Update: October 30, 2009

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House Healthcare Reform Bill

I’ve not read (and don’t intend to) the entire 1,990 page bill that has been put before the House of Representatives but I did find in the CBO’s preliminary analysis the following statement:

“The current proposal does not include any changes to the sustainable growth rate (SGR) mechanism for setting Medicare’s payment rates for physicians’ services. A provision of H.R. 3200 that would have restructured that mechanism added about $245 billion to CBO’s estimate of the net cost of that bill.”

I saw in one report that there’s apparently a separate bill that is going to be proposed in the House to address this critical problem.  If you will recall, a similar bill failed in the Senate last week.  I support this approach; i.e., two separate bills, as the best way to address a real and near-term problem (physician payments for 2010) and the longer term solution to Healthcare (Insurance) reform. 

Much will be written on this new bill, and the Senate’s version but I thought this particular item to be of note.

Army MEDCOM Reorganization

For those who are familiar with this organization – it’s changing yet again although this article does not address overseas medical organizations. 

The U.S. Army Medical Command (MEDCOM) is currently engaged in a four-phased reorganization designed to optimize the delivery of health care support to the Army, Soldiers,family members and all other eligible Military Health System beneficiaries. The reorganization reduces MEDCOM’s Regional Medical Commands (RMCs) and Regional Dental Commands (RDCs) from four to three in CONUS and aligns them with their TRICARE regional office boundaries.  (Source:  Stand-To website and Army Medicine website).

Save $$$ (maybe)

Are you and AARP member?  Borders Bookstores apparently give discounts to AARP members who show their AARP membership cards when they make a purchase.  This is an excerpt from the link above:  “Members save 10% on list price paperback books* and 35% on list price of AARP published titles at any Borders, Borders Express and Waldenbooks stores. Show your AARP card in stores to get the discount.
Shop online and save too. Click here to get your promo code for discounts on borders.com. Discounts will be applied at the end of transaction.”

You can probably still find books cheaper at Amazon.com but you never know.  Personally, I rarely buy books any more.  Springfield, MO has a great public library system and the largest branch is only about 2 miles from the house.  Plus, I can ‘order’ books, extend due dates, etc. on-line.  I can also order some books electronically and read them on-line or download them to my computer to read later.  I’ve not quite figured out how to get them onto my iPod yet, but I’m working on it.

Tech Stuff

Microsoft to Discontinue MSN Direct.  Starting in 2012, users of certain GPS devices will no longer get traffic updates, weather reports and other data because Microsoft is discontinuing its MSN Direct service.  Microsoft has posted a notice on its MSN Direct Web site informing users that the service will be available only until Jan. 1, 2012.

 

 

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