“I hear Republicans getting giddy over the fact that “reconciliation,” if it comes to that, is a huge political loser. That’s the wrong way to look at it. The Democratic leadership has already internalized the inevitablility of taking its political lumps. That makes reconciliation truly scary.”

Sundance: “I’ll go.” Butch: “This is no time for bravery. I’ll let you.”

Bo Peabody, co-founder of Tripod.com and Village Ventures, was the keynote speaker. Bo’s book, Lucky or Smart?, is available on Amazon.

I am pleased that my new venture, QuoteJuice.com, was chosen to present. For the past couple years, Andrew Lunde, one of Atlanta’s most accomplished technologists, and I have been building the site. We are sticking to the adage that if you aren’t embarrassed by the way the site looks then you launched to slow. We are continuing to make improvements that will make the user’s experience better.

Quotejuice.com allows consumers to easily quote and compare side-by-side competing health plans, and to make application for the insurance product that best fits their needs. The company is a licensed insurance agency in Georgia, California, Colorado, North Carolina and Tennessee. QuoteJuice, founded in March 2007, is a member company of the Advanced Technology Development Center at Georgia Tech.

Paul Stamatiou wrote a comprehensive piece on Startup Riot. Here are some pictures from the event:

Sanjay briefs the presenters.

Andrew Lunde and Sig Mosley.

Angus pitches QuoteJuice!

James Harris pitches Artisanal Influence!

Keith McGreggor oversees the snarkiness on BackNoise; Paul Freet, Jeff McConnell and Sig Mosley.

1. A trinket. SoHo is my wife and daughter’s favorite gift store. It is located in the Forum shopping center in Norcross. Sun, the proprietor, is the nicest lady and very helpful. SoHo has such a huge selection of household, kitchen, and girlie things that I would be amazed if you cannot find something that would fit the gift-giving needs you have for your girlfriend, wife, mother or daughter.

2. Stone crab claws. Having grown up in Florida, nothing says fall/winter to me like a big pile of stone crab claws. Be sure to have some honey mustard and cocktail sauce at the ready. You will be amazed at just how delicious they are. Here are links to a couple on-line vendors – Marathon | FFtB. They will ship the crab to your door on dry ice. Just be ready to feast as soon as they arrive. Great eating!

3. Something for the home. Designer Antiques is also in the Forum shopping center. They have a ton of very great things for your home – mainly newer versions of cool old stuff – like this blue Bugetti pedal car. They specialize in custom furniture, interior design and accessories. My wife bought a our kitchen table and chairs from them. Designer Antiques is a family-run business (and one of our long time clients). Say “hi” to the owner, Christian Maloney, for us!

4. Home videos. This what I’m giving my wife for Christmas (thank goodness she doesn’t read this blog on a regular basis). We have a dozen or so of those little cartridges with family videos of the kids, fun times, etc. Well, we never watch them because the requisite camcorder is shot. I found Affordable Video Solutions and they are transferring all that tape to DVDs. I will then edit them into some nice home movies. I think the wife and kids will be thrilled – can’t wait to see their faces on Christmas morning!

5. Love and Respect. What better gift to give to your spouse and children than your honest love and respect. You could give nothing else and they would still be truly blessed.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

Does AGW exist to an extent to cause catastrophic problems? What contributes to my skepticism is that politicians are so hell-bent on imposing “cap and trade” and that AGW is its raison d’etre. What is cap and trade, you ask?

Cap: The government tells an emitter, say a utility company, that it must limit its release of greenhouse gases.

Trade: Because particular utilities cannot stay within the government mandated emission limits they must purchase “carbon credits” to “offset” their release.

Do you get that? The polluters still pollute – they just have to buy the right to do so!

When the utility company’s costs rise due to having to buy the carbon credits it will pass these cost on to the consumer through a higher utility bill. In a nutshell, the government would be imposing a regressive tax - a tax that hits the poor and middle class the hardest. As an aside, it is seemingly ironic that it is the conservatives fighting for the lowly consumer and liberals are the ones who are trying to increase their costs.

There is a ton of money to be made if AGW is believed to exist – by the entities originating carbon credits, the exchanges trading these credits, the companies that would audit the utilities, etc.

So, getting back to Climategate, when confronted with knowledge of motive and opportunity is it unreasonable to be skeptical of the means being employed?

1. Forget Democrat vs Republican. Since Medicare was enacted in 1965, politicians of all stripes have spent funds meant to cover tomorrow’s Medicare obligations on today’s “priorities.” Whether the money was spent on butter by Democrats or on guns by Republicans is irrelevant. It’s gone. Get over it.




2. Over the next 20 years 33 million baby boomers will enter the Medicare system and suck what marrow there is from its bones.




3. Medicare has an unfunded liability of $32 trillion meaning we need, and don’t have, that amount of money to pay for future Medicare claims.




4. Yes, Virginia, Medicare is bankrupt.




5. So, forget the uninsured. They are the excuse not the reason for health care reform. Without some other source politicians will have to take money from the special interests who keep them in office and use it to honor their obligation to Medicare recipients.

Separate in your mind health care reform into two parts:

Part I – Funding Medicare. If you were to read the news and see examples of the government making wise spending choices; tightening the belt as normal families do when money is scarce then maybe a case could be made for drastic action. But that’s not happening now. Drunk meet sailor.

The simplistic, even call it idealistic, answer to funding Medicare is for the government to reset its priorities and honor its commitments. Quit spending money on _________________ (enter your list of non-essential projects here).

Part II – Insurance Reform. Over the past year or so when politicians talked about “health care reform” everyday Americans understood them to mean “insurance reform” – new regulations to address the stories of uninsured people, expensive coverage, people who were denied insurance because of pre-existing conditions, rescissions, etc.

Here is a list of insurance reforms I would consider. Note that there are plenty of smart people out there, so I’d like to hear some constructive criticism of these ideas – and would welcome additional ones too.

• Guarantee issue individual health insurance. In a nutshell, insurers would have to take everyone no matter what medical conditions may exist. Insurers currently do this for group business. It is not practical, however, to have a person opt-out of insurance, wait until they get sick and then sign up for a policy as they enter the emergency room. There have to be some protections for insurers:




• Include an annual open enrollment period. A person could only enroll once a year. Maybe make it their month of birth. If you choose not to enroll you are uninsured until the next year’s open enrollment period. This reduces the opportunities of adverse selection from twelve months to one.




• Include a pre-existing condition provision that is offset by prior creditable coverage. A pre-existing condition would be one that was diagnosed or treated in the previous twelve months. After the policy has been in force for twelve months a claim could not be denied because it was pre-existing. So, yes, you will have stories of people denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition, but these will be reduced over time as the policies mature. This is currently done with group insurance.




• Make individual premiums tax deductible. If a person is covered under a group insurance plan they can pay for premiums with pre-tax dollars. This reduces the effective cost of $100 in premiums to maybe $65. Make this tax benefit available to people who purchase individual policies as well. This would go a long way in making coverage more affordable and accessible to many people.




• Allow people to buy policies from insurers in other states. In effect, this will cause states to make their policies more affordable by removing expensive state mandated benefits.




• Make Health Savings Account plans a more robust option. Especially for young people, HSA plans are an attractive alternative to traditional insurance. Imagine if such a plan was available in 1965. Many of the baby boomers who are about to hit Medicare would have a nice nest egg ready to address their upcoming medical expenses.




• Tort reform. There are plenty of fresh ideas out there that could address the high cost of the practice of defensive medicine while still preserving patient rights.

As I write this I hear reports that the Senate is about to unveil a measure with stiffer penalties on employers and a government-run public option. This public option is the proverbial camel’s nose to a single-payer system. We do live in interesting times, no? What are your thoughts?

From the NY Times, Doctors Are Opting Out of Medicare:

Many people, just as they become eligible for Medicare, discover that the insurance rug has been pulled out from under them. Some doctors — often internists but also gastroenterologists, gynecologists, psychiatrists and other specialists — are no longer accepting Medicare, either because they have opted out of the insurance system or they are not accepting new patients with Medicare coverage. The doctors’ reasons: reimbursement rates are too low and paperwork too much of a hassle.

At a time when doctors treating patients with private insurance are reimbursed an average of about Medicare plus 25% why would a physician get excited to shift to a government-run public option that was only going to pay Medicare plus 5%?

Will this lead our country’s most experienced doctors to call it quits and retire early? As a consumer do you want to be treated by a well-compensated physician or someone who is having to make his margins off of patient volume?

Medicare expenditures (medical claims and plan administration) are expected to outstrip Medicare income (taxes and participant premiums) in the year 2017. Everything past 2017 is an unfunded liability.

Over the next 20 years enrollment in Medicare is expected to go from 46 million to 79 million. At the same time the ratio of workers to Medicare beneficiaries will decline from 3.7 to 2.4. With those kind of numbers you can understand why politicians in Washington are getting a bit anxious.

So as you watch President Obama’s speech tonight ask yourself, “Dude, who spent my lockbox?” The answer is the same people who want to take over the private health care system. You can identify them easily. They will be clapping when you hear the words “public option, co-op, exchange and single-payer.”

Do you want to entrust your health care to the same people who are building bridges to nowhere, funding studies on snail sex, etc – all with your lockbox dollars?

Keep in mind that these politicians want to average out the bankrupt Medicare plan with the profitable private sector system. Doing so will allow them to keep feeding at the trough for awhile longer.

What do you think? Is it really about providing health care to the uninsured? Or lowering premiums that private sector folks willingly pay? What’s the motivation?

P.S. – Expect the same thing to happen with Social Security and your fully-funded 401(k) plan.