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I am certain that I have made this mistake myself, but Kevin Drum is careless about using data just because it 1) is labeled in a way he thinks he understands and 2) it supports his pre-conceived notions.
He tries to use the above chart to make the point that Medicare is superior to private insurers because it is more accurate. Accuracy in claims seems like a good thing, but I started to wonder how it was defined in this study.
So I spent like 30 whole seconds clicking through to the study. It turns out the data is based on surveys of doctors. This chart is explained this way:
Description: On what percentage of claim lines does the payers allowed amount equal the physician practices expected allowed amount?
So really, this chart is not a measure of insurance company accuracy, it is really a measure of doctor accuracy in estimating insurance company claims payment behavior, or perhaps of insurance company claims transparency. Because M
– Moody’s on Wednesday warned it may downgrade some Aaa-rated U.S. states and municipalities if the country loses its top-notch rating or if federal funding falls significantly as part of a plan to reduce the nation’s deficit.
Most states and some municipalities rely on federal funding for operational purposes. The most susceptible to federal budget cuts would be those with greater economic volatility and that rely more heavily on capital markets to refinance their debt, Moody’s senior analyst Anne Van Praagh told Reuters in an interview.
“To the extent that Treasuries markets are volatile , then that could pass through in the form of additional interest costs for states or local governments,” she said.
Moody’s said earlier this month it may cut U.S.
The Promise: Sun, sand and–status symbols? For the price of a night in a luxury hotel, Hermes, maker of the famous six-figure Birkin Bag, offers a line of $530 beach towels for those who crave the It beach accessory. Not to be confused with the label’s “yachting” towels, the beach versions come in 10 designs, each backed with Hermes’s signature orange. According to the company, the towels are screen-printed using the same technique employed on its iconic silk scarves.
The Reality: We couldn’t resist sending the tony towel out to be poked and prodded at an accredited lab to see how it fared against a $20 competitor. Rather than soaking up the accolades, the Hermes tested the same as the cheaper model in a color-change test and lost 4 percent of its width after three washings (the $20 towel shrank just 2 percent).
Jetstar has stepped up efforts to fly all over Asia. Photo: Quentin Jones
JETSTAR, the low-cost carrier and Qantas subsidiary, has been linked to a joint venture with Japan Airlines over plans to launch cheap domestic flights in Japan next year.
Reports in Japan yesterday said Jetstar had signed a deal with JAL to enter Japan’s low-cost carriers market. Jetstar and JAL would each own a 30 per cent stake in the joint venture, a report from Nikkei said.
Between 10 billion and 20 billion ($A116 million and $A232 million) would be used to capitalise the project.
Qantas denied a deal had been reached and declined to comment on whether it was in talks with JAL.
”Qantas Group is looking at a range of opportunities across the Asia region. However, no agreements have been reached with any parties,” a spokesman said.
Jetstar is already the largest carrier between Australia and Japan.
A coalition that includes 44 diverse organizations appealed to regulators last week, asking them to reconsider the proposed Qualified Residential Mortgage (QRM) rule. The proposed QRM rule, which is a provision of the Dodd-Frank Act, currently calls for an increase in the down payment requirement for borrowers seeking a mortgage from 5 percent to 20 percent as it is currently written. The Coalition for Sensible Housing Policy, which includes organizations such as the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) and the National Association of Realtors (NAR), released a joint white paper (Proposed Qualified Residential Mortgage Definition Harms Creditworthy Borrowers While Frustrating Housing Recovery) last week that argues that the new, higher down payment requirement would negatively affect otherwise qualified, creditworthy borrowers. Both the CRL and NAR released statements arguing that the proposed QRM legislation would negatively impact the “fragile housing recovery” that the country is embroiled in right now. “As written, the proposed QRM rule violates congressional intent, makes home ownership more expensive for millions of responsible consumers and jeopardizes the fragile housing recovery,” Ron Phipps, NAR President, said in a statement. “We urg