Original Author:
Sen. Kathleen Vinehout
When I heard the Governor had convened a “Special Session on Jobs” I was anxious to take look at the proposals.
Business owners tell me they need access to capital, lower health insurance costs and a skilled workforce. Just last week the Eau Claire Leader Telegram headline read Employers: Jobs are there, Skills are not.
Being from the country, I like to kick the tires and lift up the hood before I buy anything. Was anything that small business owners needed on the list?
This weekend, I got down to the tire kicking level. Amazingly, I found something besides ‘jobs’ on the agenda.
There are a few bills that help make it easier for businesses to get loans. One bill would make credit for farmers easier to obtain by expanding state loan guarantees; another bill increases the cap on loan guarantees for small businesses. There are several bills that create tax credits for investments.
Nothing on the list deals with rising health costs. Very little addresses the lack of skilled workers.
And who would have guessed a bill to protect drug companies and medical device companies from lawsuits if their product had FDA approval would bring jobs to Wisconsin?
Original Author:
(James Rowen)
Another
document dump - - the
second in the last few weeks - - shows cozy relationship among the players, including American regulators now reviewing whether a major new pipeline from Canada to Texas should be approved.
With
most of the oil ticketed for export via Houston, and not for domestic usage.
Not a good development for the White House and the public interest.
Original Author:
Brian Leubitz
HMO faces scrutiny for their arithmetic
by Brian Leubitz
Kaiser is something of a mixed bag. They get some good press for focusing on areas that help to reduce health care costs, preventative care, that sort of thing. On the flip side, they are usually somewhere in the background on lobbying efforts, killing any attempts to make health care insurance more consumer friendly in California.
Well, today's news is more on the dark side. It turns out that they've been overcharging small business customers and not really providing the data to back it up:
Kaiser Permanente has retroactively rolled back rate increases that went into effect for small businesses on July 1 by 1.2 percent.
The welcomed - albeit small - bit of news for thousands of California enrollees comes after a bit of wrangling with the state regulators.
Kaiser in April had proposed a 10.7 percent rate hikes for the bulk of its small business customers. The state Department of Managed Health Care, armed with a new law that allows them to scrutinize actuarial data behind the rate filings, pushed back.
"We've been concerned about the lack of data they provided to support their trends and we requested they reduce their rates," said department spokeswoman Lynne Randolph.
The new increase of 9.5 percent translates into a total savings of $13.5 million, Randolph said.
Original Author:
Brian Leubitz
High Court to consider massive cuts to services and reimbursement rates.
by Brian Leubitz
The United States Supreme Court opened up its 2011-2012 term, and oh yeah, they're talking California:
The Supreme Court began a new term Monday by refereeing a major healthcare dispute to decide whether cash-strapped states like California can cut their Medicaid payments to doctors and hospitals who serve low-income patients.
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Lawyers for California and the Obama administration urged the court to rule that Medicaid is a "voluntary" effort to provide medical care for the poor and that disputes over funding should be resolved by healthcare officials in Sacramento and Washington, not by federal judges in San Francisco.
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Politicus USA:
Ryan’s newest scam involves eliminating tax breaks for employees who are enrolled in their employer’s group healthcare plans, and instead give a tax credit to buy health insurance on an individual basis. According to Ryan, his plan will give consumers the needed incentive to demand more value from their healthcare. He said,
“Giving patients and consumers control over health care resources would make all Americans less dependent on big business and big government for our health security; give us more control over the care we get; and force health care providers to compete for our business.”
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