rdan Slate has an article that is interesting. Are current health insurance companies a doomed model anyway? The declining numbers aren’t simply a function of job loss. A Bureau of Labor Statistics study released this week found that in March 2009, only about 70 percent of private-sector workers had access to employer-provided medical care benefits, […]

Robert Waldmann wonders why ROBERT PEAR and DAVID M.HERSZENHORN of the New York Times broke the main rule of fair and ballanced journalism — one must never question the honesty of a Republican. Out of some residual respect for journalistic standards, they put their gasp reporting after their jump. On the Senate side of the […]

by reader Sammy “Are Per Capita Spending and Life Expectancy Statistics an accurate measure of US Health Care Efficiency?” Proponents of some degree of nationalization of health care generally cite some variation of the following “The US spends more per capita on health care than any other country, and yet has one of the lowest […]

rdan A reader complained of lack of coverage of the ME at AB now compared to a few years ago, and charged it was a ‘pass’ on President Obama because he was our darling messiah. And of course ignoring the build up in Afganistan. Now this memo could be used to declare victory of the […]

rdan Wendall Potter in his new position at the Center for Media and Democracy will hopefully provide insights into the inner workings of his former employer, health insurance company CIGNA corporation. Bill Moyers has a series of interviews scheduled where Wendall Potter lays out his case. As a consumer, if predictions come true that premiums […]

rdan SIGTARP’s Niel Barofsky and his staff have issued a first try at a cohesive description of funds expended for the fifty or so programs handing out money, but also a description of the potential expenditure (unlikely to happen). The link is to the site, which contains the report and the data in two separate, […]

by Bruce Webb I haven’t posted on Social Security for a while for a pretty simple reason. Nothing has been going on. Until today when Social Security released the following Policy Brief: Distributional Effects of Raising the Social Security Taxable Maximum. This policy brief analyzes the effects on taxpayers and Social Security beneficiaries of either […]

by Bruce Webb Max Baucus of Montana (pop 935,670- 89.2% white)Kent Conrad of North Dakota (pop 636,677- 90.1% white)Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico (pop 1,928,384- 42.8% white)Michael B. Enzi of Wyoming (pop 509,294- 88.8% white)Charles E. Grassley of Iowa (pop 2,966,334- 91.5% white)Olympia Snowe of Maine (pop 1,321,505 – 96% white). Most people following the […]