Medical doctors specializing in patient safety testified on preventable medical errors that can lead to death or serious financial problems as bills mount to correct the medical mistake.
Showing posts with label White House. Show all posts
Showing posts with label White House. Show all posts
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Medical Errors - The Third Leading Cost of Death
Medical doctors specializing in patient safety testified on preventable medical errors that can lead to death or serious financial problems as bills mount to correct the medical mistake.
Friday, July 18, 2014
Obamacare Fails to Fail
How many Americans know how health reform is going? For that matter, how many people in the news media are following the positive developments?
I suspect that the answer to the first question is “Not many,” while the answer to the second is “Possibly even fewer,” for reasons I’ll get to later. And if I’m right, it’s a remarkable thing — an immense policy success is improving the lives of millions of Americans, but it’s largely slipping under the radar.
How is that possible? Think relentless negativity without accountability. The Affordable Care Act has faced nonstop attacks from partisans and right-wing media, with mainstream news also tending to harp on the act’s troubles. Many of the attacks have involved predictions of disaster, none of which have come true. But absence of disaster doesn’t make a compelling headline, and the people who falsely predicted doom just keep coming back with dire new warnings.
Consider, in particular, the impact of Obamacare on the number of Americans without health insurance. The initial debacle of the federal website produced much glee on the right and many negative reports from the mainstream press as well; at the beginning of 2014, many reports confidently asserted that first-year enrollments would fall far short of White House projections.
Then came the remarkable late surge in enrollment. Did the pessimists face tough questions about why they got it so wrong? Of...
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Wednesday, December 4, 2013
The Minimum Wage in America Is Pretty Damn Low
Everyone's talking about the minimum wage today. I'm in favor of raising it, and I always have been, but a picture is worth a thousand words, so here's a picture for you. Courtesy of the OECD, it shows the minimum wage in various rich countries as a percentage of the average wage. The United States isn't quite the lowest, but we're pretty damn close.
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Tuesday, December 3, 2013
If the minimum wage tracked inflation, it would be $4.07 per hour.
Speaking at the White House on June 25, Vice President Joe Biden claimed that a higher federal minimum wage was practical and long overdue. "Just pay me [for] minimum wage what you paid folks in 1968," Mr. Biden said, echoing the argument numerous labor unions, left-wing think tanks and activist groups have made.
The logic goes something like this: Had the minimum wage tracked inflation since 1968, it would today be over $10 an hour, so Congress should seek to bring it up to at least that amount. There are two problems with this logic. First, it is inconsistent with other Labor Department inflation data. And second, it presumes that entry-level employees can't get a raise unless the government gives them one. The federal minimum wage was first set in 1938 at 25 cents an hour. Had it tracked the cost of living since, it would today be $4.07 an hour, based on Labor Department data and the Bureau of Labor Statistics' inflation calculator. This is the only logically consistent "historic" value of the minimum wage, and it's 44% less than the current amount of $7.25. Advocates of a higher minimum wage arbitrarily selected 1968 as the historical reference point. It's no wonder: That's when federal minimum wage hit its inflation-adjusted high point. How about picking other arbitrary years to track the minimum wage and inflation? If you used 1948 instead of 1968, the minimum wage's inflation-adjusted value would only be $3.81 an hour. If you chose 1988, the adjusted minimum wage would... |
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
ObamaCare's Union Favor
The Affordable Care Act's greatest hits keep coming, and one that hasn't received enough attention is a looming favor for President Obama's friends in Big Labor. Millions of Americans are losing their plans and paying more for health care, and doctors are being forced out of insurance networks, but a lucky few may soon get relief.
Earlier this month the Administration suggested that it may grant a waiver for some insurance plans from a tax that is supposed to capitalize a reinsurance fund for ObamaCare. The $25 billion cost of the fund, which is designed to pay out to the insurers on the exchanges if their costs are higher than expected, is socialized over every U.S. citizen with a private health plan. For 2014, the fee per head is $63. The unions hate this reinsurance transfer because it takes from their members in the form of higher premiums and gives to people on the exchanges. But then most consumers are hurt in the same way, and the unions have little ground for complaint given that ObamaCare would not have passed in 2010 without the fervent support of the AFL-CIO, the Teamsters and the rest. The unions ought to consider this tax a civic obligation in solidarity with the (uninsured) working folk they claim to support. Instead, they've spent most of the last year demanding that the White House give them subsidies and carve-outs unavailable to anyone else. But don't expect ObamaCare favors unless you helped to re-elect the President. In an aside in a Federal Register... |
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Extension of Benefits for Jobless Is Set to End
WASHINGTON — Unless Congress acts, during the last week of December an estimated 1.3 million people will lose access to an emergency program providing them with additional weeks of jobless benefits. A further 850,000 will be denied benefits in the first quarter of 2014.
Congressional Democrats and the White House, pointing to the sluggish recovery and the still-high jobless rate, are pushing once again to extend the period covered by the unemployment insurance program. But with Congress still far from a budget deal and still struggling to find alternatives to the $1 trillion in long-term cuts known as sequestration, lawmakers say the chances of an extension before Congress adjourns in two weeks are slim.
As a result, one of the largest stimulus measures passed during the recession is likely to come to an end, and jobless workers in many states are likely to receive considerably fewer weeks of benefits.
In all, as many as 4.8 million people could be affected by expiring unemployment benefits through 2014, estimated Gene Sperling, President Obama’s top economic adviser.
“Historically, there has not been a time where the unemployment rate has been this high where you have not extended it,” Mr. Sperling said in an interview. “Why would you not extend now, when you’re dealing with the nearly unprecedented levels of long-term unemployment coming off such a historic recession? This would be the wrong time to do it.”
Democrats are pushing...
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Saturday, November 16, 2013
Obama Selects Health Policy Advocate as Surgeon General
President Obama nominated Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, an early supporter and grass-roots advocate for the Affordable Care Act, as surgeon general on Thursday.
Dr. Murthy, 36, is a founder and the president of Doctors for America, a group that campaigned for the health care law before Congress passed it in 2010 and that was an outgrowth of Doctors for Obama, which worked to help elect the president in 2008. He is a doctor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and an instructor at Harvard Medical School.
At a Rose Garden event in October 2009, held as the Senate Finance Committee was set to vote on the legislation, Dr. Murthy said that Mr. Obama “understands that the current system isn’t working for patients, but it’s also not working for doctors.”
Jay Carney, the White House spokesman, said Thursday in a statement that Dr. Murthy “will be a powerful messenger” on health policy. His nomination is subject to Senate approval.
Last year, he was the co-author of an article for The New Republic responding to criticism of the health care law and citing its support among doctors, although it acknowledged qualms among them. “Doctors will support the new law to the extent that it becomes visible in their everyday lives, and make these lives better,” it said.
He also has been a leader in H.I.V. prevention and AIDS education in both the United States and India. In 1995, he helped found Visions, a nonprofit AIDS and...
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Friday, November 15, 2013
White House rejects asbestos bill
President Barack Obama’s administration came out against a key piece of asbestos legislation Tuesday just days after headlining a fundraiser at the homes of two of the top asbestos litigators in the country.
In a swing through Texas last week, two of the country’s top asbestos attorneys, Russell Budd and Peter Kraus, hosted fundraisers that brought in an expected $1 million-plus for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee over the course of three hours at their Dallas-area homes. Continue Reading
On Tuesday evening the White House put out a statement opposing a piece of legislation aimed at regulating asbestos bankruptcy trusts. Budd and Kraus both sit on the boards of several of these trusts.
The White House and the Office of Management and Budget did not respond to a request for comment.The trusts allow companies with significant liabilities to secure protection for future claims, but often have advisory committees made up of people from the same law firms that represent the asbestos clients. The Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency (FACT) Act — backed by business interests such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — would require the trusts to disclose additional information about the claims the pay to victims, in order prevent false or inflated claims. In a statement Tuesday evening, the White House warned that the legislation would make publicly available the personal information of individuals who had filed asbestos-related injuries. Additionally,... |
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Snowden Offers to Fix Healthcare.gov
 Speaking from an undisclosed location in Russia, Mr. Snowden said he hacked the Web site over the weekend and thinks he is “pretty sure what the problem is.” “Look, this thing was built terribly,” he said. “It’s a government Web site, O.K.?” Mr. Snowden said that if an immunity deal can be worked out, “I can get to work on this thing right away—I don’t need a password.” In addition to full immunity, Mr. Snowden said he is requesting that he be allowed to work from home. At the White House, President Obama offered a muted response to Mr. Snowden’s proposal: “Edward Snowden is a traitor who has compromised our national security. Having said that, if he knows why we keep getting those error messages, that could be a conversation.” Get the Borowitz Report delivered to your inbox.Photograph: AP. |
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Obama to Increase Workers' Compensation Benefits
President Obama announced a plan this week that will increase benefits paid to injured workers though workers' compensation insurance. Obama intends to increase the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.00 per hour and "index" future increases.
The majority the nation's patchwork of workers' compensation systems are based on a payment scheme linked to wages. The State Average Weekly Wage (SAAW) establishes the foundation upon which temporary disability and permanent disability payments are determined. As wages increase so will benefits.
The majority the nation's patchwork of workers' compensation systems are based on a payment scheme linked to wages. The State Average Weekly Wage (SAAW) establishes the foundation upon which temporary disability and permanent disability payments are determined. As wages increase so will benefits.
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| President Barack Obama Delivering The State of The Union White House Photo: Chuck Kennedy |
A White House spokesperson announced that, "The President’s plan strengthens the middle class by making America a magnet for jobs, equipping every American with the skills they need to do those jobs, and ensuring hard work leads to a decent living."
"The President believes that no one who works fulltime should have to raise their family in poverty. But right now, a full-time minimum wage worker makes $14,500 a year – which leaves
too many families struggling to make ends meet, with a family of four with a minimum wage worker still living below the poverty line. That’s why the President is calling on Congress to raise the Federal minimum wage for working Americans in stages to $9 in 2015 and index it to inflation thereafter."
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"The President believes that no one who works fulltime should have to raise their family in poverty. But right now, a full-time minimum wage worker makes $14,500 a year – which leaves
too many families struggling to make ends meet, with a family of four with a minimum wage worker still living below the poverty line. That’s why the President is calling on Congress to raise the Federal minimum wage for working Americans in stages to $9 in 2015 and index it to inflation thereafter."
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Wednesday, November 3, 2010
The Election Validates A New Approach to Workers Compensation
The recent election results confirm that a new approach to handling the century old workers' compensation is needed and that some definite trends are developing.
New Jersey: The constitutional amendment to prohibit raiding the Second Injury Fund revenue was passed.
California: Jerry Brown was elected governor and the Republican assault on the state compensation system rejected.
Nevada: Harry Reid was re-elected validating the innovated "Libby Health Care" Plan for medical care for occupational illness and the Federalization of the program and the US Senate's initiative.
New York: Andrew Cuomo was elected governor and revision is likely of the administrative assault on workers' rights.
Nationally, the soaring US deficit, and a State system that continues to fail to deliver health care to occupationally injured workers, will eventually need to be addressed by Congress. The 2008 strong Democratic mandate has not evaporated. The Democrats still control the Senate (51-D v 46-R) and downtown at White House. The newly acquired House Republican majority (234-R v 180-D) is instilled with the chaos of an unsettling newly emerging third party, Tea Party, alliance.
The course ahead still remains promising for enacting a unified and coordinate program to help injured workers obtain medical care for occupational diseases on a timely and effective basis without breaking the bank. The vision of a coordinated epidemiological research program to prevent occupational disease and insure safe working conditions remains hopeful.
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For over 3 decades the Law Offices of Jon L. Gelman 1.973.696.7900 jon@
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