Surgery Center of Oklahoma: First and Only Free Market Hospital in America

I saw this recent video about the Surgery Center of Oklahoma which may be in fact the only free market hospital in America if not the world. I blogged about the hospital in this post.  What is interesting is that the hospital actually posts prices for surgeries. What I found interesting was the hospital also published infection rates which I don’t see regular hospitals do. In the investment industry fund managers post data like risk, return, and other important data. Why don’t hospitals, physicians and surgeons do the same? As long as the insurance company is picking up the bill do patients really have that much incentive to care? By the way the Surgery Center of Oklahoma has a lower infection rate of a mere .001% which is much lower than the national average of 2.6%. Hospitals hire administers which can be in the six figure range and really just handle paperwork. I am amazed when I go to a doctor why they ask me the same questions (even after I have been to the same doctor for years). Never mind the fact that there is a staff just talking to insurance companies and filling out paperwork. Is this really making us better off? I would say no. Healthcare is not run like a business. What we need is more hospitals like Surgery Center of Oklahoma which don’t take insurance and inform patients of what the prices are. If you had more hospitals like this they would have to compete not only on price but also quality as well. This would be great for patients and lead to some advancements as doctors would try new things to improve care and reduce the risk for the patient. I notice we don’t need an Affordable Food Care Act, Affordable Computer Care Act, or Affordable Video Game Act. Food, computers, and video games operate in a free market where competition increases quality and lowers prices. Healthcare is not a free market by any means. Can you think of any think the government provides that is of higher quality and cheaper than the private sector? Economist Dr. Walter E. Williams summed it up with his own Williams’ law which states: whenever the profit incentive is missing, the probability that people’s wants can be safely ignored is the greatest.

H/T- Carpe Diem

Bill Koch Counterfeit Wine, Sailing, and Book

Bill Koch apparently keeps himself in the news. On Friday November 9, 2012 Inside Edition aired a story that actually featured Koch discussing counterfeit wine as I mentioned in this post. Koch told Inside Edition that he has spent over $4.6 million on fake wine. Even Koch admits that there will not be much sympathy for a billionaire.

In other news Bill Koch has also contributed $500,000 for a sailing exhibition at San Diego Halls of Champions in San Diego (it has been around 20 years since this happened). The exhibition will be available to the public. I have actually started a book about Bill Koch called “To The Third Power”. I have started the book and learned even more about Bill Koch then I did before. For instance Bill Koch graduated in the top 10% at M.I.T.. The book is really about how Koch guided his team to win the American Cup in 1992. I would point out that it was not a cheap one but it seems so far there are some lessons to be learned from a management perspective. I continue to learn more about Bill Koch and find him a very interesting character.

Newsmax: David Koch Speaks

I saw a preview of a profile David Koch did for the November 2012 edition of Newsmax magazine. As you know I have extensively probably more than any other blogger out there covered David Koch has given up to August 2012 $305 million to charity, how he endorses gay marriage, an analysis of David and Charles Koch net worth from 1984-2012 here, and even covered his dating here. Regardless of what your political affiliation is David Koch is truly an interesting person.

The article itself offers a pretty good interview with David Koch. I have read so much about David Koch and the Koch family nothing really is that new (however I did learn even in this article). The first is David Koch denies starting the tea party which is true since it was actually started by Rick Santelli after this famous rant here on CNBC. He also points out that inflation will soon come as the Treasury department with their quantitative easing program (QEinifity). What I probably found most interesting was the work life of David Koch. He wakes up at 7:30 A.M. eating his cereal and yogurt, then makes sure his kids get off to school and is taken to work and is in by 9 A.M.  Many people may believe David Koch doesn’t work hard however he stays until 7 P.M. before leaving to go home to see his wife and 3 kids (David Jr. Mary, Julia, and John Mark) and has a personal chef cook. Speaking of food Koch tips 15% when he goes out to eat which contradicts this foolish article from Bloomberg claiming he was the worst tipper at 740 Park Avenue. Although, he did give all the door men a $50 Christmas bonus (Park Avenue: Money, Power, and the American Dream is unfortunately  airing on November 12 on PBS and I have a feeling I am forecasting nausea in the near distant future after simply looking at the trailer).

Some other cool things about David Koch is that he charters a yacht on the French Riviera and some Greek Islands. Koch enjoys reading about the Founding Fathers and watching sports and documentaries. Another interesting fact I learned is that he doesn’t use the internet. From a Market-Based Management prospective I wonder if he could add value by having e-mail? Growing up David along with his other brothers had to do ranch work. Hard to believe now but David did actually work on a farm ranch driving bulldozers, operating hay bailers, fixed farm equipment, and dug ditches. When he asked his father for a quarter to buy a candy bar his father Fred Koch said he wanted his sons to “appreciate what money meant”, meaning the Koch brothers had to actually work for it.

David Koch runs an interesting group at Koch Industries known as the Koch Membrane Systems group. I blogged about Koch Membrane here.  Basically the company can turn salt water into drinkable water or water used for commercial purposes. The technology seems pretty cool and David has been interested in the technology since his days at MIT. Just about every week Koch flies to Boston and spends two days working at Koch Membrane. David finds the technology interesting and many opportunities available in the industry.

David Koch is also for same-sex marriages (people forget he did run as a libertarian candidate). On Obama Koch calls him, “charming” yet rightfully criticizes the President for attacking businesses who actually do create jobs. Koch would like to bring spending down to 19% (from 25% at present day). What is interesting is that Koch supports a tax increase if it is necessary to win support from Democrats to vote Republican however, Koch would want spending cuts to be five times greater than any tax increase.

The article is interesting and good for someone who does not know much about David Koch. I have said many times on this blog he is an interesting, caring, and generous individual. I really wish he would publish an autobiography since he is truly fascinating no matter what side of the political spectrum you are on.

David Koch 2011 Hope Funds Fundraiser for Cancer Research

People forget in the 1990's David Koch suffered from prostate cancer and still deals with it to this day. He has raised hundreds of millions of dollars to support places like M.D. Anderson Center in Houston, John Hopkins, and a $100 million facility at MIT to promote cancer research. Too bad you will never see this kind of video on MSNBC...