Walt Disney World in Florida had a lot of competition with outside competitors when it first opened. Initially, they didn't have enough hotels for people to stay and just concentrated on the entertainment and the parks. Then they started building the hotels that you now see advertised everywhere. Once again, about a decade ago, they realized that there was something else left on the table; that being timeshares. The Disney Vacation Club (DVC) was born to allow people to buy timeshares in hotel property. What was different, however, was that you could buy points and depending on the time of year you went to WDW you needed more or less points for your stay. You could carry some points over to the next year but eventually they would expire so there was no stockpiling. In other words, use it or give it away. Back to this later.
I found this online charity site recently that looked real cool. It is called Give Forward and if you read this AOL article you will see some really great stuff coming from it. Many people are using the money for medical expenses. As one person says, "medical expenses fund-raisers were where we were raising the most money, doing the most good and having the biggest word of mouth expansion." This got me thinking. What if there was some type of National Health Service based on the Disney Vacation Club point system? Let's say you were given 300 points a year and each medical service you used cost some number of points. People would be extremely aware of what they were purchasing. There would be limited carryover from one year to the next. This all breeds responsibility. Here is the best part: you can donate your extra points to a fund like "Give Forward" or to someone you know personally so they can get extra care if needed. People give more freely when it is not actually cash (that is why casinos use chips) and when they know their points will expire anyway. This takes the government out of the charity loop and stops them from forcing people to donate to others. There could be a set limit of points given out every year to the country based on budget projections. Cost of services would be in points and doctor/procedure shopping could make things competitive again and bring prices down.
I found this online charity site recently that looked real cool. It is called Give Forward and if you read this AOL article you will see some really great stuff coming from it. Many people are using the money for medical expenses. As one person says, "medical expenses fund-raisers were where we were raising the most money, doing the most good and having the biggest word of mouth expansion." This got me thinking. What if there was some type of National Health Service based on the Disney Vacation Club point system? Let's say you were given 300 points a year and each medical service you used cost some number of points. People would be extremely aware of what they were purchasing. There would be limited carryover from one year to the next. This all breeds responsibility. Here is the best part: you can donate your extra points to a fund like "Give Forward" or to someone you know personally so they can get extra care if needed. People give more freely when it is not actually cash (that is why casinos use chips) and when they know their points will expire anyway. This takes the government out of the charity loop and stops them from forcing people to donate to others. There could be a set limit of points given out every year to the country based on budget projections. Cost of services would be in points and doctor/procedure shopping could make things competitive again and bring prices down.
I would love to hear from you guys on this away. Blast away. I won't cry. Okay, maybe a little but I will do it in my stuffed Goofy that I got on my last trip to WDW. You can't hurt me.
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7 comments:
Actually Doug you get points for thinking outside of the box, and that is a very creative approach. But since government is involved, we could expect:
1. The initial limit of point given out would quickly be raised due to the pressures of a media crying "unfairness" and politicians seeing another opportunity for self-aggrandizement. Once the limit was upped, the mindset would be established to raise the point limit according to the prevailing need rather than budgetary constraints, leading to routine increases and price vs. point inflation, hence, ever rising costs that must then be met with more points, and so on...
2. Certain groups would immediately be identified as more deserving of points than others; soon the adults who were made obese by the lack of gov't-provided food (see "Who's On First") would be in a battle with the worthless Children of Woodstock over who could plunder the strained output of the dwindling number of producers. Senate subcommittees would hear televised wailings from spokeswoman Kate "Breeder" Goselin and the Octo-Mom on why every woman has the right to additional point sin order to feel really fulfilled, while homeless advocates would demand additional set-aside at-large point banks to be administered by central agencies in coordination with a resurgent Fannie/Freddie, attaching additional reserve health points to future sub-prime loans to "guest" workers.
Doctors accepting charity points would be strictly audited to see that they comply with all fair-use statutes, requiring new regulators to check the point-vs. visit ratios per practice, fining those who fall outside of one standard deviation.
I was serious, yours is a truly creative idea. But no amount of creativity will be able to outrun or survive institutionalized compassion.
Sounds like that would be a lot of work to set up, get regulated, etc. Not sure if the US as a whole would be up for it. Great idea though.
I think it's a great idea but Americans have traditionally had a problem with "giving everyone..." anything, let alone 300 points.
It is a great idea since Disney Land is great.
You mean Walt Disney World in the first sentence. The error was slightly distracting.
Fixed. Sorry. Wow, too early in the AM I guess.
haha it's ok. If it was me I would have wanted to know, but I am strange like that.
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