- Sep 4, 2010 Patients' choices may narrow as insurers adjust standards for doctors, hospitals (Chicago Tribune) While insurance companies say quality is what gets the name of a doctor or hospital on its preferred choices list, cost is also a major factor. Illinois Blue Cross has two HMOs, HMO Illinois and BlueAdvantage, and is considering a third health plan with a smaller network. Kenneth Anderson is... more...
- Sep 4, 2010 New tax may be hard to swallow (Washington Post) But not if it brings new taxes."More taxes. Some managed beer, wine and liquor sales; others, just liquor. A couple had private retail stores from the start. more...
- Sep 3, 2010 For Democrats, Economy Fuels Election Fears (New York Times) Many are embracing the stimulus package enacted soon after Mr. Giffords.Representative Walt Minnick, Democrat of Idaho, boasts at home that he opposed the stimulus package and Mr. Obama to get more engaged in the fight to end the tax cuts for the wealthy. more...
- Sep 3, 2010 Subsidies encourage employers to keep health plans for early retirees (The Dallas Morning News) The company will tap the $5 billion program to reduce health benefit costs for retirees and their dependents, a spokesman said. more...
- Sep 3, 2010 Wonkbook: White House considers payroll tax holiday; House libs against Social Security cuts; 25% were unemployed during recession (Washington Post) Whatever else the fiscal commission does, it seems likely to come out with some package of reforms for the stories social insurance program. But Republicans aren't very interested in raising payroll taxes, and House liberals have now announced their unified opposition to anything that includes... more...
- Sep 3, 2010 Op-Ed Contributor: How to End the Great Recession (New York Times) Even though the American economy kept growing, hourly wages flattened. The economists Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty examined tax returns from 1913 to 2008. Much of this was paid for with a 70 percent to 90 percent marginal income tax on the highest incomes. more...
- Sep 3, 2010 Health insurance is taking a bigger bite from workers' wallets (The Kansas City Star) Total single coverage cost $5,049, up 5 percent. Since 2005, workers' contributions to premiums have jumped 47 percent -- about $1,300 -- while overall premiums rose 27 percent. more...
- Sep 3, 2010 OPINION (The Kansas City Star) Jill Quigley in Lenexa, lost her election. The Koch sphere's antipathy toward taxes didn't stop the heavily Republican Kansas Legislature from passing the sales tax increase. This year's signature initiative was to get states to reject the insurance mandate in the new health care reform law.... more...
- Sep 2, 2010 Health Costs Passed On to Workers (New York Times) REED ABELSONScore one for the nation’s employers. It included a chart detailing the changes over the last five years.Kaiser Family FoundationEmployees are not only paying higher premiums but also higher deductibles. Among the early benefits: tax credits for those small employers buying coverage... more...
- Sep 2, 2010 Target to launch clinics in Chicago, south Florida (Chicago Tribune) Target has 21 clinics in Minnesota and seven in Maryland stores. In the last two years, the dominant players in retail health clinic expansion, CVS and Walgreens, have slowed their growth. CVS would not disclose the actual number of visits. more...
- Sep 2, 2010 Wonkbook: Romer wants more stimulus; five reasons for economic optimism; illegal immigration down (Washington Post) The only surefire ways for policymakers to substantially increase aggregate demand in the short run are for the government to spend more and tax less. This part of the yield is counted as part of national income by the Commerce Department. Goldstein argues that the United States could reduce its... more...
- Sep 2, 2010 State pursues health-exchange grant (Omaha World Herald) ...health care law is in dispute.He said he believed Nebraskans would pay for medical and educational needs of residents, even if that required a tax increase.Higgins and board members Patricia Timm and Kandy Imes said they would favor a broader resolution expressing the board's concern about... more...
- Sep 1, 2010 Having it both ways on health care (Omaha World Herald) ...the costs of maintaining health insurance for early retirees.A case of playing both sides of the health care issue?Sure, but state leaders offered no apologies for that Tuesday.Gov. Dave Heineman said he remains opposed to the federal health care law and believes an overwhelming majority of... more...
- Sep 1, 2010 Wonkbook: Jobs bill details sketched; unions target boardrooms; new oil reg rules (Washington Post) Meanwhile, an SEC decision expanding shareholder power over corporate boards has led unions to consider installing their supporters on target companies' boards. It's not clear what those tax breaks would target or how much they might cost in lost revenue to the government. That the Reagan and... more...
- Sep 1, 2010 EDITORIAL (The Kansas City Star) So Let Voters Decide--has gathered enough signatures to ask Missourians on Nov. 2 to decree the once-every-five-years votes in the two largest cities. Again, they have no clue. Ellinger and Charton are especially blank on the impact on Kansas City's fees, taxes or basic public services if voters... more...
- Aug 31, 2010 Why health care is different (Washington Post) First, if you don't get good health care, you might die. more...
- Aug 31, 2010 Wonkbook: More jobs bills; Wall Street turns on Obama; the calorie information cometh (Washington Post) Andrew Ross Sorkin tells you why finance turned on Obama. And did you know that health-care reform included a little-noticed provision that will force every eatery with more than 20 locations to post calorie information on their menus? Individuals who work under the table are unlikely to report... more...
- Aug 30, 2010 Sudden layoff can destroy retirement plans:: (The Dallas Morning News) Montanaro said. "If you're younger, you'll want to seek out a private health insurance policy or seek some form of employment that provides health care coverage."You also may be able to hop on your spouse's employer health insurance coverage.Shomer maintained his employer health coverage through... more...
- Aug 29, 2010 The Holdouts (New York Times) They smoked at their desks, or, later, in a smoking lounge. The nicotine patch did nothing; he smoked while wearing it. Davila smoked a few when he went out with friends. more...
- Aug 29, 2010 Insurance perks go further in Sarpy (Omaha World Herald) Douglas and Hall Counties require elected officials and employees to pay a portion of their insurance premiums. Lancaster pays full premiums for elected officials and most employees. more...
