Editor: I have just launched "Consumer Power Report" as the official voice of Consumers for Health Care Choices. That does not mean that the organization endorses every word written, or that the members of CHCC would agree with everything in it. But, that’s the point, isn’t it? We all need to hear ideas we may not agree with and listen to voices we are not familiar with. How else can we learn and grow?

Fifteen years ago I was working for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and believed that the only way to control health care costs was to have insurance company people review the bills and allow this and disallow that. One day I sat down with Pat Rooney, then head of Golden Rule Insurance, who explained to me the concept of Medical Savings Accounts. I was very skeptical, and it took me about six months of thinking about it to conclude, “By golly, he’s got something here.”

A lot of other people have gone through the same process in the past decade-and-a-half. So many that we are now on the cusp of a revolution in health care.

So I believe in the power of ideas and the ability of people to change. I also know from experience that I am sometimes (often?) mistaken. But, guess what? So are you. It is a universal human condition that should keep us all humble.

Too often in the past health policy has been determined by a few like-minded people sitting around congratulating themselves on their enlightenment. Dissenters are not only ignored, but scorned and ridiculed for being unenlightened. Small wonder we have made so many mistakes.

Today, I and a lot of other people believe in “consumer empowerment” in health care. But that does not mean it is a silver bullet for all the problems in the system, or that it is an unmitigated marvel. There will be unforeseen problems that arise and people who are disadvantaged. It could be implemented badly, and there are certain to be products and services that simply don’t work very well.

We need to hear from the critics and we need to be open to adjusting our models as we learn from experience.

So, Consumer Power Report will, as the name implies, report on how it’s going out there – new services, new resources, new ideas, and the impact of all of these.

But we will also feature a “Review & Comment” section where we assess other people’s research, commentaries, and proposals. Some will be lousy, others great, but most will be in-between, including elements that are worthwhile and others that are not. The point of R&C is not to mock or scorn others’ ideas, but to respond to them honestly and critically.

And we will feature a “Readers Response” section, so you can criticize (or praise) what we do, as well. Honest criticism has to be a two-way street.

I am sorry if I seem long-winded and preachy here. This publication is as new to me as it is to you. Like characters in a novel, publications take on a life and voice of their own, beyond the intentions of the authors. Consumer Power Report is just now being born. It will evolve and take on a personality as it grows.

Greg Scandlen is the editor of Consumer Power Report. More information is available at http://www.chcchoices.org

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