Mid-week Potpourri

■ First up, Rich W warns that the new ObamaTax numbers are a lot more dangerous than we've been led to believe:

"[O]nly about 28 percent of enrollees, or 3.5 million, are between the ages of 18 and 34 -- the younger, healthier people needed to offset the costs of older, sicker ones."

That's bad news because it underscores just how unsustainable the whole system has become. Look for this number to get even worse as premiums and out-of-pockets continue to rise.

■ Talk about an understatement: FoIB Holly R sent us this link that starts out by noting that "[d]ifficult patients — those who are angry, abusive, or rude — may not get the best medical care." No kidding.

Click on through to see how patients that threaten to shoot their doctors fare.

■ This is actually two items in one. On the one hand:

"Maple syrup isn't just delicious, it could also cure Alzheimer's disease"

While you're pouring that tasty Grade A Amber on your flapjacks, don't forget to sprinkle some blueberries on 'em, too:

"Start munching on blueberries. Researchers at the University of Cincinnati say chowing down on the "superfruit" may help treat patients with cognitive impairments."

Yummy and helpful.

Self-service writ large

A while back, we noted with some disgust that "[t]he number of foreigners traveling to Switzerland to commit assisted suicide doubled over a four-year period." Seems that that enlightened country had made it even easier for folks to pull their own plugs.

Fortunately (for some values of "fortunate") the Golden State is making it unnecessary for those so inclined to have to book expensive airfare:

"Governor Jerry Brown signed a landmark bill into law ... [granting]terminally-ill individuals the right to die, or request life-ending medication from their physician."

He actually signed it this past fall; it takes effect early this summer.

There's a supposed "fail-safe" built into the law, requiring two doctors to agree that the "patient has six months or less to live and is mentally competent." There are some other caveats, as well.

Some folks are a bit leery that depressed patients might "doctor shop" to find providers more willing to participate. For what it's worth, California joins four other states that have legalized doctor-assisted suicide.

Yay?

[Hat Tip: Ace of Spades]

MVNHS© claims another one

It's almost as if nationalized health care schemes are designed to kill off their intended beneficiaries:

22-year-old dies of rare cancer after doctors mistook disease for pregnancy

To be fair, her initial pregnancy diagnosis was due to elevated hormone levels. But as time went by, and her pain continued unabated, one would think that her "care" providers would have at least tried to nail down a cause. By the time they finally got around to that, it was too late:

"[I]n February, doctors at Addenbrooke Hospital in Cambridge found Wright actually had adenocarcinoma— an aggressive form of cancer that affects multiple organs and was diagnosed as terminal. On Feb. 23, Wright passed away"

Well played, Much Vaunted National Health System©.

More (bad) trainwreck news

As we mentioned at the end of January, Open Enrollment v3.0 was pretty much doomed from the start:

"About 6 million people have signed up for health coverage that will take effect on Jan. 1 in the states that use the [404Care].gov enrollment."

That was way off the (implausibly) predicted 21 million anticipated to sign up. But it's also only part of the story:

"New exchange enrollment data released by the Obama administration reveal in multiple ways that ObamaCare is failing to live up to its goal of providing affordable care."

Most at risk? The very folks on whose behalf the whole effort was expended in the first place:

"Millions of working-class Americans face a choice between paying a penalty they surely can’t afford and buying a policy ... that may still wreck their finances if they land in the hospital."

And that's assuming that they can even afford to buy a plan in the first place. With ever-increasing premiums, deductibles and maximum out-of-pocket costs spiking, no wonder so many people are opting to just skip signing up in the first place. As we've noted time and time again, that $700 or so penalty fine tax is peanuts compared to the actual exposure dictated by massive ObamaPlan holes.

And the subsidies are doing little to mitigate the problem:

"While the cheapest bronze-plan premium (before subsidies) rose about $250 in Mississippi for a $25,000-earner, the subsidy fell $300, yielding the $550 increase."

Talk about a double whammy.

Sausage making at the MVNHS©

There's an old saying:

"Laws are like sausages: Better not to see them being made."

This seems to apply to how (at least one) nationalized "health" schemes work, as well. We've blogged on the shortcomings of the Much Vaunted National Health System© for many, many years; one thing we've consistently pointed out is that perhaps the most insidious form of health care rationing (and under any national health care scheme care is rationed) is the use of wait times to "cull the herd" of the most needy.

But don't just take our word for it; thanks to co-blogger Bob, we have access to "A Guide to Health Cover for the Self-Employed." Don't let the title fool you: the critical issues addressed apply equally to those who work for someone else.  And what's the Number 1 issue?

"Waiting times to see a doctor are lengthening – 70% of GPs surveyed for the Royal College of General Practitioners said patients will have to wait longer to see them over the next two years"

[ed: And don't be getting too smug about that; the ObamaTax has it baked into the cake]

Now, there's a double-whammy for self-employed folks: the obvious (and shared one) of 'care delayed is care denied,' but there's the additional onus that "[w]hile an employee with a sympathetic employer can easily take the time off work for appointments, it’s not so easy if you are self-employed."

Lotta truth there.

I was also bemused by this little observation:

"[T]he service we remain so justly proud of is cracking under the strain of an increasing population and a curb on expenditure"

Denial: not just a river.

Hey, it's only (YOUR) money!

A month or so ago, we noted that it costs taxpayers "$50,000 for every person who gets health insurance under the Obamacare law." Looks like that might be a bit optimistic:

"Watchdog finds $447 million IRS PPACA tax credit math error"

Ooops.

Apparently, the rocket surgeons at the Infernal Revenue Service misunderstood their own calculations due to a "programming error," which resulted in substantial overpayments on behalf of ObamaPlan victims buyers.

Here's the very best part:

"The accounting errors identified are primarily attributable to the lack of comprehensive testing"

Seems to be something of a habit with these folks, no?

Health Wonk Review is up

David Williams hosts this week's collection.

Note: This edition is rather heavy-handed on the politics. Be forewarned.

Ducking the MVNHS©

As we noted a few weeks ago, many (most?) countries with national healthcare schemes also have robust private insurance markets.

For the naysayers (via email):
 

<Click to embiggen>

And just how does it work?

So glad you asked:

"If you are taken ill, can you rely on the NHS to ensure you recover quickly?

Private medical insurance (or health insurance) is designed to cover the costs of private medical treatment, so that if you happen to have the misfortune to suffer from a disease, illness or injury you can rest assured that you will be well cared for to help you on the way to a full and speedy recovery.

While we are fortunate in the UK to have the NHS, the reality is that you can often wait months for diagnosis and treatment. Private healthcare not only enables you to receive treatment quickly it also offers you far more choice as a patient. You can choose everything from what treatment you receive to where you are treated."

"While we are fortunate..." Heh.

The site acknowledges something we've maintained for many, many years: that under the Much Vaunted National Health System© care may be free, it is strictly rationed. The most common rationing method is, of course, long wait times, where the beancounters in charge can be sure that at least a few of their fellow countryfolk will succumb to attrition.

But hey, it's free.

Clawbacks and fees, Oh my!

As we've mentioned before, more than a few folks who were initially eligible for ObamaPlan premium subsidies subsequently become ineligible, with predictable consequences:

"Consider the case of Erica Cherington that bought an Obamacrack plan for 2014 and only paid $89 monthly because her low income entitled her to a $284 per month taxpayer funded subsidy.Then she got a new job that paid more. As a result she had to pay back $600 of her subsidy"

But that was then, and this is now:

"Only 52 percent had to repay a portion of government subsidy during last year’s tax season, compared to 60 percent this year ...  three out of five customers who received advanced tax credits to help them buy private plans on Obamacare’s web-based exchanges must pay a portion back to the IRS"

That's because they mis-estimated [ed: is that even a word, Henry?] their 2015 income ... Of course they did: whose Ouija board has a $ sign? Sheesh!

And what, you may be wondering, was the average ding for this little "problem?" Well, how about $579? Of course, as we've pointed out numerous times, this represents one - maybe two at the outside - month's premium. Why not roll the dice; after all, the next Open Enrollment is only a few months away...

[Hat Tip: Rich Weinstein]

From the "No Kidding" Files

Courtesy of FoIB Holly R, we learn that making health care more convenient doesn't necessarily make it any less expensive. "Bending the cost curve down" has become the Holy Grail, but as we've seen over and over this just doesn't happen in a vacuum (or at all).

Or put in more relevant terms:

"Rand researcher Dr. Ateev Mehrotra said a minute clinic is to healthcare what an iPhone is to email.
 
“Because it’s so convenient for me to check my email on my iPhone, I check it a lot. Way more than I may need to,” he said."

Of course, checking your email really doesn't cost anything above the monthly Verizon (or whichever) charge; very different from the per visit charge (reasonable as it may be) at the Wally World Minit Clinic. And thus over-utilization rears its ugly head:

"[T]hanks to the rise of all these clinics, folks with a cold, the flu or a sore throat are getting care instead of staying home."

"So what?" you may ask, it's their choice, and their dollars. Ah, not so fast, grasshoppa: there's always a cost: over-utilization means higher insurance rates, for one thing. And even if one accesses that clinic without insurance. there's a societal cost as that provider is no longer available to care for a more sickly patient.

As I mentioned to Holly, this reminds me of a favorite saying:

You can have it good.
You can have it fast.
You can have it cheap.

Pick any 2.

Interesting SEP news

Open Enrollment v3.0 is fading quickly from the rearview, which means that you'll need to come up with a valid reason to trigger a Special Open Enrollment for the opportunity to buy an (overpriced, underperforming) ObamaPlan.

And by the way, the rules are the same whether you buy it on or off the 404Care.gov site.

As we noted earlier this year (3rd item), the bureauweanies in DC are tightening up the rules for those triggers, primarily because folks have figured out how to effectively game the system by using them. Carriers have been losing their shirts on these plans (awww!), and they really needed the Feds to step in and save themselves from...themselves.

So, said Capital City rocket surgeons have released new guidance on what does - and doesn't - constitute a Special Open Enrollment window. Frankly, I think it's about time, but one wonders why it took them so long to figure this out.

[Hat Tip: MMO]

MVNHS© Plays Grim Reaper

At first glance, this concept appears to have some merit:

"Mothers of children with fatal defects will have the option to give birth. Once the infant has been declared stillborn, doctors will remove its organs. They will then be used to save the lives of other children who are currently being placed on 7,000-strong waiting list"

After all, if the baby isn't itself viable, and could save the lives of others who may be, that's potentially a good thing, no?

The problem is, the Much Vaunted National Health System© hasn't shown itself to be particularly concerned with ethics, which leads folks to (justifiably) call into question the rationale behind this effort, not to mention the motivations of those tasked with implementing it.

This in particular raises moral hackles:

"Amid a chronic shortage of donated organs, mums will be 'supported' to have the baby at nine months so that the child's vital organs can be taken for transplant"

Law of supply and demand seems particularly tempting here; so who makes the call as to whether this or that baby is the viable one, and which is to be sacrificed? After all, these are the folks responsible for the (notorious) Liverpool Pathway.

Thus far, this is only in the "proposal" stage.

Thus far.

[Hat Tip: Co-blogger Mike F]

Another 1,000 Words on PPACA

Remember when The ObamaTax was going to "bend the cost curve down?"

Good times, good times.

[Hat Tip: A M Best]

1,000 Words (Give or Take)

Note well how the various age cohorts are clustered: very heavily skewed towards the more claims-prone older ages, very few in the crucial (ie low claims) 25-and-under crowd.

Think that's a problem?

Yup.

[Hat Tip: A M Best]

Wednesday LinkFest, FoIB edition

■ As we've noted, the issue of agent compensation (commissions) for writing new Obamaplans has become quite the issue. More than a few carriers have decided to stop paying agents, and thus staunch the flow of claims dollars pouring out the door. Kentucky has put carriers on notice that in the Blue Grass State such practices are a no-no.

Thanks to FoIB David Williams, we learn that California is considering outlawing this practice, and for the very reason we've long put forth:

"California’s health exchange may require its health plans to pay sales commissions to insurance agents to keep insurers from shunning the sickest and costliest patients."

Of course, by next year it may be a moot point.

■ Next, SoIB Gail S tips us to the latest in the struggle to find lost life insurance policies:

"Smaller insurers balk at searching databases to check if policyholders have died; ‘It wasn’t priced in’"

Which is true, of course, but belies two other more pressing issues: the fact that it's the insured's responsibility to make sure his or her beneficiaries know about any policies and, two, even if they *could* afford to track down who's currently at room temp, there's no effective means to do so. As we reported almost 4 years ago:

"[T]he SSA has itself acknowledged, the DMF [Death Master File] is itself rife with potential errors and misinformation"

Oh, I'm sure they'll get right on that.

■ Finally, longtime FoIB Jeff M alerts us that North Carolina Blue Cross/Shield's woes aren't going away any time soon:

"Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina finished 2015 with just $500,000 in net profit, due largely to losses associated with Affordable Care Act plans."

But that's only part of the picture:

"Reserves" are the insurance company's "cushion" against future claims [Correction: as Mike points out in the comments, it would be more accurate to say that reserves are amounts held back from current premiums to pay for certain past claims, not future claims]. It's important that they be sufficient to handle not only anticipated claims (which follow  generally predictable trends) but unexpected ones as well (say a major listeria outbreak). Jeff points out this little nugget on that article:

"The insurer reported having 3.2 months of reserves, a measure of how long it could operate if it did not collect any more in revenue, down from 3.6 months at the beginning of 2015"

Seems a little light, no?

Told ya so

While it may not be a surprise to those who've been paying attention, the overall response to the "benefits" of The ObamaTax have been, in a word, meh:

Poll: Only 15 percent say they have benefited from ObamaCare

Which is interesting, no? After all, the stated premise in the first place was that roughly 15% of us were (at any given time) uninsured. On the other hand, over a quarter of us feel harmed by the train wreck.

But here's what's interesting to me: over half of the respondents claim that they've been personally unaffected by it. So by the "glass half full" metric, it seems that a (bare) majority don't see any great benefit, but neither have they (personally) felt a terrible loss from it.

Yet.

But then, the (so-called) Cadillac Tax has been pushed back (again); since most folks get their health insurance through employer-sponsored plans, it'll be interesting to see if (how?) these numbers begin to move.

[Hat Tip: FoIB Sam B]

Aetna joins the parade

Aetna, and its Coventry affiliate, becomes the next major player to cry "no mas" on new business. In email this morning:

"We will not pay commissions for sales with coverage effective dates after March 1, 2016, and continuing through December 31, 2016 effective dates.  This applies to on- and off-exchange business."

Again, this is unquestionably a sound business (from their point of view): the fewer agents writing business (because let's face it: no one wants to work for free) the fewer new policies, and thus fewer claims.

Why is this important? Well, because the carriers are finding that off-Open Season enrollees tend to generate more (and more expensive) claims, and are more likely to drop coverage. What better way to tamp down on this abuse than by drastically curtailing the opportunity for it?

Gee, who coulda seen that coming?

Oh, yeah.

What Single Payer looks like

Words fail:

Tucson News Now

[Hat Tip: RedState]

SvenCare© Failing

It's been a while since we checked in on the Swedish national health care scheme (most recently here). Despite the country's relative homogeneity (which, to be fair, has come under increasing challenge due to the influx of, um, refugees), the system has gone on overload, with increasingly long wait times and a corresponding decrease in actual health care delivery.

As a result, almost 10% of the population now owns private health insurance, -

Wait: you didn't know that countries with national health care schemes also harbor the deep, dark secret shame of private health insurance? Regular IB readers know -

which amounts to almost half a million folks. And what does such a policy provide? Well, for one thing, much shorter wait times, which translates to faster return-to-work times, so it's win-win for those hard-working Swedes.

[Hat Tip: Co-blogger Mike F]

Suing for The Slush Fund

The Federal Government is being sued by an entity that was entirely funded by...the Federal Government.

Yes, you read that correctly. According to the Portland Tribune Oregon Co-op Health Republic has filed a $5 Billion dollar class action lawsuit on behalf of all of the insurers who didn't receive funding from the Risk Corridor program. The lawsuit was filed on February 24th in federal claims court against the United States of America, acting through HHS and CMS. In the lawsuit Health Republic of Oregon claims that for 2014 and 2015 they are owed roughly $22 million dollars in Risk Corridor payments.

The Risk Corridor program was designed to fund insurance companies who lost money on Obamacare policies with money from insurance companies who were profitable on Obamacare policies. The Obama administration assured companies that the program would be deficit neutral, but guess what happened? Essentially nobody was profitable. (shocked face) Instead of companies receiving $2.7 Billion in payments they will only receive $362 Million - a shortfall of over $2.5 Billion. While the language in Obamacare isn't clear, it was assumed that if there was a short fall that HHS would simply authorize the fund to be paid out. This changed when Republicans in Congress inserted language in the budget bill that required the program to be deficit neutral - exactly how the Obama administration had portrayed the program.

In its previous life Health Republic is the artist formerly known as the Freelancers Union. The head of Freelancers was none other than Obama favorite Sara Horowitz. (ed note: good gracious how many times have we documented this relationship) What makes this lawsuit "special" is how this company was started in the first place.

Health Republic is an insurance cooperative. Health insurance cooperatives were created by Obamacare to compete against traditional insurance companies. They were promoted as more affordable non-profit insurance companies that would save consumers on premiums. They were fully financed by revenues generated through the (un)Affordable Care Act with low/no interest loans.

Freelancers/Health Republic received three loans for their three entities - Health Republic of New Jersey, Health Republic of New York, and Health Republic of Oregon. In total they received $435 million dollars to start up and sell insurance in their respective states. Now, only two years into Obamacare and both New York and Oregon have gone belly up. Oregon burned through their $61 million - plus premiums - and only had 15,000 members at the end of their run in 2015.

Now they want their money - more appropriately, taxpayer money - to help bail them out. Knowing the DOJ and the Obama Administration they will find a way to make it happen.

Spesifikasi Lenovo Vibe P1 Turbo

Meskipun pada awal tahun ini Lenovo termasuk memberikan banyak kontribusinya dengan merilis banyak produk ponsel terbaru, Lenovo tidak berhenti sampai di situ. Karena beberapa waktu yang lalu setelah memperkenalkan Lenovo K5 Note ternyata selang beberapa hari Lenovo juga mengumumkan satu ponsel baru yang kemudian diberi nama Harga Lenovo Vibe P1 Turbo.

Lenovo Vibe P1 Turbo merupakan produk lanjutan dari Lenovo Vibe P1 sebelumnya. Disematkan kata turbo karena pada beberapa sektor, Lenovo Vibe P1 Turbo ini diberrikan bpeningkatan kemampuan. Baik segi kapasitas daya maupun kecepatan akses yang dapat digunakan. Seperti pada kapasitas RAM, ponsel ini menggunakan kapasitas 3 GB untuk memacu processor pada ponsel.

Membahas lebih mendalam tentang Harga Lenovo Vibe P1 Turbo, kemungkinan untuk hadirnya di tanah air memiliki peluang yang cukup besar. Karena sejauh pengamatan kami hampir semua produk lenovo dan kemungkinan nantinya Harga Lenovo Vibe P1 turbo yang dikisarkan sekitar 4 jutaan ini juga akan hadir di Indonesia. Kita tunggu saja kabar baik yang akan datang.

Untuk sobat detikponsel yang penasaran dengan spesifikasi dan review Harga Lenovo Vibe P1 Turbo, berikut ini kami sajikan tabel Spesifikasi Lenovo Vibe P1 Turbo dilanjutkan dengan ulasan kelebihan dan kelemahan ponsel.

Spesifikasi Lenovo Vibe P1 Turbo memiliki akses jaringan yang dapat dipacu hingga kecepatan 4G. Koneksi LTE kini sudah mulai memiiki kecepatan yang baik. Karena pengembangannya yang sudah dimulai beberapa tahun yang lalu namun baru ngetrend pada tahun 2015. Meskiun tahun 2015 masih pengembangan, tapi terbukti tahun 2016 jaringan ini dapat dinikmati dengan lebih baik dan tentunya lebih cepat.

Dukungan fitur dual SIM juga sangat membantu anda yang memiliki SIM card lebih dari satu. Kebanyakan pengguna ponsel sekarang menggunakan sim card untuk berkomunikasi dan akses internet dengan sim yang berbeda-beda. Menghitung estimasi dana tentu menjadi alasan utama. Sehingga hadirnya fitur dual SIM Lenovo Vibe P1 Turbo ini sangat bermanfaat dalam sektor tersebut.

Selain dari itu, Lenovo Vibe P1 Turbo juga dibekali konektivitas yang lengkap. dDari jaringan Wi-Fi yang dapat anda akses ketika berada di daerah dengan hotspot area, koneksi bluetooth yang sangat wajib untuk transfer data hingga NFC yang belakangan ini dianggap urgen sehingga disematkan pada ponsel-ponsel terbaru. Tak lupa, semakin disempurnakan dengan USB OTG untuk kemudahan lain dalam transfer data.

Fitur pengisian cepat yang ada dalam Lenovo Vibe P1 Turbo ini sanat membantu sekali dalam pengisian daya baterai ponsel. Karena baterai non removable Lenovo Vibe P1 Turbo ini memiliki daya jumbo berukuran 5000 mAh. Mungkin akan bertahan 2 hari namun terganutng juga pemakaian anda seperti apa. baterai tanam juga cukup rawan jadi penggunaannya harus dijaga betul-betul agar tetap awet.

Detail Spesifikasi & Harga Lenovo Vibe P1

GENERAL

Network

GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - SIM 1 & SIM 2, HSDPA, LTE

LAYAR

Tipe

IPS capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors

Ukuran

1080 x 1920 pixels (~401 ppi pixel density), 5.5 inches (~72.1% screen-to-body ratio)

DIMENSI

Ukuran/Berat

152.9 x 75.6 x 9.9 mm (6.02 x 2.98 x 0.39 in), Weight 189 g (6.67 oz)

AUDIO

Fitur

Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones

Jack

3.5mm jack

Speakerphone

Ya

MEMORY

Internal

32 GB, 2 GB RAM

Eksternal

microSD, up to 128 GB (uses SIM 2 slot)

DATA

3G

HSPA, LTE Cat4 150/50 Mbps

EDGE

Ya

GPRS

Ya

WLAN

Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, WiFi Direct, hotspot

Bluetooth

v4.1, LE

USB/Port

microUSB v2.0

KAMERA

Primer

13 MP, 4128 x 3096 pixels, phase detection autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flash

Sekunder

5 MP

Video Record

Ya

BATERAI

Talk Time

Up to 49 h (2G) / Up to 44 h (3G)

Tipe

Non-removable Li-Po 5000 mAh battery

Standby

Up to 648 h (2G) / Up to 600 h (3G)

FITUR

OS

Android OS, v5.1 (Lollipop)

CPU

Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 & quad-core 1.0 GHz Cortex-A53, Chipset Qualcomm MSM8939 Snapdragon 615, GPU Adreno 405

Browser

HTML5

GPS

Ya, with A-GPS

Messaging

SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM

Fitur Tambahan

Multitouch Ya, Protection Corning Gorilla Glass 3, Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, HDR, panorama, Fast battery charging, Accelerometer, proximity, compass, Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic, Photo/video editor,Document viewer

FITUR LAIN

Multiple SIM

Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)

Video Player

MP4/H.264 player

MP3 Player

MP3/WAV/eAAC+/FLAC player

Audio Record

Ya

#TooBigToFail, insurance-style

So this headline caught my attention:

MetLife in talks with MassMutual for premier client deal

Briefly, Met's looking at spinning off its US advisor force, which caters to "middle- to upper-income consumers, including small-to-medium sized company executives and small business owners."

Intriguing, yes, but (way) outside my wheelhouse, so I called on my resident guru of all things "advisorish" FoIB Jeff M:

"Hey Jeff, I have a feeling this is important, but I don’t really understand it. Help?"

As usual, he jumped right into the fray, explaining:

"A week or so ago, the Feds declared Met as "too big to fail" thereby telling them..."You need to sell some of your business 'cause if one of your business units fails, it will cause grave harm to the US economy." Therefore and henceforth, Met is talking with Mass about Mass buying Met's life business.

Clear?"

Crystal.

Of course, there's a shorter version, as well:

"Nice business ya got here, be a shame somethin' were to happen to it...."

Hmmm.

Health Wonk Review: One step forward edition

Just when I think that the HWR can't possibly get any better, along comes good friend Louise Norris to prove me wrong. In fact, it may take me a while to read through all the great posts, from BHP's to pregnancy-as-SEP, digital health to those pesky 1040's, just terrific content.

Thanks, Louise!

Wednesday Afternoon Linkage

■ Courtesy of FoIB Jeff M, we learn that North Carolina's Blue Cross/Shield is continuing to take on water as its customer information interface melts down:

"Moncol learned all of the information several weeks ago when she went online to check her family's health savings account and found data on the McAllister family instead. After a few more clicks, she found she could access the investment accounts tied to the HSA."

Ooops. In fact, she could have actually changed pretty much all of that other family's info, or stolen their identity were she "that kind of person" (which, thankfully, she's not). But talk about a security hole big enough to drive a Mack truck through. Looks like the Tar Heel State's Blues could give the security-flawed 404Care.gov site a run for its money. 

■ As we've long noted, the above-mentioned 404care.gov site is rife with security issues, and as FoIB Holly R alerts us:

"During the two years before the disastrous opening of HealthCare.gov, federal officials in charge of creating the online insurance marketplace received 18 written warnings that the mammoth project was mismanaged and off course but never considered postponing its launch"

Well of course not, silly: why would massive security flaws hold us up? 

■ Another long-term topic has been faith-based (primarily Christian) "sharing ministries," a sort of religious crowd-funding arrangement for health care financing. Co-blogger Bob V sent us this latest news:

"The use of so-called “health sharing ministries” has soared in the wake of President Barack Obama’s health care reforms ... membership has more than doubled, from about 200,000 to about 530,000"

At over half a million participants, this is definitely a force with which to be reckoned. The usual caveats apply, of course: "the plans offer members no guarantee their medical bills will be shared, and ministries aren’t obligated to include a range of care that insurance companies are."

Still, by saving thousands of dollars in potential fines, and tens of thousands in deductibles and co-insurance, it sure seems that these folks have found something that works for them. and the fact that their ranks have swelled so fast and so far is pretty good proof of its appeal and effectiveness.

Spesifikasi Lenovo K5 Note

Baru menginjak bulan pertama pada tahun 2016 saja, sudah banyak sekali bermunculan ponsel-ponsel terbaru yang menawarkan spesifikasi kelas tinggi dengan harga yang kompetitif. Menarik minat pembeli dengan melakukan banyak promo juga menjadi salah satu trik agar penjualan ponsel meningkat, karena setiap harinya tentu produsen memproduksi ponsel dalam jumlah yang banyak.

Tercatat hampir semua vendor ponsel memanfaatkan momen tahun baru ini dengan merilis sebuah bahkan beberapa ponsel terbaru agar bisa menjadi tren pada tahun ini. Salah satu perusahaan smartphone yang tidak mau menyia-nyiakan kesempatan ini juga ikut anda dalam perebutan pasar ponsel adalah lenovo dengan produk terbarunya yang mengusung tema Note, diberi nama Lenovo K5 Note.

Sebenarnya peluncuran Harga Lenovo K5 Note dengan Lenovo K4 Note tidak memiliki selisih waktu yang berbeda. Karena sama-sama diluncurkan pada tahun 2016 ini tepatnya sekitar tanggal 15 Januari. Namun untuk Harga Lenovo K5 Note yang mungkin akan dapat dinikmati oleh masyarakat Indonesia beberapa bulan lagi, hanya membutuhkan biaya sekitar Rp. 3 jutaan untuk resmi memiiliki ponsel terbaru ini.

Untuk sobat detikponsel yang penasaran dengan spesifikasi dan review Harga Lenovo K5 Note, berikut ini kami sajikan tabel Spesifikasi Harga Lenovo K5 Note dilanjutkan dengan ulasan kelebihan dan kelemahan ponsel.

Detail Spesifikasi Lenovo K5 Note

Jaringan	GSM / HSPA / LTE
Kartu SIM	Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
Layar	Tipe LTPS IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen 16 juta warna, ukuran 5.5″, Resolusi 1080 x 1920 Pixel, Multitouch
Sistem Operasi	Android OS, v5.1 (Lollipop)
Chipset	Mediatek MT6755 Helio P10
Prosesor	Octa-core 1.8 GHz Cortex-A53
GPU	Mali-T860MP2
RAM	2 GB
Memori	Internal 16 GB, ditambah slot microSD (support hingga 128 GB) menggunakan slot SIM 2
Kamera	Belakang 13 MP, f/2.2, phase detection autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flash Depan 8 MP Video 1080p@30fps Fitur : Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, HDR, panorama
Konektifitas	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot Bluetooth v4.0, A2DP, LE A-GPS NFC USB microUSB v2.0
Baterai	Non-removable Li-Po 3500 mAh battery

Melihat desainnya, Lenovo K5 Note memiliki desain yang simpel dan ponsel termasuk tipis. Bezel yang berada di atas dan bawah juga tidak terlalu besar sehingga ruang untuk layar terlihat lebih besar karena mengusung tema Note dengan ukuran layar 5.5 inch. Dilengkapi juga dengan stylus yang responsif untuk emmbantu mengakses atau menulis secara cepat jika membutuhkan menulis memo pada Lenovo K5 Note.

Kabarnya, Lenovo K5 Note ini akan bersaing dengan Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 di pasaran. Karena sama-sama mengusung tema Note dan dilengkapi spesifikasi yang tak jauh berbeda, pantas saja jika kedua ponsel ini disejajarkan sehingga bersaing dengan sengit. Tetapi terlepas dari itu semua, baik Lenovo K5 Note maupun Xiaomi memiliki penggemarnya sendiri-sendiri sehingga akan tetap memiliki pelanggan setia.

Fitur-fitur yang tersedia pada Lenovo K5 Note sebenarnya sangat lengkap, bahkan ada sensor fingerprint scanner seperti absensi yang banyak digunakan di instansi atau kantor-kantor, sehingga jika anda menginginkan Lenovo K5 Note ini sangat privasi dan tidak ingin dilihat serta dibuka oleh orang lain, fitur ini sangat cocok untuk anda, serta memiliki cadangan daya yang besar 3500 mAh akan tahan lebih lama.

MVNHS© *still* hates young people

To be fair, they hate old folks, too, but The Much Vaunted National Health Service© seems to have a special place in the spot where their hearts should be for young people:

"A newlywed in Leeds, Britain, died about 18 months after developing a relentless itch all over her body, which doctors mistook as scabies or allergies but was actually a symptom of bile duct cancer"

And for the record: no, lotions and balms won't cut it versus chemo. By the time these rocket surgeons finally figured out that it was, in fact, cancer, it was too late and the poor woman passed away soon after. And lest we turn a cold eye, it would be well to remember that this type of health "care" scheme is the end goal of The ObamaTax.

Sleep tight.

Goodluck.gov - A Case Study In Government Failure

The HHS Office of Inspector General released a 92 page report today on the failure of the Obamacare exchange. Here's a summary of what they determined in case you don't want to read the whole thing:

"The development of HealthCare.gov faced a high risk of failure, given the technical complexity required, the fixed deadline, and a high degree of uncertainty about mission, scope, and funding. Still, we found that HHS and CMS made many missteps throughout development and implementation that led to the poor launch. Most critical was the absence of clear leadership, which caused delays in decisionmaking, lack of clarity in project tasks, and the inability of CMS to recognize the magnitude of problems as the project deteriorated. Additional HHS and CMS missteps included devoting too much time to developing policy, which left too little time for developing the website; making poor technical decisions; and failing to properly manage its key website development contract. CMS’s organizational structure and culture also hampered progress, including poor coordination between policy and technical work, resistance to communicating and heeding warnings of “bad news,” and reluctance to alter plans in the face of problems. CMS continued on a failing path to developing HealthCare.gov despite signs of trouble, making rushed corrections shortly before the launch that proved insufficient. These structural, cultural, and tactical deficiencies were particularly problematic for HealthCare.gov given the significant challenges of implementing a new program involving multiple stakeholders and a large technology build."

More than two years later and the DC braintrust is finally reiterating what we have been saying since before the launch of this tire fire.

You can't make this up, Kynect edition

From email just now:

"kynect.ky.gov will be down for maintenance from 7pm on Wednesday, February 24th until 7 am on Monday, February 29th. During maintenance, kynect customer service at 1-855-4kynect will not be able to help you enroll in coverage. This is to allow for the launch of a new Cabinet for Health and Family Services website, benefind."

And what, you may ask, is "benefind?"

Well:

"benefind allows Kentucky's families to easily access public assistance benefits and information 24/7 through an online application account"

We wrote recently of the demise of the Blue Grass State's Kynect program, looks like it's been repurposed.

Yay.

[Hat Tip: Cornerstone]

Your Tax $$'s Hard @ Work

For given values of "work."

Contrary to Bob's post last year, it appears that illegal aliens are still getting major health care coin courtesy of the US taxpayer:

"Illegal immigrants and individuals with unclear legal status wrongly benefited from up to $750 million in ObamaCare subsidies and the government is struggling to recoup the money"

Oh, I'm sure they're trying really hard.

Of course, this is really a problem with the whole system: while the 404Care.gov site requires one to "prove" one's eligibility, it gives folks months to come up with the appropriate documentation. And then, well, how long does it take to vet that "proof" once received? Meanwhile, hundreds of millions of dollars are flowing out of Treasury's coffers (directly to "unsuspecting" insurance carriers).

Funny how that works, no?

[Hat Tip: weaselzippers]