As the debate over healthcare reform continues I am asked one question over and over: What is TASC doing? My answer: quite a bit.
In order to deal with exactly this type of challenge, several years ago a team of TASC staffers put together a proactive and aggressive strategy: the TASC Advocacy. This policy methodically dictates the steps TASC will follow when faced with a threat such as that posed by some components of the proposed healthcare reform effort. The Policy states that TASC will do the following:
- maintain an aggressive stance on issues that directly affect our business and/or our Providers, Clients, and Participants;
- advocate for causes and beliefs that we stand for by aligning with membership associations that share our beliefs on the respective issue; and
- take proactive steps to lobby for causes that pose significant risk and as such could threaten TASC’s ability to operate.
We closely follow this Policy. The Corporate Communication Coordinator, Public Relations Director, Chief Development Officer, Premium Services Manager, and I are working together to daily monitor traditional media, social media, employees, Providers, Clients, and industry and legislative sources for new and emerging information on healthcare. This team meets weekly to discuss recent developments and plan our course of action. I am also in contact with other industry leaders and with several industry-related groups to which TASC belongs.
Until now we have been in the advocacy mode, communicating to our customers regarding the latest developments and advancing our position. To this aim, this blog is updated regularly. Employees have received a video on healthcare reform as it relates to TASC, and our Contact Center team has been provided with some talking points. We have conducted a threat assessment of most, if not all of the ideas being floated out there that may impact our business, and are developing an action/response plan for addressing threats that are highly possible and therefore represent a medium or high risk to TASC.
We are now moving into the lobbying arena. We have already placed a call to action on this blog, requesting readers to visit http://www.savemyflexplan.com to become more proactive. We are developing a website for TASC employees and customers that will provide information about and direction for participating in the legislative process. I have joined a CEO group working within our industry and have contributed to a fund established to help the Employer’s Council on Flexible Compensation with its lobbying efforts. We are even considering convening a summit of Wisconsin-based Third Party Administrators to consider additional action at the state and local level.
So for those of you who want to know what TASC is doing about healthcare reform, the answer is … plenty.
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