0
   

Terre Haute - can we get there from anywhere?

 
 
ehBeth
 
  1  
Reply Sun 10 Jan, 2016 02:49 pm
@ehBeth,
http://able2know.org/topic/307729-42#post-6105457

Finn

who should become police
ehBeth
 
  1  
Reply Sat 20 Feb, 2016 07:20 pm
@ehBeth,
https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xlp1/v/t1.0-9/12705654_10153376065290770_1243259214654673166_n.jpg?oh=87554ca0c7f2d3cd8149641da787c9b5&oe=57588383
0 Replies
 
ehBeth
 
  1  
Reply Fri 4 Mar, 2016 12:44 pm
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2016/03/insurers_lose_hospitals_win_in.html

Quote:
shakeout

Oregon health insurers hemorrhaged red ink in 2015 as the industry continued to struggle in the Affordable Care Act era. The collective losses of the state's seven major insurers nearly quadrupled to more than $164 million, with troubled Moda Health Plans alone losing nearly $50 million in a high-profile financial implosion.

The state's hospitals, meanwhile, are basking in an Affordable Care Act
honeymoon of soaring revenue and big profits. The hospitals' charity care has plummeted since passage of the act, which has led to a tripling of their 2015 profit margins compared to 2013.

The hospitals' bonanza comes at the expense of taxpayers, the insurance
companies and consumers who, in some cases, face double-digit insurance premium rate hikes.

"It's the providers who have won in the Affordable Care Act," said Jack
Friedman, former chief executive of the Providence Health Plan. "They've gotten a whole bunch of new business and the charity care the hospitals were providing is just a fraction of what it once was."

Eighteen months since the landmark Affordable Care Act took effect, the
legislation has succeeded in its primary goal: Getting 16.4 million formerly uninsured Americans some sort of insurance coverage. In Oregon, more than half a million people got coverage through Medicaid or commercial insurance through the newly created exchange.

But that achievement has been painful, marked by technological snafus,
partisan bitterness and financial heartburn.

Numbers released this week by the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Affairs show the steep toll Oregon insurers have paid as they struggle to adjust to the changes.

Surprisingly, Providence Health Plan, not Moda, posted the largest losses
of the year among the big seven players. It lost $63 million in 2015, a drastic reversal from the $22.3 million profit it posted in 2014. Providence spokesman Gary Walker attributed the big loss to an influx of expensive new customers and an ill-advised 14 percent rate cut it implemented in 2015.

"We're all learning this as we go," said Walker, who added that Providence
has an immense capital reserve, nearly 1,000 percent beyond state requirements.

Moda last year lost $49.5 million, its second straight year of red ink. The travails of the second-largest carrier in the state have been well documented: Its aggressive push into the individual market created by the Affordable Care Act proved to be a financial disaster, which got even worse when the federal government backtracked on promised financial assistance.

Questions about Moda's survival swirled around the company for months
until Oregon insurance regulators took the company into supervision in January. In an order signed by both parties, Moda agreed to make no significant move without approval of a state official who would be based at the company's downtown office tower. The state said it would begin the process of helping Moda customers move to different, stronger insurance companies.

Thirteen days later, the Moda saga took another strange twist when the
state suddenly rescinded its order of supervision. Oregon said it would allow Moda to resume business as usual and proceed with its own plan to replenish its capital reserves with $170 million in new money.

It appears Moda has already come up with $43 million of that new cash.
In the financial statement it provided to the state on Tuesday, Moda disclosed that in December it borrowed another $43 million from affiliated companies. This is in addition to the $50 million it borrowed from its parent company in November and still another $50 million it borrowed from OHSU in November 2014.

Moda officials refused to comment for this story, as did Oregon Insurance
Commissioner Laura Cali.

Regence BlueCross Blueshield was the lone company among Oregon's big
seven health carriers to post a profit in 2015. The Portland company earned $25.8 million in the year despite what company President Angela Dowling called "challenging economic and regulatory shifts in our industry."

Elsewhere, PacificSource lost $10.2 million, Lifewise lost $35.7 million,
Health Net Plan lost $25.3 million and Kaiser lost $13.4 million.

A wave of consolidation is already underway in the health insurance business
and most expect it to gather steam in the face of similar financial struggles industrywide. Health Net is merging with St. Louis based Centene Corp. Springfield-based PacificSource in October entered into an alliance with Legacy Health, one of the state's largest hospital chains.

In the end, the insurance companies most likely to survive are those
like Kaiser and Providence, which are affiliated with enormous hospital systems.

"Consolidation is happening now and I think there will be further consolidation," said Friedman, the retired Providence executive. "It may be that only three to four insurers have the financial wherewithal and the willingness to stay in this market."

Clare Krusing, spokesman for America's Health Insurance Plans, a Washington, D.C.-based trade group, said it's time for hospitals to offer concessions on costs. "We need to bring down the cost of care," she said. "We need to figure out how we can make care more affordable and more accessible."

For their part, hospital executives argue that their good times are unlikely
to last. The federal government will implement changes to Medicare early in the next decade that will hurt hospitals' bottom line, said Andy Van Pelt, executive vice president of the Oregon Association of Hospital and Health Systems. And even now, when urban hospitals are enjoying big gains, some smaller and more rural hospitals continue to struggle.

"I don't think the increases you're seeing now are sustainable in the
future," Van Pelt said.

Jesse Ellis O'Brien, who watchdogs Oregon health insurers for the Oregon
State Public Interest Research Group consumer advocacy group, agrees with the insurers. The changes in charitable care alone have generated huge financial benefits for the hospitals that need to be shared, he said.

Oregon's 28 largest hospitals provided $143.3 million worth of charity
care in the first six months of 2015, according to the Oregon Health Authority. That's down by nearly two-thirds from the $414.7 million worth of charity care the big hospitals provided in the same period of 2013.

As these former charity cases became paying customers, Oregon's big hospitals, many of them owned by non-profits, saw their profits swell. The operating margin at the state's larger hospitals hit 8 percent in the second quarter of 2015, according to state data, more than triple their profits from the same period in 2013.

For champions of reform, who repeatedly harped on the importance of reducing health-care costs, hospitals' big profits are not what they envisioned.

"The unspoken understanding for a long time was that hospitals were going
to charge more than they really needed to in order to cover the cost of charity care," O'Brien said. "Now, there are fewer and and fewer of those people.

Does it really make sense for hospitals to continue passing along charges for costs that are no longer in the system?"
0 Replies
 
33export
 
  2  
Reply Fri 4 Mar, 2016 02:49 pm
Charming little town just a few kiles away:

http://inthepastlane.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Holliston-mudville-welcome-sign.jpg
0 Replies
 
ehBeth
 
  1  
Reply Wed 30 Mar, 2016 07:21 pm
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/gallup-only-2-americans-name-gunsgun-control-among-nations-most-important

Quote:
Gallup: Only 2% Say 'Guns/Gun Control' Among Nation's Most Important Problems


Quote:
(CNSNews.com) - As President Obama prepares to announce new executive actions on gun control Monday, a newly released Gallup Poll shows that "guns/gun control" ranked near the bottom of Americans' most pressing concerns in 2015.

In fact, guns/gun control ranked 19th out of 23 top problems facing the country last year.

According to Gallup, only one percent of respondents mentioned guns/gun control as a concern for most of the months in 2015, although mentions spiked to 7 percent in October and December following mass shootings in those months that dominated the news. (The overall average for the year was 2 percent.)

Americans were most likely to mention some aspect of the federal government in 2015 when asked to name the country's top problem.

Sixteen percent of those responding listed Government/Congress/Politicians, and 13 percent chose the "Economy in general." Eight percent said unemployment is the nation's top problem, and for the first time since 2007, immigration was among the top four most frequently cited problems, mentioned by 8 percent of respondents.

Rounding out the top 10 were various problems each averaging 5%, including ethical/moral decline, race relations/racism, terrorism, the federal budget deficit/debt and education.
ehBeth
 
  1  
Reply Sat 30 Apr, 2016 09:38 pm
@ehBeth,
Testing
edgarblythe
 
  1  
Reply Sat 30 Apr, 2016 09:40 pm
@ehBeth,
You mean there's going to be a quiz?
ehBeth
 
  1  
Reply Sat 30 Apr, 2016 09:47 pm
@edgarblythe,
If I master the stylus before the bus arrives
0 Replies
 
ehBeth
 
  3  
Reply Fri 13 May, 2016 09:49 pm
Bella and a few local members of her fan club

a big Sunday morning yawn

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13233042_10153565429780770_7374753508247738778_n.jpg?oh=4aa36e05bd489617a5ebe9b04e96a23c&oe=579F4227

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/t31.0-8/q83/s960x960/13198558_10153565432035770_2847013966304243462_o.jpg

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13102705_10153565432265770_5412415428788109434_n.jpg?oh=65a5552340c5f0982a1359b4c9c871d2&oe=57A9A6A8


staring down a bug on the sidewalk

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13237680_10153565430080770_685042864613852574_n.jpg?oh=80c638c5e62a59899d4385c592227b9f&oe=579E6098
0 Replies
 
ehBeth
 
  2  
Reply Sun 29 May, 2016 07:02 pm
from the first days of a seven day nature photo challenge

https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13256161_10153590156415770_3300848583376149199_n.jpg?oh=f0f40fa2c144bea1b47f4a1b60a6e996&oe=57CF74E5

https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/l/t1.0-9/13255928_10153592297490770_3018659738076294789_n.jpg?oh=5a4559ce96a399829b773cdc5c5bb52e&oe=57DE21C7

https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13335572_10153594321800770_5463808970902924266_n.jpg?oh=45785009c393c82ab7b8cd288bda1376&oe=57E39583

https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/l/t1.0-9/13322164_10153596331315770_7199836871431201882_n.jpg?oh=920d178afd35ce1724bc264728c4973f&oe=57D5B9D5



ossobuco
 
  1  
Reply Sun 29 May, 2016 07:05 pm
@ehBeth,
Oooooh.
0 Replies
 
ehBeth
 
  1  
Reply Sun 29 May, 2016 07:05 pm
@ehBeth,
https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13310609_10153596330685770_4970779892301211158_n.jpg?oh=7affa80c0bfb7fa4c58644af544c265e&oe=57D49B4D

https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13307460_10153594394885770_4361646451855471712_n.jpg?oh=96250c92d395aadf167e545f1ed05bf4&oe=57D38E1F

https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13332757_10153596327615770_8551359348226569947_n.jpg?oh=c594a7cfa965fe80d7c1af451435a7a0&oe=57CEA03B

https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13260128_10153594324985770_3457640284525932082_n.jpg?oh=c2b0dc09e4c358f760d1831b7646410f&oe=57C9E3B8
0 Replies
 
ehBeth
 
  1  
Reply Thu 16 Jun, 2016 07:35 pm
https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13450875_10153634172175770_7301205414170811628_n.jpg?oh=548ff8bde175e4bd1de267c2a0a28f91&oe=57E78A4E
ehBeth
 
  1  
Reply Thu 16 Jun, 2016 07:36 pm
@ehBeth,
https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13419279_10153634173665770_1241767971398550333_n.jpg?oh=b0a73595f51af56db33dc3abf155be17&oe=57C925DC


https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13445557_10153634179420770_8911159270072489433_n.jpg?oh=2a5ad204b6d8ff0abd28051b0a077b07&oe=57DFF4BF
ehBeth
 
  1  
Reply Thu 16 Jun, 2016 07:38 pm
@ehBeth,
https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13418687_10153634173865770_8291025554541916905_n.jpg?oh=fe98cf9120a4d9974bd5e4164c851879&oe=57CA8E20

plastic flowers for the win
0 Replies
 
ehBeth
 
  1  
Reply Thu 16 Jun, 2016 07:39 pm
https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13428638_10153634175680770_5339530889659943252_n.jpg?oh=28729f0b3994524a86c74cbdd1117961&oe=57CC75BD
ehBeth
 
  2  
Reply Thu 16 Jun, 2016 07:41 pm
@ehBeth,
https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13435546_10153634178850770_4330699453820995669_n.jpg?oh=0d38f1c2c0af77b79a638375a31a5169&oe=57D13A5B

Bella and her pal Heidi, with Heidi's human - Rick
https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13418867_10153634180580770_1170873935819811748_n.jpg?oh=2d9fada6d317ca0c04040cbc1e4cb510&oe=57E25106
0 Replies
 
ehBeth
 
  1  
Reply Thu 7 Jul, 2016 06:31 pm
http://able2know.org/topic/289941-138#post-6219644
0 Replies
 
ehBeth
 
  3  
Reply Mon 19 Sep, 2016 07:45 pm
https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14358925_10153743296497187_1070695754055140699_n.jpg?oh=b311e02e21d885c7870f48d8a6e775c4&oe=586B22BE
ossobucotemp
 
  2  
Reply Mon 19 Sep, 2016 09:41 pm
@ehBeth,
I adore that photo.

 

 
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