Health Insurance News

One of the most overlooked assets available to those that don’t have private health insurance is the community health center.  These centers see almost 20 million patients per year and by 2015 due to health reform, that number is expected to double.  Because the ranks of the uninsured has risen to 50 million, local community health centers are becoming in many cases the best, or at least the main affordable option.  Their original desing of course was to provide a primary-care safety net for people in underserved areas, the fact is no one is ever turned away for any reason from a community health center.  Even the rich can get be seen though they will be billed on a sliding scale; in most cases uninsured people with higher incomes will pay the full cost of care, which is actually comparable to costs in the private sector.

As the role of the centers has expanded beyond primary care, they have become behavioral health providers, pharmacies, and even offer preventive and restorative dental services on site. Some have pediatric centers, reflecting the fact that more than a third of their patients are children.  I often refer the uninsured to these centers as they can provide full service medical care.  In Florida Memorial Hospital in Hollywood, Florida offers a terrific plan that sadly is very much overburdened.  Luckily, for centers like it there is an $11 billion infusion from the health-care overhaul and $2 billion in federal stimulus funds.

If you have been unable to get health insurance and have been putting off seeing a doctor, please visit our list of community health centers available in each state on our site.  For instance, the Florida community health centers take up nearly a page!

A Commonwealth Fund survey of 800 community health centers last year found that 29 percent of them had all five medical-home indicators it measured, including usually providing same- or next-day appointments, off-hours clinical advice, tracking of test results, tracking of patient referrals to specialists, and being able to generate lists of patients by diagnosis. Another 55 percent of centers had three or four indicators.

Still, arranging for specialty care can be tough, the survey found. Ninety-one percent of centers said they had trouble getting their uninsured patients in to see a specialist, while 71 percent said that was the case for Medicaid patients, and 49 percent reported difficulty scheduling their Medicare patients with specialists.

Wait times are another problem at many centers. In part, because they don’t turn anyone away, getting an initial appointment can take months. Once someone becomes a patient at a center, wait times for appointments aren’t generally as long, but they still exist.

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Just when you thought you were happy or comfortable with your Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida health insurance plan, here comes the bad news.  There is a large increase coming for everyone regardless of when you signed up.  Here is a list of the effected populations:

Rate Increase Products

• Individual U65 BlueChoice®,
• BlueSelect®
• Florida Farm Bureau
• BlueOptions® Products
• Large Group
• Small Group
• Individual Under 65
• Medicare
• Group Medicare

If you are a Blue Cross of Florida policy holder, now is  a good time to fill out the quote form above and start shopping health insurance plans!

Here is the agency email received by agents to give us a heads up of the coming news so we can break it to you our trustful clients.

The purpose of this bulletin is to provide you with information on the upcoming rate increase for all Individual Under 65 BlueChoice®, BlueSelect®, Florida Farm Bureau and most BlueOptions® products. (This excludes BlueOptions Temporary
Plans 562-563, all Hospital-Surgical products and GoBlue.) This year’s implementation continues to include the alternate offer process and the transition to the restructured rate environment for impacted members. Carefully review the following
information.

And here are some relative estimations,

Rate Increase Percentage, Effective Date & Implementation: The Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) approved an 11.2% rate increase for BlueChoice (Underwritten & Guaranteed Issue), BlueOptions (Underwritten and Guaranteed Issue),
BlueSelect and Florida Farm Bureau products. The new rates are effective June 1, 2010 and will be implemented based on the subscriber’s first paid-to date that falls on or after June 1. Approximately 197,000 contracts representing 319,000
members will be impacted by this rate action. The last rate increase experienced by these members occurred June 1, 2009.

How you will find out

Customer Mailings: The first round of rate increase notification packages will be mailed April 13-16, 2010. These notification packages will be mailed using a staggered approach with daily mailings scheduled to continue through the third
quarter of 2010.

Your Choices

Remember, these letters were addressed to us, so these instructions are to agents not to policy holders.

Alternate Product Offer Including Rate Quote

In conjunction with this rate increase we are continuing the Alternate Offer program. This process has been very successful and has enabled us to retain over 95% of customers who contact us. With Alternate Offer, we suggest a
specific lower cost alternate insurance plan to the subscriber and we include the monthly premium that will apply to that subscriber’s coverage if they choose to transfer to the alternate product. This immediately displays to them the
monthly premium savings available.

Monthly Premium Criteria (Underwritten Customers Only)

If the monthly premium for the alternate product is equal to or less than the subscriber’s monthly rate today (pre-rate increase), then the customer will receive a specific Alternate Offer (presuming other criteria are satisfied).

If the monthly premium for the alternate product is more than the subscriber’s monthly rate today (pre-rate increase), the customer will not receive a specific alternate offer. Their letter will contain general verbiage around other lower
cost products that are available and will encourage them to contact us.

The Alternate Offer process was designed and built to support all Individual Under 65 products. There is a variety of different scenarios requiring different letters. All letters have been assigned unique letter codes that appear at the
bottom of each letter.

Depending on which rate increase letter you get, the alternative products are listed below.

A

. BlueChoice with optional maternity if the Alternate Offer is BlueChoice. The suggestion will be to increase their deductible in BlueChoice.
. BlueChoice without optional maternity when the Alternate Offer is BlueOptions.
. Most BlueOptions & BlueSelect Plans (with or without optional maternity).
. Most BlueOptions HSA-compatible plans.
. Florida Farm Bureau (FFB).

D

BlueChoice with optional maternity when the Alternate Offer would be BlueOptions. This letter does not include a specific Alternate Offer because the structure of the optional
maternity benefit available with BlueOptions is entirely different than what is available with BlueChoice. Further, there are two different BlueOptions optional maternity benefits
available with different and separate deductible amounts. Customers are encouraged to contact us for more information.

H

Guaranteed Issue (Choice & Options). There are no alternate products for this population.

The above categories represent the majority of subscribers involved in this rate action.

B

Criteria for alternate offer not met (i.e., the rate for the alternate offer product is higher than their pre-rate increase premium, they changed products within the last 180 days, they were a new sale within the last 180 days, etc.)

C

Current product is a non-HSA plan and the Alternate Offer would be an HSA-compatible plan.

F

. The current product is a non-HSA compatible plan with optional maternity and the alternate offer would be an HSA-compatible plan. This letter does not include a specific Alternate Offer. While enrollees are eligible to transfer into an HSA-compatible plan, optional maternity is not available with the HSA-compatible plans.
. BlueOptions Plans 81 and 98 (with or without optional maternity).
. Highest deductible HSA-compatible Plans with BlueRx Discounts Program

G

BlueOptions MyBasic Plans 82 & 582.

Sample letters are attached for your reference. Where an Alternate Offer is made, the applicable Benefit Authorization
Form and a Business Reply Envelope will be included in the package.

Restructured Rates

Impacted BlueChoice and BlueOptions customers will continue to be transitioned into the restructured rate environment. This transition plan was negotiated with and approved by the OIR. As a reminder, rate restructuring is a required routine
industry practice that insures continued financial integrity and regulatory compliance of our rates. It is revenue neutral to BCBSF. To ensure our rates remain correct, appropriate and consistent, we analyzed the rate relationships between
different benefit plans, different deductibles, different geographic areas, etc., along with structural factors for age, gender, county, etc. This detailed review resulted in the development of restructured rates that brought the entire state into
alignment so that everyone pays a fair and equitable premium for the coverage they maintain. Virtually every rate at every age in every county changed. On Oct. 1, 2006, restructured rates were implemented for all new sales into Individual
BlueOptions and BlueChoice products that occurred on or after that date. All new IU65 products introduced since that date have been developed at the Restructured Rate level.

Members enrolled prior to 10/01/06 are in the non-restructured rate environment. These are the customers who will be impacted by the transition and they will receive the following additional reminder message printed on the reverse of their
rate adjustment notification letter.

NOTICE OF RATE RESTRUCTURE

To ensure you’re receiving health insurance rates that are appropriate, accurate, and fair, our BlueChoice and BlueOptions Individual Under 65 products have undergone a rate restructure. This is a standard industry practice. It ensures your
premiums best reflect the appropriate rates for your age, gender, and county where you live. Rate restructuring is different from rate changes, which are typically rate increases due to rising medical costs, trends, and age. The Office of Insurance
Regulation has approved this rate restructure. The restructured rates will continue to be implemented gradually over the next several years.

Inquiry Support

Product specific toll-free numbers are provided in the rate notification letters. These lines will be staffed by Intermedia, an external vendor that has supported rate increase activities for the Individual Under 65 products for several years and is very familiar with our products, retention practices and all aspects of this initiative.

Rates
Rates will be available on accessBlue by close of business on Wednesday, April 14, 2010.

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In one of the more reasoned viewpoints on health care, Ron Paul seems to have the antidote for our health insurance woes.  Though many consider Congressman Paul to be a fringe element, the truth is that he is being embraced by millions that are simply tired of our two party system which of course is what our forefathers warned about.

He is also a doctor.   This is the transcription of a speech he gave right after health reform was passed.  See if you can find any point that you can debate.  I couldn’t.

Following months of heated public debate and aggressive closed-door negotiations, Congress finally cast a historic vote on healthcare late Sunday evening. It was truly a sad weekend on the House floor as we witnessed further dismantling of the Constitution, disregard of the will of the people, explosive expansion of the reach of government, unprecedented corporate favoritism, and the impending end of quality healthcare as we know it.

Those in favor of this bill touted their good intentions of ensuring quality healthcare for all Americans, as if those of us against the bill are against good medical care. They cite fanciful statistics of deficit reduction, while simultaneously planning to expand the already struggling medical welfare programs we currently have. They somehow think that healthcare in this country will be improved by swelling our welfare rolls and cutting reimbursement payments to doctors who are already losing money. It is estimated that thousands of doctors will be economically forced out of the profession should this government fuzzy math actually try to become healthcare reality. No one has thought to ask what good mandatory health insurance will be if people can’t find a doctor.

Legislative hopes and dreams don’t always stand up well against economic realities.

Frustratingly, this legislation does not deal at all with the real reasons access to healthcare is a struggle for so many – the astronomical costs. If tort reform was seriously discussed, if the massive regulatory burden on healthcare was reduced and reformed, if the free market was allowed to function and apply downward pressure on healthcare costs as it does with everything else, perhaps people wouldn’t be so beholden to insurance companies in the first place. If costs were lowered, more people could simply pay for what they need out of pocket, as they were able to do before government got so involved. Instead, in the name of going after greedy insurance companies, the federal government is going to make people even more beholden to them by mandating that everyone buy their product! Hefty fines are due from anyone found to have committed the heinous crime of not being a customer of a health insurance company. We will need to hire some 16,500 new IRS agents to police compliance with all these new mandates and administer various fines. So in government terms, this is also a jobs bill. Never mind that this program is also likely to cost the private sector some 5 million jobs.

Of course, the most troubling aspect of this bill is that it is so blatantly unconstitutional and contrary to the ideals of liberty. Nowhere in the constitution is there anything approaching authority for the Federal government to do any of this. The founders would have been horrified at the idea of government forcing citizens to become consumers of a particular product from certain government approved companies. 38 states are said to already be preparing legal and constitutional challenges to this legislation, and if the courts stand by their oaths, they will win. Protecting the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, should be the court’s responsibility. Citizens have a responsibility over their own life, but they also have the liberty to choose how they will live and protect their lives. Healthcare choices are a part of liberty, another part that is being stripped away. Government interference in healthcare has already infringed on choices available to people, but rather than getting out of the way, it is entrenching itself, and its corporatist cronies, even more deeply.

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With the health reform issue coming to a head, it is beginning to look like it might come down to abortion.  The Democrats and Obama have only one good chance left at passing this massive “reform” bill which is through a process called reconciliation.  Of course reconciliation was not made for this kind of thing, but tell that to Republicans who have used this trick to pass their silly bills to perfection.

Abortion and Health Reform the Battle Rages On

But strangely, the abortion issue keeps coming up in the negotiations.  What does abortion have to do health insurance or health reform?  Well I am not exactly sure.  And I have been writing and reading about health reform for months now and reporting on it to you, dear faithful reader.  (I used the singular because I am not sure there is more then one of you, thanks dear sweet wife!)

And if this thing passes or if it doesn’t pass the Democrats will pay a steep price for it.  If it doesn’t pass, it will be one long year wasted.  If it does pass it will be through back room dealings which will anger many Americans come voting time.

So lets unwind this abortion thing.  House Democrats who dislike abortion are resisting funding restrictions for abortion that for some reason the Senate health reform bill included.  So why not pull it out?  Because reconciliation means that the House needs to pass the Senate bill without amending the thing on abortion.

Of course there will be some changes but abortion is not one of them.

Pelosi who agrees with me is quite angered that abortion is possibly going to kill more then just unborn fetuses.  She said, “‘This is not about abortion, this is a bill about providing quality affordable health care for all Americans.”

But Bart Stupak who has made big headlines of late and a few of his fellow House members have vocally proclaimed that they will not vote for this Senate bill unless the abortion language is replaced.  The House bill only passed last time because Pelosi allowed Stupak to incorporate his strict abortion funding restriction.  So the House bill (also passed) would have been great for Stupak who is holding his vote until the bill clamps down on abortion funding.

And Stupak believes that the House will not pass the Senate bill without him and his colleagues who are not going to change the vote.  But his buddies over there might not stick with him this time, which is the only chance that the Democrats have of passing this bill through reconciliation.

So what is going on? The Senate bill says health insurance plans operating in a new consumer marketplace can cover abortion, but it may only be paid for with private premiums. Money from federal subsidies would have to be strictly segregated from any funds used to pay for abortion. Consumers would have to write two checks to their insurance plan, one for the regular premium, the other for abortion coverage.

Abortion rights supporters say both measures impose unreasonable restrictions on women’s access to a legal medical procedure now widely covered by health insurance.

Abortion rights supporters backed down once the last time. This time, if House Democratic leaders can’t line up enough votes without placating Stupak, it’s unclear how they will get the abortion language changed.

Pelosi says it can’t be done in a companion package that would move through both chambers as part of deal worked out with Obama. Under congressional rules, the elements of that package would have to have a significant budget impact. A third piece of legislation may be needed.

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As super bacteria strains become more and more powerful, hospital deaths are increasing like ice cream sales in summertime.
A recent survey has pegged the total health care cost increase to be $8.1 billion due to these “hospital-acquired-infections,” in 2006 alone. By now as it has become more prevalent, this number is surely in the double digits. The death toll was 48,000 in 2006 as well, making it one of the most dangerous parts of a hospital stay. Even more dangerous in fact, then when you see the bill.

The deadly microbes responsible for this usually result in the common conditions known as sepsis and pneumonia and are called MRSA and are resistant to antibiotics. These infections can and often do end in death especially in older patients. Moreover, if this could be eliminated or controlled it would shave an incredible $10 billion off of our annual health care costs.

What is even more sad is that in most cases these situations could have been prevented with better infection control. Most of these infections are well known by doctors and even with this knowledge, the infections continue unabated.

A recent study of 70 million discharge records in 40 states revealed that sepsis and pneumonia as the leading end result of these microbes. Most of these patients went into the hospitals completely free of infection and ended up with one of the two conditions.

A good example was the average sepsis case resulted in 11 days longer in the hospital at a cost of $33,000, and nearly 20% of these people ended up dead.

The pneumonia in many cases was caused by dirty ventilator tubes being used during surgery and resulted in 14 additional hospital stays, in fact this happened to my brother during what should have been a 3 day hospital stay which lasted for 30. The cost of these pneumonia cases was an additional $46,000 per person and 11% of these cases died.

As many people are aware, due to the rampant use of antibiotics for colds and fevers, these microbes are on steroids figuratively, and are immune to anti-biotics. With each passing case, the bugs get more and more strength and immunity and thus become more difficult to treat.

This study was supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Pioneer Portfolio, which funds innovative ideas that may lead to breakthroughs in the future of health and health care.

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Guess whats getting more swollen than Octomom during Springtime?  If you guessed Medicaid enrollments, then please come to my office now so I can take you out to lunch and then when the checks comes I will slap you for you stating the obvious and run out the back door.

In the middle of the greatest recession ever, more Americans are jumping on Medicaid on then on fad diets.  The total amount of new enrollments is a staggering 3 million for fiscal year June 2008 through 2009.  Which means there are now 46.8 million people enjoying the fruits of Medicaid, though I am not sure Medicaid offers any fruit.

The analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a health policy and research organization, found that in three-fifths of the jurisdictions, including Maryland and the District, people rushed into the safety net for health coverage at more than twice the rate as the year before.

Medicaid directors said in interviews that despite early clues elsewhere that the economy may be starting to improve, the demand for government health coverage has not tapered off since last summer. “Nope. It hasn’t slowed down yet,” said John Folkemer, deputy secretary for health-care financing for Maryland, where the caseload rose by 20 percent from June 2008 to June 2009, the steepest increase in the country.

Like the rising demand for food stamps and welfare benefits, the increase in people turning to Medicaid reflects the millions of Americans who have lost jobs and economic self-reliance and are asking the government for basic help, in many instances for the first time.

Because the program is large and expensive, the spurt in Medicaid caseloads has produced far more damaging effects on state budgets than the other two programs. In the past year or two, many states have responded by reducing the medical services available to Medicaid patients or payments to doctors, hospitals and other providers of health care.

Now, 29 states are considering further reductions or have made them since their current fiscal year began, Thursday’s report said. Such strains exist even though the federal government has been giving states extra money for Medicaid as part of the economic stimulus efforts Congress set in motion a year ago. The extra subsidies are due to expire at the end of this year, and states are lobbying hard to continue them for at least six months.

The worsening financial burden imposed by Medicaid also has heightened some governors’ wariness about the approach to redesigning the nation’s health-care system that is favored by the White House and congressional Democrats. In the health-care bills passed by the House and the Senate, an expansion of health coverage to the uninsured would rely substantially on Medicaid. If the legislation were enacted, the federal government would pick up the cost for the first few years, but, after that, states would contribute a small portion.

“Reform is needed, but, gosh, the hard nut to crack is, how do you fund it?” said Charles Duarte, the administrator who oversees Medicaid in Nevada, where the caseload rose 13 percent in the year that ended in June.

Medicaid, created as part of the Great Society policies of the mid-1960s, is a shared responsibility of the federal government and states. The federal government pays part of the cost, depending on each state’s wealth, and requires a certain level of coverage, but states are free to set many of their program’s rules, including whether to furnish additional benefits.

In the Washington area, which has many low-income residents who have long relied on government help, the Medicaid rolls rose by 4 percent, compared with a 1 percent increase a year earlier. Virginia’s caseload increased by 8 percent, compared with slightly more than 4 percent the previous year.

In most states, however, the growth of Medicaid is a result of economic bad times. By the end of 2009, Nevada’s Medicaid rolls had shot up 20,000 above the 220,000 the state had forecast, Duarte said. Next week, he said, the state’s legislature, faced with revenue far lower than expected from gambling and sales, will hold special sessions to cut the budget.

Last summer, Duarte said, he was able to restore several reductions in benefits the legislature had cut not long before, including vision coverage and some dental care for adult Medicaid patients. Now, he said, as legislators look for new cuts, that list of services “is back on the table, with more added to it.”

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Amid all the criticism from Washington and Kathleen Sebelius, Blue Cross of California has opted to hold off on their monster rate increase.  The 40% rate increase which Blue Cross has been defending for several days now with some pretty valid points has turned into a PR nightmare for the California’s largest for profit health insurance company.

The state insurance commissioner requested the delay on Monday after the states 700,000 individual health insurance policy holders began receiving these shocking increase notices for increases to start on March 1st.

California’s insurance commissioner is only armed with one method of denying the increase which is based on the state regulation that requires all insurers to spend a minimum of 70% of the health insurance premiums on health claims instead of using the profits for private jets and so forth.

Short of that, however the state is pretty much without any teeth.  In other words unless this can be proven the state must allow the increase.  If however they are violating this rue, they could lose their license to sell health insurance policies in California until they reduced their premiums.

As I showed in another article on the Blue Cross of California rate hike, Blue Cross is actually right now the most affordable health insurance company in California and because of their position they should enjoy an economy of scale in California which should allow them to dominate other companies in terms of premiums.

This issue has garnered national attention of the worst kind and the Obama administration has been like a rabid dog biting on Blue Cross legs.

“While a two-month delay offers some temporary relief,” said Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, “what California families need is long-term health insurance security. This rate increase underscores the urgency of passing real health insurance reform.”

The insurance commissioner of California, Mr. Steven Poizner might be a little familiar to California residents as he is currently running for governor of California, and will certainly be using this issue to make a name for himself by beating on “the defenseless company.”

“There are reasons to be suspicious that this rate increase might not be in compliance, I have a healthy skepticism about how you get to 39 percent.”    His skepticism is grounded in the fact that the increases are 3 times the rate of medical cost inflation, which is simply astounding considering how high and fast medical costs are inflating.

Anthem which is owned by Wellpoint one of the larger insurance companies in the country is pretty convinced the rates are justified but are taking a huge chance on the fact that their numbers are correct.  They are in a untenable position and though they are putting on a brave face with statements like these, “we welcome the regulatory review and are confident that our rates reflect anticipated medical costs,” I am pretty sure that their are not in a financial position that justifies such a ridiculous increase.

Basically, we have a quite volatile situation here, when you consider the publicity hungry insurance commissioner going after the rich health insurance company, and it should make for some good reading in the coming days.

The company has said the rates are justified because of escalating medical and pharmaceutical costs and because the recession is prompting healthy consumers to drop their coverage, leaving insurers with a smaller, sicker risk pool. Mr. Sassi said this week that Anthem lost money on the individual market in California last year. Mr. Poizner said he could not confirm that.

Mr. Sassi said the average rate increase would be 25 percent, and that fewer than one in four customers would see increases of 35 percent to 39 percent.

Mr. Poizner said he also was seeing “pretty significant” price increases on individual policies sold by other carriers, but he could not compare them to Anthem’s.

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Rating of Florida Health Plans

Avmed Wins!  Avmed Wins!  In the annual CAHPS Florida Health Insurance Rankings Avmed wins!

CAHPS® 2009

AvMed                                                                               77%

Aetna                                                                                  65%

BCBSFL                                                                              70%

CIGNA                                                                                68%

Humana                                                                             60%

NHP   (Neighborhood Health Partnerships)             64%

United                                                                                 60%

Vista                                                                                     65%

Scores represent the percentage of respondents who rated their plans 8, 9 or10 on a scale of 1 to 10,with 10 being the highest. Florida average=65 percent

For the fifth year in a row, AvMed received the highest overall rating of any statewide Florida plan** in the annual Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) survey.

AvMed prides itself on delivering personalized service to our clients and members. When asked about their overall satisfaction with their plan, 77 percent of AvMed members gave us good or excellent ratings. The state average is 65 percent.

Administered by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the annual CAHPS survey asks respondents to rate their health plan in areas including:

· Overall health care provided

· Overall health plan satisfaction

· Satisfaction with personal physician

· Satisfaction with specialist care Health care organizations, employers, individual purchasers, consumers and researchers use CAHPS results to: · · · Assess the degree of patient-centered care Compare and/or report on plan performance Improve available quality of care

Health plans with yourhealthin mind.
AVM-N09-53 AvMed, Inc. (health benefit plan).

Plans contain limitations and exclusions. **Highest overall rating of statewide plans reporting Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) and Point of Service (POS) product data (*Health Options filed as HMO only.) to the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) for the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS). CAHPS® is a registered trademark of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

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General Mills, the famous cereal manufacturer that has brought us such contemporary classics as Cookie Crisp, Cocoa Puffs, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch (just to name a few) as recently announced a plan to once again reduce the sugar content of these and more children’s cereals. 

A plan that began several years ago outlined the goal of reducing the sugar content in 10 of its children cereals to 11 grams or less per serving.  They say the pressure is being felt by consumers, health experts and federal regulators in regards to the nutritional content of these cereals that are marketed towards children.   I think someone forgot to tell them, that the sugar is what actually makes the cereal good!  Ever had Cheerio’s before?  It is the lightly sweetened version of the much more popular, Honey Nut Cheerio’s.

 Mom made the mistake of bringing home Cheerio’s from the grocery store a time or two growing up.  Let me be the first to tell you, my brothers and I were not happy about it.  It was Honey Nut Cheerio’s or bust!  My grandfather ate regular Cheerio’s, but for us youngsters with a voracious appetite for anything that would make us bounce off the walls and push us to go outside and play for the entire afternoon when school let out, it had to be the good stuff.  Either that or we dumped sugar on top of our regular Cheerio’s if it was indeed a cereal emergency.

 General Mills has already caved into federal, and health expert pressure before.  About 10 years ago they announced that all their cereals would be made with made with ‘whole grain’ wheat from here on out.  The health of today’s youth is nothing to be laughed about, but darn it, taking away my Cookie Crisp as we all know it is like taking a little piece of childhood away from all of us.

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Picture this:  It’s 1994, maybe you’re still rockin’ that side ponytail and fashionably ripped up hypercolor shirt.  Ok, ok, maybe.  But hey the Clinton administration has been in office for a little over a year and things are lookin’ up from those down years with President George Bush right?   One of the main initiatives on the docket is the first lady’s very publicly backed “Hillarycare” health bill.  See where I’m going with this?

Flash forward to 2009, a little under a year into the Obama Administration and we’re at it again.  It’s arguable to say that perhaps Obama’s entire presidential legacy rides on one of his largest campaigning points that got him into office to begin with, healthcare reform.  Details of the bill excluded, one thing that went wrong in ’94 that is rearing its ugly head again in ’09, could it be the possibility of the Democrats losing the support of the business class, in particular the Business Roundtable (an association of CEO’s from the largest companies in the United States).

With details of the bill becoming clearer and clearer by the day, the notion of Obamacare lowering healthcare costs for companies is starting to get a lot of attention.  Well primarily the part about lowering costs, since the gigantic tax increase imposed upon these businesses should the bill pass in its current shape would end up costing companies more.  With money being a hot commodity in today’s economy, it’s not so easy to try and pull the wool over someone’s eyes when there is a gigantic price tag attached to it.  Seems as if someone let the cat out of the bag and the tide is swinging to lead businesses to voice their displeasure.  Clinton was unable to get the business class on board in ’94 too.

Plain and simple, Business Roundtable companies sponsor health insurance for about 35 million employees and their families at this point.  Employee wages would certainly take a hit as the companies shoulder the burden of the inflamed tax increase.  Meanwhile in today’s climate, the U.S. already has some of the highest corporate tax rates in the world.

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