simpy
simpy
Video Wabanaki Legal News Americans Who Tell The Truth Wayback Machine edubunda Rosetta Stone Getting Free Ode Happy News Google News CutePDF Food Stamp Estimator USA Language Map Toby Hollander Data Wizards Earned Income Credit Maps On-line Tax Returns COMPASS: One-Stop Shop Low-Wage America Yucky Report Internet Fraud Get Food Stamps? Healthy Living Clean Clothes PBS Kids Community Web Interactive Worksheet Lawyer Humor Search HelpMeLaw Digital Divide Network Tour Poverty USA Visit NASA Benefits Checkup
Morning Edition, April 15, 2009 · A federal proposal to restrict a plastic additive called bisphenol A (BPA) is focusing attention on a guiding concept known as the "precautionary principle."
The proposal would ban BPA from food and beverage containers. Proponents say the precautionary principle requires such a ban because high doses of BPA can cause reproductive abnormalities and cancer in animals.
But whether you agree with that stance depends on how you define the precautionary principle. It's not written into federal law, and it turns out that people have widely differing views on what it is, and how it should be applied.
June 9, 2009 Reported By: Josie Huang Governor John Baldacci plans to sign a bill tomorrow that's aimed at giving the state's DirigoChoice health insurance program much-needed financial stability. To pay for Dirigo, the state charges health insurers a fee each year, which invariably leads to fights over how much the fee should be. Dirigo supporters say the bill to keep the fee fixed from year to year will avoid the expensive legal battles and bad blood. "The Number one thing that it does is it makes the funding source predictable and stable," says David Farmer, spokesman for the governor. Farmer tried to reassure the 9,000 people getting insurance through Dirigo, which is priced on ability to pay, and another 5,500 people who get Medicaid through the use of Dirigo dollars.
The Maine Senate has given final approval to a measure intended to put Maine's Dirigo Health Insurance program on a healthier financial footing. The House approved the bill Friday, and Gov. John Baldacci, the bill's sponsor, is expected to sign it.
The bill provides an alternative to the Dirigo Health Program's current funding mechanism, a so-called "savings offset" fee assessed on insurers, which is based on how much health care savings the program generates. Because the amount of savings is difficult to accurately nail down, the system has led to court battles.
Instead of relying on savings estimates, the new system will assess a fixed 2.14 percent fee on paid claims. The Maine House passed the measure Friday by a vote of 83 to 53, and the Senate followed suit today by a vote to 20 to 15.
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) By a vote of 83-53, the Maine House has given its final approval to a bill that would create a new funding source for the state's Dirigo health program.
Representatives on Friday approved legislation to replace the savings offset payment, now assessed at a variable rate of up to 4 percent of paid claims, with a fixed 2.14 percent payment on paid claims paid monthly.
The savings offset payments that have been used to pay for the state-subsidized Dirigo program have been challenged repeatedly by the health insurance industry.
The measure directs Dirigo's board to reach more uninsured and underinsured Mainers through a more affordable product.
It faces a Senate vote before it can be sent to Gov. John Baldacci for his signature.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Snowe has said she supports a national reform based on regulating insurance markets to increase competition while ensuring consumer protections. The primary alternative under consideration — a single-payer, government-run plan similar to Medicare — “is no panacea and should be a last resort,” according to a recent statement from Snowe’s office. Rosemary Gladstone thinks the nation’s employer-based private insurance coverage system has proven a failure. She thinks a single-payer system is a better idea, and that people should be required to have insurance of one sort or another. She worries that the Dirigo program, in danger of losing its funding, will collapse. For now, though, she’s just glad to have coverage. “I love having health insurance,” she said. “It gives me more motivation to take care of myself, and it provides an extra layer of stability.”
Miss Susan has been using this song for years and it works! For a healthier world, teach it to your kids, your grandchildren, your friends children. Cough Cough Sneeze Sneeze Cover your mouth Please Please Let's be careful How we cough Let's be careful How we sneeze Catch those germs Right i-in your sleeve Ah Ah Ah Choo! Credits: Susan Plimpton - Writer Songsinger Fr. Richard Tardiff - Guitar Filmed on location at the Southwest Harbor Public Library http://www.swhplibrary.org/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/
