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		<title>My Solution to the Healthcare Cost Crisis</title>
		<link>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog.cfm</link>
		<description>Heathcare Reform think-tank, Shupe Center for Healthcare Cost Reform identifies and provides innovative, practical, alternative solutions to the current US healthcare cost crisis and establish long-term vehicles to support future innovation and quality in healthcare. Contributors come from every vocation touching the financing and delivery of healthcare.</description>
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		<copyright>Copyright 2012 My Solution to the Healthcare Cost Crisis, All rights reserved.</copyright>
		<lastBuildDate>Sun, 20 May 2012 09:46:29 CST</lastBuildDate>

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		<title><![CDATA[ If you are a Republican...WAKE UP! ]]></title> 
		<link>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/41397</link>
		<description><![CDATA[ Here&amp;#39;s where we are. The Supreme Court is deliberating and will tell us some time in June if the mandate is constitutional. Let&amp;#39;s assume it is not. There goes the fix for healthcare financing. Let&amp;#39;s assume that it is. There goes the fix for for healthcare financing. Yes, it is the same. Why? Because the Democrats and the Republicans are both dead wrong. The Democrat way is more government, the Republican alter ego is to do away with employer paid healthcare and replace it with individual policies purchased and controlled by each individual. Well I have some questions for the Republican architect...

1. Selling insurance across state lines - Guess what? You can already do that, as long as you conform to the state laws within the state you are offering the product. Why? States rights. Oh, I thought the conservatives were all about states rights? Well, it depends on the definition. Here is the truth about selling across state lines period. The question to ask is why would a ... ]]></description>
		<category><![CDATA[ Fee Based Consultant-No Sales ]]></category>
		<author>bob@shupecenter.com (Bob Shupe)</author>
		<pubDate>Mon, 02 Apr 2012 18:49:00 EST</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/41397</guid>
		<comments>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_display.cfm/blog_id/41397</comments>
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		<title><![CDATA[ End of Life-Not End of Discussion ]]></title> 
		<link>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/37091</link>
		<description><![CDATA[ I recently lost my father to a fight with multiple medical problems. While he would be considered young at 80, there comes a point when the human body must surrender. That was the case with my dad. In his honor his children could not have had a more loving and instructive set of parents. Mom died at 57 after a long battle with multiple-myeloma. In both cases I and my youngest sister were blessed that our sister lived in the community and felt a strong passion for caring for both of them until they departed. It was trying on her and we can never repay her for what she did for our parents in our absence. Thanks sis, we love you very much.

	Now why is this in my blog? Interesting story in the USA paper. I encourage you to read it. This article points out something that I witnessed first hand. Unfortunately the article does not explain how this really works. The article also doesn&amp;#39;t properly defend the hospice organizations that get it right and don&amp;#39;t defraud the system. The art... ]]></description>
		<category><![CDATA[ Fee Based Consultant-No Sales ]]></category>
		<author>bob@esptn.com (Bob G. Shupe)</author>
		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Aug 2011 11:46:00 EST</pubDate>
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		<comments>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_display.cfm/blog_id/37091</comments>
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		<title><![CDATA[ Maybe It's Just Me? ]]></title> 
		<link>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/36983</link>
		<description><![CDATA[ Okay, we have this debt thing. The reason we have it is because the government cannot control it&amp;#39;s spending, right? So let&amp;#39;s turn over 18% or so of our country&amp;#39;s gross national product&amp;nbsp;to the government, right? Did I get that right? Am I understanding all of the details?

	Let&amp;#39;s keep this real simple.

	The majority of us are not stupid.
... ]]></description>
		<category><![CDATA[ Fee Based Consultant-No Sales ]]></category>
		<author>bob@esptn.com (Bob G. Shupe)</author>
		<pubDate>Tue, 02 Aug 2011 20:01:00 EST</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/36983</guid>
		<comments>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_display.cfm/blog_id/36983</comments>
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		<title><![CDATA[ Where is the safety director when you need them? ]]></title> 
		<link>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/31026</link>
		<description><![CDATA[ I attended a regular safety meeting with one of my clients this week. This county has one of the most comprehensive programs of all my clients, big and small. The safety director&amp;#160;handling the meeting distributed&amp;#160;a piece of paper that made me wonder why it should only apply to property and casualty. It was titled, &quot;The 5 Whys - Root Cause Determination.&quot; The purpose of the procedure was to do what children discover at a very early age, keep asking &quot;why&quot; until the parent gives in. In this case it was to keep asking why until you arrived at the root cause of the accident and ultimately an&amp;#160;expense to the employer and everyone else participating in the program.
So why can&apos;t an employer keep asking why until the employee gives the real reason for their over utilization of the health care benefit plan? Why can&apos;t we use the same system to lower the cost of healthcare? This, I think, is a very good question.
So why does a particular covered employee or dependent use coverage in... ]]></description>
		<category><![CDATA[ Fee Based Consultant-No Sales ]]></category>
		<author>bob@shupecenter.com (Bob G Shupe)</author>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 Dec 2010 14:42:00 EST</pubDate>
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		<comments>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_display.cfm/blog_id/31026</comments>
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		<title><![CDATA[ Where Have All the Flowers Gone ]]></title> 
		<link>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/30527</link>
		<description><![CDATA[ Back in the 60s and 70s there was a popular song performed by Peter, Paul and Mary called,Where Have All the Flowers Gone. Now the question is, where have all the insurance companies gone? &amp;#160;
Capitalism is a paradox. It&amp;#160;allows&amp;#160;things get big&amp;#160;through consolidation only to&amp;#160;eventually be broken up by a rash&amp;#160;of small innovative companies and then the process starts over. When that does not happen, capitalism breaks down.&amp;#160;America has seen this phenomenon in most every industry and financial market, except healthcare and healthcare financing.&amp;#160;Power grids, when first established, were dominated only to be broken up by small local utilities. In the early days&amp;#160;there were two or three dominate movie companies only to be over powered by small independent theater production. Ford, at first dominated the scene, only to be crowded by several small aggressive companies.&amp;#160;A few banks dominated, only to be challenged by credit unions and small community ... ]]></description>
		<category><![CDATA[ Fee Based Consultant-No Sales ]]></category>
		<author>bob@shupecenter.com (Bob G. Shupe)</author>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Nov 2010 11:28:00 EST</pubDate>
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		<comments>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_display.cfm/blog_id/30527</comments>
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		<title><![CDATA[ Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glenn... ]]></title> 
		<link>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/30353</link>
		<description><![CDATA[ If only this was about a slick haired Brit with a bow and arrow wearing green tights. It is not however. It is about a group of people, not a political party ( many of their own are now disavowing any knowledge ) that truly believe that if they say it enough that it will become a fact. Maybe in Wikipedia, but not in the minds of rational thinking Americans. Taking from the rich and giving to everyone else will not fix or manage a host of ills in this country, especially healthcare and even more to the point; it will not create jobs. Let&apos;s start there - jobs.
How many of you reading this blog, other than mowing a lawn or baby sitting, have ever been given a job by a poor person? Okay, how about someone making $20,000 a year? Okay, let&apos;s be really generous and say a person making $50,000 a year? No? Why? Because jobs are not created by the middle class. That is why there is a middle class. If everyone were rich, there would be no one to work. Guess what, if everyone is middle class, oth... ]]></description>
		<category><![CDATA[ Fee Based Consultant-No Sales ]]></category>
		<author>bob@shupecenter.com (Bob G. Shupe)</author>
		<pubDate>Fri, 22 Oct 2010 15:54:00 EST</pubDate>
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		<comments>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_display.cfm/blog_id/30353</comments>
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		<title><![CDATA[ ...and then someone with the government said ]]></title> 
		<link>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/30322</link>
		<description><![CDATA[ Yes, blind squirrels do stumble over nuts. And, yes, occasionally some government bureaucrat gets it right. Such was the case reported by several news sources on October 19th announcing that the Administration through the Justice Department had filed suit against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan on October 18th asserting that the insurer had violated anti-trust laws&amp;#160;securing a competitive advantage by forcing hospitals to charge higher prices to the carrier&apos;s competition. Then there was this quote in the New York Times,&amp;#160;&quot;the Obama administration said that Blue Cross and Blue Shield had contracts with many hospitals that stifled competition, resulting in higher health insurance premiums for consumers and employers.&quot;&amp;#160; Well, you just don&apos;t expect complete understanding when the government is involved. What started out as an on target shot took an expected turn down an alley&amp;#160;taking a shortcut to the Administrations monotone droll about healthcare financing. Other than... ]]></description>
		<category><![CDATA[ Fee Based Consultant-No Sales ]]></category>
		<author>bob@shupecenter.com (Bob G. Shupe)</author>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 Oct 2010 14:24:00 EST</pubDate>
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		<comments>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_display.cfm/blog_id/30322</comments>
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		<title><![CDATA[ ROI - ABC's ]]></title> 
		<link>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/30074</link>
		<description><![CDATA[ ROI, Return on Investment. This term is often used in industry to justify a continued investment in a product or project. Oddly enough it is just now making a screaming entrance into the healthcare cost crisis debate. It is particularly interesting in which sector of the debate; wellness. In over thirty years in this industry I can&apos;t ever recall an employer or an individual using this term to justify choosing or staying with a specific insurance company or carrier. How about now? Is anyone asking what the return on investment is for pouring millions of dollars into an insurance company cash flow? Is anyone demanding that their carrier show them return on their investment. Not likely.
Most group plans over the years have just excepted that, based on their claims and certain ambiguous pooling calculations, the insurer&apos;s&amp;#160;rate increase at renewal was just the way it was. The result was for the employer or individual purchasing these services to lower their benefits, have the employer... ]]></description>
		<category><![CDATA[ Fee Based Consultant-No Sales ]]></category>
		<author>bob@shupecenter.com (Bob G. Shupe)</author>
		<pubDate>Wed, 06 Oct 2010 11:48:00 EST</pubDate>
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		<comments>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_display.cfm/blog_id/30074</comments>
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		<title><![CDATA[ In General the Assessment is Generally General ]]></title> 
		<link>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/29817</link>
		<description><![CDATA[ Check out this article from the Denver Post. This time the NAIC and the feds got it right. Stop with the carrier whining! Stop with the sound bites! Demand numbers to back up these ridiculous assertions that these basic reforms are going to cost billions. Say it ain&apos;t so. Well, it ain&apos;t. According to a 2009 Kaiser&amp;#160;Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured&amp;#160;30% of the 45.7 million uninsured at that time were between the ages of 19 and 29 or 13,710,000 individuals. I cannot find the claims data nationally on this age group but I can tell you that on the groups we work with it is very low. Using the minor changes just moving into law today, September 23, 2010, does not and cannot justify the kind of increase being asked by insurance companies. This only adds credibility to the wrongful assertion that insurance companies are the sole reason for our crisis. The other side of the coin is that politicians are taking credit for saving the world by inserting these cosmetic changes into ... ]]></description>
		<category><![CDATA[ Fee Based Consultant-No Sales ]]></category>
		<author>bob@shupecenter.com (Bob G. Shupe)</author>
		<pubDate>Thu, 23 Sep 2010 15:53:00 EST</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/29817</guid>
		<comments>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_display.cfm/blog_id/29817</comments>
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		<title><![CDATA[ I guess you have to work there ]]></title> 
		<link>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/29688</link>
		<description><![CDATA[ Well, the man who is currently employed as the head of Medicare and Medicaid Services, Donald Berwick, in an article in the Washington Post, says that the former person employed to run Health and Human Services, Michael Leavitt, doesn&apos;t know what he is talking about. So, the guy who has a job wants to keep it and the guy without one apparently doesn&apos;t care what anyone thinks about what he thinks. It will be interesting to hear what Donald Berwick has to say when he is unemployed.

Now, what about the reality of the issue? They have managed to, in theory, elongate the life of Medicare by a few years and supposedly save quadrillions of dollars. Not really quadrillions, I am just dying to use the next number after Trillion. The question has nothing to do with making Medicare last longer, or that it will reduce the federal deficit by $100 billion over the next ten years, and one trillion over the&amp;#160;following decade. The question is where did the rabbit go? What is being cut that will ... ]]></description>
		<category><![CDATA[ Fee Based Consultant-No Sales ]]></category>
		<author>bob@shupecenter.com (Bob Shupe)</author>
		<pubDate>Wed, 15 Sep 2010 17:43:00 EST</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/29688</guid>
		<comments>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_display.cfm/blog_id/29688</comments>
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		<title><![CDATA[ NAIC - naive? ]]></title> 
		<link>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/29198</link>
		<description><![CDATA[ As I often do, I recently attended a public meeting of our Department of Commerce and Insurance, moderated by our Commissioner. As a member of the NAIC and an appointee to their executive committee, she was very proud of the work they were doing. The feds charged them with overseeing the suggested writing of the regulations regarding the rating practices of the insurance industry. It was clear that insurance companies should expect the toughest scrutiny possible as a result of their suggested word smithing. Overlooked by the feds, and the NAIC, is the fact that most of the fraud and abuse in the healthcare system has come from the provider side - can you say HCA Medicare - including multiple doctors billing practices. 
The truth is, and government will never understand it, charging more for something than it should is not a crime; unless there is a mandate and government regulation. Tote-Your-Note car dealers have been doing it for years. Your down payment is what they generally have ... ]]></description>
		<category><![CDATA[ Fee Based Consultant-No Sales ]]></category>
		<author>bob@shupecenter.com (Bob G. Shupe)</author>
		<pubDate>Fri, 20 Aug 2010 08:42:00 EST</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/29198</guid>
		<comments>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_display.cfm/blog_id/29198</comments>
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		<title><![CDATA[ Good Things Come to Those Who Wait ]]></title> 
		<link>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/29199</link>
		<description><![CDATA[ I am not so self consumed that I think I am the only one who was speaking out against the current healthcare reform. However, I have had a perspective that most ignored or even laughed at. Well guess what? Yes, I have to say it, I&apos;ve been waiting patiently for over six years. Yes, even&amp;nbsp;back in the Bush era.
Click this link for some very interesting reading. Here&apos;s another one. And here&apos;s the document.
Now that you are in on their little secret, do something about it.
Welcome to my world.... ]]></description>
		<category><![CDATA[ Fee Based Consultant-No Sales ]]></category>
		<author>bob@shupecenter.com (Bob G. Shupe)</author>
		<pubDate>Fri, 20 Aug 2010 09:16:00 EST</pubDate>
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		<comments>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_display.cfm/blog_id/29199</comments>
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		<title><![CDATA[ Campaign Reform - Fixed...no really I can fix it ]]></title> 
		<link>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/29161</link>
		<description><![CDATA[ Here is one of my shorter rants. Campaign financing reform has all but been lost in the wilderness of all of the other &amp;quot;reforms&amp;quot; being bantered about. It came to me in a vision the other night as I stared at my retirement account. There was a zero in the &amp;quot;what did I gain this month&amp;quot; column. That was it. That was the answer! Eureka, I have sucked the air out of the debate. Okay, here it is. After every election, all politicians have to &amp;quot;zero&amp;quot; out their fund raising accounts. What ever is left MUST be donated to a legitimate charity. They will have to start over raising funds for the next campaign. Yes, that is a lot of work. Yes, that is a hassle. Yes, if they want to stay in office as a career, they need to have these problems.
Yes, there is more. There will be a cap on what an individual can contribute to their own campaign. That will be 10% of the total amount raised. That will hinder the very wealthy from buying an office.
One last word about all of t... ]]></description>
		<category><![CDATA[ Fee Based Consultant-No Sales ]]></category>
		<author>bob@shupecenter.com (Bob G. Shupe)</author>
		<pubDate>Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:05:00 EST</pubDate>
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		<comments>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_display.cfm/blog_id/29161</comments>
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		<title><![CDATA[ Jerk Off the Covers - a fresh look at transparency ]]></title> 
		<link>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/29084</link>
		<description><![CDATA[ I attended a Tennessee state department of insurance meeting this morning. It was two hours of my life that I will never see again. All of the usual players were there, Blue Cross wanting to know the new definition of certain terms included in the &amp;quot;minimum loss ratio&amp;quot; calculations, attorneys of various sorts making sure folks like myself were made to look uninformed, a representative from the American Cancer Society heralding what a grand job the Department was doing in complying with the new healthcare reform-because it was patient centered, or was that the title of the reform act? I must admit that I was encouraged when I first sat down to glance over the literature that had been supplied for the meeting. One word in particular jumped at me, transparency. Finally, my department of Insurance-sorry, Department of Commerce and Insurance-&amp;nbsp;was going to demand the one thing that holds promise of fixing this healthcare cost thing. I was disappointed.
It seems that when insur... ]]></description>
		<category><![CDATA[ Fee Based Consultant-No Sales ]]></category>
		<author>bob@shupecenter.com (Bob G. Shupe)</author>
		<pubDate>Wed, 11 Aug 2010 14:52:00 EST</pubDate>
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		<comments>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_display.cfm/blog_id/29084</comments>
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		<title><![CDATA[ Financing Healthcare - The Art of Deception ]]></title> 
		<link>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/29008</link>
		<description><![CDATA[ Deception is an art form, a very ancient art form. It is what a magician does when they make things appear and disappear. The art is getting you to look at the wrong thing long enough to make the other thing look believable. If some of the long-tooth politicians in DC do get their walking papers I suggest they move to Vegas and perfect their act for the casino&apos;s.
Every day some new sound bite is offered up to a gullible American audience that amazingly swallows every deceptive word as fact. Fortunately, some of us are watching the slight of hand and are chanting&amp;nbsp;cat-calls from the audience. An example you ask.
How about this one from Mr. Reid, August 4, 2010 in the Washington Wire,&amp;nbsp;&amp;ldquo;It&amp;rsquo;s very obvious that people have a lack of understanding of our health care reform bill,&amp;rdquo; Reid said. &amp;ldquo;The more people learn about this bill, the more they like it.&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp;
Like what? Do people really believe that this reform is meant to lower the cost of healthcar... ]]></description>
		<category><![CDATA[ Fee Based Consultant-No Sales ]]></category>
		<author>bob@shupecenter.com (Bob G. Shupe)</author>
		<pubDate>Fri, 06 Aug 2010 11:08:00 EST</pubDate>
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		<comments>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_display.cfm/blog_id/29008</comments>
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		<title><![CDATA[ What Happens When... ]]></title> 
		<link>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/26331</link>
		<description><![CDATA[ A lot has transpired and expired over the past couple of weeks. I have not posted for a while waiting on the last shoe to drop; and I believe it will. Democrats are-some Democrats-are overwhelmed by a desire to make history; what ever the cost. They want to be known as the ones who...&amp;nbsp; Well, what we need now is to ask some very pointed questions, not make some emotional statements. Let&apos;s ask a few here by simply saying, &amp;quot;What happens when...

    the 1% who pay 90% of all income tax decide to not receive a salary for a year?
    Wal Mart is the only place you can buy anything?
    all insurance professionals work for and everyone else buys their insurance from one company (notice I did not say government)?
    all providers (doctors and hospitals) are in the same network?
    we find out that there is no blank sheet of paper?
    the only doctor you can see is a specialist?
    all drugs are custom made according to your own genetic code?
    Medicare goes broke in 2... ]]></description>
		<category><![CDATA[ Fee Based Consultant-No Sales ]]></category>
		<author>bob@shupecenter.com (Bob Shupe)</author>
		<pubDate>Sat, 06 Mar 2010 21:43:00 EST</pubDate>
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		<comments>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_display.cfm/blog_id/26331</comments>
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		<title><![CDATA[ Who's Next In Line? ]]></title> 
		<link>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/25301</link>
		<description><![CDATA[ TAKE&amp;nbsp;A&amp;nbsp;NUMBER and have a seat!

One after another, states, lawmakers, union officials, anyone who has an ax to grind, steps up to the negotiation table and gets what they want in exchange for their support and the vote of their respective democratic representative or senator. The latest, union Cadillac sweetheart healthcare coverage. Other than the fact that you have to ask, &amp;quot;Just what kind of coverage do you get for $24,000 a year, there are several other small obstacles that should be addressed before everyone tips a glass of Champaign over a successful rush to pass some hint of healthcare reform. Those obstacles would include, disproportionate healthcare premiums from state to state and region to region, and a small annoying matter called ERISA; yes I know the unions have a sweetheart deal regarding that issue as well.&amp;nbsp;Rather, here is the point; our friends in the labor unions are not receiving Cadillac &amp;quot;individual&amp;quot; policies, or for that matter, small... ]]></description>
		<category><![CDATA[ Fee Based Consultant-No Sales ]]></category>
		<author>bob@shupecenter.com (Bob G. Shupe)</author>
		<pubDate>Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:21:00 EST</pubDate>
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		<comments>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_display.cfm/blog_id/25301</comments>
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		<title><![CDATA[ Remember the "Choice" Thing? ]]></title> 
		<link>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/24989</link>
		<description><![CDATA[ In the early 1990s&amp;nbsp;Clinton health care reform died because people understood that their right to choose was going to be removed. Health Maintenance Organizations or HMOs fell from grace when people realized that their right to choose was in jeopardy. So what is different in the current debate? Why are people not frightened to death over the loss of choice in their health care decisions? Good question and one that needs to be addressed. You would think that when given the choice of receiving just the bare necessities or being offered opportunity, that the average American citizen would do what they have done since the birth of our nation; choose opportunity. One would think so.
Early in what seemed to be&amp;nbsp;an endless blast of political sound bites, accusations were made that suggested our country was moving toward socialism. Those comments were met with equal force asserting that to suggest that a national health care system was socialist was ludicrous. Most Americans, comforta... ]]></description>
		<category><![CDATA[ Fee Based Consultant-No Sales ]]></category>
		<author>bob@shupecenter.com (Bob G. Shupe)</author>
		<pubDate>Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:04:00 EST</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[ Minimum Loss Ratio Requirements - And Other Things Not To Do Into the Wind ]]></title> 
		<link>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/24885</link>
		<description><![CDATA[ There is a phrase -&amp;nbsp;I will leave it to your imagination - that many have heard and, several males have experienced; once. There are just some things that do not work well when facing the wind. For instance, trying to fly a kite in front of you while facing into the wind, holding the underside of an umbrella facing into the wind, and my favorite walking into the wind on Rush Street in Chicago in February without holding on to a rope. There are however some things that work well into the wind, like taking off in an airplane. What does this have to do with &amp;quot;Minimum Loss Ratio Requirements?&amp;quot; This seemingly vital piece of the proposed healthcare reform package may offer immediate relief from&amp;nbsp;public opinion but it will make a mess and embarrass the ones who suggested&amp;nbsp;it.
What is the intent of&amp;nbsp;this&amp;nbsp;section of the legislation? First, it is a lethal suggestion that all insurance companies are spending less than 85% of the money they take in on paying claims a... ]]></description>
		<category><![CDATA[ Fee Based Consultant-No Sales ]]></category>
		<author>bob@shupecenter.com (Bob G. Shupe)</author>
		<pubDate>Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:11:00 EST</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[ A Leaky Faucet ]]></title> 
		<link>http://www.shupecenter.com/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/24868</link>
		<description><![CDATA[ According to a U.S. Geological Survey there is no scientific definition of the volume of a faucet drip, but after measuring a number of kitchen and bathroom sink faucets, the volume seems to be between 1/5th and 1/3rd of a milliliter (mL). Drips from bathroom tubs come in a bit more, though, at about 1/2 mL. So, for our calculations below (numbers are rounded), we are going to use 1/4 mL as the volume of a faucet drip. So, by these drip estimates:One gallon: 15,140 drips, One liter: 4,000 drips.
Looking at it this way, it seems like that drop of water down the drain is pretty insignificant. But, as you can see by the following estimates assuming one home with three dripping faucets leaking at 60 drops a minute, all those drops flowing in &amp;quot;real time&amp;quot; can really add up to a flood.
259,200 drips per day, or 17 gallons per day, or 6,248 gallons per year, or 124 baths per year. And that is just one house. Speaking of houses, in the U.S. House of Representatives there&amp;nbsp;435 le... ]]></description>
		<category><![CDATA[ Fee Based Consultant-No Sales ]]></category>
		<author>bob@shupecenter.com (Bob G. Shupe)</author>
		<pubDate>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:08:00 EST</pubDate>
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