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ACA

Congress included the penalty to get the private sector insurance companies on board with ACA.  In other words, Obama knew no insurers would join in if they didn’t have some guaranteed revenue to take on pre-existing conditions, no cancellations, and no lifetime caps.

Congress further added the Severability clause to give the insurance companies a way out if the Rube Goldberg, penalty is really an income tax thing, fell.  The insurance companies would then lose that revenue but still be stuck with essentially unlimited risk.

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Covid and social justice to reopen

For a CA county with a population of greater than 106,000, the county must:

Equity Metric. Ensure that the test positivity rates in its most disadvantaged neighborhoods, as defined as being in the lowest quartile of the Healthy Places Index census tracts, do not significantly lag behind its overall county test positivity rate, as described in detail below.


Targeted Investments. Submit a plan that (1) defines its disproportionately impacted populations, (2) specifies the percent of its COVID-19 cases in these populations, and (3) shows that it plans to invest Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Prevention and Control of Emerging Infectious Diseases (Strategy 5: Use Laboratory Data to Enhance Investigation, Response, and Prevention) grant funds at least at that percentage to interrupt disease transmission in these populations. The targeted investments can include spending on augmenting testing, disease investigation, contact tracing, isolation/quarantine support, and education and outreach efforts for workers. Effective for the October 13th tier assignment, this plan must be submitted before a county may progress to a less restrictive tier. Due to data limitations in small populations, the equity metric described above cannot be reliably applied to smaller counties, as described below.

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Diversity on corporate boards

“California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law requiring publicly traded corporations headquartered in California to appoint directors from underrepresented communities to their boards, the first law in the country to dictate the racial make-up of corporate boards.

Underrepresented communities are defined as people who identify as Black, Latino, Native American, Asian American, Pacific Islander, native Hawaiian or native Alaskan. Companies can also appoint directors who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.”

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Race, college admits, and management positions

The Media reported today that until very recently the laws of America and institutional policies only permitted White Men to hold management positions and be admitted to colleges.

With the advent of affirmative action (reverse discrimination), White Women advanced but not people of color (POC).


New legislation proposed requires college admits and managerial positions to be filled based on the % representation by race in the overall populace.

The report conceded that Asians will be harmed the most.

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Covid and Bio Ethics

Lose a 5 year old to the flu (for example) and society has <b>LOST 95 years </b>of life expectancy. Not to mention the emotional grief for everyone, not just relatives and friends.

A devastating loss.

If an 80 year old that made it that far thanks to the US medical system succumbs to anything, society <b>GAINED 8 years</b> of life expectancy (80 minus 72). A win!  And most everyone says he/she led a good life, maybe a great life. Had a chance to marry, attend college, see their kids graduate from college.

Public Health, Bio Ethics 101

How many children would have been saved from flu viruses with a mask mandate over the past 50 years?