Happy Thanksgiving To All

In honor of this years Texas A&M- t.u. game tomorrow here are some pictures from last nights student run non-sanctioned bonfire in College Station, TX.

B.T.H.O.t.u!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tenth Anniversary Of Texas A&M Bonfire Collapse

Today is the Tenth Anniversary of the Texas A&M Bonfire Collapse which killed 12 students.
I still cannot watch the video of the Longhorn Band  performing at halftime without tearing up.

And The Abysmal Timing Award Goes To...

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has issued new guidelines suggesting women should wait until 50 to begin routine mammograms for breast cancer early detection in a front page story in today's Houston Comical. It seems that false positives are very expensive you see and the costs outweigh the benefits involved unless it happens to be you or your mother, wife, daughter, aunt, girlfriend or sister.

The task force also recommends against teaching breast self-examination because no data exists to show it reduces deaths. That would be news to many women including my best friends wife who recently detected a lump which turned out to be malignant breast cancer. I suppose if you are a professional athlete wearing pink the last few weeks you were duped and 25 years of messaging to raise awareness was pointless?

The timing of such an announcement during breast cancer awareness month is suspect and at a time when healthcare reform awaits a senate vote is simply outright stupid. Yet it does foretell what we can expect under Obamacare  when clinical guidelines rooted in data supplant physician judgement. I thought the American Cancer Society's chief medical officer succinctly summarized the core issue;

Dr. Otis Brawley, the American Cancer Society's chief medical officer...said the statistics suggest the task force is “essentially telling women that mammography at age 40 to 49 saves lives; just not enough of them.”

Brawley added that the task force is saying screening 1,339 women in their 50s to save one life makes it worthwhile in that age group, but that screening 1,904 women in their 40s to save one life isn't.

The American Cancer Society, he said, believes the benefit outweighs the harm in both cases.

And this is precisely why The US survival rates for breast cancer surpass nations worldwide with socialized medicine. Women's groups should be rightly up in arms over this edict. Watch it hit the fan over the next few days.

Meet My New Pup Zeus

Zeus is 9 weeks old and he is Trouble on 4 legs. Above is a pic from Saturday.

Business is Not Whispering

Big U.S. Companies Balk at Health Care Public Option

Excerpt: "Some of the nation's largest companies pushed back against U.S. Democrats' plans to deliver a government-run insurance option in a healthcare overhaul, decrying it as a step backward that would drive up costs for employers and their workers. The Business Roundtable, comprised of chief executives at Verizon Communications . . ., JPMorgan . . ., General Electric . . ., Wal-Mart . . . and other companies that together employ more than 12 million people, said the federal government is inefficient and would underpay providers. That would result in providers boosting prices for private insurers and employers, the group said on Wednesday." (Reuters)





Business Groups Push Hard Against the Senate Health Reform Bill

Excerpt: "Lobbyists for employers thought they had staved off a public plan in the Senate after the Finance Committee opted not to include the idea in its version of the health legislation. They were caught by surprise when the public plan resurfaced and Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) said it would be in the bill brought to the Senate floor, albeit with an option for states not to participate." (The Wall Street Journal)



Constitutionality of Health Overhaul Questioned: Legal Scholars Divided Over Congress' Authority

Excerpt: "On top of all the other obstacles facing President Obama in his quest to pass health reform is this one: Does the U.S. Constitution allow the government to require uninsured Americans to buy medical insurance or impose a tax penalty if they refuse? Congress has never before required citizens to purchase any good or service, but that is what both House and Senate health bills would mandate." (The Washington Times)

Health Care Reform

Harry Reid thinks he knows whats best for you. He's back with the public option again.

Here is a great blog that offers insights into the real objective of the public option.

Now the democrats are starting to eat their own, witness Robert Reich here pointing out how obamacare shafts the middle class and ignores the current economic woes our nation faces that are the elephant in the living room.

Got Subrogation?

Got Subrogation? Where ERISA And Workers’ Compensation Claims Intersect - An Insider’s Guide by Roy Harmon whose blog is a must read for benefit professionals interested in legal matters http://bit.ly/43zOPL