Albany, NY -- Paul Krugman on Medicare
The NY Times has
Paul Krugman's latest on the state of the prescription drug plan, and it's not pretty (thanks, John Fowler):
The new prescription drug benefit is off to a catastrophic start. Tens of thousands of older Americans have arrived at pharmacies to discover that their old drug benefits have been canceled, but that they aren't on the list for the new program. More than two dozen states have taken emergency action.
At first, federal officials were oblivious. "This is going very well," a Medicare spokesman declared a few days into the disaster. Then officials started making excuses. Some conservatives even insist that the debacle vindicates their ideology: see, government can't do anything right.
.
.
.
The most important problem with the drug bill is that it doesn't offer direct coverage from Medicare. Instead, people must sign up with private plans offered by insurance companies.
This has three bad effects. First, the elderly face wildly confusing choices. Second, costs are high, because the bill creates an extra, unnecessary layer of bureaucracy. Finally, the fragmentation into private plans prevents Medicare from using bulk purchasing to reduce drug prices.
Albany, NY -- NOOOOOOOOOOO
In addition to Arrested Development,
Fox is cancelling two more of my all-time favorite shows this spring:
This season marks the swan songs for Fox stalwarts "Malcolm in the Middle" and "That '70s Show," Peter Liguori, president of Fox Entertainment, said yesterday - adding that the network also is hard at work developing new shows to fill the scheduling holes.What a shame... Malcolm in the Middle remains excellent after all these years (though I don't know anyone else who watches it), and with the addition of the new hottie, Samantha, That 70s Show is not only a bit more attractive, but the latest season has been better than the last one, even with the loss of Topher Grace and Ashton Kutcher. Oh well.
Of course, what remains on the air, long past its prime? The Simpsons, which hasn't been great since its ninth season, which I believe was 1997-1998 (geez, I was still in high school). And Bart Simpson, your recent blackboard statement of "I AM NOT SMARTER THAN THE PRESIDENT" hasn't been true in nearly as long...
Albany, NY -- Wal-mart vs. Wegman's
Following up on Ari's post from a few days ago about the new Maryland law which
effectively forces Wal-mart to provide health care for all of its workers in the state, I'd like to see someone do a paper on the economics of Wal-Mart versus the economics of the
Wegman's grocery store chain.
Whereas by nearly all accounts, Wal-mart is a lousy place to work, Wegman's
was recently named by Fortune for the ninth year in a row as one of the top 10 places to work in America. They're obviously profitable, too, as they're growing pretty quickly (financial figures aren't available, as they're a private company).
For more information about Wegman's,
visit here.
It's about time Albany had a Wegman's, no?
Binghamton, NY -- Olmert in Charge
With Sharon still slowly returning to consciousness, Ehud Olmert has been named the Acting Prime Minister for the entire interim period until elections are held this March.
According to Yehidot Ahronot, Olmert hopes to resume peace negotiations as soon as the elections are over in both Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Speaking at a press conference following a meeting with President Moshe Katsav, Olmert took the opportunity to comment on a series of political and diplomatic issues, for the first time since he stepped in to replace ailing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon about two weeks ago.
When asked whether he intends to carry out further disengagements after the elections, Olmert said, "I am just a temporary replacement for Kadima's chairman, hopefully for a short while. With relation to the government's policy - we are sticking to the Road Map peace plan."
"It would be a mistake not to demand of the other side to hold on the commitments it made in the Road Map plan, and not insist it holds to its obligation to fight terror and disarm terror groups," he added.
Olmert said that the government's policy will continue to move in the same course as it did in the past year. "I hope that following the PA elections and the elections in Israel, I can engage in negotiations with Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, on the condition he keeps to his commitment to disarm the terror organizations. Only then can we reach a settlement," Olmert stated.So essentially he's taking the exact same position that Sharon was taking -- or at least that's what he's going with as elections are approaching. I have a feeling that Olmert is going to take a more active approach to the negotiations, i.e. actually meet with the Palestinian representatives himself. His policy will most likely fall somewhere between Ehud Barak's (engagement in negotiations) and Ariel Sharon's (unilateral withdrawal). Regardless of his actual strategy in dealing with the issue, chances are very good that we see the creation of a Palestinian state during his term in office. The only question is what happens to a few square kilometers of land here and there.
Albany, NY -- Thoughts on Limmud NY
I've been really busy the last several days, but took a night out of my schedule on Saturday to attend part of the
Limmud NY conference in the Catskills. For the uninitiated, Limmud NY is an new New York offshoot of a thirty-year-old annual Jewish educational conference in London. Though I wasn't there long, I managed to take in one session led by
Rabbi Allen Bennett, a Reform pulpit rabbi in Alameda, CA.
I chose the session because its topic had to do with "coming out as a Jew in the workplace" -- basically, wearing one's Judaism on his sleeve at work. I selected it particularly because it made me uncomfortable to think about. Many Christian groups advocate such an approach for the purpose of evangelization, and I'm of the belief that people should keep their religion to themselves.
The session didn't spend much time on topic, but what bothered me about it was that a couple of more observant (in the religious sense) women kept blithely throwing around the term "self-hating Jew," apparently in reference to Jews who wouldn't be inclined to throw around their Judaism in public. I asked for a clarification, and got an "Oh, you're so young..." in response. Their classic example was Woody Allen. Doesn't make sense to me... Woody's pretty openly Jewish, and self-deprecation is not the same thing as "self-hatred." I think it's a ridiculous concept anyway. I think by their definition, I'd probably be a "self-hating Jew" as well.
Is it any wonder I feel like I've got an intellectual minefield to carefully negotiate every time I attend a Jewish event?
Not to take anything away from Limmud -- it's a great event. Something for everyone, and the beer flows freely!
Binghamton, NY -- Could this be the start of true universal health care?
A few days ago, the state legislature of Maryland voted to override a veto from the Republican governor on a bill that will force large firms to provide health care for its employees.
The Fair Share Health Care Act would require large, profitable corporations with 10,000 or more employees to spend at least 8 percent of their payroll on health care for their employees or pay the difference of what they do provide into a state fund to defray the costs of uncompensated medical care to the taxpayers of Maryland.Very few companies hire that many workers. In Maryland there are only three, one of which is WalMart, a company that has been repeatedly criticized and litigated for its anti-worker employment record.
Paul Blank, a member of the union-affiliated WakeUpWalMart.com, said that his group plans to introduce this initiative in at least 30 states this year. US Congressional Democrats consider this a great victory for all Americans because it will save all taxpayers from having to subsidize the health care costs (i.e. medicare and medicaid) for WalMart employees.
