TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalAt budget briefing, Dallas Council member Kleinman uses M&M’s to argue for putting $1M in reserves
Dallas City Council member Lee Kleinman this morning gave the most delicious budget argument in recent memory, using three bowls full of M&’s to argue that $1 million (or one M&M) ought to be put away in the city’s reserves.
As he poured bags of the chocolate candy with the thick candy shell, Kleinman said that his bowls of M&Ms represented the entire proposed city budget for next year of $2.8 billion.
“This is how much money the city is spending,” Kleinman said.
Then, picking up a single chocolate that melts in your mouth and not in your hand, Kleinman said, “This is how much money they are asking you guys to divide,” he said.
More, including video, at http://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com/2013/09/at-budget-briefing-dallas-council-member-kleinman-uses-mms-to-argue-for-putting-1-million-in-reserves.html/ .
Texas Newspaper Refuses To Publish Gay Wedding Announcement
A gay couple from Texarkana, Texas hopes to travel to New Mexico next week to get married, but has found out their local newspaper will not publish their wedding announcement.
The Texarkana Gazette declined to share the couple's picture because they claim to hold a policy that is based on state laws. Since gay marriage is illegal in Texas and Arkansas, the newspaper chooses to discriminate against gay couples based on this excuse.
On her personal Facebook page, Michelle Wrightner wrote that the newspaper was rude to them and that the editor, Les Minor, would not return their calls.
Wrightner pointed out that if the Pentagon can offer same-sex benefits, she and her partner Patricia Wrightner should be able to put their picture in the Texarkana Gazette.
More at http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/14051/texas-newspaper-refuses-to-publish-gay-wedding-announcement .
Cross-posted at Texas Group.
Texas Newspaper Refuses To Publish Gay Wedding Announcement
A gay couple from Texarkana, Texas hopes to travel to New Mexico next week to get married, but has found out their local newspaper will not publish their wedding announcement.
The Texarkana Gazette declined to share the couple's picture because they claim to hold a policy that is based on state laws. Since gay marriage is illegal in Texas and Arkansas, the newspaper chooses to discriminate against gay couples based on this excuse.
On her personal Facebook page, Michelle Wrightner wrote that the newspaper was rude to them and that the editor, Les Minor, would not return their calls.
Wrightner pointed out that if the Pentagon can offer same-sex benefits, she and her partner Patricia Wrightner should be able to put their picture in the Texarkana Gazette.
More at http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/14051/texas-newspaper-refuses-to-publish-gay-wedding-announcement .
Cross-posted at LGBT Group.
Donald Trump to MSNBC’s Touré: You’re a Dumb Racist Moron
Donald Trump has always fiercely denied that he has declared bankruptcy and lashed out at anyone who would dare accuse him of such. And that’s exactly what he did on Monday night when MSNBC “The Cycle” host Touré linked to an ABC News article about Trump’s finances.
Touré tweeted the article’s highlights, such as the fact that Trump’s companies have declared bankruptcy four times.
Trump was quick to fire back:
Click to see the Twitter war at http://omg.yahoo.com/news/donald-trump-msnbc-tour-dumb-racist-moron-150309054.html .
The Affordable Care Act and Medicare Part VII: Shifting Costs
By Dr. Brian CarrPresident, Behavioral Health Associates, Lubbock, Texas, 1991-Present
Chairman, City of Lubbock Board of Health, 2013
Submitted on September 10, 2013 - 8:15am
Closing the “donut hole”
Medicare recipients typically pay a deductible of a few hundred dollars and then 25 percent of the cost of the drugs they need up to a certain point (typically around $2,800 in a person’s drug spending). At that point the recipients have to pay 100 percent of the cost of their drugs up until they reach $6,400 in drug spending. Beyond that amount, insurance coverage kicks in again to close the hole with the recipient paying only 5 percent of drug costs above $6,400.
This is reduced so that by 2020 so that the Medicare recipient will only have to cover 25 percent of the medication cost.
Lower-subsidies for high income recipients
Specifically, individuals with an income of $85,000 or higher and couples with an income of $170,000 or higher will receive a reduced subsidy that will increase the price they pay for their prescriptions.
Medicare spending cuts
Roughly 42 percent of the total 1 trillion dollar cost of the ACA will come from cuts in Medicare spending over the next decade.
The biggest cuts in Medicare will come in two main areas: a reduction in payment rates to providers and a reduction in payment rates to Medicare Advantage plans.
About one-fifth of the funding for the ACA (about 196 billion) will come from cuts to Medicare’s payment rates to providers other than physicians over the next 10 years. These cuts will impact hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and home-health agencies.
The AARP has a factsheet for a review of changes under the ACA for people over 65. They also have a series of other publications. The Law and Medicare
• Closing the Medicare Part D Coverage Gap Read | (PDF)
• The Health Care Law and Medicare Read | (PDF)
• The Health Care Law and Medicare Part D Savings Read | (PDF)
• The Health Care Law and Medicare Advantage Read | (PDF)
• Protecting Against Health Care Scams Read | (PDF)
Medicare Advantage cuts
About one in four enrollees in Medicare are also enrolled in the Medicare Advantage Program. Medicare Advantage programs open up Medicare to private insurers like Cigna and Aetna as managed health care plans. Since their inception however the plans have tended to have unacceptably low “medical loss ratio” which suggested that private insurers were making excessive profits at the expense of taxpayers.
The private insurers that remain in the program will likely cut benefits and/or raise premiums.
Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB)
To be established as a means to reduce healthcare costs in Medicare. Modeled on the U.S. Federal Reserve System for banking the IPAB consists of a panel of 15 Appointees handpicked by the president and approved by the Senate. They will be asked to make cost cutting recommendations for Medicare whenever spending per person in the program rises faster than the Consumer Price Index.
It will be able to make binding recommendations starting in 2015 with none implemented until 2018.
TAGS:
LubbockOnline Blog
Get real
go raiders
how can I get a ticket to the LP&L box for Thursday?
Lubbock
Medicare
Much ado about nothing yes
ObamaCare
Perry is jumpin
rain today please
smart meters not so smart maybe
Texas
http://lubbockonline.com/interact/blog-post/dr-brian-carr/2013-09-10/affordable-care-act-and-medicare-part-vi-shifting-costs
Cross-posted in Texas Group.
[font color=green]This is actually the seventh installment provided by Dr. Carr although the headline in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal shows Part VI. [/font]
The Affordable Care Act and Medicare Part VII: Shifting Costs
By Dr. Brian CarrPresident, Behavioral Health Associates, Lubbock, Texas, 1991-Present
Chairman, City of Lubbock Board of Health, 2013
Submitted on September 10, 2013 - 8:15am
Closing the “donut hole”
Medicare recipients typically pay a deductible of a few hundred dollars and then 25 percent of the cost of the drugs they need up to a certain point (typically around $2,800 in a person’s drug spending). At that point the recipients have to pay 100 percent of the cost of their drugs up until they reach $6,400 in drug spending. Beyond that amount, insurance coverage kicks in again to close the hole with the recipient paying only 5 percent of drug costs above $6,400.
This is reduced so that by 2020 so that the Medicare recipient will only have to cover 25 percent of the medication cost.
Lower-subsidies for high income recipients
Specifically, individuals with an income of $85,000 or higher and couples with an income of $170,000 or higher will receive a reduced subsidy that will increase the price they pay for their prescriptions.
Medicare spending cuts
Roughly 42 percent of the total 1 trillion dollar cost of the ACA will come from cuts in Medicare spending over the next decade.
The biggest cuts in Medicare will come in two main areas: a reduction in payment rates to providers and a reduction in payment rates to Medicare Advantage plans.
About one-fifth of the funding for the ACA (about 196 billion) will come from cuts to Medicare’s payment rates to providers other than physicians over the next 10 years. These cuts will impact hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and home-health agencies.
The AARP has a factsheet for a review of changes under the ACA for people over 65. They also have a series of other publications. The Law and Medicare
• Closing the Medicare Part D Coverage Gap Read | (PDF)
• The Health Care Law and Medicare Read | (PDF)
• The Health Care Law and Medicare Part D Savings Read | (PDF)
• The Health Care Law and Medicare Advantage Read | (PDF)
• Protecting Against Health Care Scams Read | (PDF)
Medicare Advantage cuts
About one in four enrollees in Medicare are also enrolled in the Medicare Advantage Program. Medicare Advantage programs open up Medicare to private insurers like Cigna and Aetna as managed health care plans. Since their inception however the plans have tended to have unacceptably low “medical loss ratio” which suggested that private insurers were making excessive profits at the expense of taxpayers.
The private insurers that remain in the program will likely cut benefits and/or raise premiums.
Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB)
To be established as a means to reduce healthcare costs in Medicare. Modeled on the U.S. Federal Reserve System for banking the IPAB consists of a panel of 15 Appointees handpicked by the president and approved by the Senate. They will be asked to make cost cutting recommendations for Medicare whenever spending per person in the program rises faster than the Consumer Price Index.
It will be able to make binding recommendations starting in 2015 with none implemented until 2018.
TAGS:
LubbockOnline Blog
Get real
go raiders
how can I get a ticket to the LP&L box for Thursday?
Lubbock
Medicare
Much ado about nothing yes
ObamaCare
Perry is jumpin
rain today please
smart meters not so smart maybe
Texas
http://lubbockonline.com/interact/blog-post/dr-brian-carr/2013-09-10/affordable-care-act-and-medicare-part-vi-shifting-costs
Cross-posted in Good Reads forum.
[font color=green]This is actually the seventh installment provided by Dr. Carr although the headline in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal shows Part VI. [/font]
Baylor alumni, regents in quiet standoff after failed vote
Baylor University regents are meeting this week to discuss the Baylor Alumni Association’s failed vote to dissolve this past Saturday, while association leaders ponder the future of an organization that Baylor may cease to recognize.
Baylor had promised, effective Sunday, to cut all ties with the association and prohibit the group from using the “Baylor” name if the so-called “transition agreement” failed.
But on Monday, the website for the Baylor Alumni Association and Baylor Line remained active, and employees continued to work at their offices on Baylor’s campus.
Baylor Alumni Association president-elect Si Ragsdale said he assumed the university considered the contracts terminated as of 12:01 a.m. Sunday. He said he is “at a loss” to predict what the association will do, but he expects leaders will hold a conference call this week.
More at http://www.wacotrib.com/news/higher_education/baylor-alumni-regents-in-quiet-standoff-after-failed-vote/article_64137625-05fa-5f10-82eb-dd71305db03a.html .
[font color=green]Baylor is doing a wonderful job in their relationships with alumni. 
With the university threatening litigation against the association, then expect alumni contributions to drop and the new football stadium they are building to have plenty of empty seats.[/font]
Goliad's $1 million mess (Multimedia Investigation)
In the name of economic development, the Goliad City Council loaned $31,128 to Lionel Garcia to purchase washers and dryers in 2009.
The self-serve laundromat did not create new jobs.
Moreover, Garcia stopped making payments on his loan in June 2011 - one month after he was elected to Goliad City Council.
In the next two years, he made only two payments to the city.
The city did not call his loan into default until June - two years after he defaulted and two months after the Advocate launched an investigation into the city's economic development program.
More at http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/2013/sep/07/goliad_mdd_090813_215295/
[font color=green]Three members of the Goliad City Council had loans through the economic development program and defaulted on those loans.[/font]
Men dressed as Batman, Capt. America rescue cat
MILTON, W.Va. — Who says superheroes aren't real?
When a West Virginia home caught fire, trapping a kitten inside, it was Batman and Captain America who came to the rescue.
John Buckland, dressed as Batman, and Troy Marcum, dressed as Captain America, saw smoke at a house nearby when they were entertaining children as part of their business. They ran to the house along with another bystander, kicked in the door and broke out a window so some smoke could escape.
Buckland, a former firefighter, says he crawled into the front room and felt something furry. He grabbed the animal, ran outside and gave it mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
No one was hurt in the fire, including the rescuers — though Buckland says the cat hissed and swatted at him when it regained consciousness.
http://www.mywesttexas.com/statenation/article_e46b34f0-1991-11e3-911a-001a4bcf887a.html
Houston charter school shut over background checks
State officials have ordered the temporary closure of a charter school in northeast Houston after finding that some employees did not have to undergo required criminal background checks.
Children First Academy also drew criticism from the Texas Education Agency for failing to report an alleged incident of child abuse at its Dallas campus in May.
Both the Houston and Dallas campuses may be allowed to reopen if they show proof of fingerprinting employees and conducting required national background checks, said DeEtta Culbertson, a spokeswoman for the education agency.
An appeal hearing is scheduled for Thursday in Austin.
More at http://www.chron.com/news/education/article/State-closes-Houston-charter-pending-appeal-4800250.php?cmpid=hpbn .
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Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
Home country: United States
Current location: Bryan, Texas
Member since: Sun Aug 14, 2011, 03:57 AM
Number of posts: 112,084
