Dangers of Healthcare Insurance Reform

When a young U.S. President first put forth a proposal to reform healthcare insurance, some favored a public run plan. Others insisted that private insurers would offer the best plan. A national poll showed that 54% of Americans felt that a government run plan would be "a big step toward socialized medicine." Sometime later, 62% […]

Healthcare Reform: Coverage Expansion and Cost Containment

The magic keys to healthcare insurance reform are cost containment and coverage expansion. To a lesser extent, federal debt reduction might also be included in this equation. The latest bill to come out of the House of Representatives is getting pretty close. In my mind, expansion of coverage is both a moral issue and a […]

Health Insurance Exchanges: One More Smokescreen?

Roger Cohen of the Times has recently weighed in on the health insurance debate with a piece that dissects our American psyche as self-reliant individualists. He says "A public commitment to universal coverage is not character-sapping but character-affirming. Medicare did not make us less American. " Looking at the increasingly dizzying array of "options" that […]

My Private Health Insurance Hell

I am 54 years old. I am slightly over 6 feet tall and weigh 183 lbs. My cholesterol level is ridiculously low and my blood pressure was 130/78 last time I measured it. I avoid red meat and eat an almost exclusively Mediterranean diet. My workouts at the gym would put many much younger men […]

#1 Cost Control for Healthcare? Controlling Obesity

"Obesity and with it diabetes are the only major health problems that are getting worse in this country, and they're getting worse rapidly," according to Dr. Thomas Frieden, speaking on Monday, July 27,2009 at the CDC's first major conference on the obesity crisis. "Two-thirds of Americans are either overweight or obese, and the average American […]

Let’s Get Stupid: the Free Market Edition

  It has been an unprecedented year for the "Let's Get Stupid" game.  This is a real GM product. For more great business ideas of 2009 check out this month's Fortune magazine.

Medicare Part D: A Look at the Future of Healthcare in America

“Many seniors are unaware that they can be saving hundreds of dollars every year by choosing a different drug plan, because there are entirely too many choices for them to navigate,” says Yaniv Hanoch, lead author of a recently published survey on Medicare Part D and lecturer at the University of Plymouth, School of Psychology, […]

National Healthcare, Family by Family

It's clear that President Obama has made healthcare reform a priority for this year's legislative agenda. While all the Democratic players, including Senators Kennedy, Baucus and Schumer, do not necessarily agree on the details, they are ready to deal. The Republicans seem to be stuck in an alternative universe that does not include anything close […]

Shift in Online Usage by Seniors

It has finally happened. The long anticipated adoption of the internet by the 65+ age has now been quantified by the Center for Media Research and the Pew Internet and American Life Project. While just a quarter of 70-75 years olds were on line in 2005, now close to 1/2 are now using the internet […]

New League, Same Result

Since several of the Pro-Am teams have found a home in the Hayward Basketball League, Dorvez and I have been looking at that league for a while as a possible new venue for East Bay United. We finally signed up for the Winter 2009 season and had our first game this past Sunday. The result was […]