Tuesday, August 18, 2009

H.R. 3200 - (National) Health Reform Bill

After a great length of time reading the preliminary health care bill, I have come to the conclusion that there are very few things that the bill would accomplish. Although there are many social and political issues, I will not be discussing those. I am simply going to layout a few simple points as to what the bill aims to accomplish.

1. National Health Care - A minimal health care system for all Americans, funded through company's who make a certain amount of income each year (this has yet to be finalized as to which number would be looked at).

2. Private Health Insurance - The bill aims to provide basic health care needs to all Americans but private insurance companies would not be changed. Existing health care plans as well as Medicare and Medical are not affected.

3. Costs - As far as the bill is concerned, each benefits category by age group will maintain the same level of coverage per group. If costs change for anyone in a group, the costs are averaged through that group to level out the costs. No other groups should technically be affected by any other group.

4. Loss of Policy - A policy can only be revoked in cases of fraud. If no fraud is found, a policy is to remain in effect unless cancelled by the policyholder.

5. Policy Changes - All affected parties must be given adequate notice as to any changes to the policy in any way.

6. Plan Financing - Initial startup costs for the program will be repaid over a 10 year period from the plan's account. All further health care costs will only be paid out from the health care plan's general account. No other funds will be allowed to be used for this program and the funds from this program can not be used to fund other programs.

7. New/Transfer Accounts - All costs/benefits must be made and the taxpayer is ultimately held reponsible.

8. No coverage for undocumented aliens.

9. Additional tax - An additional tax to be determined (currently at 2.5% of gross income) if the requirements to enroll in the health care plan are not met. This tax is limited to the national average premium for the year.

In general the bill proves to be an interesting piece of legislation. The problem with a bill like this is that much of it should be in place to regulate private health care because these costs are the real issue. Providing health care for everone seems like a downside to those who save and are able to pay for their own health care. There are enough people who are barely able to make ends meet with the rising costs of health care.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Term: Stochastic

A process in which a behavior is determined by predictable actions and a random element.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stochastic

Thursday, August 13, 2009

State of California IOU's

California could end it's IOU program on September 4th, according to the state controller.

Read the article here.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Unemployment Figures

The President released the umemployment figures for the month of July. Watch the speech below or click here for the full report and transcript.


Monday, August 3, 2009

President's Weekly Address: This Economic Storm Will Pass (from 7/31/09)

The President talks about improvemnts to the American Economy. Read the article here as well as watch the video. The video can also be watched in the player below.



Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Microsoft-Yahoo Deal

Read the article on Yahoo! Finance here.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Credit Card Fees

The Obama Administration is looking to help consumers with their credit cards. In the first of hopefully many overhauls, the credit card fee structure is being changed, limiting the hiking of sudden late fees and phone payment charges among others. The administration is looking to change spending habits by helping people manage their money better and understand that there are always consequences to actions.

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