The idea that a worker who contributes all of his career to a pension system that is overseen by statuatory and legislative regulations for benefits ,actuarials and contributions is now some how the cause of Michigan economic plight is ludicrous and shameful. French the author is not only poorly informed but a pawn of forces bent on deceiving the public as to the source of these concerns . Shame on him and shame on us as citizens if we take the bait.

Perhaps only 27% of MI parents can afford a higher education for their children. To admit it's crucial when you can't afford it, is an admission that you know your childs future is doomed. No one wants to admit that or see it happen.

Medal of Freedom Winner John Gardner, in his insightful work titled "Building Community" notes that, "Where community exists it confers upon its members identify, a sense of belonging, a measure of security." Related to this finding, Raymond W. Smilor, noted author and honored entrepreneur, also notes in his work Entrepreneurship and Community Development" that, "Entrepreneurship can help confer identify, belonging and security not only on those who elect to start and grow enterprises, but also on those who join them in that effort and on the wider environment in which they operate."

As we ponder how to conduct Community Development and its relationship to economic development, it is imperative that Michigan become well versed in the NEXUS between a "Sense of Community" and Entrepreneurship. Before we invest in building communities designed to foster economic development, we need to determine exactly what small busienss entrepreneurs - in high economic and social multiplier industries- actually need and want with regard to working conditions, lifestyle, environment, housing and other related factors. We can afford a "build it they will come" mentality any more. We need to build our communities around entrepreneurs rather than our entrepreneurs around our communities. Any revenue sharing formula that does not include entrepreneur creation, retention, expansion and attraction metricsis simply out of step with economic realitiy of the knowledge-based global economy.

Mark H. Clevey
Executive Director
Small Business Foundation of Michigan

Mark H. Clevey
Vice President for Entrepreneurship
Small Business Association of Michigan

Sorting Chaos from Opportunity:

Addressing Michigan's Public Employee Health Benefit Costs

Si Nahra, Ph.D., President, Health Decisions, Inc.

Crisis carries with it chaos and opportunity. The trick is to tell them apart. Michigan's current public sector financing crisis offers ample examples. One such example is the debate over public employee health benefit costs, focused primarily on schools and MESSA.

MESSA, the health plan administrative arm of the Michigan Education Association, has much to do with chaos but nothing to do with opportunity. The focus should be on school districts and other public entities and not MESSA. Contrary to prevailing rhetoric, school districts' access to health plan data is exactly the same with or without MESSA. If a district is insured, they can get enrollment data since they are the source. They cannot get claims data. This is standard in the industry and has nothing to do with MESSA. If a district self-funds health benefits, it too has its enrollment data; it also has a legal obligation to oversee plan claims data. Even though MESSA may put up impediments, a district that self-funds can and will prevail and get claims data if it tries. There is ample precedent for this already around the State's school districts.

If the goal is to reduce benefit costs and facilitate competitive bidding, the opportunity is found not with claims data but with enrollment. Enrollment data are universally available and readily accessible. It is more important than claims for bidding purposes. The market will return bids without claims data but not without enrollment data. It is also the source for the most direct and permanent form of benefit savings, the elimination of duplicate or overlapping coverage.

Schools and other public entities (villages, townships, cities, counties, commissions, universities, and prisons) in similar communities share coverage of families in that community but have had no way to identify that shared coverage and take steps to streamline and minimize any duplication or overlap. In the past, such efforts were stymied by lack of comparable data and privacy concerns. However, current technologies make such sharing simple, affordable, and safe.

Leaving the technical explanations for another time, let's consider how such an effort might get underway. In doing this we want to stress what can be done in the next three to six months and eschew any attempt at speculating about what "could be" or advocating for what "should be".

Efforts to exploit the enrollment data opportunity can begin at any time in any community through voluntary agreement among the public entities in that community. (The State as employer may want to show its support for such efforts by being a party to the voluntary agreements, but such participation is not required to begin). Interested public entities in a community need only agree to procedures for sharing enrollment information and policies for minimizing duplication and overlap. Any technology or implementation costs could be covered by modest grants or funded with proceeds from savings. Legislative involvement, if needed at all, would only be relevant if these voluntary arrangements proved popular and then only to facilitate the voluntary effort on the part of public sector employers.

This cooperative effort to minimize coverage duplication and overlap also has financial, practical and symbolic value. To gauge the financial opportunity, consider Grand Rapidsas an example. In the greater Grand Rapidscommunity public employment exceeds 10,000 (with public K-12 schools about 1,500 of that total). Given a public workforce of that size, a one-time savings of $2.5 million can be expected with annual savings of $1.0 million. Multiply this by like-sized and larger communities across Michiganand some sense of the opportunity for public sector savings comes into focus.

The practical value of organizing public sector health benefit enrollment is that it moves the issue of competitive bidding these benefits from the realm of partisan debate to an option that can be acted on by any involved and willing public employer. With validated enrollment facts in hand, public entities, individually and collectively, can request and receive bids from the full array of health benefit insurers and administrators.

The symbolic value of this cooperative effort should not be overlooked. At numerous sessions sponsored by The Center for Michigan, the topic of moving away from an entitlement mentality in Michiganhas come up. This sharing by public entities and their covered members to minimize benefit duplication and overlap is consistent with such a change in attitude. The public sector can lead by example.

This small and simple act of sharing enrollment data is technically feasible. All that is required is the leadership and will to do it. Such a step may not be the final step in the journey to address public employee benefit costs. But it is a start towards capitalizing on an opportunity while skirting chaos. In the process, Michigancan again lay claim to being a State that leads, even in midst of crisis.

Si Nahra, PhD, President, Health Decisions, Inc.

Si Nahra founded Health Decisions, Inc. in 1985. He is a respected advisor to employers, insurers, heath maintenance organizations, self-funded plan administrators and community-based coalitions.

Contact him via e-mail si@healthdecisions.com .

Let me preface by saying I am the Logistics Manager for an international company in Southeast Michigan. In your column, "Airport City Could Become Reality" (June 21, 2007), you stated that Chicago was the nearest airfreight complex. This is not true. Many local companies have freight sent directly to Metro Airport. Metro has its own customs clearance capability and international freight flows through the airport daily. However, many Metro Detroit companies route their freight through Chicago for a very important reason: US Customs will clear freight in Chicago on the weekends. This does not occur at Metro (or at Willow Run for that matter). And it does not cost a whole lot more to have the freight trucked in from Chicago.

Customs brokers in Chicago routinely recruit local companies to have their freight routed through an area outside Michigan just for this reason. And they succeed. I personally have freight flown in to Chicago all the time. I would rather that the work went to local companies, but what choice do I have when I need the freight as fast as possible? Thousands of packages, pallets, and crates destined for Michigan get routed through Chicago every day because it saves time. Millions of dollars leave Michigan every year and go to freight companies and customs brokers in Illinois instead. I personally have spent upwards of $300,000 with Chicago freight companies just this year alone. When you take into account all the other businesses that do the same, hundreds (if not thousands) of jobs are located elsewhere because of this.

Let me put it this way. I'm near Detroit and I have freight routed to an airport 250 miles away. A 250 mile radius covers a large portion of the Midwest. If Metro could have US Customs clear freight on weekends, many companies would route their freight through Detroit instead. It only makes sense.

I would ask you to please use your influence to make some of our elected officials in Michigan aware of this. A little thing like having US Customs work on Saturdays at Metro could add up to thousands of jobs in Michigan. Thank you for your time.

Regards,

Brian Metz