Vitamin D and Leukemia progression

A Mayo Clinic study just reported in the journal Blood that people diagnosed with CLL who had insufficient Vitamin D (less than 25 ng at the time of diagnosis) were more likely to progress and to die than were those with "adequate" levels.  Read the press release. 

GE is the GM of the future!

Back in 1978, I had the misfortune to buy an Olds Cutlass, a classy looking car with the classic GM pre-planned burnout at 50K miles.  After that, I swore I would never buy another GM car (or American car, for that matter).  Hondas became my mainstay and they didn't disappoint with price points and reliability that surpassed my Oldsmobile.  In the mid-90's I relented, bought a Chrysler Grand Jeep Cherokee .. Just 50K miles later,  when the drive train faultered, I was back to Japan, and my Lexus rx300 is now on it's 115K th mile. 

So...now comes GE, the big mother of American major appliances.  Our 22 year old GE ovens are still going strong, but our 2-year old GE Profile microwave blew out (magnetron) and GE would not honor the 5-year warranty, because a lead wire had also blown. (Convenient, huh?).  This morning, our 8-year old GE Profile refrigerator blew out.  We'll pay for repair or replacement, of course, but 8 years is NOT a reasonable length of life for a major appliance!  I have resolved NEVER AGAIN to buy a GE appliance.   This despite the fact that I own some GE stock.  I'm also gradually selling the stock and realizing the substantial loss on the investment.  Nothing made by GE is made in the USA anyway... The microwave comes from Malaysia;  the refrigerator was made in Mexico. 
What's still working in our kitchen?  The VERY OLD GE oven;  the Kitchen-aid dishwasher (5 years old); the kitchen-aid garbage compactor (22 years old);  and the GE profile cooktop (1 year old).  Which one would you predict will fail first?

My prediction for 2012 Republican Presidential Ticket

One of the joys of having this little personal blog is that I can indulge my favorite hobby-- to be able to say "I said that this would happen."  This post is to go on record with my prognostication for the republican ticket in 2012.  That way I can say, "See?.."
or, more likely, "Well, I don't  know diddly about politics, and never said I did."  (That latter statement is true.)
Here goes:
Republican Nominee for President, 2012, Mitch Daniels, Governor of Indiana
Republican Nominee for Vice-President, 2012, Marc Rubio, newly elected Senator from Florida.
This prediction should in no way be considered an endorsement of the above.  I'm just having fun with my told-you-so hobby.  You, dear reader, may have been a recipient of such statements in the past regarding all manner of things, and you know that I live for the times when you say something to me like,  "Do you remember way back in 2007, Judy when you told me to sell my house now rather than to wait for the price to improve?"  Well, you were right!
Now, if you REALLY want to have fun with me, why don't you counter --in the comments -- with your own predictions.  And then we can compare our prescience in September 2012 (God willing).

Federal Employees Health Plan 2011 Premiums

The US Gov't OPM announced the new rates for 2011 for the FEHB plans. Here is the chart showing 2011 premiums for national plans. For HMOs and other plans available in your area, click on FEHB site page.

For those of you who hate federal workers, you can see what the premium subsidy is for federal employees and retirees. Before you explode and bloviate, however, remember that salary + benefits = total compensation, and in general total federal compensation is not out of line with the private sector. In my view, federal employees are generally more risk averse than private sector workers, or more dedicated to public service, or lucky to have found a safe federal job and aware they couldn't command the same salary in a more competitive system. (Or some combination thereof.) We're no angels, but we aren't total ripoff artists, either.

Vitamin D status & elective orthopedic surgery

At last, dear reader, the orthopedic surgeons have come around to the realization that cutting into people's bones without testing their Vitamin D status is neanderthal. Here is a report of a speech by a leading orthopedic surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery in NYC. Soon, I predict, it will constitute poor quality, if not outright malpractice, for elective procedures such as hip, knee or shoulder surgery to proceed without a vitamin D lab test and appropriate corrective D therapy.
I learned my lesson on D and elective orthopedic surgery the hard way. Maybe a fundamental understanding of the importance of vitamin d status to bone healing will quickly infiltrate the profession. Can't wait for my next follow up visit to find out whether my own orthopedic practice has evolved.

Medicare Premiums for 2011

Our CBO-Alumni den mother Kathy R sent the attached table around as a first look at what to expect for Medicare premiums in 2011. She took it from a report published September 23 by the National Health Policy Forum. I'm reproducing the table from that report here.

If you're in the "holdharmless" group, it's because you're not new to Medicare in 2011, and your income (modified AGI in 2009) is no more than $85,000. Otherwise, you're in another column. Note the income break points in the table. It makes sense to micro-manage your income if your AGI falls close to a breakpoint.
For example, make $85,001 (if you made only $85,000 in the previous year) and that extra dollar will net you about $58 per month, or about $700 per year, in extra Medicare Part B premium compared with the hold-harmless premium. That's a marginal tax rate of 78,000% on the last dollar (at least I think it is...it's hard for me to calculate high percentages.)

Great summary of the Health Reform Act

The Kaiser Family Foundation has published a very readable Summary of the Health Reform Act in plain English, except for pesky abbreviations such as FPL (=federal poverty level). Some, possibly critical, details have been left out. For example, if you are going to be eligible for Medicaid, due to low income on your IRS tax form, will the State be able to place you in their managed care program, or will you have to go fee-for-service Medicaid? This is important, because at present most doctors don't accept Medicaid and you'll have trouble finding a provider. Little unimportant details like that.
Otherwise, it's a great place to start.