As anyone who’s read my stuff for a while knows, I have no shame whatsoever regarding self-promotion on a blog if I think it will be beneficial (though my contract demands that any nudity must be tasteful and integral to the plot). Along those lines, I’d like a little help. Here’s the deal:

I work (wearing a number of hats) for a start-up health care software company. Our system is intended for the use of employers who want to offer their employees so-called “consumer-directed” health care plans; e.g., health plans with higher-than-usual deductibles coupled with a cash component for expenses underneath the plan’s deductible. If you’ve heard of health savings accounts (HSAs) or health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs), you’ve heard of consumer-directed health care plans (also known as “CDH”).

One of the ideas we cooked up was starting a blog to discuss consumer-directed health care generally. Because I know a lot (relative to others in the company anyway) about blogging and because I was dumb enough to agree to do it (Ha, ha! Just kidding, fellow co-workers!), I am now the sole proprietor (with the first-class technical assistance of others) of CDH Compass.

I’ve been sort of “practicing” over the last week or so, but I think I’m ready to really kick it off, and I’d like a little help from you folks, if you are so inclined. Linking there would be swell, of course, but I would really like to get questions from people about CDH plans generally. I’m especially interested in practical questions about CDH. It is also perfectly fine with me if the questions are negative about CDH plans; in fact, those would be even better because I think those would make for a more interesting and informative blog on the topic.

N.B.: I am really not interested in the sort of politically-oriented or rhetorical questions or comments you might find on political blogs. What’s the difference? Well, just as a “for example,” suppose someone wanted to ask a question about how someone with a particular health condition would benefit (or not benefit) from a consumer-directed health plan. Here’s the sort of question I would prefer:

“I know someone who has been diagnosed with diabetes and her employer has announced that it is moving from a traditional health plan to an HSA plan next year. Will she still be able to get the treatment she needs? If so, how?”

Here’s the sort of “question” I would not prefer:

“I know someone who has been diagnosed with diabetes and now her employer is going to start one of those “HSA” things Bush and the Rethuglicans came up with for their wealthy friends, or, as I like to call them, “tax breaks for the rich,” because I’m clever like that. I hope they feel like crap when she dies because of their selfish loathing of sick people.”

Having said that, I’m generally amenable to more “philosophical” questions such as the pros and cons of CDH generally. And the like. Just keep the political junk out of it.

Anyway, I’d really appreciate some emails with questions, sent to rogertn [AT] comcast DOT net . I’ll then answer those questions in posts to the blog. I won’t use your name unless you want me to, and, no, you don’t get anything for this except my undying gratitude.

Oh, I should note that, if you poke around the blog, you will find a picture of me. This was not my idea. If I had my way, there would be no pictures of me in existence at all, but the feeling from the marketing minds was that a picture would be helpful. It “humanizes” the blog, you see. So there it is. I have been told that the picture was airbrushed, which is why my boobs look as good as they do.

(Hey, does this mean you’re a doer now? — ed. Golly, I sure hope so. I was feeling like quite the slacker, what with my roles as husband, father, professional, Sunday School teacher, runner and so forth and so on. But there’s only so much time in the day, you know.)