To the surprise of absolutely no one, the AP reports, “A new survey shows the top paid executive in Minnesota is in the health care industry. Calculations by The Associated Press and the executive data firm Equilar show UnitedHealth Group CEO Stephen Hemsley tops the compensation list in Minnesota, earning $15.7 million last year. The health care company is based in Minnetonka and is sixth in the United States on the Fortune 500.” Any arts teachers? Nurses? Anyone? Bueller?
Crackdown. The KSTP-TV story says, “Twenty-one people have been indicted in what authorities are calling a sophisticated, international sex-trafficking ring that brought hundreds of women from Thailand to America and forced them to work as prostitutes. Authorities in Minnesota were part of an Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team dedicated to tracking and stopping sex trafficking operations. That team assisted in the investigation of this particular ring.”
Uh, so what’s your definition of “fully”? James Koren at the Los Angeles Times reports, “Wells Fargo & Co. may have to cough up more than $142 million to settle a bevy of class-action lawsuits in connection with its unauthorized-accounts scandal. A federal judge in San Francisco said late Wednesday that he would approve a settlement deal reached by the bank and plaintiffs’ attorneys, but only if they agree to several conditions — including a guarantee that all customers will be fully compensated for their losses. That could further boost the amount the bank will have to pay to put the lawsuits behind it as questions remain about how many customers were harmed and how much money they lost.”
Soon to be on t-shirts and coffee mugs everywhere. Euan Kerr and Jeyca Maldonado-Medina of MPR tell us, “The Walker Arts Center installed what promises to be a new iconic piece in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden today in the shape of a gigantic blue rooster. German sculptor Katharina Fristch’s piece ‘Hahn/Cock’ stands close to the gardens famed ‘Spoonbridge with Cherry.’ It’s one of 16 new works installed as part of the Garden’s multi-million dollar renovation and expansion.” Better than a puce Asian carp, I guess.
Two weeks. MPR’s Peter Cox reports, “A University of Minnesota athletics department administrator will serve a two-week, unpaid suspension for sexual harassment misconduct. The university on Thursday released the findings of an internal investigation into sexual harassment allegations against Randy Handel, who serves as the associate athletic director of development. A subordinate said Handel’s behavior included frequent hugging, touching and inappropriate comments about the person’s looks, according to the investigative report.”
For god’s sake, take the money, turn off the lights and go home. Says Brian Bakst at MPR, “A legislative pay raise approved by Minnesota voters hasn’t been provided for in a new state budget, but some lawmakers say the Legislature is only harming itself in the end. A state government budget bill leaves funding for the House and Senate flat. That means costs of the 45 percent increase in pay approved by an independent commission will have to be covered by cuts elsewhere. The pay raise — the first in two decades — is set to take effect July 1 and will result in lawmakers earning $45,000 per year.”
The Strib is, uh, unimpressed with the revised health care bill. You know, the one whacking 23 million off health insurance. “A point of clarification for Reps. Erik Paulsen, Tom Emmer and Jason Lewis, the three Minnesota Republican U.S. House members who voted for their party’s health reform plan: When you vowed on the campaign trail to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the expectation was that the replacement plan would improve upon former President Obama’s signature health care law. But for the second time now, one of the nation’s most authoritative voices has confirmed that the GOP’s American Health Care Act (AHCA) would be a disastrous step backward when it comes to cost and quality coverage, particularly for older and sicker Americans. There’s no honor in keeping a promise to repeal the Obama law … when the replacement would gut Medicaid, a safety-net program for children and the elderly, and would leave millions more Americans without health insurance.”
Whacking 23 million off health insurance
I am not a supporter of many of the changes being proposed to ACA. Many healthy younger people will now voluntarily decide not to purchase insurance. Is it fair to say we are “whacking” these people off health insurance?”.
No its not fair
because that not what they are talking about. They are talking about people who are getting subsidies because they can’t afford insurance without assistance. They are talking about people currently receiving Medicaid assistance who will be whacked of the Medicaid rolls. They are talking about people who have preexisting conditions who will be priced out of the market. They are talking about very very sick people who have exceeded a lifetime cap and no longer able to get insurance. And they are talking about a whole new group that Insurance companies have yet to find a reason to deny.
Combine
…the first and last items in this morning’s “Glean,” and you have a fair illustration of what’s wrong with the American health care system. Nothing Stephen Hemsley has done in his life justifies his multi-million-dollar salary, much less the many more millions he’s already been paid in recent years. The Republican replacement for the ACA flies in the face of campaign promises by virtually every Republican candidate, including Messrs. Lewis, Paulsen and Emmer, showing us, as if further proof were needed, that the Republican Party and its officeholders are ethically and intellectually bankrupt.