October 30, 2009 - 10:19 PM | Comment
At the very moment that Congress is considering legislation that could horn in on, if not totally change, the health insurance companies [Health care businesses at risk in House overhaul - AP], one might think
that those companies could take a little time to lie low and not remind us why they can be even less popular than, well, Congress.
One would think wrong:
- Health care costs to soar for Kodak workers, retirees - Matthew Daneman/Rochester Democrat & Chronicle
Retirees' monthly premiums vary depending on the person's age and amount of time spent at the photo and imaging company. Letters sent out to area retirees this week indicated that monthly costs for coverage under the preferred provider organization, or PPO, plan administered by MVP Health Care will go up in some cases by 200 percent to 400 percent. ...
PPO rates for current Kodak employees are going up 16 percent, while employees opting for coverage in the PPO Max plan will have their rates double.
Kodak has a self-funded plan, not straight health insurance. Still, it's a reminder that, left to its own devices, the health insurance game has some problems.
Is shooting yourself in the foot covered? Or, in the case of the health insurance industry, is it a pre-existing condition?
Meanwhile, Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, chair of the Powerful House Rules Committee, wants us to know that the whole text of the new House health reform bill is available online. Have your browser take a deep breath and click here.
There's also some explanation from the bill's backers, here, here, here, here and here. And some dissent from Republican leader John Boehner [pictured above] is here. And the industry weights in here.]
-- George Pyle/The Buffalo News
[What's that? The word "powerful" isn't part of the Rules Committee's official title? My bad.]
October 29, 2009 - 11:50 AM | Comment
The feds say that the unemployment rate in most big cities is down -- because a lot of folks have just given up looking for work and so aren't counted as being among the unemployed.
- Jobless rate falls in metro areas - The Associated Press
The metro employment figures, issued Wednesday by the Labor Department, aren’t adjusted for seasonal changes, so they tend to be volatile from month to month. And many of the changes in local unemployment rates in September resulted from seasonal trends.
[Just by the way, the Labor Department is hiring. Takes more people to count all the unemployed, I guess.]
Among those who have not given up looking for jobs -- jobs that others will fill -- are members of Congress from New York and some high-tech entrepreneurs from Upstate:
- State's top innovators tout tech hopes on Capitol Hill - Jerry Zremski/The Buffalo News
Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand, a Democrat, [right] sponsored Wednesday's event to bring together inventors such as Furhman and congressional aides to spark activity in the state's high-tech sector. [Rep. Chris Lee was there, too.]
Meanwhile, I don't know if they are hiring, but there are indications that the banking business is doing well around here:
- Profits rise 70.9% at Evans Bancorp - Jonathan D. Epstein/The Buffalo News
Evans Bancorp said Wednesday that third-quarter profits leaped 70.9 percent, driven by strong growth in net interest income from lending and a $700,000 “bargain purchase” gain from its purchase of the failed Waterford Village Bank.
- KeyCorp. increasing its visibility - ditto
KeyCorp. will “put its name up in lights” on its Western New York district headquarters at Fountain Plaza in Buffalo for the first time as a “visible symbol” of its commitment to the city and region, the bank said Wednesday.
And, oh, yes, the Commerce Department says the recession is over.
-- George Pyle/The Buffalo News
October 28, 2009 - 3:02 PM | Comment
From today's Buffalo News Business Today section:
- Independent Health sees 10.5% rate hike average By Jonathan D. Epstein/The Buffalo News
Independent Health said Tuesday that almost half of its employer groups will see insurance premiums rise by 10 percent or more next year.
The Amherst-based health insurer, the region’s second-largest, said the average rate increase across its entire book of business will be 10.5 percent in 2010. That would be down from as much as 19 percent last year.
The insurer’s executives said that even higher increases were avoided due to medical and pharmacy management efforts, more engagement with members about how to spend wisely and more use of lower-cost generic drugs.
- UB will help develop database of rates for out-of-network care By Jonathan D. Epstein/The Buffalo News
The University at Buffalo will be one of five upstate universities working to develop a new nationwide independent insurance database of provider and consumer reimbursements for out-of-network medical care, Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo said Tuesday. Cuomo [right] announced the formation of a new not-for-profit company called FAIR Health that will create the independent database and a Web site where consumers can, for the first time, compare prices and reimbursements before they choose their doctors.
The A.G. pushed to create this system to replace one he cracked down on months ago, one that allegedly cooked the books so that health insurance companies could pretend out-of-network doctors were overcharging, and thus give the insurance companies an excuse to short-change their customers.
If consumers use the database to find good prices for health care procedures, that will keep costs down. If they use it to make their insurance companies pay more, even if more is what it means to not be ripped off, that won't.
Which will bring us back to the top of this post.
Meanwhile:
- Democrats struggle to find unity on health plan
And so it goes.
-- George Pyle/The Buffalo News
October 28, 2009 - 2:51 PM | Comment
Compare and contrast:
- Brewers move toward low-cal beer - Associated Press/The Buffalo News
MILWAUKEE — How low can beer makers go? Having conquered the beer-belly set, some of the nation’s biggest brewers are trying to win over the six-pack-ab crowd with ultra-low-calorie suds.
The question is: Are drinkers willing to sacrifice flavor and a bit of the buzz? And: How long before beer gets turned back into water?*
- Call It Stout, Though It Isn’t - Beers of The Times/The New York Times
People get stuck on the word stout. It confuses, the way it connotes size and fleshiness. And the color, too — inky, impenetrable black — suggests mass and power. As a result, many people think stout is a formidable blockbuster of an ale, heavy and alcoholic, just the way they assume darker roasts of coffee have more caffeine than lighter roasts. Nothing could be further from the truth.
[Tasting Report (on my browser, what are supposed to be stars are rendered a little rectangles). Pairings.]
We've a man's work ahead of us, lads. [Fifty points for knowing where that quote came from.]
Related:
* - Brewers worry that national water shortages will raise prices - MCT News Service/The Chicago Tribune
-- George Pyle/The Buffalo News
October 27, 2009 - 10:52 AM | Comment
When oil prices were high and grain prices were low, Midwestern farmers used to say that we should swap a bushel of wheat for a barrel of oil.
Today, in the Marcellus Shale zone of Southern Tier New York and northwestern Pennsylvania, the plan apparently is to swap water for natural gas. That's part of:
- Energy execs question regulations by David Robinson/The Buffalo News
The push and pull between the energy industry and environmental concerns took center stage Monday during a gathering of area energy industry executives arranged by Rep. Chris Lee, R-Clarence [right].
The trick, Lee said, is finding the happy medium that balances the environmental concerns with the push to make the United States less dependent on foreign oil, while developing domestic energy sources, like the Marcellus Shale, as well as solar and wind energy.
"We have ample resources in this country. The Marcellus Shale is a wonderful example," Lee said.
Environmentalists, however, are concerned that the millions of gallons of water, mixed with sand and chemicals, that drillers use to unlock the natural gas deposits in regions such as the Marcellus Shale could pose a threat to the safety of the water supply.
Other energy/environment news:
- UN signals delay in climate change treaty - The Buffalo News/AP
Just weeks before an international conference on climate change, the United Nations signaled it was scaling back expectations of reaching agreement on a new treaty to slow global warming.
- Can Potential Incentives in Climate Bill Spur U.S. Nuclear Industry? - The New York Times/Climate Wire
A possible nuclear energy title in the climate bill with strong financial and regulatory incentives has been touted as one of the top negotiable items to obtain the necessary 60-votes needed to pass the Senate climate legislation.
- States Get Federal Smart Grid Funds - The New York Times
Projects in every state except Alaska will receive federal funding for smart-grid projects, the Obama Administration announced today.
- Valero margins get squeezed, loss widens - The Associated Press
The Great Recession, which kept millions of workers out of the morning commute, is partly to blame. But Valero's problems show how the weak U.S. currency has come to affect even companies that typically see only a modest shift in results related to exchange rates.
-- George Pyle/The Buffalo News
October 14, 2009 - 10:35 AM | Comment
Good news here. Though it's probably another creation Buffalo won't get credit for:
- Chocolate Bar’s first franchise slated to open in Cleveland - Samantha Maziarz Christmann/The Buffalo 
News
After three years of fielding interest from wannabe franchisees, Chippewa Street’s dessert-themed bar and restaurant The Chocolate Bar is headed for Cleveland.
Pretty fancy franchise for a company that started as an arm of a gas station.
[That Chocolate Bar link is under construction, as they say. This morning it said, "This website is temporarily unavailable, please try again later." Later, a few nice pix and some dummy type. Stay tuned.]
Meanwhile, Buffalo gets another high-tech import:
- CentriLogic opens data center downtown - David Robinson/The Buffalo News
CentriLogic, a Toronto-based company that provides outsourced data center services, has opened a data center in the Main Place Tower that is expected to bring 50 to 75 jobs to downtown Buffalo over the next three years.
-- George Pyle/The Buffalo News
October 13, 2009 - 3:17 PM | Comment
Apparently, we've created a monster. And we don't even get credit for it.
On the front page of today's New York Times:
- 'Boneless' Chicken Wings? Cheaper by the Dozen - All about how the popularity of spicy chicken
wings has led to an increase in the price of wings, while the price of previously expensive chicken breasts is down. So places that sell spicy wings are now raising the price, giving them up, or moving to what Times writer William Neuman properly calls "that oxymoron dipped in hot sauce, the boneless wing" -- made from now-bargain white meat.
But does The Gray Lady give Buffalo any credit for this invention? Barely. Waaaay down in the story -- beyond the jump, as we say in the biz -- it finally allows that:
Buffalo wings, as they are commonly called, are said to have started in Buffalo in the 1960s, when a bar owner took the unloved chicken parts, cooked them up and added sauce. They have become a classic American finger food — and a standby in bars during football season.
The Times' primary example for this story? A bar in Tucson, for pity sake.
Just to fill in the crucial details, we would direct all New York Times readers who, after reading its chicken story, are still hungry, to the Web site of Buffalo's Anchor Bar. Or to the Web HQ of The National Buffalo Wing Festival.
-- George Pyle/The Buffalo News
October 12, 2009 - 1:57 PM | Comment
It sounded like a convention of ministers who gathered to talk about how many people only turn to religion when they are in trouble ["There are no atheists in foxholes."], and drop it when times are good.
Participants in last week's 4th Bi-Annual Cross-Border Post Keynesian Conference claim the mantle of
the true heirs of the widely acknowledged master of 20th Century economic thought -- John Maynard Keynes. [News article. Previous blog post.]
They are frustrated that governments and central bankers only turn to Keynesian teachings when they are trying to claw their way out of a panic/depression/recession, priming the pump with government spending and worrying about how the economy can't really get better as long as the poor have no purchasing power.
When things get better, Keynes is forgotten, those in power go back to the neoclassical faith in the wisdom of the unfettered marketplace and bankers are soon creating new and exotic ways to make -- and lose -- astounding amounts of money.
Then, when all collapses again, as it always will, we go back to church. For awhile.
Useful quote from the conference: "Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one." - Charles Mckay
Same quote from someone you've heard of [and has a name that rhymes]: "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - Agent Kay
-- George Pyle/The Buffalo News
[John Maynard Keynes on the cover of Time, Dec. 31, 1965]
October 8, 2009 - 2:56 PM | Comment
Another one of those national stories that's a local story in a lot of places:
- Improved railroad service boosted - The Buffalo News, Business Today
The lack of an integrated national transportation system, one that would put more short-haul passengers on high-speed trains, is to blame for an increasingly congested air travel network that serves Buffalo poorly.
Those are among the conclusions of a [Brookings Institution] study being released today, one that says that Buffalo Niagara International Airport ranks low in a survey of on-time arrivals because the airports that feed it are even worse.
- Analysts aboard for rail hub - The Las Vegas Sun
A new analysis of air travel in the Intermountain West suggests Las Vegas would be an ideal hub for a 
high-speed rail network and — because of the heavy load of travelers between McCarran International Airport and Southern California — is primed for a high-speed rail link connecting the two regions.*
- More airline delays coming, so think hard about how high speed rail can help - St. Petersburg Times
The findings are especially important to Florida, which is so dependent on air travel-based tourism. And the report also urges more national investing in high-speed rail -- something now seriously sought between Orlando and Tampa, for starters, later adding Miami -- for trips under 500 miles to spread the transportation needs of a growing population and to reduce the strain on airports (and roads).
More localized takes in the Syracuse Post-Standard, Chicago Sun-Times, The Portland (Maine) Press Herald, The State (Columbia, S.C.), Detroit Free Press, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Miami Herald. And, for the view from above, USA Today.
Brookings' round-up Web page for the study, complete with videos and lots more links, is here. A supplement focusing on the Great Lakes region is here.
-- George Pyle/The Buffalo News
[Graphic by Chris Morris/The Las Vegas Sun]
* "A magnetic levitation train from Vegas to Disneyland? Actually, that sounds pretty cool. You leave the kids with Cinderella, two hours later you're blowing their college fund on Pai Gow poker, getting bottle service from a 'hostess,' also dressed like Cinderella." -- Stephen Colbert
October 8, 2009 - 1:11 PM | Comment
Maybe, instead of calling it Business Today, we should call it Health Care Today. Viz:
- Kidney patients, job creation are focus of e-records initiative - David Robinson/The Buffalo News
An initiative to develop an electronic records system to help manage the treatment of Western New York patients suffering from kidney disease could create up to 115 jobs locally, officials said Wednesday.
The initiative between UBMD, the University at Buffalo's 450-member physician practice plan, and Buffalo-based information technology firm Computer Task Group, aims to create a software system that will share patient records electronically among the practice and help its doctors identify those who have symptoms that could lead to kidney disease and diabetes.
The $28.9 million project is being partly funded by a $7 million grant from the state Department of Health's HEAL NY initiative, as well as major investments from CTG and UBMD.
- Health plan based here ranked tops in nation - Jonathan D. Epstein/The Buffalo News
Independent Health Association has been ranked as the top HMO or point-of-service plan in the nation for customer service by an independent health plan rating and evaluation organization.
The National Committee for Quality Assurance gave the Williamsville-based health insurer top billing in its Quality Compass 2009 ranking, which each year measures the performance of health plans nationwide. That’s up from fourth place in 2008.
From P.1:
- UB engineering professor honored at White House - Jerry Zremski/The Buffalo News
Esther Sans, the daughter of political refugees from Latvia, went off to kindergarten five decades ago in Ohio barely knowing any English -- but now she knows better than anyone how to power the human heart when Mother Nature isn't quite up to it.
And that discovery led Sans -- now Esther Sans Takeuchi -- to the White House on Wednesday, where President Obama presented the University at Buffalo professor the nation's top award for technological achievement.
Elsewhere today:
- Tiny technology may yield major finds -- and possible perils - The Miami Herald
Imagine a particle so small it would take a million of them to stretch across the period at the end of this sentence. Imagine such particles could help catch cancer cells floating in your bloodstream before they could metastasize to the liver, bones, brain or other organs.
And, of course:
- Health care overhaul hanging in there
The latest Associated Press-GfK poll has found that opposition to Obama's health care remake dropped dramatically in just a matter of weeks. Still, Americans remain divided over complex legislation that Democrats are advancing in Congress. [Video]
-- George Pyle/The Buffalo News
