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2 of the Last 3 GOP Presidents Signed Larger Tax Increases Than Obamacare
The Affordable Care Act is not "the largest tax increase in the history of the world," despite what you might have heard on The Rush Limbaugh Show. In fact, it's not even the largest tax increase in the history of The Rush Limbaugh Show. Two years after Rush's national syndication, President George H. W. Bush signed a slightly bigger tax increase in 1990. And Reagan's tax increase from 1982 was bigger than both of them.
The following graph of the biggest tax increases since 1950 is Kevin Drum's data graphed by Austin Frakt (via Ezra Klein):
Obamacare tax chart
If you're looking for something/anything superlative to say about the ACA, you could say it's the biggest tax increase of the entire millennium (!!!) or perhaps that it's the second-biggest tax increase signed by a Democrat since LBJ. As for the biggest tax acts in "history," health care reform barely cracks the top ten ... for the last 60 years.
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2 of the Last 3 GOP Presidents Signed Larger Tax Increases Than Obamacare
Jason Garey, striker and author: Soccer player writes novel based on libertarian beliefs
A pro athlete has written a book unique in the fact it isnt self-biographical. Its not about his team either. In fact, its not about sports at all.
Jason Garey, a former University of Maryland star who played in MLS for six years, has self-published a fictional work with a libertarian tilt.
Geauxing Galt the title combines the French/Cajun word for go with a subject in Ayn Rands famed novel Atlas Shrugged -- is set in the near future and touches on economics and politics.
People who share my views are probably going to like it, people who dont are probably going to hate it, laughed Garey, a forward for the Carolina RailHawks in the second-division North American Soccer League. Its pretty one-sided toward economic libertarianism.
Garey, who turns 28 this month, wrote the 230-some pages while recovering from hip surgery this past winter and spring, He completed the work over six months. It became available June 20 on Amazon.com.
I was on crutches for three or four weeks and just started writing, putting down my thoughts and beliefs, and it began to take form, he said. I just thought, What the heck? Ill turn this into a book.
His wife Meghann and mother-in-law, a court reporter in Sacramento, assisted on the project. His mother Kathleen painted the cover art.
Many of the characters and topics were inspired by real-life influences in his native Louisiana, including the coastal wetlands. In one section, an oil driller, tired of politicians squabbling about solutions for the suffering wetlands, quietly buys up land over a decade and creates his own replenishing system.
Not surprisingly, Garey supported Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) for the Republican presidential nomination. Hes the only one who made sense, he said.
Explaining his own political views, Garey said: I didnt know anything until I got a taste of the world. Its part of being a rational person. Politicians on both sides make me nuts. Its frustrating.
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Jason Garey, striker and author: Soccer player writes novel based on libertarian beliefs
Libertarian Gary Johnson to celebrate ‘freedom and liberty’ in Orlando tomorrow
Arguably, nothing says “Fourth of July” — Independence! Liberty! Founding Fathers! — than a rally by a Libertarian Party candidate for president. Gary Johnson will touch on all of the above themes –in “a speech on the topic of freedom and liberty” — at a rally in Orlando’s Langford Park tomorrow, starting at 2 p.m. [...]
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Libertarian Gary Johnson to celebrate ‘freedom and liberty’ in Orlando tomorrow
Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson coming to Tampa Bay on Friday
Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnsonwill visit spots in Tampa and Dunedin on Friday as part of his longshot campaign.
Johnson, 59, the former two-term New Mexico governor, isplanning a luncheon/meet-and-greet at Gaspar's Grotto, 1805 E 7th Ave., in Tampa from 12:30-2 p.m.
Later, in Dunedin, he will throw out the first pitch at the Dunedin Blue Jays game and then head to a reception at Blur and the Chic-A-Boom Room (319 Main Street).
Johnson last came to Tampa Bay in December to drum up support for his failed bid to win the Republican nomination. He was excluded from most GOP debates.
"The Republican National Committee has turned their backs on a message that appeals more and more to the American public," he said in a Tampa Bay Times interview then.
His platform includes immediately ordering troops home from Afghanistan; creating an easy work-visa program; cutting the Department of Education and IRS; and replacing the current tax system with a 23-percent fair tax on consumption. He supports abortion rights, gay marriage and legalizing marijuana.
One zanycampaign adposted Mondaypaints a grim picture of the new health care law before switching to rock-and-roll music and asking, "Want government the hell out of healthcare? Baby, I'm with you. And I'm running for president."
Johnson'sFriday visit will cap a week of stops in Jacksonville, Orlando, Deerfield Beach and Boca Raton.
Photo by Times staff photographer Jim Damaske, 2011
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Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson coming to Tampa Bay on Friday
Falkland Islands Hlg – Result of Open Offer
3 July 2012
NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, JAPAN OR SOUTH AFRICA.
This announcement is not an offer of securities for sale in the United States. The securities discussed herein have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, (the "Securities Act") and may not be offered or sold within the United States absent registration or an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act. No public offering of the securities discussed herein is being made in the United States and the information contained herein does not constitute an offering of securities for sale in the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan (EUREX: FMJP.EX - news) , New Zealand or the Republic of South Africa.
Falkland Islands Holdings plc
("FIH" or "the Company")
Result of Open Offer
Falkland Islands Holdings plc, the AIM quoted international group which owns essential services businesses focused on retail, transport and logistics announces that the open offer announced on 14 June 2012 closed for applications at 11 a.m. on 2 July 2012 and that the Open Offer of 619,837 shares has been fully subscribed . Valid applications have been received for 1,601,914 Offer Shares, being 258 per cent. of the amount available.
Basic entitlement applications for the 619,837 shares available amount to 487,393 shares, whilst excess applications for the 132,444 shares not applied for total 1,114,521 shares. As a result excess applications will be scaled back as provided in the Circular posted to shareholders on 14 June 2012 ("the Circular").
The Open Offer remains conditional upon inter alia Admission occurring by 8:00 a.m. on 4 July 2012 (or such later time or date as the Company may determine).
This announcement should be read in conjunction with the full text of the Circular, a copy of which is available on the Company's website at http://www.fihplc.com. Capitalised terms in this announcement have the meanings defined in the Circular.
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Barrier Islands Center hails old times on Hog Island
By Lorraine Eaton The Virginian-Pilot July 4, 2012
Perhaps the good women of Hog Island sensed they were staging a food fight that day. Perhaps they did not.
But on July 4, 1925, following days of kneading, frying, roasting, steaming, beating, baking and boiling, residents of the remote barrier island greeted a flotilla of Eastern Shore mainlanders for their Fourth of July picnic and baseball game, a church fundraiser and one of the areas biggest events of the year.
Awaiting the visitors were fried chicken and shorebirds. Roast mutton and beef. Clam fritters and crabcakes. Collards and corn cakes. All manner of garden vegetables.
And for dessert, each Hog Island woman made the cake or pie that she was most famous for, recalled Yvonne Widgeon, who lived on the rapidly eroding island as a child.
Among the 1925 visitors: the Franktown-Nassawadox baseball team, composed of the mainlands best high school players. One of them, according to an account published years later in the Eastern Shore News, would become a pitcher for the College of William and Mary.
We were ready to take them on, Franktown-Nassawadox coach Joe Gibb told the paper.
But first, some major-league feasting.
Hog Island women were famous for their cooking, said Laura Vaughan, executive director of the Barrier Islands Center museum, located in Machipongo on the Eastern Shore mainland.
The boys who came over just gorged themselves on the goodies. No one noticed that the island boys held back.
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Atiu 'highlight' of Te Radar's trip
Well-known TV personality Te Radar (Andrew Lumsden) loved his entire Cook Islands experience but was "blown away" by the beauty of Atiu while filming his latest television series, Te Radar Across the Pacific. Te Radar expressed his adoration and wonder for Atiu stating "I think this has been the highlight of my trip, this island".
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11th 'Olympics of Pacific arts' opens in Solomon Islands
Wednesday, July 04, 2012
HONIARA, Solomon Islands-Thousands braved the sweltering heat for the very colorful and culturally charged opening of the 11th Festival of Pacific Arts in Honiara, Solomon Islands yesterday.
To open this major regional event, dubbed the Olympics of Pacific arts and culture by local media, delegations from 19 countries as well as the Solomon Islands' nine provinces marched from the town center to Lawson Tama Stadium in full national regalia, where they presented traditional song and dance as well as gifts to the Solomon Islands Governor General Sir Frank Kabui.
Earlier the same day, Solomon Islands, which is hosting the festival for the first time, presented traditional gifts to visiting countries at an early morning ceremony on the beach that began with spectacular fireworks, followed by vaka (double-hulled canoes) from several countries and tomoko (war canoes) from Solomon Islands' Western Province pulling ashore and ending with rousing performances by delegations.
The next two weeks will see Honiara transformed into a mini Pacific, to quote Solomon Islands Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo, who officially opened the festival.
Reflecting on the festival's theme, Culture in harmony with nature, Lilo said: I am confident that enhancing understanding of cultures amongst the people of the pacific will help in social development, peace and prosperity and at the same time, conserve the natural environment for our survival.
He added: Twenty years after the UN Earth Summit in Rio in 1992, scientists have sufficient evidence to inform us that the earth has reached its planetary limits or abilities to contain global warming and climate changes. Against this, it is essential for us to explore with haste and progress appropriate actions and identify key strategic areas to save and protect our ocean and land for our generation and future generations. Some of the solutions for these challenges are in the knowledge of our cultures.
Dr. Jimmie Rodgers, director-general of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community and a Solomon Islander himself, echoed those sentiments in his opening address, saying: The Festival provides an opportunity to reflect on the critical importance of culture in the sustainable development of our nations.
Indeed, culture is just as important as economic and social development and the sustainable management of natural resources. It is the glue that underpins the fundamental values of heritage, knowledge, creativity, diversity and identity that define our character as people and citizens of our respective nations.
Alongside the cultural components such as dance, music, art, craft and fashion taking place at the festival, a number of important high-level meetings are being held to examine some of the questions facing the region's cultural sector.
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Russian PM visits islands claimed by Japan
MOSCOW (AFP) - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday landed on one of the four Pacific Kuril islands claimed by Japan, in a visit that risks once again inflaming tensions with Tokyo.
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Russia And Japan At Odds Again Over Remote, Energy-Rich Kuril Islands
Maritime disputes seem to dot the entire coastline of East Asia. In the south, nations bicker over the status of the South China Sea. In the East China Sea, Japan and China squabble over who truly owns the Senkaku / Diaoyu Islands. In the Sea of Japan, Japan and Korea argue over which country Takeshima / Dokdo really belongs to. The disputes include the islands' names, which change depending on the country.
And in the north, Japan is also in a controversial and seemingly endless spat with Russia over the Kuril Islands, which it calls the Northern Territories -- a chain of 18 volcanic islands that span from the northern tip of Japan's Hokkaido Island to the southern tip of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. Russia administers all 18 of the islands, but Japan claims that the southernmost four are being held illegally and should be returned.
A visit this week by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to the Southern Kurils has drawn anger from Tokyo. Protection and development of the Far East was a major pet project of Medvedev in his previous capacity as Russian president, also an effective means of building his nationalistic credentials.
The Russian prime minister said Tuesday that the islands are "our territory which should develop just like the mainland of our country," before his departure to Kunashir (known as Kunashiri in Japan), the southernmost island in the chain, and therefore the one closest to Japan.
Russia is now embarking on a major initiative to strenghten its eastern provinces. Medvedev has promised funding to develop the Kurils' infrastructure and boost defenses. The government is also exploring subsidizing air travel in the area to overcome the difficulty of transportation across vast distances (the Kurils are 4,100 miles, or 6,600 kilometers, by air from Moscow.) Russia is eager to tap into the vast resources of its Far Eastern provinces, rich in fisheries, timber, minerals and hydrocarbons. But the area is sparsely populated and long neglected by the capital.
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"We have to develop new investment projects, including those with the participation of foreign firms," said Medvedev.
In a gesture showing the importance it now places on the region, the Russian government has recently created a new Ministry for the Far East. In a meeting with the regional governments of Eastern Russia on Monday, Medvedev noted that "over the past five years more than 300 billion rubles [$9.3 billon] of federal budget funding have been allocated for projects that form part of the targeted program to develop the Far East and the Trans-Baikal Territory and over 110 billion [$3.4 billion] additional rubles will be allocated over the next two years."
Another photo-op: The Russian PM ready to board a new train servicing Vladivostok's airport on Tuesday. Photos from Reuters.
This September, Russia will host the APEC Summit in Vladivostok, a port city on the Northern Pacific founded in 1860 as a hub for expanding Russian influence and power into East Asia. (Its very name, in fact, means "rule the East" in Russian.)
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Russia And Japan At Odds Again Over Remote, Energy-Rich Kuril Islands
Russian PM Medvedev visits disputed Pacific islands despite Japan's angry protest
MOSCOW In a visit that left Japan seething, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev traveled Tuesday to a disputed Pacific island and pledged to boost financing for four impoverished islands whose ownership has been disputed by Tokyo since World War II.
Russia captured the Southern Kurils chain that lie some 7,100 kilometers (4,400) miles from Moscow in 1945, but Japan still claims it as its own. The dispute for nearly seven decades has prevented Moscow and Tokyo from signing a peace treaty to formally end their hostilities.
Surrounded by rich fishing waters, the islands are believed to have offshore hydrocarbon reserves, gold and silver deposits.
The Russian government said Medvedev arrived at Kunashir Island on Tuesday with a group of officials. In 2010, he became the first Russian leader to visit the chain, which Japan calls the Northern Territories.
During a meeting with local officials, Medvedev pledged to allocate more government funding for the construction of fisheries and roads on the islands.
"Our easternmost region cannot be the most deprived one," Medvedev said in televised remarks.
After the 1991 Soviet collapse, the island chain has suffered neglect and its population has plummeted. Many remaining residents took up poaching of fish and crustaceans that are then sold illegally to Japan, South Korea and China.
Japan protested the visit.
"Medvedev's visit to Kunashir pours cold water on our relations," Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying Tuesday.
Although economic ties between Japan and Russia have grown, little progress has been made in resolving the island dispute, which remains a source of deep political tension and distrust.
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Russian PM Medvedev visits disputed Pacific islands despite Japan's angry protest
Russia's Medvedev visits disputed Pacific islands
In a visit that left Japan seething, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev traveled Tuesday to a disputed Pacific island and pledged to boost financing for four impoverished islands whose ownership has been disputed by Tokyo since World War II.
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Genetics and Graphite Provide Scribe Fodder
When last we met, the subject was athletic performance enhancement. I spoke of modalities for raising one's game, including surgery, lucky genetics and, of course, eau de Canseco, also known as anabolic steroids. That column contended that many world-class athletes are freaksof nature, yes, but freaks nonetheless. In effect, they make use of performance-enhancing substances that happen to be produced by their own bodies rather than by a friend of a friend who knows a really good pharmaceutical chemist.
I'll continue to pull on that thread briefly here because within days of that column going to press, news broke that is directly related to the topic. After being lobbied by the union representing its players, the National Football League has agreed to do a study. The investigation will try to determine if football players, who represent the last remnants of a once thriving pre-Clovis North American population of megafauna, naturally have crazy high amounts of compounds that can make one large.
As the New York Times put it on April 21, the union has said that football players, because of their size, might have a higher level of naturally occurring human growth hormone [HGH] and could be at risk of having false positives. At which point, league officials would presumably stand on a chair to raise the level of HGH that counts as a positive test result in pigskin land.
All of which brings me back to the question I asked last time: If users of performance-enhancing drugs are disqualified, should holders of performance-enhancing mutations be barred, too? In other wordsand I do not know the right answer to this questionwhy is it okay for a guy to have a body that makes a lot of hormone but not a buddy who makes a lot of hormone to inject?
Speaking of hormones and injections, have you seen Museum of Copulatory Organs? Part of the 18th Sydney Biennale in Australia, this collection of 3-D models of insect genitalia was the Ph.D. project of Colombian-born artist Maria Fernanda Cardoso.
Her previous claim to fame was a recreation of a 19th-century-style flea circus, which is paradoxically no small task. A blog post at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Web site quotes Cardoso as saying, It's one of the hardest things in life to train fleas, it took six years and it requires a lot of patience, no one knew how to train fleas anymore. Actually the New York City subway system still trains fleas on a daily basis, judging by the number of passengers carrying tiny dogs around with them for some reason probably related to the effect of Paris Hilton on our culture.
According to the ABC article, Cardoso was inspired to pursue the copulatory organ project when she found within the flea literature this quote about the insects' penises: It's not size that matters, it is shape. Indeed, some insect penises come equipped with hooks that enable the ensconced male to grab a previous suitor's sperm packet and remove it from the female. I suggest that these hooks be called cuckholders.
Speaking of shaft-shaped devices used to convey information, have you visited the Cumberland Pencil Museum in England lately? It bills itself as a great all weather attraction for the whole family, although I would submit that a pencil museum is best appreciated when rain necessitates the cancellation of outdoor festivities. Fortunately for pencil aficionados, this is England.
The museum's Web site speculates that Cumberland locals first struck graphite some five centuries ago, when a violent storm uprooted trees and unearthed vast stores of the carbon allotrope. Shepherds soon used the material to mark their sheep. Meanwhile aspiring scribes wrapped sticks of graphite in sheep hides to make rudimentary pencils. This animal-implement relationship was clearly the source of the old adage He was as write as a sheep.
Pencils reached their pinnacle in the U.S. in the second half of the 20th century, when millions of high school students clutched No. 2 versions in their clammy hands to mark the answers on their SATs. Some who may not have done well still managed to earn sheepskins by carrying pigskins.
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Following the Genomic Pathways to Stop the Spread of Cancer
Newswise BETHESDA, MD July 3, 2012 As the Genetics Society of Americas Model Organism to Human Biology (MOHB): Cancer Genetics Meeting in Washington, D.C. drew to a close, it was clear that the mantra for drug discovery to treat cancers in the post-genomic era is pathways.
Pathways are ordered series of actions that occur as cells move from one state, through a series of intermediate states, to a final action. Because model organisms fruit flies, roundworms, yeast, zebrafish and others are related to humans, they share many of the same pathways, but in systems that are much easier to study. Focusing on pathways in model organisms can therefore reveal new drug targets that may be useful in treating human disease.
By reading evolutions notes, we can discover what really matters in the genome, keynote speaker Eric Lander, Ph.D., founding director of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT and professor of biology at MIT, told a packed crowd at the MOHB: Cancer Genetics Meeting on June 19.
What matters the most in the genome of a cancer cell may be the seeds of drug resistance, the genetic changes that enable cells to evade our best drugs. Bert Vogelstein, M.D., director of the Ludwig Center at Johns Hopkins University and an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a keynote speaker on June 17, told participants. He called drug resistance to single agents a fait accompli, or a done deal as a side effect of the evolution of cancer.
About 3,000 resistant cells are present in every visible metastasis, said Dr. Vogelstein. Thats why we see resistance with all therapeutics, even when they work. And we cant get around it with single agents. Cancer treatment requires combinations of agents.
Presentations throughout the meeting offered specific examples of events in pathways involved in the progression of cancer in model organisms that shed light on how human cancer may metastasize.
To identify the genes behind a breast cancers spread to the lungs, Joan Massagu, Ph.D., chair of the Cancer Biology & Genetics Program at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and colleagues, placed cells from the lung fluid of patients into mice, deducing a breast cancer lung metastasis signature and identifying several mediators of metastasis that are clinically relevant and potential drug targets.
Denise Montell, Ph.D., from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, traced the signaling pathways that developing egg cells in the Drosophila (fruit fly) ovary use to migrate as using some of the same genes that are expressed as ovarian cancer spreads.
David Botstein, Ph.D., and his group at Princeton University use yeast to model the evolution of cancer through serial mutations, revealing that only a few destinations for a particular type of cancer are possible. Breast cancers cant turn into leukemias, There are limited subtypes, not just anything can happen, he explained.
David Q. Matus, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher at Duke University, discussed an in vivo model of cell invasion, a key component of cancer metastasis that occurs during the larval development of the roundworm, Caenorhabditis elegans. He showed that the invasive gonadal anchor cell needs to exit the cell cycle, (be non-dividing), in order to invade. Proliferative anchor cells fail to form "invadopodia" -- invasive feet or protrusions in the basement membrane -- suggesting that cell division and cell invasion are disparate states.
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Research and Markets: The Year in Human and Medical Genetics: Inborn Errors of Immunity II
DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/x5ds4f/the_year_in_human) has announced the addition of John Wiley and Sons Ltd's new book "The Year in Human and Medical Genetics: Inborn Errors of Immunity II" to their offering.
The genetic dissection of human primary immunodeficiency is expanding at full speed, in at least two directions. Some investigators pursue the dissection of well-known clinical phenotypes, for which the count of genetic etiologies seems to be endless, whereas others begin the search for inborn errors underlying new phenotypes, infectious and otherwise. The field of primary immunodeficiency is also expanding in other ways, with new therapeutic approaches, and with the care of patients in regions of the world where these diseases were unheard of less than a decade ago. The volume provides an overview of the field of medical genetics and its progress in 2011.
This volume focuses on new developments in primary immunodeficiencies" (PIDs), insights into PID pathophysiology, and PIDs in India and the Middle East. Volume I opens with a dialog between the volume editors on the definition of PIDs; additional papers in this volume focus on PIDs in Latin America, Eastern and Central Europe, North Africa, Turkey, Asia, Iran, and the South Pacific.
For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/x5ds4f/the_year_in_human
Source: John Wiley and Sons Ltd
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Research and Markets: The Year in Human and Medical Genetics: Inborn Errors of Immunity II
Better health care for most vulnerable
Monday July 2, 2012
BOSTON
Massachusetts is taking major strides forward in transforming health care for families and individuals in Berkshire County and across the commonwealth. By emphasizing integrated, whole-person care, the Patrick-Murray ad ministration is ensuring that we will again lead the nation in the next phase of health care reform.
Building on Governor Deval Patrick's health care cost containment efforts, one of our most innovative new initiatives focuses on a group of people who face particularly significant challenges. This group includes adults between 21 and 64 with physical, behavioral, or developmental disabilities. These individuals are sometimes referred to as "dual eligibles" be cause they are eligible for, and receive health care coverage from MassHealth -- the Massachusetts Medicaid program -- as well as Medicare.
Their stories are unique, and their treatment plans they will receive under our innovative new "duals" initiative will also be unique. The duals demonstration is currently in a competitive procurement process to select health care organizations to provide integrated, coordinated care to 111,000 dual eligible individuals, while improving efficiency and controlling costs.
Among those individuals is Amy, a 50-year-old MassHealth and Medicare member who suffers from long-standing multiple sclerosis, with complete paralysis in both legs and partial paralysis in her arms. She has struggled over the years with
Amy sees a variety of different doctors on a regular basis. Her doctors do the best they can to help her, but lack an easy system to communicate with each other, resulting in missed opportunities to coordinate her care. Her medical providers aren't able to work closely with her personal care attendant, who helps Amy take care of basic daily functions like dressing and eating. She would like to join a peer-led depression support group, but she is not sure how to find one -- or whether there would be transportation available to help her get to meetings.
Amy's needs for health care are significant. But perhaps even greater is her need for a comprehensive, integrated health care plan that really addresses her unique circumstances, and a team of professionals well versed in caring for people with individuals working together for her.
The Patrick-Murray administration's new "duals" program will help Amy and the more than 111,000 other individuals in the commonwealth ages 21 to 64 who rely on both MassHealth and Medicare for their care. This population includes nearly 4,000 individuals living in Berkshire County. Under this initiative, these individuals will have a new option for accessing their health care benefits through Integrated Care Organizations (ICOs), which will be selected through a highly selective application process.
ICOs will provide medical and behavioral health care, as well as community support services, like peer support, non-medical transportation and home care services. Starting with the launch of the program in April 2013, each member will work with an interdisciplinary care team that includes a primary care doctor, specialists, a behavioral health clinician if needed, and care coordinators who can help them access both medical and community support services. Working together, the care team will develop a unique, individualized care plan for Amy and every member they serve.
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Politics clouds definition of health measure
Washington — It looks like a tax, smells like a tax, and the Supreme Court says it must be a tax. But politicians in both parties are squirming over how to define the Thing in President Barack Obama's health care law that requires people to pay up if they don't get health insurance.
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Philly Deals: With Romney or Obama as president, health-care reforms are here to stay
Conservatives fought Social Security, Medicare and the weekend when they were proposed. But once enacted, Republican and Democratic Presidents embraced all three as they became part of American life.
We can expect President Obama's court-tested health-care reforms which shift payment for uninsured people's health care from hospitals to taxpayers will also go on, even if Republican Mitt Romney is elected President.
Veteran Philadelphia investor James M. Meyer, of Tower Bridge Advisors, which manages $1 billion in other people's money, wrote a thoughtful account of the costs, purpose and likely durability of "Obamacare," in a note for clients of the West Conshohocken-based investment brokerage Boenning & Scattergood:
"Republicans want to repeal the law. Indeed, the House will vote on or about July 11 to try and do just that. Almost certainly a repeal bill will pass, but just as certain it will die a quick death in the Senate.
Mitt Romney has suggested that repeal of ObamaCare would be his first Presidential initiative if elected. But that is probably just rhetoric.
Outright repeal without a realistic alternative isn't going to sit well with the public. Few want to go back to a world where insurers can simply reject high-risk patients, where people can't [change] jobs for fear of losing coverage, or where children under 26 can no longer be covered on their parent's policies.
Instead, what are needed are mechanisms to make our health-care system more cost efficient. That requirement is going to be the same whether Obama or Romney is elected."
More insurance will bring more taxes a surcharge on investment income for higher-income Americans, and a tax on medical gadgets, though U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.), with device-makers in his district, wants that canceled.
It will cost many billions to extend Medicaid and subsidize insurance sold through state exchanges to the self-employed, workers at small firms, and others whose bosses don't insure.
The government has to attack rising costs, Meyer wrote. Suppliers need incentives to sell the "right" level of health care. Not just more health care. "The patient needs to have an economic stake in the decision to spend money on health care," he wrote. Maybe offer a menu of cost-benefit packages, like in Medicare Part D; incentives for health living; or vouchers.
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Philly Deals: With Romney or Obama as president, health-care reforms are here to stay
Health care law: Is what Obama, Romney say true?
WASHINGTON In promoting the health care law, President Obama is repeating his persistent and unsubstantiated assurance that Americans who like their health insurance can simply keep it. Republican rival Mitt Romney says quite the opposite, but his doomsday scenario is a stretch.
After the Supreme Court upheld the law last week, Obama stepped forward to tell Americans what good will come from it. Romney was quick to lay out the harm. But some of the evidence they gave to the court of public opinion was suspect.
A look at some of their claims and how they compare with the facts:
OBAMA: "If youre one of the more than 250 million Americans who already have health insurance, you will keep your health insurance. This law will only make it more secure and more affordable."
ROMNEY: "Obamacare also means that for up to 20 million Americans, they will lose the insurance they currently have, the insurance that they like and they want to keep."
THE FACTS: Nothing in the law ensures that people happy with their policies now can keep them. Employers will continue to have the right to modify coverage or even drop it, and some are expected to do so as more insurance alternatives become available to the population under the law. Nor is there any guarantee that coverage will become cheaper, despite the subsidies that many people will get.
Americans may well end up feeling more secure about their ability to obtain and keep coverage once insurance companies can no longer deny, terminate or charge more for coverage for those in poor health. But particular health insurance plans will have no guarantee of ironclad security. Much can change, including the cost.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the number of workers getting employer-based coverage could drop by several million, as some workers choose new plans in the marketplace or as employers drop coverage altogether. Companies with more than 50 workers would have to pay a fine for terminating insurance, but in some cases that would be cost-effective for them.
Obamas soothing words for those who are content with their current coverage have been heard before, rendered with different degrees of accuracy. Hes said nothing in the law requires people to change their plans, true enough. But the law does not guarantee the status quo for anyone, either.
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