This chapter has been a difficult one for so many people. It’s certainly been my most difficult chapter to write. I’ve been faced with decisions I never wanted to make. Had to face my biggest failures. And had to decide what to do next when their were no good choices to be made. Every time it felt like it couldn’t get any worse, it did. It’s been a humbling and life-altering year.

Through it all I’ve done my best to keep it in perspective. It hasn’t always worked. I have a friend who has been my inspiration, and he doesn’t even know it. When I’ve been at my lowest moments, I think of him. He lost his son several years ago during a freak accident while on vacation. He and his wife, and their remaining son, had to pick back up the pieces of their lives and move on. I can’t even imagine the emotional obstacles they faced. But they persevered. They moved on. And they’ve continued to write new chapters for their lives. I can imagine nothing worse. What I’ve had to face is nothing in comparison.

Tomorrow my new chapter begins. I will do my best to write a good one. I will make this a chapter to remember.

I hope all of you have a wonderful new year. And that this next chapter is your best chapter yet.

I wrote this about Derrick’s induction in the HOF a few months ago.

As those who know me would expect, I have several opinions on health care reform. Too many to put in one post. So for this post, I’d like to provide a little background perspective. I have been exposed to the user side of health care from a few different perspectives.

A Broke Musician
In the late ’80s and early ’90s I was a full-time musician making very little money. My parents were going through their own financial problems. My dad had lost everything in the crash of ‘87. My mom had mismanaged her money badly, and was close to losing the farm. Literally. Upon realizing that if anything happened to me it would become a financial burden on them, I went out and got health insurance and life insurance. I certainly didn’t have any spare money at that point in my life, but my parents had been through enough, and I had no intention of adding to their problems because I had been too irresponsible to pay for my own insurance.

A Young Entrepreneur
In ‘93 I became business partners with Billy Pilgrim. He had started a small graphic design business called PilgrimPage. I thought I could help. Much like our days in music, we were making very little money. But we were used to that. During the first couple of years, the company paid for our health insurance, and not much else. I was working nights running sound for bands at local bars for money to live on.

To the Booth
As PilgrimPage continued to struggle financially, and I continued to struggle financially, I took a job as a tollbooth collector for the Kansas Turnpike Authority in ‘96, basically working nights and weekends so that I could continue to work at PilgrimPage during the days. The turnpike provides great health insurance, and I was able to drop my personal policy. The coverage covered me and my family. Very nice.

PilgrimPage Takes Off
Or so it seemed at the time. After years of struggling, PilgrimPage was finally developing a nice client base. By 2000 it really seemed we were in position to take off. I cut my hours at the turnpike to part-time, which means I lost my “free” health insurance. My wife was pregnant (a pre-existing condition) so I had no choice but to continue my turnpike health care insurance through COBRA at a cost of about $650 per month. Yikes.

The Recession of 2001
As quickly as PilgrimPage began taking off in the late ’90s, it began slumping in 2001. We were hitting the recession, and our biggest clients were all packing it in. Money was tight, and I was regretting leaving my full-time position at the turnpike. During this time we launched our promotional products website Absorbent, Ink., and it was really Absorbent, Ink. that provided our financial salvation. And my next exposure to the problems with health care.

A Growing Business
Throughout this decade, Absorbent, Ink. achieved amazing growth. In 2003 we had a staff of five. By 2008 we had a staff of 45. Having witnessed what a lack of health coverage can do to a person or family, Billy and I had always wanted to offer health insurance for our staff. But it’s really expensive. When we were finally able to afford a group policy, I think we were more excited than the staff.

Exposure to health insurance from the business side was definitely a new experience. I had seen increasing premiums as a consumer, but these increases are really magnified when you’re a small business owner. We were seeing yearly increases in premiums from 15-25%. And quickly we were exposed to flaws in the system. Here are just a couple of them:

1. In Kansas, when you have a group health coverage policy, you must offer the policy to every employee who averages 30 or more hours per week. And the employer must pay at least 50% of the coverage. This is fine, but what about those who work less than 30? We had a number of employees who worked only 20 hours per week. Why could we not offer our coverage to these employees if they were willing to pay 100% of the coverage? Don’t ask me.

2. As a small business, your premiums are dictated by the profile of your staff. Early on our staff was very young. Younger males are the cheapest to insure. And having young males on your staff keep your insurance premiums down. As Absorbent, Ink. grew and we were able to afford to pay higher salaries, we were able to attract a more experienced (older) staff. With this comes a change in our profile, and increases in premiums. If you have 20 people in your profile, and you shift your profile by replacing three male employees in their 20s with three employees who are 20-30 years older, the rates for the entire group increase significantly.

Fixing Health Care
These are only two of the many problems that need to be addressed in health care reform. Businesses should be allowed to offer premiums to part-time employees. And small businesses need to be able to pool together to get better rates and better protection to changing premiums. Hopefully over the next few weeks I’ll find the time to write a bit more.

Now comes the news that Disney is buying Marvel for a reported $4 billion. Wow! That’s big news. And a concern for Marvel fans everywhere. Do we really want Wolverine hanging out with Mickey? We can only hope they keep their distance.

And don’t tell my wife. She might try to sell Disney the boxes of comics in our basement.

Two quick things to cover in this post.

One, I enjoy reading the site PolitiFact. They take comments made by politicians, media and activists, and break them down with their Truth-o-Meter. They are fairly unbiased, and put good thought and research into their comments. I don’t always agree with their conclusions, but I’ve gotten to the point that I trust their intent.

And secondly, while I don’t intend to jump into the middle of the great healthcare debate right now, there is a PolitiFact post that is relevant and meaningful to claims made by the administration. One ongoing discussion I’ve had with people for years is preventative medicine. Many have made the case that if our insurance companies encouraged preventative medicine, that it would drive down costs, and lead to better healthcare for the insured. My primary disagreement with this assertion has always been, do you not think that the insurance companies have already studied this? Insurance companies are in business to make money. If they thought that pushing preventative medicine would reduce their costs, they’d do it. PolitiFact, citing studies from the Congressional Budget Office,  American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society, agrees that preventative medicine would not necessarily reduce costs. Read more here.

I grew up an NFL fan, but wasn’t much of a Chiefs’ fan until Marty Schottenheimer started coaching the team in the late ’80s. I became a Chiefs’ Junkie. Arrowhead had become the most electrifying place in the country to watch a professional football game. The defense just had this swagger every time they took the field. Great players making great plays. Dale Carter. James Hasty. Neil Smith. Dan Saleaumua. Donnie Edwards. Mark Collins. Bill Maas. But at the center of it all was Derrick Thomas. Bigger than life. Chasing down quarterbacks. Swatting away the football with his tomahawk chop. Creating havoc at every turn. He was Superman in red and gold with an arrowhead on his helmet.

I remember very clearly when I heard about the car accident. It was January 23, 2000. Derrick had rolled his Suburban on the way to the airport. The roads were icy. And he hadn’t been wearing a seat belt. Thomas was driving. And reportedly driving recklessly. Another passenger was without a seat belt, was thrown from the car, and died instantly. The third passenger was wearing his seat belt, and walked away from the scene uninjured.

Superman was alive, but not well. He spent two weeks in a Miami hospital paralyzed from the chest down. I thought he’d pull through. I think everyone, including Derrick, thought he’d pull through. Reports were that he was in good spirits, and already planning his new future.

He died two weeks later from a pulmonary embolism. I cried.

I think I was as surprised at my reaction as I was about his death. Maybe it was because we were roughly the same age. Maybe it was because of that smile. Maybe it was because he genuinely seemed like such a great guy. Or maybe it’s because Superman isn’t supposed to die. Lex Luther may have the Kryptonite and have Superman on the verge of defeat. But somehow, Superman is always supposed to win. On February 8, 2000, Lex Luther and his handful of Kryptonite had finally defeated Superman. But worst of all, it was Superman’s mistake that lead to his undoing.

Much has been made since about Derrick’s personal life. He had seven children from multiple mothers. He certainly hadn’t been the model of responsibility. And many began to doubt whether he’d ever get into the Hall of Fame. I never doubted. All you had to do was watch the film. Derrick was among the best of the best, and I’ll be proud to watch him inducted into the Hall of Fame.

And I miss it.

So here I am. Starting a blog few will read. But will enjoy myself nonetheless.

I will spend some time on several of my favorite subjects. Music. Business. Sports. And marketing. I hope you’ll join me. Your comments and opinions will be appreciated.