Don't Let Healthcare Reform Die

Scott Brown might be the best thing to have happened to health care reform. Because of his election to the US Senate from my state of Massachusetts, neither the flawed House of Representatives-passed version of health care reform nor the very flawed Senate version of the measure will be enacted into law.

Instead, lawmakers in Congress must go back to the drawing board.

Perhaps now, with more modest legislation, we can get that bi-partisanship everybody says they want.

Let's put a bill (or series of bills) together that expands health care coverage to most, if not all, of the millions currently uninsured. Everybody seems to want that.

Let's put into that bill some language that won't allow insurance companies to reject coverage of those with "previous conditions" or set ridiculously low limits on the amount of coverage a person would be allowed in a year or in a lifetime. Everybody seems to want those types of changes, as well.

Can we also put into that bill some language that takes away anti-trust immunity from health insurance companies and treats their industry like every other industry? Everybody seems to want that, and it's sure to help competition and ease the upward pressure on the cost of insurance.

And, that's all! Let's do no more now! As the economy improves, we can go further to reform health care coverage in the months and years to come.

Simple steps and simple majorities - maybe that's the way to bi-partisanship and a better health care system for all!

Remembering Sammy... Part 3

With Sammy Davis Jr. having agreed to be the emcee, Tommy Walker, and I - humble PR guy Burt Peretsky - set out to plan the Sands Grand Reopening, the biggest special event Las Vegas had ever seen!

Actually, Tommy did most of the work... He suggested that we break a Guinness Book of World Records record. That would get us publicity, for sure, we agreed. But, what world record? That was the question.

We discussed a number of options, going through the Guinness book, page after page. Finally, Tommy came up with a world record that, if broken, would provide a fabulous visual and fabulous publicity. We would stage the biggest simultaneous release of balloons in world history. Some of the balloons would go up in the air; others would fall from the casino tower and the Sands hotel roof. We'd inflate more than 300,000 of them (it turned out to be 305,000), and it would be a spectacular sight.

... inflate more than 300,000 of them ... Sounds simple, doesn't it? But, here's the rub - in order to have more than 300,000 balloons ready to be floated or dropped at the same time, they had to be inflated no earlier than 24 hours before the event. Otherwise, they'd be sagging for the big moment. So, we hit upon an idea - the Sands would "hire" every high school kid in the Las Vegas Valley, and for 24 hours, every one of those kids would work the helium and air tanks, readying 300,000 balloons for the Sands Grand Reopening. Seven high schools were involved - the Sands was making a large donation to each school's athletics and marching band program. We even had a competition element built in to our nefarious plan - the school that inflated the most balloons on a per-student ratio would be awarded a super donation.

But balloons were only part of the special event planning. Tommy Walker had planned a huge outdoor event around the balloon release. As dusk fell on the Strip, a huge fireworks display would be mounted overhead. The fireworks were to be staged and set to music by the Grucci brothers of Belmont, NY, the Guccis of fireworks! At the fireworks crescendo, a huge Sands fireworks setpiece would be raised into the night sky above the hotel by a helicopter, one of two being used to stage our spectacular.

The first of the two helicopters would be used to dramatically land our emcee Sammy Davis and hotel execs onto the porte cochere of the hotel, where a special stage had been constructed for the festivities. Beneath the porte cochere, marching bands from each of the high schools would strut their stuff.

Tens of thousands of people had gathered in the street in front of the Sands as the sun set over Las Vegas. The Strip was closed to traffic going both ways in front of the Sands - the first time in memory the Strip had been closed.

Sammy and the hotel's president and his staff were coptered to the porte cochere, and the fun began. As the throng and several officials from the Guinness Book looked on (we had flown them in from London), the entire spectacular went off like clockwork. It was fantastic; it was unbelievable; it was huge!!! The Sands Grand Reopening proved once again that in Las Vegas, nothing succeeds like excess!!!

Inside our grand ballroom later that night, Sammy entertained a crowd of high rollers and Hollywood celebrities at a magnificent party, and he was backed by a fairly famous band, led by somebody named Harry James. Perhaps you've heard of him.

Sammy, Harry, Tommy, and the Sands are all gone now. All we have are the memories of the Sands Grand Reopening. Ah, what memories!!!