A Tribute to Health Care Client and Wants of Health Care System

In another dedication blog post, I pay my salutations and reverence to my client organization with which I have been associated for over 4 and half years. Last week, I had written one post as a mark of my gratitude towards my parent org. In this second part, I continue in same vein regarding partner or client company. To say it simply, if I entered U.S. and working in a mission mode since April 2022, it is because of this organization. This company is my gateway to Chicago in particular and U.S. in general. I simply couldn’t have done anything on this huge canvas without the key provided by this organization. I couldn’t have entered U.S. and couldn’t have worked in Chicago at large without the passage provided by this company. I had raised above and beyond the limits of my role and hardly anyone transgresses so much by taking undue advantage of a limited opportunity. No one person must have raised as much as I did by working in one small IT position. This entire freedom has been granted without a name being said by this wonderful partner organization. If I served U.S. in any magnitude with tremendous work ethic, it is all due to this great platform provided by this healthcare giant. 

Money is the most important factor for me till date which dictates many of my decisions. It is top most factor behind my every step. With such an importance attributed to this crucial dimension, I had been paid money for my services since the past many years by this company. Continuing the same update given in last post, if I was able to use my wallet with respect and dignity, it is all because of the support extended by this corporate entity. By virtue of this one factor, the poor me was indebted for the opportunity provided. I am all for the glory of the organization, the city which breeds these entities and the country which houses these cities. By virtue of this one U.S. job and the place I have been working, countless others keep me in high regards, imagination and gets inspired day in and day out. I didn’t get this opportunity elsewhere or from any other source but this gesture of benevolence has emerged through this opportunity which made who I am after the past 4-5 formative years. I can tell that no Indian source could have given me money or employment with this much of leeway and freedom for this long time. For good or bad, the story has panned out in this way for my liking where I was never judged or constrained. If I am the breadwinner of anyone and if I am serving anyone with time, money and effort with my full abilities, it is all thanks to this organization. 

Another important passage provided by working onsite is the opportunity to work with great IT employees who are all working at the top of their game in U.S. The important factor at the back of my head is - do I belong to this space or am I part of this group. The factor of ‘belongingness’ is the crucial factor which decides the time any person stays in IT. Do I belong to a set of corporate employee work group. Knowingly or unknowingly, I worked with this set of people for well over 2 years and not 2 months. I was somehow made to work with great team of IT employees who are in someways out of the world. This tenure of working with onsite IT employees from their location could have been never possible without the support and encouragement provided. In another example, I attended two tech conferences this year, both on AI, posing myself as a corporate employee. This work and visiting those great venues, cities could have been never possible without the continuity provided at work. This is simply not a joke that I have been visiting these top-of-the-world conferences on futuristic IT technologies and making things happen. For good or bad, this has become a fuel to my engine driving the vehicle forward. As mentioned, ‘belonging’ to this working employee group is very important to continue my fruitful tenure for some more time. 

My client has given me freedom, money, good team for a good length of tenure. The other important area which has been given is the field of work. Yes, we are working in health insurance domain which needs to take care of people’s health and the amount they need to spend on it. It is one of my favorite activities to write on the broken U.S. health care system. I have already written 7 posts on this topic after coming to U.S., with the last one being in February on the need for no reforms. Hence, it is one of the most discussed topics in this space and thanks to the domain of my work.  I am once again all for the insurance players in this country, without whom I would not be where I am today and the story of the past many years wouldn’t have been in this way. I am one of the proponents for strong players in this space with good business which can alter the landscape of countries like U.S., India etc. This existing model has contributed to my rise and I cannot talk against it.  

I would like to briefly touch that topic in this post as well. That being said, reforms are still needed, as many experts and advocates argue that U.S. health care needs reforms due to issues such as high costs, unequal access to care, varying quality of services, and administrative inefficiencies. I have already mentioned this is the only country with astronomical provider costs, highest premiums, poor outcomes and lack of coverage among all the developed world. From my personal experience, this is no different where the costs of small treatments are very high – to the tune 10 to 15 times more than India, but fortunately I had coverage. On the most recent occasion, I was asked to pay 3000 bucks for a minor dental treatment. This is more than half of my monthly salary and unfortunately, I don’t have dental coverage. This is equal to more than Rs. 2.5 lakh in India where I paid Rs. 500 for these kind of problems. I was treated on the last three times for this nominal amount – what great doctors, their work ethic and their fares I am missing. Personally, I would argue these kind of high treatment costs should drastically come down, if there is any hope for a poor person. What we can converge is this should be a continuous struggle to find the right path where no poor patient is left behind and at the same time every player in the health care system remains in good standing. We want the best of the both worlds where there has to be reforms and unreforms. This is the struggle ahead as we traverse the difficult terrain into the future. I certainly underwent this struggle as I contributed towards this great U.S. health care system in the past four years without anyone losing. In the most recent development where everyone on the table agreed, the administration has announced new, lower prices for first ten drugs selected for medicare price. American taxpayers are expected to save $6 billion on prescription drug costs, and people enrolled in Medicare are expected to save $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs in 2026 alone, the year the lower costs come into effect. This is the kind of steadfast work needed to improve the status quo continuously where the controllers are continuously monitoring the present status through feedback loops and big players are engaged in the loop. We need to constructively and continuously build on the progress made since the times of Obama in health care, even if it takes few decades to reach a stage of concrete progress. I can comment more in a standalone post on this topic if I still continue to work in this domain. 

That being said, as we can see, whatever churning the health care industry is going through because of small workers like me, it is all due to the opportunity given to work in this field by my client. The only underlying objective of this struggle is to improve the health of present and future generations in the country. For the opportunity provided, I am all for that moment to realize in this great nation. We need to really highlight the contributions of the health insurance providers in supporting both the U.S. economy and the health of the population, directly and indirectly. The U.S. is at great and green standing in both these areas by virtue of these vital, unsung players. I am happy to receive as much support from these players as I was contributing towards the cause.