Playinghardball

Playinghardball's Journal

January 15, 2014

Toon: Freedom Industries

Found on the Obama Diary

January 15, 2014

What Happens When the President Sits Down Next to You At A Cafe

Thursday into Friday, my head cold got worse, so on Friday morning I walked down to a bar-cafe-restaurant in my neighborhood….

… the president arrived, 40 minutes later – stepping out of his SUV, smiling, with a little wave …

…. He picked up the baby. The baby’s mom told him about the baby …. He was adorable. Obama really seemed to appreciate holding him, and bounced him for probably a minute. The baby’s mom told him that their family had just been stationed in Kenya, that thats where the baby was born.

He seemed to stumble for a second, as he realized he could not phrase a joke in exactly the way he could phrase it in private.

“That’s, that’s where Donald Trump thinks I was born,” he said.

More at: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/01/what-happens-when-the-president-sits-down-next-to-you-at-a-cafe/283074/

Article discovered on the Obama Diary

January 15, 2014

Obamacare Giving Big Boost To Georgia's Health IT Industry

Politically, Georgia is fighting the health law at every turn.

Gov. Nathan Deal, a Republican, has chosen not to expand Medicaid, and the state’s insurance commissioner publically vowed to obstruct the Affordable Care Act. But that doesn’t mean Georgia isn’t seeing a financial benefit from the law.

Mark Gilreath heads the medical device company, EndoChoice, based in Alpharetta, Georgia. The business is part of a health tech boom in the state.

Take the company called PreMedex. Founder and president Van Willis knows that just a few years ago, a company like his would’ve been a hard sell -- impossible, even. The two-year-old company contracts with hospitals and doctors’ offices to call patients after they're discharged. Under the Affordable Care Act, hospitals are penalized if Medicare patients are readmitted within a month for several specific illnesses.

"From a hospital standpoint, there was very little, if any, communication with patients once they leave,” Willis explains. "A logical way to communicate with patients if you can’t be in their homes is, of course, through the telephone."

Scattered around a half-dozen office cubicles, PreMedex employees don telephone headsets on a recent morning and sit down in front of computers that automatically dial patients. After telling patients they are calling on behalf of doctors and hospitals, the workers ask some simple but important health questions: Have you had any fever? Are you in any pain?

How patients answer could mean the difference between a hospital’s profit and loss. Private insurers will probably follow Medicare’s lead on punishing readmissions. Willis says that’s creating a new market for companies like PreMedex.

"We’ve got clients across the country - small clients, large clients - they all feel the same pressures," he says.

More at: http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/stories/2014/january/09/georgia-high-tech-health-industry-boosted-by-health-law.aspx

Article discovered on the Obama Diary

January 15, 2014

This quote by Dr. Paul Farmer makes a lot of sense...

January 14, 2014

Jonathan Winters Stick (LMAO)

onathan Winters shows us why he was such a great comedian as he performs “The Stick” with Jack Paar in 1964. The ability to improvise and create comedy is one that very few comedians are truly gifted with and Jonathan Winters was one of the best. I can only imagine the laughs he provided for his fellow Marines that he served with in the Pacific during World War Two. I’m sure heaven just got a whole lot funnier as I have no doubt Jonathan talked his way past Saint Peter and the pearly gates.

http://biggeekdad.com/2013/04/jonathan-winters-stick/#.UXfWSphGZzg.email

January 14, 2014

In the States: Affordable Care Act Enrollment “Soars,” “Spikes,” “Surges” and “Takes Off”

For the first time today, as part of the Department of Health and Human Services’ regular reporting on enrollment in private health care plans through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces, the department released demographic information on the enrollees, including breakdowns by age.

It’s fascinating and important stuff. But we were also struck by the way in which local press stepped back and saw the even bigger story – that day after day, month after month, more and more of our friends and neighbors in every part of the country are getting the security and peace of mind of affordable coverage. Reading the headlines below, it was a bright, shining reminder of one of the big reasons the President fought so hard to pass the Affordable Care Act in the first place.
1.Associated Press: “Health care enrollment spikes in Utah in December”
2.Detroit Free Press: “Health insurance enrollment takes off in Michigan, nation for coverage under ACA”
3.Detroit News: “Feds: Michigan experiences 11-fold increase in health care sign-ups”
4.MLive: “Obamacare signups in Michigan spike in December; see demographic breakdown”
5.Sun-Sentinel: “Obamacare enrollment gains traction in Florida”
6.Stevens Point Journal: “Obamacare enrollment soars in Wisconsin”
7.Palm Beach Post: “Florida’s Obamacare enrollment surges, as does the nation’s”
8.Albuquerque Business First: “New Mexico’s Healthcare.gov enrollment soars”
9.Bellingham Herald: “Wash. one of top states in health care enrollment”
10.WSFA: “More Alabamians signing up for health insurance”
11.Capital New York: “Strong Obamacare numbers from NY exchange director”
12.Gannett: “More Hoosiers joined health exchange in December”
13.Des Moines Register: “7,500 Iowans have signed up for private insurance on healthcare.gov, compared to 757 a month ago”
•The Gazette: “Colorado health insurance enrollments continue at steady pace”
•WRAL: “North Carolina fifth nationally in enrollment under health law”
•Boise State Public Radio: “Idaho’s Health Insurance Exchange Enrollment Increases 1,000 Percent”
•WLTX: “Health Insurance Enrollment Spikes in South Carolina”
•Billings Gazette: “Montana sign-ups for Obamacare policies surge in December”

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/01/13/states-affordable-care-act-enrollment-soars-spikes-surges-and-takes

Found on http://theobamadiary.com/