ILMA Compoundings September 2017 - 3

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President
Beth Ann Jones
Hangsterfer's
Laboratories, Inc.
Vice President
Dave Croghan
Maxum Petroleum
Treasurer
Barbara Kudis
Allegheny Petroleum
Products Co.

Ann Ball
CIMCOOL Industrial
Products LLC

Michael Damiani
Radco Industries, Inc.
Lon Fanning
DuBois Chemicals

Secretary
Charles Decker
American Oil &
Supply International, LLC

Jarrett Flegel
Boss Lubricants

Immediate Past President
Frank H. Hamilton III
South Atlantic Services, Inc.

Greg Julian
Advanced Lubrication
Specialties

Catharine T. Golden
Etna Products, Inc.

Kent Morris
Pinnacle Oil, Inc.
Ronald M. Powell
Moroil Technologies
Scott A. Schwindaman
Lubrication Engineers, Inc.

STAFF
Chief Executive Officer
Holly Alfano
Associate Director
Martha F. Jolkovski
Director of
Communications
Brenda Gillinson, CAE
Member Services/
Marketing Manager
Tim Mack

Communications
Manager
Amber Lopez
Membership Coordinator
Meg Thaxton
Accounting Manager
Margaret Smith
General Counsel
Jeffrey L. Leiter

EDITORIAL, DESIGN
Contributing Editor
Brenda Gillinson, CAE

Designer
Mark St. Amand

THE YGS GROUP
Editorial Director
Annette Gray

Copy Editor
Amanda Holahan

Senior Editor
Drew Bankert

Account Director
Tina Enck

Managing Editor
Sam Hoffmeister

MEDIA SALES
VP, Media Sales
Susan Welter
Media Sales Director
Stephanie Harkins

LETTER FROM THE CEO

Barbara A. Bellanti
Battenfeld Grease &
Oil Corporation of N.Y.

Advertising Account
Executive
Tima Good
tima.good@theygsgroup.com

INDEPENDENT LUBRICANT
MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION
400 North Columbus Street, Suite 201, Alexandria, VA 22314
Phone: 703-684-5574 * Fax: 703-836-8503 * www.ilma.org
Editorial, Design, Media Sales, & Printed by The YGS Group
800-501-9571 * www.theygsgroup.com
Compoundings (USPS 003-447) is published monthly by the
Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association,
400 N. Columbus St., Suite 201, Alexandria,VA 22314.
Annual subscriptions: Members, $75 of annual dues;
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Is There Any Hope for
Fixing Health Care?

t's late July as I write this column, and in the last few days, the Senate Republicans attempted to pass health care legislation. It failed - miserably.
Regardless of your position on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), at some
point changes will be needed so the law can remain viable. ILMA's manufacturing members cited health care as their major concern in our legislative
survey early this year. As small business employers, they want to be able to
provide quality health care at a reasonable cost to their employees. With
double-digit rate increases every single year, that goal is quickly becoming
unattainable for them.
For people without employer health care, it is becoming increasingly challenging to rely on health care exchanges. Not only are costs of insurance on the
exchanges skyrocketing, the plans force families who are already struggling to
pay premiums onto high-deductible plans, which means that ordinary health
care remains unaffordable for many.
As the Senate voted to open debate on new health care legislation, Sen.
John McCain, who flew to Washington, D.C., fresh from surgery at the
Mayo Clinic, made an impassioned plea for bipartisanship and a return to
handling issues through the committee process.
I'm trying to remember the last time the committee process was used.
Once upon a time, major legislation was actually "marked up" in a committee, with amendments accepted from both sides of the aisle. Deals were
made to get votes, which sometimes led to pork-barrel politics. However,
those deal-making days are long gone. In fact, both Republicans and Democrats have taken polarization to an extreme, and members of both parties
now pride themselves on not compromising with the other side. Sadly, the
American people are being misled by the political establishment to believe
that this is somehow a good thing.
As far as health care is concerned, both sides need to be open to reform.
The issue of cost needs to be addressed head on rather than in the margins.
Rather than addressing escalating costs, the ACA created subsidies. While
subsidies are needed for certain segments of the population, addressing
the cost of health care would benefit everyone and help make the ACA
sustainable. Author Steven Brill suggests one way to lower costs: Getting
prescription drug prices in line by giving Medicare more negotiating power.
Americans pay more for prescription drugs than any other country in the
world. Another way to reduce costs: Allowing Medicare to implement competitive bidding for medical equipment and devices. Finally, tort reform -
Continued on page 7

Holly Alfano
Chief Executive Officer

© 2017 Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association.
All Rights Reserved.
ILMA is pleased to present a variety of viewpoints in Compoundings magazine. Readers should keep in mind that bylined articles
represent the views of the named author or authors and not
necessarily the opinions, viewpoints or positions of ILMA

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ILMA Compoundings September 2017

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