Everything that irritates us

Very often a change of self is needed more than a change of scene.

Arthur Christopher Benson

Today: Body Scans and ObamaCare

O’Porker Care

From John Mauldin’s Outside the Box Blog, an in depth review of ObamaCare provides a sobering view of what was passed and what the effects will be.  As Thomas Sowell noted in Applied Economics, politicians can’t see beyond the ‘first step’ in their one stage thinking. 

To “pass a bill to see what’s in it” is irresponsible.  To use pork to get it passed is equally as bad.

The Cornhusker kickback: the federal government picks up Nebraska’s Medicaid expansion bill forever.

The Louisiana Purchase: Louisiana receives $300 million for increasing Medicare subsidies.

$100 million special funding for a hospital in Connecticut

Funding of asbestos clean-up in Montana.

The Gator Aid, by which three counties in south Florida are exempted from Medicare Advantage cuts.

I am not encouraged by the last Congress.  I can only hope is that something changes.  So much for transparency.  In the summary from Lisa Cummings:

Regulatory interpretations are piling up, along with regulatory burdens. Since ObamaCare and the Reconciliation Act were signed into law in March, there have been no fewer than twelve sets of additional regulations, guidelines, or notices that have been issued to lend clarification and at the same time add additional regulatory requirements. ObamaCare establishes more than 159 boards, panels, and programs, all of which will add to bureaucratic red tape.

Employers face immediate plan changes that must be implemented for the upcoming plan year. All plans (except retiree-only plans) have to allow children of covered employees to be added up to age 26. Additionally, the lifetime maximum benefit levels have to be eliminated. These costs alone will add 1-2% to 2011 health-care costs for employers.

Longer-term, employers will need to consider whether they will cancel health-care plans in 2014, when exchanges become effective. Also, employers will need to determine whether they will eliminate retiree medical coverage due to elimination of the pharmacy subsidy in 2013.

Worth reading the rest: John Mauldin - Outside the Box

And lastly…

Opt Out

http://gothamist.com/

Full body scanners at airports could increase your risk of skin cancer, experts warn.

The X-ray machines have been brought in at Manchester, Gatwick and Heathrow.

But scientists say radiation from the scanners has been underestimated and could be particularly risky for children.

They say that the low level beam does deliver a small dose of radiation to the body but because the beam concentrates on the skin - one of the most radiation-sensitive organs of the human body - that dose may be up to 20 times higher than first estimated.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

“I was quite shocked by what I saw,” said Gary Cook, 40, a graphic designer from Shaftesbury, Dorset. “I felt a bit embarrassed looking at the image.

A female passenger, who did not want to be named, said: “It was really horrible. It doesn’t leave much to the imagination because you’re virtually naked, but I guess it’s less intrusive than being hand searched.”

In a similar trial at Orlando international airport in Florida in 2002, passengers were shown a dummy image before going through, and at least a quarter of them refused to volunteer.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article504009.ece

I was marched from the metal detector lane, ordered to take everything out of my pockets, remove my belt and hold my possessions up high. Then I was required to stand still while I received a rough pat down by a man whose resume, I suspected, included experience at a state prison.

"Hold your pants up!" he ordered me.

What did I do to deserve this? Well, as I approached the checkpoints, I had two choices. One was a familiar lane with the metal detector, so I put my bag on that. To my right was a separate lane dominated with what the Transportation Security Administration initially called "whole-body imagers" but has now labeled "advanced imaging technology" units. Critics, of course, call them strip-search machines.

Seattle Times - Opting out of airport body scanner brings brusque treatment for a traveler

http://crankyflier.com/ – Blog on air travel

http://www.latedeparture.com/ What to do when you are delayed plus airport reviews

Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.

Carl Jung