liberal N proud
liberal N proud's JournalMontana's State-Run Free Clinic Sees Early Success
A year later, the state says the clinic is already saving money.
Even so, division manager Russ Hill says it's actually costing the state $1,500,000 less for healthcare than before the clinic opened.
"Because there's no markup, our cost per visit is lower than in a private fee-for-service environment," Hill says.
Physicians are paid by the hour, not by the number of procedures they prescribe like many in the private sector. The state is able to buy supplies at lower prices.
Bottom line: a patient's visit to the employee health clinic costs the state about half what it would cost if that patient went to a private doctor. And because it's free to patients, hundreds of people have come in who had not seen a doctor for at least two years.
Hill says the facility is catching a lot, including 600 people who have diabetes, 1,300 people with high cholesterol, 1,600 people with high blood pressure and 2,600 patients diagnosed as obese. Treating these conditions early could avoid heart attacks, amputations, or other expensive hospital visits down the line, saving the state more money.
http://www.wnyc.org/npr_articles/2013/jul/30/montanas-state-run-free-clinic-sees-early-success/
U.S. chief executives can't break cost-cutting habit
While the cuts are not as severe as those that followed the 2008 financial crisis, companies remain cautious, mindful that revenue growth is still tepid. As a result, many appear to be more comfortable wringing efficiencies out of their businesses than gearing up for accelerated production.
The risk is those cuts may be too deep at this stage in the economic cycle, and prevent companies from responding if and when demand takes off.
"Corporate America has cost-cut just about as much as they can," said Jeffery Saut, chief investment strategist at Raymond James Financial. "I think the economy is going to pick up, and if you're understaffed and don't have enough throughput in your factories, yeah, I think you're going to miss out on some things."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/26/us-earnings-costs-analysis-idUSBRE96P13Y20130726
Welcome to the NEW AMERICAN ECONOMY!
I have been experiencing this first hand with the company I have worked for for 30 years. It is a shame to watch them throw great technology and people to the curb so the CEO can show a profit, prop up stock prices or pad his salary. As long as this continues, there will be no true economic recovery.
What do drivers talk about when they are one the phone for 200 miles?
I was driving home today from Iowa where we sold off the last of my parents estate. The drive takes more than 12 hours and across 4 states.
As I exited the tool booth in western Indiana this mini-van shot past me with personal plates, a woman was driving while talking on her cell phone. This meant that she didn't use turn signals and most likely didn't check to see if anyone was in her path. As she all but cut me off and was well over the speed limit, I took mental note because I have found that you see many of the same vehicles as you travel across country, timing of stops and number of stops causes this to happen.
Halfway across the state this same mini-van passes me, she is still talking, then again as I exit the toll booth in Ohio, I pass her this time as I have the ezy-pass, she is still talking, and a little later, she goes zooming past and guess what she was doing, not picking her nose.
How does anyone talk that long? And think about the distraction that driving causes in that conversation.
OMG: The Prince and Duchess spent the night without a Nanny
How dare they lower themselves from that level of pomp!
The media frenzy continues!
Republicans appear to be doubling down on obstruction and their attack on Obama
New York Times headline: House G.O.P. Sets New Offensive on Obama Goals
As Mr. Obama prepares to deliver a major economic address on Wednesday in Illinois, Republicans in Washington are delivering blow after blow to programs he will promote as vital to a more robust economic recovery and a firmer economic future — from spending on infrastructure and health care to beefing up regulatory agencies. While Mr. Obama would like to keep the economic conversation lofty, his adversaries in Congress are already fighting in the trenches.
On Tuesday, a House Appropriations subcommittee formally drafted legislation that would cut the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget by 34 percent and eliminate his newly announced greenhouse gas regulations. The bill cuts financing for the national endowments for the arts and the humanities in half and the Fish and Wildlife Service by 27 percent.
For the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, Mr. Obama requested nearly $3 billion for renewable energy and energy efficiency programs — a mainstay of his economic agenda since he was first elected. The House approved $826 million. Senate Democrats want to give $380 million to ARPA-E, an advanced research program for energy. The House allocated $70 million.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/24/us/politics/house-gop-sets-new-offensive-on-obama-goals.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130724&_r=0
Has the G.O.P. Gone Off the Deep End? - Oh we hope so!
Caught this New York Times headline and it gave me great joy to think of the possibilities.
Doherty turned to Twitter:
If Senate Immigration bill gets ripped apart and ultimately defeated by House #GOP I’ve decided to leave my political home of 32 yrs #sad.
Doherty told me that he has
come to the conclusion that my party has elements within it that dislike homosexuals and think America is still in the 1940s. And while we talk about freedom and liberty, that liberty and freedom only seem to be acceptable for some.
Doherty, no liberal, is representative of the growing strength on the right of the view that the Republican Party has gone off the deep end.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/17/has-the-g-o-p-gone-off-the-deep-end/?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130718
The more extreme and obstructionist they become, the more they will push their old core away. There could be a silver lining to all this obstruction and extremism by the GOP.
Last Car Plant Brings Detroit Hope and Cash
A little good news from Detroit for a change.
More than 4,600 workers staff Chrysler’s sprawling Jefferson North factory nearly around the clock, making one of the most profitable vehicles on the market, the Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Since then, annual production has skyrocketed from fewer than 100,000 vehicles a year to more than 300,000. And a work force that had dwindled to 1,300 people has more than tripled. In June, Grand Cherokee sales rose 33 percent in the United States, as consumers paid as much as $50,000 for a fully loaded model.
The profits and productivity at Jefferson North would put it on par with the most efficient luxury car plants in Germany and the best factories operated by Japanese automakers in the southern United States.
That Jefferson North is situated in one of the most impoverished parts of Detroit only made it more of a gamble for Chrysler to keep.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/16/business/last-car-plant-brings-detroit-hope-and-cash.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130716&_r=0
Demand that Texas investigate why state troopers confiscated tampons
You can bring a gun into the Texas State Capitol with a concealed handgun license—but not your tampons, maxipads or diabetic supplies.
On July 12, as the Texas state Senate voted on a devastating anti-choice measure, state troopers ordered all women seeking to enter the building to surrender their tampons and maxipads.
In at least one case, a woman was also ordered to remove her diabetic supplies. “I’ve never been so humiliated in my life,” she said tearfully. The above video is painful to watch.
It is bad enough that the Texas state Senate is assaulting a woman’s right to choose. But whoever authorized this outrage must be held accountable. Sign our petition demanding an open investigation of the Texas state troopers’ conduct, and that appropriate disciplinary action be taken.
Sign the petition here: http://campaigns.dailykos.com/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=483
Is my time on DU over?
YOUR COMMENTS:
This is what is wrong with DU. It has been overrun with users who will tell those that don't agree with them that they don't belong on this site. The user only had 380 post at the time of this alert and telling me that my views don't reflect DU. If that isn't an personal attack on another DU memeber then, maybe my time here is done and these users can reshape DU to be a my way or the highway site. You decide!
JURY RESULTS
A randomly-selected Jury of DU members completed their review of this alert at Tue Jul 9, 2013, 07:13 AM, and voted 3-3 to LEAVE IT ALONE.
Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: No explanation given
Juror #2 voted to HIDE IT and said: agree with alerter's words - personal attack on another DUer. Get rid of the post.
Juror #3 voted to HIDE IT and said: Agree with alerter. What gives this clown the right to say who stays and who goes?
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: It's a fine post. Nothing wrong with it except the alerter is butthurt.
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: No explanation given
Juror #6 voted to HIDE IT and said: I agree with the poster about a generation-specific fear of communism. But I agree MORE with the plaintiff here, that telling someone to "get out" is totally inappropriate for an inclusive party member. We can have our differences but we don't have to be exclusionary dicks about it. I'd suggest that the plaintiff stand up for him/herself, understand the point is "understood," and then school the newb on how to conduct constructive argument in an inclusive environment like DU. I usually only vote to 'Hide' when someone rejects difference by trying to force someone out of DU.
What the media wants you to believe about the San Francisco air disaster
If you have been listening to various reports about the crash landing of the Asiana flight in San Francisco, you have been hearing them repeat over and over one common theme.
"Plane crashes are survivable"
This for some reason is the primary propaganda the media is pushing in this incident so far.
Yes, some plane crashes are survivable, but do we need to have that beaten into us?
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