Tag Archives: Hot Topics

As UnitedHealth Medicare Advantage Care racks up unprecedented profits, the people it insures battle for care. Open Thread February 29 2024 “The Republican Party is dying as Trump and his supporters take it over . . .” Angry Bear

PTSD is a scourge for military veterans. The good news is that the VA system provides specialized, high-quality care for PTSD; the bad news is that corporate-friendly politicians are privatizing this vital public health system. PTSD Is a Nightmare. A Fully Funded VA Can Provide Relief, jacobin.com, Suzanne Gordon and Steve Early As the introduction say, there is politics involved with the VA. Moving veterans to commercial healthcare is a...

Weekly Indicators for March 4 – 8 at Seeking Alpha  – by New Deal democrat My “Weekly Indicators” post is up at Seeking Alpha. Generally speaking, there is a demarcation between consumer-oriented data, which is in the main positive, and manufacturing-oriented data, which is mainly weak or negative. As usual, clicking over and reading will bring you up to the virtual moment on the economy, and reward me with a little lunch money. New...

February jobs report: the Household Survey is downright recessionary, while the Establishment Survey is decidedly mixed  – by New Deal democrat In the past few months, my focus has been on whether jobs gains are most consistent with a “soft landing,” i.e., no further deterioration, or whether deceleration is ongoing; and more specifically:  Whether there is further deceleration in jobs gains compared with the last 6 month average,...

Initial jobless claims continue positive, suggesting good news for the tomorrow’s February unemployment rate as well  – by New Deal democrat The most important reason I cover initial jobless claims is because they are an “official” short leading indicator. They are also very good at forecasting the short-term trend in the unemployment rate in the monthly jobs report, which will be updated for February tomorrow. And the news continues to be...

This post uses material that a Facebook friend posted. I re-post it here with her permission.Any provider that uses a Billing Software (that has Change HealthCare integrated in their system as the main clearinghouse) can’t get claims to insurance companies once they medically bill for something/services in their software. Change Healthcare is the ‘bridge’. The claim goes from the provider, over the bridge, to the insurance company. Then once the claim...

January JOLTS report: shows more (relative) weakening, downward revisions to 2023  – by New Deal democrat The JOLTS report for January showed only minor changes compared with December, all to the downside, but was somewhat overshadowed by mainly downward revisions to all of 2023. Starting with the monthly changes, job openings (blue in the graph below), a soft statistic that is polluted by imaginary, permanent, and trolling listings,...

A bit behind here as other things have distracted me in AZ. Health being one of them. A double dose of excellent reviews of the economy today. If there is one commentary (if you are rushed) on Angry Bear you should read concerning the economy, it is NDd’s reporting. Spending and Unemployment are in the early commentary today. Not sure what NDd has in store for later. The economy and employment are in far better shape after the pandemic than what...

The USPS Network Consolidation Plan: What’s at Stake for Southern Oregon, Save the Post Office, Steve Hutkins In 2023, two years into the 10-year plan, USPS reported that the agency had committed $7.6 billion out of a total $40 billion restructuring budget and plans were on track to open 60 new Regional Processing and Distribution Centers across the country in the coming years. Through this consolidation plan, many postal processing and...

Manufacturing and construction show softness to start the month  – by New Deal democrat As usual, the new month’s data starts out with information on manufacturing and construction. The ISM manufacturing index has been a good leading indicator in that sector for 75 years. The difference over time, especially the last 20 years, is that manufacturing makes up a smaller share of the total US economy. As a result, even though it has almost...