The Secret to Job Growth In Delaware

The WSJ reported the more aggressive stance state governments have taken to push the agenda that Washington has forgotten because of Iraq and the war on terror. One of those priorities are JOBS, which has taken on new importance in Delaware. What can a state government do to increase job growth? The answer is not to grow the state budget or hire more state workers.

1. Address Health Care in a rational way that provides the network for private insurance for every citizen where everyone is in, no one is out and everyone pays their fair share.

2. Address Education not as a “schools” issue but a “kids” issue. We need to have testing that measures progress, reflects teacher training, student curriculum and supports kids not a larger and larger bureaucracy.

3. Reduce costly “lawsuit abuse” and over regulation. Small firms are most hurt by our lottery system of litigation. We must reduce the bite of injury and unscrupulous lawyers by limiting the fee percentages of damages and not allowing lawsuits where regulatory standards and rules have been followed.

4. Control government spending to limit increases no more than inflation and population growth. Government can’t spend money wisely; never has , never will.

Does Delaware need an Inspector General?

Ensuring honesty and integrity in state government; A Proposal for a Delaware Inspector General

Please take a look at this comments:

See how they do it in Georgia:

http://lor.gvtc.org/uploads/SEA151/player.html

Here is sample legislation/comments from the State of Illinios:

Governor Rod R. Blagojevich, by Executive Order 3, created the Office of Executive Inspector General in January 2003. On December 9, 2003, the Governor signed the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act which officially created the Office of Executive Inspector General for the Governor’s agencies. With the signing of this bill, the OEIG’s powers and duties were expanded to include jurisdiction over all state agencies except the Attorney General, Secretary of State, Comptroller, and Treasurer. The bill also gave the OIG subpoena power. The OIG acts as an independent agency whose function is to investigate fraud and abuse in state government. Specifically, the Office of Executive Inspector General receives and investigates complaints of violations of any law, rule or regulation or abuse of authority or other forms of misconduct by officers, employees and appointees of each department, office, board or commission directly responsible to the Governor. The Inspector General reports any findings to the Governor, and may recommend measures to prevent the future occurrence of investigated instances of fraud, abuse or misconduct. The Inspector General refers findings establishing criminal conduct to the appropriate prosecuting authority.

The Office of Executive Inspector General recognizes that the majority of state employees and officials are hardworking and honest individuals. However, when evidence of actual or apparent impropriety exists in state government, it must be effectively and objectively dealt with either administratively or through the court system. It is the goal of the Office of Executive Inspector General to heighten the trust of Illinoisans in the functions of state government.

How can it apply to Delaware? Read below:

The bill would give the OIG subpoena power. The OIG would act as an independent agency whose function is to investigate fraud and abuse in state government. Specifically, the Office of Executive Inspector General would receive and investigate complaints of violations of any law, rule or regulation or abuse of authority or other forms of misconduct by officers, employees and appointees of each department, office, state legislature and any board or commission directly responsible to the Governor. The Inspector General reports any findings to the Governor and will recommend measures to prevent the future occurrence of investigated instances of fraud, abuse or misconduct. The Inspector General refers findings establishing criminal conduct to the appropriate prosecuting authority.

The Office of Executive Inspector General recognizes that the majority of state employees and officials are hardworking and honest individuals. However, when evidence of actual or apparent impropriety exists in state government, it must be effectively and objectively dealt with either administratively or through the court system. It is the goal of the Office of Executive Inspector General to heighten the trust of Delawareans in the functions of state government.

Rising Prices: College Tuition Increases

In the new knowledge-based economy, affordable post secondary education is more critical than ever.

Over the past two decades, changes in state funding, tuition and financial aid have made post secondary affordability a growing problem.

And while state and federal support for financial aid has increased over the past decade, it has not kept pace with tuition increases.

College tuitions have increased on average by 76 percent at public four-year institutions over the last decade. Private four-year institutions have seen an average increase of 62 percent.

While the average cost of college tuition has risen more than 65% over the past decade, median family income has risen by only 5 percent.

The purchasing power of a Pell Grant, the largest need-based financial aid program in the country, continues to decrease as the maximum available grant amount has remained constant for the last five years.

The single biggest cause for tuition increases in public institutions has been cuts in state appropriations. Among private colleges, the causes of rising tuition are more dispersed, but include the rising cost of student financial aid, maintenance, and information technology.

In addition, higher education is highly labor intensive and it is commonplace for colleges and universities to spend 60 percent or more of their budgets on human resources. In many cases, colleges and universities compete with the private sector to hire outstanding individuals such as engineers, computer scientists, biologists, doctors and lawyers for faculty positions. Despite these pressures, colleges and universities are taking a wide range of steps to reduce costs and ease the upward pressure on tuition, including reducing course offerings, eliminating departments, and adopting pay and hiring freezes. (from www.solutionsforourfuture.org)

Delaware Spends About the Same Amount of Money on Prisons as Higher Education

NAEP Reports Grades Rising, Test Scores Lag

More American students are taking challenging courses
and getting higher grades, yet substantial percentages
still score below “basic” levels on national reading
and math tests, according to two reports released
today by the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
“The results don’t square,” said the chairman of
the National Assessment Governing Board. Federal officials
said rising grades could be because of improved
achievement, changes in standards or grade inflation.

Student performance is vital, but how people perceive
student performance is equally revealing. Public Agenda’s
ongoing series of Reality Check surveys on education
standards show some major gaps in this area.

For example, most classroom teachers say too many students
get passed through the system without learning (62 percent
say this is a “very” or “somewhat serious” problem
in local schools. But only 27 percent of superintendents say
the same.

Parents, on the other hand, seem satisfied with academics
in their local schools, with 65 percent saying the work their
child does is harder than what they themselves studied when
they were young. Almost as many, 61 percent, say their child
is getting a better education than they did.

Yet employers and college professors who deal with recent
high school graduates are much less satisfied. In the 2002
edition of Reality Check, nearly three-quarters of employers
and professors rated the writing and grammar skills of recent
graduates as only “fair” or “poor.” More than six in 10
gave the same rating on math skills.

Find out more about Reality Check 2006:
http://www.publicagenda.org/specials/realitycheck06/realitycheck06_main.htm

And Reality Check 2002:
http://www.publicagenda.org/specials/rcheck2002/reality.htm

Read the NAEP reports:
http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/

Read the Associated Press story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070222/ap_on_re_us/math_reading_scores

We Need An Independent Voice For Your Dollars

Delaware has many fine people serving in our state government but in many cases we have too much of the “Delaware Way” which means go along and get along. It is time for an independent voice with legal powers to investigate and root out fraud, waste and abuse.

By the time our Auditor gets an issue it is too late and the Attorney General’s office can’t do this function. However, our Auditor does have 15 spots that are not staffed this budget year and the office I am talking about would be more effective than filling those spots.

This office could be elective or appointed but it must be independent with financial expertise and subpoena authority. Possibly an Inspector General or GAO sort of office to for instance look at double and triple dippers in state government. Possibly an office to look at school spending? Possibly someone who could track conflicts of interest??

Unless we look at who is spending our money and how, we will never get our budget under control.

It’s The Tax System, Stupid!

The Bush administration is struggling to deal with the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). Take a look at what the WSJ had to say about the tax and the potential options.

The AMT dates back to the late 1960s when Congress discovered that a small number of upper-income households had managed to avoid federal income taxes entirely by exploiting deductions, credits, loopholes, and shelters. The AMT has been adjusted since. But because it has never been indexed for inflation, rapidly growing numbers of taxpayers are vulnerable to its bite. The Treasury estimates that unless Congress acts, more than 23 million households will be affected by the AMT in the current tax year, many with incomes below $100,000.

The Bush tax cuts have accelerated the AMT’s reach into the middle class, by reducing the amounts those households would pay under the regular income tax. That’s particularly true for families claiming multiple child credits.
Why not have a simple but fair system? The one we have requires more people to implement and monitor than we have people making autos in America??

Possibly a same rate tax of 17% that doesn’t kick in till each family member gets a $10,000 deduction and each family has the opportunity to save in three areas. Retirement, long term health care and education. Maybe three pre tax savings options that can be as much as 5%?
An average family of four in Delaware would pay no Federal tax under this system.

Chrysler and GM?

There are rampant rumors that GM might but Chrysler. How is that possible ad GM is in the middle of it s own recovery and Chrysler is in the process of cutting one sixth of its jobs?

Well, the entire auto industry is going to go through what we in the airlines went through but it will be quicker and worse. Remember USAIRWAYS somehow got $10.2 billion in financing to but Delta Airlines even though USAIR had been in bankruptcy twice in five years. So, those who think it can’t happen I think it can.

A German publication, Manager Magazin, reported that Daimler-Chrysler Chairman Dieter Zetsche had met with General Motors Chairman Rick Wagoner about a possible sale of Chrysler to the No. 1 U.S. automaker, which has itself been struggling, cutting jobs and closing plants.

The Chrysler assembly line in Newark, Del., which the company announced Wednesday it intends to close by 2009.

Zetsche and other company executives would not comment specifically on that report, other than to say the company was looking at various options for its troubled American unit.
“Please understand we can not provide you with any more details at this point in time,” Zetsche said at a news conference at Chrysler’s Auburn Hills, Mich., headquarters.

Not exactly a strong denial.

What does Delaware do??

Plan for the future by doing an all out effort to replace the jobs and economic impact of the car plant. Things like gross receipts break for companies that expand into the new site? How about some EPA relief for the companies who decide to move jobs and resources there? What about a major bio tech or research park? We have 24 months to do something.

Last thought, why not get another car manufacturer to come in. Did you know BMW sells more autos in the U S than they do in Germany??

A Pulse on Healthcare…

This Poll was taken by the WSJ/Harris Firm on how people would vote in the last election (Nov 07).
Base: All adults
PARTY AFFILIATION
TOTAL Republican Democrat Independent
Healthcare Is an Important Issue (Sub-Net) 68% 66% 81% 69%

Note: Percentages may not add up to exactly 100% due to rounding.
* * *
“Which two of these do you think are the most important issues for government to address over the next two years?”
Base: All adults

TOTAL Republican Democrat Independent
Reducing the percentage of Americans without health insurance 42% 33% 51% 46%
Improving Medicare, the government health insurance program for the elderly and people with disabilities 28% 28% 32% 26%
Containing people’s out-of-pocket costs for healthcare services, such as doctors’ visits, diagnostic tests and hospital fees 26% 26% 29% 27%
Containing workers’ and retiree’s out-of-pocket costs for health insurance premiums 19% 23% 16% 24%
Containing people’s out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs 15% 20% 15% 12%
Allowing for the importation of less expensive prescription drugs from other countries 14% 13% 14% 21%
Improving Medicaid, the government health insurance programs for lower income people 13% 9% 17% 10%
Ensuring the safety of prescription drugs 11% 14% 7% 13%

What do you think?

A Common Sense Approach to Health Care

The link below is a rather long way of saying the way we do health care in America is misguided at best and unsustainable in any shape or form that exists today. The author is a former Governor of Oregon, who is also a Medical Doctor.

Please read his testimony and know that he doesn’t offer a liberal answer or a conservative answer but he does ask us to search for a logical answer.

Here it goes.

Happy reading.

Mike Protack

How is This Possible?

Deciphering a medical bill or benefits statement can leave many consumers feeling, well, a little ill. Multiple statements from a number of different providers and payers can cause confusion. Wrong information or inaccurate charges on medical bills can lead to worry or even anxiety. Indeed, about 39 percent of adults report that time spent on paperwork or disputes related to medical bills and health insurance is a serious hassle, according to a 2006 survey from the Commonwealth Fund’s Commission on a High Performance Health System.

It can be more than a headache, though. Some sick patients can become overwhelmed with so much medical paperwork to the point where they ignore bills in an effort to avoid becoming distressed, said psychiatrist Michelle Riba, associate chair for integrated medicine and psychiatric services at the University of Michigan. That can lead to financial trouble, collection notices and calls from creditors.

“The patients are too sick and they can’t concentrate,” she said, “and then a [hospital] snows you with paperwork.”

The good news is, some groups are taking an interest in simplifying medical bills — such as the Patient Friendly Billing Project — and there are ways to become better educated about medical bills and benefits statements so they don’t seem so confusing.
Different codes for doctors, hospitals

Why are medical bills so complex? For starters, health care professionals use different codes. Doctors, specialists, pharmacists and hospitals get paid individually to perform a service, whether it’s to see a patient, admit a patient or run a lab test. But the same service in a hospital may have a different code than if it is performed in the office of a specialist.

That’s because doctors subscribe to the CPT-2007 code book, published by the American Medical Association. For hospitals, it’s the ICD-9-CM, published by Ingenix, a health care information and research company. There also are other code books, depending on the service being provided.
These codes essentially speak a different language than patients are familiar with, said Dr. James Marvel, an orthopedic surgeon at Cape Orthopaedics in Lewes.
“When we give a joint injection, that’s billed as a surgery,” he said. “The patients will call and say that they didn’t have a surgery. They don’t understand it.”
Marvel of Cape Orthopaedics, a surgeon for 40 years, said some items that appear twice on the same date may cause a patient to think they’ve accidentally been billed twice – even though they’re not. A bilateral knee replacement, for instance, will be listed as two charges, he said.

Marvel’s practice has about 60 different charge items. Christiana Care, on the other hand, has about 25,000.