Local Businessman, Filmmaker Aim To Redirect National Conversation For Stronger Economy
Easton, Pa. – A groundbreaking new documentary sponsored by a major Lehigh Valley employer and produced by an Easton filmmaker aims to redirect the national health care reform discussion to focus on the need to help businesses and their employees survive rocketing insurance costs.
“Fix It – Healthcare At The Tipping Point” was created to eliminate political ideology and focus on the economics of health care reform, significantly reducing costs that don’t directly apply to actual medical care, said Richard Master, owner and founder of MCS Industries, Inc.
(“Fix It” will be screened publicly April 4 at the Frank Banko Alehouse Cinema at ArtsQuest, 101 Founders Way in Bethlehem at 7:30pm. Tickets are free but must be reserved by email at ckowal@mcsframe.com.)
Richard Master and filmmaker Vincent Mondillo spent two years developing the 58-minute video, which features health policy experts, economists, business leaders and physicians. The documentary was filmed in the Lehigh Valley and across the country.
“MCS Industries has faced double-digit health insurance rate increases year after year,” said Master, who is the executive producer of the film. “My company now has to pay $1.5 million a year to provide health care for our employees and their dependents. When I investigated where that money goes, I was shocked.
“The high cost for health insurance also keeps wages down while at the same time, my employees’ deductibles and out of pocket costs go up. Healthcare costs also have a major impact on our municipalities and school systems”.
“More than 17 percent of our Gross Domestic Product is now eaten up by healthcare costs – far more than any other country,” Master added. “Canadians, by comparison, spend less than 11 percent of their GDP on health care and they have better health outcomes and live longer on average than Americans.”
Master said his goal is to converse with business owners, chief executives, financial officers and others on a plan to unite and insist on “scrapping our complex and needlessly expensive multi-payer system.”
Master and Mondillo have been hosting a series of private showings throughout the Lehigh Valley and other parts of the country and they have received very favorable responses from business leaders.
“When business leaders look at the single-payer model they come to the conclusion that it is the least-expensive, the most supportive of a free market, and will have the most direct positive impact on the costs of their operation,” said David J. Steil, a former Pennsylvania Republican state legislator and owner of Micro Trap Corp. in Morrisville, Pa. Steil is interviewed in the documentary. “It is time we realize that we don’t have to tolerate a system where one of every $3 is wasted.”
Master and Mondillo are also working with healthcare advocacy groups across the nation to introduce the documentary to other business leaders. They want to re-frame the healthcare discussion to focus on the impact on businesses and the national economy – and employee health — rather than political ideology.
“Imagine how our economy could prosper and how many new jobs would be created if we could redirect wasteful health care spending back into our businesses, schools, infrastructure and other critical areas of our economy?” Master said.
Media Advisory: Master and Mondillo are available for advance interviews. Please contact Vincent Mondillo to arrange a time at 610-923-7929 or email at mondillovideo@gmail.com
To view a trailer for the film, please go to: https://vimeo.com/143258443
About MCS Industries, Inc: Based in Easton, Pa. where it’s corporate and design center employs 110 people, MCS is an international leader in the U.S. market for picture frames and decorative mirrors distributed to more than 3,000 of the nation’s largest mass market retailers.
