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Press Conference with GE Vice Chairman, John Rice

Memo to the White House:  The United States does not need a national health care system.  That make-no-mistake-about-it message from John Rice, General Electric vice chairman, highlighted his Atlanta Press Club news conference on Friday, June 19, at The Commerce Club in downtown Atlanta.  Health care was the primary topic during 45 minutes of prepared remarks and questions from journalists.  “I personally do not believe that a national health care system is necessary,” said Rice, who referenced his own experience living in Canada which has a mandatory national health care system.  He also predicted social media would play a role in health care policy currently being debated in Washington.

Rice told about 50 journalists that he prefers a combination of private and employer-based health care programs, and he said the most significant challenge today is to educate, inform and create incentives for consumers to better understand health care.  He pointed out that most consumers are more informed today about their wide screen television purchases than they are about their personal health care or how to navigate the health care system.

Official Washington.. the White House, the Senate and the House ..  have tried to enact meaningful health care reform for more than fifty years.  The current administration of President Barack Obama and Democratic Party leaders on Capitol Hill believe that meaningful reform will reach the President’s desk as legislation before the end of this year. 

Asked about the relatively new presence of social media , Rice said he believes it can have an impact.  “I’ve learned more about that in the last six months,” he said, adding that social media “will transform how we deliver and receive information.”  User-generated reports coming from inside Iran, he said, are an example of the power of social media.  General Electric is currently researching the popular site Facebook to determine whether that concept can be applied to how information flows in some GE businesses.

Rice oversees leadership technology infrastructure for General Electric.  His portion of GE’s mammoth worldwide business generates $46 billion in annual revenue, with large concentrations in health care information technology, aviation, high speed rail and renewable energy, among its divisions.  GE currently employees some 5,000 Georgians and several of its largest businesses are headquartered in Georgia.

Health Imagination, GE’s newest health care initiative, mirrors Eco Imagination, the company’s high profile environmental initiative.  “Health is maybe even more important,” Rice said. “Health is on everybody’s mind.”  He listed three primary components of successful health care policy: Affordability, accessibility and better outcomes. He said some 50 million Americans and some two billion worldwide are under served in health care.

General Electric spends $2.5 billion annually on health care for its 300,000 worldwide employees, Rice said, adding that a corporate investment of that size “raises the bar in how we participate in this raging debate.  We and other companies can do more in how we address this.”  Rice said the research challenge for complex diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s research will be to get more companies involved and attract more financial capital.  Something that he thinks is a perfect fit for General Electric.  “We are very capable of generating a long-term view.  We’re used to doing it,” he said, pointing out that it takes General Electric ten years to develop a next generation jet engine.

Rice predicted that the health care picture will begin to change with more portable, lower cost equipment that is more strategically placed to serve the needs of most people, and that the challenge is a worldwide challenge, not just a United States question.  Affordable health care in China, he said is every bit as important as affordable care in Wyoming.  Portable ultrasounds are one example, he said, of technology that can help improve health care at costs that consumers and health care practitioners can afford.

Although Rice moved to Atlanta nine years ago to manage an international business, he quickly deeply ingrained in Georgia’s many communities.  He devotes significant time to Georgia Chamber of Commerce and Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce initiatives.  Rice serves on the Emory University and The Walker School boards of trustees.  And, he has been a major advocate for education improvement in Georgia, taking his case to the State Capitol, and investing his company’s dollars into City of Atlanta public schools.  General Electric has invested some $22 million dollars in Atlanta public schools.  Rice several times praised Atlanta schools superintendent Dr. Beverly Hall during his education remarks.

The next Atlanta Press Club luncheon is scheduled for Tuesday June 23 for a panel discussion among four Atlanta-based Pulitzer Prize winners: Doug Blackmon, Hank Klibanoff, Mike Luckovich and Cynthia Tucker.  The event begins at noon at The Commerce Club, 34 Broad Street, near the intersection of Marietta and Broad Streets.  Tuesday’s luncheon is sponsored by the Cox Media Group.

Written by:  Mike Klein, APC Board Member