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The Health Care Chronicles - Winners and Losers

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Tuesday, 22 December 2009 14:29 Written by James Van de Voorde

The WSJ’s “Republicans Take Aim at Deal-Making” today reveals some of the fine print of the Reid bill.  Touted by Reid as the “art of compromise”, the bill contains the following back-room details:

- Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa won a provision to increase Medicare payments to the many medium-sized hospitals in his state.
- Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont won a $10 billion clause for the funding of community health centers.
- Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, the big winner in the health reform sweepstakes, negotiated a provision for the Federal government to pick up the tab for any new Medicaid costs in his home state.
- Senator Chris Dodd from Connecticut “crafted” a $100 million provision that favors hospitals such as the John Dempsey Hospital at the University of Connecticut.      
- Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota championed an agreement to help hospitals in rural states. 
- Senator Max Baucus won funding for a Superfund site (hazardous waste clean-up) in his home state of Montana.

This pork-barrel politicking makes one want to take a shower.  Lest the Senators have all the fun, the American Medical Association endorsed the bill only after successfully defeating a new tax on cosmetic surgery, the so-called “Botax”.  Alas, without the “Botax”, some institution had to make up for this lost revenue.  And so, in addition to the American people, the big loser in the Reid bill seems to be the tanning salon industry who must fork out an estimated $2.7 billion over 10 years.  You just can’t make this stuff up.

 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126144830913601141.html


       

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Article of the Day

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Monday, 21 December 2009 22:32 Written by James Van de Voorde

After Senator Ben Nelson’s sell out, health care “reform” has taken another step forward.  Today’s WSJ opinion page pulled no punches in lambasting the Reid bill.  Excerpt follows:

“Health costs. From the outset, the White House's core claim was that reform would reduce health costs for individuals and businesses, and they're sticking to that story. "Anyone who says otherwise simply hasn't read the bills," Mr. Obama said over the weekend. This is so utterly disingenuous that we doubt the President really believes it.

The best and most rigorous cost analysis was recently released by the insurer WellPoint, which mined its actuarial data in various regional markets to model the Senate bill. WellPoint found that a healthy 25-year-old in Milwaukee buying coverage on the individual market will see his costs rise by 178%. A small business based in Richmond with eight employees in average health will see a 23% increase. Insurance costs for a 40-year-old family with two kids living in Indianapolis will pay 106% more. And on and on.

These increases are solely the result of ObamaCare—above and far beyond the status quo—because its strict restrictions on underwriting and risk-pooling would distort insurance markets. All but a handful of states have rejected regulations like "community rating" because they encourage younger and healthier buyers to wait until they need expensive care, increasing costs for everyone. Benefits and pricing will now be determined by politics.

As for the White House's line about cutting costs by eliminating supposed "waste," even Victor Fuchs, an eminent economist generally supportive of ObamaCare, warned last week that these political theories are overly simplistic. "The oft-heard promise 'we will find out what works and what does not' scarcely does justice to the complexity of medical practice," the Stanford professor wrote.”

Here is a link to the full article:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704398304574598130440164954.html

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Buttercup Squash Soup +

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Saturday, 19 December 2009 16:25 Written by James Van de Voorde

Used this recipe for starter course for dinner party tonight:

http://www.examiner.com/x-22346-Portland-Cooking-Examiner~y2009m11d10-Buttercup-Squash-Pear-and-Ginger-Soup

Finished the soup yesterday to have time today for the rest of the dinner – very happy with the results.  Here’s the main course:

Slow roasted venison with apples, onions and garlic:

 http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-apple-scented-venison-roast/detail.aspx

Winter mashed potatoes:

http://www.kristascorner.se/recipe/wintermashedpotatoes.html

Glazed carrots and turnips:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/glazed-carrots-and-turnips-recipe/index.html

Thinking of putting our Tablas Creek wine club membership to good use – the 2007 Rousanne with the buttercup squash soup and the 2007 Mourvedre with the venison should do the trick:  

http://www.tablascreek.com/roussanne07.shtml

http://www.tablascreek.com/mourvedre07.shtml

Wish me luck…

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Oracle up 4% after the bell...

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Friday, 18 December 2009 02:25 Last Updated on Friday, 18 December 2009 20:02 Written by James Van de Voorde

Great quarter from Oracle:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704238104574602383321434834.html?ru=yahoo&mod=yahoo_hs

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Oracle-Tops-Q2-Estimates-ibd-142999019.html?x=0&.v=1

Earnings grew 12% on a 4% rise in revenues – both better than expectations.  Recurring or “maintenance” revenues now 56% of sales.  New “license” revenues up 2% bodes well and indicates potential turn of its business after several quarterly declines.  Company says it expects EU to approve acquisition of Sun Microsystems.  Guidance looks good.  With fiscal ’10 PE of 15 and forward fiscal ’11 PE of 13, ORCL shares are still reasonably priced. 


 

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Article of the Day

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Thursday, 17 December 2009 14:58 Last Updated on Friday, 18 December 2009 20:02 Written by James Van de Voorde

Check out the opinion section of today’s Wall Street Journal for physician and Republican senator Tom Coburn’s take on the “scary” Reid health bill:

 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514404574588842779569168.html

With opposition growing against the President’s plans for health care reform, it is not surprising that Obama’s approval rating at the end of his first year has fallen below 50% for the first time.  At 47%, the President’s approval rating is below the first year approval rating of any modern President. 

The last President to garner a first year approval rating below 50% was Ronald Reagan in 1981 at 49%.  Of course, Reagan ended up fairly popular by modern standards, with his approval rating peaking near 65% and ending just under 60% when he left office.  The only modern President to end his Presidency with an approval rating north of 60% was Bill Clinton, whose approval rating bottomed at 40% and then steadily climbed throughout his two terms as he transformed himself into a true centrist leader.  It is no coincidence that the plummeting approval of both Clinton and Obama coincided with a fight to nationalize health care.    With so much going wrong for Obama in his first year, the surprise may be that he finds his way to the middle and pulls a page from the resurgent Clinton playbook.  On second thought, Jimmy Carter’s approval rating bottomed at 30% mid way through his term and finished just above 30% when he left office.  Which script Mr. President?
   

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