It's not good when even Fox News criticizes the Republican VP Candidate's Speech

Check out Sally Kohn's critique of Paul Ryan's speech:

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/08/30/paul-ryans-speech-in-three-words/#ixzz251rvLkSe


As a Fox News contributor, we know she's likely to be out there in right field.  Instead, she refreshingly identifies Ryan's lies as lies and holds him accountable.  Othe rmedia sources are doing the same, and I hope the American people pay attention to figure out the truth.

National Medicaid story cites TennCare issues

Most of you know that I've written a book manuscript on TennCare.  I've been struggling to get it published, but it has been used at Vanderbilt Law School as a text in a course.  Anyway, here is a national news piece on the dangers of cutting Medicaid, and it cites what happened in Tennessee when the state cut TennCare: 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/29/medicaid-health-care_n_1835101.html

I urge you to consider this piece and the real lives affected by Medicaid.  Often, it's the sick, the weary, the poor who are trampled on by the healthy and the wealthy.  Congress has already said that it is going to protect those most in need (and those who literally cannot protect their own interests against major companies because they are busy trying to stay alive).  Make sure that your vote this election doesn't act as a death knell to many of the neediest in America.

Healthier School Lunches!

This year, school lunches will be healthier.  Because of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, school lunches must now:
- offer both fruits and vegetables every day of the week
- substantially increase offerings of whole grain-rich foods
- substantially increase offerings of low-fat or fat-free milk
- limit calories based on the age of children being served to ensure proper portion size
- reduce saturated fat, trans fat, and sodium.

(See USDA announcement http://content.govdelivery.com/bulletins/gd/USDAOC-50fc2c).  

This is wonderful news!  While I grew up without eating school lunches (they turned my stomach then, and they make me queasy thinking about them now), so many children are dependent on school lunches.  Not only are parents working harder than ever, but good, quality food is scarce at home.  Lunches at school may be the only time children experience whole, real food.  I'm proud of America for taking this step.  Our kids have been eating over-processed unidentifiable mush for too long.  It's time to go back to the days when the lunch ladies actually peeled potatoes to make mashed potatoes, and they cooked actual chicken, and their jobs involved more than defrosting and heating.  My grandma was a lunch lady for my mom's school, and we still eat some of her "school recipes" as part of our normal meals (I'm particularly fond of her yeasty rolls --- yum!).  Let's get back to that and find our waistline, our energy levels, and our concentration again.  Here's to healthy kids!

The feds are warming my heart ---

Last week, the US Department of Agriculture issued a statement in advance of Tropical Storm Isaac about what people should do with their livestock and their pets when the storm comes.  Obviously, since Katrina, people's attachment to their pets has become an issue when considering natural disasters.  I know that I could not and would not leave my pets.  If it was a choice of staying with them through a storm or leaving them and ensuring my own safety, I'd stay with them and hope for the best.  They have brought both Sam and me through some rough times, and I am not about to abandon them.  Anyway, this USDA message warmed my heart (the line about "favorite toys" really got me) --- the government is recognizing that it is a government of people, real people who care about their families, whatever species they are.

Read the announcement:

USDA Offers Livestock and Pet Safety Tips In Advance of Tropical Storm Isaac

WASHINGTON, Aug. 25, 2012 -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture is issuing guidance for residents in states who have livestock and pets that might be affected by Tropical Storm Isaac.  USDA is offering these tips to help residents protect the health of these animals in the event of power outages, flooding and other issues that can be associated with strong storms.

Follow the direction of state and local officials and stay tuned to your local Emergency Alert System television or ra­dio stations, and fire, police and other local emergency response organizations for relevant emergency information.

 

Livestock Safety

Make sure barns and structures where live­stock can be sheltered are in good repair. If more space is needed for your stock, make arrangements for the use of other sheltering facilities in close proximity to your facilities.
Calculate the feed and water requirements to maintain livestock and poultry during an emergency.
Make preparations for protecting feed and water supplies and providing emergency electrical power if necessary.
If possible, cover feed and forage stored outdoors with a tarp or plastic sheeting. Routinely cover open water supplies, such as troughs and stock tanks.
Pet Safety
If you have not been ordered to evacuate, make sure you have enough pet food and water on hand to feed your pets during an emergency. 
If you have been ordered to evacuate by state or local authorities, take your pets with you when you go.  If you need assistance, such as persons relying on public transportation or with medical special needs, contact your emergency management agency for instructions.
An emergency pet shelter might be available near the human emergency shelter, check with your local emergency management agency to find the nearest emergency pet shelter to you. Do not stay behind with your pet if state or local officials order you to evacuate.
Pet owners should be prepared to provide the following information to pet shelter workers if possible: name; species and breed; sex; color; distinctive markings; age; microchip identification number; vaccination records; health conditions and required medication.
Other useful items to bring to a shelter are:

·          a clear and current photo of you with your pet

·         an extra collar, leash, and/or harness that fits

·         favorite toys

·         any medications and special diets for their pets

·         information on feeding schedules, medical conditions, behavior problems, and the name and number of your veterinarian in case you have to foster or board your pets

·         a pet carrier/kennel large enough for your pet to sleep in comfortably

More information about pet preparedness is available at:http://www.ready.gov/animals
http://www.avma.org/disaster/
Additional information and updates about USDA's hurricane relief efforts are posted at www.usda.gov/disaster.  And information about the U.S. Government's response efforts is available at www.ready.gov.

Revenge of Mother Nature???

How ironic is it that Tropical Storm Isaac may hit Tampa at the exact time of the Republican National Convention, which is when Mitt "There is No Such Thing as Global Warming" Romney will be nominated???  This make me cackle.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/23/isaac-republican-convention_n_1824673.html

Some Light Reading: Satirical Piece about SCOTUS

Here's an enjoyable piece about the Supreme Court of the United States that pokes fun at the justices.  It's a rare gem considering the immense secrecy that clerks keeps for the justices.  Enjoy:  http://www.salon.com/2012/08/18/i_made_clarence_thomas_laugh/

Eve Ensler's Repsonse to Akin's "Legitimate Rape"

By now, I hope that we are all aware of Missouri GOP Senate-Candidate and current Represenative Todd Akin's remarks concerning rape.  For those of you not aware, Akin stated, "From what I understand from doctors, that's really rare," said Akin said of pregnancy caused by rape. "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let's assume maybe that didn't work or something. I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist."  (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/19/todd-akin-abortion-legitimate-rape_n_1807381.html)



While Akin's remarks have left a wide swath of outrage across the country, and I hope the world, I wanted to point out one particular response:  Eve Ensler's.  Ensler is the playwright of The Vagina Monologues, and she is an activist on behalf of women's rights.  Here is her response, kindly posted by The Huffington Post:

Dear Todd Akin,
I am writing to you tonight about rape. It is 2 AM and I am unable to sleep here in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I am in Bukavu at the City of Joy to serve and support and work with hundreds, thousands of women who have been raped and violated and tortured from this ceaseless war for minerals fought on their bodies.

I am in Congo but I could be writing this from anywhere in the United States, South Africa, Britain, Egypt, India, Philippines, most college campuses in America. I could be writing from any city or town or village where over half a billion women on the planet are raped in their lifetime.
Mr. Akin, your words have kept me awake. 

As a rape survivor, I am reeling from your recent statement where you said you misspoke when you said that women do not get pregnant from legitimate rape, and that you were speaking "off the cuff."
Clarification. You didn't make some glib throw away remark. You made a very specific ignorant statement clearly indicating you have no awareness of what it means to be raped. And not a casual statement, but one made with the intention of legislating the experience of women who have been raped. Perhaps more terrifying: it was a window into the psyche of the GOP. 

You used the expression "legitimate" rape as if to imply there were such a thing as "illegitimate" rape. Let me try to explain to you what that does to the minds, hearts and souls of the millions of women on this planet who experience rape. It is a form of re-rape. The underlying assumption of your statement is that women and their experiences are not to be trusted. That their understanding of rape must be qualified by some higher, wiser authority. It delegitimizes and undermines and belittles the horror, invasion, desecration they experienced. It makes them feel as alone and powerless as they did at the moment of rape. 

When you, Paul Ryan and 225 of your fellow co-sponsors play with words around rape suggesting only "forcible" rape be treated seriously as if all rapes weren't forcible, it brings back a flood of memories of the way the rapists played with us in the act of being raped -- intimidating us, threatening us,muting us. Your playing with words like "forcible" and "legitimate" is playing with our souls which have been shattered by unwanted penises shoving into us, ripping our flesh, our vaginas, our consciousness, our confidence, our pride, our futures. 

Now you want to say that you misspoke when you said that a legitimate rape couldn't get us pregnant. Did you honestly believe that rape sperm is different than love sperm, that some mysterious religious process occurs and rape sperm self-destructs due to its evilcontent? Or, were you implying that women and their bodies are somehow responsible for rejecting legitimate rape sperm, once again putting the onus on us? It would seem you were saying that getting pregnant after a rape would indicate it was not a "legitimate" rape. 

Here's what I want you to do. I want you to close your eyes and imagine that you are on your bed or up against a wall or locked in a small suffocating space. Imagine being tied up there and imagine some aggressive, indifferent, insane stranger friend or relative ripping off your clothes and entering your body -- the most personal, sacred, private part of your body -- and violently, hatefully forcing themself into you so that you are ripped apart. Then imagine that stranger's sperm shooting into you and filling you and you can't get it out. It is growing something in you. Imagine you have no idea what that life will even consist of, spiritually made in hate, not knowing the mental or health background of the rapist. 

Then imagine a person comes along, a person who has never had that experience of rape, and that person tells you, you have no choice but to keep that product of rape growing in you against your will and when it is born it has the face of your rapist, the face of the person who has essentially destroyed your being and you will have to look at the face every day of your life and you will be judged harshly if you cannot love that face. 

I don't know if you can imagine any of this (leadership actually requires this kind of compassion), but if you are willing to go to the depth of this darkness, you will quickly understand that there is NO ONE WHO CAN MAKE THAT CHOICE to have or not have the baby, but the person carrying that baby herself. 

I have spent much time with mothers who have given birth to children who are the product of rape. I have watched how tortured they are wrestling with their hate and anger, trying not to project that onto their child.

I am asking you and the GOP to get out of my body, out of my vagina, my womb, to get out of all of our bodies. These are not your decisions to make. These are not your words to define.
Why don't you spend your time ending rape rather than redefining it? Spend your energy going after those perpetrators who so easily destroy women rather than parsing out manipulative language that minimizes their destruction. 

And by the way you've just given millions of women a very good reason to make sure you never get elected again, and an insanely good reason to rise.
#ReasonToRise

Eve Ensler
Bukavu, Congo

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eve-ensler/todd-akin-rape_b_1812930.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

Shouldering ther Burden -- Tithing Disparities

NPR had an interesting story this morning (http://www.npr.org/2012/08/20/158947667/study-reveals-the-geography-of-charitable-giving) about the trends of giving to charities.  The article boils the study down:  It turns out that lower-income people tend to donate a much bigger share of their discretionary incomes than wealthier people do. And rich people are more generous when they live among those who aren't so rich.  I can't say that I'm surprised.  First, to address the point that wealthier people are more generous when they live among those who aren't --- sure!  They are surrounded by those in need, as opposed to those whose needs are met and then some.  It is hard to justify keeping your money and spending opulently when you are confronted on a daily basis by those going without basic necessities.  Personally, this is one of the reasons that I am not comfortable living in suburbia -- I need to be confronted with people's needs.  As a person, I need to fulfill my duty to help others, and I am better at responding to those needs when I am confronted with them on regular basis.


Second, let me share a story from my beloved Second Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee.  During the Capital Campagin season, one of the members got up to speak to us about tithing.  He told us that he and his family didn't used to tithe, but then they began realizing that it wasn't their money;  it was God's.  It wasn't for them to "give up" because it wasn't theirs in the first place.  Even when they struggled to make their rent payments, they tithed 10%.  I abosrbed this message and took it to heart:  never before had anyone made such a compelling argument for tithing.  I began to tithe at 10%.  And even when I was making essentially nothing (my monthly income was less than my rent), I still tithed because the money didn't belong to me.  Now that I have a financially-secure career, I continue to tithe at 10%.  It is a way to give God a portion of what He has given me.  It's not a choice, it's a compulsion for me.  I must do it  . . .  it's only fair. 

For this upcoming month, I challenge you to consider how you can give ten percent of your income to charity.  It doesn't have to be to a church.  It can be to the Humane Society (one of my favorite charities), to an NGO, to the local library,  . . . the list is endless.  Don't let those struggling financially carry the burden of giving, and don't let your financial struggles stop you from giving.  Peace ~

More on Obesity: Putting a Round Peg Into a Round Hole

Well, it seems that the CDC has been busy ranking states by obesity again.  Mississippi continues to be the most obese state.  Colorado is the fittest.  No big (ha!) surprises there.  Here is the link to the CDC report:  http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html.  Here is the actual map:

I embrace the CDC, but I have no idea why they have categories for 15-<20 and="and">35% when there are no states in those categories.  Perhaps to keep it consistent with previous and later maps???  (Planning on getting any fatter, Mississippi???  the CDC is ready for you.)

It seems that obesity is crawling up from the south through the mid-west (and likely taking the form of bacon and biscuits).  Ironically, these are the same states that say they are NOT going to participate in the Medicaid expansion program, and these are the states that have a larger portion of their population who would be eligible for Medicaid because of low incomes.  Thus, the costs of their populations' health care (which will be exacerbated by the obesity and the lack of regular preventive care and continual monitoring of obesity-related diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, CAD, etc.) will be shifted to others.  Is anyone thinking this through???

In reference to the title of this blog, there have been some good reports about obesity:  children's bad chloresterol levels have dropped, which researchers think is due to the disappearance of trans fats in foods, AND teens in states with laws preventing sales of snacks and sugary beverages in public schools have shown an increased ability to control their weight.  Studies here:  (http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/health/2012/08/08/children-cholesterol-levels-have-decreased-study-says/ --- I can't believe I'm citing Fox News for a legitimate story--- this is a first)  and http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/13/health/research/study-links-healthy-weight-in-children-with-tough-snack-and-sugary-drinks-laws.html?_r=2&smid=tw-share. 

Thus, it would seem that reducing children's intake of fats and sugars would help with obesity issues.  I bet this applies to adults as well.  At what point will obesity gain the same toxicity as tobacco use?  Write your Congressmen and representatives to help create positive public health requirements and regulations to help curb obesity.  A round peg in a round hole.  It's a no-brainer.

Government Bail Out Via Catfish

This past week, the USDA announced that the federal government is essentially going to bail out the drought-striken farmers:  the government is buying their meat.  I find it curious that these farmers, which generally live in staunchly conservative states (link here) and believe in smaller federal government (meaning, the government lets them have more freedom to do whatever they want) is now going to benefit substantially from the government coming in and bailing them out.  Without the government doing this, many of these farmers would be in a tight spot and facing financial troubles ("come into my parlor" said the bankruptcy attorney to the farmer).  What is the liklihood that these farmers are going to remember that it was President Obama and the Department of Agriculture who stepped and saved them???

The Announcement:

Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Announces Meat Purchase to Assist Livestock Producers Impacted by Drought; Bolster Federal Nutrition Programs


WASHINGTON, Aug. 13, 2012 – As part of the Obama Administration's commitment to do everything it can to help farmers, ranchers, small businesses, and communities being impacted by the nation's persistent drought, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced USDA's intent to purchase up to $170 million of pork, lamb, chicken, and catfish for federal food nutrition assistance programs, including food banks. The purchase will help relieve pressure on American livestock producers during the drought, while helping to bring the nation's meat supply in line with demand while providing high quality, nutritious food to recipients of USDA's nutrition programs.
"President Obama and I will continue to take swift action to get help to America's farmers and ranchers through this difficult time," said Vilsack. "These purchases will assist pork, catfish, chicken and lamb producers who are currently struggling due to challenging market conditions and the high cost of feed resulting from the widespread drought. The purchases will help mitigate further downward prices, stabilize market conditions, and provide high quality, nutritious food to recipients of USDA's nutrition programs."
Today, USDA announced its intention to purchase up to $100 million of pork products, up to $10 million of catfish products, up to $50 million in chicken products, and up to $10 million of lamb products for federal food nutrition assistance programs, including food banks. Through the Emergency Surplus Removal Program, USDA can use Section 32 funds to purchase meat and poultry products to assist farmers and ranchers who have been affected by natural disasters. The pork, lamb and catfish purchases are based on analyses of current market conditions. A major factor affecting livestock producers is the value of feed, which is currently running high because of the drought.

USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) purchases a variety of high-quality food products each year to support the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, the Summer Food Service Program, the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, the Commodity Supplemental Food Program and the Emergency Food Assistance Program. USDA also makes emergency food purchases for distribution to victims of natural disasters. Government food experts work to ensure that all purchased food is healthful and nutritious. Food items are required to be low in fat, sugar and sodium. The commodities must meet specified requirements and be certified to ensure quality. AMS purchases only products of 100 percent domestic origin.

Last week in Washington, President Obama convened his White House Rural Council to review Executive Branch response actions and to develop additional policy initiatives to assist drought-stricken Americans. Following the meeting, the White House announced a number of new measures the Administration is taking, including USDA's assistance for livestock and crop producers, the National Credit Union Administration's increased capacity for lending to customers including farmers, and the U.S. Department of Transportation's emergency waivers for federal truck weight regulations and hours of service requirements to drought-stricken communities. President Obama also stressed the need for the entire Administration to continue to look at further steps it can take to ease the pain of this historic drought.

Growing Integrity

This past week, I talked with a student who has been struggling academically.  This student is motivated by personal reasons to be in the field he is in, but he has yet to be able to put the concepts together to create a winning formula.  As someone who has been the underdog in many situations, I naturally root for and support this student to the best of my capabilities.  When he told me that he was going to be on academic probation, my heart sank; however, he lifted my heart when, in the next sentence, he acknowledged that the only person he has to blame is himself.  I commended him on that sense of personal responsibility and ownership.  At Vanderbilt, the school has a wonderful quote from former Dean Madison Sarratt that it uses frequently to build proper character: 

Today I am going to give you two examinations, one in trigonometry and one in honesty. I hope you will pass them both, but if you must fail one, let it be trigonometry, for there are many good [people] in this world today who cannot pass an examination in trigonometry, but there are no good [people] in the world who cannot pass an examination in honesty.


What my student did was pass the test in honesty and integrity.  He may not have passed his course work, but he passed the important tests.  I commended him on this achievement, and I reminded him that there are many people in his profession who do not take responsibility for their own mistakes.    Turning this to be more personal, in this past year or so, I have cultivated my honesty and integrity.  I can't think of anyone ever doubting my honesty and integrity before, but, to be honest, I didn't fail that many times before (with that being more of a statement about safely choosing the length of my next step for advancement and less about me being a rockstar).  This past year, I reached out and tried something completely new.  I moved from having professors, judges, and partners guide me to being the professor and guiding others.  I had little guidance, and I was the one doing the guiding.  I failed.  And I failed a lot.  (Luckily, my students stuck with me.  We made it through, and we all ended up learning a lot about various topics.  We also bonded pretty well through that first year, and they have become my champions.)  But I also developed a deep sense of owning those mistakes.  I owned them,  I talked about them, I didn't try to hide them: They were mine.  I accepted where I was.  This acceptance of my repeated failures and then constantly trying to improve was a new level of personhood for me.  I was often reminded of one of my friends who worked with me as a judicial clerk --  she is brillantly intelligent, and whenever she would be instructed on judicial opinions, she would so easily embrace the instructions and feedback.  I tried to be like her.  I stayed open to the idea that I could learn a lot more, and I didn't take any of my mistakes as life-sentences of doom.    I have noticed a general refusal to take responsibility for mistakes.  It's the idea that, if I admit I made a mistake, maybe you won't want me to do X.  One of the reasons I like the leaders who I like is because they admit their mistakes and their humanness.  I have no use or regard for leaders, whether it be presidents or parents or department directors, who shift blame onto someone else, or worse, completely ignore any mistakes of theirs, meaning that it can't even be discussed for remedies.  We have many problems to solve, as a human race, and we won't be able to solve any of them until we all take responsibility for our own parts in those problems.  When it comes time to take our tests in life, remember it's not really the grade we get on the content, it's the grade we get on honesty that matters.

Bad Henry

Henry Hong has been eating our window sill:

This is bad news bears for sure. 

Jon Stewart Clip

Classic Jon Stewart clip from last night --- finding hypocrisy in political rhetoric:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/16/jon-stewart-blasts-republicans-divisive-hypocrisy_n_1788870.html

I'm giggling with glee.

ObamaCare -- polarization in a name

I recently ran across Wendell Potter's piece for the Center for Public Integrity (read it here:  http://www.natlawreview.com/article/analysis-obamacare-label-sticking).  Even though he wrote the article in Sept. 2011, I believe the principles still apply:  Americans generally have no idea what the Affordable Care Act does, and they have been inundated with false claims and negative publicity about "ObamaCare" that they have become ignorantly polarized.  Now that the Supreme Court has issued its opinion on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act's Individual Mandate and Medicaid Expansion, and now that the Presidential election is getting closer, it seems that health care has come even more into focus while it still remains out-of-focus with regards to clarity.  To put it another way, with the political race going on, there is a lot of talk about health care, but it is mostly wrong and meant to scare people into voting a certain way.  Heck, I've been reading state governors' responses to whether they will expand Medicaid in their states, and over half of them seem not to have a clue about what the program does for their state.  The Obama Administration needs to get CMS and HHS to put together a massive education campaign about what the Affordable Care Act has done, is doing, and will do.  Fear is a strong motivator, and people are being fed fear right now.  Listening to an NPR broadcast, I heard an interview from an older man who said that he really like the Massachusetts health care plan (he had friends and family there), but he didn't like the Affordable Care Act plan because it was a tax.  It's essentially the same thing!  Moreover, the "tax" classification was merely a constitutionality hook, just as used to uphold Social Security. 

So, to avoid being someone who critiques without taking action to remedy the situation, I am pledging to write President Obama and Secretary Sebilius about the need for education about the Affordable Care Act.  What will you do?

HHS Cutting Red Tape for Physicians

HHS announced this week that it's going to implement new electronic fund transfer regulations to help physicians deal with the amount of red tape they have to go through in order to be paid.  First, it's good to see things made easier for physicians.  They often work long, hard hours taking care of patients, and any extra energy they have shouldn't be wasted on unnecessarily difficult billing procedures.  Second, it's very good to see an overal savings being projected for health care costs.  I know from my research in Tennessee about the TennCare program, the additional administrative costs would sometimes force physicians out of practice or cluster them in larger practices, with the result being fewer physicians in smaller, rural practices.  By making the billing easier, the federal government is promoting the expansion of practices into less-populated regions, which, in turn, promotes regular, preventive care and good health in those regions.  Of course, the more people with better health care and with regular preventive care, the less health care will cost all of us.  Lots of downstream effects!

Obama administration issues new rules to cut red tape for doctors and hospitals, saving up to $9 billion

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today the release of a new rule that will cut red tape for doctors, hospitals, and health plans. In combination with a previously issued regulation, the rule will save up to $9 billion over the next ten years. The regulation adopts operating rules for making health care claim payments electronically and describing adjustments to claim payments.

“These new rules will cut red tape, save money and ensure doctors spend more time seeing patients and less time filling out forms,” said Secretary Sebelius.
Studies have found that the average physician spends three weeks a year on billing and insurance related tasks, and, in a physician’s office, two-thirds of a full-time employee per physician is necessary to conduct these tasks. Many physician practices and hospitals receive and deposit paper checks, and manually post and reconcile the health care claim payments in their accounting systems. By receiving payments electronically and automating the posting of the payments, a physician practice and hospital’s administrative time and costs can be decreased.

The operating rules build upon industry-wide health care electronic fund transfer (EFT) standards that HHS adopted in January of this year. Together, the previously issued EFT standards and the EFT and electronic remittance advice (ERA) operating rules announced today are projected to save between $2.7 billion and more than $9 billion in administrative costs over ten years by reducing inefficient manual administrative processes for physician practices, hospitals, and health plans.

Operating rules include best business practices on how electronic transactions are transmitted and often target obstacles that physician practices and health insurers have with using electronic transactions. For instance, the rule announced today requires insurers to offer a standardized, online enrollment for EFT and ERA so that physicians and hospitals can more easily enroll with multiple health plans to receive those transactions electronically. The rule also requires health plans to send the EFT within a certain amount of days of the ERA, which helps providers reconcile their accounts more quickly.
Today’s rule, Administrative Simplification: Adoption of Operating Rules for Health Care Electronic Funds Transfers (EFT) and Remittance Advice Transactions were developed through extensive discussions with industry stakeholders. The rule adopts the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare's Committee on Operating Rules for Information Exchange (CAQH CORE) Phase III EFT & ERA Operating Rule Set, including the CORE v5010 Master Companion Guide Template, with the exception of Requirement 4.2 of the Phase III CORE 350 Health Care Claim Payment/Advice (835) Infrastructure Rule. Collectively, these rules are referred to as the EFT & ERA Operating Rule Set.

The regulation announced today may be viewed at www.ofr.gov/inspection.aspx and will be effective upon its publication in the Federal Register on Aug. 10, 2012. The comment period closes on Oct. 9, 2012.

The compliance date for operating rules for the health care electronic funds transfers and remittance advice transaction is Jan. 1, 2014.

A fact sheet with technical information on the rule is found at http://www.cms.gov/apps/media/fact_sheets.asp.

Official Fact Sheet on Drought Help

Because I live in a drought-plagued state, I value the most recent tallying of the federal government's efforts to help those of us living in dustbowl conditions.  Here's the White House's official Fact Sheet on the President Obama's Drought Responses:

Fact Sheet: President Obama Leading Administration-wide Drought Response

As communities across the country struggle with the impacts of one of the worst droughts in decades, President Obama is committed to ensuring that his Administration is doing everything it can help the farmers, ranchers, small businesses, and communities being impacted.

To respond to immediate needs, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and other federal agencies are using their existing authorities wherever possible to address the hardships arising from the lack of water, feed, and forage. Within the last month, USDA has opened the Conservation Reserve Program to emergency haying and grazing, has lowered the borrower interest rate for emergency loans, and has called on crop insurance companies to provide more flexibility to farmers. The Department of the Interior has provided additional grazing flexibility on federal lands and the Small Business Administration is working to help with access to investment capital and credit in affected communities.

On Tuesday, August 7, 2012, President Obama convened his White House Rural Council for one of a continuing series of policy meetings to review Executive Branch response actions and to develop additional policy initiatives to assist drought-stricken Americans. Following the meeting, the White House announced several new measures the Administration is implementing to help those impacted by the drought, including providing additional assistance for livestock and crop producers, increasing the capacity for lending to small businesses, and waiving certain requirements on trucks helping to provide relief. President Obama also stressed the need for the entire Administration to continue to look at further steps it can take to ease the pain of this historic drought.

As the drought continues, the Administration will actively implement its longer-term strategy for assessing and managing the effects of the crisis. In addition to impacts on farming and ranching operations, a long-term, widespread drought will also have implications for wildfires, water availability, navigation, and power generation across much of the country and across other sectors. As we move forward, the Administration will work closely with state and local governments, farming and ranching communities and others to ensure an effective and efficient response and recovery.

Finally, while the Administration is exploring every possible avenue to provide relief from the impacts of the drought, Congress still needs to act to ensure that the needed disaster assistance is available to these communities. The best way to do that is by passing a comprehensive, multi-year farm bill that not only provides much-needed disaster assistance but gives farmers and ranchers the certainty they deserve while enacting critical reforms.

New Actions by Federal Agencies to Help Respond to the Drought

United States Department of Agriculture
· Additional Emergency Funding to Assist Livestock and Crop Producers: To assist producers facing extreme drought conditions, USDA announced Tuesday that it will utilize nearly $16 million in financial and technical assistance to immediately help crop and livestock producers in 19 states cope with the adverse impacts of the historic drought. In addition, USDA will initiate a transfer of $14 million in unobligated program funds into the Emergency Conservation Program. These funds can be used to assist in moving water to livestock in need, providing emergency forage for livestock, and rehabilitating lands severely impacted by the drought. Together these efforts should provide nearly $30 million to producers struggling with drought conditions.

The National Credit Union Administration
· Allowing an additional 1,000 Credit Unions to increase their lending to small businesses: The National Credit Union Administration will announce that more than 1,000 credit unions are eligible for a low-income designation, which permits unlimited lending to small business owners including farmers; nearly half of those eligible credit unions are located in a severely drought-stricken state. Small business lending by credit unions is normally capped at the statutory 12.25 percent rate. This designation exempts designated credit unions from this cap. Currently, approximately 1,100 CUs are designated low-income and can offer unlimited lending to small businesses. The average credit union member business loan is $223,000.

The Small Business Administration with USDA and the Department of Commerce
· Community Outreach Events: SBA, USDA, and the Department of Commerce (DOC) through its Economic Development Administration (EDA), will host targeted events in communities severely impacted by the drought to provide detailed information on what federal resources are available to assist small businesses, farmers, and others in the community. These events will also be webcast to ensure audiences in other drought impacted communities can attend virtually. At these events SBA disaster assistance staff, small business counselors from its network of resource partners, and field staff from SBA district offices along with interagency staff will provide information and offer technical assistance on applying for loans and where to find additional resources after the event.

Leverage State and County Fairs in Regions: In addition to the standalone events, SBA, USDA, and EDA will conduct outreach at already scheduled State and Country Fairs.
· Online Outreach: Since the drought's full impact may take months to be fully felt by small businesses and communities, SBA, USDA, and DOC will continue to reach out to affected regions through online webinars and conference calls that will further raise awareness and provide opportunity to gather real-time detail on the impact to communities.

The Department of Transportation
· Existing Emergency Exemptions of Federal Operating Requirements: This authority can put more commercial drivers behind the wheel—driving large trucks needed to assist the farmers and ranchers in need. If a qualifying drought emergency has been declared in a state by the Governor or appropriate official, the state automatically gets Hours of Service and other regulatory relief for those providing emergency assistance; no application is needed. If the situation does not qualify for emergency relief, the Federal rules regulating large truck and bus operations may be waived in certain circumstances. DOT can process a request to waive regulations in 7-14 days.

o In addition, the transportation bill President Obama signed in July provides a new authority for States to issue special permits for overweight vehicles and loads that can easily be dismantled or divided in an emergency. The legislation makes the new special permits available beginning October 1, 2012. DOT is expediting the process of developing guidance for States to support their permitting programs, and the way in which “relief supplies” are defined may provide states with a new tool to use for hauling heavy loads of grain, livestock, etc. for drought relief.

Today’s Actions Build on Steps Taken by Agencies across the Federal Government to Help Drought-Stricken Counties

United States Department of Agriculture
· Use of Indemnity Payments for Crop Insurance Premiums. To assist farmers in meeting cash flow challenges, USDA has taken steps to ensure that farmers will be able to apply this year’s crop indemnity payments toward their crop insurance premiums for the following crop year. As of August 1, 2012, the sixteen major providers of U.S. crop insurance have all agreed to forego interest charges on unpaid premiums through November.
· Disaster Designation Regulation. On July 12, USDA announced an expedited disaster designation process, allowing farmers and ranchers to obtain disaster assistance faster. USDA projects a 40 percent reduction in processing time for affected producers as a result of this change.
· Reduction of USDA’s Emergency (EM) Loan Rate. Emergency Loans will help producers recover from production and physical losses associated with natural disasters. The current rate was set in 1993 at 3.75 percent. Effective July 15, the Administration lowered the interest rate on loans, effectively lowering the rate from 3.75 percent down to 2.25 percent.
- Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Haying and Grazing. The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) allows farmers and ranchers to receive annual rental payments and cost-share assistance to establish long-term, resource conserving covers (grasses) on eligible farmland. Nationwide, 29 million acres are enrolled in the CRP. Due to the drought, the federal government has opened up virtually all of the CRP grassland acres for emergency haying and grazing and reduced the payment penalty for haying and grazing from 25 percent to only 10 percent. Further, the Administration took additional steps to ensure that appropriate wetland and riparian buffer areas will also be available for haying and grazing.

Department of the Interior
· Grazing on Federal Lands: The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management and the USDA Forest Service are providing relief to ranchers who graze on public lands byemploying flexibility to accommodate needs and conditions on the ground. BLM will issue refunds to cattlemen that were displaced by early season fires and therefore not able to make use of their allotments and the Forest Service has liberally granted Permittee requested non-use. Both agencies are making vacant land available for grazing and allowing for: changes in grazing use, including delayed or early turnout if conditions allow; increased salting to improve livestock distribution; water hauling and temporary portable water troughs; and other measures.

The Small Business Administration
· SBA Drought Disaster Declarations. To date, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has followed USDA’s disaster declarations and has issued 71 agency declarations in 32 states covering 1,636 counties, providing a pathway for small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives and non-farm small businesses that are economically affected by the drought in their community to apply for SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL).

The Army Corps of Engineers
· Army Corps of Engineers Preserving Navigation: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has published guidance to coordinate a collective Common Operation Picture (COP) to monitor ongoing drought impacts on navigation. At this time they have identified the 15 most critical river gages (of 2000+) as key monitors for navigation impacts and implemented Water Way Action Plans. USACE will continue coordinating with Coast Guard, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and navigation industries on the mitigation of drought impacts by:
o Working with contract dredges to identify areas of concern to divert resources based on priority.
o Identifying available channel depths and widths to navigation industries, so barge tow drafts and widths can be modified accordingly.
o Ensuring that storage reservoirs are releasing flow to augment natural flows downstream.
o Continuing to do public and media outreach via, conference calls, webinars and emails with respect to the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio rivers and tributaries.
o Monitoring the National Weather Service outlook on short and long term rainfall forecast to prepare for potential reservoir releases are other mitigation measures.

The Department of Transportation
· DOT Outreach to the State DOTs: On Wednesday August 1, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood convened a call with states to listen and discuss the ways in which DOT can work with Governors and State Departments of Transportation to help communities impacted by the drought. Issues raised during the call included emergency waivers of hours of service requirements and emergency waivers for Federal truck weight regulations.

http://content.govdelivery.com/bulletins/gd/USDAOC-4dba29

Government Countering Abuse in Food Program

The US government is getting ready to hold a media conference about its new measures to decrease abuse in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).  SNAP currently provides over 46 million Americans with healthy food to eat.  However, as with any program, there are bound to be some people trying to take advantage of it.  Fraud occurs when SNAP benefits are exchanged for cash, when applicants lie and receive benefits they are not supposed to receive, and when retailers lie and are able to participate under false pretenses.  This tightening of oversight is part of President Obama's plan to help tighten the federal budget.  Read more about the program here:  http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/fraud.htm.

barbie in the flesh

We've all heard about the unrealistic body proportions that Barbie has, and we might have seen the fake Barbies made to a six-foot tall scale.  However, no one has drawn Barbie's dimensions on a real woman's body until now.  check it out:

This was posted on the Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/06/barbie-real-woman-proportions-mildly-terrifying_n_1749204.html), and it came from the blog healthyisthenewskinny.com (which I can't access from work, apparently). 

As someone who deals with weight issues and concerns, this is so refreshing.  Let's focus on being healthy (and that includes not being obese, Oklahoma!)!!!

Obese smokers who have no insurance. . . OOOOOklahoma is the place to be!

Can you hear the song in your head?  Yes, it seems that yet another article has been written about Oklahoma's poor health.  Nearly one-third of its citizens are obese, many smoke, and many don't have health insurance.  What does this mean?  The rest of us in this highly conservative, gun-toting state are carrying the medical costs of those people who don't take care of themselves and who protest the individual mandate of the ACA (lest they actually receive preventative care and have to pay something).  Separating my call for some sense of fiscal and personal responsibility from the health issues, I'm going to try to focus on the public health issue of obesity that is at hand.  The Gazette's article quotes the OK Commissioner of Health as saying that parents don't know how to recognize obesity in their children;  this is a real issue.  I would have never thought that education about classification of obesity would be necessary, but it appears it is.  This sounds like part of a good practicum experience for our MPH students at the OU College of Public Health.  Of course, as with anything in Oklahoma, you're going to have to deal with various cultures.  In addition to Caucasians, African-Americans, and Hispanics, there is also a sizeable Native American population.  Differing cultural techniques will need to be used to educate people about obesity.  Let's face it, you can't just waltz in and call someone's kid fat and leave. 

Linked with the recognition issue (and needing to do it tactfully and after building trust), I've noticed since living here that people do not make wise choices in the grocery stores.  I often see people buying many processed foods, already made foods, high in sugar foods . . . you name it.  Although there would definitely be an initial air of paternalism, it's almost like people need to have health educators go to the grocery with them, help them pick out healthy foods, and then teach them how to quickly prepare such foods.  As someone who grew up eating McDonald's, canned ravioli, boxed macaroni and cheese, and frozen dinners, I can vouch that the change in palatte takes time, but it can happen.  I now eat almost no prepared foods, I cook with very little salt, and I eat many fresh fruits and veggies . . . and I LOVE it!  Even into college, I would eat brownies or cake from a box regularly, but now I can take all the synthetic ingredients.  It just doesn't even taste good to me.  This change can happen for others.  Again, perhaps this education, grocery shopping, and cooking lesson is a good practicum project for an MPH . . .  we'll see.  Either way, Oklahoma needs to make a change because its people are just huge.  Jaime Oliver, are you listening?  (http://www.jamieoliver.com/us/foundation/jamies-food-revolution/home)

Read the Oklahoma City Gazette article here:  http://www.okgazette.com/oklahoma/article-15941-state-of-health.html

Do you suffer from excrutiating headaches? Sleeplessness? Loss of Vision? No? Well, help those who do.

This is a public service announcement about a fundraiser my cousin is doing.  He's been diagnosed with chiari, a condition I'd never heard of before his diagnosis.  Essentially, his brain has slipped down on his spinal cord, and it causes a lot of pain, nausea, sleeplessness, etc.  It's pretty miserable, and he's had a bunch of surgeries along with other medical treatments to help him with it.  He's walking to help raise research money for this condition.  I urge you to consider contributing to the Chiari cause:  https://www.conquerchiari.org/ccwaa12/KennethOwensby.

Here's where you can learn more about Chiari:  http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/chiari/detail_chiari.htm

Fox News Being Fox News --- Now Critiquing the Olympic Athletes' Outfits

When the news gets slow (you know, we only just had a shooting at a temple in Wisconsin, the middle of the country is in dought/fire mode, and the Olympics are happening), Fox News has to scrape the bottom of its nuttiness barrell.  What has it come up with?  That the American Olympic athletes' wardrobes are not patriotic enough.  Yes, see it here:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/06/fox-news-team-usa-uniforms-patriotic_n_1746519.html.  In fact, the host and her guest specifically showed athletes who won gold medals --- Gabby Douglas and the women's swimming relay team -- and talked as if the athletes chose to wear those outfits.  Come on, Fox News.  Celebrate the victories and go find something else to pick on.  The athletes are wearing the clothes they were provided, and they are doing a great job representing America.  Try to do the same.

Because it wasn't hot enough . . .

the OKC area is now on fire.  Mandatory evacuations.  The weather people are all atwitter with excitement.

http://www.koco.com/

Finally, some recognition that healthy women make a healthy country

One of my favorite parts of the ACA is the recognition that women's healthcare is important.  After all, women are the ones bearing the babies, right?  We're the ones who carry the keys to the next generation, and our healthcare issues have often been sidelined.  Just think of the fact that anatomy is often taught from the drawings of a man's body and that men have prescription coverage for erectile dysfunction drugs while women can't even get coverage for hormonal contraceptive, which has been proven to have multiple medical uses including reducing endometriosis, preventing acne, preventing ovarian cysts (personal note:  when those things explode, you are in a world of pain -- I ended up passed out on my kitchen floor for awhile), etc.  As of August 1, 2012, more preventative care measures are being completely covered by insurance (as a hook to get you to take care of yourself and save us all from major down-the-line expenses) AND women's healthcare treatment like domestic violence counseling, birth control, HPV testing, HIV screening, well-women visits, and gestational diabetes screening, among others, will now be covered.  This is HUGE!  I urge you to educate yourselves about the new law and to spread the word.  Let's make a healthier America.

Website for Services Covered:  http://www.healthcare.gov/news/factsheets/2010/07/preventive-services-list.html#CoveredPreventiveServicesforWomenIncludingPregnantWomen

News Release:
(http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2012pres/07/20120731a.html)
Health care law gives women control over their care, offers free preventive services to 47 million women

Forty-seven million women are getting greater control over their health care and access to eight new prevention-related health care services without paying more out of their own pocket beginning Aug. 1, 2012, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today.


Previously some insurance companies did not cover these preventive services for women at all under their health plans, while some women had to pay deductibles or copays for the care they needed to stay healthy. The new rules in the health care law requiring coverage of these services take effect at the next renewal date – on or after Aug. 1, 2012—for most health insurance plans. For the first time ever, women will have access to even more life-saving preventive care free of charge.


According to a new HHS report also released today, approximately 47 million women are in health plans that must cover these new preventive services at no charge. Women, not insurance companies, can now make health decisions that will keep them healthy, catch potentially serious conditions at an earlier state, and protect them and their families from crushing medical bills.


“President Obama is moving our country forward by giving women control over their health care,” Secretary Sebelius said. “This law puts women and their doctors, not insurance companies or the government, in charge of health care decisions.”


The eight new prevention-related services are:
•Well-woman visits.
•Gestational diabetes screening that helps protect pregnant women from one of the most serious pregnancy-related diseases.
•Domestic and interpersonal violence screening and counseling.
•FDA-approved contraceptive methods, and contraceptive education and counseling.
•Breastfeeding support, supplies, and counseling.
•HPV DNA testing, for women 30 or older.
•Sexually transmitted infections counseling for sexually-active women.
•HIV screening and counseling for sexually-active women.


The health care law has already helped women in private plans and Medicare for the first time gain access to potentially life-saving tests and services, such as mammograms, cholesterol screenings, and flu shots without coinsurance or deductibles. Today’s announcement builds on these benefits, generally requiring insurance companies to offer, with no copay, additional vital screenings and tests to help keep women healthy throughout their lives.


These services are based on recommendations from the Institute of Medicine, which relied on independent physicians, nurses, scientists, and other experts as well as evidence-based research to develop its recommendations. These preventive services will be offered without cost sharing beginning today in all new health plans.


Group health plans and issuers that have maintained grandfathered status are not required to cover these services. In addition, certain nonprofit religious organizations, such as churches and schools, are not required to cover these services. The Obama administration will continue to work with all employers to give them the flexibility and resources they need to implement the health care law in a way that protects women’s health while making common-sense accommodations for values like religious liberty.


For women who are pregnant or nursing, the new preventive services include gestational diabetes screening as well as breast-feeding support, counseling and supplies. Health services already provided under the health care law include folic acid supplements for women who may become pregnant, Hepatitis B screening for pregnant women, and anemia screening for pregnant women.


Women Medicare beneficiaries may already receive such preventive services as annual wellness visits, mammograms, and bone mass measurement for those at risk of osteoporosis and diabetes screening. Approximately 24.7 million women with Medicare used at least one free preventive service in 2011, including the new annual wellness visit.


Because of the Affordable Care Act, secure, affordable coverage is becoming a reality for millions of American women and families. Men and children are also able to take advantage of preventive services at no extra charge under the health care law. These services include flu shots and other immunizations, screenings for cancers, high blood pressure and cholesterol, and depression.


To learn more about the health care services you may be eligible for at no extra charge under the Affordable Care Act, go to http://www.healthcare.gov/prevention


For information about the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report on the number of adult and adolescent women eligible for the preventive services at no charge after Aug. 1, 2012, see http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/2012/womensPreventiveServicesACA/ib.shtml

We're literally broiling out here

Most of my readers are not in Oklahoma, which I appreciate greatly, and consequently are not experiencing the horrific weather we have.  Oklahoma has been experiencing temperatures over 100 degrees for weeks on end.  It has been 115 for the past several days.  Literally, when I go outside I can feel my flesh burn --- it's that hot. 

Yeah, yeah, it's summer.  Well, it's a real issue here because Oklahoma is home to a lot of cattle and other grazing creatures along with crops.  Thankfully, the farmers and the farmer insurance industry have put pressure on the federal government to give them some relief, as best as a government can . . . really what we need is a lot of rain, but that isn't quite possible.  The federal government has opened up some grazing lands.  While I am really opposed to the harm that will come to the delicate marshlands and swamplands, I am feeling the heat, and I know how desparate these farmers are.  Let's remember that if the farmers' crops and herds fail, then food supplies swindle and prices go up.  People are already hurting financially, and it would only intensify the pain. 

Thinking about a longer-term solution, this country needs to become a real leader in fighting greenhouse gas emissions and becoming an environmentally-friendly country.  I'm encourage by today's news that 20 different governors have asked detroit to develop natural gas cars (http://www.npr.org/2012/08/03/157713686/states-ask-detroit-build-us-a-natural-gas-car-please), and I'm encouraged that more cities are doing bicycle share programs, but we need to do more.  Greenland's ice caps are disappearing.  The Jet Stream is jacked, and our country's woes are only going to get worse.  Declaring over half the counties in the US as natural disaster zones is not sustainable --- we need to address the real cause of the weather issues --- we need to become proactive about taking care of our planet.  What will your next step be?  Write your congressman, recycle more, combine driving trips . . . let's hear your ideas and pledges!

Here is the link and a portion of the announcement from the Secretary of Agriculture on the drought relief:
http://content.govdelivery.com/bulletins/gd/USDAOC-4ca9e6

Nearly 4 Million Acres of Land Open to Haying and Grazing; Obama Administration-wide drought response continues

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1, 2012—Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced two new pieces of disaster assistance for farmers and ranchers impacted by the nation's worsening drought. First, Vilsack is expanding emergency haying and grazing on approximately 3.8 million acres of conservation land to bring greater relief to livestock producers dealing with shortages of hay and pastureland. Second, the Secretary announced that crop insurance companies have agreed to provide a short grace period for farmers on insurance premiums in 2012. As a result, farming families now have an extra 30 days to make payments without incurring interest penalties on unpaid premiums.

Earlier in the day, Vilsack signed disaster designations for an additional 218 counties in 12 states as primary natural disaster areas due to damage and losses caused by drought and excessive heat. Counties designated today are in the states of Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Wyoming. More than half (50.3 percent) of all counties in the United States have been designated disaster areas by USDA in 2012, mainly due to drought.

"President Obama and I will continue to take swift action to get help to America's farmers and ranchers through this difficult time," said Vilsack. "The assistance announced today will help U.S. livestock producers dealing with climbing feed prices, critical shortages of hay and deteriorating pasturelands. Responding to my request, crop insurance companies indicated that producers can forgo interest penalties to help our nation's farm families struggling with cash flow challenges. The Obama Administration intends to continue helping those who farm or ranch and live and work in rural America through this period of hardship."

Emergency Haying and Grazing

In response to the expanding drought, Secretary Vilsack today announced that livestock producers and other participants in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) will now be able to hay and graze acres that have been ineligible in the past. Many of these additional acres have wetland-related characteristics and are likely to contain better quality hay and forage than on other CRP acres. There are approximately 3.8 million acres that will now be eligible for emergency haying and grazing, subject to certain conditions. Haying and grazing may only occur under strict compliance rules to help minimize impacts on these sensitive specialty practices. In addition, USDA will conduct follow-up monitoring and evaluation of these opened CRP areas to study the effects of the drought and USDA's emergency haying and grazing actions. Producers should contact their local Farm Service Agency offices for additional information.

Federal Crop Insurance

Secretary Vilsack announced today that crop insurance companies have agreed to provide a short grace period for farmers on insurance premiums in 2012. To help producers who may have cash flow problems due to natural disasters, Secretary Vilsack sent a letter to crop insurance companies asking them to voluntarily defer the accrual of any interest on unpaid spring crop premiums by producers until November 1, 2012. In turn, to assist the crop insurance companies, USDA will not require crop insurance companies to pay uncollected producer premiums until one month later.

During the 2012 crop year, USDA has designated 1,584 unduplicated counties across 32 states as disaster areas—1,452 due to drought—making all qualified farm operators in the areas eligible for low-interest emergency loans. The U.S. Drought Monitor indicates that 66 percent of the nation's hay acreage is in an area experiencing drought, while approximately 73 percent of the nation's cattle acreage is in an area experiencing drought. During the week ending July 29, USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service reported that U.S. soybeans rated 37 percent very poor to poor, matching the lowest conditions observed during the drought of 1988. NASS also reported that 48 percent of the U.S. corn crop was rated very poor to poor, while 57 percent of the nation's pastures and rangeland are rated very poor or poor condition.

Last week, President Obama met with Secretary Vilsack and members of his Cabinet to discuss additional steps the Administration could take to help farmers, ranchers and business owners manage and recover from the current drought. Later in the week, President Obama directed Secretary Vilsack to convene a meeting of the White House Rural Council to update members and stakeholders on the Administration response to the drought. Vilsack will update Rural Council members and stakeholders again next week on new steps taken by the Administration to combat the drought.

Under Secretary Vilsack's leadership, USDA has announced a variety of steps to get assistance to producers impacted by the worsening drought, including:

•Allowing additional acres under CRP to be used for emergency haying or grazing. The action allows lands that are not yet classified as "under severe drought" but that are "abnormally dry" to be used for haying and grazing.

•Allowing producers to modify current Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) contracts to allow for grazing, livestock watering, and other conservation activities to address drought conditions.

•Authorizing haying and grazing of Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) easement areas in drought-affected areas where haying and grazing is consistent with conservation of wildlife habitat and wetlands. USDA has expedited its authorization process for this haying and grazing.

•Encouraging crop insurance companies to provide a short grace period for farmers on unpaid insurance premiums, as some farming families can be expected to struggle to make ends meet at the close of the crop year.

•Reducing the emergency loan interest rate from 3.75 percent to 2.25 percent.

•Lowering the reduction in the annual rental payment to producers on CRP acres used for emergency haying or grazing from 25 percent to 10 percent in 2012.

•Simplifying the Secretarial disaster designation process and reduced the time it takes to designate counties affected by disasters by 40 percent.

USDA agencies have been working for weeks with state and local officials, as well as individuals, businesses, farmers and ranchers, as they begin the process of helping to get people back on their feet. The U.S. Small Business Administration has also made 63 agency declarations in 33 states covering 1,675 counties, providing a pathway for those affected to apply for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL). SBA's EIDLs are available to small, non-farm businesses and small agricultural cooperatives that are economically affected by the drought in their community.

Also today, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will convene a call with states to listen and discuss the ways in which U.S. DOT can work with Governors and State Departments of Transportation to help communities impacted by the drought. Secretary LaHood will be joined by both Anne Ferro, Administrator of the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration and Greg Nadeau, Deputy Administrator for the Federal Highways Administration.

The Obama Administration, with Agriculture Secretary Vilsack's leadership, has worked tirelessly to strengthen rural America, maintain a strong farm safety net, and create opportunities for America's farmers and ranchers. U.S. agriculture is currently experiencing one of its most productive periods in American history thanks to the productivity, resiliency, and resourcefulness of our producers. A strong farm safety net is important to sustain the success of American agriculture. USDA's crop insurance program currently insures 264 million acres, 1.14 million policies, and $110 billion worth of liability on about 500,000 farms. In response to tighter financial markets, USDA has expanded the availability of farm credit, helping struggling farmers refinance loans. In the past 3 years, USDA provided 103,000 loans to family farmers totaling $14.6 billion. Over 50 percent of the loans went to beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers.

Burglarized Again -- sigh

As some of you know, we were burglarized at 2 AM on Monday, July 30, 2012.  The burglar gained access to our house through the gap we had underneath our garage door.  Because it has been about 105-115 degrees in OKC recently, we've been gapping our garage door to help with the heat.  Unfortunately, someone took advantage of this.  The person walked through our laundry room, into our kitchen, and then exited through the back door in the dining room.  One of our labs, Henry, sounded the alarm, which woke everyone up.  Three cheers for Henry!!!  We were not harmed, and we only lost my purse (without my wallet in it) and my iPhone.  It could have been substantially worse. 

In case you are wondering, if you iPhone is stolen you will need to have installed some sort of "Find my Phone" app on it to have any chance of finding it.  You'll also need to turn in the phone's serial number to the police, so they can put it into a national database.  While I'm not a big fan of having tracking programs on my phone, it would have been nice to have that possibility now, and I recommend doing it.

Stay safe ~

No nurses, no nurses

I'm in the process of developing a lecture on the financial effects of the Affordable Care Act and the related Supreme Court opinion.  While driving to work today, I heard Morning Edition's piece on the shortage of nurses that already exists and that is going to get worse as the ACA begins to take effect.  Because of the increased demand for primary and preventative care, there will be an increased demand for nurses as a cost-effective way to provide this treatment.  This demand will also increase as baby boomers age and need more health care.  Great --- we need more nurses, which means we can provide more jobs in our economy.  Well, it's not that easy.  There is a nursing professor shortage.  Because of factors such as nurses wanting to take care of patients instead of going to school for many years beyond their 2- or 4-year degree and the pay disparity between experienced nurses or nurses in managerial roles versus nurses in professorial roles, among other factors, there aren't many nurses attaining PhDs.  Without a PhD, a nurse may not teach at a university.  (The program cited that fewer than 1% of nurses have their PhDs, which means the pool of qualified professors is very small.)  So the easy response may be, well, just increase the class size until we get more . . .  not so easy because laws require a minimum ratio of faculty to students considering how hands-on nursing education is.  Adding more complexity, there is also a serious diversity issue:  the nursing occupation desperately needs more Hispanic, African-American, and male nurses.  (As a personal note, when my mom was dying of cancer, one of her all-time favorite nurses was a male nurse named Pierre from a francophone country in Africa -- he was large enough to turn her 6'1" frame, and he had an extremely soothing voice and speaking cadence.  Ahhh, Pierre.  My dad also especially liked Pierre because they could speak French to one another.  We need more Pierres!) 

So, now that we've recognized this problem, what are the potential solutions?  Well, essentially we need to create an environment where we have temporary instructional changes to feed the demand and to buy the market time to create more nursing PhDs.  In addition, we need to create an environment where achieving a nursing PhD is seen as a desirable goal and where research and instruction of nurses is promoted.  I think that will need to start in the nursing schools themselves.  I think that any medical campus also needs to do more promoting and advising of students towards nursing PhD programs.  Undergraduate universities also would do well to promote nursing PhD tracks and attempting to provider those who bail out of pre-med to consider nursing as an alternative.  Given the scarcity of the number of nursing educators, it seems likely that students just aren't aware of the possibility and what it could provide for them.  

This nursing shortage and nursing professor shortage is and will continue to have an impact on Americans.  Let's keep an eye on this and see what changes schools and nurses make in order to meet the needs.  

Listen to or read the NPR story here:  http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/08/03/156213925/nursing-schools-brace-for-faculty-shortage