Cavalcade of Risk
October 7th, 2009 by 
David E. Williams of the Health business blog
Welcome to the 89th edition of the Cavalcade of Risk, a blog carnival on all things risk-related.
Health risks
Are there health risks from living near power lines? And how does it affect resale values? Money Blue Book has a look at the issue.
African Americans may be more susceptible to lung cancer. From Diversity is Chaos.
Predicting who will get postpartum depression from Postpartum Progress.
Health insurance
Brass Liberation Orchestra’s flash mob protests at Whole Foods have Disease Management Care Blog wondering how a flash mob would get past CMS security to protest shortcomings in a public plan.
Colorado Health Insurance Insider wants greater clarity in how health plans market the features and limitations of their policies.
Cancer insurance? Not a good deal says Canadian Finance Blog.
Why do people switch health plans even when they don’t switch jobs? Adverse selection, adverse retention and aging in place says Healthcare Economist.
Just what are all those health insurance plan types anyway? Bargaineering explains.
Not health insurance
You’d need a pretty strong umbrella to protect you from this kind of trouble. (Includes bonus video!) From Insureblog.
Do you have enough insurance? Lessons from a small-town hail storm by IowaBiz.
How much life insurance does a stay at home mom need? Good Financial Cents answers.
Free Money Finance offers the top 15 questions to ask when buying insurance and actually provides the answers as well.
Chatswood reports that consumers have some funny perceptions about which kinds of insurers will make good on their policies.
The recession may be responsible for an increase in suspicious claims and an increase in scrutiny says Risk & Business.
Risk in general
Combustible dust explosions are deadly and preventable. What’s OSHA doing about it? Workers’ Comp Insider says not enough.
How should you quantify the risk of an investment? Betty Kincaid has some advice.
Enterprise risk management: eight pitfalls to avoid. From AllBusiness.
What happens when governments regulate risk? Banking Law Prof lets us know.
Can risk management tools predict future domestic violence cases? Postcards from the Id answers.
That’s all folks!
Thanks for reading! The Cavalcade of Risk blog has links to previous editions.
Posted in Blogs | 
9 Comments »
October 7th, 2009 at 10:30 am
While President Obama and Congress try to fix our healthcare system, there is one group of companies that are laughing all the way to the bank. They are called Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs), and they control 80% of all supplies and equipment purchased by hospitals to treat you.
GPOs were formed to make sure the cost of healthcare was kept under control. They are supposed to be our price cops, making sure even the smallest hospitals in rural America get a great deal. But the opposite is true. Why? Because GPOs make more money when your doctor or your hospital get overcharged. Don’t believe such a thing could happen in America? It’s true, and your Congress is doing nothing about it!
GPOs have been around for decades, but in 1986, Congress made a tragic mistake. They gave GPOs “safe harbor” exemptions from the Anti-Kickback law- a good law that ensures kickbacks, graft, payola or any other shady payments made at taxpayer expense are illegal.
Since 1986, when Congress extended Safe Harbor to GPOs, they have taken billions in kickbacks from manufacturers of medical products. In fact, as the price for these products goes up, the GPO kickbacks go up. When we get overcharged, GPOs make more money!
GPOs must be stopped. Without a public outcry, Congress does not have the will to act in your defense. Because GPOs are so massively profitable, they pay millions to lobbyist to keep their Safe Harbor from prosecution intact, and it is working even as our nation debates why the healthcare supply chain has failed. The healthcare supply chain has failed because GPOs have failed us.
October 7th, 2009 at 10:51 am
Great job, David!
Thanks so much for hosting this edition!!
(And no, you get no kickbacks for it)
October 7th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Thanks for including me in this edition.
Betty
October 7th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
http://www.insurancewriter.com
Link for the allbusiness blog is incorrect!
October 7th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
[...] July 27, 2009 by Betty Kincaid **This post has been featured on the Calvacade of Risk carnival** [...]
October 7th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
Sorry about that NG! The link is fixed now.
October 9th, 2009 at 5:04 am
[...] Health Business Blog included Insurance You Can Do Without – Cancer Insurance in this week’s Cavalcade of Risk. [...]
October 9th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
[...] found Jaan’s article in the Cavalcade of Risk, hosted this week by David Williams at Health Business [...]
October 12th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Thank you so much for including our blog, Risk&Business.