It appears that Congress will do nothing about healthcare and it may be time to take a look at the system and apply some practical risk management (RM) principles.

In RM, the first step is identifying exposures. For health, that is everybody. What else is exposed? Our health dollars. We spend more than any other nation on healthcare, but are only 13th in healthiness. We have a high infant mortality rate, and the primary causes of death are drugs, auto accidents, diabetes-related problems, Alzheimer's and cancer.

The next RM step is to identify the hazards leading to loss. There are many: poverty, drunk driving, homelessness, easy access to narcotics, lack of exercise, guns and plain stupidity.