure you that the vast majority of the public views barter as a recession band aid….a step back in time….for those who life is beating up etc etc.
Why?
Because that’s how this industry has promoted barter for over 20 years.
One need only check out the majority of news stories on Google, You Tube and other social media sites….to see a disturbing common trend which consistently spins barter as a recession band aid….a way to “over come a lousy so-called economy by stepping back to the cave man days…etc”
AKA…CHICKENS FOR GOATS.
Like it or not….that’s the majority view on “barter.” That’s not only sad….it doesn’t have to be that way!
As the creator and marketer for one of the best selling barter products ever released …..one of my biggest marketing challenges was driving home the point that what I teach had nothing to do with Chickens, Goats, or Cavemen…etc.
I was forced to mention the “chickens for goats” line in my sales page….because it came up so often from prospects.
Positioning barter as a recession proof industry is a hell of a lot more positive then using the poor economy as way to make barter sound like a step back in time to stop the bleeding….because you live and die by the sword when you do that.
This industry often wonders why it’s tough to get a large member base of high demand professionals like plastic surgeons etc. I know why. Because those people look at barter as “welfare” for the broke suckers of the world….and the type of low status symbol beneath them. Again…it doesn’t have to be that way.
Check out this link……and then check out a bunch of others just like it….and see the comments being left.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/apr/20/sue-lowden-draws-fire-repeating-health-care-barter/
It’s a very good representation of a very ignorant mass of people who are clueless because they believe what has been represented to them for over 20 years now….by this industry… and it’s one way approach to promoting “barter” .
Then check out all the comments people are leaving…..on other blogs just like it!
The majority of responders are laughing, and expressing exactly what I’ve described above….because they don’t know any better!
I’m telling you all that the majority of people look at barter as “chickens for goats” because this industry lack the vision or “balls” to step up and have the guts to reposition itself as something beyond the dark ages.
Laughter, ridicule…. and why the chicken crossed the road jokes….by a very large percentage of the population should NOT come as any surprise to those who continue to promote a industry the same way they promoted it twenty years ago…..simply because that’s the way they always heard it should be.
This industry needs to MOVE FORWARD…..AND KILL THE STATUS QUO. IT’S TIME!
Barter deserves better…and the results would speak for themselves.
I truly hope there a few of you out there who “get it.”
This industry is worth it.
We may not always agree on specifics……but anyone who loves trade…..can’t be totally blind to what I’m seeing every day.
Vegas Vince
Barter Arbitrage