For Good Customer Service Go to Government, Not Corporations

[marmar]

from OnTheCommons.org:



For Good Customer Service Go to Government, Not Corporations
Have you tried to get through to your insurance company or bank recently?

August 16, 2012 | by David Morris


In 2012 we accept as received wisdom that government is unresponsive while a competitive marketplace forces private business to offer quality customer service. So when Representative Henry Cuellar (D-TX) introduced his warmly received bill, The Government Customer Service Improvement Act, most people accepted his premise, “When taxpayers interact with a government agency, they deserve the same timely, reliable assistance they would expect from a private sector business,”

Ironically, just as we achieve a bipartisan consensus that to improve customer service government should act like a private business, the evidence—both the empirical and anecdotal—is telling us it should be the other way around.

Consider the results of a new study by the Commonwealth Fund that compares private health insurance companies to government Medicare. Government was the hands down winner. People covered by private health plans were much more likely than Medicare beneficiaries to forego needed care, experience access problems, encounter medical bill problems, and be less satisfied with their coverage. Is anyone who’s had a conversation, or tried to have a conversation, with his or her private insurance carrier surprised?

Indeed, the evidence that government is far better than private business at delivering health insurance is so compelling that anti-government Americans have adopted an ingenious strategy to avoid conceding the point. They have simply decided that Medicare is a private insurance program. Recall the protest signs and talk show host warnings that President Obama better “keep the government out of Medicare!” during the health care reform debate. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://onthecommons.org/magazine/good-customer-service-go-government-not-corporations

[jody]

1. ROFLMAO

[CreekDog]

3. making fun of government workers?

of course you are.

[Starry Messenger]

2. k&r

[Scuba]

4. I've gotten superb service from the Post Office, DMV, Social Security office....

... cops, snowplow drivers, etc.

On the other hand, comparing with insurance companies is an awfully low bar, although I suppose cell phone and credit card companies are just as bad.

[PD Turk]

5. Well

I'd have to say my reviews on government services in my neck of the woods are mixed. I'll give our local fire dept and my daughter's public school 5 stars, our local post office, 2 1/2 stars, and the DMV here...... major fail.