Caralis

Forget single payer -- it's single purveyor

I'm no health care expert, other than being an inquisitive consumer; I have no real experience in the health care industry. That being said, lack of inside knowledge has never held me back from offering an opinion and hey sometimes it helps.

Now that I have set myself up to be completely unaccountable for my opinion let me offer forth.

Here is how single purveyor could work.

1. Health-care mandate.

2. All health care is purchased via a connector (this is the purveyor part) like authority where you can compare all plans.  You no longer rely on your employer to provide choices. The thought here is that more transparent competition would drive down pricing.

3. If you are employed your employer can still subsidize your health care and send payments to your chosen health care insurer. This allows companies to continue to derive their current tax benefits from paying health care cost with pre-tax money. If your employer does not supply a subsidy they would be penalized (like the current MA system - but I'd like to see the penalty go up)

4. The Government will subsidize the poor. No way around this.

5. The Government will re-insure health care companies (Senator Kerry's Plan) for the very sick (very expensive patients). In return I would add a requirement for a portion of health-care insurer profits or revenues (not sure how this would work) to be allocated to the government re-insurance fund. This helps in spreading the risk for insuring expensive patients would help reduce cherry picking.

BTW - RSS feeds have been added for all bills at OpenMass.org.

OpenMass.org

I have launched a new new site called OpenMass.org. I hope OpenMass will help spark civic engagement by providing free, easy access to information on Massachusetts State Government.

Bill Richardson on Walter Reed Army Medical Center

Below is an email I received from the Richardson email list I joined.

What I like about the message is the fact that not only does he call out the Bush administration(like many others have), but he has a plan (not like others) to help.

I really like what I have seen from him.

 

We should be ashamed. When our government sends our military men and women to war, we enter into a covenant to provide care for the injured and protection for those in harm's way. Our soldiers have been sent into a war we cannot win with insufficient equipment; and now, when they return wounded in the line of duty, our government has failed to provide the quality care our service people deserve. Our government has broken the covenant, and shamefully failed our troops.

I am tired of being ashamed of the failings of this Administration. Our veterans need help now. I will not wait for this Administration to do right thing. I will not wait for Congress to hold their hearings and assess blame. I am taking action.

And I am asking you to do the same.

Call on your state's Governor to join me in finding state funding for the care our returning soldiers deserve, but our federal government seems unwilling or unable to provide.

This week I asked the New Mexico Legislature to increase the state funding for services for the 180,000 veterans here in my state. We will:

  * Fund $1.65 million in facility upgrades at state-run veterans' centers.
  * Add $650,000 to the Telehealth program, increasing access to veterans unable to get care at a local center.
  * Pass funding for additional veterans' services officers.
  * Double the budget for training therapists in effective treatments for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
  * Add a new primary care clinic to the new nursing facility being built at Fort Bayard in Silver City.
  * Convene a task force to better coordinate all of these services.

I'm not sure what is more outrageous-the conditions at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center or the anemic response by President Bush. Regardless, our military men and women need proper care immediately. And if we can't count on the federal government to meet its responsibilities to our service people, we must turn to the states. If we can do it in New Mexico, we can do it across the county. It is time to stop waiting and start getting things done.

Contact your Governor now.

Deval's Shell Game?

As someone who whole heartedly supported Deval Patrick (after the primary) I am a bit surprised by Governor Patrick's latest solution to the $1 billion dollar deficit.

 

Patrick also said he wanted to introduce legislation that would let cities and towns implement "local option taxes" on certain goods and services. Those taxes could ease the property tax burden.

"I trust you and your neighbors to determine whether a 1, 2, or 3 percent tax on lunch at the local pub is appropriate," he said.

So we introduce one tax to alleviate another??? This policy sounds familar. The words "Shell Game" comes to mind.

Please tell me I am wrong!

Iraq - Do the right thing

President Bush is about to announce a policy change in Iraq this week.  Speculation is that he wants to add up to 20,000 troops and 1 billion dollars for a jobs work program. Is this the right thing to do? I don't know, but after reading this article in the New York Times today I tried to step back and think about this as objectively (I was against invading) as I could.

Johan Spanner for The New York Times

Before the war Iraq was in dire straits.
  * They had a poor infrastructure
  * Saddam was in power
  * Society for the most part cut along sectarian lines.

Now after the invasion:
  * Iraq's infrastructure was all but destroyed
  * Saddam has been replaced by a new government.
  * Iraq is essentially in all out civil war
  * 3000 civilians are being killed each month
  * Over 3000 courageous American soldiers' dead

We as a nation are directly responsible this.

The big question is what do we do now? Yes we would all like the Iraqi government and the military to stand up and defend their country, but we must also take into account the dire straits their country is in and how difficult it must be for them. We cannot invade a country, destroy its infrastructure, ignite a civil war and then leave. I believe we have a moral responsibility to the tens if not hundreds of thousand Iraqis that have died and the thousands of American soldiers killed and injured to do the right thing. 

I believe the right thing to do is to stay committed to Iraq. I don't think most of us have the enough information to give an informed opinion as to whether adding troops is the right thing to do, but it seems to me that withdrawing troops will only lead to further destabilizing Iraq.

The Golden Age Of Global Warming

Don't you just love this climate changing, greenhouse gassing, global warming little planet of ours? We are truly blessed to be living during the start of what can only be called the golden age of global warming.

I'm sick of reading all the whining about climate change. Just think of the possibilities:

• Year-round concerts at the Hatch Shell. We are mere years away from the permanent closing of Storrow Drive's right lane!
• No more irritating L Street Brownies New Years day stories.
• Forget Florida, retire to Revere!
• Who likes ice sculptures anyway, coming soon - First Night beach parties.</li>
• Year round Cape tourism.
• More cool looking footage of polar ice shelves breaking than you can shake a stick at.

See what I mean, all it takes is a little change of perspective. Just think of how happy Shackleton would be. So let's stop all the whining and enjoy these next couple of years while we can. Meanwhile I'll be investing in some ocean front property in the Berkshires.

I did it and I'm damn proud of it

That's right I went to see Rocky Balboa today and I thought it was good!

It was a little too speech laden and had it's cheesy moments but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was my guilty pleasure of the year.

I've been named Time Person of the Year!

Yes it's true, I have been named Time Person of the Year and so have you.

The year in review

Really can't add much here - just watch the video...

Fire in NewsBlade's Office Building

There was an electrical fire on Dec 9th at the office tower in which NewsBlade is located. The fire at One Broadway was apparently caused by an exploding transformer. Thankfully I was not in the building at the time, but tragically Kevin Fidalgo, an Nstar empolyee working on the transformer was killed.

We will have no access to the building until it is declared safe, which I am told may take a couple of days. As a result the biotech.newsblade.com site that is located in the data center in that building (the newsblade.com site is not) will be out of commission for a couple of days.

On Friday I was driving to a meeting when at 11:20 I noticed an email alerting me that the biotech site was down. Shortly after that I got a call from a friend asking me if I was alright. Obviously I was a bit perplexed by the question. He then continued to explain that my building was surrounded by fire trucks with ladders extending up the side. Later it was learned that those ladder's were being used to rescue the 30 or so people stuck on the roof. 100 people were treated for smoke inhalation and 30 or so were sent to the hospital.

It seems with any event like this there is always a strange set of seemingly unimportant happenings that leads to someone luckily not being somewhere they usually would be.

Strangely enough, the only reason I wasn't in the building at the time (I was planning on leaving the building at 11:15 for my meeting) was that I needed to scan an image of my kids Christmas picture and was unable to get the scanner in my office working. I had spoken with my father the night before (Thursday evening) and he suggested I stop by the Newspaper office that is next store to his store (Alamo Roast Beef) in the morning before my meeting and use their scanner.

On my way to my father's store I realized that I had left the picture at work and started to head to the office when on a whim I decided to just stop by and visit my father anyway and viola, I was not in the building.

I'm sure I would have been completely fine as 700+ people successfully evacuated the office building, but it is funny how even the smallest decisions can have such a big impact.

Pick a source any source

Guess which "news outlet" had the following stories in their Top Story section

• Feds: Mom, son faked retardation, got $200k
• Anti-Bush 'bat signal' ticks off neighborhood
• Doc jailed for illegally injecting the rich and famous
• Oprah's lost her way, gone white, rapper says
• Eastwood's war movie named best in 2006
• Cat falls 25 feet -- in slow, twisty motion

People magazine? Star? Entertainment Magazine?

How about

Nice work.

Should the new James Bond start a blog?

Well according to this New York Times article he should - or a least start reading them.

Looks like the intelligence community is taking heed of "Web 2.0" technologies and practices. They are only a couple of years behind current trends now!

There was a time when the drive for innovation was the other way around. Is this "reverse-innovation curve" due to open source software - it's hard to argue against it.

First Millionare in Virtual World

Ailin Graef is your first millionare in the Virtual World - Second Life. I guess if someone is willing to pay thousands of dollars for a website name, which in a sense is a piece of virtual property, this isn't so suprising.

Here is a link to the story.

Disraeli Gears

Reading the NY Times today I came across a quote from Leon Panetta on James Baker

“I think he’d like to be remembered as a 21st-century Disraeli,”

Now I've read Disraeli's biography, I watched the Disraeli mini-series and I've listened to Disraeli Gears (there was a Ginger Baker on that album??). James Baker is no Benjiman Disraeli.

One quick side note - also in the Times on Sunday was mention of Edith Hamilton's The Greek Way. By 2pm EST it shot up to the #1 spot on Amazon's movers and shakers.

 

 

Why is tower record's closing stores?

I heard Tower Records was closing their store in Burlington so I went to check out their 40% off sale. I entered the store anticipating great music at great discounts soon within my grasp.

Let's just say I wasn't all that surprised when there prices after the "40% discount"  were still more expensive than ITunes.

NewsBlade Homepage

Check out NewsBlade's new and improved homepage.

There was an interesting post on BMG the other day - 10 things I hate about the American Left:

I thought it might be uselful to use this criteria to re-examine my left leaning positions.

1.  The widespread penchant for dripping sarcasm as a primary means of communication. 

I hate sarcasm/satire and the like.

2.  The massive popularity and influence of forces such as daily kos and the spread of mob mentality, demonization, negativity and myopia.

I’m farsighted or so my optometrist tells me.

3.  The frequent characterization of high earning people as undeserving of their wealth  (e.g.  money managers, sales slicksters, corrupt business men, inheritance).

I can’t believe we elected Deval Governor. Right on!

4.  The assumption that it is reasonable and proper to judge what other people do and do not need.

I believe cancer patients should decide for themselves if they need Marijuana.

5.  The blending together of progressivism, socialism and marxist theory into the Democratic party.

Dude you forgot communism and I’m definitely not communist.

6.  The widespread belief that it is OK to affect change - including constitutional change - via the judiciary.

I think we should allow Fox News to do that.

7.  The prominence of numbers, statistics and expected outcomes over principle.

I don’t believe in reason.

8.  Principle notwithstanding, the inability to correctly judge expected outcomes in the long term  (e.g. creating a dependent class, poor incentivization through entitlements)

I was one of those crazies against invading Iraq.

9.  Continual division of people into various "oppressed" (to the left:  vaunted) classes based on factors such as skin color, gender, etc.

I think we should divide the oppressed into those Starbuck categories, tall, grande and venti.

10.  The triumph of communalism over human freedom.

I’m definitely for human freedom – that’s good stuff.

I’ll be damned, I am a Republican!

Congress to debate Moon name change…

I have learned from a Congressman on double deep background that there is a frantic push under way to rename the Moon before Congress is officially handed over to the Democrats.. I’ve got to tell, that while I don’t agree with the choice of name I’m having trouble arguing against the reasoning behind the name change.

My conversation with the Congressman started of with a discussion on why the name of the Moon should be changed.

“We are the only planet in our Solar system to have an unnamed moon. I’m mean really; do you want to be the representative from NASA that explains to some intelligent life form that the name of our moon is Moon? I mean it’s like naming your dog, dog. It’s ridiculous. It’s, it’s embarrassing.”

With that matter settled the discussion progressed to the naming issue.

“Clearly it should be named after an American, after all we discover it”

“Discovered what sir?”

“What? The Moon of course.”

At this point I explained to the Congressman that the United States did not discover the moon.

“Well we landed on it, didn’t we?”

“Yes, sir we did”

“Alright then, we own it”

“Why don’t we move on Congressman?”

“It should be someone that …”

“Sir, I think I know where you are going with this. See, I fly out of Ronald Reagan Airport, work next to the Ronald Reagan building and live on 16th street which you tried to name Ronald Reagan Boulevard. I have a sneaking suspicion that you would like to change the name of the moon to Reagan.”

At this point the Senator started to look around the room furtively and then settled his eyes back on me.

“Well you’re wrong, but how does the Big Gipper strike you?”

Thought those secrets were going to the grave with you?

A friend of mine, here after to be know as AFOM, sent me an article on an interesting problem that the  folks who run guest books for  obituaries have (legacy.com).

From the NYT article.

EVANSTON, Ill. — Long-silent mistresses, disgruntled former employees, estranged family members — Katie Falzone has seen them all.

Legacy, which gets more than six million visitors a month and one comment every five seconds, says it vets everything before it is posted.

Read on, it's funny in a kinda "I know what you did last summer" way.

 

The real transcript of President Bush's remarks

Click here for the supposed transcription.

Earlier this week, the American people went to the polls and voted for the emboldeners of terrorism. The American people are out of their mind. I think they are full of shit and so does my cabinet.

I want to congratulate the Democrat leaders on the victory they achieved for their party, but I want them to know, I purposely blew the election so Hillary could not be elected President. In a few minutes, the wicked witch of the west, and some Congressman you have never heard of are coming for lunch. I'm can’t wait for this day to be over.

I'm also meeting with two other asshole Dem Senators tomorrow. Daddy told me there may be days like this.

We'll discuss the way forward for our country, and I'm going to tell them what I just told our Cabinet. I don’t care what horse you came riding in on, you don’t have a veto proof majority so you can kiss my ass.

I have some important issues that have no chance of being passed by the next Congress so I’m calling on Congress to actually do some work for the next couple of weeks while they clean out their offices and move to the side of the building without windows.

The first order of business is for Congress to cut as many social programs as possible and give out the last contracts Halliburton is likely to get for some time.

The other important priority in the war on terror is for the Congress to pass the Domestic Spying Program. It’s also time to tell the oil companies they can raise prices again.

And on the foreign policy front, we need to complete the work we should have finished before the election.

As the new members of Congress and their leaders return to Washington, I've instructed my Cabinet to provide whatever briefings and information they need after filling a request via the Freedom of Information Act.

The American people expect us to rise above partisan differences, and my administration now that is has little choice will do its part. One of the most important challenges facing our country is the war on terror, and while the citizenry has said they don’t agree that Iraq was a central front on the War on terror, I’m still in a state of denial and pressing forward.

Now I can blame the Democrats for not providing the support our troops they need to prevail. I'm open to any idea or suggestion that will help me preserve my legacy.

Yesterday, I accepted the resignation of one of the original members of my Cabinet, [Defense] Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. He could not be with us today because in a moment of over zealousness, Condi canceled his access card.

Don has totally screwed up the war, taken no responsibility and is sure to write a tell-all book blaming everything on Tommy Franks. I've named another one of my Daddy’s friends from Texas to succeed Don Rumsfeld, former CIA Director Bob Gates.

Secretary Rumsfeld has to stay until Bob is confirmed, otherwise we would be without a Secretary of Defense and I don’t want his record to suffer by comparison.

When is my next vacation?