Favorite Thing to do While I'm in the Abyss

My favorite thing to do when I’m in the abyss and shutting myself off from the outside world (except and unless it’s related to Why Go Solo) is to spend some time snuggled up in my papasan chair with a few magazines: Inc., Fast Company, Forbes, Entrepreneur and Smart Money…you know, the usual suspects.

I was just reading an interesting article in Fast Company: Can CEO Cure Cancer

Below are the first two paragraphs of the article, that highlight the key point of interest…particularly after reading Fed Wilson’s AVC blog in which he initiated a great conversation about Universal Healthcare for the U.S.—I left a comment for Fred in his post, Sicko (Due Diligence) , in which I mentioned that I believe it is up to businesses and corporations to lead the way in addressing these issues, since our government can’t even handle social security.

"If you are going to have a successful corporate program, it has to be directed from the top," says William Weldon, the CEO of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ). He could be talking about cost-cutting initiatives or a new talent-management protocol. Instead, he's talking about cancer prevention.

Weldon is chairman of the CEO Roundtable on Cancer, an association of bigfoot leaders, mostly from Big Pharma, who have joined forces to create best practices for anticancer policies. Launched by former GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) CEO Robert Ingram--at the urging of former President George H.W. Bush, who lost a child to cancer--the organization last year created a "CEO Gold Standard" plan. Among other things, it requires companies that sign on to cover the full cost of cancer-related treatments that traditional insurance plans often balk at, from cancer screening to nutritional counseling to experimental treatments. They also ban smoking, not just inside their corporate buildings but outside on the grounds as well. So far, 13 companies have gone for the gold, including J&J, software developer SAS Institute, and drugmaker Novartis (NYSE:NVS).

We all know what an issue, concern and problem the cost of health care is on the American population and yes, our government has a responsibility to its people...but so do, the employers...and the employers are in much better positions to make things happen faster. Starbucks already offers full dental and health benefits even for their part time employees.