Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Clinton derangement syndrome

rdan Joe Conason of Salon gets this one right. Here was an effort that exemplified the best of America — a society that values the lives of its citizens enough to send a former head of state, with all the power of government behind him, to the aid of two women in distress. Here was […]

JS-KIT Echo commenting system

rdan For JS-Kit’s part, and Echo specifically, the key is to ensure that a blog is a full and fruitful part of the full social media landscape. The goal is to make the blog post the first place to share a thought and the best place to see a complete and comprehensive view of the […]

OCC consumer protection 2009…same as 2007

rdan I was going to do another piece on the OCC and performance as a regulating agency, but Baseline Scenario did a great job already:John Dugan and the OCC. Does anyone know if a replacement is even being considered?

Echo commenting system

rdan I have been informed by js-kit that Aug.6, 09 is the date of our automatic conversion to the Echo Commenting System. Be advised it interconnects comments to other sites with your open ID and other formats as a social networking opportunity when someone clicks your profile, compiling your trail of comments over the internets. […]

Smile for the week

rdan David Zetland carries this story that I assume is accurate. Archtypical anecdote comes to mind. (via JWT) Judy Wallman, a professional genealogy researcher in southern California, was doing some personal work on her own family tree. She discovered that Harry (senator (D) from Nevada ) Reid’s great-great uncle, Remus Reid, was hanged for horse […]

Re-tooling the Medicare/medicaid model

rdan I read the Op-Ed in the Boston Globe and asked Doug to write a piece or pieces in a more detailed fashion. There have been allusions to this issue as a cost factor, but no policy consideration here to date. Post by Doug Brown Due to the complexity of organizations today, there is commonly […]

Will catastrophic only health insurance be rescinded in the end?

rdan Taunter explains how the .5% rescission rate figure discussed in the hearings on health insurance premiums and coverage is used to dismiss Congressional concerns as inconsequential and actually is a good business practice that will not change. It is worth going to the post to accurately follow the train of thought. Taunter concludes that […]

Models for health care organizations?

Tom aka Rusty Models for health care organizations? In a recent post I opined the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic, both favorites of President Obama, were not models for wide application to the rest of the nation. In response to a spirited debate (thanks Coberly) I wrote up these comments. Starting in the 90s a […]

Declining customer base for insurers means declining companies?

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, […]