EWOT #9 "Technology Compliment Skilled Labor" (11/06/2011)

            A representative from BlueCross-BlueSheild came to speak with Public Health 101 class. Although she was there to discuss health insurance, she began talking about the role of technology with regards to the insurance industry. She spoke specifically about a program which automatically compiles company reports with regards to their employee's health. Conventional wisdom suggests that BlueCross-BlueSheild was then able to lay off workers, thanks to this new program. However, just like the bank teller slide from class (while the amount of ATMs has increased, so has the amount of bank tellers), conventional wisdom is wrong. Before the program, it would take an employee a few days to create a report - now it takes a few hours. Before the program, BlueCross-BlueSheild had 5 employees reporting for 30 companies; after the program, BlueCross-BlueSheild has 9 employees reporting for over 1,000 companies. This real world example illustrates how technology can compliment skilled labor.