Power Industry News

What happens when the uninsured go to the emergency room?

admin — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:15:08 +0000

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that an increasing number of people are now unable to afford medical insurance. Some 47 million people do not have medical insurance. When they begin to fall sick, there is nothing that can be done if money is short. When it comes to a choice between food on the table and treatment, most people decide to eat. They hope they will get better. When health does not improve, there is no improvement in the choice to be made. If treatment remains unaffordable, they have to wait until their sickness worsens to the point it can be considered an emergency. At this point, people decide to go to the emergency room at their local hospital. Federal law is very clear. Hospitals are under a positive legal obligation to treat everyone who walks in through the door. It does not matter whether the emergency is real, in the sense of a traffic accident inflicting unexpected injury, or to some extent manufactured, where the condition only becomes an emergency because of a deliberate delay. People must be given treatment. The difficulty is that most of the uninsured cannot afford to pay their bills. The hospitals can and do issue invoices for the treatment given and drugs supplied. This is also a part of the law. People have a responsibility to pay for their treatment. But hospitals are realistic about their chances of collecting. Continued pursuit for payment usually results in bankruptcy and the creditors only get a few cents in the dollar. So, hospitals make a rational decision. They spread all the unpaid bills among all those who can pay. In other words, whether you are paying out of your own pocket or you are relying on your own health insurance to pay for your treatment, a percentage of every hospital’s bill is a provision against bad debts from the uninsured. The irony is that everyone who is insured is also insuring all the uninsured for their emergency room visits. If you have been wondering why your own health insurance premiums have been going up so sharply of late, it’s because there is a wave of uninsured people going to the emergency rooms around the country. The health insurers are having to pay more and this additional cost gets passed on in the premiums. Is it going to get any better? No. It’s actually going to get worse. Ever more people are finding health insurance unaffordable. Even with sites like this which allow people to find the cheapest insurance around, many still find the premiums too much. That does not mean you should give up. Using this site will get you offers. Then it’s up to you to negotiate directly with the insurer or its agents to get the best actual premium for the cover. It’s not worth the risk of being uninsured. If at all possible, get some cover.

Health insurance from the employer’s point of view

admin — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:13:47 +0000

There has been a sad trend since the turn of this century. Health insurance costs have been rising so fast that even large sections of the middle class now find it a struggle, if not impossible, to pay the premiums demanded by the insurers for private plans. The fact is that, although in the last one or two years, there have been some increases in average take-home pay, these increases have not kept pace with inflation. People today are more poor than they were ten years ago. For a time, people compensated by using their credit cards and borrowing against the positive housing equity on their homes. With the bursting of the housing bubble and the credit crunch, people must now confront the size of the debt they carry. Articles like this are not supposed to feel sorry for employers. They are the ones who take our work, pay us as little possible and buy big houses to live in. Sometimes, we only put up with this exploitation because of the health plans some offer as part of the compensation package. But they have also been feeling the strain. The national statistics show that, in the period 2000-2007, there was an average 80% increase in the premiums payable by employers for the health plan offered to their employees. As a cost, this has increased five times faster than the cost of wages and salaries. Because consumers have come to expect that prices will not rise, it has not been possible to pass these increased costs on in the wholesale and retail prices. The result has been a reduction in the profits earned by the employers. Hence, wages have not risen fast enough to keep pace with inflation. This has real significance for the future health of the nation. Slightly more than 30% of the workforce is less than 30 years old and the majority of them are not insured. This because more employers have given up the unequal struggle to keep up a health plan for new employees, and more younger people who still have their health do not see it as a priority to use more and more of their take-home pay to fund private health insurance. They feel they are paying against the risk of sickness that might never come. This has an unfortunate knock-on effect. Health insurance distributes the risk so that the fit and health subsidize those who fall sick. If too many of the healthy refuse cover, the cost must be born by the older population more likely to make claims. This forces the premiums to rise. It would be better if everyone had a policy because this spreads the costs and keeps everyone’s payments low. You can make a start by using sites like this to find the cheapest possible policy, but nothing will change unless government policy changes.

In praise of California

admin — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:10:18 +0000

In November, 1988, the electorate in California approved Proposition 103 to prevent the massive increases in premiums that were affecting all consumers looking for insurance. After major litigation to decide whether the Proposition was constitutional, it was finally implemented in May 1989 and rapidly revolutionized the rates of insurance across the state which fell by an average of 45% between 1989 and 2001. It is estimated that up to 2006, Californian drivers alone saved $62 billion on their auto insurance rates. Then the Consumer Watchdog combined with other socially active groups to force the insurance companies to abandon the practice of basing rates on the zip code and not your record as a driver. Now comes Assembly Bill 2800 which emerged from the Senate Appropriations Committee in August 2008. This is being treated as a slightly more controversial measure. The auto insurance industry is campaigning to allow a switch to mileage and use as criteria for fixing the premiums. It estimates that this could produce further average savings in premiums of about $275 per vehicle. It would work by placing a small monitoring device in every vehicle to assess how far you drive in a year and how well you drive. But this device is viewed as an invasion into the privacy of drivers. As a compromise, the Insurance Commissioner suggests that drivers could allow the insurers to make regular checks on the odometer rather than allowing electronic collection and transmission of data. If the electronic version of the plan does go ahead, it will allow companies to identify consistently low-risk drivers from the time of day they use the roads, the speed at which they drive and the distance they travel. Such drivers will receive the maximum discounts available. Those deemed more likely to have accidents from the way they drive will potentially pay more. The current system allows drivers to report their own mileage. The industry standard is to offer discounts to drivers who do less than 10,000 miles per year. Obviously, there’s a temptation in difficult economic times for drivers to underestimate their mileage to gain the discounts. This proposed device will reward the genuine drivers and charge a fair premium to the others. It will also help to save the planet because drivers who maintain a lower average speed use less gas and so produce less emissions. For once, the auto insurance industry would be helping to fight global warming which is very public-spirited it.

Libya reduce oil production by 270 thousand barrels per day

admin — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 22:02:10 +0000

Libya announced a reduction in oil production by 270 thousand barrels per day from the first of January. Such measures a country takes in response to the decision of the member countries of OPEC.At the last meeting of oil ministers of member countries of OPEC on 17 December, it was agreed that oil production since the beginning of January 2009 should be reduced by 2.2 million barrels per day in order to maintain the price level. The National Oil Company of Abu Dhabi intends to reduce production from February next year, said Xinhua.

Oil fell to $ 39.64

admin — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 22:01:58 +0000

Oil fell to $ 39.64 Oil quotes on Asian trading today, fell after the significant growth the previous day due to investor concern the fate of supplies black gold from the Middle East over the worsening Palestinian-Israeli conflict.Overall, the 2008 oil prices declined by 60%, which is the largest annual drop in the entire 25 - year history of statistics. On Monday, oil went up by 12% after a weekend in Israel caused air to the main facilities-based group Hamas in the Palestinian enclave and prepare for a ground operation. By 7.53 ICN February futures on the U.S. light oil has dropped by 38 cents to 39.64 dollars per barrel. February futures for Brent crude oil indicative grade lost 34 cents and fell to 40.21 dollars per barrel, reports Reuters.

Poland believes that Russia and Ukraine will be able to agree on gas supplies until the new year.

admin — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 22:01:49 +0000

We believe that our eastern partners to agree among themselves and not be a situation of suspension of gas supplies to Ukraine , - said on Monday Spokesperson for the Polish Oil and Gas Enterprise (PGNiG) Joanna Vasitska-Zakzhevska.Moreover, in Warsaw expect that there are no problems with the transit of gas to the EU as a whole and for Poland , - said Vasitska-Zakzhevska. According to her, Poland annually consumes approximately 14 billion cubic meters of natural gas. Deliveries of gas from Russia accounted for 8 billion cubic meters a year. In transit to Germany via Poland is 30 billion cubic meters of gas. On Monday, Gazprom’s management information with reference to Chapter holding Alexei Miller stated that the settlement price of gas to Ukraine from January 1, during the transition to market prices should be at 418 dollars per 1 thousand cubic meters. Today, during negotiations with the delegation of NAC Naftogaz Ukrainy chairman of the board of OAO Gazprom Alexei Miller recalled that if the transition to a market that match European prices for Ukraine’s settlement price at 1 Jan., 2009 should be at 418 dollars per thousand cubic meters , - Said the report. In 2008, Ukraine buys gas at 179.5 dollars per thousand cubic meters 1. The contract for next year has not yet been concluded because of the existing debt of the Ukrainian side for the supply of gas to exceed 2 billion dollars, RIA News .

Myanmar (Burma) will supply gas to China

admin — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 22:01:40 +0000

Myanmar (Burma) will supply gas to the PRC military junta of Myanmar signed an agreement with South Korean and Indian companies to supply natural gas from energy-rich coastal areas in China.This was reported Monday in state media, transmits MIGnews.com. Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise signed last Wednesday a deal with South Korean company Daewoo, Korea Gas Corporation , as well as with Indian energy companies ONGC Videsh and GAIL to supply gas National Petroleum Corporation China. The agreement was signed to export natural gas to China from natural gas field Swe , - writes newspaper New Light of Myanmar. The newspaper did not provide any other details of the project, but Beijing media reported last month that China plans to start construction of a pipeline to Myanmar in early 2009. Against Myanmar, which is dominated by the military since 1962, currently operating economic sanctions by the United States and Europe because of the systematic violation of human rights in the country, said View .

By the Treaty of Turkey, Greece and Italy for the construction of the pipeline will join Azerbaijan

admin — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 22:01:26 +0000

Azerbaijan will soon join the prisoner in July 2007 between Turkey, Greece and Italy contract for the construction of the pipeline, said at a meeting of the Turkish Parliament, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Hilmi Guler.According to the minister, said AT Agency, the pipeline will be commissioned into service in 2013. It is planned to transport 12 billion cubic meters of gas a year. Of that amount, Greece will receive 3.6 billion cubic meters natural gas will take the rest of Italy, passes REGNUM.Gyuler also said that the draft Nabusso of importance to the EU continues. On this pipeline is scheduled to carry 25-31 billion cubic meters of blue fuel. Its length is 3300 kilometers. Of these, 1,558 kilometers will be on Turkish territory. The Minister said that the pipeline Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan play an important role in Turkey’s energy supply and security of the Caspian hydrocarbons to the international market. According to him, the BTC has already transported 500 million barrels of crude oil. Work is continuing to increase his power.

The price of oil would revert to $ 100 between 2010 and 2015

admin — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 22:01:17 +0000

The price of oil would revert to $ 100 between 2010 and 2015 the cost of oil once again reach 100 dollars per barrel between 2010 and 2015, said chief economist of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Fatih Birol.Next year the pressure on the price of oil continues, but in 2010 could start growth due to the improvement of the global economy, predicted Birol, speaking at industry conferences. Oil now stands just above 40 dollars a barrel, falling more than 70% since July, when the price reached a historic high of 147 dollars. Birol predicted excess oil demand over supply in 2010, because oil companies are reducing investment in the development of deposits in connection with declining revenues, transfers Reuters. In his view, the future will be increasingly important role played by national oil companies, a market share of international corporations will fall. By 2030, growth in oil and gas production will be 80% provided by national companies, said Birol.

The price of gas to Ukraine from Jan. 1 could amount to $ 418

admin — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 22:01:04 +0000

The price of gas to Ukraine from Jan. 1 could amount to $ 418 Estimated price of gas to Ukraine from January 1, during the transition to market prices should be at 418 dollars per thousand cubic meters, said management information Gazprom , with reference to Chapter holding Alexei Miller. During the talks with the delegation of NAC Naftogaz Ukrainy chairman of the board of OAO Gazprom Alexei Miller recalled that in the event of transition to market, the relevant European prices for Ukraine’s settlement price at 1 January, 2009 should be at 418 dollars per thousand cubic meters , - The report said. In 2008, Ukraine buys gas at 179.5 dollars per thousand cubic meters. The contract for next year has not yet been concluded because of the existing debt of the Ukrainian side for gas deliveries in excess of $ 2 billion. The eve of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met with the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Volodymyr Lytvyn, which expressed concerns about the calculations for supplies of Russian gas. The meeting discussed the current state of Russian-Ukrainian relations , - the report said the Kremlin press service. So the President of Russia has expressed concern about the weakening of the existing dynamics of Russian-Ukrainian relations, as well as a number of problems that have accumulated, particularly calculations for the supply of Russian gas. Dmitry Medvedev expressed hope that next year the situation will improve , - noted in the report. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin the previous day reported that within an hour spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, but agree on the gas issue has not been possible, RIA News . Just hours talking with Viktor. Unless agreed , - said Putin. To the question, why do not agree, Putin replied: Because it does not want to pay .