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Fitbit to provide wearables to Fujitsu for employee wellness | Fujitsu will soon be handing out Fitbit devices and services to its employees as part of its corporate wellness programme. The services will be offered to 10,000 members of the Mitsubishi Motors Health Insurance Society and the programme represents one of Fitbit's largest corporate wellness agreements in Japan.
| http://www.mobihealthnews.com/content/fujitsu-taps-fitbit-employee-wellness-and-more-digital-health-deals?utm_source=The+Medical+Futurist+Newsletter&utm_campaign=b80188b3f2-Newsletter_2014_07_177_17_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_efd6a3cd08-b80188b3f2-420576665 | 2017-09-26 11:39:01.640000 | Fitbit’s wearable devices and services will soon be included in Japanese tech company Fujitsu’s corporate wellness program. The program will offer 10,000 employees of Mitsubishi Motors Health Insurance Society a chance to earn redeemable fitness points using the Fitbit Charge 2 and a cloud-based data system, thereby making it one of Fitbit’s largest corporate wellness agreements in Japan. According to a statement, Fujitsu chose to partner with Fitbit due to their device’s ease of use, and because the fitness wearable company’s open API allows easy incorporation into Fujitsu’s existing Health Points environment. Read more
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At Home Healthcare has tapped mobile care device company Vivify Health to provide technological support for patients transitioning from hospitals throughout Texas. Vivify’s remote patient monitoring kits will support At Home’s in-home nursing staff, and provide an additional layer of care that At Home believes will stand out from the rest of the state’s home care market. “We know that care transitions are particularly vulnerable times for these patients, which is why we are taking additional measures to assure they are continuously monitored by our professional care teams, enabled by the Vivify remote monitoring platform,” Michelle Maiorka, At Home’s vice president of Business Development and Transitional Care, said in a statement. Read more
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Healthcare networking companies HealthXL and WEGO Health have announced a partnership to connect digital health companies with healthcare experts. Members on HealthXL’s platform will be able to access WEGO Health’s network through its member portal. The companies say that the integration will enable executives to more fluidly connect with experts in patient-driven digital health. Read more
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GNS Healthcare, a precision medicine technology company, and the Swedish Cancer Institute have announced a collaboration to bring machine learning to breast cancer care. GNS’ Reverse Engineering and Forward Simulation (REFS) platform will provide computer models and a software interface tool linking clinical and molecular data to breast cancer patients’ treatments and outcomes. The partnership aims to provide caregivers with focused, personalized treatment options for their patients, and according to a statement could be a foundation for other more expansive programs. Read more
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iMedicare, a pharmacy-focused decision automation platform available on tablets and computers through a web app, has teamed up with the Mirixa Corporation to bring patient counseling opportunities to thousands of community pharmacies. The new integration will be delivered alongside medication therapy management, adherence, and other services already implemented in the MirixaPro proprietary platform, and will allow pharmacies to make the most of medication-related opportunities by prioritizing available interventions for each patient. The partnership follows an announcement that iMedicare will be implementing other technologies, such as augmented reality, to deliver its services. Read more
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Aliso Viejo, California-based Ambry Genetics will integrate its AmbryPort 2.0 (AP2) clinician ordering platform with FDNA’s Face2Gene suite of applications. The partnership will allow clinicians evaluating patients with Face2Gene’s AI and facial analysis technologies to securely pass data along to AP2, increasing the diagnostic value of patients’ genetic tests. FDNA CEO Dekel Gelbman said in a statement that combining his company’s technologies with Ambry’s genetic testing services will facilitate a “new age in precision medicine.” Read more |
Index launched to boost investment in biodiversity and food chain | Bioversity International has launched the Agrobiodiversity Index, providing tools for governments and companies to invest in ways that support the plant and animal species that underpin human food supplies. The Index is based on the first ever scientific review of the potential of agrobiodiversity to combat issues including climate change and malnutrition. In total, 940 cultivated species are threatened across the world, and an estimated 33% of global farmland is believed to be degraded. The Agrobiodiversity Index aims to ensure that food supplies and suppliers become more resilient and sustainable.
| https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/26/chips-chocolate-and-coffee-our-food-crops-face-mass-extinction-too | 2017-09-26 11:38:42.393000 | A “sixth mass extinction” is already under way, scientists are now warning us. Species such as the Bengal tiger and blue whale are vanishing at an alarming rate, and mournful eulogies are being written on how those born in 20 years’ time may never see an African elephant. But who is writing the eulogy for our food? Huge proportions of the plant and animal species that form the foundation of our food supply – known as agrobiodiversity – are just as endangered and are getting almost no attention.
Take some consumer favourites: chips, chocolate and coffee. Up to 22% of wild potato species are predicted to become extinct by 2055 due to climate change. In Ghana and Ivory Coast, where the raw ingredient for 70% of our chocolate is grown, cacao trees will not be able to survive as temperatures rise by two degrees over the next 40 years. Coffee yields in Tanzania have dropped 50% since 1960.
These crops are the tip of the iceberg. Across the world, 940 cultivated species are threatened. Agrobiodiversity is a precious resource that we are losing, and yet it can also help solve or mitigate many challenges the world is facing. It has a critical yet overlooked role in helping us improve global nutrition, reduce our impact on the environment and adapt to climate change.
According to the World Health Organisation, poor diet is the biggest cause of early death and disability. Globally, 2 billion people are undernourished, while 2 billion are obese and at risk of contracting diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Focusing on large-scale intensive production of starchy crops for calories rather than nutritious diets has led to serious levels of obesity around the world, from the US to Kenya. Our agrobiodiversity base can be a source of affordable, nutritious food – provided we don’t let it disappear.
Take gac, a fiery red fruit from Vietnam with astronomical levels of beta carotene (which the body converts to vitamin A). Or the orange-fleshed Asupina banana, which has such high levels of carotenoids that a preschool child could meet 50% of their vitamin A requirement by consuming just one per day, when they would need to eat 1kg of some other varieties to reach the equivalent nutritional benefit.
These relatively obscure species can offer incredible levels of nutrition, but only if they are still around and available to us. Food biodiversity is full of superfoods like gac – but perhaps even more important is the fact these foods are also readily available and adapted to local farming conditions. They open the way to year-round nutrition security.
About 33% of the world’s farmland is estimated to be degraded, lacking the nutrients essential for growing crops. Agrobiodiversity once again has a solution. Planting cold-tolerant legumes and forages throughout winter has helped farmers in France naturally reduce weed infestation as well as increasing soil’s nutrient content and capacity to hold water. Natural remedies such as this can enhance the sustainability of farms worldwide, reducing the sector’s impact on the environment.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global warming will reduce agricultural production by 2% every decade, while demand will increase every decade by 14% until 2050. Yet a wealth of traditional seed varieties have unique traits that make them tolerant to heat, drought and floods. They must be found, preserved and put to use in crop-breeding programmes.
A cocoa farmer holds dried cocoa pods in Ivory Coast where insects have eaten the cocoa trees. Photograph: Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images
This year in Ethiopia, researchers at Bioversity International discovered two varieties of durum wheat that were not previously on the market, but yield remarkably well in dry, marginal areas. Work is now underway to breed superior durum wheat crops using these high-performing traditional seeds, to help buffer farmers against recurring droughts and combat hunger in the region.
Global efforts to protect agrobiodiversity need to be stepped up urgently. But where can governments and agribusinesses start? A new scientific review of the evidence the agrobiodiversity can contribute to a better food system and wider sustainable development issues has been produced to answer this very question.
This assessment forms the basis for an Agrobiodiversity Index that can guide countries and companies towards the most impactful investment opportunities. These can range from increasing research and development on agrobiodiversity, to introducing more diversity into food supply chains. It will enable agribusinesses to estimate and monitor the impact of their supply chain investments and ensure future product lines are both sustainable and resilient. Similarly, governments will be able to channel funding into agrobiodiversity interventions that will safeguard domestic food supply and simultaneously improve environmental sustainability.
While wild elephants and rhinos thoroughly deserve our support, we should also be raising the alarm for our disappearing agrobiodiversity. After all, if there is one thing we cannot allow to become extinct, it is the species that provide the food that sustains the 7 billion people on our planet. |
Green credits scheme has netted Tesla $1bn from rival car makers | Tesla has generated almost $1bn in revenue over five years from rival car makers due to a system in California that requires car makers to sell electric and other non-polluting vehicles in proportion to their market share. If manufacturers fail to sell enough they are required by law to purchase credits elsewhere – from competitors such as Tesla that sells only battery-powered models. Tesla sold $302.3m in regulatory credits last year alone and dominates the electric vehicle industry. China and the European Union are considering adopting a credit system similar to California’s.
| https://about.bnef.com/blog/funding-tesla-annoys-automakers-that-need-electric-car-credits/ | 2017-09-26 11:34:06.667000 | Tesla Inc. has generated nearly $1 billion in revenue the last five years from an unlikely source: Rival automakers. The payments are part of an unpopular system in California that’s poised to proliferate elsewhere.
California requires that automakers sell electric and other non-polluting vehicles in proportion to their market share. If the manufacturers don’t sell enough of them, they have to purchase credits from competitors like Tesla to make up the difference.
Tesla, which exclusively sells battery-powered models, sold $302.3 million in regulatory credits last year alone. China and the European Union — two of the world’s biggest auto markets — are considering mandates and credit systems similar to California’s. If California is any guide, automakers will resent having to buy from peers, including the electric-car maker led by Elon Musk.
“It really makes them mad that Tesla got so much of a boost out of being the only purely electric car manufacturer out there,” Mary Nichols, the chair of the California Air Resources Board, said in an interview Friday at Bloomberg’s headquarters in New York. “In effect, they helped to finance this upstart company which now has all the glamour.”
For all the flack California has taken from traditional carmakers for how its mandate system has benefited Tesla, Musk also has been a critic. Tesla’s chief executive officer last year said the Air Resources Board was being “incredibly weak” and called its standards “pathetically low.” Rules should be tougher and the credits should be worth more, he said.
“Nobody’s happy,” Nichols said. “That’s my mantra.” |
SEC announces initiatives to tackle cyber threats | The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has launched two programmes aimed at handling digital threats and protecting retail investors. The Cyber Unit will focus on market manipulation schemes and dark web activity, while the Retail Strategy Task Force will identify criminal behaviours impacting negatively on retail investors, using analytics to uncover large-scale misconduct. "They reflect the division’s continual efforts to pursue new forms of misconduct while keeping a watchful eye out for our Main Street investors”, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton said of the initiatives.
| https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2017-176 | 2017-09-26 10:56:36.847000 | FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2017-176
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced two new initiatives that will build on its Enforcement Division’s ongoing efforts to address cyber-based threats and protect retail investors. The creation of a Cyber Unit that will focus on targeting cyber-related misconduct and the establishment of a retail strategy task force that will implement initiatives that directly affect retail investors reflect SEC Chairman Jay Clayton’s priorities in these important areas.
Cyber Unit
The Cyber Unit will focus the Enforcement Division’s substantial cyber-related expertise on targeting cyber-related misconduct, such as:
Market manipulation schemes involving false information spread through electronic and social media
Hacking to obtain material nonpublic information
Violations involving distributed ledger technology and initial coin offerings
Misconduct perpetrated using the dark web
Intrusions into retail brokerage accounts
Cyber-related threats to trading platforms and other critical market infrastructure
The unit, which has been in the planning stages for months, complements the Chairman’s initiatives to implement an internal cybersecurity risk profile and create a cybersecurity working group to coordinate information sharing, risk monitoring, and incident response efforts throughout the agency.
“Cyber-related threats and misconduct are among the greatest risks facing investors and the securities industry,” said Stephanie Avakian, Co-Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division. “The Cyber Unit will enhance our ability to detect and investigate cyber threats through increasing expertise in an area of critical national importance.”
Over the past several years, the Enforcement Division has developed substantial expertise in the detection and pursuit of fraudulent conduct in an increasingly technological and data-driven landscape. The Cyber Unit will consolidate and advance these efforts, and include staff from across the Enforcement Division.
Robert A. Cohen has been appointed Chief of the Cyber Unit. Since 2015, he and Joseph Sansone have been Co-Chiefs of the Market Abuse Unit. Mr. Sansone will continue to lead the Market Abuse Unit as its Chief.
Retail Strategy Task Force
The Retail Strategy Task Force will develop proactive, targeted initiatives to identify misconduct impacting retail investors. The Enforcement Division has a long and successful history of bringing cases involving fraud targeting retail investors, from everything involving the sale of unsuitable structured products to microcap pump-and-dump schemes.
This task force will apply the lessons learned from those cases and leverage data analytics and technology to identify large-scale misconduct affecting retail investors. The task force will include enforcement personnel from around the country and will work with staff across the SEC, including from the SEC’s National Exam Program and the Office of Investor Education and Advocacy.
“Protecting the welfare of the Main Street investor has long been a priority for the Commission,” said Steven Peikin, Co-Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division. “By dedicating additional resources and expertise to developing strategies to address misconduct that victimizes retail investors, the division will better protect our most vulnerable market participants.”
Statement from Chairman Clayton
“When Stephanie and Steve approached me with these initiatives, I endorsed them wholeheartedly. They reflect the division’s continual efforts to pursue new forms of misconduct while keeping a watchful eye out for our Main Street investors,” said SEC Chairman Jay Clayton. |
Fitbit finds purpose in medical studies | While Fitbit struggles in the consumer market, it is becoming increasingly popular among medical trials that require participant monitoring. Fitbit's ease-of-use and reliability make it the device of choice for medical studies, with the device seeing use in 83% of clinical trials requiring consumer activity monitors. Some 457 studies have been published by scientists since 2012 using Fitbit device data, with almost half that number published this year. The devices are being adopted in trials tracking a range of conditions from cancer to arthritis. | https://www.wired.com/story/bored-with-your-fitbit-these-cancer-researchers-arent/?utm_source=The+Medical+Futurist+Newsletter&utm_campaign=b80188b3f2-Newsletter_2014_07_177_17_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_efd6a3cd08-b80188b3f2-420576665 | 2017-09-26 10:49:39.217000 | If you’re trying to get in shape and you want a tiny, wrist-bound computer to help you do it, you have more options than ever before. Fitness trackers come in all shapes, colors, and price tags, with newfangled sensors and features to stand out to customers. But for doctors and scientists studying how exercise can help people deal with disease, the landscape is much simpler. There’s Fitbit, and then there’s everyone else.
Like most fitness trackers, Fitbit’s devices are far from perfect. They can count steps pretty well and give a good idea of activity levels day to day. But they haven’t yet cracked the code on caloric burn—which is kind of a big deal for understanding weight loss. And the ones equipped with Fitbit’s proprietary heart rate monitoring tech are on even shakier ground; the company is part of an ongoing class action lawsuit alleging dangerous inaccuracies. But that’s not stopping a growing number of medical researchers from flocking to Fitbit for use in clinical studies of everything from arthritis to sleep apnea to cancer.
Since 2012, scientists have published 457 studies using Fitbit device data, nearly half of them in 2017 alone. According to a recent analysis in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, that puts the company well ahead of its competition. In clinical trials that used consumer activity monitors, a full 83 percent outfitted trial participants with a Fitbit. For NIH-funded research, that number rose to 95 percent.
Some researchers, like Sheri Hartman, a psychologist at the University of California San Diego, gravitate toward Fitbit devices because they deliver information without being burdensome for her patients—breast cancer survivors struggling with brain fogginess and other cognitive declines following treatment. They just have to keep it charged and wear it, that’s it. Fitbit, and its data-crunching research facilitation partner, Fitabase, do the rest.
Fitabase, if you haven’t heard of it, is like Fitbit’s personal digital plumber. The company has built a connection to Fitbit’s API that allows it to pipe out user data to scientists. Since it launched in 2012, Fitabase has collected over 3.5 billion minutes of Fitbit data on behalf of research customers at places like John Hopkins, MD Anderson Cancer Center, and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
For Hartman, Fitabase collected three months’ worth of data on a randomly-selected group of 43 women who had recently received chemotherapy or surgery for breast cancer. They, along with a control group which received health-related emails, were given the goal of exercising 150 minutes per week. Both groups were asked to wear a clinical-grade accelerometer for a week before and after the study to see how much their baseline activity had improved in three months' time. But only half of them received fitness trackers and access to a UCSD researcher to track their goals. Sticking with new lifestyle changes is hard, and Hartman’s team was testing how well the wearables helped keep subjects accountable to their plans. |
ECB president states it is not his job to regulate or ban cryptos | The president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, said it was not the role of the institution to "regulate or prohibit digital currencies like bitcoin". Speaking at the committee on economic and monetary affairs of the European Parliament, Draghi added that the EBC had concluded, after considering bitcoin's size, the extent of its use and its impact on the economy, that it was "absolutely premature to consider it as a means of payment in the future". Draghi recently prohibited the Estonian government from issuing its own digital tokens.
| http://www.trustnodes.com/2017/09/25/not-within-powers-prohibit-regulate-bitcoin-says-draghi | 2017-09-26 09:58:34.873000 | Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank, has stated that it’s not within ECB’s powers to regulate or prohibit digital currencies like bitcoin at the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament.
Asked what are the material risks of bitcoin for the economy, he said there were three considerations, one was the size, two the extent of its use, third being their impact on the economy. |
Everyone Says We Must Control Exorbitant Drug Prices. So, Why Don’t We? | Of all the promises President Donald Trump made for the early part of his term, controlling stinging drug prices might have seemed the easiest to achieve. An angry public overwhelmingly wants change in an easily vilified industry. Big pharma’s recent publicity nightmare included thousand-percent price increases and a smirking CEO who said, “I liken myself to the robber barons.” Even powerful members of Congress from both parties have said that drug prices are too high.
| http://khn.org/news/everyone-says-we-must-control-exorbitant-drug-prices-why-dont-we/ | 2017-09-26 09:16:57.473000 | Of all the promises President Donald Trump made for the early part of his term, controlling stinging drug prices might have seemed the easiest to achieve.
An angry public overwhelmingly wants change in an easily vilified industry. Big pharma’s recent publicity nightmare included thousand-percent price increases and a smirking CEO who said, “I liken myself to the robber barons.” Even powerful members of Congress from both parties have said that drug prices are too high.
But any momentum to address prescription drug costs — a problem that a large number of Americans now believe government should solve — has been lost amid rancorous debates over replacing Obamacare and stalled by roadblocks erected via lobbying and industry cash.
“There is a very aggressive lobby that is finding any and all means to thwart any reform to a system that has produced very lucrative profits,” said Ameet Sarpatwari, an epidemiologist and lawyer at Harvard Medical School who follows drug legislation. “Everything that’s coming out is being hit and hit hard — even stuff that’s commonsensical.”
Those in Congress concerned with health policy have spent much of the year advancing proposals to overhaul the Affordable Care Act, none of which would affect pharmaceutical pricing. The latest Republican proposal, by Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, is no different.
Meanwhile, more than two dozen bills aimed at curbing drug costs have been introduced in this or the previous Congress, according to the Drug Pricing Lab, a Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center program that has catalogued ideas for reducing prices. Many have bipartisan support.
Proposals include importation from other developed countries, where regulations keep prices down; allowing government to negotiate the price of Medicare-covered drugs; speeding approval of cheaper generics; requiring notification before raising drug prices; and restricting consumer drug ads.
(Story continues below.) Other ideas that haven’t made it to legislation include banning patents for pills that simply copy or repackage existing medicines; and adjusting prices according to a drug’s effectiveness.
“There’s clearly no single solution out there that will solve this rapidly rising spending,” said Dr. Peter Bach, who leads the lab. But, he added, “there’s not a lot of fundamental disagreement about the direction this needs to move.”
Trump drew new attention to the issue last month by tweeting that Merck’s chief executive, Kenneth Frazier, “will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!” after Frazier quit the president’s manufacturing council to protest his remarks about white supremacists in Charlottesville, Va.
Those comments matched Trump’s characterization earlier this year of drug companies as “getting away with murder.” That same January day, a dozen Republican senators, including Ted Cruz of Texas, John McCain of Arizona and Mike Lee of Utah, voted for the old liberal idea of letting Americans buy less-expensive drugs from Canada.
The measure was attached to a budget resolution and wouldn’t, by itself, have allowed importation. It failed 52 to 46 after 13 Democrats voted against it, with some citing safety concerns about foreign-sourced medicine — an idea promoted by American drugmakers.
Even so, the vote prompted speculation that a pharma price deal might be within reach.
Sen. Lee is one of the Republicans who favor importation as a way to increase competition. “When we’re talking about garden-variety, generic drugs that can be easily imported from another country that has regulatory procedures that make them safe?” he said in an interview. “I don’t see why not.”
In response to the new threats, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, already one of Washington’s biggest-spending trade groups, increased member dues by half last year to prepare for battle.
The pharmaceutical and health products industries spent $145 million on lobbying for the first half of 2017, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.
Drug manufacturers gave $4.5 million to congressional campaigns in that period, including six-figure donations to House Speaker Paul Ryan; Rep. Greg Walden, head of the House Energy and Commerce Committee; and Sen. Orrin Hatch, head of the Senate Finance Committee, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis.
PhRMA’s “Go Boldly” campaign, showing heroic researchers seeking cures, has spent $28 million so far this year on six ads shown on about 4,600 national TV channels, according to iSpot.tv, an ad tracker.
The industry hired former FBI director Louis Freeh to study the impact of importation. He concluded that it would “leave the safety of the U.S. prescription drug supply vulnerable to criminals seeking to harm patients.” Import proponents argue the Food and Drug Administration could easily ensure safety by licensing and inspecting Canadian suppliers.
Drugmakers say that high prices reflect heavy investment in innovation and drug development. They reject the notion that the industry wields too much influence in Washington.
“These are important issues with significant ramifications,” Holly Campbell, a PhRMA spokeswoman, said. “So we will continue to be engaged with the administration to advance solutions that improve the marketplace and make it more responsive to the needs of patients.”
The top 10 publicly traded U.S. drug companies made $67.8 billion last year, after taxes, regulatory filings show.
Efforts to restrain prices have made little progress in the executive branch, either.
The White House has long been expected to issue an executive order on drug costs. But leaked documents show that deliberations have focused on things the industry wants, such as extending overseas patents and changing a drug-discount program for hospitals, and not so much on lowering prices.
Gerard Anderson, a health policy professor at Johns Hopkins University, said Trump’s draft order “did not talk at all about branded drugs or about specialty drugs,” including for rheumatoid arthritis and cancer, that have seen especially steep price increases. “If that represents the administration’s thinking, then my guess is there is not much effort.”
Trump’s ongoing feud with congressional Republicans, especially Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, means “you’re not going to get any strong direction or leadership out of the White House” on drug prices, said Vishnu Lekraj, who follows pharma stocks for Morningstar, an investment research firm.
Trump isn’t the only one in his administration criticizing drug companies. Scott Gottlieb, the FDA commissioner, has accused the industry of “gaming” the system to delay the appearance of cheap generics after patents expire. He has pledged to speed applications for generics when there is little competition as part of a “drug competition action plan” while opposing stronger measures like allowing importation.
But promoting generics is “reasonably small potatoes” compared with the money that could be saved by putting direct pressure on brand-drug prices, Anderson said. Gottlieb has served on the boards of several pharmaceutical companies and reaped large consulting and speaking fees from the industry.
Yet even small potatoes might be a long shot — despite widespread agreement that change is needed.
“It is sort of remarkable to see just how far the system can bend before meaningful reform is taken,” said Sarpatwari of Harvard. “If there ever was a time to strike while it’s hot, it’s now.”
Elizabeth Lucas and Sydney Lupkin contributed to this report.
KHN’s coverage of prescription drug development, costs and pricing is supported in part by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. |
When a Drug Coupon Helps You but Hurts Fellow Citizens | It’s completely rational for you to use coupons to reduce the cost of your brand-name drug purchase. But if the coupon is causing you to switch away from a generic drug with an overall lower cost, you may be playing a role in pushing up drug spending and premiums for others.
| https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/25/upshot/when-a-drug-coupon-helps-you-but-hurts-fellow-citizens.html | 2017-09-26 09:16:30.363000 | It’s completely rational for you to use coupons to reduce the cost of your brand-name drug purchase.
But if the coupon is causing you to switch away from a generic drug with an overall lower cost, you may be playing a role in pushing up drug spending and premiums for others.
Let’s say that I needed the brand drug Effexor XR, used to treat depression and anxiety disorders. It would cost me at least $65 a month on my health insurance plan. It retails for about twice that amount, and the difference would be picked up by my insurer. But the generic version, Venlafaxine, would cost my insurer far less, and my co-payment would be only $10 per month.
My insurer and I would both save money if I purchased the generic. Pfizer, which sells Effexor XR, would lose a sale. |
Data sharing needed to help motor insurance pricing: Liberty | In order for the cost of car insurance to come down firms need to share data tackling fraud, according to Ireland-based Liberty Insurance. The firm is calling for greater enforcement of insurance fraud prosecution. It is also encouraging the establishment of an insurance fraud database where insurance companies can share experiences with the goal of cracking down on fraudulent activity. | https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2017/0926/907581-liberty-calls-for-urgent-action-on-fraud/ | 2017-09-26 09:16:17.460000 | The cost of car insurance can only be brought under control if fraud is tackled and data is shared more effectively, according to insurer Liberty. Liberty is set to unveil a series of proposals which, it believes, can help reform the car insurance market.
Deirdre Ashe, director of personal lines at Liberty Insurance, said the company is highly committed and engaged with the Cost of Insurance Working Group and the 88 actions that group is pursuing. She said Liberty is now keen to facilitate further on those actions and is shining a light on two aspects of the problem - fraud and increased data sharing.
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Ms Ashe said the company is looking for more rigid enforcement of existing legislation on the prosecution of insurance fraud, adding that no actual legislative change is needed to do this. Liberty is seeking a dedicated Garda insurance fraud unit, she added. At the moment, a regionalised system is in place where an insurance company contacts the local superintendent and share a case and a decision is then taken as to whether it will be pursued or not. But Liberty wants this process centralised and with more oversight.
Liberty is also suggesting enhanced training for judges to ensure greater consistency in the level of personal injuries compensation awarded. Ms Ashe said this is something other countries have applied and it would have merits here.
According to Deirdre Ashe, the company is also seeking the setting up of a national fraud database, which would be specific for the purposes of sharing fraud experiences across the industry and important for all insurers in the Irish market to access. Ms Ashe said that fraud in the industry is costing €200m a year, with fraud putting a minimum of €50 extra on insurance policies. All of the insurance companies are investing in both technology and resources to try and prevent fraud, but Ms Ashe said the main thing they have to do is to share the data and experience, which will give visibility of where fraud is occurring across the market.
***
MORNING BRIEFS - Ryanair has concluded a €600m share buyback programme announced in May. A statement to the stock exchange this morning notes the airline purchased 445,000 of its shares for €7.3m yesterday. Ironically the impact on its share price of the spate of flight cancellations due to mismanagement of its flight rosters has reduced the cost of the buybacks. Ryanair took advantage of the recent softness in its share price as it purchased the final blocks of shares in a number of transactions over the past week while the price was falling.
*** Apple shares fell overnight and have now lost 9% of their value since the beginning of the month the equivalent of $77 billion. A report from Asian technology journal Digitimes, as yet unconfirmed, suggested Apple had told suppliers of components used in its phones to scale back shipments to 40% of the levels originally planned for its upcoming iPhone X. |
7.5 million Californians could lose coverage under latest Obamacare repeal effort, state health insurance exchange says | Californians who get their health coverage on the individual market could face dire consequences under the current Republican effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, warned a new analysis released Monday by Covered California, the state's health insurance exchange.
| http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-updates-state-health-insurance-exchange-says-1506364908-htmlstory.html | 2017-09-26 09:15:17.633000 | California farmworkers will have to undergo sexual assault prevention training By Jazmine Ulloa Gov. Jerry Brown/ (Monica Davey/ EPA) Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday signed legislation to ensure farm labor contractors train employees on how to prevent and report sexual assault, a response to a 2013 PBS Frontline investigation that found sexual violence against women was a pervasive problem in California fields. Senate Bill 295 by Sen. Bill Monning (D-Carmel) makes sexual harassment training mandatory at all businesses that supervise farm employees or provide them with lodging, transportation or other services. The training has to be conducted or interpreted in a language that employees can understand, the law stipulates, and farm labor contractors will have to provide proof of all of their materials and resources to the Farm Labor Commission as part of the license renewal process. Under the new law, the state labor commission also will be able to charge a $100 civil fine for any violation of the new requirements. The PBS Frontline investigative documenatory, “Rape in the Fields, The Hidden Story of Rape on the Job in America” found more than half a million women work in U.S. fields. Most do not have legal residency in the country, and sexual harassment and violence often go unreported. A 2012 Human Rights Watch survey found 80% of 150 women in California’s Central Valley had experienced some form of the abuse. Facebook
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Los Angeles voters can cast ballots in Assembly race on Tuesday By Chris Megerian Wendy Carrillo is one of 13 people running for a state Assembly seat. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) The political dominoes from U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer’s retirement are almost done falling. Her decision two years ago to forgo reelection led to a reshuffling that eventually left vacant a state Assembly seat in Los Angeles. There are 13 candidates running in the special election, and the primary is Tuesday. Read More Facebook
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Gov. Brown signs major housing legislation By Liam Dillon At a signing ceremony in San Francisco on Friday morning, Gov. Jerry Brown signed 15 bills aimed at addressing the state’s mounting housing problems. “It is a big challenge,” Brown said. “We have risen to it this year.” The bills could add nearly $1 billion in new funding for low-income housing developments in the near term as well as lessen regulations that slow growth. Read More Facebook
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Watch live: Gov. Jerry Brown signs bills to tackle California’s housing crisis Gov. Jerry Brown and state lawmakers are gathered in San Francisco for the signing into law of a package of proposals designed to tackle some of the most pressing parts of California’s housing crisis. Read More Facebook
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Businesses in California will be required to tell customers exactly how much their automatic renewal will cost By Mina Corpuz California will require online businesses that offer free trials to tell customers exactly how much an automatic renewal will cost under a law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday. The law’s author, Sen. Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys), thinks the bill, known as SB 313, will make it easier for customers to cancel service. “Consumers need to know what they are signing up for and that they can just as easily cancel any service or subscription online as when they started it online,” Hertzberg said in a statement. Streaming services like Hulu and Spotify and the file-sharing site Dropbox have elicited lawsuits and consumer complaints about their automatic service renewals, according to Hertzberg’s statement. The law goes into effect in July. Facebook
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Here’s why California’s early primary in 2020 is destined to pick the next president. (Nah, not really) By Mark Z. Barabak (Harry Chase / Los Angeles Times) Today we answer questions. Woo-hoo! Now that Gov. Jerry Brown has signed the bill, it looks like California is moving up its 2020 presidential primary. Finally! Uh. No more watching from the sidelines as small-fry states like Iowa and New Hampshire throw their weight around. Um. I’m already fluffing pillows and prepping the guestroom for all the 2020 hopefuls who’ll be camped out. Er. What? You don’t seem too excited. Look, it would be great if California voted in a truly meaningful presidential primary. It’s been about 50 years since that happened. But it’s about as likely in 2020 as President Trump dumping Vice President Pence and running for reelection on a unity ticket with Hillary Clinton. How can that be? Lots of reasons, both political and practical. Do tell. Read More Facebook
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Poll: Californians like Obamacare more than ever but are divided on single-payer healthcare By Melanie Mason Members of the California Nurses Assn. and other supporters rally at the state Capitol for a single-payer health plan June 28. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) As the latest attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act fizzles, the law has reached its highest popularity in California in four years, according to a new poll released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California. Nearly 60% of the Californians hold a generally favorable view of the healthcare law, and just over a third of Californians see it unfavorably — the highest approval rating since PPIC began tracking the law’s popularity in 2013. But while Democrats and independents back the law, known as Obamacare, with strong majorities, three-quarters of Republicans have negative views of it. Only 18% of Californians believe congressional Republicans should try again to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, and 58% of adults want to see bipartisan efforts to improve the law. Underscoring the GOP’s challenge in dramatically reducing government’s role in healthcare, two-thirds of the state’s adults believe it is the federal government’s responsibility to ensure that all Americans have health coverage. But Californians are divided on whether to substantially increase government involvement through a single-payer system, such as the “Medicare for All” proposal recently introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont). A national single-payer insurance program such as “Medicare for All” gets support from 35% of Californians, according to the poll. Support is higher among Democrats — 44% — and independents — 34% — than among Republicans. Only 6% of Republicans back such a system. But the current system, a patchwork of government and private insurance options, isn’t particularly adored by Californians. Just under 30% of adults support continuing with a mix of private and public insurance options, while 36% of Democrats, 21% of Republicans and 31% of independents see that mixed system as the best way to provide health coverage. Facebook
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Half of California’s likely voters think Sen. Dianne Feinstein should retire, poll finds By Phil Willon (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) As Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein contemplates a 2018 bid for reelection, a new poll has found that 50% of California’s likely voters think she shouldn’t run again. Just 43% of likely voters support Feinstein running for a sixth term, according to a Public Policy Institute of California poll released Wednesday. The results are similar among all California adults, not just likely voters, with 46% saying she should not run for another term and 41% saying she should run. Feinstein, 84, has come under increased pressure from members of California’s left, many of whom were infuriated when earlier this month she called for “patience” with President Trump and refused to back demands for his impeachment. Still, the poll found that Feinstein remains popular. More than half of likely voters — 54% — approve of the job she’s doing, compared with 38% who disapprove. That’s on par with Gov. Jerry Brown’s approval rating, and it bests the marks for California’s other Democratic senator, Kamala Harris. When likely voters were asked about Harris, the former state attorney general elected to the Senate in November, 47% approved of the job she was doing in Washington and 30% disapproved. Almost a quarter of voters didn’t offer an opinion about Harris. The contrasting results on Feinstein are difficult to decipher but at the very least indicate voters remain restless. “Partly, this is a holdover from last year’s election in which you saw many Democrats wanting a more liberal alternative at the presidential level and you saw many independents wanting an outsider,” said Mark Baldassare, president of Public Policy Institute of California. “As people are looking to next year, there’s a desire for something new.” Speculation continues that Feinstein may face a Democratic challenger. Among those who have been mentioned is state Senate leader Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles), who is weighing his next political move after he terms out of office in 2018. De León lashed out at Feinstein after her comments about Trump in early September. In her last election, Feinstein trounced her Republican opponent, Elizabeth Emken, by a 25-percentage-point margin in 2012. She won by almost an identical margin in 2006 when challenged by former Republican state Sen. Richard Mountjoy. However, California has since switched to a top-two primary system. The two candidates who receive the most voters in the June primary election will advance to the 2018 general election, regardless of their party. Two Democrats faced off in the finale of California’s 2016 U.S. Senate election, with Harris besting then-Rep. Loretta Sanchez. Facebook
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Barbara Boxer says if Sen. Dianne Feinstein runs for another term, she should expect a tough race By Mina Corpuz Former Sen. Barbara Boxer (Mina Corpuz / Los Angeles Times ) It’s one of the hottest political parlor games in California right now: Will she run again? Everyone is waiting for Sen. Dianne Feinstein to announce if she’ll seek a sixth term. And even though they served as colleagues in Washington for more than two decades, former Sen. Barbara Boxer said she has no inside intel on what Feinstein will do in 2018. “I believe she is running until I see any other indication,” Boxer said Wednesday at a Sacramento Press Club lunch. “Every single race is hard.... Anyone who runs against her will give her a tough race.” Feinstein, 84, has made clear she is taking her time, even as ambitious politicians eye the seat she has held since 1992. One long-shot Democrat already is raising money for the race, and Feinstein recently drew criticism from California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, who has not ruled out a primary challenge against her. Boxer said Wednesday her own priority for next year’s midterm election is flipping several Republican-held House seats in Southern California. “There’s no such thing as an off election year,” she said. “It’s an on year.” Much of this work will be done through the political action committee Boxer founded, PAC for a Change. The organization also supports electing more Democrats to the Senate and standing up to President Trump’s policies, she said. Since leaving the Senate in January, Boxer has also given speeches and promoted her book, “The Art of Tough.” She doesn’t like to consider herself a retiree. Boxer also skirted a question about her pick for governor in a race that already is crowded with several Democrats. All of the candidates, she joked, are “like my sons and daughters.” Facebook
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California’s top elections officer now says his agency’s website wasn’t the one ‘scanned’ by Russian hackers By John Myers Secretary of State Alex Padilla (John Myers / Los Angeles Times) Five days after saying he had been told Russian hackers scanned the state’s main elections website for weaknesses in 2016, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla said Wednesday that it turns out it didn’t actually happen that way. Padilla said that his office was given incorrect information by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and that the Russian operation was instead focused on “scanning” the network of the state Department of Technology. “Our notification from DHS last Friday was not only a year late, it also turned out to be bad information,” Padilla said in a statement. Bryce Brown, a spokesman for the state’s information technology agency, said officials had long known about “suspect activity that occurred on our network last summer” but didn’t know anything else until the notification from federal officials. “Although we did not have knowledge of the source until now, we have confirmed our security systems worked as planned and the activity was blocked as it happened in 2016,” he said. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment. On Tuesday, the Associated Press reported that federal officials also reversed course in a notification they had made to Wisconsin elections officials about Russian activity. In June, federal officials told Congress that 21 states’ elections systems were targeted by Russian activity. Padilla insisted last week that the “scanning” incident found no vulnerabilities or access to any California voter information, and he criticized DHS officials for the delay in sharing information about 2016 activities. On Wednesday, he said hopes that federal officials will continue to work with the states in preventing cyberattacks. “I remain committed to a partnership with DHS and other intelligence agencies; however, elections officials and the American public expect and deserve timely and accurate information,” Padilla said. Facebook
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Hollywood tour buses could get more rules slapped on them under the law Gov. Jerry Brown just signed By Patrick McGreevy A tour bus passes the late Carrie Fisher’s gated home in Beverly Hills. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday signed legislation aimed at reining in the proliferation of tour buses offering to take fans to the homes and gathering spots of celebrities in Hollywood and other trendy neighborhoods. The measure allows cities and counties to adopt rules that restrict the routes or streets used by the tour buses, and prohibit the use of loudspeakers on open-topped buses and vans. Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian (D-Sherman Oaks) introduced the proposal in response to a report by NBC Los Angeles that found some tour buses were operating unsafely without proper permits. He also cited complaints about topless buses on narrow streets of the Hollywood Hills, Malibu and Bel-Air. Facebook
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Latino state lawmakers back Antonio Villaraigosa for California governor By Phil Willon Antonio Villaraigosa gives a pep talk in Los Angeles at Cathedral High School, where he once was also a student. ((Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) The Legislature’s California Latino Caucus on Wednesday endorsed former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for governor. While expected, the nod from the politically influential caucus is a boon for Villaraigosa, a former Democratic Assembly speaker and the only major Latino candidate running for governor. Villaraigosa has lagged behind Lt. Gov. Gavin Newson in early polls and fundraising. “As Assembly speaker and Los Angeles mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa worked to strengthen our economy, expand our healthcare, improve our schools and invest in strategic infrastructure projects that create middle-class jobs,” Sen. Ben Hueso (D-San Diego), chair of the caucus, said in a statement Wednesday morning. An intriguing aspect of the endorsement is that one of the most prominent members of the California Latino Caucus is Senate leader Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles). In Sacramento, speculation abounds over whether De León may run for governor, and the Villaraigosa endorsement could indicate De León has other plans for his political future. Villaraigosa joins a slate of other Latino statewide candidates endorsed by the caucus: Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-Azusa) for lieutenant governor; current appointee Xavier Becerra for attorney general; incumbent Alex Padilla for secretary of state; Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) for insurance commissioner; and Assemblyman Tony Thurmond (D-Richmond) for superintendent of public instruction. Facebook
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California is trying to educate people about marijuana before recreational sales start By Patrick McGreevy Months before California allows the sale of marijuana for recreational use, the state has launched an education campaign about the drug, including highlighting the potential harms of cannabis for minors and pregnant women. The state is scheduled to issue licenses starting Jan. 2 for growing and selling marijuana for recreational use, expanding a program that currently allows cannabis use for medical purposes. In response, the California Department of Public Health has created a website to educate Californians about the drug and its impacts, including how to purchase and safely store cannabis. “We are committed to providing Californians with science-based information to ensure safe and informed choices,” said State Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Smith. The website, “Let’s Talk Cannabis,” notes it is illegal for people under 21 to buy marijuana for non-medical use and warns that “using cannabis regularly in your teens and early 20s may lead to physical changes in your brain.” The site also warns that marijuana edibles may have higher concentrations of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. “If you eat too much, too fast you are at higher risk for poisoning,” the website warns. The state urges parents and guardians to talk to their teenagers about legal and health issues surrounding marijuana use. The state officials also say consuming cannabis is not recommended for women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, or who plan to become pregnant soon, noting that it “can affect the health of your baby.” The website got good marks from legalization activist Ellen Komp, deputy director of California’s chapter of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. The website is “fairly accurate,” she said, but added, “The risks with pregnancy are somewhat overstated, telling women they should not use cannabis for nausea or even if they are thinking of getting pregnant.” Some 43% of Californians have used marijuana for recreational purposes and 54% said they have not, according to a USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll last November. Among those who have not used it, just 2% said they are much more likely to use it if Proposition 64 passed, which it did, while 5% said they are somewhat more likely to use it, and 89% said they are no more likely to smoke pot if it was legalized. Other advice from the state’s site: driving under the influence of cannabis is illegal and increases the chance of a car accident, and cannabis should be stored in a locked area to avoid poisoning children and pets. Updated at 11:30 am to include data from poll on marijuana use. Facebook
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Today’s newsletter: Republicans fail again to repeal Obamacare By John Myers Today’s Essential Politics newsletter details the last gasp of the Republican efforts in Washington to repeal the Affordable Care Act, efforts that President Trump insisted on Tuesday aren’t over. We also take a look at the win by Roy Moore, a former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, in a Senate runoff that saw the president back the losing candidate. And we’ve got the details of what happens if Gov. Jerry Brown, as expected, signs the “sanctuary state” bill into law. The newsletter comes out Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Are you a subscriber? Sign up below. Read More Facebook
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After meeting with Trump, California Democrats say they want a seat at the tax reform table By Sarah D. Wire Ahead of Republicans’ plans to unveil a more detailed overview of their tax reform plan Wednesday, President Trump sat down with a bipartisan group of members that included California Democratic Reps. Linda Sanchez and Mike Thompson. Sanchez, of Whittier, who serves on the House committee that has authority over tax legislation, said members didn’t learn much about the details of the plan Tuesday. “There were kind of generalities but no specificity, which is why we’re interested to see what they put out tomorrow, because clearly it’s not something that’s had Democratic input,” Sanchez said. According to a White House transcript of part of the meeting, Trump said the plan is focused on making the tax code “simple and fair,” increasing the deduction most families can take, lowering the business tax rate and bringing wealth stored overseas back to the United States. Thompson, of St. Helena, said the president listened to what Democrats had to say, but he didn’t get the impression that the policy plan would change before it becomes public Wednesday. “I don’t think it was that kind of meeting. We all agreed we wanted a fair, easy-to-work-with tax code that generates more jobs,” said Thompson, who is also on the committee. “He said repeatedly he wants to be successful.” Republicans are set to unveil a “consensus document” Wednesday they say will be a much more detailed overview than previous tax policy papers they’ve released. But it is not expected to be an actual plan or bill. Republicans will huddle with Vice President Mike Pence for half of Wednesday to discuss tax reform. Democrats are holding their own tax reform forum too. It’s been 30 years since Congress has passed a major tax overhaul, and Republican leaders have set an ambitious timeline for passing a tax-reform measure, indicating they want to get it to Trump’s desk by the end of the year. Sanchez said she tried to stress in the meeting that Democrats should play a role in writing the final bill. There wasn’t discussion about the group sitting down with Trump again, she said. “The president was very pleased that it was a bipartisan effort, which sort of confused me because that was the first meeting where there were members of the Democratic side of the Ways and Means Committee there,” Sanchez said. “I don’t know if they’ve been telling him that the process is bipartisan or if he knew it wasn’t bipartisan but didn’t care, but I thought that was kind of odd.” Facebook
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Judge rewrites summary of proposed gas tax repeal initiative, saying it was ‘fundamentally flawed’ By Patrick McGreevy A Chevron gas station in Sacramento shows prices in February. ( (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)) A judge on Monday rewrote the title and summary for a proposed initiative that would repeal recent gas tax increases in California. He rejected a title and summary written by the state attorney general’s office as “fundamentally flawed.” Sacramento Superior Court Judge Timothy M. Frawley criticized the attorney general’s office for not mentioning in the title that the ballot measure would repeal newly approved taxes or fees. “This is not a situation where reasonable minds may differ,” Frawley wrote in his ruling. “The Attorney General’s title and summary ... must be changed to avoid misleading the voters and creating prejudice against the measure.” The initiative proposed by Assemblyman Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach) would repeal a bill approved in April by the Legislature and governor that would raise the gas tax by 12 cents per gallon and increase vehicle fees in order to generate $5.2 billion for road repairs and to improve mass transit. The title and summary will be placed on petitions to be circulated by those trying to qualify the measure for the November 2018 ballot. The title and summary are also placed on the ballot if enough signatures are collected. The original title written by Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra’s office was: “Eliminates recently enacted road repair and transportation funding by repealing revenues dedicated for those purposes.” Allen’s attorneys argued the voter could read that to mean that the Legislature identified existing funds for transportation and the initiative would take those funds away. The judge’s title says: “Repeals recently enacted gas and diesel taxes and vehicle registration fees. Eliminates road repair and transportation programs funded by these taxes and fees.” The judge also made it clear in the summary that an Independent Office of Audits and Investigations that would be eliminated by the initiative is “newly established.” Representatives of the attorney general’s office were not immediately available to comment on whether the ruling would be appealed. Facebook
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Democrats to try to force vote on Dream Act with rarely successful procedural move By Sarah D. Wire House Democrats are trying to force a vote on Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard’s version of the Dream Act, they announced in a news conference Monday. The House and Senate have less than six months to address the legal status of people brought into the country illegally as children before the program protecting them from deportation ends in March. In the weeks since President Trump announced he was ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Democrats have pushed for a quick vote on Roybal-Allard’s bill, which is backed by every House Democrat and four Republicans. There are also a handful of other Republican-sponsored bills that could be considered. To force a vote, Democrats would need a majority of the House — 218 members — to sign what’s called a discharge petition to pull the bill from the House Judiciary Committee and bring it to the House floor. Roybal-Allard, a Democrat from Downey, said she believes there is enough support to pass the bill if Democrats can get it to the House floor. Democratic leaders said they expect all House Democrats will sign the petition. “The American people overwhelmingly oppose deporting our ‘Dreamers,’” Roybal-Allard said. “But the Republican leadership is ignoring the wishes of a majority of the American people.” Democrats hold only 194 seats, and would have to convince 24 Republicans to buck their party leaders and sign the petition. House leaders control which bills come to the floor for a vote and when. Although discharge petitions have been used in the past to shame congressional leadership into letting a bill move forward, the procedural move is rarely successful. This month, Republican Rep. Mike Coffman of Colorado filed a discharge petition for the Bridge Act, a Republican- sponsored bill to address the legal status of people brought to the country illegally as children. Five members of Congress had signed on as of Monday. FOR THE RECORD Sept 26, 12:38 p.m.: An earlier version of this post identified the member of Congress who filed a discharge petition for the Bridge Act as Rep. Mike Thompson. It was Rep. Mike Coffman. Facebook
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California lawmakers grant some megaprojects relief from environmental law, but not others By Liam Dillon Developers plan to build two skyscrapers near the Capitol Records building in Hollywood. (Reed Saxon / Associated Press) When professional sports team owners, Facebook and big developers have asked California lawmakers for some relief from the state’s main environmental law over growth, the answer usually has been yes. The law, the California Environmental Quality Act, requires developers to disclose and reduce a project’s effects on the environment — a process that often can get tied up in lengthy litigation. This year, legislators passed a measure aiming to shorten any potential environmental lawsuit against Facebook’s expansion of its headquarters, two skyscrapers planned in Hollywood and other megaprojects to less than nine months. Doing so has led many to question why only big projects get such relief. Read More Facebook
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The fate of California’s biggest campaign donor disclosure bill may hinge on some small details By John Myers Members of the California Fair Political Practices Commission. (Rich Pedroncelli/AP) You wouldn’t expect to see the leader of California’s campaign watchdog agency rooting for Gov. Jerry Brown to veto sweeping new disclosure rules for political donors. And yet, that’s where things stand in a seven-year debate over helping voters follow the money. “I think we can do better than this bill,” said Jodi Remke, chair of the California Fair Political Practices Commission. Remke and her staff have raised a red flag about the fine print tucked inside Assembly Bill 249, the “California Disclose Act,” that rewrites rules for campaign contributions that are “earmarked.” Read More Facebook
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Oceanside lifeguard receives California’s highest public safety honor By Mina Corpuz Medal of Valor recipient David Wilson stands with his parents, a family friend, Gov. Jerry Brown and Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra. (Mina Corpuz / Los Angeles Times ) An Oceanside Fire Department officer who risked his life to save a boater received the state’s highest award for public safety officers on Monday. Gov. Jerry Brown and Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra presented David Wilson with the Public Safety Medal of Valor at a ceremony at the state Capitol. In July 2016, Wilson rescued a man whose boat crashed into a jetty in Oceanside Harbor. The victim was barely conscious and jammed between two rocks. With only a short window between each set of waves, Wilson dove underneath the water and swam into the boulders to free the victim’s legs. “You earned it,” Brown said at the ceremony. “You were assaulted by the waves and the rocks, and you went ahead anyways. That’s why you are the only one getting a medal of honor.” A review board made up of law enforcement officers reviewed 21 nominations for the Medal of Valor. The award is given out once a year. There can be more than one recipient, but this year Brown chose one. Facebook
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7.5 million Californians could lose coverage under latest Obamacare repeal effort, state health insurance exchange says By Melanie Mason Peter V. Lee, executive director of Covered California, the state’s health insurance exchange, in 2013. (Rich Pedroncelli / AP) Californians who get their health coverage on the individual market could face dire consequences under the current Republican effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, warned a new analysis released Monday by Covered California, the state’s health insurance exchange. Under the latest plan, which is being led by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.), 7.5 million Californians could lose their health insurance by 2027, the analysis said. It also said the repeal could trigger a collapse of the state’s individual insurance market. “The Graham-Cassidy plan takes resources away from California and from the majority of states, which means that far fewer Americans would have insurance or the existing protections from insurers,” said Peter V. Lee, executive director of Covered California, in a statement. “The effect on California would be devastating, and lead not only to there being more uninsured people than there were before the Affordable Care Act, but would also cause huge negative impacts on the health care delivery system, the economy and on those with employer-based coverage,” Lee said. The report comes on the heels of another grim analysis by Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration, which estimated that the Senate proposal would strip California of nearly $139 billion in federal funds from 2020 to 2027. The Covered California report looked at two different scenarios for how state officials could respond to such a slash in federal dollars. If the state chose to prioritize protecting Medi-Cal, which provides coverage for low-income Californians, the analysis projects the collapse of the individual insurance market by 2021. If officials chose to direct attention to the individual market by stepping in to cover subsidies now paid for by the federal government, that could lead to large reductions in the Medi-Cal program. In both scenarios, the result would be up to 7.5 million fewer Californians with health insurance, according to the report. “Proponents claim Graham-Cassidy gives states flexibility and choice, but in reality it puts states into a lose-lose situation,” Lee said. “Under this plan, California and states across the nation would be forced to either turn their backs on their most needy residents, or let the individual market be destroyed. Either way, millions lose coverage.” Read More Facebook
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Today’s newsletter: Sports spat starts with California teams By Christina Bellantoni Today’s Essential Politics newsletter details President Trump’s sports spat, which originated with California teams before becoming national political drama on football fields across America. It also notes last fall’s USC/Los Angeles Times poll, which found huge partisan divisions in how California voters viewed Colin Kaepernick at the time. Democrats liked him more, while he had just 6% favorability among tea party Republicans here. The state was evenly divided on whether to support his protest during the national anthem. The newsletter comes out Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Are you a subscriber? Sign up below. Read More Facebook
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Attorney running against Sen. Dianne Feinstein is hosting Hollywood fundraiser By Christine Mai-Duc Pat Harris may be a long-shot candidate for U.S. Senate, but he’s not fundraising like one. On Monday Harris, a Democrat challenging Sen. Dianne Feinstein, is set to tread territory familiar to many prominent statewide candidates looking for cash: the Hollywood fundraiser. The event is to be held at the Catalina Jazz Club on Sunset Boulevard and is being billed as a CD release party for Carol Welman, a jazz musician and Harris’ wife. Tickets range from $150 for a single ticket to $2,700 for a VIP dinner for two. (An email to Welman’s subscriber list earlier this week advertised tickets for as little as $30). Harris announced that he was running last month on a platform that includes support for single-payer healthcare and a pledge that he will only take campaign donations from individuals. Facing pressure from progressive activists, Feinstein has been coy so far about whether she’ll retire or run again in 2018. Either way, she’s stockpiled $3.5 million in her campaign war chest. As of June 30, Harris had raised no money except for $104,685 he loaned his own campaign. Three other candidates have also filed to run against Feinstein: Democrats Steve Stokes and David Hildebrand, and independent Jerry Carroll. Facebook
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Rep. Keith Ellison headlines dinner for Orange County Democrats, who declare ‘orange is the new blue’ By Christine Mai-Duc The focus was on 2018 as Orange County Democrats gathered Saturday night in Costa Mesa to bask in their high hopes here. Headliner and deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota, urged unity as dozens of Democrats navigate crowded primaries throughout the state. Ellison getting star treatment tonight, speaking to VIP attendees & meeting congressional candidates & gubernatorial hopeful @DelaineEastin pic.twitter.com/2Bh8K5H1Qu — Christine Mai-Duc (@cmaiduc) September 24, 2017 Much of focus tonight on flipping 4 GOP congressional seats in OC. Ellison: "We need 24 more seats...I figure 4 of em we can get right here" pic.twitter.com/CDDbGWpNnT — Christine Mai-Duc (@cmaiduc) September 24, 2017 The theme of the annual awards dinner was “Orange is the New Blue,” a twist on the title of a popular Netflix show and the latest indication of Democrats’ rosy outlook as they try to flip the county’s four GOP-held House seats next year. Ellison told the crowd it was “not the proper role” of the DNC to choose among the many primary contenders. “But you will sort it out running spirited campaigns, you will sort it out over ideas, and when it is over we need you to hold hands and support the Democrat.” Ellison pushed for a return to grass-roots organizing and outreach to voters of all stripes — and not just during election years. “We cannot come a month before the election, tell them ... ‘Come vote for us,’” Ellison said. “We’ve got to be in their lives in a physical, palpable way. Then we do have to have the right words, we do have to stand up for them.” Ellison on more permanent solution for DACA: no wall, no increase in detention beds "but there might be some other things" Dems can agree to pic.twitter.com/yrmOGfXYan — Christine Mai-Duc (@cmaiduc) September 24, 2017 In an interview, Ellison also stressed the need to pass legislation for young people brought to the country illegally who were allowed to stay and work under the Obama Administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Ellison said Democrats are open to negotiating certain immigration enforcement provisions in order pass a replacement for DACA, which President Trump announced he will end in March. But he said Democrats won’t acquiesce to Trump’s demand for a border wall or allow additional capacity for immigration detentions. “There are certain things that are simply not on the table — the wall or more detention beds, we’re just not doing that,” he said. Facebook
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Russians tried to find weaknesses in California’s election website last year, say state officials By John Myers Secretary of State Alex Padilla (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) California’s chief elections officer said U.S. government officials believe Russian hackers tried to find weaknesses in the state’s election website during the 2016 campaign, but that there’s no evidence their effort was successful. Secretary of State Alex Padilla said the Department of Homeland Security only told him on Friday of last year’s attempt. He described the attack as a “scanning” of the state’s website in hopes of finding weaknesses in its computer network. “Our office actively monitors scanning activity as part of our routine cybersecurity protocols,” Padilla said in a statement. “We have no information or evidence that our systems have been breached in any way or that any voter information was compromised.” Those involved were “Russian cyber actors” according to Padilla’s description of information he received from federal officials. In June, a top federal official told the Senate Intelligence Committee that systems in 21 states were believed to have been scoured by cyberattackers. The election website, www.sos.ca.gov, contains public information about voting procedures as well as data on past election results and current issues. More sensitive data, including the electronic files of some 17 million registered voters, are not included on the website. A leaked National Security Agency document earlier this year outlined a Russian effort to hack into devices made by a Florida-based voting software company. One California county, Humboldt, used the company’s software, but did not find any evidence of tampering. Padilla, a frequent critic of President Trump’s special panel investigating the potential of voter fraud, said federal officials should have notified him much earlier of the attempted breach. “The practice of withholding critical information from elections officials is a detriment to the security of our elections and our democracy,” he said. Facebook
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Antonio Villaraigosa jabs at Gavin Newsom over his apparent embrace of single-payer healthcare bill By Melanie Mason Supporters of a measure to establish single-payer healthcare in California were thrilled by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s embrace of their bill on Friday, but a rival gubernatorial campaign was less impressed with his position. A spokesman for former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa accused the lieutenant governor of flip-flopping because after Newsom was asked if he explicitly endorsed the legislation — Senate Bill 562 — he responded that he endorsed “getting this debate going again.” “This is an outrageous parsing of words when millions of people are at risk of losing their healthcare,” Villaraigosa spokesman Luis Vizcaino said in a statement. “It is a yes or no question, lieutenant governor. Are you for SB 562 or not? The nurses and California voters deserve the truth,” Vizcaino added. The question of backing SB 562 is thorny since it was shelved earlier this year after Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) called it “woefully incomplete.” Backers have said they’d be willing to make changes to the measure, but the contours of those proposed changes have not been made public. Vizcaino said Villaraigosa “has always supported universal healthcare and the concept of single payer,” but agreed with Speaker Rendon that the bill couldn’t be sent to the governor without a funding plan. Speaking to reporters, Newsom said he saw a single-payer system in which the government covers healthcare costs as the best way to achieve universal coverage and said he would be “actively engaged in designing and developing it” if SB 562 does not pass next year. RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Assn./National Nurses United, said she saw Newsom’s remarks as a clear endorsement of their measure and a stance she said was not surprising. “We always knew Gavin would support our bill,” DeMoro said. She lambasted Villaraigosa — who does not support SB 562 — for criticizing Newsom, whom her group endorsed nearly two years ago. “I want Villaraigosa to explain to the Latino community why he doesn’t think they should have ... comprehensive healthcare,” she said. “Villaraigosa’s being disingenuous. He knows better. He’s just politically posturing trying to find a wedge issue and he knows better.” UPDATE 4:32 p.m.: This post was updated with an additional statement from Villaraigosa’s spokesperson on the former L.A. mayor’s support for universal healthcare. Read More Facebook
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In San Francisco, Bernie Sanders plays two roles: Obamacare defender and single-payer advocate By Melanie Mason View Twitter post Sen. Bernie Sanders headed west to drum up support for his recently unveiled “Medicare for All” proposal Friday, but first trained his sights on the Obamacare repeal bill currently gripping Congress. Sanders (I-Vt.), whose speech was the cornerstone of a California Nurses Assn. gathering in San Francisco, blasted the Republican plan led by Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina as “horrific legislation.” “How cruel, how immoral it is, to say to those millions of Americans, we are going to take away that health insurance that keeps you alive,” Sanders said. Sen. John McCain announced on Friday he could not support the measure, dealing the GOP plan a blow. Sanders thanked McCain for his stance, prompting the liberal crowd to cheer the Arizona Republican. Some Democrats had worried that Sanders’ push for his single-payer plan could distract from efforts to oppose the repeal bill. But the senator was explicit in his appeal to the approximately 2,000 supporters in attendance to focus their energy on defeating the repeal measure. “Our job is to continue to make sure the Republicans do not get the 50 votes they need ... I beg of you, please, do everything you can to stop the bill,” he said. Still, the crux of Sanders’ speech focused on his single-payer bill, which he sold as an improvement over the status quo. “The Affordable Care Act, as we all know, made significant improvements to our healthcare system,” Sanders said, citing the expansion of the number of Americans with health insurance and the ban on insurance companies’ ability to deny coverage to people with preexisting conditions. “But we must be honest and acknowledge that with all the gains of the Affordable Care Act, it does not go far enough,” he added. The bill expands the Medicare program to cover the healthcare costs of all Americans with no out-of-pocket payments for patients. The measure does not include a plan to finance such a system, but Sanders has released a report laying out various ways to cover the costs, including a progressive income tax. During his pitch, Sanders said the implications extended beyond health policy. “It is a struggle about what this great nation stands for,” Sanders said. “It is a struggle about whether or not every working person in this country has healthcare as a right or whether we allow insurance companies and drug companies to continue to rip us off.” Facebook
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Gas tax foes win victory as they try to get a repeal on November 2018 ballot By Patrick McGreevy A Chevron gas station in Sacramento shows prices in February. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) In a rare court rebuke of the state Attorney General’s Office, a judge said Friday that the title and summary written for a proposed initiative is misleading — and that he’d do a rewrite himself to make it clear the measure would repeal recently approved increases to gas taxes and vehicle fees. Sacramento Superior Court Judge Timothy M. Frawley said he would draft a new title and summary to be placed on petitions for the initiative after attorneys for the state and proponents of the ballot measure could not agree on compromise language. “In this circumstance, I honestly believe that the circulated title and summary that has been prepared is misleading,” Frawley told attorneys during a court hearing Friday. He hopes to release the new title and summary by Monday. The initiative proposed by Assemblyman Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach) would repeal a bill approved in April by the Legislature and governor that would raise the gas tax by 12 cents per gallon and increase vehicle fees to generate $5.2 billion annually to fix the state’s roads and bridges and improve mass transit. Allen and his attorneys said the state attorney general sought to confuse voters with a title that does not use the words “taxes” or “fees.” The title was proposed to say: “Eliminates recently enacted road repair and transportation funding by repealing revenues dedicated for those purposes.” Allen, who is running for governor in 2018, said the court decision showed the attorney general was trying to sway voters against the initiative. “Justice is being served for the voters of California,” Allen said after the court hearing. “I think that he [the judge] has properly seen that the attorney general has tried to intentionally mislead the voters of California because he has tried to prejudice their vote and tried to keep increased taxes for Californians.” A coalition of business, labor and government officials called Fix Our Roads, which supports the gas tax legislation, had representatives in the courtroom who later criticized Allen for seeking political gain at the expense of California motorists. “This is more about Travis Allen’s gubernatorial race than anything else,” said coalition spokeswoman Kathy Fairbanks. “He’s condemning voters to driving on potholed roads and being stuck in traffic.” Allen said the initiative and his campaign for governor are both aimed at giving voters power to fight higher taxes. “Finally ordinary Californians are understanding that they actually can hold Sacramento accountable,” Allen said. “This is why I’m running to be the next governor of California, because for too long Sacramento has been run by out-of-touch elitists that are coming from Sacramento and the Bay Area of San Francisco.” A second initiative to repeal the gas tax has been proposed by a different group of Republican activists. Allen said he supports the second initiative but noted it has to collect many more signatures because it seeks to change the state constitution. “It has a long way to go,” Allen said. If the judge issues a new title and summary Monday, Allen said the petitions will hit the streets immediately and he is confident they will get the 365,880 signatures to qualify the measure for the November 2018 ballot. Facebook
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‘We will have universal healthcare in the state of California,’ Gavin Newsom promises single-payer advocates By Melanie Mason View Twitter post Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom has made his most explicit endorsement yet of a controversial single-payer healthcare proposal that has roiled Democratic politics in California. Newsom appeared Friday before the California Nurses Assn., the most ardent backers of SB 562, a stalled bill to establish a system in which the state would cover all residents’ healthcare costs. “There’s no reason to wait around on universal healthcare and single-payer in California,” Newsom said. “It’s time to move 562. It’s time to get it out of committee.” The line prompted cheers and a standing ovation from the audience of about 1,500 members of the nurses’ union. He capped off his remarks with a promise: “If we can’t get it done next year, you have my firm and absolute commitment as your next governor that I will lead the effort to get it done. We will have universal healthcare in the state of California.” Enthusiastic nurses in the room heard an unequivocal backing of their effort to push forward with the bill. “When he says he’s going to get this done, he means, seriously, that he will pass SB 562 and make sure that there is healthcare for all Californians,” said Catherine Kennedy, a neonatal nurse from Roseville. But speaking to reporters after his address, Newsom was less clear in embracing the specifics of the proposal. “I 100% support moving this process along, getting this debate going again and addressing the concerns, the open-ended issues that the nurses themselves have acknowledged as it relates to the need of going through the legislative process and to fill in the blanks on the financing plan, among other issues,” he said. Facebook
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President Obama appears in an Assembly race mailer in California — but read it closely By Christina Bellantoni The race to replace Jimmy Gomez, who was elected to Congress earlier this year, has so far been waged by mail and door-knocking in northeast Los Angeles. Most of the mailers feature local leaders and endorsements from groups including Planned Parenthood and the Sierra Club. But one mailer that arrived in my mailbox Thursday has a much more familiar face — former President Barack Obama. While it might seem like one to the casual voter sorting through junk mail, this isn’t an endorsement. “Want to know what kind of job Gabriel Sandoval will do in the Assembly? Listen to the people he’s worked with in the past,” the mailer reads, above Obama’s official White House portrait. In small type, it notes that Sandoval “served as a Senior Civil Rights Attorney and Senior Advisor” for a White House initiative within the Department of Education. It features a glowing quote over an image of a July 12, 2013, letter from the president to Sandoval written on White House letterhead. Facebook
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Healthcare a hot issue in race for California governor By Phil Willon Antonio Villaraigosa, left, and Gavin Newsom (Brendan Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images; Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)) With the hyperpartisan politics surrounding healthcare stirred up by efforts to repeal Obamacare and calls for a single-payer system, both Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa are claiming the mantle of healthcare visionary. On the campaign trail the two Democratic candidates for governor are touting their signature healthcare accomplishments from earlier in their political careers as their bona fides. For Newsom, it’s about Healthy San Francisco, the nation’s first municipal universal healthcare program, approved while he was mayor; and for Villaraigosa, it’s Healthy Families, which provided healthcare coverage to the children of California’s working poor, legislation he authored as a California assemblyman. But do they deserve all the credit? It sure doesn’t look that way. Healthy San Francisco is one of the many topics Newsom is expected to highlight when he speaks to the California Nurses Assn. convention in the Bay Area on Friday morning. On Thursday night, Newsom took a shot at the latest Republican effort in Washington to roll back the Affordable Care Act – a bill written by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) “The numbers on this make my skin crawl. Under Graham-Cassidy, an individual with metastatic cancer could see their premiums increase by $142,650. Diabetes? $5,600. Want to tackle the opioid crisis? Gets a lot tougher if an individual suffering from drug dependence sees their premiums go up by $20,450,” Newsom said in an email sent out by his campaign. “This is not a game. Lives are at stake.” Read More Facebook
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Rep. Duncan Hunter calls for preemptive strike against North Korea By Joshua Stewart, San Diego Union-Tribune Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine) introduces U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions at a news conference. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) Rep. Duncan Hunter said that the United States needs to launch a preemptive strike against North Korea in order to prevent the rogue nation from harming the U.S. first. “You could assume, right now, that we have a nuclear missile aimed at the United States, and here in San Diego. Why would they not aim here, at Hawaii, Guam, our major naval bases?” Hunter, an Alpine Republican, said Thursday during an appearance on San Diego television station KUSI. “The question is, do you wait for one of those? Or two? Do you preemptively strike them? And that’s what the president has to wrestle with. I would preemptively strike them. You could call it declaring war, call it whatever you want,” Hunter continued. Hunter, a member of a House Armed Services Committee and the subcommittee with jurisdiction over the United States’ nuclear arsenal, did not say whether the military should strike North Korea with conventional or nuclear weapons. Read More Facebook
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Will Bernie Sanders’ push for ‘Medicare for All’ help or hinder the California effort for single-payer? By Melanie Mason When Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders visited Beverly Hills last May, he made a full-throated appeal for California to “lead the country” and pass a pending state proposal to establish single-payer healthcare. On Friday, he’ll return to California for a San Francisco speech trumpeting his own higher-stakes plan — a bill to drastically overhaul the nation’s healthcare system by covering everyone through Medicare. The push for single-payer, in which the government pays for residents’ medical care, has already rattled California’s political landscape. Now, the Sanders measure brings an additional jolt, elevating the issue to a national debate that has implications for the future direction of the Democratic Party and early jockeying in the 2020 presidential race. Read More Facebook
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What will Kevin de León do when his term in the California Senate expires next year? By Patrick McGreevy State Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, speaks during the last regular Senate floor session of the year. ( (Rich Pedroncelli / AP)) As he gaveled down what may be his last full year as leader of the California Senate on Saturday, Kevin de León had still not said what he planned to do next. Will he run for governor or U.S. Senate? Does he want to be mayor of Los Angeles some day? De León told reporters they will have to wait to find out. His advisors, supporters and political observers have their own ideas what De León could do next. Read More Facebook
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Skelton: The presidential election bills on Gov. Brown’s desk may be satisfying politics, but they’re risky ideas By George Skelton Two presidential election bills are on Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk, sent to him by the Democratic Legislature. Both should be tossed in the trash. No doubt I’m in the minority on this. These bills do offer some fun, even if they’re flawed. One has strong pluses that are outweighed by unacceptable minuses. The second is a mean-spirited “gotcha” bill aimed at the Democrats’ No. 1 enemy: President Trump. It may be satisfying politics, but it sets a risky precedent. The first bill moves up California’s presidential primary from June to March. Great idea. But it also moves up the state primary along with it. A horrible idea. The second measure would require all presidential candidates to release their tax returns for the last five years. Anyone who refused wouldn’t be allowed on the California ballot. That’s a sharp poke at Trump, who in 2016 was the first presidential candidate in 40 years not to release his taxes. Yes, watching Trump squirm would be entertaining. And maybe the tax information would be useful for some voters. But even if the disclosure requirement were constitutional — and there’s substantial doubt about that — it’s a crummy precedent. Read More Facebook
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California Senate leader preparing for legal fight over ‘sanctuary state’ legislation By Sarah D. Wire California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin De León (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Gov. Jerry Brown hasn’t yet signed legislation making California a so-called sanctuary state, but state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León is preparing to defend it in court. In between several immigration events in Washington on Wednesday, De León (D-Los Angeles) said he met with former U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. — who has served as outside counsel to the Legislature for much of the year — “to continue to further discuss inoculating California from [U.S. Atty. Gen.] Jeff Sessions’ Department of Justice.” Passed early Saturday by the Legislature, the sanctuary state bill would limit state and local law enforcement communication with federal immigration authorities and prevent officers from questioning and holding people on immigration violations. Sessions has threatened to withhold some federal grant funds from cities and counties that refuse to assist federal immigration agents. Holder and other former Justice Department lawyers believe the bill is defendable, and if the Trump administration tries to compel California cities to act by withholding funds, it will find itself in court, De León said. Defenders of so-called sanctuary cities often rely on a 1996 Supreme Court ruling that cited the 10th Amendment and found the federal government can’t compel local governments to cooperate with enforcing federal laws. “It is immoral, and quite frankly un-American, that America’s top law enforcement official would withhold dollars that our local police officers need — precious dollars we need desperately to counter terrorism, to deal with the issue of human trafficking as well as international drug cartels,” De León said. On Tuesday, Sessions urged Brown not to sign the bill, calling it “unconscionable” and a threat to public safety. Brown responded to Sessions’ comment on CNN by calling the legislation well-balanced. “It protects public safety, but it also protects hardworking people who contribute a lot to California,” Brown said. He has until Oct. 15 to sign the bill. De León also shot back against Sessions’ statement that the federal money isn’t an “entitlement,” saying Californians pay more in federal taxes than they receive in federal funding. “That’s not a gift or a grant from the Department of Justice to California. Those are our dollars; they belong to the people of California,” he said. Facebook
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California, with alliance of states, pledges to keep pushing climate policies despite lack of federal progress By Chris Megerian (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) California and a growing alliance of states committed to fighting global warming said Wednesday that they’re slashing greenhouse gas emissions at the rate required by the Paris climate agreement. However, the rest of the country would need to join their effort for the United States to actually hit the target of cutting emissions by at least 26% below 2005 levels by 2025. President Trump has pledged to pull the country out of the Paris deal, but the states reiterated their pledge to keep pressing forward during a news conference in New York. “We’re all in,” California Gov. Jerry Brown said. “Eventually, Washington will join with us. You can’t deny science forever.” California’s climate goal is even more ambitious than the Paris target. A law signed by Brown last year requires the state to cut emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030. California became a founding member of the U.S. Climate Alliance, along with New York and Washington state, months ago. “Either we end this problem, or this problem will end us,” said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. On Wednesday, North Carolina became the 15th member of the U.S. Climate Alliance. Other members include Massachusetts, Oregon and Puerto Rico. “Clean air and a healthy environment are vital for a strong economy and a healthier future,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a newly elected Democrat, said in a statement. Facebook
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Bay Area cities sue major oil companies over climate change By Chris Megerian (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) San Francisco and Oakland are suing to get five oil companies, including San Ramon-based Chevron, to pay for the cost of protecting the Bay Area from rising sea levels and other effects of global warming. “These fossil fuel companies profited handsomely for decades while knowing they were putting the fate of our cities at risk,” San Francisco City Atty. Dennis Herrera said in a statement. The lawsuits, which were filed Tuesday in state court in San Francisco and Alameda counties and announced Wednesday, don’t ask for a specific dollar amount. But the cities could try to put oil companies on the hook for billions. Long-term improvements in San Francisco’s seawall are projected to cost $5 billion, according to one of the lawsuits. “The law is clear that the defendants are responsible for the consequences of their reckless and disastrous actions,” Oakland City Atty. Barbara J. Parker said in a statement. A spokesman for Chevron, Melissa Ritchie, said the lawsuits would not help address climate change. “Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a global issue that requires global engagement and action,” she said in a statement. “Should this litigation proceed, it will only serve special interests at the expense of broader policy, regulatory, and economic priorities.” Facebook
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California sues to stop Trump’s border wall: ‘No one gets to ignore the laws. Not even the president’ By Patrick McGreevy × California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announces lawsuit against Trump Administration. California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra filed a lawsuit Wednesday alleging that President Trump’s proposal to expedite construction of a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border violates laws aimed at protecting the environment. Becerra announced the legal challenge standing in front of the existing border fencing at Border Field State Park near San Diego, saying the federal government failed to comply with federal environmental laws and relied on federal statutes that don’t authorize border wall projects in San Diego and Imperial counties. “No one gets to ignore the laws. Not even the president of the United States,” Becerra said. “The border between the U.S. and Mexico spans some 2,000 miles. The list of laws violated by the president’s administration in order to build his campaign wall is almost as long.” He said the project involves the improper waiver of 37 federal statutes, many aimed at protecting the environment. Filed in federal court in San Diego and including the California Coastal Commission as a plaintiff, the lawsuit states its purpose is “to protect the State of California’s residents, natural resources, economic interests, procedural rights, and sovereignty from violations of the United States Constitution” and federal law. Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra at the U.S.- Mexico border where he announced lawsuit to stop a proposal for a border wall. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) The lawsuit also alleges that federal officials have not shown any data suggesting new border barriers in the San Diego area will reduce illegal entry into the U.S., nor that there is a significant problem in that area. It adds that the wall would have a chilling effect on tourism to the United States from Mexico. In August, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a notice that it was waiving federal and state laws on the environment to expedite the construction of prototypes of the wall along the San Diego border with Mexico. The California lawsuit claims the federal government violated the U.S. Constitution’s separation-of-powers doctrine “by vesting in the Executive Branch the power to waive state and local laws.” The lawsuit also says the Department of Homeland Security decided to build the walls without complying with the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and the Coastal Zone Management Act. As a result, the lawsuit alleges, the federal government lacks proper environmental analysis of the impact of the 400-foot prototypes of the wall currently planned, as well as the 2,000-mile-long final wall. A federal official declined comment. “As a matter of policy, we do not comment on pending litigation,” said Tyler Q. Houlton, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security. State Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego) stood with Becerra at the event, saying the wall is unnecessary and will put a barrier between relations involving the two countries. “Maybe to people in Iowa, it sounds like a really good idea,” she said. “We don’t need more structure. We need a good relationship [with Mexico].” Times staff writers McGreevy reported from Sacramento and Ulloa from San Diego. AG @XavierBecerra takes some shots at Trump: He hasn't made the transition from candidate to president. #borderwall pic.twitter.com/liSJdrAK2v — Jazmine Ulloa (@jazmineulloa) September 20, 2017 Facebook
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California to sue Trump administration over plan for U.S.-Mexico border wall By Patrick McGreevy California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra plans to announce a lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of the state that will challenge President Trump’s proposal to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, a project Becerra has called “medieval.” Becerra is scheduled to travel to Border Field State Park near San Diego to announce that a lawsuit is being filed in federal court over construction of border wall projects in San Diego and Imperial counties. The lawsuit, which includes the California Coastal Commission as a plaintiff, states its purpose is “to protect the State of California’s residents, natural resources, economic interests, procedural rights, and sovereignty from violations of the United States Constitution” and federal law. It adds that the wall would have a chilling effect on tourism to the United States from Mexico. The state’s lawsuit alleges that the Trump administration has failed to comply with federal and state environmental laws and relied on federal statutes that don’t authorize the proposed projects. The brief alleges the federal government violated the U.S. Constitution’s separation-of-powers doctrine “by vesting in the Executive Branch the power to waive state and local laws, including state criminal law.”. The lawsuit also says the Department of Homeland Security decided to build the walls without complying with the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. As a result, the lawsuit alleges, the federal government lacks proper environmental analysis of the impact of 400-foot prototypes of the wall currently planned, as well as the 2,000-mile-long final wall. The Democratic attorney general has been critical of the wall for months, including in April during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week.” “I’m still trying to figure out who believes that a medieval situation to fix our broken immigration system is what we need,” Becerra said. He also accused Trump at the time of reneging on his promise to have Mexico pay for the wall. “I think American taxpayers probably are very much aligned with Mexico. None of them, whether it’s Mexico or our taxpayers, wants to pay for a medieval wall,” he said. This is the latest of more than two dozen lawsuits and legal briefs filed against the Trump administration by Becerra, who was appointed attorney general in January and is running for election to the post next year. He previously sued to challenge Trump’s plans to end a program that protects young immigrants from deportation, ban immigration from some countries and roll back environmental laws. Last week, three advocacy groups sued the federal government to block construction of a border wall, alleging that the Trump administration overstepped its authority by waiving environmental reviews and other laws. The action by the Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife and Animal Legal Defense Fund seeks to prevent construction of wall prototypes in San Diego. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said last month that prototypes for a border wall may be completed by the end of October. Becerra’s lawsuit is the latest attempt by California Democrats to fight the wall proposal. A bill that would have banned state government contracts for any company that helps build the wall passed the state Senate, but stalled recently in an Assembly committee. Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) authored the bill, testifying at a committee hearing that “the wall is another attempt to separate and divide us. It sends a message that we are better off in a homogenous society.” Todd Bloomstine, a lobbyist representing the Southern California Contractors Assn., opposed the bill, asking the panel, “What next unpopular project would be [on the] blacklist?” Read the lawsuit >> UPDATE 8:30 a.m. This article was updated to provide additional details of the lawsuit. This article was originally published at 6 a.m. Facebook
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Judge rules state used misleading language in summary of ballot measure to repeal California gas tax By Patrick McGreevy GOP Assemblyman Travis Allen, in red tie, with Democratic state Sen. Bob Hertzberg, left, and Charles Munger Jr., far right, in 2014. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) A judge tentatively ruled Tuesday that the state-written title and summary of an initiative to repeal the recent gas-tax increases were misleading and should be rewritten by the state attorney general’s office. The ruling by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Timothy M. Frawley, scheduled to be finalized at a court hearing on Friday, was welcomed by the initiative’s lead proponent, Assemblyman Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach). “This preliminary ruling is a major victory for Californians,” Allen, a candidate for governor, said in a statement. “This brings us one step closer to repealing Jerry Brown’s hugely unpopular gas tax. I look forward to the final ruling on Friday, and ensuring that the Repeal the Gas Tax Initiative receives the straightforward ballot title and summary that it deserves.” Judge Frawley agreed with Allen’s legal claims that the title and summary drafted by Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra’s office is “confusing, misleading, and likely to create prejudice against the proposed measure.” The judge said the initiative would repeal taxes and fees approved by the Legislature this year, but the title and summary issued by the state makes it sound like it would eliminate transportation funding without using the words “taxes and “fees” in the title. He ordered state officials to come to Friday’s hearing prepared to discuss alternate language for the ballot measure. “To avoid misleading the voters and creating prejudice against the measure, the Attorney General must prepare a ‘true and impartial statement’ that reasonably informs voters of the character and real purpose of the proposed initiative in clear and understandable language,” the ruling says. “The existing circulating title and summary fails this test.” If the judge finalizes the order after hearing arguments Friday, Allen can use the new title and summary to circulate a petition. Allen needs to collect 365,000 signatures from registered voters in 150 days to put the measure on the November 2018 ballot. Facebook
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Gov. Jerry Brown: Trump’s rhetoric about North Korea adds to “non-rational bluster” By Mina Corpuz (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) California Gov. Jerry Brown said President Trump’s name calling and threats at the United Nations can get in the way of diplomacy and statesmanship. Earlier Tuesday, Trump called North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a “Rocket Man on a suicide mission” and said the United States may have no choice but to “totally destroy North Korea.” “It just raises the temperature and the exchange of non-rational bluster back and forth,” Brown said in a interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper. “I don’t think that’s positive.” Brown is in New York for some climate meetings related to the United Nations General Assembly. Facebook
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Yes, ‘dahlink’: Frederic Prinz von Anhalt, widower of Zsa Zsa Gabor, is running for California governor By Phil Willon Frederic Prinz von Anhalt, widower of actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, outside of the couple’s Bel-Air mansion in 2011. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times) Frederic Prinz von Anhalt, widower of the whimsical celebrity and actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, is back. Von Anhalt has filed to run for governor of California — his second attempt after a short-lived campaign in 2010 — saying he’s fed up with seeing roads falling apart, people struggling to afford rent and an explosion of homelessness in the state. “I’ve lived in this city for 36 years. I’ve never seen so many people eating out of a trash can in the Western world,” Von Anhalt said Tuesday. “We talk about Hollywood, and this being the entertainment center of the world. How is this possible?” Von Anhalt, Garbor’s ninth and last husband, is running as an independent. He filed an official “Candidate Intention Statement” with the California Secretary of State’s office Monday, the first step in launching an official campaign. The 74-year-old Bel-Air resident, a German immigrant, said he has enough money to help support his own campaign. He said he dropped out of the 2010 governor’s race only because his wife became seriously ill. She died in December. “She was the one … who wanted me run,” Von Anhalt said. Von Anhalt also flirted briefly with a run for Los Angeles mayor in 2013, a race eventually won by Eric Garcetti. FOR THE RECORD 5:33 p.m.: An earlier of this post said Von Anhalt was age 71. He is 74. Facebook
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Assemblyman urges other legislatures to join California in censuring President Trump By Mina Corpuz Assemblyman Tony Thurmond (D-Richmond) speaks with Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) A California lawmaker who authored a resolution to support a censure of President Trump sent letters to 49 other state legislatures Tuesday to urge them to join the effort. Assemblyman Tony Thurmond, a Richmond Democrat, sent the letters days after the Assembly became the first state legislative body to support a congressional censure of the president. “California has spoken and we look to the rest of the nation to join us,” Thurmond said in a statement. “It’s important that all our states unite and show that the United States of America stands against hate.” Read More Facebook
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After cap-and-trade vote, Assemblyman Chad Mayes faces a second Republican challenger for reelection By Patrick McGreevy Chad Mayes of Yucca Valley leaves the Assembly floor before resigning as Assembly Republican leader on Aug. 24. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)) Former Palm Springs Police Chief Gary Jeandron on Tuesday became the second Republican to announce plans to challenge Assemblyman Chad Mayes (R-Yucca Valley) in the 2018 election. Jeandron, a La Quinta resident, said he was angered over Mayes’ vote as Assembly Republican leader to support an extension of the state’s controversial cap-and-trade program, which requires businesses to buy permits to release greenhouse gas emissions. Jeandron saw the action as continuing a “wrongful tax increase” and said he is signing a no-tax pledge. “I just don’t believe [Mayes] has held Republican values,” Jeandron told The Times. “He has been blinded by ambition. He has been seduced by the governor.” Mayes’ vote led to an outcry by Republican leaders, and he eventually succumbed to pressure to step down as leader of the Assembly Republicans. Mayes defended his position, telling colleagues during the floor debate, “many of us believe that climate change is real and … we have to work to address it.” Jeandron, who lost to Mayes in the 2014 election, joins San Jacinto City Councilman Andrew Kotyuk in planning to challenge Mayes for the 42nd Assembly District seat. Facebook
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Republican John Cox tasted political defeat many times before launching his bid for California governor By Phil Willon Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox speaks to the Lincoln Club of Riverside County in June. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times) Candidate for California governor John Cox is relatively new to the state’s politics, but Cox has run for office multiple times, and even tangled with Barack Obama on the debate stage when the pair ran in the 2004 Illinois U.S. Senate race. Neither candidate was considered their party’s favorite. But things began looking up for Obama, of course, who won the Senate race and then the presidency. Cox dropped out before the GOP primary election. It was his third try for elected office in Illinois and his third defeat. Now he’s back, this time in his new home of California, running for governor against a trio of Democratic heavyweights. Once again, Cox is a practical unknown. Once again, the Republican is in a left-leaning state reaching for a coveted political office. Once again, Cox’s campaign is being fed by cash from his own bank account. Read More Facebook
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After she was confronted by protesters, Pelosi says Democrats want a ‘clean’ Dream Act — with no border wall By Jazmine Ulloa House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Monday said she understood the fear in young protesters who shouted her down at a San Francisco news conference, asking for a legal path to citizenship for themselves and their parents. Speaking at Sacramento State hours after the disruption, Pelosi said she agreed with the protesters, pointing to the Dream Act as only the first step to broader immigration reform. “We are all disrupters ourselves,” she said, standing next to fellow congressional Democrats. “So we recognize it and respect it in others.” At Sac State, @NancyPelosi on SF protests today: We are all disruptors ourselves. So we recognize it and respect it in others. #dacadeal pic.twitter.com/W1WKQikmsc — Jazmine Ulloa (@jazmineulloa) September 19, 2017 Both press events were scheduled by Pelosi to discuss a legislative fix to help thousands of young people affected by President Trump’s decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The Obama-era policy provided temporary status for 800,000 people brought to the country illegally as children. Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York met with Trump last week after the termination of DACA was announced. In Sacramento, Pelosi said they had come to an agreement to a “clean” Dream Act, which would provide a path to permanent status for citizens who work, study or serve in the military, without tougher border enforcement or increased deportations. Meanwhile, Democrats are fighting with the president over the construction of a wall along the U.S-Mexico border. And House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin “has made it clear he wants some kind of border security,” Pelosi said. “That is not under discussion,” she said. “We can discuss other issues, but we are not going to discuss how we protect the Dreamers.” At Sac State, @NancyPelosi arrives to talk #DACAdeal and help for Dreamers. Elected officials from every level of government also present. pic.twitter.com/yoESsRC1Ok — Jazmine Ulloa (@jazmineulloa) September 18, 2017 Facebook
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Feinstein, who called for patience with Trump, lashes out over his attacks on Clinton By Sarah D. Wire Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said it was “appalling and disgusting” to see President Trump retweet a video edited to look like he hit former rival Hillary Clinton in the head with a golf ball. “He continues to obsessively lash out at her — at his rallies, with his words and now through social media — in a manner that is utterly unbecoming of the president of the United States,” Feinstein said in a statement Monday. “Every one of us should be offended by the vindictive and candidly dangerous messages the president sends that demean not only Secretary Clinton, but all women. Grow up and do your job.” Clinton is out with a new book about the campaign, and Trump has repeatedly used Twitter to deride her as a sore loser. He retweeted the animated GIF Sunday which shows him hitting a golf ball that then knocks down Clinton. Feinstein, who has yet to say whether she’ll run again in 2018, has walked a fine line with Trump in recent months. She’s criticized him at times, but drew ire from some progressive Californians last month when she called for “patience” in dealing with the president, saying that Trump could be a good president if he learned and changed. Facebook
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California lawmakers are building a wall against President Trump’s policies By George Skelton California state legislators ended their annual session the way they began it — building a wall to protect undocumented immigrants from President Trump. Not an iron wall, as Trump promised to erect along the U.S.-Mexico border, but a legal barrier to prevent local police and sheriffs from teaming with the president’s agents to enforce federal immigration law. The legislators did a lot of other things, too, before adjourning early Saturday until January. They sent Gov. Jerry Brown bills to address California’s dearth of affordable housing, to borrow $4 billion for parks and waterworks, to spend $1.5 billion in greenhouse-gas pollution fees, to provide tuition-free community college for first-year students and to lift some secrecy from prescription drug pricing. Earlier in the session, the heavily Democratic Legislature passed its boldest, most controversial bill of the year: A $5.2-billion annual increase in fuel taxes and vehicle fees to finance transportation infrastructure, especially to repair crumbling highways. Republicans will attempt to repeal the bill at the ballot box in 2018. Brown says that “borders on insanity.” Read More Facebook
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Trump is ‘riding a very dead horse’ on climate change, Gov. Brown says at New York conference By Ann Simmons (Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press) Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday touted steps California has taken toward a healthier climate, but warned that powerful forces he called “climate deniers” are resisting technologies and policies designed to improve conditions. “I like all the optimism around here, but I don’t want to minimize the steep hill that we have to climb,” Brown said at the start of a gathering of international leaders called Climate Week NYC. “Decarbonizing the economy when the economy depends so totally on carbon is not child’s play. It’s quite daunting.” Hosted by the Climate Group, an international nonprofit organization that works with business and government to promote clean technologies and policies, the event was scheduled to bring together high-profile governors, executives of Fortune 500 companies and leaders of multinational businesses for a week to share their strategies in tackling climate change. The discussions come amid concerns about global warming and after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma caused devastation in Houston, Florida and across parts of the Caribbean. Some scientists believe that warmer ocean waters caused by climate change are creating stronger storms. Read More Facebook
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Nancy Pelosi shouted down at DACA news conference for working with Trump By Sarah D. Wire Dreamer protesters have disrupted a Pelosi presser in CA, asking for protections for Dreamer & their parents: https://t.co/o3zGNJvblL — Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) September 18, 2017 More than four dozen immigration activists upset with Democrats for negotiating with President Trump shouted down House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi at a San Francisco news conference Monday. “We are not your bargaining chip,” the crowd chanted at one point, according to KCBS News political reporter Doug Sovern. VIDEO: Chaos at @NancyPelosi #DACA event as 40+ undocumented hijack her news conf in SF: "We are not your bargaining chip! Let us speak!" pic.twitter.com/KC2WyrjqSy — Doug Sovern (@SovernNation) September 18, 2017 'All of us or none of us' Crowd takes over DREAM Act event. Pelosi getting blasted by about 100 young 'undocumented youth' pic.twitter.com/RgwnZ4dB3O — Evan Sernoffsky (@EvanSernoffsky) September 18, 2017 San Francisco Chronicle reporter Evan Sernoffsky said on Twitter that some in the group were yelling, “All of us or none of us.” Other reporters said the group chanted, “Shut down ICE.” Pelosi held the news conference to advocate for speedy passage of a legislative fix to the legal status of hundreds of thousands of people brought to the country illegally as children. Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York met with Trump last week after he announced an end to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The Obama-era program deferred deportation for some people brought to the country illegally as children. Pelosi and Schumer said their discussion with the president included the possibility of adding more immigration enforcement — which some immigration advocates are against — to legislation to address DACA. At the news conference, Pelosi first made remarks and introduced an immigrant in the country illegally, at which point the shouting began, according to a Pelosi aide. The group surrounded Pelosi, with some gesturing close to her face. She attempted to calm the crowd for about half an hour before leaving the news conference. The aide said the group was made up of local DACA beneficiaries. “We need to have a conversation, but that was completely one-sided; they don’t want any answers,” Pelosi told reporters afterward, according to a transcript. Pelosi said the activists should be focused on Republican members of Congress, not Democrats. “I understand their frustration, I’m excited by it as a matter of fact, but the fact is they’re completely wrong. The Democrats are the ones who stopped their assault on ‘sanctuary cities,’ stopped the wall, the increased deportations in our last bill that was at the end of April, and we are determined to get Republicans votes to pass the clean Dream Act. Is it possible to pass a bill without some border security? Well we’ll have to see. We didn’t agree to anything in that regard, except to listen,” Pelosi said. UPDATES
1:06 p.m. This post was updated with more details throughout and quotes from Pelosi. This post was originally published at 12:12 p.m. Facebook
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Democrats’ hopes of flipping seats in California are soaring, but it won’t be as easy at it seems By Christine Mai-Duc (Associated Press / AFP/Getty Images) Democrats know they have to win at least a few seats in California if they want to regain control of the House in 2018. But though the energy and hopes of many Democratic activists here are soaring, flipping Republican-held seats here could be harder than it appears. There are a few bits of conventional wisdom that suggest Democrats have a long road ahead. For one, Republicans often turn out in greater numbers than their Democratic counterparts in midterm-election years. And even though Hillary Clinton won seven of the Republican-held districts Democrats are now targeting, past election data show voters there still lean much more conservative than other parts of the state. If past is prologue, says Rob Pyers, research director for the nonpartisan election guide California Target Book, Democrats will have a hard time picking up more than a couple of seats in California. With most voters unlikely to tune in until at least next spring, there are many factors that could affect the political calculus, including whether the California Republican Party will be able to field a competitive candidate for governor, or whether ballot initiatives such as a potential repeal of the newest gas tax hike will propel GOP voters to the polls. Read More Facebook
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California will be the ‘keeper of the nation’s future’ in the era of Trump, state Democratic lawmakers promise By Melanie Mason State Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, from left, Gov. Jerry Brown and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon. (Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press) Within a day of President Trump’s election last November, California’s top Democratic lawmakers responded with a joint statement that contained an audacious promise. It was their state, not Washington, D.C., that would be the “keeper of the nation’s future.” An artistic rendering of that vow, with looping calligraphy and a roaring grizzly, is now on display in the offices of Senate leader Kevin de León and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon. In the wake of Trump’s win, the words seemed to be a sort of foundational document — California’s declaration of resistance. That pugilistic posture is often conveyed in shorthand: California versus Trump. But the ensuing legislative year, which ended Friday, revealed the messy reality of squaring up against the federal government. “It’s been challenging,” De León (D-Los Angeles) said, bleary-eyed as he took a break during the final days of the session. “You have to debate, you have to negotiate, you have to make your case, and I think at the end of the day, we’ll still have the most far-reaching policy in the nation.” Read More Facebook
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California Politics Podcast: Lawmakers leave Sacramento after a busy year By John Myers From immigration issues to housing, some of the biggest debates of the Legislature’s nine-month session happened at the very end. In governing, as in life, deadlines often make things happen. On this week’s California Politics Podcast, we take an early look at some of the most important decisions lawmakers made in the final few days of the 2017 session in Sacramento. That includes a landmark decision to intervene in the issue of illegal immigration, and to pass a long discussed package of bills to begin addressing California’s housing crisis. We also look at some of the broader political themes of the entire legislative year -- most notably, the effort by Democrats in the Legislature to provide a “resistance” to actions taken by President Trump. I’m joined by Times staff writers Melanie Mason and Liam Dillon. Facebook
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Passage of ‘sanctuary state’ bill draws rebukes from Trump administration officials, praise in California By Jazmine Ulloa Supporters of state sanctuary bill SB 54 rally outside the Hall of Justice. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) California lawmakers on Saturday passed a “sanctuary state” bill to protect immigrants without legal residency in the U.S., part of a broader push by Democrats to counter expanded deportation orders under the Trump administration. The landmark legislation by Sen. Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) would limit state and local law enforcement communication with federal immigration authorities, and prevent officers from questioning and holding people on immigration violations. But the bill sent to Gov. Jerry Brown drastically scaled back the version first introduced, the result of tough negotiations between Brown and De León in the final weeks of the legislative session. Its passage already is reverberating across the country. Trump administration officials have sounded off in opposition. And immigrant rights groups and some California law enforcement officials have come out in support of what they call a hard compromise. Read More Facebook
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Supporters unable to resurrect California clean-energy proposal on final day of legislative session By Chris Megerian Environmentalists rally in front of Assemblyman Chris Holden’s office in Pasadena on Thursday. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) Despite a last-minute push from environmentalists and actors from “The Avengers,” legislation that eventually would require all of California’s electricity to come from clean sources failed to advance this year. Facing opposition from unions and utilities, Assembly leadership refused to put the measure, SB 100, up for a vote on Fri |
Health Bill Appears Dead as Pivotal G.O.P. Senator Declares Opposition | A last-ditch attempt by President Trump and Senate Republicans to dismantle the Affordable Care Act appeared to collapse on Monday as a pivotal senator announced her firm opposition to the latest repeal plan, virtually ensuring that Republicans would not have the votes they need for passage.
| https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/25/us/politics/obamacare-repeal-susan-collins-dead.html?_r=0 | 2017-09-26 09:13:05.997000 | WASHINGTON — A last-ditch attempt by President Trump and Senate Republicans to dismantle the Affordable Care Act appeared to collapse on Monday as a pivotal senator announced her firm opposition to the latest repeal plan, virtually ensuring that Republicans would not have the votes they need for passage.
The announcement by the senator, Susan Collins of Maine, effectively dooms what had been a long-shot effort by Republicans in the Senate to make one more attempt at repealing the health law after failing in dramatic fashion in July.
The demise of the latest repeal push means that Republicans are now all but certain to conclude Mr. Trump’s first year in office without fulfilling one of their central promises, which the president and lawmakers had hoped to deliver on quickly after Mr. Trump took office.
For seven years, Republicans have said they would repeal President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement and replace it with a new health care system more palatable to conservatives. But they were never able to formulate a replacement that was both politically and substantively viable. |
States warn latest Obamacare repeal plan ‘impossible’ to set up | State officials are warning they face a daunting, near-impossible task of rebuilding their health care systems from the ground up in just two years under the GOP’s latest Obamacare repeal plan.
| http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/25/states-obamacare-repeal-plan-243121 | 2017-09-26 09:12:44.420000 | The last-ditch repeal plan from Sens. Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy would eliminate Obamacare’s insurance subsidies and Medicaid expansion and replace the funding with block grants shared among states beginning in 2020. Governors and state legislatures would be charged with designing coverage schemes for the 27 million people insured through private Obamacare plans or Medicaid expansion — with as much as $107 billion less over a decade, according to estimates. That’s on top of hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts the bill, H.R. 1628 (115), makes to the traditional Medicaid program, which would be transformed from an open-ended entitlement into a budgeted program.
Ten Republican governors, mostly from Medicaid expansion states, have objected to a plan that could cost them billions of dollars. Health insurers, who largely remained neutral throughout the GOP’s months-long repeal effort, condemned Graham-Cassidy “unworkable” and “impossible.” The board of Medicaid directors issued a searing indictment of the plan, a rare rebuke from a group that represents states ranging from deep red Texas to blue-as-they-come California.
“Honestly, I am really struggling to figure out how we would respond,” said Teresa Miller, Pennsylvania’s acting secretary of human services, at the Senate’s lone hearing on the repeal plan Monday afternoon. Miller testified that it’s “highly unlikely” Pennsylvania would be able to build a functioning insurance marketplaces by the bill’s 2020 deadline.
The Graham-Cassidy plan, which as of Monday was still struggling to earn enough Republican support, would result in funding cuts to 35 states, particularly those that had the greatest success enrolling people under Obamacare, according an analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation. The states that would receive more funding are predominately those that resisted Obamacare and may lack the health care expertise – and desire – to build new coverage systems.
A revised version of the bill released Monday morning offers new funding for states represented by GOP senators skeptical of the effort: Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, John McCain of Arizona, and Rand Paul of Kentucky. But their states would still see overall funding cuts, and none of the holdouts have been swayed by the changes ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline to pass a repeal bill with just GOP votes.
Republican lawmakers supporting Graham-Cassidy have brushed off concerns about abruptly shifting responsibility for the nation’s health care system to the states, most of which – unlike the federal government – are constrained by requirements to balance their budgets each year.
“I have complete confidence in [state] policymakers that they can come up with plans, that they know the state better than the federal government does,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), whose home state expanded Medicaid to more than 400,000 poor adults last year.
The Senate plan would allow states to scrap many of Obamacare’s insurance regulations and protections that Republican critics say drive up the cost of insurance, in hopes of winning over conservative Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee.
However, the plan would give states limited time to solve the politically fraught policy dilemmas that have stumped congressional Republicans for years, such as how to ensure affordable coverage for people with expensive medical conditions. State legislatures typically meet only a few months each year, and gubernatorial elections in 36 states next year could slow efforts to develop new health care plans. That means newly elected governors could have less than a year to develop, pass and implement a statewide insurance system.
If a state fails to agree on a plan by 2020, it would lose out on all federal block grant funding for the year, leaving low-income residents without government aid to obtain coverage.
Though the latest bill revisions give some states, including Alaska, more money to cover people, it doesn’t provide additional financial help to study and set up new health care systems. The plan designates just $2 billion to help states implement new systems over two years. That’s about half the time and federal money spent on the run-up to the Obamacare marketplaces’ disastrous debut in fall 2013.
Texas, which has the nation’s highest uninsured rate, is expected to be the biggest beneficiary under Graham-Cassidy, gaining an estimated $34 billion over a decade, according to the Kaiser analysis. Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, on Monday said he welcomed the plan’s new flexibility for states.
But the state’s legislature isn’t scheduled to meet again until January 2019, likely setting back efforts to devise a coverage system. Committee chairs said if Graham-Cassidy becomes law, they would call interim hearings to work out key details.
“I think we take the ball and run with it as fast and furious as possible,” said state Sen. Charles Schwertner, an orthopedic surgeon who chairs a key health care committee.
Graham-Cassidy’s boosters argue the plan’s enhanced funding for states refusing Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion will nudge them to broaden access to insurance.
Texas, however, already has a laundry list of health care issues to address, including a spike in maternal mortality rates, crumbling mental health hospitals and Hurricane Harvey recovery. Texas state Rep. Garnet Coleman, a Democrat, said he expects the Republican-controlled Legislature is just as likely to trim eligibility for health programs and cut payments to Medicaid providers.
The state already has one of the country’s stingiest Medicaid programs — three-quarters of recipients are children — and Coleman said Texas could potentially use the additional leeway from the federal government to slash state spending on Medicaid.
“I don’t think all of the sudden the state is going to get generous,” he said.
It’s a dilemma that would play out across the nation, particularly in conservative states that have long criticized the Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansion as unaffordable and deferred much of its implementation to the federal government.
In the meantime, insurance experts expect the uncertainty that’s wracked the Obamacare markets this year would only get worse, potentially driving more insurers out of a marketplace they know will be defunct in a couple years.
“It’s really hard to wrap your head around this,” said Jennifer Tolbert, the director of state health reform for the Kaiser Family Foundation. “Insurers have spent the last seven years basically adjusting to this new market with these standardized rules, and then you’re moving backwards to how things were prior to the ACA.” |
Using technology to help older adults keep their independence | A charming three-story home trimmed in white sits at the corner of 10th and Center streets on the Georgia Institute of Technology campus in Atlanta. From the outside, the 5,000-square-foot abode appears just like any other home, but inside, Georgia Tech researchers are testing and developing cutting-edge devices to determine which can make the home safer -- and smarter -- for older adults.
| http://edition.cnn.com/2017/09/25/health/older-adults-home-safety-technology/index.html | 2017-09-26 09:10:26.060000 | Story highlights Researchers at Georgia Tech are turning houses into smart homes to help keep older adults safe One expert uses a Fitbit to keep track of her aging mother, and robots can help, too
CNN —
A charming three-story home trimmed in white sits at the corner of 10th and Center streets on the Georgia Institute of Technology campus in Atlanta.
From the outside, the 5,000-square-foot abode appears just like any other home, but inside, Georgia Tech researchers are testing and developing cutting-edge devices to determine which can make the home safer – and smarter – for older adults.
The house is actually a living lab, called the Aware Home, and research conducted there has revealed some of the top home-related concerns among older adults, said Brian Jones, director of the Aware Home and a senior research scientist at Georgia Tech.
“Some of the concerns they had were around unattended cooking,” he said, adding that the No. 1 cause of fires in older adults’ homes is cooking equipment.
“If you forget that you have turned on the water to draw a bath or to wash the dishes, that can cause significant damage in the home,” he said. “TVs left on was another … and then door locks.”
Now, some in-home technologies are in development – or on the market – to address those concerns.
What the future holds for older adult care
A stove at the Aware Home has been equipped with sensing and a large colored-light system that blinks to alert you when the oven has been left on unattended, which can be helpful if you are nearby. If you are leaving the house, a photo frame placed by the front door blinks and plays sound to notify you that the stove is unattended and left on.
Devices of the future are expected to collect and use data to become much more personalized, said Elizabeth Mynatt, a professor and executive director of the Institute for People and Technology at Georgia Tech.
“They will learn more about your habits, your likes, your dislikes, your routines, when you’re most likely to forget to take your medication, what are the aspects of your health that need the most attention,” she said. “They will become as personalized to you that you just can’t even imagine living without them.”
For instance, a long hallway in the Aware Home is equipped with gait-sensing technology through which the walking patterns of someone strutting by are screened, collected and analyzed.
Those personalized data could be used to track that individual’s health. The data even could be programmed with an algorithm to alert a caregiver if any potentially harmful changes emerge in the gait pattern.
“To track how someone is doing … is very important,” Mynatt said.
“It’s important for the daughter who wants to know that her mom is doing OK. It’s important for someone who might need to respond to a health emergency, and it is important for health professionals who might need to see those slight declines or trends over time,” she said. “Perhaps a person is less steady going up those steps than they were three months ago. That would be an important indicator to maybe make some changes in the house before a fall or something else occurs.”
Jones, director of the Aware Home, said that while such technologies can help monitor an older adult’s health, he doesn’t think they would entirely eliminate the need for care facilities. Rather, “it might also help in informing a family when someone may need a caregiver,” he said.
Mynatt agreed that at some point, the human body may need more constant care, and so there still may be a need for care facilities.
“What we will hopefully see is that older adults will live the majority of their lives in the setting of their choice,” she said. “Only in times of acute medical crisis or only at the very, very end of life would you have to move out of this setting.”
For now, Mynatt and her colleagues are analyzing how such technologies may change the future. However, you don’t have to wait: Some technologies are assisting older adults today.
Smart home technologies on the market
Mynatt has connected her smartphone to her mother’s Fitbit in order to keep track of her health and safety, despite living about a three-hour drive away, she said.
“If I’m wondering how she’s doing, I can just check on her steps,” Mynatt said. “I know that on Friday, she volunteers in the hospital and there’s going to be a lot of steps, and I know what Sunday’s going to look like, and I know what her routine is. So that little bit of information actually tells me quite a bit that she’s doing alright.”
As the 65-and-older population in the United States is projected to nearly double by the year 2050 – reaching 83.7 million – more and more smart technologies have appeared on the market for older adults.
One new device called Inirv React, currently in beta testing, connects your stove to a sensor in your home and a smartphone app. The sensor will automatically turn the stove off if it no longer detects motion around the appliance after a long period of time. You can also turn the stove off using your smartphone.
LifeAssist Technologies has developed the Reminder Rosie, a clock that allows you to record personalized messages and reminders that will be broadcast at scheduled times for whomever is in the home. A reminder could be to take medication or that the grandchildren will be coming over for dinner.
Then there’s MedMinder, a collection of automatic medication dispensers. The dispensers first flash to remind users to take their medication. They then beep if the medicine’s still not taken. Next, they call the user. After a certain period of time, a caregiver or family member will be notified.
There are robots on the market for older adults, too. The Paris-based company Bluefrog Robotics has developed Buddy, a companion robot that can act as a calendar reminder and alarm clock, and connect with home security systems.
With any technology, “most people ask that question, ‘How invasive is it?’ … But what we hear from older adults is that they value the security and the safety that the technology provides for them,” Mynatt said.
“When we’ve talked to older adults about robots that could help them in the home, they’ll tell us that they would rather have a robot than a human caregiver in some cases, because robots don’t gossip,” she said. “They don’t look through their things. Robots don’t judge. So if a robot could help them day in and day out then, and a human could come in as needed, they would love that combination.”
‘Being independent is foremost in the mind’
While many older adults worry about losing their independence, 75-year-old Albert Bolet of Atlanta thinks most older adults are typically receptive to bringing technology into their homes.
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“People have the misguided impression that seniors are adverse to technology. I don’t think that that is true at all,” said Bolet, who has participated as a subject in research at Georgia Tech’s Aware Home with his wife, Margarita.
“We do know what routers are, we do understand wireless technology, and we understand how these things will make things easier. People will always tend to use things that are simple and will eliminate problems in their life,” he said. “Being independent is foremost in the mind of anybody that gets to be our age or older.”
As technologies develop, researchers hope that they continue to improve independence and provide more options for older adults in the future. |
Caregiver startup CareLinx acquired by Generali Global Assistance | Generali Global Assistance, the US division of Europ Assistance Group, has acquired CareLinx, a seven-year-old digital health startup that offers a matching service for families and caregivers. The terms of the deal were undisclosed.
| http://www.mobihealthnews.com/content/caregiver-startup-carelinx-acquired-generali-global-assistance | 2017-09-26 09:08:33.663000 | Generali Global Assistance, the US division of Europ Assistance Group, has acquired CareLinx, a seven-year-old digital health startup that offers a matching service for families and caregivers. The terms of the deal were undisclosed.
“From the Generali perspective, we really believe we’re acquiring a unique asset with a competitive advantage of the nationwide caregivers as opposed to the traditional model,” Chris Carnicelli, CEO of Generali Global Assistance, said in a statement. “And all the dynamics are perfect for growing this business and helping the senior market evolve. So it’s not just that seniors want to stay at home, the dynamics and the economics are pushing the market toward the lower cost environment, which is the home, and we think the CareLinx model provides a unique opportunity because it’s perfectly positioned to deliver those sorts of opportunities.”
Generali has several assistance-related businesses in the US and overseas, including a travel assistance and roadside assistance business. CareLinx will be incorporated as its own elderly assistance business and will retain its full team, office, and brand.
“We’re super impressed with what Sherwin [Sheik, CEO of CareLinx] and his team have built, not only with the team but also the brand,” Carnicelli said. “So we’re very happy to keep the full team and the brand.”
CareLinx is one of a handful of VC-backed companies focused on connecting families with home caregivers — others include Honor, HomeTeam, and HomeHero, which was forced to shut down its business earlier this year and now operates in a new space under the name Harvey. While all those companies focused on the same problem, CareLinx approached it differently — which, Sheik says, helped attract the attention of not only Generali but a number of the company’s health plan and provider customers.
“The main difference between our model and their models is we’re a marketplace, whereas they are traditional agencies with their own tech staff. They basically employ all these caregivers, which is very costly and makes the unit economics hard to operate,” he told MobiHealthNews. “[At CareLinx,] we set up families as the direct employer of record and then, similar to ADP, we manage all the payroll, taxes, W2 issuance, on behalf of the patient and the caregiver. That allows us to have a nationwide network of 200,000 caregivers on our platform versus competitors who are struggling with about 1,000 caregivers on staff. Unless you are an employer on the scale of Cisco Systems it’s hard to compete with CareLinx’s model.”
That struggle of employing so many caregivers is exactly what forced HomeHero to shut down after a change in California’s labor laws. Sheik says CareLinx ended up taking on a lot of HomeHero’s clients in the aftermath, with the blessing of HomeHero cofounders Kyle Hill and Mike Townsend.
CareLinx has also been moving recently toward offering tools for payers and providers in addition to families. And the technology has grown to include digital care plans and remote patient monitoring, not just a matching service for caregivers and patients.
“Instead of relying on self-reporting of patients with chronic conditions, […] what we’re doing is we’re really helping health systems to better take care of their patients post-discharge,” Sheik said. “So we have a caregiver that’s basically given a digital care plan that’s customized by disease state and it tells the caregiver exactly what to do. When we’re in the home we capture discreet, relevant, clinical information that we use algorithms to send to care management teams to identify points for early intervention.”
Generali has resources, including a 24-hour nurse call line and doctors on staff, that will allow CareLinx to expand some of these new offerings even further. Also, because the company is international, the plan is to eventually facilitate an expansion of CareLinx overseas as well.
“The main takeaway here is Generali and CareLinx really believe that more and more of healthcare delivery is going to be transitioning from the facility-based, inpatient setting to — given physician shortages not just in the US but globally — to a lot more healthcare [being] delivered into the home,” Sheik said. “Really what we’re doing with the backing of Generali is building that ability for insurance companies and providers to extend beyond the facility walls and really provide healthcare into the home, which they currently can’t do.” |
Vision and Hearing Loss Are Tied to Cognitive Decline | Now and then I hear someone (myself included) proclaim “my brain is on overload.” This is not surprising given the myriad complex tasks the brain performs, among them enabling you to learn, plan, remember, communicate, see, hear and smell.
| https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/25/well/vision-and-hearing-loss-are-tied-to-cognitive-decline.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0 | 2017-09-26 09:07:55.187000 | Now and then I hear someone (myself included) proclaim “my brain is on overload.” This is not surprising given the myriad complex tasks the brain performs, among them enabling you to learn, plan, remember, communicate, see, hear and smell.
Perhaps also not surprising, a growing number of studies have linked compromised sensory functions like poor vision and hearing to a decline in cognitive abilities. The brain, it seems, can do only so much, and when it must struggle to make sense of the world – from reading the words on a page to understanding the spoken word – it may be less able to perform other important tasks.
While a cause-and-effect relationship has yet to be established, evidence is gradually increasing to suggest that uncorrected deficits in vision and hearing can accelerate cognitive decline.
National statistics demonstrate the importance of this relationship. The number of Americans with poor vision, often undetected among older adults, is expected to double by 2050; hearing loss – mostly untreated or undertreated – afflicts nearly two-thirds of adults over 70; both vision and hearing impairment occur in one person in nine age 80 and older (fewer than one in five have neither), and the prevalence of dementia is now doubling every 20 years. |
How Juniper’s Care Model Could Save Medicare $15 Billion Annually | Senior living providers might have the secret sauce to save the Medicare program more than $15 billion each year. That’s the message from Bloomfield, New Jersey-based Juniper Communities, which provides assisted living and memory care services at 22 communities in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Colorado and Florida.
| https://seniorhousingnews.com/2017/09/24/junipers-care-model-save-medicare-15-billion-annually/ | 2017-09-26 09:06:38.557000 | Senior living providers might have the secret sauce to save the Medicare program more than $15 billion each year.
That’s the message from Bloomfield, New Jersey-based Juniper Communities, which provides assisted living and memory care services at 22 communities in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Colorado and Florida.
Likely thanks to the company’s Connect4Life integrated care model, Juniper’s high-acuity residents are hospitalized far less often than similarly frail seniors in the general Medicare population, according to research findings released last spring. A new independent analysis shows what this means for Juniper in dollars and cents, and how those cost savings might translate to the U.S. health care system at large.
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Juniper has been able to achieve a hospitalization rate of 0.30 events per person per year for a population of 471 medically frail seniors, all of whom participate in Connect4Life. That compares to a hospitalization rate of 0.65 events per person per year for a population of 3.42 million Medicare beneficiaries who have a similar profile to the Juniper residents, according to the analysis done by Anne Tumlinson Innovations (ATI). Washington, D.C.-based ATI was founded by Anne Tumlinson, a health care and aging services expert who previously was a vice president with research and business intelligence firm Avalere.
With average spending per hospitalization calculated to be $10,399, Juniper is saving the Medicare program between $3.93 million and $6.04 million each year by reducing hospitalizations, according to the new ATI analysis. If the larger population of similar Medicare beneficiaries had the same hospitalization rates as the Juniper residents, the aggregate savings would be between $10 billion and $15.3 billion annually.
Throughout the passage and implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and in the ongoing debate about how to refine or replace the ACA, legislators and policymakers have been seeking ways to improve health outcomes while reducing spending. These new findings show that senior housing can help achieve these elusive twin goals, Juniper CEO Lynne Katzmann told Senior Housing News.
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Incentivizing connected care
Connect4Life is about integration and coordination. One part of the program is on-site primary care, therapy, pharmacy, and labs; Juniper also has hired medical concierges to ensure that these services are working smoothly together and meeting the needs of residents and their families. A shared technology platform—the PointClickCare EHR—facilitates communication and teamwork among all these stakeholders.
In light of the new research findings, senior living providers obviously might want to consider implementing similar programs, Katzmann said. While there are costs associated with starting and running Connect4Life, it has not only decreased hospitalizations but increased resident length of stay, Juniper has found. It also helped differentiate Juniper from competitors.
There’s the potential for additional financial benefits down the road, Katzmann believes.
“The magnitude of the savings we created suggests there are other ways of capturing ROI beyond length-of-stay and product differentiation,” she said. “When you look at the data we’re releasing, you see massive savings, but under the model we use right now, we don’t get those [dollars]. They accrue to the government and Medicare, not to us.”
Katzmann sees a few potential ways to change this situation. For instance, senior living providers could negotiate with an accountable care organization (ACO) to help manage its patient population, and receive payments from the ACO for hitting cost benchmarks.
Medicare Advantage presents another opportunity. These are Medicare insurance plans run by private sector organizations such as UnitedHealthcare. MA plans are growing in popularity and they have some latitude in defining their scope of benefits, so this could be a logical starting point for greater senior housing involvement.
“What the government needs to do quickly is allow MA plans the flexibility to cover some of the services we provide,” Katzmann said.
Some senior care organizations have begun to offer their own MA plans, and this is something that Juniper might do down the road, she added.
Tumlinson also sees potential referral benefits for providers that can achieve outcomes like Juniper.
“If I’m in charge of population health, in charge of a managed care plan or special needs plan, or a program focused on managing a high-cost population, I should be going, ‘Hey, which assisted living facility has invested in technology, in care coordination?’” she said. “If they’ve done that, I’m going to bring the primary care to them. I’m going to bring them residents, because I want my population living there.”
Not a medical model
While senior housing can and should coordinate with other the larger ecosystem of medical providers, this does not mean the industry needs to “medicalize” its operational model, Katzmann emphasized. Juniper still operates on nearly a 100% private-pay basis, and it maintains a hospitality-forward look and feel.
“If you were to come to our buildings today, you would not see a medical model,” she said. “Everybody [in the industry] has rehab, pharmacy services, allows home care aides to come in if residents need it. We do the same, except that we integrate it electronically and through an individual, our concierge, who does not walk around in a nurse’s uniform.”
Tumlinson rejects the notion that senior living needs to focus on hospitality more than health care, or vice-versa.
“I think this whole hospitality/health care split is false,” she said. “The residents are at the center, their needs should be met, and there’s growing acuity in assisted living. If you’re being rushed to the hospital every time something happens, and you’re 95, you can have all the most wonderful hospitality you want, but your resident is still not having good quality of life.”
Acuity is not only growing in assisted living, but in independent living, in skilled nursing, and in the aging U.S. population at large, Tumlinson emphasized. It’s this large-scale shift in health care needs that really has her attention, and Katzmann’s, as they look toward the evolving role of senior housing.
“Society as a whole is thinking about curative medicine, and it needs to be thinking about enriched housing,” Katzmann said. “When you link service-enriched housing with chronic care management, and deal with functional impairment, you can avoid very high-cost interventions like hospitalization. These findings say senior housing has the potential to solve some of the big, intractable issues leading to the explosion in health care costs.”
Written by Tim Mullaney |
Superhydrophilic water filter could bring down cost of fracking | UK researchers have developed a system for filtering water from fracking operations more effectively, helping to reduce pollution and waste. The scientists from the University of Swansea created a superhydrophilic filter that has a ceramic membrane with microscale pores, which uses ionic charges to prevent fouling. Just one pass through the membrane was able to clean contaminated water enough for it to be reused at a well, and the filter can operate at lower pressure, making the process substantially more efficient and environmentally friendly. Hydraulically fractured wells use large amounts of water, of which only about 10% to 15% is normally recoverable. | https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-09/su-fmb092517.php | 2017-09-26 09:01:10.407000 | A new superhydrophilic filter has proven able to remove greater than 90 per cent of hydrocarbons, as well as all bacteria and particulates from contaminated water produced by hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations at shale oil and gas wells, according to researchers at the Energy Safety Research Institute at Swansea University in collaboration with researchers at Rice University.
The work by Prof Andrew R Barron and his colleagues turns a ceramic membrane with microscale pores into a superhydrophilic filter that "essentially eliminates" the common problem of fouling.
The researchers determined one pass through the membrane should clean contaminated water enough for reuse at a well, significantly cutting the amount that has to be stored or transported.
The work is reported in Nature's open-access Scientific Reports.
The filters keep emulsified hydrocarbons from passing through the material's ionically charged pores, which are about one-fifth of a micron wide, small enough that other contaminants cannot pass through. The charge attracts a thin layer of water that adheres to the entire surface of the filter to repel globules of oil and other hydrocarbons and keep it from clogging.
A hydraulically fractured well uses more than 5 million gallons of water on average, of which only 10 to 15 per cent is recovered during the flow back stage, Barron said.
"This makes it very important to be able to re-use this water"
Not every type of filter reliably removes every type of contaminant, he said.
Solubilized hydrocarbon molecules slip right through micro filters designed to remove bacteria. Natural organic matter, like sugars from guar gum used to make fracking fluids more viscous, require ultra- or nanofiltration, but those foul easily, especially from hydrocarbons that emulsify into globules. A multistage filter that could remove all the contaminants isn't practical due to cost and the energy it would consume.
Frac water and produced waters represent a significant challenge on a technical level. If you use a membrane with pores small enough to separate they foul, and this renders the membrane useless. In our case, the superhydrophilic treatment results in an increased flux (flow) of water through the membrane as well as inhibiting any hydrophobic material - such as oil - from passing through. The difference in solubility of the contaminants thus works to allow for separation of molecules that should in theory pass through the membrane.
Barron and his colleagues used cysteic acid to modify the surface of an alumina-based ceramic membrane, making it superhydrophilic, or extremely attracted to water. The superhydrophilic surface has a contact angle of 5 degrees.
The acid covered not only the surface but also the inside of the pores, and that kept particulates from sticking to them and fouling the filter.
In tests with fracking flow back or produced water that contained guar gum, the alumna membrane showed a slow initial decrease in flux -- a measure of the flow of mass through a material -- but it stabilized for the duration of lab tests. Untreated membranes showed a dramatic decrease within 18 hours.
The researchers theorized the initial decrease in flow through the ceramics was due to purging of air from the pores, after which the superhydrophilic pores trapped the thin layer of water that prevented fouling.
"This membrane doesn't foul, so it lasts," Barron said. "It requires lower operating pressures, so you need a smaller pump that consumes less electricity. And that's all better for the environment."
"Fracking has proved highly controversial in the UK in part as a result of the pollution generated from produced waters", co-author Darren Oatley-Radcliffe, an associate professor, at Swansea University, said, "However, with this new super-hydrophilic membrane we can clean up this waste produced water to a very high standard and recycle all of the materials, significantly improving the environmental performance of the fracking process."
###
Rice alumnus Samuel Maguire-Boyle is lead author of the paper. Co-authors are Rice alumnus Joseph Huseman; graduate student Thomas Ainscough at Swansea University, Wales; and Abdullah Alabdulkarem, of the Mechanical Engineering Department, and Sattam Fahad Al-Mojil, an assistant professor and environmental adviser, at King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Barron is the Sêr Cymru Chair of Low Carbon Energy and Environment at Swansea and the Charles W. Duncan Jr.-Welch Professor of Chemistry and a professor of materials science and nanoengineering at Rice.
The research was supported by the Welsh Government Sêr Cymru Program, FLEXIS, which is partially funded by the European Regional Development Fund, and the Robert A. Welch Foundation.
Notes
Read the abstract at http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-12499-w
For more information about ESRI go to http://www.esri-swansea.org/en/. Follow ESRI via Twitter @ESRI_Swansea
Swansea University is a world-class, research-led, dual campus university. The University was established in 1920 and was the first campus university in the UK. It currently offers around 350 undergraduate courses and 350 postgraduate courses to circa 20,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students.
The University's 46-acre Singleton Park Campus is located in beautiful parkland with views across Swansea Bay. The University's 65-acre science and innovation Bay Campus, which opened in September 2015, is located a few miles away on the eastern approach to the city. It has the distinction of having direct access to a beach and its own seafront promenade. Both campuses are close to the Gower Peninsula, the UK's first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Swansea is ranked the top university in Wales and is currently The Times and The Sunday Times 'Welsh University of the Year' for 2017. It is also ranked within the top 300 best universities in the world in the Times Higher Education World University rankings.
The results of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 showed the University has achieved its ambition to be a top 30 research University, soaring up the league table to 26th in the UK, with the 'biggest leap among research-intensive institutions' (Times Higher Education, December 2014) in the UK.
The University has ambitious expansion plans as it moves towards its centenary in 2020, as it continues to extend its global reach and realising its domestic and international ambitions. |
Connecticut accelerator offers insurtech start-ups $25,000 grants | Startupbootcamp has launched the InsurTech Accelerator, an incubation programme for insurtech companies based in Hartford, Connecticut. The programme was established in partnership with insurers Cigna, The Hartford, and Travelers as well as Connecticut entrepreneur support company CTNext. The InsurTech Accelerator will offer successful applicants a three-month programme including a $25,000 grant and a co-working space. Eligible applicants must already have a prototype of their product and funding from other sources. | https://financialit.net/news/insurance/startupbootcamp-launches-insurtech-accelerator-hartford | 2017-09-26 08:47:27.817000 | Startupbootcamp Launches InsurTech Accelerator in Hartford
Startupbootcamp today announced the launch of its new InsurTech Accelerator in Hartford, designed specifically to rapidly scale insurance-focused technology startups. The InsurTech Accelerator, which is now accepting applications, has been established to attract new talent and technology to Hartford, one of the world’s leading insurance centers, and will provide entrepreneurs with the support, resources, and industry and investor connections they need to help grow their business.
Founding local partners of the InsurTech Accelerator are Cigna, The Hartford, Travelers, and CTNext. Additional corporate partners include USAA and White Mountains. The InsurTech Accelerator is part of Hartford InsurTech Hub, an initiative that was conceived of by a diverse set of executives from Hartford-area insurance carriers and other related firms, City of Hartford staff, and several other community stakeholders. Opportunities to help spur more InsurTech innovation activity in the region were identified by this group, and action against these goals was catalyzed by investment from CTNext: Connecticut’s Innovation Ecosystem.
Each year, 10 to 12 startups will be accepted into the three-month intensive accelerator program in Hartford, and will receive an initial cash grant of $25,000, co-working space for each startup team, and access to Startupbootcamp’s global network of mentors and investors. To be eligible for the program, entrepreneurs must have a working prototype and have secured startup funding from other sources ranging from $150,000 to $500,000.
“Startupbootcamp is a global brand name in innovation and entrepreneurship, and their decision to launch their first InsurTech accelerator in North America here in Hartford is really significant for our City and for the State of Connecticut,” said Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin. “Today’s announcement is the direct result of the strong partnership we’ve been building between our insurance companies, our educational institutions, and the City of Hartford. Working hand in hand with the private sector, our goal is to make Hartford the capital of insurance innovation, and the launch of this InsurTech accelerator is a big part of that strategy. Our focus on InsurTech is just one part of a broader effort to make Hartford a center of innovation, not only in the insurance sector, but also in advanced manufacturing and healthcare – areas where the Greater Hartford region has tremendous strength. I’m grateful to all of the partners who came together to make today’s announcement possible.”
The program will reach beyond Connecticut and leverage Startupbootcamp’s global network, including resources in New York City and Miami, where Startupbootcamp FinTech and Digital Health programs reside. Entrepreneurs participating in the InsurTech Accelerator will also benefit from the experience that Startupbootcamp has gained through its globally-respected InsurTech Accelerator in London.
Sabine VanderLinden, CEO, Startupbootcamp InsurTech, said: “I am thrilled to support a unique initiative in Hartford that brings together ecosystem development, startup acceleration and corporate engagement. We are fortunate to be working with some of the most renowned insurance brands in the United States to continue building entrepreneurial talents within the insurance and technology space. During the past two years, we have seen increased and speedier engagements between fast-moving insurers and those startups that have propositions clearly aligned to corporate entities’ needs. Our goal is to reflect on our learning, select international ventures that can foster an innovation spirit within the City of Hartford’s new InsurTech hub and build a spirit of collaboration and the entrepreneurial community in a City that has so many insurers gathered in one place.”
“USAA is always looking for opportunities to work with innovative companies, entrepreneurs and organizations. Our goal is to learn, test and implement new products so we can better serve our members,” said Jon-Michael Kowall, assistance vice president of innovation, USAA. “We are excited to see what can come out of this relationship and what types of problems we can solve for our members.”
“New technologies and applications are creating significant opportunities for the insurance industry,” said Brian MacLean, President and Chief Operating Officer of Travelers. “We’re focused on innovation, advancing our digital agenda and making investments in technology, products, people and partnerships. The InsurTech Accelerator is one of those investments, and we’re proud to be a part of the city’s initiative to support economic growth and help attract new talent and businesses to the area.”
“Cigna is investing in the InsurTech Accelerator to connect us with local technology start-ups and entrepreneurs who can help us drive innovation that advances our mission for improving the health, well-being and sense of security for our more than 95 million customer relationships around the globe,” said Cigna Executive Vice President and Global Chief Information Officer Dr. Mark Boxer. “To put a new turn on an old phrase, we’re innovating locally to serve our customers globally.”
Devi Mohanty, vice president of Strategy and Innovation for The Hartford said: “As an insurer based in Hartford for more than 200 years, we are pleased to be part of the team bringing this innovation to Greater Hartford. Technology continues to change the way insurers engage with customers and underwrite and price risk. The InsurTech Accelerator will enable us to embrace the new technologies and continue to advance our industry.”
“This is exactly the type of public-private partnership we wanted to catalyze through our Innovation Places program," said Glendowlyn Thames, Executive Director of CTNext. "We are thrilled to see the East Hartford/Hartford Innovation Place Initiative, one of the winning communities, so quickly leverage the program’s resources and work in partnership with the private sector to ultimately create new jobs, grow tax revenue and establish itself as a next-generation hub of innovation within the insurance industry." |
Investors trapped as hyperinflation fears return to Zimbabwe | Companies including JPMorgan, Franklin Templeton, British American Tobacco, Delta and Allan Gray are being prevented from repatriating funds from Zimbabwe even as residents pour money into the local stock market, amid fears another bout of hyperinflation may be imminent. President Robert Mugabe's government has begun printing hundreds of millions of new bond notes, evoking memories of the collapse of the country's currency a decade ago, when inflation hit 500 billion per cent. Zimbabweans seeking to preserve their capital are investing in gold, property and shares, and bitcoin rates are soaring on local exchange Bitcoinfundi. | https://qz.com/1088620/bitcoin-soars-in-zimbabwe-as-economy-falters-and-investors-are-left-frustrated/ | 2017-09-26 08:45:06.710000 | Harare
Dejection, hopelessness and desperation are written over the faces of the majority of Zimbabweans as they queue up for fuel and foodstuffs that have become scarce across the country amid fears that the country has started to slide back into the 2008 hyper-inflation era.
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Even bitcoin rates, which some ordinary Zimbabweans have turned to as a storage of value, has started to soar on a local Zimbawean exchange Bitcoinfundi. It was up to $5,600 for a bitcoin versus $4080 per bitcoin on the Coinbase global index. The discrepancy is caused by the difficulty Zimbabweans will have in cashing out their bitcoins locally.
President Robert Mugabe on Monday (Sep.25) promised to deal with the current wave of foodstuff and fuel shortages in double quick time. He blamed “economic saboteurs” for the sudden worsening of the economic situation, ordering retailers to speedily reduce prices or face action from the government.
This has however brought little cheer to crisis weary Zimbabweans who are faced with further cuts to drug supplies, electricity and other commodities thanks to forex shortages despite the government asking platinum and chrome miners to surrender about three quarters of their forex earnings to the central bank. Anglo Platinum and Impala Platinum—the world’s biggest miners of the precious metal—will be affected by this although they are in negotiations with the government over this.
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Investors in Zimbabwe’s economy are also trying to run for cover as they empty their portfolios. But others are stuck in Zimbabwe as they cannot repatriate funds out of the country, with British American Tobacco and Delta Corporation being the notable affected companies.
The justification is that it is better to use cash resources now than hold onto them and watch them lose value. Zimbabwe introduced local bond notes last year which initially traded at par with the US Dollar but these have been losing value fast in the past few weeks.
Zimbabwe is expecting economic growth of 2.7% this year, driven by a better agricultural season, stronger mining production and improving tourist arrivals but economists say the current wave of uncertainty and constraints being faced by businesses will stiffle growth.
But it is not just the bigger investors and established businesses that have been affected by Zimbabwe’s falling economy. Pensioners and workers have also been affected as they have to do with being turned away from banks because lenders frequently run out of cash and have instituted daily withdrawal limits of $50 when the cash is available.
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“It has become very difficult for the public to access cash from banks. People are not even accessing their salaries and the worst scenario is that pensioners, some as old as 80 are sleeping outside banks,” Peter Mutasa, president of trade union, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) said on Tuesday.
Zimbabwe’s unemployment has ballooned to over 80% and the ZCTU says continued value loss in the bond notes and foreign currency shortages will “condemn more than 90% of the population which survives on informal activities into destitution”.
“The avenging spirit of 2008 needs to be exorcised before it wipes out our dignity. The country is in this predicament largely because of fiscal indiscipline that is being driven by a culture of consumerism by a broke and clueless government,” underscored Mutasa. |
China Mobile in talks to buy Brazilian telecoms operator Oi | China Mobile is in early talks to buy struggling Brazilian telecoms operator Oi and has met regulator Anatel to discuss this and other options for further investments in Brazil, sources have said. Oi filed for bankruptcy protection in June last year and so far it has been unsuccessful in agreeing a recovery plan with creditors. China Mobile, on the other hand, is now the world's biggest mobile operator, with a local customer base of 873.73 million as of the end of August. Oi has a 23% market share for fixed line broadband, the third biggest in Brazil, and a 17.4% share of mobile customers.
| https://www.totaltele.com/498114/China-Mobile-eyes-Brazil-entry-with-Oi-buy | 2017-09-26 08:44:55.967000 | Get the free newsletter
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Ping An Technology targets 50% of sales from external business | China-based Ping An Technology, a subsidiary of Ping An Insurance, is hoping half of its business can be represented by external companies making use of its data and technology offerings. The subsidiary was established as an in-house technology provider in 2008 and has since developed services such as facial recognition technology, which the firm uses for offerings like its wealth management and online-lending platform Lufax. Roughly a quarter of its current business for facial recognition technology is derived from external clients. | http://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/2112822/chinas-ping-technology-aims-generate-half-its-business | 2017-09-26 08:43:40.377000 | In May, Ping An Insurance announced the appointment of Jonathan Larsen, former head of retail banking and mortgages at Citigroup, as its chief innovation officer. Photo: Jonathan Wong |
BMW to roll out wireless charging pads for 530e hybrid | BMW is to launch a wireless charging system for its 530e iPerformance plug-in hybrid. The charging pad connects to a 220-volt outlet and BMW said the car's 9.4 kWh battery can be charged within 3.5 hours at a rate of 3.2 kW. The technology is not yet available in North America as it requires safety certification but BMW is planning to launch the pads in other countries next year.
| https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/25/16363038/bmw-wireless-charging-pad-for-cars-530e | 2017-09-26 08:39:30.397000 | BMW is close to rolling out wireless charging on one of its cars — and this time, it doesn’t involve phones. That feature is already there, but being able to wirelessly charge your car is new.
It really is a big charging pad for a 530e iPerformance plug-in hybrid. The BMW pad connects to a 220-volt outlet, then the sensors on the car show you where to steer so the vehicle can communicate with the charger, as shown in this video.
According to BMW, the 9.4kWh battery in the 530e can be charged in about 3.5 hours at 3.2kW of power, or close to the level you’d get if you just plugged the car in with a cord.
A BMW North America spokesperson told The Verge in an email that the technology depicted in the video is still in the testing and evaluation phase for the US and Canada. It still needs UL approval, too.
In other countries, BMW plans to launch the wireless charging system early next year, but only on the 530e iPerformance plug-in hybrid sedan. Other iPerformance PHEVs —which include the 330e, 740e, and X5 — as well as the i3 and i8 electric vehicles are set to be offered with the system later.
While it’s still a few years away from being even available here, and there’s no word on what it might cost when it does arrive, BMW is still about to be one of the first manufacturers offer wireless vehicle charging from the factory on a model. |
Houston geophysics conference showcases exploration technologies | A range of new geoscience and exploration technologies are to be showcased at a forthcoming event being organised by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists in Houston, Texas. This includes DI Transform’s geoscience and engineering tools, which allow users to precisely locate horizontal well bores and calculate geometric attributes for them, using deviation surveys and gridded geologic surfaces. Also highlighted at the event is electromagnetic source system EMGS Deep Blue, which is capable of operating at depths of 4,000 metres and has a depth of penetration of up to 1.5 km. | https://www.epmag.com/seg-conference-tout-new-exploration-technologies-1657666#p=full | 2017-09-26 08:23:26.297000 | The Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) International Exposition and 87th Annual Meeting in Houston provides an avenue to showcase and share new technical insights and business developments across multiple disciplines of the geosciences sector. The following is a sampling of some of the new technologies and products that will be showcased at the conference this year.
Editor’s note: The copy herein is contributed from service companies and does not reflect the opinions of Hart Energy.
Digital seismic system receives upgrade
Designer and manufacturer Avalon Sciences Ltd. (ASL) delivers borehole seismic technology with a specific focus on vertical seismic profiling and downhole microseismic equipment. At booth 2320 at the SEG conference ASL will be presenting the latest hardware, including an update on the new 3-component downhole fiber-optic system (BOSS) and the new X-Series modular upgrade to the Geochain system. The X-Series will deliver tool functionality enhancements to clients’ existing Geochain inventory, namely upgrading the downhole tool temperature rating to 196 C (385 F), along with improved telemetry performance and integrated high-side indicators to give real-time tool roll and inclination values within every satellite. Combined with the company’s new ultrahigh-pressure 35,000-psi Advanced Seismic Receiver, the new X-Geochain is designed to be one of the most robust wireline seismic tools for operation in the most hostile of well environments. avalonsciences.com
FWI, least-squares migration a focus at SEG
At SEG 2017 CGG will showcase some of its latest imaging technologies including reflection-based full-waveform inversion (RFWI) and least-squares migration (LSM). Both technologies have been applied to some of CGG’s most recent JumpStart integrated multiclient geoscience programs, including Encontrado in the Southern Gulf of Mexico. In complex areas FWI provides significant uplift in velocity model accuracy, particularly in the shallow sediment section. Recent advances using RFWI have delivered significant improvement in deeper sections below complex structures such as mobile shales or massive salt bodies. CGG also has made extensive advances in LSM technology, which can provide substantial improvements to both image quality and amplitude fidelity. For more information, see the six CGG papers on RFWI and LSM in the SEG 2017 technical program. cgg.com
RFWI enhances the imaging of the complex Perdido fold belt structures and underlying reservoirs in the Encontrado program. (Source: CGG Multi-Client & New Ventures)
Transforming end-user geoscience
As the oil and gas industry embraces increased digitalization across the hydrocarbon value chain, the geoscience community needs more computing power at its disposal to manage the exponential increase in captured seismic and operational data but without the burden of being forced to locate teams where the computing power traditionally is. Geoscience benefits greatly when workflows are executed in close proximity to the field, and this is accomplished using three end-user computing modes: 1) regional geoscience, where teams share computing resources through high-visualization virtual desktop infrastructure; 2) remote operations, where offshore and environmentally challenged locations require computing through self-contained appliances; and 3) enhanced immersive geoscience, where virtual and augmented reality technologies increase the level of data interaction, understanding and geoscience collaboration in a practical, material way. Dell EMC is demonstrating end-user geoscience transformation at SEG 2017 booth 1101 using its Petrotechnical IT Solution Suite. dellemc.com
Triple-combo log suite categorizes porosity components
It is commonly recognized that unconventional reservoir systems have mixed wetting—both a water-wet fraction and an oil-wet fraction. Analysis of rock samples has been used for many years to measure reservoir wetting (Kumar et al. 2015). However, there are no available petrophysical techniques for wetting categorization using readily available logging suites. In 2016 (AAPG, Las Vegas) using triple-combo logs Digital Formation presented data from a number of unconventional reservoirs categorizing the porosity component that is water-wet and recognizing another component that is oil-wet. The oil-wet component is organic porosity generated from the total organic carbon during the thermal maturation process. This organic porosity has not been previously calculated in standard petrophysical analysis. The approach has very significant applications to the study of flow characteristics of unconventional reservoirs. The amounts of porosity that are oil-wet and water-wet can be quantified level by level. Each component will have markedly different flow characteristics to derive a combined response for the total system. digitalformation.com
Visualize, manipulate and interpret data within single software platform
How are you figuring out which zones your competitors’ wells are landing in and producing from? How are you measuring well interference? Are you using geoscience and engineering data to predict and optimize future results? Imagine a tool that could use deviation surveys and gridded geologic surfaces to precisely locate horizontal wellbores and calculate geometric attributes for each, such as distance to nearest fault, percent in zone and more in minutes. Or imagine a tool that allowed quick but sophisticated identification and quantification of interfering well pairs or perhaps a tool that was customdesigned to integrate geology, geophysics and engineering data in a rigorous multivariate analytics workflow to predict the best “recipe” for wells in a specific area. With DI Transform these tools are a reality. With 3-D visualization and functionality to solve today’s challenges DI Transform is designed to help companies throughout the oil patch deliver better answers and results. info.drillinginfo.com
DI Transform’s geoscience and engineering tools help users meet today’s resource play development challenges. (Source: Drillinginfo)
System improves depth penetration and resolution
EMGS has completed the development of the next-generation electromagnetic (EM) source system. Deep Blue was developed within a joint industry project (JIP) with Shell and Statoil with the goal of significantly improving the depth penetration and resolution compared to existing EM systems. The new deep-towed source can operate in water depths up to 4,000 m (13,123 ft), and the depth of penetration will increase up to 1.5 km (.93 mile) in most geological settings. Deep Blue not only impacts deep exploration targets but also near-field exploration and field appraisals, where resolution and sensitivity requirements are higher. Following a successful technology trial offshore Norway, which confirmed improvements in data quality and prospect imaging, the JIP partners entered a commercialization agreement. The first commercial survey using the next-generation EM source system was recently completed in an area offshore Norway. emgs.com
The EMGS Deep Blue source (left) is shown being deployed for its first commercial survey offshore Norway. The EMGS conventional source is shown on the right. (Source: EMGS)
Import data, co-visualize information
Canopy Geoscience is a software platform for building geoscience applications using Python. The platform provides tools to import geoscience data and co-visualize information spanning multiple disciplines such as geophysics, petrophysics and reservoir engineering. This eliminates the limitations of domain-specific solutions and accelerates the delivery of innovative data analysis workflows to oil and gas companies. The Python scientific software ecosystem provides a wide range of tools to rapidly take research ideas from the whiteboard to deployed applications. Leverage existing geoscience toolkits including seismic processing, geostatistics and reservoir simulation. Incorporate the latest artificial intelligence techniques and machine learning models using scikit-image, TensorFlow, Keras and more. Users can give their existing Python scripts a custom user interface and deploy easy-to-use applications to their team. Canopy Geoscience is extensible, and plugins can be written to extend the capabilities of the application. Enthought builds custom software for oil and gas companies that are deployed on Canopy Geoscience. enthought.com
Canopy Geoscience integrates data input/output and visualization in a Python environment for building innovative geoscience applications. (Source: Enthought)
Flexibility, scalability and safety in OBN acquisition
FairfieldNodal has extended its ZNodal Technology portfolio to include ZXPLR, an ocean-bottom node (OBN) capable of dual-mode deployment. New efficiencies in deployment and node handling will create more cost-effective opportunities to acquire the long-offset, full-azimuth and densely sampled data characteristic of OBN acquisition. In a deepwater configuration ZXPLR is designed to significantly improve node deployment, recovery and HSE exposure by increasing high-speed loader (HSL) payloads, employing mid-water docking and active heave controls on HSL and ROV systems. In shallow-water configuration ZXPLR features automated retrieval and deployment with safe and efficient handsfree rope connection and disconnection. Overall survey and back deck management systems have been improved, and onboard data quality control has been largely automated, enabling onboard processors to quickly and consistently verify node data. fairfieldnodal.com
Marine vibrator generates seismic energy equivalent to airguns
The environmental impact of subsea noise can be significant— high-amplitude impulsive sources can mask animal calls and may cause temporary hearing loss or changes in animal behavior. The Geokinetics AquaVib marine vibrator is a towable marine source that generates seismic energy equivalent to airguns at significantly reduced sound pressure levels and at frequencies below the hearing range of most marine species. The AquaVib subarray consists of two Triton vibrators and one lower frequency Subton, each with different response characteristics and resonant frequencies. Advanced controller systems enable precision acoustic output while providing real-time feedback to ensure high levels of acoustic quality control. AquaVib is designed for water depths as little as 1 m (3.28 ft), delivering performance and reliability in challenging transition zones, lakes and shallow-water OBN surveys. geokinetics.com
Technology results to be featured at conference
Geophysical Insights will be showcasing the application of two important results that are the product of applying Paradise machine learning technology on multiple seismic attributes simultaneously at single sample resolution: discrimination direct hydrocarbon indicators (DHIs) and identifying thinbeds below classic seismic tuning at SEG 2017. DHIs are seismic anomalies due to the presence of hydrocarbons and caused by changes in rock physic properties. The accurate interpretation of DHI characteristics has proven to significantly improve the success rates of drilling commercial wells. Paradise incorporates attribute generation and multi-attribute analysis using self-organizing maps. Likewise, the identification of features below classic seismic tuning (thinbeds) is enabled by multi-attribute analysis and is not restricted to resolution limits of conventional amplitude data. Both of these capabilities have profound consequences on interpretation, which will be addressed in presentations at the company’s booth 301 and are described in recent papers. geoinsights.com
Self-organizing maps enable interpreters to clearly identify thinbeds and edge effects associated with DHI characteristics such as hydrocarbons contacts, transition from hydrocarbon to brine portions of the reservoir and even more accurate hydrocarbon volumetric calculations. (Source: Geophysical Insights)
Producing multiple possible geological realizations
Ikon Science will be releasing a new stochastic version of RokDoc Ji-Fi technology. The flagship joint impedance and facies inversion technology (Ji-Fi), which requires no low-frequency background model, generates multiple equi-probable realizations of facies and elastic properties from seismic and geological input data. This new release delivers a host of statistical analysis features to assess rock and hydrocarbon volumes along with facies and rock property uncertainty. RokDoc Ji-Fi brings 21st century seismic data analysis to subsurface teams working in exploration, near-field, development and production drilling. Other enhancements to RokDoc Ji-Fi this fall include spatially varying wavelet and noise fields and a new, more intuitive and user-friendly interface. Furthermore, the 2017 software supports high-performance computing solutions on both large-scale cluster and cloud computing environments. ikonscience.com
Stochastic inversion allows uncertainty in reservoir properties to be taken into account, producing multiple possible geological realizations. (Source: Ikon Science)
Collaboration leads to nodal acquisition system
A collaboration between INOVA Geophysical and Innoseis has enabled development of a new, fully featured autonomous nodal acquisition system. The system leverages iX1 command and control software from INOVA and Tremornet from Innoseis to create a new system called Quantum. iX1 provides hardware and software functionality for all types of onshore seismic operations plus nodal data download and management and in-field operational tools. iX1 also provides integrated source control and is compatible with INOVA’s existing cable and cableless acquisition ground equipment facilitating a single system infrastructure for hybrid deployments. Quantum is the industry’s lightest and lowest power nodal sensor enabling fast, cost-effective seismic recording. These attributes make dense receiver deployment economically feasible resulting in a higher resolution seismic image. The Quantum system provides users with a new acquisition technology, supported worldwide by INOVA, that is designed to deliver lower costs, greater operational flexibility and improved image quality. inovageo.com
Accelerate development of web-based data visualization
INT offers the only digital framework—IVAAP—which unlocks significant value for E&P with a modern, cloudbased platform to help companies achieve the lowest TCO and highest operational performance. IVAAP’s modular and scalable microservices architecture accelerates the development of data visualization and analysis solutions so users can replace outdated legacy platforms quickly and easily. IVAAP aggregates and streams multiple data sources in real time, including WITSML, and the HTML5 client uses GeoToolkit libraries—the industry standard—to build powerful visualizations, including well logs, histograms, schematics, 2-D/3-D and more. With no installation needed, users can set up and analyze their data in minutes. Cloud-enabled and network-secure, IVAAP allows teams to collaborate remotely and helps companies optimize their E&P processes. int.com
IVAAP is a digital framework that accelerates the development of web-based data visualization and analysis solutions for upstream E&P users. (Source: INT)
New technique for thin layer interpretation, hydrocarbon detection
Lumina’s PhaseDecomp is a direct hydrocarbon and sweet spot indicator that offers a new technique for thin layer interpretation and hydrocarbon detection by making subtle amplitude effects highly visible. By separating the seismic trace amplitudes into unique phase components (akin to spectral decomposition’s frequency components), phase attributes that accentuate otherwise subtle amplitude anomalies are produced. Lateral changes in lithology, porosity and fluid content all affect amplitude and phase of the seismic data. Amplitude anomalies become more recognizable when interpreted on individual phase component volumes. Hydrocarbon effects are commonly separated on the -90 phase component, while water contacts could be more readily observed in the 180 phase component. With this improved seismic interpretation technique, hydrocarbon volumetrics and reserves calculation is more precise, and exploration risk is reduced. luminageo.us/v2
The left image is a stacked seismic section, and the right is the -90 phase component showing bright amplitudes at hydrocarbon accumulations. (Source: Lumina Geophysical)
Real-time notification of seismicity
Nanometrics’ developments in processing and noise-suppression techniques fully utilize the power of broadband seismometers, which allow cost-effective passive fracture imaging, giving users fracturing diagnostics at a fraction of the price of costly and riskier downhole monitoring. The company operates the largest private arrays in the world by which operators can share installation costs while maintaining state and provincial regulatory compliance. Real-time risk management is best accomplished through dense monitoring arrays (private or shared), allowing operators to monitor themselves. Nanometrics will be at SEG at booth 1909. nanometrics.ca
Improving asset team effectiveness
At SEG Paradigm will feature some of the advanced technologies in its Paradigm 17 release, designed to improve asset team effectiveness and results. These include incorporating machine learning into the interpretation platform for facies classification. Another workflow presented lets users realize the full value of chronostratigraphic modeling by combining chronostratigraphic interpretation and modeling without approximations. The company will present broadband deghosting in a high-resolution seismic processing, imaging and inversion workflow. Paradigm will also show the value of in situ full-azimuth imaging for different geologic regimes and demonstrate how to improve field decisions through precision depthing with travel time-preserving tomography. Advanced SKUA-GOCAD technologies will be presented, including stochastic refinement and inversion for better vertical resolution and probabilistic outcomes, the use of integrated reservoir modeling to improve horizontal well placement, and other new offerings. Finally, the company will show how Paradigm software running on the cloud provides an optimal solution to the demanding requirements of the oil and gas E&P industry. pdgm.com
Seismic vector array used to characterize, monitor subsurface
At SEG Paulsson Inc. will showcase a borehole vector-seismic all-optical array consisting of a small-diameter drillpipe- based deployment system that includes a hydraulic clamping mechanism for the sensor pods, an optical sensor pod design, a fiber-optic seismic vector sensor, distributed temperature sensors, distributed acoustic sensors and optical pressure sensors. In combination, these technologies allow the deployment of an ultralarge number of 3-component seismic sensor pods and distributed optical sensor arrays in vertical, deviated or horizontal wells. Laboratory and field tests of the fiber-optic seismic vector sensors have shown that the optical borehole seismic sensor technology can generate high vector fidelity data with extremely large bandwidth—0.01 Hz to 10,000 Hz. Benefits include a proven capability to record micro-seismic data at magnitudes much smaller than M-4.0 at frequencies more than 2,000 Hz at temperatures more than 300 C (572 F). paulsson.com
The Paulsson team deploys an all-optical vector seismic and distributed optical sensor array into a deviated borehole drilled into a Michigan reef to monitor a CO 2 flood. (Source: Paulsson)
Geoscience application software increases efficiency
SeisWare and Recon software is an integrated geophysical and geological interpretation package used by geophysicists and geologists. SeisWare International Inc. developed a patented technology called Cascade Technology. Any changes to interpretation immediately update within the company’s interactive windows while re-gridding all of the user’s structural surfaces on the fly. This is designed to greatly reduce the time it takes for geologists to do quality control and increases efficiency and accuracy of interpretation. seisware.com
Improving subsalt images in the GoM
New long-offset and dual wide-azimuth (WAZ) acquisitions combined with a geologically sound velocity modeling strategy provides unprecedented insights into the subsalt of the Mississippi Canyon region of the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). Salt structures can be complicated but, once they are built, can simplify the geologic model. Completely reworking some salt tectonic structures enhances the image, particularly in the Mesozoic section. It is critical that concepts are tested and proven successful for the resulting migrated image. Certain types of improvements stand out. Refinement of the shallow salt shape and especially of shallow overhangs uplifts the local subsalt image. Salt-stock geometries are addressed, and in some cases shapes are simplified. Salt wings and early Miocene canopy structures are reevaluated. The common hourglass shape of vertical stocks is simplified, widening the “waist,” vastly improving the base-salt image at the Louann level and permitting presalt imaging. tgs.com
Salt interpretation for velocity model building using long-offset multi-WAZ data improves the subsalt image in the eastern Mississippi Canyon in the GoM. (Source: TGS)
Onshore seismic data acquisition enhanced
Wireless Seismic has enhanced and expanded the industry’s only fully scalable wireless seismic recording systems with realtime data transmission. The RT2 system now features new hardware developed to significantly reduce the wireless recording unit power consumption, resulting in less capex and greater efficiencies. One fully charged standard six-cell battery now operates a wireless recording unit for 25-plus days. Wireless Seismic is also a collaboration partner with Total E&P Research & Development and Geokinetics for the next-generation land seismic acquisition and processing system Multiphysics Exploration Technology Integrated System (METIS). Wireless Seismic provides the real-time seismic recording infrastructure that supports the 150,000-plus real-time channels required by METIS deployments; the high-speed, real-time radio telemetry system based on its next-generation radio technology; and the seismic recording channel called Downfall Air Receiver Technology (DART) deployed from aerial drones. wirelessseismic.com |
Price comparison site investigated over contracts with insurers | The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is investigating an unnamed insurance comparison site over concerns about its contractual arrangement with certain insurance providers. It is possible agreements between the comparison site and insurers may be obstructing policies appearing on other price comparison sites at a cheaper price. This potentially is causing UK consumers to pay more for their home insurance policies. The CMA has also noted the need to lay out ground rules for comparison sites, including transparency about pricing and how customer data is treated. | http://www.itv.com/news/2017-09-26/probe-into-comparison-site-offering-higher-deals/ | 2017-09-26 08:23:00.863000 | Video report by ITV News Consumer Editor Chris Choi
A price comparison website is to be investigated by the competition watchdog over its contractual arrangements with insurers that could be resulting in consumers paying more for home insurance.
The unnamed site may be stopping the insurer's products being made available more cheaply on other comparison sites, restricting competition and causing higher prices, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) suspects.
It also warned that it will take "enforcement action" against firms that break the law.
In its final report into the use of price comparison sites, the antitrust watchdog's wider findings include setting clear "ground rules" for all online comparison tools.
This includes communicating how they plan to use people's personal data, and clearly displaying important information like price and product description.
The principle recommendations of the CMA's report demands that all sites should be clear about how they make money, how many deals they're displaying and how they are ordering the results.
It should also be made as "easy as possible" for people to make effective comparisons or use different sites, the CMA said.
Andrea Coscelli, CMA chief executive, added: "Our study has found that most people in the UK have used a comparison site at least once, so it is vital that everyone gets the benefits they deserve.
"The good news is that more than 90% of the people we surveyed were very or fairly satisfied with the sites they used.
"But we have also found that improvements are needed to help people get even better deals." |
India's Reliance Capital explores uses for blockchain | Reliance Capital, the financial services affiliate of India-based Reliance Group is exploring the possibility of using blockchain technology, according to Jai Anmol Ambani, an executive director at the company. The firm is also looking at making use of artificial intelligence, Ambani said during the firm's annual general meeting. The firm already makes use of the internet of things across its product and services lineup. | http://www.india.com/news/agencies/reliance-capital-to-launch-standalone-health-insurance-arm-2498473/ | 2017-09-26 07:46:11.167000 | Home
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Reliance Capital to launch standalone health insurance arm
Reliance Capital to launch standalone health insurance arm
Mumbai, Sep 26 (PTI) Reliance Capital, the financial services arm of the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group, is planning to launch a standalone health insurance venture.The company already offers health i
Mumbai, Sep 26 (PTI) Reliance Capital, the financial services arm of the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group, is planning to launch a standalone health insurance venture.
The company already offers health insurance products and the move to have a standalone offering is to increase retail presence in the already cluttered mediclaim segment.
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Addressing the shareholders at his maiden annual general meeting here today, Jai Anmol Ambani, who is an executive director of the company, said the move is aimed at creating a retail focused entity in this space.
“To create retail focus we are setting up a standalone health insurance company. We have already received round one approval from the regulator IRDAI. We expect to become operational beginning early next year,” Ambani said.
He also said the company is actively exploring new age technologies like blockchain and artificial intelligence in this financial services verticals and the company has already deployed IoT (Internet of Things) solutions across few use cases and are seeing great results.
“Digital is going to help us bridge the gap between customers’ expectations and service delivery. We will not only match their expectations but surpass and delight them,” he said.
On Reliance Home Finance, which was listed last week, he said the focus going forward will be on affordable housing.
He said the public issue of Reliance General Insurance is on course, having received the IRDAI approval for the same.
The listing will take place in the current financial year itself, he added.
Claiming that Reliance Capital is in a leadership position across all its business, Ambani said the aim is to be ranked in the top 3 within their respective industries in the near future.
He said Reliance AMC is already the No.1 asset manager in the country with an asset under management (AUM) of around Rs 3.5 trillion and has one of the highest retail AUMs amongst mutual funds.
This is published unedited from the PTI feed.
For breaking news and live news updates, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Read more on Latest News on India.com. |
Green bond issuance to jump 35% in 2017: BNEF | The annual value of green bonds issued is predicted to pass the $100bn mark for the first time this year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The company has recorded $96bn of the bonds issued so far in 2017, and expects another $39bn to be issued by the end of the year. The total of £135bn would represent a 35% increase on last year, with the largest single issuer in the US being Southern Power, which has sold over £3bn since 2015. | https://about.bnef.com/blog/green-bond-issuance-will-soon-pass-100-billion-2017/ | 2017-09-26 07:36:00.987000 | This article first appeared on the BNEF mobile app and the Bloomberg Terminal.
Over $96 billion of green bonds have been issued this year
Another $39 billion of green bonds are expected by year-end
Annual green bond issuance by issuer/bond type
Source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance
Annual green bond issuance will hit triple digits for the first time this year. Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s most recent Green Bond analysis finds $96 billion in issuance so far this year, and expects another $39 billion in new green bonds before the end of the year. That $135 billion annual total would be a 36% increase in issuance from 2016. Bonds are tagged on the Terminal according to Bloomberg’s green bond criteria, which assesses the use of bond proceeds against international green principles. Southern Company subsidiary Southern Power Co is the largest U.S. issuer to date, having sold over $3 billion worth of green notes to fund investments in power generation since 2015.
Clients can access the full report here.
BNEF Shorts are research excerpts available only on the BNEF mobile app and the Bloomberg Terminal, highlighting key findings from our reports. If you would like to learn more about our services, please contact us. |
Human involvement may mean less regulation for robo-advisers | Human oversight of robo advisers should negate the need for excessive regulation, according to Rob Daly of Markets Media. While there are concerns about what sort of fiduciary duty robo advisers should be held to, and whether new regulation should be established to safeguard clients of these services, human advisers still hold authority, argued Daly. As long as these overseers are able to intervene if things go wrong, they can still be held accountable for the "performance of their automated tools", he said.
| https://marketsmedia.com/opinion-robo-advisors-regulation/ | 2017-09-26 06:43:05.527000 | Latest News OPINION: Do Robo-Advisors Need Regulation?
There is nothing like new technology to overturn the apple cart of precedent-based regulation.
US legislators and regulators have spent more than 75 years developing a framework in which investment advisers act as fiduciaries who give personalized investment advice based on the best interests of their clients.
It was only a matter of time with the advancements in artificial intelligence and cloud computing that the advent of robo advisors would eventually test the flexibility of the existing regulatory framework.
Not surprisingly, changing the framework, which incorporates the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, the Investment Adviser Act of 1940, the Investment Company Act of 1940, and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, is daunting, noted Melanie L. Fein, the author of four recently published white papers regarding the regulation of robo advisors.
Fein found that regulators need to clarify their fiduciary standards regarding robo advisers as well as the standards for “suitability” and “best interest” as well.
However, does this boil down to semantics? Many people in the financial services industry bandy about “robo advisers” as if everyone has agreed upon its definition.
Under Section 203 of the Investment Adviser Act, an investment adviser is “any person who, for compensation, engages in the business of advising others, either directly or through publications or writings, as to the value of securities or as the advisability of investing in purchasing, or sell securities, or who, for compensation and as apart of a regular business, issues or promulgates analyses or reports concerning securities…”
Current robo advisor offerings do not tick every box of the definition, especially the “for compensation,” portion.
The term itself, robo advisor, makes one think that it would replace living breathing investment advisers lock, stock, and barrel.
Current robo advisor offerings are tools that automate portions of an investment advisor workload, such as onboarding clients, offering what-if analysis for client portfolios, and fielding client inquiries. In other areas of financial services, insiders would call it straight-through processing.
One could argue that once a particular portion of an investment advisor’s functions is automated than those aggregated tools would be equivalent to an investment advisor. It would require some overly prescriptive regulations, something from which most regulators have been loathed to do historically.
As long as a registered investment advisers review the performance of their automated tools and can press the big red button if something goes wrong, there’s no need to regulate the tools of advisers if they are regulated themselves. |
Man in coma for 15 years shows signs of awareness after implant | A nerve implant has restored signs of consciousness to a man who has been in a persistent vegetative state for 15 years. The pioneering therapy challenges the previous belief that there was no chance of a return to consciousness after 12 months in a vegetative state. The procedure involved attaching an implant to stimulate the vagus nerve and, although still paralysed and unable to speak, the 35-year-old was then able to respond to simple requests. The next stages of the trials undertaken by the scientists at the Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod in Lyon will be to treat patients with less severe brain injuries. | https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/sep/25/nerve-implant-restores-consciousness-to-man-in-vegetative-state | 2017-09-26 06:05:45.270000 | A 35-year-old man who had been in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) for 15 years has shown signs of consciousness after receiving a pioneering therapy involving nerve stimulation.
The treatment challenges a widely-accepted view that there is no prospect of a patient recovering consciousness if they have been in PVS for longer than 12 months.
Since sustaining severe brain injuries in a car accident, the man had been completely unaware of the world around him. But when fitted with an implant to stimulate the vagus nerve, which travels into the brain stem, the man appeared to flicker back into a state of consciousness.
He started to track objects with his eyes, began to stay awake while being read a story and his eyes opened wide in surprise when the examiner suddenly moved her face close to the patient’s. He could even respond to some simple requests, such as turning his head when asked – although this took about a minute.
Angela Sirigu, who led the work at the Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod in Lyon, France, said: “He is still paralysed, he cannot talk, but he can respond. Now he is more aware.”
Niels Birbaumer, of the University of Tübingen and a pioneer of brain-computer interfaces to help patients with neurological disorders communicate, said the findings, published in the journal Current Biology, raised pressing ethical issues. “Many of these patients may and will have been neglected, and passive euthanasia may happen often in a vegetative state,” he said. “This paper is a warning to all those believing that this state is hopeless after a year.”
The vagus nerve, which the treatment targeted, connects the brain to almost all the vital organs in the body, running from the brain stem down both sides of the neck, across the chest and into the abdomen. In the brain, it is linked directly to two regions known to play roles in alertness and consciousness.
In surgery lasting about 20 minutes, a small implant was placed around the vagus nerve in the man’s neck. After one month of vagal nerve stimulation, the patient’s attention, movements and brain activity significantly improved and he had shifted into a state of minimal consciousness.
Recordings of brain activity also revealed major changes, with signs of increased electrical communication between brain regions and significantly more activity in areas linked to movement, sensation and awareness.
Similar stimulation has already been shown to help some patients with epilepsy and depression.
Sirigu and her team now hope to apply the same technique to patients with less serious brain injuries, where even more substantial improvements might be possible. There may even be patients, she said, whose cortex (the part of the brain used for cognitive tasks) is intact, but who have brain stem injuries that have led to limited awareness or consciousness.
The findings offer hope to the families of patients in PVS that it may one day be possible to re-establish some basic form of communication. However, some might also question whether such patients would wish to be made more acutely aware of being in a severely injured state.
“I cannot answer to this question,” said Sirigu. “Personally I think it’s better to be aware, even if it’s a bad state, to be conscious of what’s happening. Then you can have a decision if you want to go on or if you want [euthanasia].”
Damian Cruse, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Birmingham, described the findings as “pretty exciting”, adding that in future it might be possible to combine vagal nerve stimulation with other forms of rehabilitation.
“If you can just push the patient over the threshold so they can start responding to external stimulation you can maybe help them follow speech therapy and get them to a level where they can start to communicate,” he said.
During the past decade, scientists have made major advances in communicating with “locked in” patients using various forms of brain-computer interface.
These have allowed paralysed patients, some of whom had been assumed to be in PVS, to answer “yes” or “no” to questions to let their family and friends know their wishes and their state of wellbeing. |
Passive investing outperforms active managers, finds S&P report | Passive investments continue to provide better returns than actively managed portfolios, according to S&P's latest Indices vs Active study. Over the past year, the S&P 500 outperformed 56.6% of large-cap active managers, while the S&P MidCap 400 and S&P SmallCap 600 outperformed 60.7% and 59.6% of mid and small-cap managers, respectively. Taking the past five years into account, 82.4% of large-cap managers, 87.2% of mid-cap managers and 93.8% of small-cap managers were outperformed by their benchmarks.
| http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20170925/FREE/170929958/active-managers-still-losing-to-indexes | 2017-09-26 05:31:25.997000 | Index funds are still beating actively managed funds like a piñata at a 10-year-old’s birthday party, according to Standard & Poor’s. But the American Funds says advisers can avoid some truly awful funds with a few simple, additional screens.
The mid-year S&P Indices vs. Active (SPIVA) scorecard shows that actively managed funds are routinely clobbered by index funds.
“Over the one-year period, 56.6% of large-cap managers, 60.7% of mid-cap managers and 59.6% of small-cap managers underperformed the S&P 500, the S&P MidCap 400 and the S&P SmallCap 600, respectively,” said the report, which covered performance through June 30. Growth managers fared better than their core and value counterparts, reflecting the strong returns from technology stocks such as Amazon and Netflix.
Surprisingly, the one-year SPIVA results were stronger for active funds than the report six months earlier. But long-term results remain sadder than a rodeo clown in an elephant stampede.
Over the past five years, 82.4% of large-cap managers, 87.2% of mid-cap managers and 93.8% of small-cap managers lagged their respective benchmarks.
The SPIVA report is adjusted for funds that either merge or liquidate. In the past 15 years, 58% of U.S. stock funds and 55% of international stock funds have been shuffled off to Palookaville.
Steve Deschenes, product management and analytics director at Capital Group, thinks the SPIVA methodology has some important flaws. For one thing, most passively managed funds don’t beat their index, either: They lag by the amount they charge in expenses. For example, the Vanguard 500 Index fund investor share class has lagged its benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index by 0.13 percentage points a year — a figure that’s almost entirely due to its 0.14% annual expense ratio.
Mr. Deschenes argues that two simple screens can help advisers choose funds more likely to beat their benchmarks:
• Low expenses. Fund managers have a tough enough time beating their benchmark, and doing so with a 1.5% expense ratio is a Herculean feat.
• High management ownership. Not surprisingly, managers whose lifestyle depends on their funds’ performance tend to do better than those who don’t invest in their own fund.
Capital Group, managers of the actively managed American Funds, looked at 20 years’ worth of performance and found that funds in the top quartile of both criteria tended to outperform over the long term. (U.S. funds with an expense ratio below 0.98% and foreign funds with expense ratios below 1.08% qualified for the lowest quartile in expenses. For management ownership, the top quartile included firms that had 55% or more assets in the fund family complex in which at least one portfolio manager had invested a minimum of $1 million.)
U.S. large-cap funds in both quartiles, on average, outpaced the S&P 500 index in 72% of rolling five-year periods and 86% of rolling 10-year periods. International large-cap funds in both quartiles outpaced the MSCI All Country ex USA Index in 84% of the five-year periods and 87% of the 10-year periods.
“The two criteria combined improves the success rate in every time period and asset class,” Mr. Deschenes said.
Todd Rosenbluth, senior director of ETF and mutual fund research at CFRA, noted that while the American Funds is a low-cost active manager, the research has merit.
“I agree with the premise that you shouldn’t buy any average fund. Being cheaper is going to help a fund outperform its peers,” he said. “Large fund companies can keep costs down and deal better with manager turnover.” |
China doubles EV production target to 600,000 by 2020 | China will have produced more than 300,000 electric vehicles (EVs) by the end of 2017, according the Ministry of Transport, with 600,000 targeted for completion by 2020 -- double the original goal set in 2014. The push to embrace EVs comes as China attempts to reduce air pollution, much of which is emitted in the exhaust fumes of fossil-fuel vehicles. Of the 205 million cars registered in China this summer, about 1 million were electric. | http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/motoring/2017-09/25/content_32460739.htm | 2017-09-26 05:29:56.387000 | A man charges an electric car at an electric-car rental service bay in Liuzhou, Guangxi province, July 31, 2017. [Photo/VCG]
China will double its new energy cars development goal by 2020 as it reaches its target ahead of schedule.
Cai Tuanjie, an official of the China's Ministry of Transport said, the number of new energy cars in China's transportation sector is expected to break 300,000 units by the end of this year, three-year ahead of target that was established in 2014.
Therefore, the new energy cars development goal in transportation sector, which includes city buses, taxies and logistics vehicles, will be increased to 600,000 unites by 2020.
The move will have a positive impact on China's efforts to combat air pollution.
At present, the fossil-fuel powered cars maintain dominant position in Chinese auto market. According to official data from China's Public Security Ministry's Traffic Management Bureau, the country had 205 million registered cars at the end of June, and the registered new energy cars had surpassed 1 million units at the end of August.
Critics said the exhaust from fossil-fuel powered cars is making air pollution worse. Sina news website citing environmental protection bureaus in some Chinese cities said, PM2.5 (small particle) pollution in these cities mainly comes from cars exhaust.
At an auto industry forum this month, Xin Guobin, vice-minister of industry and information technology, said that the country had started research on a timetable to phase out production and sales of fossil fuel cars. |
Automatic milking system could save farmers 20 hours a week | Dutch agri-robotics firm Lely believes its product offering, including its automatic milking device the Astronaut, could shorten the average working week of farmers by 20 hours. The Astronaut machine stimulates milk production, milks cows, and collects data on cow health and milk quality. Another device is a cow wearable device that feeds data into a digital system viewable on smartphones. In Ireland, the devices may prove popular as the country undergoes an agricultural revolution, with robotics and AI playing a large part in high-tech, automated farming.
| https://www.irishtimes.com/business/agribusiness-and-food/robots-milk-opportunity-as-agriculture-ploughs-ahead-1.3229029 | 2017-09-26 05:21:57.910000 | Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise and Innovation Frances Fitzgerald with Enterprise Ireland chief executive Julie Sinnamon at the Robotics and Drives stand at the National Ploughing Championships in Offaly. Photograph: Karl Hussey/Fennells
What would you do with an extra two days off per week? This was the question posed to Irish dairy farmers this week by Dutch agri-robotics company Lely at the National Ploughing Championships in Offaly. It claims its systems, which include a futuristic automatic milking machine called the Astronaut, could knock 20 hours off the average working week of a farmer.
On Tuesday, the Lely shed was one of the busiest trade areas I visited at the event. People milled around it all day. The exhibit comprised a pen with about 20 cows who spent the day lazing around, munching fresh grass and blithely expelling methane at a fantastic rate. Every few minutes, one of them would saunter over to the Astronaut for feed.
Without human intervention, a small brush appeared beneath the animal to stimulate its udders, before the robot milked it in a flash. At the same time, it collected data on the animal’s health and the quality of the milk. The cows couldn’t have cared less.
Along with another Lely system powered by a unit hanging around the cow’s neck like a high-tech bell, the Astronaut fed its data into a web-based management system. The information was then collated on a smartphone app, where farmers can view a tailored health report on each animal. Is she in heat? Has she mastitis? Is she sick?
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Each time a cow went to the Astronaut, the process was witnessed by up to a hundred people – mostly men – leaning against the fence in that way that Irish men tend to lean against things: arms folded, backside out, leg propped up against the bottom rung of the fence. They looked fierce impressed altogether.
You can forget any urban misconceptions about agriculture being a conservative, low-tech industry. Irish farming is now cutting edge.
And despite the looming threat of Brexit and the current economic difficulties of some tillage and beef farmers, confidence appears to be surging through much of the rest of the industry. A sense of elan was palpable at “the Ploughing”. Agriculture is on the march.
The huge focus on technology and innovation, including robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), was one the most striking aspects of the event. Around every corner, it seemed, there was a new high-tech offering: robot shed cleaners or feed pushers, soil monitoring devices, geo-mapping systems, drones.
I didn’t see any driverless tractors. “But they’re coming someday soon,” mused one farmer, as he sat surveying the €50 million worth of high-tech machinery plonked in one section of the sprawling festival campus.
The apparent feeling of economic confidence wasn’t confined to the industry zones. There were queues of people, for example, waiting to talk to the some of the large group of wealth management and stockbroking firms among the 1,700 exhibitors. Not all farmers are wealthy, but some of them clearly feel wealthy again.
“It’s taken a while for the recovery to ripple down to my part of the country,” said one Corkman. “But there’s no doubting it is there now.”
The Dome – the indoor retail zone – was bursting with purveyors of consumer luxury and indulgence that fare well in any vibrant economy: chocolatiers, jewellers, beauty product stalls. Outside, a garden furniture company was selling a kid’s wooden playhouse in the shape of a tractor: a snip at €4,000.
Gratuitous Irish consumerism
But just when you thought the Ploughing was morphing into yet another modern display of gratuitous Irish consumerism, something would pop into view to remind you that rural Ireland, thankfully, still retains its sense of idiosyncrasy.
An enthusiastic stallholder captivated his audience, mostly women, with his spiel for Coole Swan, a whiskey liqueur business that morphed out of a family farm. Where is it made, one woman asked. “’Tis made in heaven, but bottled in Cavan,” he replied.
Around the corner, sandwiched between a stall selling pet foods and another selling skincare products, there was a stall selling salvation: the Legion of Mary was handing out miraculous medals. Nearby, the Franciscans were recruiting, close to a sign that read: “God is calling you”. A man sat beneath it, talking into his mobile. Surely God wasn’t calling on a Samsung?
Clearly it’s not all milk and honey for the agriculture industry. Margins for crop farmers are wafer thin and beef farmers are also struggling to break even.
Some parts of rural Ireland, however, are faring far better than others. The undeniable buzz in the air at the Ploughing bodes well for the recovery in counties outside of the Dublin belt.
Towards the end of the day, a large crowd gathered to chat outside the Irish Farmers Association section at the heart of the campus. One of the most pressing issues for the agriculture in the upcoming budget, one of the IFA men told me, is the introduction of a new State scheme to give low-cost loans for farmers.
“Last year’s scheme was maxed out in about a month,” he told me.
But if farmers are looking for sources of capital for fresh investment, isn’t that a sure sign that confidence is once again flowing through the industry?
Footnotes . . .
Friday night is Culture Night in Dublin, so a trip to see your accountant is unlikely to be top of the agenda. Consider, however, dropping down to the Pearse Street headquarters of Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI) this evening. If you are interested in singing beancounters, it could, quite literally, be music to your ears.
The accountants have teamed up with the Sound Check exhibition from the nearby Science Gallery for a music-themed event for Culture Night. Distressed Assets, a rock band of staff members from the CAI, will be making an appearance.
There will also be a series of talks on the business of music, including from Ciarán Conroy, co-founder of music agency Milestone Management; Sarah Sweetman, finance director of the Irish Music Rights Organisation; and Eoin Connolly from Deloitte, who will discuss the potential impact of blockchain on the economics of the music industry.
There will also be talks on the accountants’ art collection, and a series of unusual instruments for children to try.
It all sounds like fun. Always be wary, however, if an accountant starts singing the blues.
Ryanair's incredible cock-up regarding the raft of flight cancellations due to pilot rostering has left a golden opportunity for the airline to be ridiculed by its rivals. Thankfully for Michael O'Leary, Aer Lingus appeared to have pulled its punch.
Aer Lingus has launched "rescue sales", which are obviously targeting stranded Ryanair passengers, but, beyond that, it has made little hay out of its main rival's difficulties. Can you imagine how much O'Leary would crow if the shoe was on the other foot?
O'Leary owes Willie Walsh, chief executive of Aer Lingus parent IAG, a pint. Walsh, too, remembers what it is like to oversee an operational disaster. Remember the mess that was British Airways' ground operations at Heathrow T5? Walsh was chief executive of BA at the time. He and O'Leary now have more in common than just a chippy approach to business. |
Lucozade Ribena Suntory starts to create its own adverts | UK soft drinks company Lucozade Ribena Suntory (LRS) has revealed half of its ads are created by in-house unit TED (tech, entertainment and design), and could expand that figure to 100%. Although the company has no plans to take programmatic advertising in-house, it is considering having TED purchase display and social media. Rick Oakley, head of digital marketing said: "We’re coming up with ideas in-house that are as good as our agencies - often better - because we’re working with the brand teams every day". | https://digiday.com/marketing/soft-drink-maker-lucozade-now-creates-half-u-k-ads-house/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=170926 | 2017-09-26 05:06:23.060000 | Ad agencies’ existential crisis isn’t subsiding anytime soon, as Lucozade Ribena Suntory becomes the latest advertiser to create its own ads. The soft-drink maker says its own in-house creative team won’t replace its agencies anytime soon, but it’s taking on much of what they used to do.
LRS plans, creates and launches half of its U.K. ads using TED (tech, entertainment and design), the creative team it assembled last July. Now, the company is considering having the same team purchase its display and social media.
The global soft-drinks maker is adamant that it won’t take programmatic in-house anytime soon, as brands like Pernod Ricard and Procter & Gamble have done in part. LRS just doesn’t spend enough on digital display to warrant its own ad tech stack, said Rick Oakley, head of digital marketing.
A large part of the company’s £50 million ($67.3 million) ad budget goes to TV, outdoor and sampling, which is why TED has found itself trying to outdo its creative teams. “Having strong creative partners like Grey and JWT really help us, but at the same time, we look at them and think, ‘How can we beat them?’” he said.
TED plans to spend the next 18 months experimenting with marketing and sales data to better understand the efficacy of its ads, said Oakley, something an agency couldn’t do. For example, TED plans to do small A/B tests that mix live point-of-sale data, supply-chain information and geotargeted media by region to see which creative works best.
“An agency can be heavily involved in delivering great value upfront, but they don’t always get close to what’s going to be executed on the shop floor, for example,” he said. “Our team, however, can, and so they’re thinking about those cases from day one.”
It took six months for the creative team to build trust among LRS’s marketing teams, but now they come to TED directly. “They were saying, ‘Why would we go to our agencies when you guys understand our brands better?’” Oakley said.
Feedback like that has given TED’s marketers the confidence to pursue the other half of LRS’s ads in the U.K. it doesn’t already produce, as well as other marketing work.
Other marketers are going this route. Unilever has taken more of its creative production in-house over the last 12 months, while a recent ISBA study found that nearly half (44 percent) of advertisers want to erect their own in-house ad team.
Cost savings is one benefit. Oakley would not disclose how much LRS has saved by using TED but said the team has freed up money for additional marketing, such as a sampling campaign that gave out bottles of Lucozade Energy to 10 million people earlier this year.
But the TED team isn’t just a way to cut costs. The company hasn’t cut its annual ads and promotion budget; it’s just changed how it spends it. “We’re coming up with ideas in-house that are as good as our agencies — often better — because we’re working with the brand teams every day versus the ad hoc or project-by-project way an agency would work with them,” Oakley said.
It sounds like the stuff of nightmares for agencies, but Oakley insists TED isn’t out to replace LRS’s agencies, rather freeing them up to focus on its broader marketing strategy. |
Publishers concerned over gaining consent to cookies with EU law | The new stricter draft of the EU ePrivacy regulation, known as the “EU cookie law”, has raised concerns amongst publishers. The draft includes a proposal that users opt in or out of cookies in their browser settings rather than individually on each visited webpage. Major publishers including the Financial Times, the Guardian, The Telegraph, Le Monde and Spiegel, however wrote to the European Parliament back in May, arguing that the proposed law will make it harder for publishers to gain consent to use cookies for site analytics, reporting and advertising, thereby limiting their ability to earn digital revenue. | https://digiday.com/media/guide-eus-eprivacy-regulation/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=170926 | 2017-09-26 05:01:16.377000 | While media attention has focused on the General Data Protection Regulation, the European Union’s new data protection laws, another privacy measure is stoking publishers’ fear: the ePrivacy regulation, known as the EU cookie law.
Many European publishers are up in arms about the current draft of the new ePrivacy law, which is far stricter than the existing one. In May, 12 publishers, including the Financial Times, the Guardian, The Telegraph, Le Monde and Spiegel, wrote to the European Parliament, arguing that the proposed law will make it harder to gain consent to use cookies for site analytics, reporting and advertising, limiting their ability to earn digital revenue.
Here are some of the proposal’s main points of tension:
Browsers as gatekeepers
To eliminate those annoying banners that ask people for their consent to use cookies, the European Commission has suggested users opt in or out of cookies in their browser settings. For example, if a user visits a publisher’s site and a banner appears that asks for permission to use cookies, even if the user clicks yes, that publisher still cannot use cookies unless the user’s browser settings reflect that choice — a proposal that doesn’t sit well with publishers.
Given there is no line of direct communication between publishers and browsers, some publishers fear they will be held ransom. For example, browsers could offer publishers the chance to whitelist their sites for a price.
“We are pretty worried. We would fully support any legal framework that gives back control and data transparency to the user,” said Stefan Betzold, managing director of Axel Springer title Bild. “But the current discussions in Brussels are about cookie technology and gateway control and unfortunately not about giving transparency to the user. The ‘browser supremacy’ will give a gatekeeper role to browser providers, who mainly come from the U.S. or belong to U.S. platforms. This might have major effects on the open and free advertising-financed internet in the long term.”
The platform effect
Whether the proposed ePrivacy law will hurt or help the likes of Google, Facebook and Amazon is debated. German publishers, who are particularly outspoken when it comes to the duopoly, argue that the proposal will advantage walled gardens further over publishers because it’s easier for Google, Facebook and Amazon to get consumers to opt-in at scale because they have masses of user login data (and don’t rely on third-party data like publishers) and the ability to directly communicate with users of their products.
“Google and Facebook may lose some capacity for collecting data, but compared to publishers, which are far more reliant on third-party cookies, they will still be much better off,” said Christoph Fiedler, head of legal affairs at the European Magazine Media Association.
Digital Content Next, a U.S. trade association for premium publishers, takes the opposite view, arguing that Google and Facebook’s ability to collect and use consumer data will be “dramatically curbed” — a message Digital Content Next has circulated to its members. The argument is that Google and Facebook would be restricted from targeting ads based on data from services such as WhatsApp, Gmail and Messenger unless they have consent from all parties. Monetizing messaging apps and email isn’t an area where publishers compete with the duopoly directly, but when it comes to online advertising, where they do, Google and Facebook will face the same challenges as them. |
TV industry could follow streaming services into ad-free programming | Linear US TV networks could emulate streaming services Netflix and Amazon by offering ad-free packages to viewers and make up revenue with subscriptions. Recently, AMC FX both launched commercial-free channels costing a few dollars per month, but analysts don't believe the entire industry is ready to make the leap just yet. TV advertising is worth $70bn annually, and insiders believe networks face a delicate balancing act, as the people most advertisers want to target would be the ones who could afford to pay for ad-free TV. | https://digiday.com/media/stayed-tuned-ad-free-tv-way/ | 2017-09-26 04:46:42.527000 | TV viewers have long accepted a simple trade-off: To watch your favorite shows, you’re going to have to sit through commercials. Even though you’re paying a fee for every channel as part of your cable TV bundle subscription, commercials are part of the ballgame.
The rise of DVRs put a dent in this bargain, showing that people were willing to take matters into their own hands to avoid ads. Now, with the rise of Netflix and others, people can just pay to avoid TV spots. Networks are noticing. This summer, AMC, the network behind “The Walking Dead,” “Breaking Bad” and “Mad Men,” launched AMC Premiere, a $5-per-month streaming channel that allows you to watch current shows commercial-free. Less than two months later, FX, home of “American Horror Story” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” launched a similar ad-free subscription streaming channel, FX+.
Of course, there’s a catch: Both streaming channels are sold as add-ons by Comcast, which means Comcast customers still have to pay for the regular AMC and FX channels in order to level up to the commercial-free add-on. With $70 billion in annual ad revenue at stake, it’s going to take a lot more than shifting consumption habits to force linear TV distributors and networks to change.
But if one cable distributor and two high-profile networks are willing to experiment with ad-free options, what if the entire industry did the same and gave viewers the option to pay for an entirely ad-free cable bundle? TV ads would go from a reliable mass reach vehicle to a tax on poor people.
Not linear, but streaming
For an ad-free cable bundle to exist, the TV industry would need to follow in the footsteps of HBO, AMC and FX, which release new episodes of their shows on their digital streaming channels at the same time that they air them on traditional TV. These channels also offer full libraries of previous seasons and shows, which essentially replace the reruns that populate many cable networks’ programming lineups.
“There are people like Amazon, Hulu and Netflix, which are effectively doing versions of that today,” says Bernard Gershon, president of GershonMedia.
It’d be hard to apply this model to live programming like the Oscars, sports and news, he added. Many live events are designed to include commercial breaks. In football, for instance, commercial breaks give teams the chance to review plays or switch from offense to defense. Advertisers are also willing to pay higher premiums to reach attentive viewers.
But when it comes to most of the TV guide, an ad-free option is plausible, especially as more cable networks offer ad-free streaming channels. Long term, people won’t want to have 10 different logins and 10 different monthly billing statements.
Revenue implications
The challenge for TV networks is making up for the lost revenue. Networks don’t typically break down their revenue by source, but advertising can account for anywhere from a third to two-thirds of a cable network’s monthly revenues, says Brian Wieser, senior analyst at Pivotal Research.
“Assume that the network would want to be made whole before they commit to anything,” Wieser says. “They might say, ‘We just have to accept lower revenues and lower profits.’ Theoretically, that does happen in different industries from time to time, but I’m highly skeptical.”
AMC and FX can offer ad-free streaming channels because they’re sold as add-ons through Comcast, an existing major cable distributor, so while the additional revenue is minimal, so are the costs. Otherwise, networks run the risk of cannibalizing their still-lucrative advertising businesses. Cable networks could choose to offset this by charging enough on the subscription side to make up for losses in ad revenue, but that assumes enough customers would be willing to pay steeper prices for an ad-free experience.
One potential benefit is that such options could decrease costs at smaller cable networks, which have to find programming to fill 24 hours of air time. “A lot of smaller cable channels can go video-on-demand only — there’s no reason for them to be live for 24 hours,” says Alan Wolk, TV industry analyst for TVRev.
Not everyone will pay
There’s clearly a market for people willing to pay more to avoid ads. Hulu, for instance has an ad-free tier priced at $11.99 per month, which is $4 more than the regular tier. Earlier this spring, Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins said nearly half of Hulu’s revenue comes from advertising, with about 41 percent of Hulu viewers seeing ads, according to Hulu.
Wolk estimates that roughly 10-15 percent of TV viewers would be willing to pay for ad-free streaming channels. “[AMC and FX] are banking on that; otherwise, it will seriously cut into ad sales,” he says.
The wrinkle for the networks is that the people most willing to pay up for subscriptions are also the affluent spenders that advertisers want to reach the most.
“If you lost 30 percent of your audience to an ad-free channel, then your remaining ad-supported audience is not worth as much anymore,” Wolk says. “It will require a balancing act to figure out where the ideal position is for the networks, and throwing in other tricks such as native ads and branded integrations to make up the gap.”
Highly unlikely, but not impossible
For all these reasons, TV analysts agree that the entire cable bundle is unlikely to go ad-free anytime soon. But there is evidence beyond Comcast, AMC and FX that some form of ad-free bundle will eventually happen. Hulu, for instance, is already selling subscriptions to HBO Now and Showtime’s streaming channel, in addition to its own two subscription tiers. With Showtime, Hulu also offers a $2 discount for those who subscribe to both channels. The rise of internet-based live TV service, including those from DirecTV, Dish Network, Hulu and YouTube, also offers the chance to distribute ad-free video channels.
“Whether it’s offered by a traditional player such as DirecTV or some new player, it’s definitely viable,” Gershon says. |
First ever amphibious commercial UAV created in China | Chinese drone manufacturer UVS Intelligence System has created the world's first amphibious unmanned commercial aircraft. The U650 can either be used for cargo deliveries or to detect submarines, according to UVS. The company has begun to mass produce the U650 and expects it to be put into commercial operation this year through its first two clients, an express delivery company in China and an unnamed Southeast Asian firm. "It is the only civilian drone in the global market that is capable of ferrying cargo with a total weight of 200 kg or even heavier", said Liu Jiandong, founder and chairman of UVS. | http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/tech/2017-09/26/content_32490302.htm | 2017-09-26 04:25:52.027000 | A U650 unmanned amphibious aircraft undergoes tests in Central China at the end of 2016. [Photo provided to China Daily]
A Chinese company has produced the world's first unmanned, amphibious commercial aircraft, with plans to use it to deliver goods, transport supplies to islands and detect submarines, according to the manufacturer.
Liu Jiandong, founder and chairman of UVS Intelligence System, a privately owned drone-maker in Shanghai, said mass production of its U650 seaplane has begun and will enter commercial operation this year with a Chinese express delivery company and a client in Southeast Asia.
He declined to name the buyers, citing business confidentiality, but said both contracts had "considerable value".
"We are working with the domestic client to apply for approval from air traffic management authorities of our plan to open a freight route next year using the amphibious drone," he said.
The U650 was developed based on Spain's Colyaer Freedom S100 amphibious ultralight aircraft, whose intellectual property rights were wholly acquired by the Shanghai company, according to UVS.
The amphibious drone carried out its maiden flight from waters in Central China in December 2015, the company said.
The 5.85-meter-long unmanned seaplane, made of carbon fiber, is able to stay aloft 15 hours with a cruising speed of 180 kilometers per hour and a flight range of 2,000 km. It is capable of takeoffs and landings from short unpaved airstrips, grassland or water.
The drone can carry up to 250 kilograms of cargo and its wings can also carry four payloads, such as inflatable life rafts.
Liu said his company sees domestic and foreign couriers as the U650's primary users. It expects the model to be a commercial success because "it is the only civilian drone in the global market that is capable of ferrying cargo with a total weight of 200 kg or even heavier".
Express delivery enterprises along China's eastern and southern coastal regions will find the U650 useful, he said. Those areas are densely populated and have busy airline operations that lead to many restrictions when it comes to drone flights.
"Our aircraft can fly above, and land on, water. Its range is much longer than those of small types, so it doesn't need to make stops during a delivery mission. It will not risk the safety of people or airliners," Liu said.
Almost all of China's large couriers, such as China Post and SF Express, have begun to invest in research and development on delivery drones. Analysts have said drones will play an increasingly important role in the country's skyrocketing online shopping industry.
Globally, Amazon and DHL Express have deployed drones for delivery service on a small and experimental scale, and are continuing to design new models.
In addition to couriers, U650 will also be able to benefit Chinese troops and residents on islands and reefs in the South China Sea, Liu said.
"It can be used to transport supplies to those islands and reefs many times a day at a low cost while ships and manned planes are subject to weather and expenditure considerations," he said. "Meanwhile, the deployment of such drones will make it possible for those living there to have access to online shopping, which they are unable to do now because of the absence of delivery service."
The U650 is capable of carrying out reconnaissance and strikes for the military thanks to its ability to carry radar, sonar or missiles.
"For instance, the drone can remain afloat at sea to tow sonar to detect submarines and move rapidly to other areas to continue the search," Liu said. |
Shell joint venture completes first LNG bunkering in Singapore | A truck-to-ship bunkering has been carried out by LNG supply company FueLNG, a joint venture between Shell and Keppel, in batches between July and September at Singapore's shipping port, the first such transfer to take place there. The port of Singapore completed its LNG trucking infrastructure earlier this year and is seeking to position itself as an LNG storage and supply hub for Asia. FueLNG has contracts to supply two dual-fuel harbour tugs due to enter service this year. | http://www.seatrade-maritime.com/news/asia/keppel-and-shell-jv-completes-first-lng-bunkering.html | 2017-09-26 00:45:45.660000 | The ship-to-truck transfer was carried out in batches from 22 July to 23 September 2017 by FueLNG a joint venture between Keppel and Shell Eastern Petroleum.
"This is an exciting milestone for FueLNG as we establish ourselves as a safe, cost-efficient and reliable LNG bunker supplier. The development of proven LNG bunkering infrastructure will give confidence to the industry that LNG can be widely adopted as a marine fuel and is sustainable for the long-term,” said FueLNG chairman Michael Chia.
The bunkering was conducted in accordance with the Singapore Chemical Industry Council (SCIC) Technical Reference for LNG Bunkering (TR 56).
FueLNG also has contracts with Keppel Smit Towage and Maju Maritime to provide LNG bunkering services for two dual-fuel LNG harbour tugs from 2018.
"This successful operation by FueLNG attests to Singapore's ability to provide safe, efficient, and reliable LNG bunkering in the Port. Furthermore, we are pleased to note that the operation was carried out based on the recently launched Singapore Technical Reference for LNG Bunkering (TR56),” said Andrew Tan, chief executive of the Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore (MPA). |
Suit on defective heart device claims recall too slow | US-based Abbott Laboratories subsidiary St Jude Medical is alleged to have acted too slowly when recalling heart defibrillator devices during a 2016 recall, according to a lawsuit filed against the company. The suit claims St Jude knew of a battery defect affecting the devices as early as 2011, but only recalled the defibrillators in October 2016. The lawsuit is claiming the economic impact of the faulty devices was placed on health insurance payments from both public and private plans. | http://www.dailyherald.com/business/20170920/lawsuit-claims-st-jude-acted-slow-on-defective-heart-device-recall | 2017-09-25 12:46:12.527000 | Lawsuit claims St. Jude acted slow on defective heart device recall
St. Jude Medical and its parent company, Libertyville Township-based Abbott Laboratories, are the subjects of a class-action lawsuit claiming St. Jude failed to act quickly in the recall of defective cardiac defibrillator devices. COURTESY OF Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via AP
A class-action lawsuit has been filed against St. Jude Medical and parent company Abbott Laboratories, claiming St. Jude failed to act quickly on a defect that led to a 2016 recall of some of its cardiac defibrillator devices.
The complaint, filed in Chicago by law firms DiCello Levitt & Casey and Tousley Brain Stephens on behalf of third party insurance payers, alleges Minnesota-based St. Jude knew of a significant battery depletion defect as early as 2011, but failed to adequately investigate and report the risk, instead waiting nearly five years before issuing a recall of the defective devices.
The medical products -- the Implantable Cardiac Defibrillator and Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Defibrillator -- provide pacing therapy to support slow heart rhythms and electrical shock or pacing therapy to treat fast heart rhythms. The products were recalled on Oct. 10, 2016 due to defects related to a fast depletion of its lithium-based battery.
The lawsuit claims that, between the time St. Jude discovered the defect and the time the devices were recalled, the brunt of the economic impact from the defective devices fell on the shoulders of public and private health insurance payers.
Several models of ICDs and CRT-Ds are at issue, including the Fortify, Fortify Assura, Quadra Assura, Unify, Unify Assura and Unify Quadra models, according to a statement from the law firms. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of ASEA/AFSCME Local 52 Health Benefits Trust and similarly-situated plaintiffs nationwide, seeks restitution and damages related to third party payers' coverage of these defective ICDs and CRT-Ds, and related medical costs.
"Physicians, patients and payers were deliberately kept in the dark by St. Jude with respect to ongoing battery issues," said Kim Stephens, a partner at Tousley Brain Stephens. "Defendants have purportedly agreed to reimburse patients for their out-of-pocket costs associated with the implantation of these devices, but what about the health insurance payers who have shelled out millions of dollars on these defective pacemakers?"
Libertyville Township-based Abbott acquired St. Jude in January for approximately $25 billion. While the acquisition was seen as a boost to Abbott's cardiovascular business portfolio, the recall occurred during the time Abbott began the acquisition process.
St. Jude at the time was also fighting a battle with investment firm Muddy Waters Capital, which claimed its devices could be targets of cyberattacks. St. Jude called the allegations "false and misleading." |
Eloplay settles on blockchain to decentralise e-sport tournaments | EloPlay has become the latest e-sports platform to turn to blockchain, revealing plans to create decentralised tournaments using smart contracts and tokens. The company said that, as well as underpinning the prize pools, blockchain could promote "a system for game results accounting, and even automate the betting mechanism". The company will hold an initial coin offering to fund the platform's expansion, the addition of new games and ad campaigns to reach US, Chinese and European markets.
| http://bitcoinist.com/eloplay-blockchain-tech-changing-esports-industry/ | 2017-09-25 12:41:15.947000 | Last week, EloPlay announced plans to integrate blockchain technology into its popular eSports platform.
The Current eSports Market
eSports is a form of competitive gaming. It is a relatively new phenomenon, but one that has really caught fire and managed to spawn a booming industry. It has become so popular, in fact, that it has already been added to the 2022 Asian Games and there is even talk about it being included in the 2024 Olympics.
In terms of revenue, eSports is growing by leaps and bounds. In 2017 alone, eSports will have generated an estimated $696 million – an increase of over 41% from the previous year. Furthermore, with the number of online gaming platforms steadily increasing, the overall revenues of the industry is predicted to reach $1.5 billion by 2020.
eSports’ audience is expanding as well, with nearly 400 million people tuning into events in 2017 alone, of which 191 million consider themselves to be devoted enthusiasts. This is particularly impressive when you consider that baseball, basketball, and football (American), three of the world’s Top 10 sports, have audiences of 500, 400, and 390 million people, respectively.
As for players themselves? The Global eSports Market Report has estimated their number to reach 58.4 million by the end of 2017.
Blockchain: Taking eSports to the Next Level
While major online gaming platforms like Steam are quick to jump on the eSports bandwagon, most have chosen to ignore the promise that blockchain technology brings. Fortunately, their smaller competitors are hearing the call, and there are now several online gaming platforms that have already embraced blockchain-powered solutions or at least have expressed their intent to do so in the near future.
One such example is FirstBlood, which has been operating for more than a year. The platform offers its users an opportunity to play, compete, place bets, and earn rewards. Currently, the platform hosts only Dota 2, however, it has announced that it will also add Counter Strike: Global Offensive, FIFA 18, Hearthstone, League of Legends, and Call of Duty.
Another notable example is Gilgam.es, which has recently held an ICO. With the project scheduled to enter beta in late 2017, the platform will offer individual smart contracts for each match, as well as betting functionality. The platform will use artificial intelligence which, while it does not determine the winner, confirms that a certain player or a team has won, and over time, will detect and ban cheaters. The platform will offer a set of games similar to that of FirstBlood.
Last, but certainly not least, there is EloPlay. Already on the market for almost two years, EloPlay made the recent decision to introduce blockchain to its ecosystem. The project’s team came up with what they call ‘smart tournaments’ that are essentially regular tournaments with decentralized prize pools gathered by the players themselves, or by sponsors of a tournament which, in this case, is free to participate.
Other blockchain-enabled options of the EloPlay platform include betting, gamer stats, and advertising. However, those are yet to be deployed. Games available at EloPlay include Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Hearthstone, Dota 2 and other popular games.
The EloPlay team explained their decision to embrace blockchain tech:
In our opinion, blockchain technology is the perfect solution for most of the problems that the entire industry has to face. […] In our case, the technology can promote decentralized prize pools, a system for game results accounting, and even automatize the betting mechanism. […] As more and more players and sponsors join us, we will be able to hold major eSports events, while blockchain-based technologies will make everything easy to use and completely transparent.
EloPlay has announced that it will hold an ICO to raise funds for the further development and integration of additional blockchain-based features. The ICO will begin on October 16, 2017. For more information, please visit the official ICO website.
The eSports Revolution Will Be Decentralized
These are not the only projects that directly integrate blockchain solutions in their platforms. There are others which offer a specialized token to buy skins across the internet, while others focus on the gambling side of the industry offering advanced betting experiences.
With more and more projects coming online and integrating blockchain-powered elements in their platforms, it seems like it will only be a matter of time before the eSports industry becomes the most tokenized and smart contract driven of them all.
And, at its current pace, it’s likely that it won’t take very long.
Are you an eSports player? How do you think blockchain tech will change the eSports industry? Let us know in the comments below.
Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, Shutterstock |
US growers associations begin to offer recall coverage | Two agricultural associations have teamed up to provide producers with an insurance policy covering the cost of product recall. The insurance coverage is being promoted by United Fresh Produce Association and Western Growers. The coverage, dubbed Western Growers Shield, covers risk presented by factors such as property, contamination, recall, liability and non-physical damage loss of income. | http://www.fruitnet.com/americafruit/article/173447/united-fresh-offers-recall-insurance | 2017-09-25 12:35:37.440000 | The United Fresh Produce Association and Western Growers (WG) have entered into a formal marketing agreement to jointly promote the Western Growers Shield, a first-of-its-kind insurance programme specifically designed to protect food companies from recall liability.
“This programme represents an innovative solution to a critical bottom line issue facing our members,” said Tom Stenzel, United Fresh president and chief executive. “Our Finance & Business Administration Council was very impressed with this programme, and we look forward to working with the WG team to bring recall insurance to every segment of the fresh produce supply chain.”
Under the terms of the agreement, United Fresh will exclusively endorse and promote the proprietary programme encompassing property, contamination, recall, liability and non-physical damage loss of income.
“United Fresh and Western Growers have a long history of working together to promote the competitiveness and profitability of the fresh produce industry,” said Tom Nassif, Western Growers president and CEO. “With United’s reach into states not currently served by WG, and relationships with food companies from farm to fork, this partnership is the next logical step in protecting the long-term viability of our collective memberships.”
United Fresh and WG will also work together to provide several other proprietary WG solutions to the fresh produce industry.
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Australian food industry recall coverage inadequate | Australian grocery producers are under-insured against losses caused due to a product recall, according to a study from the Australian Food and Grocery Council. The average global cost of a recall is $10m, according to the study, with the majority of companies surveyed purchasing insurance covering damages valued lower than this. Companies are also under-prepared for the event of a recall, with just 59% reviewing their recall plans regularly, the study found. | https://foodmag.com.au/australian-food-beverage-industry-not-prepared-for-crises/ | 2017-09-25 12:34:16.033000 | While many food companies are relatively well prepared to deal with product recall, they are under-prepared in the event of a crisis, according to a new survey.
The Food and Grocery Product Recall Survey Report by the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) and Victual also found that insurance cover across the industry is inadequate, leaving organisations vulnerable to potential costs of over $10 million in the event that something goes wrong.
Additional key findings include that recalls have steadily increased in recent years, largely due to the detection of undeclared allergens and microbial contamination.
While all respondents said they have a recall plan in place, only 59 per cent frequently review it. In addition, one third of businesses surveyed have either no nominated spokesperson or have not trained their spokesperson in the event of a recall or crisis
“The results of the survey highlight the need for industry to better prepare themselves for a crisis situation. We have seen time and time again that a poorly managed recall has the potential to turn quickly into a crisis, affecting a company’s reputation and bottom line. This is especially relevant with the advent of social media, where issues are rapidly amplified,” said Director of Victual Recall and report co-author, Peter McGee.
“An essential component of protecting an organisation’s balance sheet is to transfer the risk of a product recall escalating in to a crisis through the purchase of specialist recall insurance. Added to this is the need for access to specialist resources to guide the recall process.”
The report states that there are many direct and indirect costs incurred when a recall occurs. These include not only tangible costs such as logistics, cleansing and legal fees, but more importantly costs relating to a damaged brand. The report notes that the average global cost of a recall is US $10 million. The fact that 62 per cent of respondents purchase insurance that covers significantly less than this amount is concerning.
“An insurance policy is complex, but it is a critical contract that needs to be understood so that it responds in the way you expect it to,” said David Goodall, Director of Victual Recall and a report co-author.
“For example, understanding the difference between a stand-alone contaminated products insurance policy and a product recall extension under Public & Products Liability policies is essential to ensure that you are not exposed to all the major costs relating to a recall.
“Specialised recall insurance, combined with carefully-executed preparedness planning could be the difference between the end of a business and its ongoing viability.”
The survey made these recommendations to industry: |
Dublin chosen as XL Group looks to move from UK after Brexit | Insurance company XL Group will move its European headquarters to Dublin next year, following the UK's vote to leave the EU. The parent company of XL Catlin announced it will make the move once it gains the necessary regulatory approvals, in order to allow its customers to continue having access to its European branch network. Other insurance companies are also relocating from the UK in anticipation of Brexit, with Chubb moving to France and FM Global to Luxembourg. Lloyd's of London is meanwhile opening a subsidiary in Brussels. | http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2017/09/20/464858.htm | 2017-09-25 12:10:45.663000 | XL Group is the latest property/casualty insurer to make plans to move its European insurance company headquarters from the United Kingdom in response to its vote to leave the European Union.
The insurer and reinsurer (parent company of XL Catlin) said it will shift its main EU operations to Dublin, Ireland in 2018, once it obtains the required regulatory approvals. This will be accomplished by moving its main EU insurance company, XL Insurance Co. SE, which will allow its clients and brokers to continue being serviced through its European branch network once the Brexit process is complete.
XL Group’s post-Brexit decision to relocate follows similar moves by other P/C insurers and reinsurers. Chubb Limited has said it intends to relocate its European Union headquarters to France if the United Kingdom leaves the EU as expected in March 2019. CNA Hardy decided in June to launch a European subsidiary in Luxembourg beyond its London headquarters in order to keep open access to the EU market. FM Global is also shifting its EU headquarters from the UK to Luxembourg. American International Group will open a Luxembourg subsidiary but keep its main EU headquarters in London. MS Amlin plans to re-domicile its European business, Amlin Insurance Societas Europaea (AISE), to Belgium in response to Brexit.
The Lloyd’s of London insurance market, meanwhile, plans to address Brexit concerns by opening a Brussels subsidiary.
In the case of XL Group, choosing Dublin as its EU headquarters makes sense on multiple levels. It has had operations there since 1990 after opening its first European insurance company in the city’s International Financial Services Center. XL Group noted in its Brexit announcement that it established XL Re Europe (today XL Re Europe SE) in 2006 and that it remains an Irish-domiciled insurer.
Also, XL Group’s parent company was domiciled in Dublin between 2010 and 2016 before its new holding company XL Group Ltd. was formed in Bermuda after XL Group acquired Catlin Group that year. The combined company continues to have insurance and reinsurance operations in Dublin.
Meanwhile, back in the UK, XL Group said it will keep Catlin Insurance Co. in place (the division is a UK-regulated insurance company). Its Lloyd’s operations – Syndicate 2003 and 3002 – will also remain.
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Topics Carriers Europe London Uk AXA XL |
Canadian court to re-examine gallery workplace death claims | A Canadian court has asked for the re-examination of a case in which insurer Intact was told it had a duty to defend a client over a workplace death in 2013. Judges had earlier ruled against Intact, which said its policy didn't cover the National Gallery of Canada's defence against claims from the family of maintenance worker Conrad Lafreniere, who died while working at the cultural centre. The order was set aside on appeal in Ontario because the original hearing “did not conduct the necessary analysis" of the case, the higher court said.
| https://www.canadianunderwriter.ca/insurance/court-analyze-whether-commercial-liability-policy-applies-lawsuit-arising-fatal-injury-job-1004120559/ | 2017-09-25 11:54:58.780000 | An Ontario court finding, that Intact Insurance Company has a duty to defend an organization sued in connection with a worker killed on the job, lacked “analysis of the critical issues that had to be addressed,” the Court of Appeal for Ontario recently ruled.
Court records indicate that in August, 2013, Conrad Lafrenière, “suffered fatal injuries in the course of his employment” while carrying out maintenance work on a vehicle ramp at the National Gallery of Canada.
“When a vehicle approached to enter the underground garage, Mr. Lafrenière stepped back towards the ledge of the ramp and fell,” wrote Justices Paul Rouleau, Katherine Rensburg and Lois Roberts of the Court of Appeal for Ontario in a decision released Sept. 6, 2017.
Lafrenière worked for Lafleur de la Capitale Inc., which provided landscaping and maintenance services for the National Gallery.
Lafleur had a liability policy with Intact providing coverage of up to $5 million per occurrence of bodily injury or property damage. The National Gallery was a named insured, “only insofar as [its] Legal Liability arises vicariously out of the operations of [Lafleur] in connection with [its landscaping and snow removal services],” wrote the Court of Appeal for Ontario judges hearing Intact’s appeal.
Intact was appealing a ruling by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ordering Intact to fund defences of two lawsuits – one by Lafrenière’s wife and the other by other family members of Lafrenière under the Family Law Act.
The National Gallery of Canada had asked for a declaration that Intact and Lafleur “are obliged to provide and fund its full defence in the underlying actions, relying on the terms of the maintenance contract and the CGL policy.”
The policy that Intact wrote excluded obligations under a workers’ compensation law and for bodily injury to an employee of arising from employment. The applications judge ruled that the allegations made in the lawsuits “could relate to issues of maintenance or of measures that should have been taken in the cause of maintenance.”
But the ruling ordering Intact to defend the National Gallery has been set aside. In its Sept. 6, 2017 decision – cited as National Gallery of Canada v. Lafleur de la Capitale Inc. – the Court of Appeal for Ontario ordered that National Gallery’s application be re-heard by a different judge.
The judge hearing that National Gallery’s application “had to undertake a detailed analysis” of the pleadings by the plaintiffs, the insurance policy and the maintenance contract, in the context of three questions, the appeal court ruled. One was whether the plaintiffs showed that the loss at issue is covered under the terms of the policy. The second was whether Intact demonstrated that an exclusion applies. The third was – if an exclusion did apply – whether the plaintiffs established that there is an exception to the exclusion.
The applications judge “did not conduct the necessary analysis of the pleadings, maintenance contract and policy, which were essential in this complex case, to address the coverage issue,” the Court of Appeal for Ontario found.
In Canada, workers’ compensation began when Sir William Ralph Meredith was appointed in 1910 to recommend a scheme for Ontario, Justice John Sopinka noted in the Supreme Court of Canada ruling in Pasiechnyk v. Saskatchewan, released in 1997.
“The bar to actions against employers is central to the workers’ compensation scheme as Meredith conceived of it: it is the other half of the trade-off,” Justice Sopinka wrote. “It would be unfair to allow actions to proceed against employers where there was a chance of the injured worker’s obtaining greater compensation, and yet still to force employers to contribute to a no-fault insurance scheme.”
In a ruling released in 2016, the Court of Appeal of Yukon allowed a lawsuit against a construction worker as well as two corporations, arising from a workplace injury, to proceed.
In Whitehorse in 2012, federal employee Linda Hill was struck on the head by a piece of wood that had fallen from the roof at the Elijah Smith Building.
Named as defendants in her lawsuit were construction worker Jason Tomandl Ketza Construction Corp. and SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. The defendants had argued that “the whole point of a universal scheme of compensation is to avoid lawsuits where employers and employees are involved,” Justice John Vertes of the Supreme Court of Yukon wrote in 2015 in his ruling allowing the lawsuit to proceed.
The Government Employees Compensation Act “extends benefits analogous to those under provincial and territorial workers’ compensation legislation to federal government employees,” and also “bars an employee who is eligible to receive compensation from bringing a civil claim against the federal Crown, its officers, servants, and agents,” wrote Justice Harvey Groberman of the Court of Appeal of Yukon.
But when GECA was revised in 1955, there was “no suggestion that the new legislation would curtail an employee’s right to sue an employer or worker other than the Crown and its servants,” Justice Groberman added.
An Ontario company that was sued by a worker injured on the job was Sam’s Auto Wrecking Co. Ltd., carrying on business as Wentworth Metal, in Hamilton. A Wentworth Metal vice-president had his right leg severed below the knee after he was run over by a crane. He was not covered by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario because in 1989 or 1990, Wentworth Metal opted to purchase private insurance for executives.
In 2013 the Court of Appeal for Ontario upheld a 2011 finding that Lombard General Insurance Company did not have a duty to defend Wentworth.
One exclusion in the Lombard policy was for “bodily injury to an employee of the Insured arising out of and in the course of employment by the Insured.” |
Educational app instantly checks maths homework | An app developed by Chinese software company Hangzhou Dana could free up parents' and teachers' time by checking children's maths homework. The "Love Homework" app takes a photo of the assignment, which it then checks for arithmetic problems in a single second, with a reported 95% accuracy. It has been met with widespread praise by parents and educators in China, with over 400,000 downloads in the three weeks since its launch. Artificial intelligence could replace humans in repetitive work, allowing "educators and parents to put more effort in motivating the students", said maths teacher Feng Dingying.
| http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-09/25/c_136637070.htm | 2017-09-25 11:54:48.997000 | Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-25 18:21:47|Editor: Xiang Bo
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HANGZHOU, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- A tech company in east China's Zhejiang Province has developed the software which can free parents from checking math assignments.
The app, "Love Homework," was developed by Hangzhou Dana technology company. By simply taking a photo, it can check arithmetic problems in one second, with over 95 percent accuracy.
The free app has gained widespread high praise from parents and teachers alike since its launch in early September, with more than 400,000 downloads in three weeks.
"I have never seen an app receiving such a warm, enthusiastic reception in my 20 years of career," said Luo Huan, co-founder of Dana.
The idea of the app came from Mao Lihui, who works at Dana. Father of a primary school student, Mao spent a lot of time and energy checking his kid's assignments every day.
"There are about 60 math questions a page, sometimes 100. I hate checking homework after a long day at work," Mao said.
"Some parents said they spent at least an hour checking these questions," said Chen Mingquan, another co-founder.
The Dana team analyzed the handwriting of Chinese children and trained the computers to recognize the figures even when the handwriting was careless, with overlapping corrections or on thin paper.
A mother surnamed Xu downloaded the app on the recommendation of other parents. "It saved me a lot of time and the accuracy was better than my own. Plus, my kid and I don't quarrel about the questions when we come up with different answers," she said. "I hope they come up with more, similar homework-checking apps."
Feng Dingying, a math teacher, said artificial intelligence can replace humans in repetitive work. "It allows educators and parents to put more effort in motivating the students," said Feng. |
China extends property-price taming measures to hinterland | Cities in China are introducing further restrictions on housing transactions, banning the resale of properties for periods of up to five years after purchase, as they seek to curb speculators driving up property prices. Metropolises including Xi'an and Chonqing have brought in the measures as efforts to dampen China's property market expand from the largest population centres to so-called second-tier cities. The policy's extension shows Chinese leaders are determined to control spiralling house prices, said Yang Xianling, head of research at real estate agency Homelink. | http://www.china.org.cn/business/2017-09/25/content_41641226.htm | 2017-09-25 11:40:04.400000 | Eight big cities in China have rolled out further property tightening measures in the latest efforts to rein in housing price rises.
Since Friday, the second-tier cities of Xi'an, Chongqing, Nanchang, Nanning, Changsha, Guiyang, Shijiazhuang and Wuhan have tightened housing controls, with most banning home sales within two to three years after purchases.
In Shijiazhuang, houses newly bought as of Sunday will be banned from being sold within five years.
In Wuhan, real estate developers were told not to have prejudice against those home buyers who plan to use mortgages rather than making full payments.
Analysts said the ban on sales is an effective measure in fighting market speculation.
The new round of housing tightening started by the eight cities showed that there will be no respite in a rather long term and the authorities will not change their determination in controlling housing prices, said Yang Xianling, research chief of real estate agency Homelink.
The measures taken ahead of the National Day holiday can better guide market expectations, said Yang.
In March, Xiamen became the first city nationwide to introduce a sales ban. More than 40 cities have followed suit, according to the China Index Academy.
Yang said this time the tightening mainly targeted the provincial capitals as the housing markets there still face inflationary pressures from expected growth in population in the future.
Zhang Dawei, chief analyst with Centaline Property, said the housing tightening was moving down to the second- and third-tier cities and more are expected to follow suit.
The property markets in bigger cities like Beijing have lost steam after tough tightening measures including higher mortgage rates and down payment. However, the smaller cities saw price rises with money moving in with fewer restrictions.
Banks in many major cities have raised the mortgage rates.
In Beijing, nearly 20 banks have raised the mortgage rates for first-home purchases by 5 or 10 percent. Some even declined to accept mortgage applications.
The banking regulators in cities like Beijing and Shenzhen have also ordered banks to check consumer loans to prevent the money flowing into the property market. |
Lagos forces builders to insure against collapsing properties | The state government of Lagos will work with a consortium of insurance companies to enforce the law requiring building owners to have cover against collapse, as stipulated in the 2003 Insurance Act. The move, which has been welcomed by the insurance sector, follows attempts by regulator the National Insurance Commission and the Nigeria Insurers' Association to enforce the law. If properly implemented, building insurance could boost industry revenues to the tune of NGN10bn (approx $28m) annually. | https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2017/09/20/curbing-building-collapse-through-builders-insurance/ | 2017-09-25 11:29:52.530000 | Ebere Nwoji examines the recent move by the Lagos State Government to make the builders’ insurance policy compulsory to stem the rising incidence of crumbling buildings in the state
The Lagos State Government recently intensified efforts to check rising incidence of building collapse in Nigeria as well as ensuring that where it occurs, victims are provided with necessary mitigations against associated huge losses.
The state did this through recent move to enforce compulsory builders insurance on owners of buildings across the state. It also established a safety institute where stakeholders in construction work can be trained and certified to prevent frequent cases of collapse buildings in the state. Lagos has in recent times recorded the highest number of building collapses.
The Director General of Lagos State Safety Commission, Hakeem Dickson, who disclosed this at a press Conference held as part of preparation for the ‘Naija Safe Awards 2017’, organised at Alausa, Ikeja, said the state government would synergise with a consortium of insurance companies and the National Insurance Commission, (NAICOM) to achieve this.
Dickson was disgusted with the rate at which Lagosians pass blames on the state government whenever there is incidence of building collapse especially for not compensating victims.
He was of the view that if Lagosians embrace building insurance policy, it would save them from untold hardship, losses and hopelessness associated with unforeseen emergency situations,stressing that insurance companies have the financial capabilities to compensate and pay claims to victims of disasters than government.
This decision by the state government is in line with long standing crusade by both the insurance industry regulator, NAICOM and the umbrella body of insurance underwriters, the Nigeria Insurers Association (NIA) and other stakeholders in the industry on enforcement of compulsory insurance nationwide.
They have for many years been agitating for implementation of sections of 2003 insurance Act on compulsory insurances.
Builders insurance, especially public buildings and buildings under construction is one of the compulsory insurance policies stipulated by insurance Act of 2003.
Its enforcement since then has been lying low until in 2008, when NAICOM in collaboration with the industry operators kicked off campaign on the enforcement in the six geopolitical zones of the country.
The expectation was that by now, everybody would have embraced this policy and all buildings in Nigeria covered by insurance policies but this has not happened for lack of enforcement.
While insurance underwriters look upon NAICOM as government agency charged with the responsibility of doing that, NAICOM, on its part looks upon federal government for empowerment and deployment of its various enforcement agents for that purpose.
The Commission is also looking forward that the proposed amendment of 2003 Insurance Act would vest on it the necessary powers for enforcement and punishment of offenders.
The compulsory insurance policies slated by the commission for enforcement include statutory Group Life Insurance as required by Section 9(3) of the Pension Reform Act, 2004.
Employee’s Compensation (which replaced Workmen Compensation) as required by Section 33 of the Employee’s Compensation Act, 2010.
Occupier’s Liability Insurance as required by Section 65 of the Insurance Act, 2003.
Motor Third-Party Insurance as required by Section 68 of the Insurance Act, 2003.
Builder’s Liability Insurance as required by Section 64 of the Insurance Act.
Health Care Professional Indemnity Insurance as required by Section 45 of the National Health Insurance Act, 1999.
Section 65 of insurance act of 2003, states that every public building shall be insured with a registered insurer against the hazards of building collapse, fire, earthquake, storm and flood.
The act defined public building as including tenement house, hostel, and building occupied by a tenant, lodger, or licensee.
At the flag off of the enforcement in Abuja, insurers described the exercise as the best thing that has happened to the industry projecting that at least it would yield the industry as much as N10 billion premium annually if effectively enforced .
Indeed, considering the number of buildings in major cities in the country where there are more public buildings than in the villages, one would conclude that the builders insurance holds much opportunity for the insurance industry and is capable of tripling the projected amount by the insurers.
But instead of this, the policy is being affected by a lot of issues that have hampered its successful enforcement.
Among the issues as pointed out by the Managing Director of Niger Insurance Mr. Kola Adedeji are inadequate and ineffective frame work for insurance industry.
According to him, insurance law makes provision for NAICOM as the regulator to enforce the insurance laws but provides no means of enforcement against the public. According to him, the commission lacks the power to arrest law breakers in the industry.
According to the Niger insurance boss, whereas section 17 of the 2003 Act on third party motor insurance empowers the police to ask any one driving a motor vehicle to produce his or her certificate of insurance and section 40 of the workmen’s compensation act gave the minister of labour power to enforce the compulsory insurance provision of the act. In the case of compulsory building insurance, there is no separate enactment for compulsory insurance of public buildings.
He noted that this inadequate legal framework makes it completely difficult to enforce the provisions.
He therefore suggested a separate act of parliament for each of the compulsory insurance policies adding that each of the acts would provide relevant enforcement agencies through the benefits on the long run accrue to the insurance industry in form of increasing patronage and growth.
He particularly suggested the empowerment of all states and physical planning authorities for the enforcement of the act.
‘’It is equally important to note that the provisions for insurance of public buildings even as they are in the insurance act are quite confusing, the law provides that either the owner or the occupier of the premises can insure public buildings’’, he noted.
Pointing out its other pitfalls, Adedeji queried: “The policy is meant to cover legal liabilities of either owner or occupier at what point in time does the occupier have legal liabilities or insurable interest in the building he or she is occupying?
Despite these pitfalls, Lagos State government have taken the bull by the horns to enforce the law by ensuring that owners of buildings in the state put in place insurance cover for the third party.
The state government has already set up enforcement and monitoring team to ensure compliance.
Members of the team, THISDAY gathered were selected from insurance practitioners and outside insurance as the government was disgusted with high level of abuses by environmental workers in the state.
But Lagosians who commented on the development expressed diverse opinions on the matter. While some said it is a good development, others said what Lagosians need is solution to problem of building collapses not compensation.
They also feared that it will increase cost of building in the state which will in turn increase the already high cost of house rent in the state.
Insurance industry observers said the decision by the state government is a good one but to make it more effective, the government should have used only the law enforcement agents to effect the enforcement.
They argued that using the insurance operators for enforcement would not yield much result because the insurers themselves have often said they were handicapped in enforcing the policy because they find it difficult going into any standing building or building under construction and to ask for insurance policy paper.
The insurers have always wished the law enforcement agents would be assigned to act on their behalf.
The observers therefore want the state government to restrict the enforcement to security and law enforcement agents of government.
At the lunch of the compulsory insurance in Abuja, the then Commissioner for Insurance Mr. Fola Daniel had explained that the enforcement was meant not only to boost the industry’s premium, but most importantly to protect lives and properties which are often lost in building collapses.
He had listed structures covered under the Act to include all buildings occupied by government ministries; extra-ministerial departments; statutory bodies; tenement houses; hostels; lodges; or licences and any building to which members of the public have access for the purpose of obtaining educational or medical service or for recreational purposes or for business transaction.
Apparently, the industry regulator hoped to use the proceeds from the compulsory builders insurance to transform the industry into trillion naira market this year from below N400 billion currently.
Daniel, had said that the trillion naira market transformation of the industry projected by his regime in NAICOM was based on the assumption that if all the houses and motor vehicles in Lagos and Abuja alone were insured, the figure would be met.
Section 64 of Insurance Act of 2003 makes mandatory the insurance of buildings under construction where more than two floors are envisaged. The section says that insurance must cover the liability of the owner of the building in respect of the negligence of his servants, agents or consultant.
Section 65 of the same Act makes the insurance of public building mandatory.
Section 65 (4) of the Act specifies that 0.25 per cent of the premium collected is to be paid into a Fire Services Maintenance Fund to be administered and disbursed by NAICOM for the purpose of providing grants or procurement of equipment to institutions engaged in fire fighting services in the country.
The Act also provides that where there is a violation of this order, which derives from the provision of Sections 64 and 65 of the Insurance Act 2003, such offenders are liable to three years’ imprisonment or a fine of N250,000 or both.
Also, the law prescribes a fine of N100, 000 for a tenant or owner of such insured building in respect of loss of, or damage to property, or bodily injury or death suffered by any user of the premises and third party but it failed to state the right or power of the NAICOM to punish any offender. |
InfoWatch unveils 'surveillance-proof' smartphone | Russian software development company InfoWatch has unveiled a smartphone it claims is “surveillance-proof”. The TaigaPhone, developed with the Russian corporate market in mind, will retail at around RUB15,000 ($260), significantly cheaper than an iPhone in the country. "Half of all data loss in Russia happens on mobile devices, we intend to fix that problem", said company representative Grigoriy Vasilyev. InfoWatch claims that the TaigaPhone guarantees user confidentiality, a valuable trait for those that fear eavesdropping and data leakages.
| https://phys.org/news/2017-09-russia-firm-unveils-surveillance-proof-smartphone.html | 2017-09-25 11:25:49.273000 | A man holds a TaigaPhone, a brand new smartphone created by InfoWatch Group, during a presentation in Moscow on September 22, 2017
For Russians who fear that someone may be eavesdropping on their phone conversations, leading IT entrepreneur Natalya Kaspersky says she has a solution.
At a business forum in Moscow on Friday she presented "TaigaPhone", a brand new smartphone created by InfoWatch Group, her software development company, costing around 15,000 rubles ($260).
The TaigaPhone is entirely green to represent the Russian northern forest after which it is named and has a five-inch touch screen.
"We have created it for the corporate market," said Kaspersky, president of InfoWatch Group and co-founder of Kaspersky Lab, Russia's leading antivirus software development company which some believe may have links to Russian intelligence.
Kaspersky Lab has over the past months been at the centre of controversy in the United States.
In July, the US government removed Kaspersky from its list of approved vendors, weeks after top US intelligence agency and law enforcement officials expressed concerns about the safety of its software.
But no evidence has been presented to back up vague assertions that it might be a tool of Moscow, offering Russian spies back-door entry into computers worldwide.
The company has repeatedly denied working with any government agency.
The TaigaPhone is not the first Russian-made smartphone. YotaPhone, which first appeared on the market in 2013, is back this year with a new device: the YotaPhone 3.
InfoWatch wants to sell TaigaPhone to Russian companies at a cost of between 12,000 and 15,000 rubles, almost five times cheaper than the cost of an iPhone in Russia.
"Half of all data loss in Russia happens on mobile devices, we intend to fix that problem with the TaigaPhone," company representative Grigoriy Vasilyev told investors at the forum.
InfoWatch says the device can guarantee the confidentiality of all TaigaPhone users, track the location of each device and prevent information leakage.
© 2017 AFP |
Australian food firms poorly covered for product recall crises | Australian food companies are ill-equipped to deal with product recalls, according to a report by the Australian Food and Grocery Council and Victual. It revealed that while the average cost of a global recall was $10m, many firms' insurance "covered significantly less". Additionally, 41% of respondents did not regularly review their recall plans, while a third had no spokesperson, and of those who did, they were not trained to deal with a recall crisis. The report made several recommendations, including the need for more robust ways to track consumer sentiment and reducing batch quantities to minimise recall costs. | https://www.farminguk.com/News/Deal-agreed-to-insure-UK-s-entire-sheep-population-_47456.html | 2017-09-25 11:22:53.837000 | The Lynx UK Trust has announced an agreement that will insure the UK's whole sheep population against lynx attacks throughout a proposed trial to reintroduce the wild cat to the UK.
The agreement, with Lloyds Syndicate ARK Speciality Programs, is seen as an attempt to ease farmers' concerns surrounding the danger of reintroducing the lynx to the British countryside.
If the proposal trial is approved by Natural England, six lynx will be reintroduced for a five year period in the Kielder Forest, Northumberland.
They will be closely monitored with satellite tracking to see how they fit back into the UK ecosystem, where they could become a natural control on the currently overpopulated deer species.
But the National Sheep Association (NSA) has said the proposals would have a "detrimental impact" on farmers' livelihoods.
The NSA said the debate so far has only focused on the positives, with 'little consideration' for evidence which suggests similar projects in Europe have experienced limited success.
"Releasing this predatory species puts at risk all the things that emanate from a successful sheep farmed area – the landscape and its associated ecology and wildlife, local working communities and a vibrant rural economy," the group said.
'Wide-reaching'
NSA chief executive Phil Stocker said the impact of it would be 'far wider-reaching than just a few sheep lost'.
"The UK's ecology is built on huge diversity which is dependent on human management and farming in the majority of cases," he said.
"This hierarchy of species interact with each other and we already have many examples where a lack of intervention and predator control result in the collapse of iconic birds and mammals such as the red squirrel and the curlew - two species that Northumberland is renowned for.
"The UK is very different from countries where top level predators such as big cats can survive, in terms of land use, wildlife and our population and infrastructure."
'Natural balance'
However, Lynx UK Trust believes the animal belongs in the UK ecosystem, having been hunted to extinction around 500-700AD.
The Trust believes reintroduction is vital in re-storing a natural balance in the British countryside.
Lynx UK Trust has pledged to establish a sheep welfare programme which will provide grants to build fencing, buy outbuildings for lambing and bring in llamas to act as guardians for sheep flocks.
Chief scientific advisor to the Lynx UK Trust, Dr Paul O'Donoghue told The Telegraph: “There are some really exciting ideas from other countries, such as guardian animals like llamas,” said chief scientific advisor to the Trust, Dr Paul O'Donoghue.
“We've seen these successfully used in the Scottish Highlands keeping off foxes, and in an American study they reduced sheep kills from dogs and coyotes by 66 per cent; half of those farms saw predation stop entirely.
“Those are astounding results, I'm amazed we don't already see them widely in use; we might be able to reduce all sheep predation by two thirds, just by providing farmers with llamas.”
'Criminal offence'
Nevertheless, the NSA said it would therefore be a 'criminal offence' to keep them without a local authority licence.
Currently, these licences are only available for zoo and captive animals, not for those being released into the wild.
The current law would also allow farmers to legally shoot lynx causing distress to their animals.
And since lynx's are natural predators, farmers' see this as a risk to their livestock if a re-introduction were to happen.
NSA's Phil Stocker continued: “This country is a very different place to what it was 1,300 years ago and NSA does not believe we have enough largescale, suitable habitat to support the minimum population of 250 lynx that is needed for true genetic sustainability.
“Animal welfare and disease biosecurity, as well as unconsidered changes in ecology if we were to see pastoral farming decline, also present huge problems.” |
Workplace insurance premium cuts to save Ontario firms $614m | Canadian agency the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), part of the country's Ministry of Labour, has announced a 3% cut in average premium rates for 2018, saving local firms CAD760m ($614m), according to Chair Elizabeth Witmer. The latest cuts follow a 9% drop in average premium prices over the past two years, and will be a boost to the more than 300,000 Ontario businesses in Ontario paying WSIB for injury and illness collective liability insurance. | http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/$760-million-to-remain-in-the-Ontario-economy-following-latest-WSIB-rate-cut-586884 | 2017-09-25 11:06:05.793000 | Small businesses also rewarded for health & safety efforts
TORONTO, Sept. 20, 2017 /CNW/ - For the second year in a row, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) is lowering premium rates. The three per cent reduction to the average rate for 2018 was announced at today's Annual General Meeting (AGM) for stakeholders.
"The rate cut we announced today combined with last year's reductions means a nine per cent drop in the average premium rate over the past two years," said Elizabeth Witmer, Chair of the WSIB. "That means $760 million will remain in Ontario's economy that can be invested in jobs, technology and improvements to workplace health and safety."
Over 300,000 businesses and organizations in Ontario pay premiums for the WSIB's workplace injury and illness collective liability insurance coverage.
The WSIB also released its 2017 Economic Statement today which shows continued progress reducing its unfunded liability (UFL), which now stands at $2.6 billion, down from $14.2 billion in 2011.
"Good financial management underpins our ability to keep delivering and expanding the services that help people recover and return to work safely," said Tom Teahen, WSIB President and CEO. "We are focused on always delivering better outcomes across everything we do."
A key focus of the AGM was the first-ever Small Business Health and Safety Leadership Awards, designed to recognized outstanding achievement in health and safety initiatives in businesses with fewer than 50 employees. Nominated businesses were judged on their performance in five categories: safety culture and leadership, inspections, hazard identification and control, quality of return-to-work programs, and employee safety engagement survey results.
"We need to call out the efforts of leaders in small business who make health and safety a priority," said Witmer. "These business leaders are leading by example and can inspire other businesses to make improvements."
The three winners were encouraged to reinvest their cash awards in their health and safety programs. The winners were:
Gold level – JTR & Custom Works Inc., Timmins, $5,000
Silver level – Devolder Farms Inc., Dover Centre, $3,000
Bronze level – Mike Moore Construction Ltd., Sault Ste. Marie, $2,000
SOURCE Workplace Safety & Insurance Board |
Teens use digital tools to cheat at school | Around 29% of students between the ages of 14 and 18 have used digital technology to cheat at school, according to a survey by security company McAfee, while 62% of students surveyed by the firm say they have seen friends cheating with tech. A further third of students have used technology to circumvent their school's security protocols to access prohibited content, the survey states. Digital tools, like content filters, can act as countermeasures to this behaviour, alongside keeping teachers up-to-date with the latest methods.
| https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2017/09/mcafee-finds-teenagers-use-tech-cheat-school | 2017-09-25 10:56:28.607000 | For K–12 schools, technologies in the classroom can expand access to innovative information and add layers of protection to the digital learning experience. But today’s digital native students might be so savvy with technology that they use it to break the rules.
About one-third of students aged 14 to 18 report they have gone around schools’ online safeguards to access banned content, and another 29 percent indicate that they’ve used digital tools to cheat in school, reports a new survey from security firm McAfee.
Roughly 62 percent of students say they’ve witnessed a friend using a connected device to cheat. eSchool News reports that the students surveyed say that using a mobile device to take a photo of notes or test answers is easy to do.
While these students are tech savvy, some educators believe that the students might not even be aware when their tech use counts as cheating.
“They share information because it’s just available to them,” says Joe Fuertsch, assistant principal at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Calif., in a U.S. News and World Report article about the survey.
Fuertsch recommends that teachers have proactive conversations about cheating and plagiarism and where technology fits into that. Other teachers in the article suggest that educators regularly search the internet for new ways that students might be able to cheat on tests, and teachers should design tests that encourage critical thinking instead of a simple right or wrong answer.
When best practices can’t cut it, technology can help to thwart inappropriate tech use.
Technologies Ensure Proper Tech Use
Digital tools can be particularly effective in addressing attempts to access banned and inappropriate content.
GoGuardian, the company behind content-filtering apps that many schools use, released Admin 2.0, a new tool that applies machine learning to more efficiently flag content.
Using the updated content filter, administrators can set up personalized messages for students trying to access banned content. Instead of just putting up a blocked page, the tool gives students a “you know better” type of message, which has helped to limit the amount of explicit or inappropriate content accessed.
Cheating and accessing banned content aren’t the only cybersecurity issues that schools have to deal with when students become more technologically sophisticated. At Miami-Dade County Public Schools, students conducted repeated distributed denial of service attacks, which flooded schools’ networks with malicious traffic to stop the schools from issuing a standardized test.
The district tells EdTech that now it’s using more network monitoring tools and establishing rules on its routers, switches and firewalls to spurn this kind of bad traffic. |
Costa Coffee completes successful drone deliveries in Dubai | A branch of Costa Coffee in Dubai has successfully tested a drone delivery service for customers on the beach. A video released by the company shows the order being placed with a mobile phone, and the drone arriving at Jumeirah Beach to make the delivery 15 minutes later. A spokesman for Costa in the UAE said the technology is "the next frontier for instant delivery", but the chain has not confirmed plans to introduce the service.
| http://www.tahawultech.com/cnme/news/costa-coffee-trial-drone-delivery-service-dubai/ | 2017-09-25 10:45:02.517000 | Costa Coffee has successfully delivered its first batch of takeaway coffee to customers on the beach in Dubai using specially engineered drone technology.
The Jumeirah Beach Road branch tested out the technology and took their ‘Frostino’ and ‘Cold Brew’ beverages to customers on Kite Beach.
Beach-goers can be seen in the video released by Costa ordering via mobile phone to the local branch, before the drink arrives right at their location within 15 minutes.
The Drone Drop idea came after 82 percent of customers in the UAE said they would make food and drink orders to be delivered by drone.
“Dubai is known for leading the way with innovative technology, and drones are the next frontier for instant delivery,” Shemaine Jones, Head of Marketing at Costa Coffee UAE, said. “Our customers told us they’d love to have their favorite drinks dropped off by drones, so we’re super excited to have successfully tested this service, enabling beach-goers to enjoy ice cold beverages without leaving the comfort of their sun-loungers.”
The coffeehouse has released no exact details yet as to whether it plans to introduce the service or not following the trial. |
ANZ banks look to implement unified biometric authentification | The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) plans to utilise voice biometrics to authenticate customer data across its call centres. The technology has already been rolled out on the group's Grow app, garnering “high customer acceptance and success”. ANZ hopes that the technology's success will encourage other financial institutions in the region to adopt it, creating a national, unified security solution. The group is expecting a hike in fraudulent activity as a result of the launch of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s New Payments Platform in February.
| http://www.zdnet.com/article/voice-biometrics-to-be-the-front-door-for-all-anz-bank-contact/#ftag=RSSbaffb68 | 2017-09-25 10:25:48.387000 | The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) is looking to implement voice biometrics as the method of authentication in its call centres across all of its front doors, ANZ general manager of Wholesale Digital Nigel Dobson told the FIDO Alliance Seminar in Sydney on Monday.
Voice identification technology was rolled out earlier this month on the bank's Grow by ANZ app, and according to Dobson, the service has experienced "high customer acceptance and success" and as a result, the bank is keen to roll it out across its call centres.
"We will test and learn this capability, and our hope is to have it as a pervasive authentication capability for the bank for all of its front doors, if you like, within 12-24 months," he said.
"What we think we have found with voice biometrics as an addition to authentication is something actually that gives high security and a significant degree of convenience."
Pointing to other institutions in the space that are jumping on the biometrics bandwagon -- such as Barclays, HSBC, and USAA -- Dobson is concerned the market might become too cluttered with disparate methods of authentication. Instead, he wants to see financial institutions in Australia work together to form a unified solution.
"Every bank coming up with their own solution is probably not wise when you can have a standard response that is nationally utilised. Combing strong authentication coupled with secured credentials is the mission," he explained.
"We certainly have common interests as a banking community in implementing framework."
It is a similar approach financial providers in Canada are doing, he explained, with the Digital ID & Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC) also including telecommunications providers and government in the conversation with financial services providers.
"I think that's a really interesting combination. Not every country has managed to become that collaborative and I can see enormous benefits of having telcos and financial institutions with complementary datasets trying to solve national identity and security," Dobson said.
"I would hope the same thing might happen here in Australia."
With the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) launching itsNew Payments Platform into trial mode later this year, Dobson is concerned with the increase in fraud the platform may bring with it when it goes live with customer transactions from February next year.
"We're expecting an increase in the success of fraud just simply because of the velocity of transactions," he said.
"Transactions that are set, cleared, and settled and posted within 15 seconds obviously offer you a much greater viability to success in fraud attacks as opposed to slower payment tracks that have been used in the past.
"Coupled with open-data, we believe the market is upon significant innovation, but our collaborative energies need to be brought together to ensure that the customer experience is both convenient and secure."
The new payments platform will allow for near real-time funds transfer between bank accounts, regardless of who people bank with. All a user will require to perform an "instantaneous payment" with the forthcoming system will be the recipient's email address or mobile phone number.
In partnership with speech software firm Nuance, the bank's Grow by ANZ banking app allows customers to make "pay anyone" payments of more than AU$1,000 automatically, bypassing usual security measures such as visiting a branch in person. Voice ID can also be used to make BPAY payments of over AU$10,000.
ANZ announced its voice biometrics trial in April, kicking off the new technology with a pilot running with staff and select customers in May.
At the time, ANZ managing director of customer experience and digital channels Peter Dalton touted voice biometrics as the next step in making banking more convenient for customers while also strengthening security.
"One of the key challenges today for banking as the world becomes more digital is making it easier for customers to do what they want to do in a safe and secure way," he said previously.
Speaking with ZDNet in April, Nuance Australia and New Zealand managing director Robert Schwarz said voice biometrics is a more secure method of identifying and authenticating the user or the account owner in the financial services sector.
"What ANZ Bank has done around implementing voice biometrics is going to have multiple benefits for their customers," Schwarz said. "First and foremost is the security side, by being able to secure some of these larger transactions. They're using it for a step-up authentication process, because voice is a lot more secure than a lot of the other modalities that are out there."
Schwarz also believes there is an important place for voice biometrics to curb the influx of fraud that could emerge in the RBA's instant payments environment. |
Singapore project to test bunkering marine biofuels | GoodFuels Marine and BHP have partnered with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore to run a biofuels bunkering pilot project at the port. GoodFuels is an international supplier of marine biofuel that currently services the Port of Amsterdam and the trial at the largest bunkering port in the world will mark the first time it has brought its expertise to Asia. The initiative aims to test whether biofuels can provide a sustainable power alternative to the shipping industry, which is facing increasingly stringent environmental regulations. The project is expected to take place next year. | https://www.innovatorsmag.com/singapore-to-trial-marine-biofuels/ | 2017-09-25 10:21:49.730000 | Can biofuels provide a sustainable power alternative to the shipping industry? A new collaborative project in Singapore is going to test the idea.
The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has signed an agreement with BHP and GoodFuels Marine to run a biofuels pilot project next year. GoodFuels Marine is an international supplier of marine biofuel. It currently supplies fuel to the Port of Amsterdam and this latest initiative will see it lend its expertise to the “largest bunkering port in the world”.
“We are very proud that our ‘biofuel-footprint’ of supply locations and sustainable customers is spreading from Europe to the largest bunkering port in the world and our first Asian partner as well. From now on, sustainable marine biofuels are available in Singapore for those ship and freight owners that want to eliminate their carbon and sulphur emissions,” said Dirk Kronemeijer, Chief Executive Officer of GoodFuels. |
India's PM promises a home for every citizen by 2022 | Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to build a home for every urban and rural family or individual in the country by 2022, when the country marks its 75th year of independence. Speaking at a cattle fair in Varanasi, Modi said his initiative would "generate jobs and income". Modi lashed out at the previous government's attempts to provide housing for India's thousands of homeless people, saying it had "no interest in giving homes to the poor".
| http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/narendra-modis-varanasi-visit-everyone-will-get-a-home-by-2022-says-pm/articleshow/60804206.cms | 2017-09-25 10:10:41.527000 | SHAHANSHAHPUR ( VARANASI ): Prime Minister Narendra Modi today lashed out at his political rivals, saying for BJP, politics was not for the sake of votes as it considered the country's development as the top-most priority.Addressing a public meeting after inaugurating a 'Pashu Arogya Mela' (cattle health fair) here on the second day of his two-day visit to his Lok Sabha constituency of Varanasi, he also promised to double farm income and provide homes to the homeless by 2022.He said his government had "waged a war" against black money and corruption, for which the poor have had to suffer because of "the loot" by the dishonest."Our (BJP) politics is not for votes, our culture is different. In politics, people do only that task which yields votes, but our character is different."Some politicians work only when it fetches them votes. But we have been brought up in a different culture. ... For us, the nation is above all and it is our top-most priority, not votes," Modi said.Referring to the mega animal fair being organised for the first time on 1800 acres of land here, he said "these animals don't go to cast their ballot. They are not anyone's voters."He said proper healthcare of the cattle through such initiatives, would help increase milk production in India which is lower than in several countries.Encouraging the farmers to adopt dairy and animal husbandry as alternate sources of income, Modi said such initiatives would lead to "a new path of progress" that would not only raise farmers' income but also the overall income.Maintaining that crores of families are still homeless, he said the government has decided to provide each of the urban and rural poor, a shelter by 2022 when the country celebrates 75th year of independence."When crores of houses are built across the country, it will require bricks, cement, iron and wood. It will generate jobs for thousands and open up new avenues of income and employment," the Prime Minister said.Modi, who distributed Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana certificates to some beneficiaries, said "By 2022, every poor, whether in urban or rural area, will get a home. Building crores of homes will generate jobs and income.""If Modi will not take up such an arduous task, who else will," he posed.He also targetted the erstwhile Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh for not providing to the Centre the list of homeless requiring houses in the state."The previous government had no interest in giving homes to the poor. After mounting pressure, they gave a list of only 10,000. But the current (Yogi Adityanath) government has given a list of lakhs of people to avail benefit," Modi said.Referring to his government's cleanliness drive, he said toilets at home can save up to Rs 50,000 per annum as per a survey.Praising villagers, where he went for laying foundation of a toilet for naming it as "Izzatghar", Modi said, "I liked this word so much. Where there is Izzatghar, there is honour of our mothers and sisters. I also congratulate the state government for recognising it as Izzatghar. In the days to come those who are concerned about their honour, will construct Izzatghar."Thanking Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for organising health treatment for cattle programme, Modi said cattle were brought here from different places and specialist doctors are here to treat them."I hope such programme for health of cattles will be held across the state through which we will take care of cattle of poor. It will be a relief for them," he said.Modi said such camps would help poor farmers who could not afford treatment to their animal because of poverty and pointed out that dairy farming gave them a major economic support.Earlier, he went around the animal shelter and even patted some cows at the 'gau shala'.He spoke to the staff there enquiring about their work.Modi said that the government has kickstarted a big battle against blackmoney, corruption and dishonesty."A common honest man suffers as corrupt used to loot him. The campaign of honesty is going ahead like a festival. The way in which our trader brothers are associating with GST and Aadhar. Every penny of peole will be spent for their welfare. We are moving forward fast," he said.On the first day of his visit, Modi inaugurated 17 infra projects worth over Rs 1000 crore including the Ramnagar-Samne Ghat bridge and the Balua Ghat bridge.He also flagged off the third Mahamana Express train between Varanasi and Vadodara. |
Client details stolen in Deloitte cyber attack | Global accountancy firm Deloitte has lost confidential client details in a cyber attack that went undetected for months. Six major clients have been informed that their information was “impacted”. An internal review is being conducted into the loss, which saw IP addresses, passwords, medical records and architectural diagrams compromised. The hack was discovered in March, but may have been in progress since November of last year. “In response to a cyber incident, Deloitte implemented its comprehensive security protocol and began an intensive and thorough review”, said a spokesman for the company.
| https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/sep/25/deloitte-hit-by-cyber-attack-revealing-clients-secret-emails | 2017-09-25 10:07:19.180000 | One of the world’s “big four” accountancy firms has been targeted by a sophisticated hack that compromised the confidential emails and plans of some of its blue-chip clients, the Guardian can reveal.
Deloitte, which is registered in London and has its global headquarters in New York, was the victim of a cybersecurity attack that went unnoticed for months.
One of the largest private firms in the US, which reported a record $37bn (£27.3bn) revenue last year, Deloitte provides auditing, tax consultancy and high-end cybersecurity advice to some of the world’s biggest banks, multinational companies, media enterprises, pharmaceutical firms and government agencies.
The Guardian understands Deloitte clients across all of these sectors had material in the company email system that was breached. The companies include household names as well as US government departments.
So far, six of Deloitte’s clients have been told their information was “impacted” by the hack. Deloitte’s internal review into the incident is ongoing.
The Guardian understands Deloitte discovered the hack in March this year, but it is believed the attackers may have had access to its systems since October or November 2016.
The hacker compromised the firm’s global email server through an “administrator’s account” that, in theory, gave them privileged, unrestricted “access to all areas”.
The account required only a single password and did not have “two-step“ verification, sources said.
Emails to and from Deloitte’s 244,000 staff were stored in the Azure cloud service, which was provided by Microsoft. This is Microsoft’s equivalent to Amazon Web Service and Google’s Cloud Platform.
Microsoft’s Azure cloud service. Photograph: Microsoft
In addition to emails, the Guardian understands the hackers had potential access to usernames, passwords, IP addresses, architectural diagrams for businesses and health information. Some emails had attachments with sensitive security and design details.
The breach is believed to have been US-focused and was regarded as so sensitive that only a handful of Deloitte’s most senior partners and lawyers were informed.
The Guardian has been told the internal inquiry into how this happened has been codenamed “Windham”. It has involved specialists trying to map out exactly where the hackers went by analysing the electronic trail of the searches that were made.
The team investigating the hack is understood to have been working out of the firm’s offices in Rosslyn, Virginia, where analysts have been reviewing potentially compromised documents for six months.
It has yet to establish whether a lone wolf, business rivals or state-sponsored hackers were responsible.
Sources said if the hackers had been unable to cover their tracks, it should be possible to see where they went and what they compromised by regenerating their queries. This kind of reverse-engineering is not foolproof, however.
A measure of Deloitte’s concern came on 27 April when it hired the US law firm Hogan Lovells on “special assignment” to review what it called “a possible cybersecurity incident”.
The Washington-based firm has been retained to provide “legal advice and assistance to Deloitte LLP, the Deloitte Central Entities and other Deloitte Entities” about the potential fallout from the hack.
Responding to questions from the Guardian, Deloitte confirmed it had been the victim of a hack but insisted only a small number of its clients had been “impacted”. It would not be drawn on how many of its clients had data made potentially vulnerable by the breach.
The Guardian was told an estimated 5m emails were in the ”cloud” and could have been been accessed by the hackers. Deloitte said the number of emails that were at risk was a fraction of this number but declined to elaborate.
“In response to a cyber incident, Deloitte implemented its comprehensive security protocol and began an intensive and thorough review including mobilising a team of cybersecurity and confidentiality experts inside and outside of Deloitte,” a spokesman said.
“As part of the review, Deloitte has been in contact with the very few clients impacted and notified governmental authorities and regulators.
“The review has enabled us to understand what information was at risk and what the hacker actually did, and demonstrated that no disruption has occurred to client businesses, to Deloitte’s ability to continue to serve clients, or to consumers.
“We remain deeply committed to ensuring that our cybersecurity defences are best in class, to investing heavily in protecting confidential information and to continually reviewing and enhancing cybersecurity. We will continue to evaluate this matter and take additional steps as required.
“Our review enabled us to determine what the hacker did and what information was at risk as a result. That amount is a very small fraction of the amount that has been suggested.”
Deloitte declined to say which government authorities and regulators it had informed, or when, or whether it had contacted law enforcement agencies.
Though all major companies are targeted by hackers, the breach is a deep embarrassment for Deloitte, which offers potential clients advice on how to manage the risks posed by sophisticated cybersecurity attacks.
“Cyber risk is more than a technology or security issue, it is a business risk,” Deloitte tells potential customers on its website.
“While today’s fast-paced innovation enables strategic advantage, it also exposes businesses to potential cyber-attack. Embedding best practice cyber behaviours help our clients to minimise the impact on business.”
Deloitte has a “CyberIntelligence Centre” to provide clients with “round-the-clock business focussed operational security”.
“We monitor and assess the threats specific to your organisation, enabling you to swiftly and effectively mitigate risk and strengthen your cyber resilience,” its website says. “Going beyond the technical feeds, our professionals are able to contextualise the relevant threats, helping determine the risk to your business, your customers and your stakeholders.”
In 2012, Deloitte, which has offices all over the world, was ranked the best cybersecurity consultant in the world.
Earlier this month, Equifax, the US credit monitoring agency, admitted the personal data of 143 million US customers had been accessed or stolen in a massive hack in May. It has also revealed it was also the victim of an earlier breach in March.
About 400,000 people in the UK may have had their information stolen following the cybersecurity breach. The US company said an investigation had revealed that a file containing UK consumer information “may potentially have been accessed”.
The data includes names, dates of birth, email addresses and telephone numbers, but does not contain postal addresses, passwords or financial information. Equifax, which is based in Atlanta, discovered the hack in July but only informed consumers last week.
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20% of Dutch businesses hit by cyber attacks in 2016 | Over 20% of businesses in the Netherlands with 10 or more employees were targeted by cyber attacks last year, according to the country's national statistics office. Financial and energy firms were the most common victims. In addition, 43% of all Dutch companies reported internet breakdowns and other IT failures in the last year. Despite the large number of attacks, only a quarter of breaches were reported to the police or other relevant authorities.
| http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2017/09/cyber-attacks-hit-20-of-dutch-companies-but-few-report-it/ | 2017-09-25 10:03:48.887000 | More than 20% of Dutch companies employing more than 10 people were hit by cyber attacks by third parties in 2016, the national statistics office CBS said on Monday. Companies operating in the financial and energy sectors were hardest hit.
Some 43% of companies also had to cope with internet breakdowns and other IT failures last year, the CBS said.
The CBS also looked into people’s willingness to report cyber crimes such as online bullying, hacking and sales fraud to the authorities.
It found around a quarter of incidents are reported to the police or other authorities but only 7.6% of people affected by cyber crime went on to make a formal report to police. |
Gatorade pays $300,000 to settle complaint over Usain Bolt game | PepsiCo-owned soft drinks giant Gatorade has agreed to pay $300,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by California's attorney general, Xavier Becerra. He filed the complaint, claiming Gatorade's Bolt game was misleading and could discourage children from eating and drinking healthily. In the game, track and field star Usain Bolt sped up when he touched a Gatorade droplet, but slowed down when he touched water. Between 2012 and 2013, Bolt was played 87 million times, with around 70% of players aged between 13 and 24.
| http://www.fooddive.com/news/gatorade-pays-300000-to-settle-lawsuit-over-misleading-message-on-water/505715/ | 2017-09-25 10:01:18.087000 | Dive Brief:
Gatorade, owned by PepsiCo, agreed to pay $300,000 to settle the California attorney general’s complaint filed over Gatorade’s “Bolt” game, featuring track star Usain Bolt getting faster when he touched a Gatorade icon,and slowing down when he touched a water droplet, according to the San Francisco Chronicle and a statement from the attorney general's office.
California’s AG Xavier Becerra cited studies that found this type of game can negatively affect a child’s desire for healthy food. The game was played 87 million times between 2012 and 2013, and roughly 70% of the players were aged 13-24.
“Making misleading statements is a violation of California law,” Becerra said in a press release. “But making misleading statements aimed at our children is beyond unlawful, it’s morally wrong and a betrayal of trust. It’s what causes consumers to lose faith in the products they buy.”
Dive Insight:
Gatorade is paying the price for misleading advertising, but the entire food and beverage industry can learn a couple of lessons from it. The first is simply to not lie about a competing product in an ad campaign. And lastly, don’t lie about healthy products in a format that is geared toward children. It won’t end well, as Gatorade can attest.
It’s understandable that Gatorade wants to differentiate itself in the increasingly crowded sports drink market. The beverage is already a giant in the space, dividing about a 70% share with Coca-Cola’s Powerade. But that doesn’t mean the company isn't angling for a larger take of the $8.5 billion consumers spend annually on sports drinks. However, going after water is no way to win over consumers of other energy drinks. Bottled water is the nation's most popular drink category, with 12.8 billion gallons sold to consumers last year. And that doesn't count water that people drink from their own taps.
PepsiCo could take a note other manufacturers outside of the sports drink category which have discovered ways to stand out from the crowd — without getting sued under consumer protection laws.
In January 2016, Campbell was the first major company to tell consumers which of its products contained genetically modified ingredients by printing it on the label. It also plans to comply with the Food and Drug Administration's new Nutrition Facts panel by the original July 2018 deadline, even though the timetable was recently delayed by the agency. Campbell's actions aren't targeting competitors, but are instead making its own brand look more transparent.
Dollar General stores has made its mark by offering exclusive branded products. This past summer, the store has offered Oreo Mississippi Mud Pie cookies, a 16-ounce Coca-Cola can series honoring military veterans, Regal Cinemas brand popcorn and an exclusive six-pack of Mott's mango juice. These exclusives appeal to shoppers from a variety of demographics and bring them into the store. |
US hurricanes leave smaller businesses at higher risk of failure | Smaller businesses in the US have a higher risk of failing because of natural disasters such as hurricanes and are more likely to be without insurance, according to an expert in risk management. Professor Ben Collier of Temple University in Philadelphia warned that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), particularly those in their early years of trading, are more vulnerable to business interruption or failure caused by hurricane damage than larger enterprises. Many do not see insurance as a priority and, of the SMEs affected by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, nearly 60% of those that were less than five years old had no insurance.
| http://www.brinknews.com/picking-up-the-pieces-small-and-medium-businesses-in-the-aftermath-of-disaster/?utm_source=BRINK+Subscribers&utm_campaign=b72998260c-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_09_22&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c3639d7c98-b72998260c-110036825 | 2017-09-25 09:55:28.490000 | Assistant Professor of Risk Management and Insurance in the Fox School of Business at Temple University and a Research Fellow at the Wharton School's Risk Management and Decision Processes Center
Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
An interview with Ben Collier, Professor of Risk Management, Temple University and Fellow at Wharton Risk Center
Damage estimates from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma are still pouring in and recovery efforts are underway. Historically, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are particularly hard hit, have less insurance and in the aftermath, face credit restraints when trying to secure the funds to rebuild.
BRINK spoke with Ben Collier, professor of risk management at Temple University and a fellow at the Wharton Risk Center about the effects on SMEs in the aftermath of such disasters, based on his study of those businesses in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. Mr. Collier provides insights on why such firms are so dramatically affected and some of the psychology behind why those that pour their life’s savings into a business often fail to insure it fully.
BRINK: What has the history of disasters told us about the impact on small and medium enterprises?
Ben Collier: A consistent theme has been that firms are often unprepared when disaster strikes. Many don’t have disaster plans or insurance in place at that time. Another piece that comes up in the history that we’ve seen commonly is that disasters destroy the property of small and medium enterprises, at least natural disasters do, and those property losses do tend to be big ticket items. These are some of the businesses that lose the most.
More commonly, disasters can create business interruptions due to customer disruption or power outages. Those can be especially challenging. Insuring against those business interruptions is difficult, and often the flood-related interruptions, such as we’ve seen with Hurricane Harvey, and that we saw with Superstorm Sandy, [can] be especially challenging because there are so few [insurance] products that cover those risks.
Some research indicates, too, that SMEs fail at higher rates in the years following disasters due to the challenges of fully recovering. There are some businesses that close their doors when a disaster strikes and never reopen and others that make it a few more years, but they never are fully recovered.
BRINK: How are the effects of a disaster different for SMEs than they are for larger firms?
Mr. Collier: There are a couple different ways I think we could think about this issue, but let me focus on one or two points here. Disasters may be especially challenging for younger firms than for smaller firms.
Entrepreneurs face many risks when they’re starting out. They’re trying to seek out their place in the market. Many can’t operate sustainably before their startup capital runs out. There are a lot of entrepreneurs that may have good ideas, then something gets in the way and they’re not able to make the business viable. New businesses face so many risks that it seems like they may be especially unlikely to worry about rare events, such as hurricanes, because there are so many more probable, likely dangers that will cause them to fail.
As businesses mature the nature of a company’s risk falls. The ones that survive the first years have established themselves in the market by demonstrating their viability. For these firms, disaster risks may become more prominent. You start to worry more about a disaster causing you to fail than the younger firm that’s worried about many different risks that might cause it to fail.
Maybe for these reasons we’ve found that older and larger firms are more likely to buy insurance. So, for example, my colleagues and I studied whether New York area businesses had insurance in place at the time of Superstorm Sandy, and we found that younger firms and smaller firms were especially unlikely to be insured.
Maybe the more fundamental point that you’re asking about is vulnerability, too. Smaller firms tend to be more spatially concentrated. If you think about the local retailer with a single office or a few offices, in Houston, Hurricane Harvey may have affected all of those offices; [at] a bigger firm, not all of their locations would be affected by such an event. The same thing with business lines. Larger firms tend to have a variety of business lines of revenue. We see more specialization with smaller firms.
BRINK: In general, how does thinking about risk impact smaller firms?
Mr. Collier: Thinking about risks can be challenging for all of us. So let me put on the small-firm hat for a minute. Many small business owners went into business because they have some specific type of work that they really like to do and are good at doing. For a lot of these businesses it can be tempting to consider risk management a distraction from that work, from what they got into business to do. If you’re coming at it from that perspective, it would be quite natural for an owner to have this internal narrative that every minute I’m thinking about this [risk management] stuff is a minute that I could be working with my customers.
For a lot of businesses it can be tempting to consider risk management as just a distraction from work.
What we’ve learned from psychology is that we can make very different decisions when we’re going with our gut. When we’re trying to think quickly and intuitively about something we make very different decisions than when we’re planning deliberately for something, especially when it’s a complex topic or it’s [a] really challenging area like risk management.
What we like to see are businesses challenging this natural tendency that’s pushing them to avoid thinking about disasters and instead think about such things more deliberately and plan better.
BRINK: Based on the research that you did in the aftermath of the Superstorm Sandy, for example, how are SMEs likely to respond to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma?
Mr. Collier: What we saw with Sandy was that SMEs frequently weren’t insured. About 30 percent of SMEs that were negatively affected by Sandy had no insurance of any kind. Those numbers were much higher for the young firms. More than 50 percent, close to 60 percent of firms that were five years and younger didn’t have any insurance at all. Even among insured firms, only a portion of their losses were covered.
We found that negatively affected firms were about twice as likely to apply for credit than unaffected firms following Sandy to finance recovery. And these businesses often faced credit constraints. Negatively affected firms were more likely to report that access to financing had decreased and that interest rates had increased or that they were required to use collateral more often than unaffected firms.
This was especially true for younger firms. So we had this picture that the younger firms and smaller firms were least likely to be insured and they’re most likely to face credit constraints after these events. The prognosis is really dire for those firms moving forward.
BRINK: If someone has poured their heart and soul into a business, why then do they fail to insure it against such disasters?
Mr. Collier: This is really a great and tricky question, a challenging question. One reason is the psychology behind it, as we talked about earlier. We are geared to not think about rare events, or want to avoid thinking about them, and just hope for the best. I think that’s part of the challenge. A lot of businesses are credit constrained to begin with. They’re trying to get credit to invest in the business and so there’s this competition between buying insurance and investing more in the business.
One of the potential solutions that we might see related to credit constraints, is that to the extent that lenders or supply chain partners or other firms connected to those small businesses recognize the value of insuring, they may help smaller business overcome those financing constraints. If I’m a lender and I recognize a business really should be insured from certain risks if they’re not right now, maybe I can offer better interest rates or maybe I can help supply some additional credit to make sure they have the right insurance in place.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. |
MIT researchers create framework for predicting extreme events | Researchers at MIT in the US have created a system for predicting previously unexpected extreme events. The method takes existing equation models for predicting outcomes and uses real-world data to identify only those initial scenarios most likely to occur. They tested the general framework on a simulation of a turbulent fluid flow, looking for the precursor conditions predicted by their model, and found these led to extreme events in between 75% and 99% of cases. The scientists say the model could have applications predicting extreme events in ocean currents around oil installations and air flows around aeroplanes. | https://phys.org/news/2017-09-technique-extreme-events.html?utm_source=menu&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=item-menu | 2017-09-25 09:35:10.933000 | Credit: CC0 Public Domain
Many extreme events—from a rogue wave that rises up from calm waters, to an instability inside a gas turbine, to the sudden extinction of a previously hardy wildlife species—seem to occur without warning. It's often impossible to predict when such bursts of instability will strike, particularly in systems with a complex and ever-changing mix of players and pieces.
Now engineers at MIT have devised a framework for identifying key patterns that precede an extreme event. The framework can be applied to a wide range of complicated, multidimensional systems to pick out the warning signs that are most likely to occur in the real world.
"Currently there is no method to explain when these extreme events occur," says Themistoklis Sapsis, associate professor of mechanical and ocean engineering at MIT. "We have applied this framework to turbulent fluid flows, which are the Holy Grail of extreme events. They're encountered in climate dynamics in the form of extreme rainfall, in engineering fluid flows such as stresses around an airfoil, and acoustic instabilities inside gas turbines. If we can predict the occurrence of these extreme events, hopefully we can apply some control strategies to avoid them."
Sapsis and MIT postdoc Mohammad Farazmand have published their results today in the journal Science Advances.
Looking past exotic warnings
In predicting extreme events in complex systems, scientists have typically attempted to solve sets of dynamical equations—incredibly complex mathematical formulas that, once solved, can predict the state of a complex system over time.
Researchers can plug into such equations a set of initial conditions, or values for certain variables, and solve the equations under those conditions. If the result yields a state that is considered an extreme event in the system, scientists can conclude that those initial conditions must be a precursor, or warning sign.
Dynamical equations are formulated based on a system's underlying physics. But Sapsis says that the physics governing many complex systems are often not well-understood and they contain important model errors. Relying on these equations to predict the state of such systems would therefore be unrealistic.
Even in systems where the physics are well-characterized, he says there is a huge number of initial conditions one could plug into associated equations, to yield an equally huge number of possible outcomes. What's more, the equations, based on theory, might successfully identify an enormous number of precursors for extreme events, but those precursors, or initial states, might not all occur in the real world.
"If we just blindly take the equations and start looking for initial states that evolve to extreme events, there is a high probability we will end up with initial states that are very exotic, meaning they will never ever occur for any practical situation," Sapsis says. "So equations contain more information than we really need."
Aside from equations, scientists have also looked through available data on real-world systems to pick out characteristic warning patterns. But by their nature, extreme events occur only rarely, and Sapsis says if one were to rely solely on data, they would need an enormous amount of data, over a long period of time, to be able to identify precursors with any certainty.
Searching for hotspots
The researchers instead developed a general framework, in the form of a computer algorithm, that combines both equations and available data to identify the precursors of extreme events that are most likely to occur in the real world.
"We are looking at the equations for possible states that have very high growth rates and become extreme events, but they are also consistent with data, telling us whether this state has any likelihood of occurring, or if it's something so exotic that, yes, it will lead to an extreme event, but the probability of it occurring is basically zero," Sapsis says.
In this way, the framework acts as a sort of sieve, capturing only those precursors that one would actually see in a real-world system.
Sapsis and Farazmand tested their approach on a model of turbulent fluid flow—a prototype system of fluid dynamics that describes a chaotic fluid, such as a plume of cigarette smoke, the airflow around a jet engine, ocean and atmospheric circulation, and even the flow of blood through heart valves and arteries.
"We used the equations describing the system, as well as some basic properties of the system, expressed through data obtained from a small number of numerical simulations, and we came up with precursors which are characteristic signals, telling us before the extreme event starts to develop, that there is something coming up," Sapsis explains.
They then performed a simulation of a turbulent fluid flow and looked for the precursors that their method predicted. They found the precursors developed into extreme events between 75 and 99 percent of the time, depending on the complexity of the fluid flow they were simulating.
Sapsis says the framework is generalizable enough to apply to a wide range of systems in which extreme events may occur. He plans to apply the technique to scenarios in which fluid flows against a boundary or wall. Examples, he says, are air flows around jet planes, and ocean currents against oil risers.
"This happens in random places around the world, and the question is being able to predict where these vortices or hotspots of extreme events will occur," Sapsis says. "If you can predict where these things occur, maybe you can develop some control techniques to suppress them."
More information: "A variational approach to probing extreme events in turbulent dynamical systems" Science Advances (2017). advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/9/e1701533 Journal information: Science Advances |
West Health opposes Graham-Cassidy; says disastrous bill fails to protect the critical healthcare needs of older, most vulnerable citizens | Dedicated to enabling seniors to successfully age in place with access to high-quality, affordable health and support services, West Health, a nonprofit based in San Diego, issued the following statement from its president and CEO, Shelley Lyford, in opposition to the U.S. Senate’s Graham-Cassidy legislation
| http://www.westhealth.org/resource/west-health-opposes-graham-cassidy-says-disastrous-bill-fails-protect-critical-healthcare-needs-older-vulnerable-citizens/ | 2017-09-25 09:34:54.380000 | West Health opposes Graham-Cassidy; says disastrous bill fails to protect the critical healthcare needs of older, most vulnerable citizens
SAN DIEGO and WASHINGTON, D.C. – September 23, 2017– Dedicated to enabling seniors to successfully age in place with access to high-quality, affordable health and support services, West Health, a nonprofit based in San Diego, issued the following statement from its president and CEO, Shelley Lyford, in opposition to the U.S. Senate’s Graham-Cassidy legislation:
“The Graham-Cassidy bill would deliver a devastating blow to Medicaid, which provides critical services and assistance to nearly 75 million poor, elderly and disabled Americans. Further, the bill fails to address the fundamental fact that America’s healthcare costs too much, and does virtually nothing to create a sustainable and high-performing healthcare system. For these reasons, more than anything else, all Americans should strongly oppose this bill and urge policy makers to put politics aside and put people first. We must only support legislation that offers strategies to address the unsustainable trajectory of healthcare expenses so we protect access and choice for everyone, especially our older and most vulnerable citizens, and eliminate the prevalence of disparities in care as well as the unnecessary tests and procedures caused by fee-for-service medicine. Our healthcare system is broken, and now is the time to fix it instead of making it worse.”
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Everyone Wants to Reduce Drug Prices. So Why Can’t We Do It? | Of all the promises President Trump made for the early part of his term, controlling stinging drug prices might have seemed the easiest to achieve.
| https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/23/sunday-review/prescription-drugs-prices.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fopinion | 2017-09-25 09:34:00.380000 | Of all the promises President Trump made for the early part of his term, controlling stinging drug prices might have seemed the easiest to achieve.
An angry public overwhelmingly wants change in an easily vilified industry. The pharmaceutical industry’s recent publicity nightmare included 1,000 percent price increases and a smirking chief executive who said, “I liken myself to the robber barons.” Even powerful members of Congress from both parties have said that drug prices are too high.
But any momentum to curtail prescription drug costs — a problem that a large number of Americans now believe government should solve — has been lost amid rancorous debates over replacing Obamacare and stalled amid roadblocks erected via lobbying and industry cash.
“There is a very aggressive lobby that is finding any and all means to thwart any reform to a system that has produced very lucrative profits,” said Ameet Sarpatwari, an epidemiologist and lawyer at Harvard Medical School who follows drug legislation. “Everything that’s coming out is being hit and hit hard — even stuff that’s common-sensical.” |
How will the Graham-Cassidy proposal affect the number of people with health insurance coverage? | On September 13, Senators Graham and Cassidy, together with two other Republican colleagues, introduced legislation that would repeal major portions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Press reports indicate that the legislation has gained considerable support among Senate Republicans, and Senate Majority Leader McConnell’s office announced on Wednesday that the Senate would hold a vote on this legislation sometime during the week of September 25.
| https://www.brookings.edu/research/how-will-the-graham-cassidy-proposal-affect-the-number-of-people-with-health-insurance-coverage/ | 2017-09-25 09:31:27.490000 | This analysis is part of the USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy , which is a partnership between the Center for Health Policy at Brookings and the University of Southern California Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics. The Initiative aims to inform the national health care debate with rigorous, evidence-based analysis leading to practical recommendations using the collaborative strengths of USC and Brookings.
On September 13, Senators Graham and Cassidy, together with two other Republican colleagues, introduced legislation that would repeal major portions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Press reports indicate that the legislation has gained considerable support among Senate Republicans, and Senate Majority Leader McConnell’s office announced on Wednesday that the Senate would hold a vote on this legislation sometime during the week of September 25.
This legislation has not yet been analyzed by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), and CBO has indicated that it will not be able to provide a complete analysis of the legislation before the Senate vote. Notably, CBO stated that its analysis would not include “point estimates of [the Graham-Cassidy legislation’s] effects on the deficit, health insurance coverage, or premiums.” To help fill the gap left by the Senate’s decision to hold a vote in the absence of a complete CBO analysis, this analysis draws upon CBO’s estimates for prior legislation to evaluate how the Graham-Cassidy legislation might affect the number of people with health insurance coverage.
For years prior to 2020, this new legislation broadly tracks prior Republican bills, most importantly by immediately repealing the individual mandate. CBO’s analyses of these prior bills imply that the Graham-Cassidy legislation would reduce insurance coverage by around 15 million in 2018 and 2019. The reduction would be larger if uncertainty about the effects of the more radical changes implemented by the legislation in 2020 caused some insurers to pre-emptively withdraw from the individual market.
Starting in 2020, the Graham-Cassidy proposal would eliminate the ACA’s Medicaid expansion and Marketplace subsidies. Also in that year, the legislation would begin providing block grant funding to states, as well as allowing states to seek waivers from ACA regulations that bar insurers from varying premiums based on health status and require insurers to cover certain health care services.
To estimate the effects on insurance coverage during these years, we consider the various ways in which states might respond to the options provided by the legislation, using prior CBO analyses to evaluate the likely coverage outcomes for each of four broad categories of states. We then make assumptions about how many states will take each broad policy approach.
Based on this analysis, we estimate that the Graham-Cassidy legislation would reduce the number of people with insurance coverage by around 21 million each year during the 2020 through 2026 period. This estimate likely understates the reductions in insurance coverage that would actually occur under the Graham-Cassidy legislation, particularly toward the beginning and end of the seven-year period, because it does not account for the challenges states will face in setting up new programs on the bill’s proposed timeline, the possibility that uncertainty about the program’s future will cause market turmoil toward the end of the seven-year period, or the bill’s Medicaid per capita cap and other non-expansion-related Medicaid provisions. These estimates are, of course, subject to considerable uncertainty, most importantly because predicting how states would respond to the dramatic changes in the policy environment under the Graham-Cassidy proposal is very challenging. What is clear, however, is that the legislation would result in very large reductions in insurance coverage.
Based on this analysis, we estimate that the Graham-Cassidy legislation would reduce the number of people with insurance coverage by around 21 million each year during the 2020 through 2026 period.
The Graham-Cassidy legislation’s adverse effects on insurance coverage are likely to increase after its block grant funding expires at the end of 2026. After that time, the legislation is similar to the “repeal and delay” proposal that the Senate considered in July, which CBO estimated would reduce the number of people with insurance coverage by 32 million people in the long run. Reductions in insurance coverage would likely be somewhat larger under the Graham-Cassidy proposal because of the legislation’s non-expansion related Medicaid provisions, which would further reduce insurance coverage.
Table 1 summarizes our conclusions. The remainder of this analysis discusses the effects of the Graham-Cassidy legislation in more detail.
Overview of the Graham-Cassidy Legislation
Under the Graham-Cassidy proposal, policy changes would take effect in three phases:
Policy changes prior to 2020 :The legislation would repeal the individual and employer mandates retroactive to 2016. The legislation would also provide temporary funding that states could use to operate reinsurance or similar programs in their individual markets during 2018 and 2019.
:The legislation would repeal the individual and employer mandates retroactive to 2016. The legislation would also provide temporary funding that states could use to operate reinsurance or similar programs in their individual markets during 2018 and 2019. Policy changes in 2020 through 2026 : Starting in 2020, the legislation would also eliminate the ACA’s premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions for people purchasing individual market coverage, as well as the state option to expand Medicaid to cover low-income adults with incomes under 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Those programs would be replaced with a block grant to states, which states could use for a variety of different purposes and which would, in the aggregate, provide less federal funding than would have been provided through individual market subsidies and the Medicaid expansion under current law. States would be permitted to waive a range of individual and small group market insurance regulations, including regulations that bar insurers from varying premiums for based on health status and that require insurers to provide certain benefits. 1 The proposal would also impose a per capita cap on federal funding to state Medicaid programs, which would drive further reductions in federal funding.
: Starting in 2020, the legislation would also eliminate the ACA’s premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions for people purchasing individual market coverage, as well as the state option to expand Medicaid to cover low-income adults with incomes under 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Those programs would be replaced with a block grant to states, which states could use for a variety of different purposes and which would, in the aggregate, provide less federal funding than would have been provided through individual market subsidies and the Medicaid expansion under current law. States would be permitted to waive a range of individual and small group market insurance regulations, including regulations that bar insurers from varying premiums for based on health status and that require insurers to provide certain benefits. The proposal would also impose a per capita cap on federal funding to state Medicaid programs, which would drive further reductions in federal funding. Policy changes in 2027 and beyond : Starting in 2027, the block grant funding available for 2020 through 2026 would disappear, as would the authority to waive insurance regulations. The other policy changes implemented by the Graham-Cassidy proposal would remain in effect.
The effects of the legislation on insurance coverage would differ markedly across these three different time periods, so we consider each period separately below.
Effects on Insurance Coverage in 2018 and 2019
Prior to 2020, the major policy changes made by the Graham-Cassidy proposal are similar to those in the House-passed American Health Care Act (AHCA) and the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) that was considered by the Senate in July. CBO concluded that both bills would have reduced the number of people with coverage by around 15 million in 2018 and 2019, primarily due to repeal of the individual mandate.2
While these estimates are a reasonable starting point for assessing the near-term effects of the Graham-Cassidy proposal, both private insurers and state governments may take actions in anticipation of the broader changes that take effect in 2020 that would drive additional reductions in insurance coverage. Notably, as discussed in greater detail below, it is uncertain how states will make use of the block grant funding and waiver authority provided under Graham-Cassidy, and thus how the individual market will function in 2020 and beyond. This uncertainty, together with the fact that 2018 and 2019 would be unsettled years in the individual market due to repeal of the individual mandate and ongoing uncertainty around cost-sharing reduction payments, could cause some insurers to delay investments required to maintain (or expand) their individual market presence. The resulting reduction in insurer participation could lead to higher premiums and leave some parts of the country with no insurers participating in the individual market. Similarly, some states might elect to begin the process of winding down their Medicaid expansion prior to 2020, which could also add to coverage losses during this period.
When CBO analyzed the “repeal and delay” legislation the Senate considered in July—which would have repealed the individual and employer mandates immediately and repealed individual market subsidies and Medicaid expansion after a two-year delay—it concluded that these anticipatory effects could be important. CBO estimated that insurance coverage would fall by 17 million people in 2018 and 18 million in 2019, with about 10 percent of the population living in areas with no individual market insurers.
Effects on Insurance Coverage from 2020 through 2026
Forecasting how the Graham-Cassidy legislation would affect insurance coverage is more difficult for the years 2020 through 2026. In these years, the bill’s effects would depend in significant part on how states allocate the block grant funding the legislation makes available and how they use the option to waive various insurance market regulations. This section discusses three key questions about the nature of state decision-making and then provides a quantitative assessment of how the Graham-Cassidy legislation would likely affect insurance coverage during these years.
Would states direct block grant funds to unrelated purposes?
In considering how the bill’s block grant funding would affect health insurance coverage, the first question is to what extent states would use block grant funds to achieve objectives unrelated to increasing insurance coverage, like cutting taxes or increasing spending on unrelated programs.
There are no apparent legal barriers to diverting funds to unrelated uses. All states would need to do is identify existing state health care programs that qualify for block grant funding, thereby freeing up the state dollars currently devoted to those program to be used in whatever way the state wishes. If this were a state’s goal, the legislation makes it easy to achieve. Total block grant funding under the Graham-Cassidy proposal is $200 billion in 2026.3 States could almost certainly use block grant funds to support programs that provide substance abuse and mental health services; non-Medicaid state and local government spending on such services is likely to be on the order of $50 billion in 2026.4 As another example, states could likely use block grant funding to finance health benefits for state and local employees; state costs in this area are likely to be on the order of $200 billion in 2026.5 Thus, these expenditures alone are more than sufficient to absorb the block grant funding that the Graham-Cassidy legislation would make available in 2026.
States would likely identify many other categories of existing programs that could be funded with block grant dollars, such as programs that compensate medical providers for uncompensated care or spending on health care for prison inmates.6 In other instances, states might be able to direct money into their general funds by funneling them through public hospitals. While it is likely that some of these uses are not intended by the legislation’s authors, many of them may be difficult to disallow while still providing states with the broad discretion over the use of the block grant funds that the authors clearly do intend.
Whether block grant funds will be diverted in practice would thus depend on the objectives of state policymakers, specifically how they value investments in coverage programs relative to alternative uses of funds. How state policymakers would evaluate this tradeoff would likely vary from state to state.
At one end of the spectrum are the 19 states—accounting for 39 percent of the U.S. population—that have not expanded their Medicaid programs under the ACA. These states have demonstrated that they place a low value on coverage programs since, for each dollar a state devoted to its Medicaid expansion, it had to forgo at most 10 cents of other state spending. Investments in coverage programs would be far less attractive under the Graham-Cassidy legislation because devoting an additional dollar of the block grant funding to coverage programs requires forgoing a full dollar that could otherwise be devoted to other state programs.7 While it is conceivable that some of these states could respond differently to Graham-Cassidy because it was enacted by Republicans or because states are willing to pay more to avoid reductions in insurance coverage than to increase insurance coverage, these states seem particularly likely to find it attractive to divert block grant funds to uses other than new coverage programs.
Other states, by contrast, may see mitigating the reductions in insurance coverage that would occur under the Graham-Cassidy proposal as a high priority and therefore devote a relatively large fraction of the block grant dollars to setting up new coverage programs. The 17 states that set up their own Marketplaces under the ACA—accounting for 35 percent of the U.S. population—are the most likely candidates for this type of approach, although, as noted above, the fiscal rewards to making investments in coverage programs would be considerably smaller than under current law.
Even in states that do use block grant funding to set up new coverage programs initially, it seems likely that the share of block grant funding devoted to other uses would rise over time. Inevitably, most states will face periods of fiscal stress, whether due to recessions or other unexpected developments. Such periods might well drive states to redirect block grant funds to other purposes, and there is no guarantee those funds would be returned to their original purposes afterward.
As a final note, a long literature in economics has examined how state and local governments adjust their spending in response to the availability of targeted federal block grant funding. That literature has found that states often do divert a large fraction of block grant funding to unrelated uses, although the extent of diversion varies widely from setting to setting, from near complete diversion in some settings to virtually no diversion in other settings.8 The possibility that the Graham-Cassidy funding will be diverted to unrelated purposes thus has ample precedent in prior experience.
How effective would the insurance coverage programs states create be?
A separate question is how effective the block grant dollars that states do devote to insurance coverage programs would be in increasing insurance coverage. For a variety of reasons, we expect that the programs states would create in response to the Graham-Cassidy legislation would generally have a lower “bang for the buck” than the coverage programs that exist under current law.
Notably, state policymakers will face greater operational challenges than their federal counterparts, particularly with respect to policy toward the individual market. Federal policymakers benefited from significant economies of scale; for example, they were able to build a single enrollment website, a single income verification system, and a single system for handling financial transactions with insurers, and then deploy those systems across many states. By contrast, under the Graham-Cassidy proposal, each state will need to build its own system to do these things, increasing administrative costs. The federal government also had certain capabilities that would likely be completely unavailable to state policymakers. For example, federal policymakers relied upon existing federal databases to verify income and citizenship status when individuals applied for Marketplace subsidies. Lacking access to such systems, states may either need to target subsidies less precisely than the ACA or build suitable systems from scratch.
As a process matter, the ACA also benefited from explicit choices by both legislative and executive branch policymakers to make designing, enacting, and implementing major health care legislation a priority, and then allocate staff and other resources accordingly. A policy process foisted on governors and state legislatures, each of whom have their own policy priorities and objectives, is unlikely to operate as smoothly, particularly given the short implementation timeline states will be operating under. (On the plus side, the policy process in some states could benefit from lower levels of partisan conflict between the executive and the legislature than was the case during federal implementation of the ACA.) The ACA also benefited from the ample analytic resources available to federal policymakers, including CBO and the large analytic teams at federal agencies. While many state governments have similar entities that do high-quality work, many are not as well-resourced as their federal counterparts.
A final consideration is that the ACA, while not perfect, is reasonably well designed to deliver coverage in a cost-effective fashion. For both substantive and political reasons, the drafters of the ACA were highly motivated to achieve as large an increase in insurance coverage as possible given the budgetary resources available and certain other constraints, at least as assessed by CBO. Holding outlays fixed, deviations from the ACA’s design are thus likely to generally result in reduced insurance coverage. There will, of course, be exceptions to that general rule. States that are willing to use Medicaid-like programs to provide coverage to individuals further up the income spectrum may be able to provide coverage somewhat more cost-effectively than is the case under current law since Medicaid coverage is generally less expensive than private coverage on a per enrollee basis. States may also have a greater ability to tailor the design of coverage programs to local conditions, although because states already have the ability to customize their programs through the section 1332 waiver process and other avenues, the extent of those advantages are likely to be limited.
What would states do with the Graham-Cassidy waiver authority?
A final question is whether and how states will use the option to waive certain insurance market regulations. These include the “community rating” regulations that bar insurers from varying premiums for individual and small group market plans based on health status, as well as “essential health benefit” regulations that govern what types of health care services individual and small group market plans must cover.
We believe that some states will likely allow insurers to vary individual market premiums based on health status and substantially pare back essential health benefit requirements, similar to the conclusion CBO reached in analyzing the AHCA. Indeed, relatively few states had these regulations prior to the ACA, likely reflecting the challenges of barring insurers from varying premiums based on health status without having an individual mandate and robust subsidies to ensure a broad risk pool. States taking this approach are likely to disproportionately be those who are unwilling to devote a significant fraction of the block grant funds to subsidizing individual market coverage, in part because maintaining these regulations without providing sufficient subsidies to individual market plans is likely to result in the market’s collapse.
Other states, however, will likely maintain protections more like those that exist under current law. Both community rating and essential health benefit requirements are popular with the public, which may discourage some state policymakers from making changes in this area. The fact that the default if state policymakers take no action is for these regulations to remain in place may also influence the outcome.
Quantifying the insurance coverage effects of the Graham-Cassidy legislation
Building on the discussion above, we estimate the overall reduction in insurance coverage that would occur under the Graham-Cassidy legislation using the following two-step process. First, we assume that states would fall into four broad categories and identify prior CBO estimates that reflect the nationwide effect on insurance coverage if all states nationwide adopted the relevant approach. Obviously, there would be variation across states that is not captured by our categories, but we believe that these categories capture the most important dimensions of variation.9 Second, we make our best estimate of what share of the U.S population would fall in each category of state, recognizing that there is considerable uncertainty about what states would actually choose to do.
The four categories we consider are as follows:
Category #1: States that devote a small share of block grant funds to effective insurance coverage programs and make large changes to market regulations: These states would place a low priority on using block grant funds to increase insurance coverage and would therefore devote the large majority of these funds to other uses or to programs that are relatively ineffective in increasing insurance coverage. To keep their individual markets from unraveling in the absence of adequate subsidies, these states would also largely eliminate both community rating and essential health benefit requirements. If every state adopted this approach, the national effect of the Graham-Cassidy legislation would be similar to fully repealing the coverage provisions of the ACA (including its insurance market regulations), which CBO has estimated would reduce insurance coverage by 24 million people by 2026. We assume that states accounting for 30 percent of the U.S. population would take this approach, somewhat smaller than the share of people currently living in Medicaid non-expansion states.
These states would place a low priority on using block grant funds to increase insurance coverage and would therefore devote the large majority of these funds to other uses or to programs that are relatively ineffective in increasing insurance coverage. To keep their individual markets from unraveling in the absence of adequate subsidies, these states would also largely eliminate both community rating and essential health benefit requirements. If every state adopted this approach, the national effect of the Graham-Cassidy legislation would be similar to fully repealing the coverage provisions of the ACA (including its insurance market regulations), which CBO has estimated would reduce insurance coverage by 24 million people by 2026. We assume that states accounting for 30 percent of the U.S. population would take this approach, somewhat smaller than the share of people currently living in Medicaid non-expansion states. Category #2: States that devote a small share of block grant funds to effective insurance coverage programs and make few changes to market regulations: These states would place a low priority on using block grant funds to increase insurance coverage and would therefore devote most of these funds to other uses or to programs that are relatively ineffective in increasing insurance coverage. However, political barriers or other constraints would keep them from making significant changes to market regulations. If every state adopted this approach, the national effect of the Graham-Cassidy legislation would be similar to the “repeal and delay” legislation analyzed by CBO last month, which CBO estimated would reduce insurance coverage by 32 million people by 2026, reflecting in part the near collapse of the individual health insurance market. Because of the dire negative consequences of this approach, we assume that such states would account for only around 5 percent of the U.S. population.
These states would place a low priority on using block grant funds to increase insurance coverage and would therefore devote most of these funds to other uses or to programs that are relatively ineffective in increasing insurance coverage. However, political barriers or other constraints would keep them from making significant changes to market regulations. If every state adopted this approach, the national effect of the Graham-Cassidy legislation would be similar to the “repeal and delay” legislation analyzed by CBO last month, which CBO estimated would reduce insurance coverage by 32 million people by 2026, reflecting in part the near collapse of the individual health insurance market. Because of the dire negative consequences of this approach, we assume that such states would account for only around 5 percent of the U.S. population. Category #3: States that devote almost all block grant funds to effective insurance coverage programs and make few changes to market regulations: These states would place a high priority on using block grant funds to increase insurance coverage and would therefore devote most of these funds to coverage programs. Because of the comparatively significant subsidies provided to the individual market in these states, they would not be compelled to make significant changes to market regulations. The total amount of block grant funding available under the Graham-Cassidy legislation roughly matches the federal spending on Medicaid expansion and Marketplace subsidies that would occur after the significant reductions in insurance coverage attributable to repeal of the individual and employer mandates. 10 Thus, if every state adopted this approach, the national effect of the Graham-Cassidy legislation on insurance coverage would be similar to the effect of “skinny repeal” bill the Senate considered this summer, which CBO estimated would reduce insurance coverage by 16 million people by 2026. We assume that states accounting for 40 percent of the U.S. population will take this approach, somewhat more than the share of people living in states that currently operate their own Marketplaces under the ACA.
These states would place a high priority on using block grant funds to increase insurance coverage and would therefore devote most of these funds to coverage programs. Because of the comparatively significant subsidies provided to the individual market in these states, they would not be compelled to make significant changes to market regulations. The total amount of block grant funding available under the Graham-Cassidy legislation roughly matches the federal spending on Medicaid expansion and Marketplace subsidies that would occur after the significant reductions in insurance coverage attributable to repeal of the individual and employer mandates. Thus, if every state adopted this approach, the national effect of the Graham-Cassidy legislation on insurance coverage would be similar to the effect of “skinny repeal” bill the Senate considered this summer, which CBO estimated would reduce insurance coverage by 16 million people by 2026. We assume that states accounting for 40 percent of the U.S. population will take this approach, somewhat more than the share of people living in states that currently operate their own Marketplaces under the ACA. Category #4: States that devote around half of block grant funds to effective insurance coverage programs and make few changes to market regulations: These states would place a moderate priority on using block grant funds to increase insurance coverage and would therefore devote about half of the block grant funds to coverage programs. They would not make significant changes to market regulations. We assume that the insurance coverage outcomes for these states would be exactly intermediate between category #2 and category #3 described above. Thus, if every state adopted this approach, the national effect of the Graham-Cassidy legislation would be to reduce insurance coverage by 24 million people by 2026. We assume that the remaining 25 percent of the U.S. population would live in states that adopt this approach.
Averaging across the four categories as described above, we estimate that the Graham-Cassidy legislation would reduce the number of people with insurance coverage by approximately 21 million during the 2020 through 2026 period. Table 2 summarizes the assumptions we have made for each category of states.
For a few reasons, this estimate likely understates the reduction in insurance coverage that would actually occur under the Graham-Cassidy legislation. First, these estimates completely ignore the challenges associated with transitioning to the entirely new system envisioned under Graham-Cassidy. Transitions are difficult even under the best of circumstances. Government agencies need to gain experience administering their states’ new regulatory regimes and subsidy programs. Private insurers need to learn to set premiums for a new market, while individuals need to learn how to access new coverage arrangements. That type of learning inevitably takes time and involves some amount of trial and error, which would likely cause insurance coverage to remain meaningfully below its long run “steady state” for at least some time after 2020.
In this case, transitional challenges would be greatly exacerbated by the tight timeline that states would be operating under. States would have only around 15 months to get new policies in place to do so before insurers would need to begin developing products for 2020 and only about 27 months before the new rules would have to be in effect. For comparison, the process of drafting and implementing the ACA began close to five years before the new rules would be in effect. It seems likely that many states would simply fail to meet this timeline or meet the timeline only by deploying ineffective policies.
Second, these estimates ignore the potential for market turmoil toward the end of the 2020-2026 period as insurers anticipate the disappearance of the block grant funding and waiver authority. As with the years leading up to 2020, uncertainty about what rules will govern the individual market in the future may put downward pressure on individual market participation, increasing premiums and reducing coverage.
Third, because suitable CBO estimates are not available, the reductions in insurance coverage assigned to each of the scenarios described above do not account for the effects of the legislation’s per capita cap on Medicaid spending, which would drive additional reductions in insurance coverage, particularly toward the end of the 2020 through 2026 period. These estimates also ignore the bill’s various other Medicaid provisions, including the introduction of state options to impose work requirements and disallow retroactive eligibility, which would drive further reductions in insurance coverage.
For these reasons, we believe our estimates are more likely to understate than overstate reductions in insurance coverage under the Graham-Cassidy legislation. However, there is also significant uncertainty around these estimates, particularly because they depend so heavily on predictions about states’ decisions. For example, it is possible that significantly more or significantly fewer states would choose to devote a large share of their block grants to effective insurance coverage programs, in which case actual reduction in insurance coverage could be smaller or larger than we estimate here.
Effects on Insurance Coverage in 2027 and Beyond
The effects of the Graham-Cassidy legislation on insurance coverage become clearer after the block grant and state waiver authority expire at the end of 2026. Once those aspects of the legislation expire, the bill’s effects would likely to be similar to legislation that would fully repeal the individual and employer mandates, Medicaid expansion, and Marketplace subsidies without any replacement.
As noted above, CBO estimated that legislation of this type would reduce insurance coverage by 32 million people in the long run, reflecting in part the near complete unraveling of the individual market. In fact, the long run outcomes would be somewhat worse under the Graham-Cassidy legislation because of the additional changes to the Medicaid program under this legislation. Most important in this regard is the legislation’s Medicaid per capita cap, which is likely to become progressively more stringent over the decade starting in 2027, and thereby spur growing reductions in insurance coverage over time. |
One Way for G.O.P. to Achieve Some Repeal Goals? It’s Already Part of Obamacare | On Friday, Senator John McCain of Arizona announced that he would not support the latest Republican push to overhaul the health care system. He didn’t disapprove of the objectives of the bill, but to its process, which was too rushed and partisan, he said in a statement: “A bill of this impact requires a bipartisan approach.”
| https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/23/upshot/one-way-for-gop-to-achieve-some-repeal-goals-its-already-part-of-obamacare.html | 2017-09-25 09:30:57.513000 | On Friday, Senator John McCain of Arizona announced that he would not support the latest Republican push to overhaul the health care system. He didn’t disapprove of the objectives of the bill, but to its process, which was too rushed and partisan, he said in a statement: “A bill of this impact requires a bipartisan approach.”
Mr. McCain’s vote most likely dooms the current Obamacare repeal effort, which can afford to lose the votes of only two Republican senators. (Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and Senator Susan Collins of Maine are generally regarded as no votes as well.) But there is, in fact, a bipartisan effort that could help Congress achieve many of the goals that the recent bill’s authors say they hope to accomplish. The catch: It would be hard for Republicans to call it Obamacare repeal.
Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who brought the legislation with Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, has said that one of his key goals was to eliminate Obamacare’s top-down approach, giving states more power to run their own health care systems according to local preferences and conditions. “I’m trying to take the money and power in Washington and send it back closer to the patient,” he said during a news conference Tuesday, adding that “government closer to the people is the best government.”
Mr. Cassidy has said he wishes to protect insurance coverage for Americans with pre-existing health conditions, though many independent analysts have questioned whether the text of the legislation would, indeed, offer such a protection. |
Why the Latest Health Bill Is Teetering: It Might Not Work | Health insurers, who had been strangely quiet for much of the year, came off the sidelines to criticize it. Many state Medicaid directors could not stomach it, either.
| https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/23/us/obamacare-repeal-graham-cassidy-mccain-trump.html | 2017-09-25 09:30:26.143000 | WASHINGTON — Health insurers, who had been strangely quiet for much of the year, came off the sidelines to criticize it. Many state Medicaid directors could not stomach it, either.
For months now, proposals to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act have risen and fallen in the House and the Senate, almost always uniting health care providers and patient advocacy groups in opposition but winning support among conservatives, including Republican policy makers. But the version drafted by Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana — and hastily brought into the spotlight last week — went further.
It brought much of the health care world together to stop it, an effort that appears to have succeeded — not for ideological reasons, but for the simple reason that administrators, caregivers, advocates and insurers believed it could not work.
Senate Republican leaders hoped to bring the measure to the Senate floor for a vote this coming week. But the bill is on life support after Senator John McCain, the unpredictable Arizona Republican whose dramatic “no” vote killed the previous repeal effort, announced on Friday that he could not “in good conscience” vote for the bill. He joined Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, in opposition — and Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, is leaning hard toward no. |
If the U.S. Adopts the G.O.P.’s Health-Care Bill, It Would Be an Act of Mass Suicide | The fundamental thing to understand about Senate Republicans’ latest attempt to repeal Obamacare is that the bill under consideration would not just undo the Affordable Care Act—it would also end Medicaid as we know it and our federal government’s half-century commitment to closing the country’s yawning gaps in health coverage.
| https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/if-the-us-adopts-the-gops-health-care-bill-it-would-be-an-act-of-mass-suicide | 2017-09-25 09:29:52.303000 | The fundamental thing to understand about Senate Republicans’ latest attempt to repeal Obamacare is that the bill under consideration would not just undo the Affordable Care Act—it would also end Medicaid as we know it and our federal government’s half-century commitment to closing the country’s yawning gaps in health coverage. And it would do so without putting in place any credible resources or policies to replace the system it is overturning. If our country enacts this bill, it would be an act of mass suicide.
In my surgery practice in Boston, I see primarily cancer patients. When I started out, in 2003, at least one in ten of my patients was uninsured. Others, who had insurance, would discover in the course of their treatment that their policies had annual or lifetime caps that wouldn’t cover their costs, or that they would face unaffordable premiums going forward because they now had a preëxisting condition. When he was governor of Massachusetts, it was Mitt Romney, a conservative, who brought Republicans and Democrats together to make a viable state system of near-universal coverage. That system then served as a model for the A.C.A. The results have been clear: increases in coverage have markedly improved people’s access to care and their health. For the last four years, health-care costs in Massachusetts have risen more slowly than the national average—while the national numbers themselves have been at historic lows. I have not seen a single uninsured patient—zero—in a decade. And now comes an utterly reckless piece of legislation that would destroy these gains.
To review how we got to this point: last spring, the House passed a health-care-reform bill that proposed to hollow out the A.C.A.’s funding, insurance mandates, and protections for people with preëxisting conditions. It was immensely unpopular with the public. The problem was not just that twenty-three million Americans would lose their health insurance if the bill becomes law but also the Republicans’ vision of a health system where insurance with deductibles of five thousand dollars and more, and little or no primary-care coverage, would become the norm. This summer, Senate Republicans failed to secure enough votes to pass a modified version of the House bill. Later, in a dramatic late-night session, the Senate also rejected, by a single vote, a “skinny” repeal bill. That bill would have repealed only the parts of the A.C.A. that required large businesses to insure their workers and all Americans to carry coverage. It would have resulted in a mere sixteen million more uninsured people, according to estimates.
The Republican bill currently being rushed to a vote was put forward by a group of senators led by Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, and Bill Cassidy, of Louisiana. As has become the apparent rule for Republican health-care bills, there have been no hearings or committee reviews of the Graham-Cassidy bill. And, this time, lawmakers and the public do not even have a Congressional Budget Office analysis of the effects the bill would have on the budget, insurance costs, or the uninsured rate.
This is unprecedented: senators are moving ahead with a vote on a bill that would alter the health care of every American family and the condition of a sixth of our entire economy, without waiting to hear any official, independent estimates of the consequences. The irresponsibility is as blithe as it is breathtaking. Before becoming a senator, Cassidy spent twenty-five years working as a physician in hospitals devoted to the uninsured. I find it baffling that a person with his experience would not recognize the danger of this bill. But here we are.
The Graham-Cassidy bill goes even further than the bill passed by the House. It would bring to a virtually immediate end not only the individual and employer mandates but also the whole edifice of the Medicaid expansion, insurance exchanges, and income-based coverage subsidies set up under the A.C.A. Graham-Cassidy expects all fifty states to then pass, and implement, alternative health systems for tens of millions of people within two years—with drastically less money, in most states, than the current law provides. This is not just impossible. It is delusional.
Like the House bill, Graham-Cassidy would cut Medicaid payments for traditional enrollees—the elderly in nursing homes, pregnant women in poverty, disabled children, etc.—by a third by 2026. A portion of the money saved would go into a short-term fund for states to use for health-care costs. The rationale is that this would give states “flexibility” to design coverage for their residents as they see fit. But the amount of funding provided is, by multiple estimates, hundreds of billions of dollars below what the A.C.A. provides. The bill also nakedly shifts funds from Democratic-leaning states that expanded Medicaid under the A.C.A. to Republican-leaning states that didn’t. Analyses indicate that states like California, Massachusetts, and New York will receive block-grant funding anywhere from thirty-five to almost sixty per cent below the health-care funding their residents would receive under current law. Much of those missing funds would be transferred to states like Texas, Mississippi, and Wisconsin. And special deals to make further shifts from blue states to red states such as Alaska are being negotiated to win votes.
As for what states can do with the funds they do receive, they would not be allowed to use them to enroll people in Medicaid, or able to establish a single-payer system. And states would not be receiving enough to continue Obamacare on their own. The only options for spending are for commercial coverage. States will be permitted to let insurers bring back higher costs for people with preëxisting conditions and to reinstate annual and lifetime limits on coverage. And then, starting in 2026, the funding turns out to only be temporary. Under the bill’s provisions, unless further action is taken then, four trillion dollars will be removed from health-care systems over twenty years.
With these massive sums being flung around, it is easy to forget that this is about our health as human beings. The evidence is that health-care programs like the A.C.A. save lives. The way they do so is by increasing the number of people who have affordable access to a regular source of care and needed medications. Such coverage has been shown to produce a substantial and increasing reduction in mortality—especially among those with chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, cancer, or H.I.V.—in as little as five years.
Virtually all of us, as we age, will develop serious health conditions. A critical test of any health reform, therefore, is whether it improves or reduces our prospects of having the continuous care and medicines we need when we come to have a chronic illness. The Graham-Cassidy bill fails this test. It will terminate Medicaid coverage and insurance subsidies for some twenty million people. The entire individual-insurance market will be thrown into a tailspin. Federal protections for insurance coverage will be gone.
Every major group representing patients, health-care professionals, health-care institutions, and insurers has come out vociferously against this plan. Governors from Alaska to Ohio to Virginia have opposed the bill. In a highly unusual, bipartisan statement, the national association representing the Medicaid directors of all fifty states has also opposed the bill. The top health official in Louisiana, Cassidy’s home state, has opposed the new plan. There is not a single metric of health or health care that the Graham-Cassidy plan makes better. This bill is a national calamity. It should not even come to a vote. |
Money-Saving Offer For Medicare’s Late Enrollees Is Expiring. Can They Buy Time? | Many older Americans who have Affordable Care Act insurance policies are going to miss a Sept. 30 deadline to enroll in Medicare, and they need more time to make the change, advocates say.
| http://californiahealthline.org/news/money-saving-offer-for-medicares-late-enrollees-is-expiring-can-they-buy-time/ | 2017-09-25 09:28:24.737000 | About Insight Insight provides an in-depth look at health care issues in and affecting California. Have a story suggestion? Let us know.
[UPDATE: Since this article was published, Medicare officials extended the deadline for applying for an exemption to the Part B late enrollment penalty to Sept. 30, 2018. The announcement came in a fact sheet posted on Oct. 12, 2017.]
Many older Americans who have Affordable Care Act insurance policies are going to miss a Sept. 30 deadline to enroll in Medicare, and they need more time to make the change, advocates say.
A lifetime of late enrollment penalties typically await people who don’t sign up for Medicare Part B — which covers doctor visits and other outpatient services — when they first become eligible. That includes people who mistakenly thought that because they had insurance through the ACA marketplaces, they didn’t need to enroll in Medicare.
Medicare officials are offering to waive those penalties under a temporary rule change that began earlier this year, but the deal ends Sept. 30.
On Wednesday, more than 40 groups, including consumer health advocacy organizations and insurers, asked Medicare chief Seema Verma to extend the waiver deadline through at least Dec. 31, because they are worried that many people who could be helped still don’t know about it.
They also say more time is needed because of application delays at some Social Security Administration (SSA) local offices, where beneficiaries request the waiver.
This story also ran on NPR . It can be republished for free ( details ).
“We know there are people who can still benefit from it,” said Stacy Sanders, the federal policy director at the Medicare Rights Center, a Washington-based advocacy group that coordinated the request to Medicare. “We know there have been delays, and those are good reasons to extend it.”
Counselors at the Medicare Rights Center have helped seniors apply for the waiver in Arizona, California, Florida, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey and New York, she said.
Since the marketplaces opened in 2014, the focus has been on getting people enrolled, Sanders added. “There’s no reason to expect that people would understand how to move out of the marketplace into Medicare.”
The waiver offer applies not only to people over 65 who have kept their marketplace plans, but also to younger people who qualify for Medicare through a disability and chose to use marketplace plans.
The waiver also allows Medicare beneficiaries who earlier realized their mistake in keeping a marketplace plan and have switched to ask for a reduction or elimination of the penalty.
In all cases, people had to be eligible for Medicare after April 1, 2013.
Officials at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid, which runs Medicare, would not provide details about the number of waivers granted or pending applications. Nor would they comment on the likelihood of an extension.
Barbara Davis said that when she initially applied, a Social Security representative didn’t know about the waiver. She eventually contacted the Medicare Rights Center, where a counselor interceded on her behalf in June. A day later, a Social Security representative told her she would not have a penalty.
“My advice would be, find out your rights before you apply,” said Davis, 68, who lives with her husband in rural western New York. “Because they don’t seem to want to give you information to help you, you have to know this on your own.”
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A Social Security spokeswoman said the agency is processing waiver applications from “across the country” but does not keep track of the number. She declined to comment on whether SSA employees know about the waiver.
Sanders suggested that people applying for the waiver ask Social Security officials for it by using its official name: “time-limited equitable relief.”
Since Medicare’s Part A hospitalization benefit is usually free, some seniors who liked their marketplace coverage thought — incorrectly — that they had nothing to lose by signing up for Part A and keeping their marketplace plan.
Some people receiving Social Security retirement or disability benefits opted to keep their marketplace plan and drop Part B after the Social Security Administration enrolled them automatically in Medicare when they became eligible.
If the temporary waiver expires, the only other way for beneficiaries to get an exemption is by proving they declined Part B because a government employee misinformed them.
The groups writing Verma argue that keeping the waiver in place past Sept. 30 could also help many beneficiaries who may be surprised by a little-known rule that will affect 2018 marketplace policies.
For the first time, insurers will be prohibited from issuing a marketplace plan if they know the member is eligible for Medicare and the 2018 policy is significantly different.
Those who find themselves without a marketplace plan could be in for another surprise: They won’t have insurance for outpatient care until July 1 because Medicare imposes a waiting period before Part B coverage kicks in for latecomers.
Extending the deadline “would lessen a significant hardship for many people … [who] are unaware of the repercussions that could result from keeping their marketplace coverage,” said Cathryn Donaldson, a spokeswoman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, an industry group.
For information on how to apply for the time-limited equitable relief waiver, go to the Medicare Rights Center’s Medicare Interactive webpage or call the center’s helpline at 1-800-333-4114.
This story was produced by Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation. |
Lyft teams up with USC to give low-income seniors rides to the doctor | Lyft and the University of Southern California are getting $1 million from insurance giant UnitedHealth to help seniors more easily access the transportation they need.
| https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/21/lyft-and-usc-get-a-grant-from-aarp-and-unitedhealth.html | 2017-09-25 09:27:57.913000 | Lyft and the University of Southern California are getting $1 million from insurance giant UnitedHealth to help seniors more easily access the transportation they need.
As part of the grant, USC's researchers will study whether taking rides can reduce feelings of loneliness and isolation in seniors and improve their health by helping them get to medical appointments on time.
The funds will be used for a pilot program run by the AARP Foundation in Los Angeles. It will provide free Lyft rides to a group of USC Keck Medical Center patients over 60 who have missed at least 2 medical appointments within the past year and have an upcoming appointment on the books. The rides will be available for 3 months.
These patients will also receive a Fitbit activity tracker, and are encouraged to log their daily activities. Additional pilots are scheduled for Chicago and Atlanta in 2018.
Studies have found that transportation gaps result in many low-income seniors missing or delaying their doctor's visits, which is associated with worse health outcomes. It's also an expensive problem for insurance companies, as these patients are more likely to end up in the emergency room.
For Lyft, the business case is clear as it looks to engage new demographics, including seniors, and pick up new sources of revenue in the $6 billion non-emergency medical transportation market. Beyond this specific study, the company is working with a mix of commercial and government insurers will typically foot the bill.
"We want to study whether we can reduce these no-show rates and provide a better experience for elder populations," said Lyft's Dan Trigub, who works on health care solutions.
Lyft is providing training on how to use the app and it allows a phone-based service for those who lack a smartphone. In that case, the car typically arrives within 30 minutes.
Trigub said drivers will be be aware that they need to pickup riders with service animals. That's an issue that got Uber into legal trouble back in 2015.
He also said that there's no additional cost for caregivers to join the ride.
Ultimately, he said, "we want to be the premier solution for elder, low-income and underserved populations."
Uber has also made steps into the health and medical market. It ran its own pilot program in 2015 to deliver flu shot packages to workplaces and homes. |
At Florida Nursing Home, Many Calls for Help, but None That Made a Difference | The emergency room workers at Memorial Regional Hospital rushed the first patient to Room 9, which was devoted to the hope and practice of arresting death. They threaded fluid lines into her veins and readied a breathing tube. Even through gloves, they could feel the heat corseting the 84-year-old woman’s body.
| https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/23/us/nursing-home-deaths.html | 2017-09-25 09:25:56.503000 | That same day, about 160 other nursing homes across Florida had no electricity, and most of those, like Hollywood Hills, had no generator capable of powering air-conditioning. But of all those places, the only one where a power loss is known to have caused multiple deaths was the home that advertised being “directly across the street from Hollywood’s Memorial Regional Hospital — so patients receive the finest health care day and night.”
Interviews with nursing home representatives, hospital personnel, residents’ families and government officials, as well as a review of emergency response records, show a preventable descent into the suffocating chaos of that early morning.
The nursing home’s state-approved emergency plan was confounded by a foreseeable electrical failure. The home said its repeated requests for help from state and county officials, and to the power company, yielded no results.
Gov. Rick Scott and other state and local officials say they never had any indication from Hollywood Hills that residents were in distress, though records show that a facility that shared the building reported that the conditions were “adversely affecting patients.” In any event, the officials and the power company said, it was the nursing home’s responsibility to ensure its residents’ safety. The local medical examiner’s office is still investigating the cause and manner of the deaths.
As Irma threatened and then passed, nursing home workers reassured families that their loved ones would be safe. But fans and portable coolers were not enough for some residents, with one so overcome by the heat that she lay nearly naked on a bed in the second-floor hallway. When firefighters were finally summoned to rush people out, they said the conditions reminded them of battling a fire. |
Dublin authority faces €30m loss on new-home tax exemption rule | An exemption on charging property tax for new homes may deprive Dublin’s authorities of €30m ($35m) in revenue by 2019, according to the city council. The provision originally applied to homes built between July 2013 and October 2016, but a new property tax rule introduced in 2015 extended that to October 2019. The council has already lost about €5.6m in potential tax revenue from the 4,800 houses and apartments built since the exception was brought in. The scheme has also been criticised for disproportionately favouring wealthier owners, as they can afford the newer builds. A government report recommended ending the exemption in 2019.
| https://www.irishtimes.com/news/consumer/dublin-councils-to-lose-30m-on-property-tax-loophole-1.3232428 | 2017-09-25 09:25:31.727000 | “It’s inequitable. New apartments at Lansdowne Place in Ballsbridge have prices ranging from €825,000 to €6.5 million. The property tax on €6.5 million is €16,000 a year,” said Paddy McCartan. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien
Dublin local authorities stand to lose in the region of €30 million by 2019 in Local Property Tax (LPT) foregone on new homes, figures compiled by Dublin City Council indicate.
The rate of property tax paid by homeowners is based on the value of the property in May 2013. Houses and apartments bought from a builder since 2013 are exempt from property tax. The exemption was introduced when the tax came into effect in July 2013 and was due to last until October 2016.
However, in 2015 the then minister for finance Michael Noonan announced the valuation thresholds for LPT would be frozen until October 2019, meaning households paying the tax will not see an increase in their bill until then.
This extension was also applied to the exemption on homes sold by builders after the 2013 valuation date, giving new home owners an extra three LPT-free years.
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Figures compiled by the city council’s finance department show the council has already lost an estimated €5.6 million in potential property tax revenues on exempt new homes.
The figures, which the council's head of finance Kathy Quinn stresses are a rough estimate, are based on approximately 4,800 new homes sold in the city since mid-2013, and use an average valuation of €250,000 per home.
While at the standard LPT rate homeowners would owe the council an average of €405 each, the council applies a 15 per cent discount, resulting in an average annual charge of €344.25. Cumulatively that would amount to €5,594,063 foregone to the city council alone.
Cumulative costs
However, Fine Gael councillor and member of the council's finance committee Paddy McCartan said when the losses of the other three Dublin local authorities are taken into account and the figures are projected to the end of 2019, the cumulative costs are in the region of €30 million.
“The finance department agree with my calculations which show that the city council alone will be facing the potential loss of €15 million to the end of 2019, because the property tax is a cumulative charge,” Mr McCartan said.
“The three other local authorities between them collect approximately the same amount of property tax as the council, so the combined total wouldn’t be far short of €30 million.”
There was a basic unfairness, Mr McCartan said, with the vast majority of homeowners paying a tax that others, some of who would be high earners, were escaping.
"It's inequitable. New apartments at Lansdowne Place in Ballsbridge have prices ranging from €825,000 to €6.5 million. The property tax on €6.5 million is €16,000 a year."
The Government could benchmark new homes on what similar housing was valued at in 2013, he said.
“The council can’t afford to be at a loss of revenue of this magnitude and I will be calling on the Government to close this loophole.”
A Government report by Dr Don Thornhill in 2015 recommended the exemption should not be renewed when the revaluation takes place. A spokesman for the Department of Finance yesterday said it would be considering the recommendations of the Thornhill report "in due course in line with the 2019 timeline". |
One Last Visit to See My Patient | The rain was coming down in torrents and my shoes were not up to the job. Nevertheless, I pressed forward along the soggy blocks. My 91-year-old patient and I had been together for some 20 years — honestly I’d lost count — so this was the least I could do.
| https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/21/well/live/one-last-visit-to-see-my-patient.html?_r=0 | 2017-09-25 09:24:57.457000 | Still, I was intensely grateful that this patient remained comfortable, happy, pain-free and able to remain in her home with her loving family. Just as the data predicted, she was living far longer than any of us would have expected, given her congestive heart failure and her severe respiratory disease. It was now 18 months since we started the hospice care.
The paradox is that a patient can qualify for hospice care only if he or she has a life expectancy of six months or less, if the disease runs its normal course. My patient certainly fit that definition, but as we focused intensely on making her more comfortable, she was living longer. Every six months I recertified that my patient indeed had end-stage cardiac and respiratory disease. And although she was clearly frailer at each certification, she remained comfortable and pain-free.
Most patients, sadly, get referred to hospice only in the very last days or weeks of their illness, which explains the misperception that “nothing” is done for the patient other than fluff the pillows on the way to death. Even for patients with end-stage cancer, the earlier they are referred to palliative care (care focused on patient comfort), the longer they usually live.
These thoughts circled in my head as I slogged through the torrential rain toward my patient’s home. I’d asked her daughter if maybe we could reschedule for the next day, when it would be less monsoon-like. “I think you should probably come today,” her daughter replied. Her voice was straightforward and unhurried, but as soon as she said that I angled my umbrella into the downpour and didn’t lift it until I arrived at her building, 20 sopping blocks later.
Their apartment was brimming with ferns, vines and succulents. It was almost as if they’d recreated the jungle of their home country in the concrete of New York City. In the midst of this verdant lair, my patient reclined comfortably on the couch, her face radiating warmth and welcome amid the greenery and medical equipment surrounding her. She gave me a big hug and invited me onto the couch next to her. A breathing mask from a nearby BiPAP machine covered her mouth and nose, but she could still talk. It was obvious how proud she was of her two daughters who sat nearby.
Sitting there, it dawned on me that my patient had won the lottery. She’d lived a long and happy life, with a loving extended family in two countries. Her final days were being spent on her own couch, among her plants and family, her favorite TV shows and music.
After 45 minutes visiting, I kissed her goodbye and shared hugs with the daughters. I headed back out into the rain, nursing a sadness and a relief at the same time. |
Enter the age of the age-friendly health system | The future of the United States is old. And this old future isn’t that far off. By 2026, the majority of baby boomers, the most populated generation in our nation’s history, will be in their 80s. Twenty-four years on, 20 percent of the U.S. population will be older than 65.
| http://www.politico.com/sponsor-content/2017/09/the-age-friendly-health-system | 2017-09-25 09:22:49.943000 | For the Triple Aim goal to be met, IHI had to confirm the best ways to provide care. “We studied all of the major successful, evidence-based interventions for older adults,” Mate says. And what they found were the 4Ms — what matters to the patient, medications, mobility and mentation or mental activity. “The 4Ms were considered the absolute most important, most-evidenced and most impactful changes that could be made for improving the lives of older adults,” he says.
Mate admits that the 4Ms are not “terribly surprising or particularly innovative,” but they are what works. Simplicity is often the best course to take and Fulmer says medical providers love the reductionism of four elements. “We don’t want to add work,” she says. “We want [clinicians] to measure these elements and put in place common-sense best practices that move care in the right direction.”
The way they do this is through bundles — strategies used to ensure reliable implementation of, and attention to, the 4Ms. Rather than have a standard set of procedures for treatment, as is the case in the volume-based structure, bundles incentivize physicians to compile approaches and treatments that are necessary and sufficient for that patient and their condition, putting the focus on quality, not quantity. That’s why providers working at ACOs and alternative payment model care systems often find it much easier to follow the 4Ms, especially what matters. When put into action like this, wasteful costs that may come from repeated and unnecessary tests and hospital readmissions are reduced. What’s more is that the patient often experiences a faster and more complete recovery.
“ We have to make sure this work translates into streamlining what [hospitals and health systems] are already doing. As we shift from fee-to-service to value-based payments, health services will shift. This is a new day and we have to make sure we are using all the talent we have and releasing all the waste we can. ” Terry Fulmer, President, The John A. Hartford Foundation
The 4Ms translate to the patient’s understanding, too. “I [used the 4Ms] this morning,” Fulmer says. “The patient I saw has been post-operative for several days, has a colostomy and a number of other problems with that. She’s not giving up. She wants to go home and go back to dog walking.” When you think about what’s best for her, what matters most to her, you can tailor her care to best meet her goals, Fulmer says.
By focusing on the 4Ms, hospitals and health systems can begin reducing the amount of money that is wasted through inefficient care. An estimated one-third of what the U.S. spends on health care each year is wasteful, according to Fulmer. When adopted, the 4Ms can free up that waste so it can be put toward more useful avenues. This translates to better care at home, better attention to related services, better communication throughout the health care system and ultimately, a reduction in repeat hospital visits. Although the focus of the AFHS initiative is on the aging population, a reduction in wasteful health care spending saves money for every population.
Putting the initiative to work
U.S. health care costs account for 17 percent of our GDP, and that number is expected to rise to 20 percent in the next three years. At the same time, the Foundation and IHI are geared up to have the AFHS initiative in 20 percent of U.S. hospitals and health systems — that’s roughly 1,000 hospitals across 40 states — by 2020. Today, The John A. Hartford Foundation and IHI partner with five health systems, Anne Arundel Health System, Ascension, Kaiser Permanente, Providence St. Joseph Health and Trinity Health, on creating age-friendly health systems.
Fulmer says that 20 percent is an audacious goal. |
Finding out what matters most at the end of life | When Ellen Goodman and her mother would speak about end-of-life wishes, it was always in the most general terms. “My mom would see somebody in a terrible condition and she’d say, ‘If I’m ever like that, pull the plug,’” says Goodman.
| http://www.politico.com/sponsor-content/2017/09/finding-out-what-matters | 2017-09-25 09:22:18.740000 | When Ellen Goodman and her mother would speak about end-of-life wishes, it was always in the most general terms. “My mom would see somebody in a terrible condition and she’d say, ‘If I’m ever like that, pull the plug,’” says Goodman.
It wasn’t until her mom developed dementia in her 90s and her health began declining that Goodman realized it was too late for a more detailed conversation on the topic. “She basically couldn’t decide what she wanted to have for lunch, let alone what she wanted to have for health care,” says Goodman, who went on to make all of the health decisions for her mother, including turning down various unnecessary tests that doctors suggested and medications they offered. “It put a huge amount of stress on me because I was making these decisions and I always wished that I could hear her voice in my ear,” says Goodman.
Looking back, Goodman wishes someone had told her about a specialty of medicine called palliative care, which aims to reduce the pain and stress associated with serious illness or the end of life, while putting the person and his or her wants front and center.
“ We need to change from a death denying culture to one that supports people to live as well as possible with serious illness straight through the end of life. ” Amy Berman, Senior Program Officer, The John A. Hartford Foundation
Amy Berman, a senior program officer with The John A. Hartford Foundation, an organization helping to improve the care of older adults, works to educate people and shift discussions to focus on living well in the face of serious illness and dying with dignity. Her goal is to make an experience like Goodman’s the exception, rather than the rule, when it comes to palliative care. Berman believes that can happen by encouraging people to have conversations early in life with their families and clinicians about their wishes for care. Should they become seriously ill, they would receive care that matches their goals and preferences. In many cases, this means families receive support and health costs are lowered by limiting unwanted medical interventions.
“We need to change from a death denying culture to one that supports people to live as well as possible with serious illness straight through the end of life,” says Berman.
Treating the person, not the disease
People frequently confuse palliative care with hospice, or end-of-life care, says Berman, or they assume that it means someone has given up. That’s simply not the full picture. Palliative care can relieve symptoms and pain and address the stress that comes with serious illnesses such as cancer, congestive heart failure, lung disease, dementia and more. When opting for palliative care, a person will express to palliative doctors, nurses, social care workers and other specialists what he or she wants in life and at the end of that life, and that team can work to create a more dignified, personalized and humane course for the patient and their family. Palliative care can be provided alongside curative care at any stage in a serious illness or towards the end of life.
The John A. Hartford Foundation The John A. Hartford Foundation is a private, nonpartisan philanthropy dedicated to improving the care of older adults. Since 1982, they have awarded $565 million in grants to partner organizations. Learn More
“Palliative care should be viewed as the best friend of the seriously ill,” says Berman. “When it becomes part of care early on, whether somebody is going to get better or live with a chronic condition or at the end of life, the outcomes really shift because it focuses on the whole person, not just the disease.”
In the United States, life expectancy has gotten longer, but with advances in medical treatment, it may also be more painful, filled with medical procedures that go against a person’s own goals. According to the Center to Advance Palliative Care, 90 million Americans are living with serious illnesses — a number that will only rise as the baby boomer generation ages. The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice found that 32 percent of total Medicare spending goes to pay for patients with chronic illness in the last two years of living. They also found that in the last six months of life, people in the United States spend, on average, 7.9 days in the hospital.
32% 32 percent of Medicare spending pays for patients with chronic illness in the last two years of living
Aggressive intervention in the late stages of an illness can bring more harm than good, and no evidence exists that says spending more money on health care and medical procedures results in a better quality of death. In fact, evidence points to the contrary. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine compared outcomes of newly diagnosed patients with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer-related death globally. Of the 151 patients, one group received palliative care and the other received standard care. Those who received palliative care reported better quality of life, lower rates of depression and they lived 2.7 months longer than those receiving aggressive treatment. |
Supporting America's modern heroes | Halima Amjad, MD, MPH, recalls a time when her father wandered into the kitchen as her mother prepared dinner, snatched a piece of raw chicken and put it in his mouth. Her mother, and his wife of 37 years, yelled and ran toward him, ignoring the pain in her arthritic knee, and quickly yanked the chicken out of his mouth. The now-retired dentist was living with frontotemporal dementia.
| http://www.politico.com/sponsor-content/2017/09/americas-modern-heroes | 2017-09-25 09:21:43.927000 | Halima Amjad, MD, MPH, recalls a time when her father wandered into the kitchen as her mother prepared dinner, snatched a piece of raw chicken and put it in his mouth. Her mother, and his wife of 37 years, yelled and ran toward him, ignoring the pain in her arthritic knee, and quickly yanked the chicken out of his mouth. The now-retired dentist was living with frontotemporal dementia.
At the time of her father’s diagnosis in his late 50s, Amjad was about to graduate medical school. While she had seen many cases of caregiving and too many cases of dementia, her father’s experience is the only case she had experienced so completely. “As a doctor you learn about dementia, but you don’t expect it to occur in your family, especially that early,” says Amjad, now an assistant professor of medicine and geriatrician at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Amjad, her sister and brother all help take care of their father, but the brunt of the care falls to their mother.
The John A. Hartford Foundation The John A. Hartford Foundation is a private, nonpartisan philanthropy dedicated to improving the care of older adults. Since 1982, they have awarded $565 million in grants to partner organizations. Learn More
“Seeing my mom go from happy-go-lucky to having a baseline level of stress isn’t easy,” Amjad says. “At this point, the disease is quite advanced. We have to feed and clean him. My mom is basically his brain. He can’t talk anymore. She feels lonely. As children, it’s hard to watch my mom struggle and it’s hard for us to figure out where we belong in all of this. Mom wants us to go out and build our careers and families. But we also have to balance her health. It’s physically and mentally exhausting having to take care of someone with dementia.”
“ I have been brought to my knees in tears trying to get my mom to the right provider, understanding a medication change, doing 3 a.m. internet research because the diagnosis she received did not align with what I was seeing day in and day out. ” Rita Choula, Senior Advisor, AARP Public Policy Institute
Taking care of a loved one and facing the demands of dementia is no simple task. Help can be hard to come by. Sometimes, where one lives determines access to programs and services, admits Rita Choula, senior advisor with the AARP Public Policy Institute. “Unfortunately, some zip codes have access to more or better programs than others,” she says.
18 M Americans are caregivers
of older adults
Choula’s 16-year experience caregiving for her mother and grandmother has been a bit of an uphill battle, even for someone whose work revolves around promoting the development of policies to address our common need for economic security, health care and quality of life. “It can be difficult for a family caregiver to navigate the infinite internet universe to track down what they need,” Choula says. “One of the most frustrating things for me was going into a local aging office and being handed a 50-plus page book of resources for things I didn’t know I needed.”
Still, Amjad and Choula’s stories are hardly unique. Most Americans will become caregivers at some point in their lives. According to a 2016 study conducted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, an estimated 18 million friends and family members provide care for an older person, whether it is help with daily activities like bathing and eating, medication management or other types of medical tasks and wound care. That same study, which was done in partnership with The John A. Hartford Foundation and other organizations, also found that 36 percent of caregivers reported moderate to high levels of financial strain.
36 percent of caregivers experience moderate-to-high levels of financial strain
Yet, while they’re vital to our health system and represent a large portion of our population, family caregivers are often overlooked.
Through grant-making and partnerships with mission-aligned organizations like AARP, The John A. Hartford Foundation, an organization dedicated to improving care for older adults, is committed to transforming our health care system, long-term services and other support systems to meet the needs of this 18 million-member caregiving workforce. This has included funding major national studies, programs that are linking family caregivers to support and creative efforts to raise public attention to the role of family caregivers such as a multi-media window display at New York’s Rockefeller Center.
“One of the most exciting results of the 2016 study for us has been the ability to use it as a focal point to bring together a network of leaders interested in supporting the vital role caregivers play in a variety of ways across differing settings, geographic locations and populations,” says Rani Snyder, program director with The John A. Hartford Foundation.
The high societal cost of family caregiving
Few family caregivers can or would put a price tag on what it means to care for their loved one during their time of need. Either through a sense of obligation or few available options, families cobble together finances, time and space in their homes without necessarily realizing the inherent costs. Beyond the costs of care, losses in lifetime earnings for caregivers age 50 and up amount, on average, to over $300,000, according to AARP.
Many caregivers complain that while it’s nice to see companies touting flextime as company policy, it’s often frowned upon in practice as these employees manage everything from doctor appointments to picking up prescriptions. According to research conducted by AARP and the nonprofit Respect A Caregiver’s Time (ReACT), employers offering benefits to support family caregivers can expect a return of between $1.70 and $4.34 for every dollar invested in flextime. And every dollar invested in a telecommuting option saw a return of between $2.46 and $4.45, the report revealed. Family-friendly policies have been typically reserved for new parents, but these can also be the cornerstone of human resources support for employees providing care to loved ones affected by dementia. |
Engie issues $1.5bn green bond to finance renewable push | Engie has raised $1.5bn through the issue of its third green bond in order to finance its "ambitious development strategy in renewable energies and energy efficiency". The proceeds will be used to fund its R&D efforts as the company looks to provide 25% of its energy generation using renewables by 2020, up from 18% in 2015. The offering was made up of a EUR500m five-year note with a coupon of 0.375%, and a EUR750m 11-year bond that pays 1.375%. | https://renewablesnow.com/news/engie-issues-eur-125bn-green-bond-584051/ | 2017-09-25 09:20:51.640000 | French energy group Engie (EPA:ENGI) said today it has issued a EUR-1.25-billion (USD 1.5bn) green bond "to support its ambitious development strategy in renewable energies and energy efficiency".
This is the company's third green bond, bringing its total green bond issuance since 2014 to EUR 5.25 billion. Proceeds from the latest bond will be used to finance renewable energy, energy efficiency and natural resources preservation projects, as well as research and development (R&D) in these areas and equity investments in projects of Engie's social impact fund Rassembleurs d'Energies.
Engie has a target of a 25% share of renewables in its energy generation portfolio by 2020, up from 18% in 2015.
The green bond was issued yesterday and consisted of two tranches -- EUR 500 million with a duration of five years and five months and an annual coupon of 0.375%, and an eleven-year-five-month tranche of EUR 750 million with a 1.375% annual coupon. In addition, the company issued a 20-year, EUR-750-million bond for general purposes. It said it is taking advantage of the current favourable rate environment to lengthen the duration of its debt at attractive terms.
(EUR 1 = USD 1.200)
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Geneva Airport pushes for biofuel adoption by late 2018 | Geneva Airport has partnered with Finnish renewable diesel producer Neste to bring sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to its planes, starting next year. The airport has set an ambitious target: a minimum of 1% of jet fuel used will be SAF by the end of 2018. The move is part of a project proposed by Carbon War Room and SkyNRG in 2015, which aims to make SAF the standard for all flights refuelling at the airport. Over the past decade, Neste has helped to reduce the carbon emissions of traffic by 33 million tons. | http://www.biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2017/09/18/geneva-aeroport-were-going-with-aviation-biofuels-so-there/ | 2017-09-25 09:15:59.093000 | In Switzerland, Geneva Airport has partnered with Neste to introduce sustainable and renewable jet fuel for aircraft operations, with a target of at least one percent of the annual jet fuel consumption starting late 2018.
This collaboration marks Geneva’s transition into the implementation phase of the Carbon War Room/SkyNRG-initiated project. CWR and SkyNRG first brought their Airport Approach to Geneva Airport in 2015 with a mission to help airports play a more active role in accelerating the uptake of SAF.
The aviation backstory
The International Civil Aviation Organization has set a target that from 2020 onwards the growth in aviation is carbon-neutral. Currently, the only viable alternative to fossil liquid fuels for powering commercial aircraft is sustainable renewable jet fuel, which is one the most efficient means of decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. It can be adopted immediately without the need for additional investments in new fuel distribution infrastructure.
For Neste, the development of Neste MY Renewable Jet Fuel has been a long journey taking several years: from building proof of concept to ensuring the quality and performance that fully meet the aviation industry’s expectations. Neste’s renewable jet fuel technology and quality is proven in thousands of commercial flights by e.g. Lufthansa and is now ready for commercialization.
We reported last mopnth that Bergen became the second Norwegian airport to offer aviation biofuels. The fuel provider, AirBP, made its first biofuel delivery the night before the opening. Biofuel can be mixed directly with conventional fuel and no adjustments to the aircraft engines or distribution system are required. This follows Air BP’s successful introduction of biojet at Oslo Airport in January 2016.
And we reported in July that Air BP extended its biofuel footprint in the Nordics with the supply of commercial jet biofuel (biojet) now available at Halmstad Airport, Sweden.
The company has collaborated with Halmstad Airport (HAD/ESMT) and Swedish domestic airline, BRA (formerly Braathens Regional) to make this possible. The first batch was delivered to Halmstad Airport on June 29th and was successfully uplifted by BRA when it refueled its ATR 72-600 aircraft. It is available to all airlines that refuel at the airport, initially for a period of one year. Air BP has since continued to work towards growing its biojet footprint in the region and has supplied airlines and airports on an ad-hoc basis at Stockholm Arlanda (ARN/ESSA), Stockholm Bromma (BMA/ESSB) and Göteborg Landvetter (GOT/ESGG).
The Neste backstory
Neste is the world’s leading renewable diesel producer from waste and residues, and with its renewable diesel it has helped to decarbonize traffic by 33 million tons over the past 10 years. This is equivalent to 2 years’ emissions from the Swiss transport sector. Now this expertise and renewable solution is available for aviation.
The Airport Approach backstory
The Carbow War Room and SkyNRG Airport Approach model, which was first developed by the partners in 2015, engages airports as key stakeholders in the future of SAF. The model introduces an airport-wide SAF blend utilizing existing fueling infrastructure, making SAF standard for all flights refueling at the airport. CWR and SkyNRG also collaborate with partner airports to identify and secure appropriate mechanisms to cover the cost premium of SAF based on the financial profile of the airport. This can include non-aeronautical airport revenues, operational cost savings from energy efficiency projects, government subsidies, policies, grants and sponsorship by local businesses.
We reported in October 2016 that CWR and SkyNRG joined with the Port of Seattle to announce recommendations for long-term funding mechanisms that could supply all airlines at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport with SAF. This is the next step in a process that began late last year by the Port of Seattle with a $250,000 Biofuel Infrastructure Feasibility Study, in partnership with Alaska Airlines and Boeing, that will assess costs and infrastructure necessary to deliver sustainable aviation fuel to aircraft at Sea-Tac. That study is expected to be released in early 2017.
Reaction from the stakeholders
“Geneva Airport is exemplary in sustainability with its ambitious goals to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. We are very excited to collaborate with Genève Aéroport and their airline partners to show the way to the aviation sector. We both share the common view that decreasing CO2 emissions in aviation is crucial in combating climate change.
This is an important step for Neste in implementing our growth strategy for renewables in applications outside road traffic fuels. Neste MY Renewable Jet Fuel is Neste’s sustainable solution for reducing CO2 emissions in aviation,” says Kaisa Hietala, Executive Vice President in the Renewable Product business area in Neste.
André Schneider, CEO of Geneva Airport, commented: “As aviation is growing, airports have a crucial role in taking initiatives which aim at reducing environmental impact. Genève Aéroport is particularly pleased to work in this very ambitious project together with Neste, the Swiss authorities, airlines operating from Geneva, and locally established fuel companies in our pursuit of fossil neutral growth. We would not have reached this milestone without the vision of Carbon War Room and SkyNRG, who have supported us with project initiation, development and pursuit of funding during the preparatory phase of this project. We credit them for their pioneering contributions and practical guidance during that phase.”
“We congratulate Geneva Airport on demonstrating great leadership with respect to decarbonising aviation and for being the first to actualise our Airport Approach model, said Jules Kortenhorst, CEO of Rocky Mountain Institute-Carbon War Room. “These efforts are critical as the industry continues to grow in a world where we must limit temperature rise to well below 2 degrees. We wish Geneva Airport and Neste the best of luck in their collaboration and look forward to their success.”
“We’re proud that together with Carbon War Room we’ve built a unique model, The Airport Approach, that will now help Geneva Airport to reach their ambitious 1% target. We congratulate Geneva Airport reaching the next phase of this exciting project. Now it is up to the locally established fuel companies to integrate renewable jet fuel into their supply chains in the most sustainable and cost-effective way.” says Theye Veen, CFO SkyNRG.
More background slides
DOE, DOD aim for take-off: The Digest’s 2017 Multi-Slide Guide to Biofuels in Defense and Aviation
Ready for take-off: The Digest’s 2017 Multi-Slide Guide to Honeywell’s UOP and aviation biofuels
Sustainable aviation fuels: The Digest’s 2017 Multi-Slide Guide to United Airlines |
Decentralised healthcare system needs real estate: Colliers | The US healthcare system's shift towards an ambulatory network of clinics and out-patient facilities has spotlighted the need for real estate skills in the sector, according to Coy Davidson, senior VP of Office and Healthcare Services at Colliers International. In a blog post, Davidson said the decentralised healthcare model required expert analysis of where primary care clinics, ambulatory centres and micro-hospitals should be located to capture the most patients, and that site selection "required some of the disciplines of the retail sector". | http://www.coydavidson.com/healthcare/importance-healthcare-real-estate/ | 2017-09-25 09:02:10.123000 | The Shift to Outpatient Care by Healthcare Providers and Cost Constraints Increases Emphasis on Real Estate
Healthcare providers are dealing with a myriad of challenges in the face of softening admissions, changing consumer expectations about healthcare, tight operating margins, shrinking budgets, and shifting policies. While facing these challenges many health systems are looking to expand their access points to capture more patients and drive referrals. This translates into a more distributed real estate footprint with a goal to bring convenient access closer to patients driven by advancements in technology, cost, and consumer-driven care.
According to their 2017 State of Cost Transformation in U.S. Hospitals from Kaufman Hall: 96 percent of hospital executives surveyed agreed to transform costs was a “significant” to “very significant” need.
However, more than half of organizations haven’t implemented adequate cost reduction goals. Part of the solution is ensuring that patient care is delivered in the most appropriate setting by providing routine care and simple procedures in lower-cost ambulatory facilities rather than directing large volumes of outpatient services through high-cost medical centers. Reconfiguring portfolios and service lines will generate an increased amount of real estate activity for healthcare providers.
Care Shifts Away from the Hospital Setting
Outpatient clinics are more important than ever before as they become the primary delivery vehicle for care. The traditional hub and spoke model in healthcare, which puts hospitals at the center of care delivery, is changing to focus more on ambulatory care.
The total number of outpatient visits has grown by 1.9 percent per year from 1994 to 2014. Over the same time period, inpatient admissions declined at an annual rate of 0.64 percent.
As healthcare delivery continues to shift to an outpatient setting, the volume of new medical office development continues to expand. A total of 35.7 million square feet of medical office buildings (MOBs) and other outpatient projects were started or completed last year, according to a recent survey from Revista.
According to data from the Advisory Board, 92% of hospital systems are planning new construction or a renovation project for an Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC), MOB or Urgent Care clinic and 37.8% of hospital systems are planning a new Micro-Hospital or Free Standing Emergency Department.
Care delivery and reimbursement are shifting to a more integrated, streamlined, and cost-effective approach, and rather than just prioritizing large costly hospital facilities, healthcare systems will allocate more capital to multiple, smaller, lower-cost outpatient facilities. |
AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio says tech giants have become too big | A machine learning pioneer has spoken out against big tech companies, suggesting they are "dangerous for democracy". Speaking at an AI conference in Toronto last week Yoshua Bengio, a professor at the University of Montreal and a consultant for IBM, suggested that giant tech companies are increasingly monopolising resources, talent and knowledge, and governments should step in and enforce anti-trust laws. "AI is a technology that naturally lends itself to a winner take all," Bengio commented. "The country and company that dominates the technology will gain more power with time.”
| https://www.axios.com/artificial-intelligence-pioneer-calls-for-the-breakup-of-big-tech-2487483705.html | 2017-09-25 08:38:54.187000 | Yoshua Bengio, the artificial intelligence pioneer, says the centralization of wealth, power and capability in Big Tech is "dangerous for democracy" and that the companies should be broken up.
Why it matters: Bengio is a professor at the University of Montreal and a member of the three-man "Canadian Mafia" that pioneered machine learning, the leading method used in AI. His remarks are notable because of his influence in the AI community and because he or his peers all either directly lead or consult for Big Tech's AI programs. Says Bengio: "Concentration of wealth leads to concentration of power. That's one reason why monopoly is dangerous. It's dangerous for democracy."
The AI pioneers: Bengio consults for IBM and his colleagues Geoffrey Hinton consults for Google and Yann LeCun for Facebook. Ruslan Salakhutdinov, a protege of Hinton's, runs Apple's AI research effort.
Benigo said the concentration of resources, talent and knowledge among giant tech companies is only increasing and governments must act. "We need to create a more level playing field for people and companies," Bengio told Axios at an AI conference in Toronto last week.
In recent years, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft have amassed a towering lead in AI research. But now, they are subject to growing scrutiny because of their outsized influence on society, politics and the economy. I asked Bengio if the companies should be broken up. He harrumphed and responded that anti-trust laws should be enforced. "Governments have become so meek in front of companies," he said.
"AI is a technology that naturally lends itself to a winner take all," Bengio said. "The country and company that dominates the technology will gain more power with time. More data and a larger customer base gives you an advantage that is hard to dislodge. Scientists want to go to the best places. The company with the best research labs will attract the best talent. It becomes a concentration of wealth and power."
When some of the young people gathered around him looked a bit dejected, Bengio responded, "Don't despair — fight." |
NZ price comparison site calls for greater insurance transparency | Providers of motor and home insurance in New Zealand should be forced to offer greater transparency around pricing, according to Michael Speight, co-founder of price comparison website Glimp.co.nz. Such a measure may make the New Zealand insurance market less concentrated, Speight argues. Two companies, IAG and Suncorp, account for three-quarters of the motor and home insurance market, according to Speight. | http://www.meinsurancereview.com/News/View-NewsLetter-Article/id/40380/Type/eDaily/New-Zealand-Call-for-insurers-to-be-forced-to-supply-price-info | 2017-09-25 08:33:11.360000 | Technology entrepreneur Michael Speight has said that rules need to be introduced to force motor and home insurers to disclose their premium rates, for improved transparency and promote competition. |
LV= discontinues legal service offering | Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society has discontinued offering clients legal services as a value-add service. Instead, the company said it will focus on strengthening its core business of providing general insurance as well as life insurance and pension services. The firm also said continuing to offer the legal services would have required significant scale and investment. | http://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/exclusive-leading-insurer-ditches-legal-services-offering | 2017-09-25 08:30:20.657000 | Leading insurance company LV= has ditched its legal services offering, less than two years after starting it, Legal Futures can reveal.
In January 2016, it launched a joint venture with Bristol-based law firm Lyons Davidson to offer fixed-fee advice for wills, powers of attorney, probate, conveyancing, personal injury and employment law.
LV= is the country’s largest friendly society and said at the time that it saw legal services as an added benefit “that fits our mutual values”, rather than a revenue stream.
However, it has now shut down LV= Legal Services. A spokeswoman said: “While feedback from our customers on the services we provided was very good, the sustainability of LV= Legal Services required scale and significant investment.
“To ensure we continue providing our customers with great products and quality customer service, it was decided that we’d instead focus on strengthening our capabilities in our core businesses of general insurance and life & pensions and any necessary investment is being put into these specific areas.
“As such, we’ve decided to no longer provide legal services. However, while it won’t be available to new customers, we will fulfil any services which existing customers have already purchased.”
Unlike other arrangements between law firms and insurers, LV= Legal Services was not an alternative business structure. Rather, the services were explicitly provided by Lyons Davidson, with Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society Ltd permitting the firm to use the LV= brand in doing so.
Mark Savill, managing director of Lyons Davidson, added that “We are very pleased with the positive feedback we received on the quality of the service that we provided.
“We are continuing to provide services under the Lyons Davidson brand to customers of LV= who are looking for a consumer legal service.”
Liverpool Victoria is a shareholder in Lyons Davidson. According to Companies House, it has a class of non-voting shares that entitle the company to dividends as determined by a specific formula, and to capital to the extent of a return of amounts paid up on the shares.
The LV= spokeswoman said: “We have a broad commercial relationship with Lyons Davidson under which they provide a range of services to us and our customers and our decision to not continue providing consumer legal services does not affect this wider relationship.”
Lyons Davidsons’ other shareholders include ZPC Capital – part of Zurich Insurance – and telematics car insurance business Insure The Box.
It also has joint venture alternative business structures with Admiral and the AA. It was involved in Saga Legal Services too but the over-50s insurance and travel business closed that down a year ago. |
Vanguard takes in £2m a day from UK investors | US asset management giant Vanguard Group has pulled in almost £2m ($2.71m) a day from UK investors since May. The majority of Vanguard’s $4tn assets are in the US, however, as part of the company’s global expansion plans it aims to bring its ultra-low fee approach to Europe. Vanguard’s direct-to-customer UK service charges 15 basis points a year, a third of the fee at UK-based competitor Hargreaves Lansdown. Brokerage firm Liberum has projected that Vanguard will take £5bn per year within three years through its online offerings. | https://qz.com/1086158/american-low-cost-fund-giant-vanguard-is-now-pulling-in-2-million-per-day-in-the-uk/ | 2017-09-25 08:13:33.083000 | Vanguard is a titan in the fund management industry, but the vast majority of its $4 trillion assets are in the US. As its chief investment officer Tim Buckley prepares to become CEO next year, the company is eyeing global expansion. It’s off to a strong start in the UK, taking in almost £2 million ($2.71 million) a day from British customers since it launched there in May.
Vanguard became the second-biggest global asset manager, after BlackRock, thanks to its ultra-low fees. It’s bringing a similar approach to Europe, threatening to spark a price war among asset managers. Vanguard’s direct-to-customer UK service will charge 0.15% per year, which is about a third of the fee at Hargreaves Lansdown, Britain’s biggest provider, according to The Times (paywall). Vanguard’s fees for customers are capped at £375 per year.
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The Malvern, Pennsylvania-based company has been one of the biggest winners from the shift to low-cost passive investments, but its European push also features actively managed funds that are prevalent in the region.
Brokerage Liberum has projected that Vanguard will take in £5 billion per year within three years through its online offering, according to the Financial Times (paywall). That would be about 25% of the new money invested by UK retail customers every year.
At least one British institution may welcome Vanguard’s advance into the UK’s £6.9 trillion asset management industry. In June, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority said the sector suffered from a worrying lack of competition and inflated margins. If its US record is any indication, Vanguard’s arrival in Britain could provide the shakeup the regulator is looking for. |
Sustainably sourced timber tower to be built in Brazil | A tower built of sustainably harvested Brazilian wood has been designed by Triptyque Architecture for Amata, a Brazilian forest management company. The environmentally responsible building is intended for multi-purpose use, such as co-working, co-living and restaurant dining. With deforestation and illegal logging a big issue in Brazil, Amata CEO Dario Guarita Neto commented: “Wooden framed buildings are an efficient solution and may serve as a boost toward a change in the environmental consciousness of our societies.”
| https://www.designboom.com/architecture/amata-triptyque-brazilian-timber-building-sao-paulo-09-20-2017/ | 2017-09-25 07:52:10.353000 | frequently called the capital of steel and concrete, são paulo will house a building completely made of brazilian timber. the project is an initiative by amata, a forest management company, and architecture studio, triptyque. the 13 story building allows for many different functional uses, such as co-working, co-living, and restaurant dining. both communal and private spaces interact with the city where one can live in tune with a new environmental consciousness.
both communal and private spaces interact with the city
each 1m³ of reforested wood has absorbed one metric ton of atmospheric CO² from the environment, helping meet the proposal signed by brazil during the 21st climate conference (COP 21) in paris, (promising to replant 12 million hectares of forest and reduce by 43% the green-house effect gas emissions until 2030). consequently, triptyque and amata’s project helps solve one of the long lasting problems with the construction industry.
the building will be made from cross-laminated timber
‘wooden framed buildings are an efficient solution and may serve as a boost toward a change in the environmental consciousness of our societies,’ explains dario guarita neto, cofounder and CEO at amata. ‘as we replace non-renewable resources with natural raw materials, we also help create a cleaner chain of production and we add value to certified forests. this can lower the pressure for deforestation.’
each 1m³ of reforested wood has absorbed one metric ton of atmospheric CO² from the environment
the 13 story building allows for many different functional uses
elevation of the project
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Sustainably sourced timber tower to be built in Brazil | A tower built of sustainably harvested Brazilian wood has been designed by Triptyque Architecture for Amata, a Brazilian forest management company. The environmentally responsible building is intended for multi-purpose use, such as co-working, co-living and restaurant dining. With deforestation and illegal logging a big issue in Brazil, Amata CEO Dario Guarita Neto commented: “Wooden framed buildings are an efficient solution and may serve as a boost toward a change in the environmental consciousness of our societies.”
| https://www.treehugger.com/green-architecture/13-storey-tower-built-sustainably-harvested-brazilian-wood.html | 2017-09-25 07:52:10.353000 | Brazil is often in Treehugger because of illegal logging and deforestation. Not this time.
We have shown a lot of wood buildings on TreeHugger, but this is the first design we have seen for tall wood in Brazil. It is designed by Triptyque architecture for Amata, a forest management company. Designboom writes that "the 13-storey building allows for many different functional uses, such as co-working, co-living, and restaurant dining. Both communal and private spaces interact with the city where one can live in tune with a new environmental consciousness."
© Triptyque architecture via DesignboomThere is a lot of illegal logging in Brazil, and deforestation is a huge issue, so there was a twinge of nervousness writing about this building; but Dario Guarita Neto, cofounder and CEO at Amata, tells Designboom:
Wooden framed buildings are an efficient solution and may serve as a boost toward a change in the environmental consciousness of our societies. As we replace non-renewable resources with natural raw materials, we also help create a cleaner chain of production and we add value to certified forests. This can lower the pressure for deforestation.
© Amata forest management
On their website, they make a very big deal about their purpose and their practices: "AMATA is a company that serves as a bridge between the forest and the consumer market, offering certified wood that is produced with social responsibility and guaranteed origin." They grow pine and eucalyptus and go "beyond compliance with environmental standards."
© Triptyque architecture via Designboom
And that's why it's in TreeHugger -- because every cubic meter of wood that they grow absorbs a metric tonne of CO2. That's why we love wood, even from Brazil. It's part of the solution, not the problem.
© Amata Manifesto |
China complies with UN sanctions on trade with North Korea | China has banned exports of condensates and liquid petroleum gas to North Korea, and from 1 October will also limit supply of refined petroleum products complying with UN sanctions over North Korea's nuclear and missile development. Furthermore, imports of textiles from North Korea have been banned. Crude oil has not yet been included in the roll call of banned products. | https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/23/china-ban-refined-oil-exports-to-north-korea-as-part-of-un-sanctions.html | 2017-09-25 07:33:04.263000 | China said on Saturday it will ban exports of some petroleum products to North Korea , as well as imports of textiles from the isolated North, to comply with a United Nations Security Council resolution after Pyongyang's latest nuclear test .
Chinese vendors sell North Korea and China flags on the boardwalk in the border city of Dandong, China.
The announcement from Beijing came at the end of a week that saw tensions ratchet up between the United States and North Korea, with the leaders of both countries trading insults.
The Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on its website that China would limit exports of refined petroleum products from Oct. 1 and ban exports of condensates and liquefied natural gas immediately to comply with the latest U.N. sanctions.
Imports of textiles from North Korea would also be banned immediately, the statement said.
Textile trade contracts signed before Sept. 11 would be respected if import formalities are completed before midnight on Dec. 10, the statement said.
The moves follow the adoption of a unanimous UN Security Council agreement on sanctions after the isolated North conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 3.
That resolution imposed a ban on condensates and natural gas liquids, a cap of 2 million barrels a year on refined petroleum products and a cap on crude oil exports to North Korea at current levels.
On Saturday as well, China's General Administration of Customs reported the country's total trade with North Korea was $604.27 million in August, up from $456.16 million a month earlier.
Its total trade with North Korea was worth $3.61 billion in the first eight months of the year, up 7.5 percent from the same period a year earlier.
Russia urged calm on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump called North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a "madman". Kim had called Trump a "mentally deranged U.S. dotard" a day earlier after Trump said Washington would "totally destroy" North Korea if it threatened the United States or its allies. |
Japan-based payment brand JCB adds Apple Pay functionality | Japan's only international payment brand, JCB, has launched J/Speedy for Apple Pay users, enabling them to use their smartphones to make payments at outlets wherever J/Speedy is supported, both domestically and abroad. JCB said the feature will be available on the iOS 11.0, as well as models upward of the iPhone 7, and would be paired with the Apple Watch Series 2 and iPhone 5 and up later. | http://www.cardsinternational.com/news/company-news/jcb-adds-jspeedy-support-apple-pay-users-japan/ | 2017-09-25 07:32:12.620000 | JCB Co (JCB), a Japan-based payments brand, has introduced J/Speedy functionality for Apple Pay users in Japan to enhance payment experience for its cardholders.
Based on EMV Contactless Communication Protocol, the new J/Speedy payment service provided by the JCB brand will enable the customers to use their smarphone to conclude J/Speedy transactions at merchants supporting J/Speedy in and out of Japan.
Apple Pay users can keep using existing Apple Pay features. J/Speedy functionality on Apple Pay is available from iOS 11.0 on iPhone 7, 7 plus and later, and Apple Watch Series 2 and later pairing to iPhone 5 or later.
According to JCB, J/Speedy provides a simple, fast, and convenient way to pay and is suitable for supermarkets, convenience stores, and fast food restaurants.
In order to use the new functionality, the customers need to simply wave their card or mobile phone on a reader to pay. |
NFL is sitting on a litigation, financial and racial timebomb | After riding a wave of booming revenues and team values, the National Football League's bubble appears to have burst, and Thomas Lifson in American Thinker believes the NFL is underestimating the extent of the risks it now faces. Brain injury lawsuits are building up and TV ratings have dropped substantially with less revenue expected from future contracts. Furthermore, there is racial discontent among African-American players; should this continue to escalate, these players could easily shut down the league since they make up around 70% of NFL rosters. And the kneeling protest, exacerbated by President Trump's hostility, continues to spread.
| http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/09/nfl_faces_a_potential_catastrophe.html | 2017-09-25 07:25:48.197000 | I am not certain if the owners of the National Football League understand the extent of the peril they face. The revenues and value of their teams have skyrocketed thanks to a bubble created by television revenues that radically increased as the number of bidders and the nights of football games both increased. That bubble has burst and future television contracts will bring in substantially less. The other part of the revenue bubble has been funded by private boxes, especially in newer stadiums built specifically to offer more of them, along with increasing ticket prices.
The tort lawyers are rubbing together their hands anticipating the lucre headed their way thanks to brain injury lawsuits argued in front of sympathetic juries. And now attendance and TV ratings are down quite a lot.
Quite obviously, the owners already have been scared by signs of racial discontent among the African American players that make up about 70 percent of their rosters. Should tensions escalate, the black players easily could shut down the league, and probably could stymie as racist any attempt to reconstitute the rosters without the protestors. They had been hoping that the kneeling controversy started by Colin Kaepernik would calm down on its own, but President Trump’s remarks in Hunstville threw it right back in their faces. Some of them are very unhappy and fighting back:
Giants owners John Mara and Steve Tisch had a harsh reaction to President Trump’s call for NFL owners to fire players who refuse to stand for the national anthem.
“Comments like we heard last night from the president are inappropriate, offensive and divisive,” Mara and Tisch said in a statement Saturday. “We are proud of our players, the vast majority of whom use their NFL platform to make a positive difference in our society.” (snip) His comment sparked criticism from commissioner Roger Goodell, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith, and several notable athletes, but Trump followed it up with a few the following Twitter posts:
If a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL,or other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect.... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017
...our Great American Flag (or Country) and should stand for the National Anthem. If not, YOU'RE FIRED. Find something else to do! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017
Trump has once again shown himself to be a master flack, as Lucianne Goldberg puts it, completely in touch with mainstream America, and forcing clueless members of various elite bubbles into playing villain roles in the drama he is expertly scripting. Brian Joondeph explains this today elsewhere on this site.
Billionaire owners of NFL teams enjoy an extraordinarily pleasant social status, rich beyond the ability to spend, and in a position to bestow boons upon their local counterparts in elites across America’s major cities. They are celebrities of a sort. As such, they are most interested in what their peers think of them, and because the left has completely taken over elite culture, their peers want them to toe the progressive party line on race and everything else.
The owners should read Michael Walsh’s article, Farewell to the NFL” in order to understand how close they are to losing half or more of their revenues. They have been lulled by their success into thinking fans will stay with them through thick and thin.
Now that controversy surrounds NFL games, how many corporations are going to want to sign on to those lucrative corporate boxes? The last thing any host wants if for a political argument to break out among guests – perhaps business clients. But with players taking the knee and fans responding, isn’t it quite possible that conflicting passions could be ignited among those guests?
A lot of government agencies have sold a lot of municipal bonds to pay for lavish palaces for NFL teams, and repayment of those securities depends on revenues continuing strong.
I have never liked public subsidies for these billionaires, enabling them to pay millions to players. Maybe this will help end it. |
Bittrex partners with South Korea's Kakao to open UpBit exchange | Fintech firm Dunamu, an affiliate of South Korean online consumer services provider Kakao, is partnering with major US cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex to launch Upbit, a comprehensive cryptocurrency exchange. The new platform, set to go live in October, aims to streamline direct digital currency trading in South Korea, which is seen as cumbersome by local dealers. Initially handling bitcoin, ether, ripple and litecoin, Upbit eventually aims to enable the trading of more than 100 cryptocurrencies from 167 different markets. | http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=3038857&cloc=joongangdaily%7Chome%7Cnewslist1 | 2017-09-25 07:18:23.687000 |
Kakao affiliate to open cryptocurrency exchange
A Kakao affiliate will launch the most comprehensive cryptocurrency exchange in Korea yet, enabling traders to buy and sell more than 100 different currencies in Korea.Dunamu, a local fintech company that runs Kakao Talk-based mobile stock trading app Kakao Stock, will partner with Bittrex to open a cryptocurrency exchange that can reportedly enable the trading of some 110 cryptocurrencies. Titled “Upbit,” the exchange platform will open next month.Bittrex is one of the major cryptocurrency exchanges in the United States. The platform handles transactions in over 190 different currencies. On Monday as of press time, Bittrex was ranked ninth in the world in terms of bitcoin trading volume.For cryptocurrencies that are considered minor in Korea and often not sold in local exchanges - such as tether and reddcoin - Bittrex was the top trading platform.“Bittrex does thorough legal and technological investigations on cryptocurrencies before they are listed in the market,” said a spokesperson from Dunamu.“Its founding members are security experts that worked in global IT companies such as Amazon and Microsoft so the company has an advanced security system.”During the initial stage of the service, Upbit will mainly handle bitcoin and other major alternative coins such as ethereum, ripple and litecoin with trading volume exceeding a certain amount. The platform’s ultimate goal is to enable the trading of 111 different tokens from 167 different markets.Right now, most cryptocurrency exchanges in Korea allow transactions of about six to eight currencies. Bithumb, Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange platform, handles eight currencies - including bitcoin, ethereum, dash and litecoin - all of which are considered main stream and rank within the top 10 in terms of market capitalization.Through the partnership with Brittex, Upbit will allow Korean traders looking to trade currencies not found on local platforms to conduct direct transactions.Until now, Korean traders wanting to buy and sell currencies not listed on local platforms, had to buy bitcoins from Korean exchanges and use them to trade currencies unavailable locally through platforms outside of Korea such as Brittex.Even with direct purchasing centers, including the one run by Coinone, Korea’s second largest trading platform, Korean traders still had to go through this cumbersome process, which many local traders thought time-consuming and difficult to manage.Traders using Upbit will also be able to use Kakao apps, including Kakao Talk and Kakao Pay, the company’s mobile payment service, making it easier for first time traders.By offering more platforms for transactions, Upbit says it aims to make cryptocurrency trading as easy as mobile trading of securities, which has become a popular medium of stock exchange in Korea recently.BY CHOI HYUNG-JO, KO RAN [[email protected]] |
Tactical Urbanism movement grows with the help of social media | Members of the growing movement known as Tactical Urbanism are using social networks to mobilise quick strike actions on US streets. In a book written by Mike Lydon and Anthony Garcia, Tactical Urbanism has been defined as “the principle that citizens can undertake direct low-cost, high-reward actions that immediately improve some aspect of a community's public life and demonstrate to city leaders that there are opportunities for easy, successful changes to the status quo”. The group uses innovative visual solutions and video shared on social media to attract attention to its cause. Examples are reclaiming roads for pedestrians and cyclists.
| https://www.treehugger.com/urban-design/taking-back-streets-streetfilms-explains-tactical-urbanism.html | 2017-09-25 07:13:44.623000 | You've read the book; now watch the movie.
Tactical Urbanism has been defined as “the principle that citizens can undertake direct low-cost, high-reward actions that immediately improve some aspect of a community's public life and demonstrate to city leaders that there are opportunities for easy, successful changes to the status quo.” Mike Lydon and Anthony Garcia wrote the book on it; Janette Sadik-Kahn blurbed that “it shows how, with a little imagination and the resources at hand, cities can unlock the full potential of their streets."
Transform Your City With Tactical Urbanism from STREETFILMS on Vimeo.
But if they wrote the book, now Clarence Eckerson Jr. has made the movie, and for TreeHugger regulars, it includes some familiar names. There’s Doug Gordon of Brooklyn Spoke, who has been quoted on TreeHugger many times.
Jonathan Fertig/ how the modern flaneur dresses for walking/via
There’s Jonathan Fertig, who won my heart forever when he photoshopped vests onto Gustave Caillebotte’s painting of flaneurs in Paris in response to the post It's National Walking Day in America. Time to take back the streets.
©. Bikeyface with a message, photo by Jonathan Fertig
© Bikeyface with a message, photo by Jonathan Fertig
He is in the video for his work with Bekka Wright (AKA Bikeyface) to take back the streets of Boston.
Lloyd Alter/ Chris and Melissa Bruntlett/CC BY 2.0
There’s Melissa Bruntlett, partner with Chris in Modacity. There is even a quick glimpse of Brent Toderian in Vancouver’s Robson Square.
© Matt Jelly
Tactical urbanists use the power of social media to move quickly, and often get in a bit of trouble with the authorities.
These groups are showing their fellow citizens innovative visual solutions to make safer streets with quick strike executions -- which sometimes only last a few hours until they are removed by their government. But each week more empowered people are deciding they are fed up and joining the movement and not waiting for their agencies to act.
But sometimes, those authorities see that the solutions work and it sometimes causes real change. It works. So take back the streets with tactical urbanism! |
Chinese takeover of Imagination may risk UK military secrets | Chinese takeovers of British firms, such as the £550m ($743m) purchase of Imagination Technologies, may put military secrets at risk. Action must be taken to carefully examine Chinese deals so as protect the UK's national security and business, according to former MI6 deputy head Nigel Inkster. Chinese corporations can construct their tech products with "back doors", which grant the state access to the devices, according to John Hemmings, of The Henry Jackson Society think-tank.
| http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4916024/Chinese-tech-firm-takeover-UK-security-risk.html | 2017-09-25 07:12:22.463000 | A former spy chief has demanded action on Chinese takeovers amid fears the sale of a top British technology firm could put military secrets at risk.
Imagination Technologies is being bought for £550million by private equity company Canyon Bridge, which is secretly backed by Beijing-controlled Yitai Capital.
Experts including former MI6 deputy head Nigel Inkster said Britain lacks a clear policy on China and called for deals to be carefully examined to protect national security and business.
Hertfordshire-based microchip maker Imagination’s technology is used in billions of devices worldwide, including many smartphones and computers.
Imagination Technologies, which among other things creates chips for iPhones (pictured), is being bought for £550million by private equity company secretly backed by Beijing-controlled Yitai Capital
Critics warned that its sale was part of an effort by the Communist dictatorship in Beijing to create a microchip monopoly that could endanger Western technology. They said this might force the British military to rely on Chinese components that could incorporate hidden features.
Earlier this month, the US government blocked Canyon Bridge from buying American chipmaker Lattice Semiconductor on grounds of national security. Pressure will now be piled on Theresa May to follow suit with Imagination.
Mr Inkster said Britain needs far more scepticism when approaching such deals. The former spy chief, who is now a director at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said: ‘Quite a lot of UK policymakers have a somewhat Pollyannaish [over-optimistic] view of China.
‘There needs to be some recognition of this issue, and some systematic way of looking at these deals. When you’re dealing with a very powerful state like China that’s a practitioner of state corporatism rather than a genuine proponent of free trade, you don’t have a level playing field and you need to make allowance for that.’
Chips in millions of phones Imagination Technologies has long been a jewel in Britain’s technology crown – making microchips for billions of products from Apple smartphones to wireless speakers. Founded in 1985, it is one of the few firms outside Silicon Valley to play a leading role in the global computing industry. Apple, the company’s biggest customer, uses many of the 1.2billion chips produced every year in its iPhones and iPads. But this year Imagination’s share price crashed when the US tech giant said it wanted to make its own chips instead. It set the scene for a legal case that could drag on for years. Apple is also said to have poached several key staff from Imagination, which employs more than 1,000 people in 20 countries and has its HQ in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire. Ministers have powers to block the Chinese takeover under the 2002 Enterprise Act, which lets the Business Secretary refuse bids that could damage national security. Advertisement !- - ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/ru/news/none/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 - ->
John Hemmings, of The Henry Jackson Society think-tank, said the deal has ‘all sorts of implications in the military sphere’.
‘If the military suddenly has to start buying semiconductors from China, there are very serious concerns,’ he said. Chinese firms might build ‘back doors’ into their chips which allow devices to be hacked into by the state. Consumer electronics could also be at risk, he added.
Mrs May has pledged to stand up to overseas predators. However, no objections were raised when British tech giant ARM Holdings was sold to the Japanese, and Chinese involvement in the Hinkley Point nuclear power station was allowed to proceed as planned after a short ‘pause’. Dr Hemmings said it was as if George Osborne – who wooed the Chinese while Chancellor – was still in power. ‘Osborne has gone, but it’s as if his ghost was still at the wheel of the ship,’ he said.
‘We need trained lawyers and civil servants to really have time to look into these deals and to make sure we’re not selling the future of defence.’
Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable, a former business secretary, said the government has ‘done nothing to put in place a more satisfactory regime for corporate takeovers’.
Labour MP Wes Streeting, a member of the Treasury select committee, said: ‘It’s something the Government ought to take a close interest in.’ A spokesman for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said it could not comment on the ‘commercially sensitive’ case.’ Imagination could not be reached for comment. |
MailOnline is opening up more audience data to advertisers | MailOnline has offered key clients access to its live onsite surveying tool, Pulse, to help advertisers gain greater insights into its digital audience. “We want to be seen as a strategy and insights resource to clients,” said Bedir Aydemir, product marketing and insight director at MailOnline. “The idea is that we’re adding value before the client has spent any money.” Digital advertising has been moving away from targeting based on demographics towards more interest-based targeting. To this end, MailOnline aims to deepen its partnerships with brands and agencies by offering more strategic and valuable insight services. | https://digiday.com/media/mailonline-building-insights-business/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=170922 | 2017-09-25 06:35:09.800000 | MailOnline is joining the ranks of a growing number of publishers keen to deepen partnerships with brands and agencies by offering more strategic — and valuable — services. The publisher has started offering key clients access to its live on-site surveying tool, Pulse, to help them make more sense of its digital audience of 29 million monthly uniques in the U.K. (over half of the U.K.’s digital population), according to comScore.
In the last few months, MailOnline has run hundreds of reader surveys on topics like views on brands or current events. The publisher will soon make its real-time analytics available to clients so they can see which articles are trending. It will also profile specific reader groups, so clients can ask questions like, “When are people most likely to read about mortgages?” or “What content are mothers reading apart from content about babies?” before spending money on campaigns.
“We’re pivoting our business; we want to be seen as a strategy and insights resource to clients,” said Bedir Aydemir, product marketing and insight director at MailOnline. “The idea is that we’re adding value before the client has spent any money.”
Digital advertising has been moving away from targeting based on broad demographic segments to more granular, interest-based targeting. Mail Advertising, the commercial division for Mail Newspapers and MailOnline within parent company DMG Media, is the driving force behind becoming an insight partner. According to SimilarWeb, over a third of MailOnline’s visitors come to it directly, making the publisher somewhat less vulnerable than others to the duopoly’s dominance. This also gives MailOnline a rich, enticing data set.
Speaking on stage at One Vizeum in London this week, Roland Agambar, CMO at parent company DMG Media said that the publisher has profiled 3.5 million of its readers. In this database, each customer has around 300 fields of data, including first-party data related to their viewing habits, engagement and transaction data — it sells everything from home goods to travel cruises — enhanced with third-party data from partners like Netmums and Nectar. The publisher is close to having a single-customer view, and the business is starting to make use this database, said Agambar.
Database customers are separated into three segments depending on how valuable they are. MailOnline has a few thousand high-value customers, each of which spends about £4,000 ($5,400) a year with the publisher. It has a million customers in the low-value bucket. Messages are tailored to different levels accordingly; for instance, the publisher is in the process of understanding what message would nudge someone who visits the site infrequently to make a purchase or sign up to one of its newsletters.
Aydemir said MailOnline is starting to build what it calls a “next-best action engine,” which will automatically serve readers an action aimed to resonate best with them, whether that’s an ad from an ad client or an ad directing them to its property search service. “It might be serving them fewer ads, even though that’s counterintuitive,” he said, “but we want them to communicate with us more regularly.”
According to Aydemir, because MailOnline has scale, it offers guarantees of 1 million on-platform views for branded-content video, and it hasn’t had to buy traffic from social platforms or media distribution on other sites to match clients’ reach goals. Aydemir said clients are increasingly asking for more social distribution. This week in the U.S., it launched DailyMailTV, opening up another potential distribution channel for advertiser content.
Audience data is the backbone of any publisher, but using it for more commercial advantages is nascent, according to Dan Chapman, head of digital at Mediacom. “With a publisher’s understanding of their customers through analytics and research panels, they are in a great space to start stealing share in insight-driven creative concepting and production,” he said. A growing number of publishers are using this data commercially: Recently, ESI Media started delivering real-time article engagement data to advertising agencies.
MailOnline’s whole business is understanding the monetary value of customer data in ways that weren’t possible five years ago, said Agambar. One way this plays out is that Aydemir and memebers of his team now move around the company, collaborating with different departments to help them understand the value of customer data.
“We want to work in a partnership type of way with clients, but we need to be flexible,” said Dominic Williams, chief investment officer at Mail Advertising. “We’re a brand that still needs to evolve.”
Image courtesy of Daily Mail, via Facebook |
Pentagon launches $700m programme to counter Isis drone attacks | The Pentagon has set up a $700m programme aimed at developing technology capable of tackling the growing threat of Isis drones. In the US, authorities have warned about a possible attack on infrastructure, while drone experts have been sent to help protect troops in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. The Pentagon programme combines experts from Silicon Valley, Boeing, Raytheon and across the military. It also funded the recent Hard Kill Challenge in New Mexico, which tested classified and proprietary technology, with mixed results after some targets proved resistant to attack.
| https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/23/world/middleeast/isis-drones-pentagon-experiments.html?mcubz=0 | 2017-09-25 06:25:11.630000 | WASHINGTON — At the vast, windswept White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico earlier this year, nearly a dozen military contractors armed with laser guns, high-tech nets and other experimental systems met to tackle one of the Pentagon’s most vexing counterterrorism conundrums: how to destroy the Islamic State’s increasingly lethal fleet of drones.
The militant group has used surveillance drones on the battlefield for more than two years. But an increase in deadly attacks since last fall — mostly targeting Iraqi troops and Syrian militia members with small bombs or grenades, but also threatening American advisers — has highlighted the terrorists’ success in adapting off-the-shelf, low-cost technology into an effective new weapon.
The Pentagon is so alarmed by this growing threat — even as it routs the Islamic State from its strongholds in Mosul, Iraq, and Raqqa, Syria — that it has launched a $700 million crash program overseen by two senior Army generals to draw on the collective know-how and resources of all branches of the armed services, Silicon Valley and defense industry giants like Boeing and Raytheon to devise tactics and technology to thwart the menace.
One important piece of that effort was the contest in New Mexico. It amounted to a Pentagon counter-drone bake-off, called the Hard Kill Challenge, to see which new classified technologies and tactics proved most promising. The results were decidedly mixed, and underscore the long-term problem confronting the Pentagon and its allies as it combats the Islamic State and Al Qaeda in a growing number of hot spots around the world beyond Iraq and Syria, including Yemen and Libya. |
Expectations and contractual obligations increase for influencers | Influencer marketing has become big business, with many advertisers updating their contracts with social media stars to reflect higher expectations and more detailed contractual obligations. Companies are also moving towards providing influencers with better defined creative briefs that specify the social stars’ time zones, when they should post and how content should be presented. As influencer marketing becomes a major part of brands’ marketing strategies, Steve Ellis, the CEO of influencer marketing firm WhoSay, suggested that influencer agencies, especially smaller ones, should adopt “a more disciplined process”.
| https://digiday.com/marketing/influencer-marketing-growing/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=daily&utm_content=170922 | 2017-09-25 06:16:57.367000 | Influencer marketing is moving from a sidelight to a major part of marketing strategies, leading to tighter expectations and contractual obligations that guarantee social stars’ rights and advertisers’ needs.
Agency Digital Brand Architects updated its influencer contracts around two weeks ago to clear up gray areas like post timing and content rights, said Reesa Lake, partner and svp of Digital Brand Architects, at a panel discussion hosted by Women in Influencer Marketing on Sept. 19.
The agency’s new contracts specify the social stars’ time zones and they should post, and they require brands to provide comprehensive creative briefs — if the talent follows the brief, they are not required to reshoot the content. The new contracts also specify where and for how long brands can use or reuse influencer posts, according to Lake.
“It’s important to make sure that the brand and the influencer are on the same page,” she said. “For example, a brand may say to an influencer, ‘We trust you [in your creativity] because you have so many followers.’ But the content may not turn out the way the client hoped, so a comprehensive creative brief from the brand is necessary.”
Meanwhile, Jessy Grossman, talent agent for Don Buchwald & Associates, said the talent agency updated its partnership contracts around two months ago — many brands initiate deals with their own media contracts as well — to include a clause restricting edits once a piece of content is created, and the contracts require briefs from brands or agencies.
“My clients are always looking for repeat business and want to nail the deliverables the first time around. The clause is both to save my clients from extra work but also to ensure the [brand] is happy or the middle person looks good,” said Grossman. “I’m going to add the time zones [of the influencer and the client] into my contracts.”
Joe Gagliese, co-founder and managing partner for talent and marketing agency Viral Nation, said that a year ago, many of his clients didn’t give social stars detailed instructions, so content was often reshot. As a result, his team has put together comprehensive contracts over the past year. For instance, each influencer has a customized brief detailing the storyline, deliverables by platform and by post, estimated posting times based on the influencer’s optimal timing, minimum performance guarantees and FTC compliance, among other items, according to Gagliese.
“There’s also more clarification of the language used,” he said. “For instance, we tell the influencer that brand X wants an Instagram Story consisting of four segments, instead of just saying that the brand wants an Instagram Story.”
Updating influencer contracts is nothing new for some companies. Steve Ellis, CEO for influencer marketing firm WhoSay, said his company addressed the above issues, which many smaller influencer agencies face, early on. “You are seeing some clearing up in the industry where smaller players are adopting a more disciplined process, and they will need a more disciplined measurement [approach],” he said.
Ellis added that one change WhoSay made recently to its media contracts was giving advertisers more options to use influencer content beyond social media, such as in their TV, radio, out-of-home and e-commerce advertising. Of course, there are additional usage fees when the content is used elsewhere beyond what the original contract specifies, he said.
A publishing executive who prefers anonymity said that in influencer marketing, content usage fees can be pegged to the size of the ad spend, but more often, they are simple flat fees broken out by media type or posting medium. “There is a lot of precedent for these types of usage tiers from the older world of modeling and photography agencies, where usage is where they make most their money,” he said. |
Volvo makes XC40 SUV available for a monthly all-in fee | Swedish car manufacturer Volvo is set to launch its XC40 compact sports utility vehicle in Europe for a non-negotiable flat fee of €699 ($824) per month. The two-year plan covers insurance, taxes and basic maintenance, and in some cases a concierge service for fuel and cleaning, while customers will be offered a new car every year under the scheme. The XC40 will be available across Europe from the end of September and will be a rival to BMW’s X1 and Mercedes-Benz’s GLA.
| https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/21/16345212/volvo-xc40-new-suv-care-by-volvo-monthly-payment | 2017-09-25 06:06:43.357000 | The Volvo XC40 may be just another small SUV for people who wouldn’t be caught dead in a sedan these days, but the company’s approach to sharing and selling the car might be how they get potential customers to pay attention.
The XC40 will compete with cars like the Audi Q3, BMW X1 and Mini Countryman, as well as higher-end versions of the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4. Volvo’s been on a bit of a hot streak lately, turning out strikingly cool cars, but the XC40 adds trendy stuff like a contrasting roof / body color scheme that the company says will be available in 17 different combinations.
When it reaches showrooms next year, the XC40 will be available with a 2.0-liter turbocharged gasoline four-cylinder engine with 250 horsepower. A plug-in hybrid will be offered later, Volvo officials said Thursday at the Milan event where the car was revealed. Also expect a fully electric model of this size from Volvo in the next couple of years.
Volvo is into screens these days, so all XC40s will come with a 12.3-inch TFT display behind the steering wheel, where conventional dials and gauges have lived. In the middle of the dash, there’s the 9-inch touchscreen that we liked a lot in the V90 Cross Country; it controls most of the audio, air, and vehicle settings. Qi wireless charging is now included as well — just in time for your most recent iPhone purchase.
The Swedes are big on safety, so all XC40s will get Volvo’s Pilot Assist semi-autonomous driving assistance that includes automatic emergency braking and pedestrian and cyclist detection. A 360-degree parking camera will also be offered.
Because this is Volvo’s smallest vehicle aimed at a more tech-aware and city-dwelling audience, the XC40 is being introduced with some new services. As part of the Volvo On Call app, you can now add trusted friends or family to use the car through the app. The app, like ones offered by a number of automakers, allows you to unlock and start the car, control the air conditioning or heating, and set the vehicle destination.
Volvo recently acquired pieces of Luxe to further its concierge services for things like fueling and service appointments, so expect that to be rolled into the XC40 once those programs are expanded outside of the San Francisco area.
Along with the full details of the XC40, Volvo also announced its Care By Volvo service, which will allow people who want to lease an XC40 to roll all of the costs associated with owning a car (aside from fuel) into one monthly payment. The price is non-negotiable, which is likely meant to dissuade those who enjoy haggling with car salespeople, but it makes for a less dramatic experience for those who wish buying a car were like buying a phone. What’s more, Volvo says you can get a new car every year under the plan. |
Economists claim Ontario rent controls reduce supply incentives | Rent control policies in Ontario are reducing the supply of new rental properties in the Greater Toronto Area, according to a report from real estate consulting firm Urbanation. The province's Premier Kathleen Wynne announced measures in April to cap rent increases at 2.5% a year for all private apartments. The rate of increase in new purpose-built rental units has since slowed, from 2,453 units added to the planned inventory in Q1 2017 to just 1,719 in Q2, according to the report. 1,000 planned rental developments have been converted into condominiums in response to the rent controls, the report states.
| https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/report-finds-1000-planned-rental-units-convert-to-condos-in-wake-of-ontario-rent-control-expansion/article36382681/?ref=http://www.theglobeandmail.com& | 2017-09-25 06:01:56.407000 | RioCan and Allied Properties cite the Ontario government’s new rent controls as the reason why the REITs converted 133 planned rental units to condominiums at the Kingly development in Toronto. Share
More than 1,000 planned purpose-built rental units have instead been converted to condominiums in the Greater Toronto Area since Premier Kathleen Wynne's government expanded rent control in the spring, according to a new report that warns the region's rental supply crisis is poised to worsen.
The report, which is to be released on Monday and was obtained by The Globe and Mail, says that already-low vacancy rates will plunge further unless the government enacts policies that encourage developers to build an average of at least 6,250 additional new apartment units a year for the next decade in Ontario.
Read also: Toronto housing market feels effect of foreign-buyers tax
"We need more supply," said Jim Murphy, president of the Federation of Rental-housing Providers of Ontario (FRPO), which commissioned the study. "When the government brings in policies that sort of act as a deterrent or, at best, just get people thinking about putting things on hold pending the election, that's not good."
The report is the first to measure the impact of extending rent control by tracking the conversion of planned apartment projects to condos. As part of a wide-ranging package of housing policy changes announced in April, Ms. Wynne, who is preparing to go to the polls next year, announced that all rental units in the province would be subject to rent control to improve affordability. Previously, the policy applied only to buildings constructed before November, 1991.
While the measure was popular among renters, some of whom had received huge monthly increases as Toronto's housing market got ever tighter, many economists warned that expanding rent control would choke supply by reducing incentives for developers to launch new apartment buildings. Under the policy, rent hikes for all private apartments are now capped at around inflation to a maximum of 2.5 per cent a year.
The government's policy change reduced "growth prospects for rental" and contributed to a decision by RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust and Allied Properties Real Estate Investment Trust to convert 133 planned rental units to condominiums at the Kingly development on King Street West in Toronto, said Jonathan Gitlin, senior vice-president of investments and residential at RioCan.
"The legislation caused us to review our rental projects across the GTA," Mr. Gitlin said by e-mail. "The impact of the legislation will be to mute growth through limiting rental growth and enhance risk that will accompany inflation as a landlord will need to absorb increased expenses."
The FRPO found in a survey of its members, who are mostly large property owners and management companies, that about 20,000 of more than 28,000 planned purpose-built rental units in the GTA were under review as a result of the government's housing measures. The organization is tracking unit conversions and cancellations and is also launching a campaign on Monday to push the government to amend its rent-control legislation.
After the government's announcement, the number of purpose-built rental units proposed for the GTA continued to rise in the second quarter of 2017. However, the increase was at a much slower rate than in previous periods – 1,719 units were added to the planned inventory from April to June compared with 2,453 units in the first three months of this year and 5,645 units in the second quarter of 2016, according to Urbanation, a real estate consulting firm that prepared the report for the FRPO.
That figure doesn't include more than 1,000 planned apartments in four projects that have already been converted to condos – an "early and conservative" estimate that will likely soon double, according to Shaun Hildebrand, senior vice-president at Urbanation.
Even with expected levels of new apartment starts, the report projects that demand for rental units in the province will far outweigh supply. It urges the construction of at least 62,500 additional new purpose-built apartments over the next decade, or 6,250 a year on average, which would raise the vacancy rate to between 2.5 per cent and 3 per cent in Ontario. The majority are needed in the GTA. The vacancy rate was 2.1 per cent in the province as of last year and 1.3 per cent in Toronto.
The report cites high real estate prices, tighter mortgage policies and rising interest rates as contributing factors to surging interest in rentals and notes strong demand from new immigrants, millennials and baby boomers.
While most of the growth in the current rental supply comes from the so-called secondary market of investors who rent out their condos, such units are not as stable as purpose-built apartments, given they can be sold at any time. In addition, the report says investors will likely not hold onto their condos for as long because rent control will limit their ability to cover increases in carrying costs.
The report also warns that 85 per cent of the province's existing stock of purpose-built rental buildings are more than 35 years old and will require higher levels of investment to maintain. |
Didi Chuxing puts $200m into used-car trader Renrenche | Chinese ride-hailing business Didi Chuxing has put $200m into peer-to-peer secondhand car trading platform Renrenche, and is expected to allow it to sell vehicles via Didi's app. This will give Renrenche access to Didi's customer base of around 17 million drivers and 400 million passengers. The secondhand car market is of increasing interest to Chinese companies since authorities began to ease restrictions on it last year. | http://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/2112717/china-ride-hailing-firm-didi-chuxing-seeks-bite-booming-used | 2017-09-25 06:00:20.323000 | The logo of Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing. The company is seeking a bite of the lucrative Chinese market for second-hand cars with an investment in used-car platform Renrenche. Photo: AP |
Weatherford HPHT V0-qualified well barrier goes on sale | Weatherford International has released its ISO Extreme retrievable well barrier. The V0-qualified barrier can operate in temperatures between 4C and 163C, withstands pressures up to 10,000 psi, and can be deployed via slickline, electric line, tubing and coiled tubing. Weatherford also said the ISO Extreme barrier does not require nipple profiles and is easily retrieved. | https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/drilling-and-production/21092017/weatherford-introduces-v0-qualified-retrievable-well-barrier/ | 2017-09-25 05:54:35.533000 | Weatherford International plc has announced the commercial release of the ISO Extreme retrievable well barrier, which is qualified to ISO 14310 V0 standards for gas-tight isolation.
The barrier has a large operational envelope: it is capable of withstanding pressure differentials up to 10 000 psi (68.95 MPa) and temperatures between 40 and 325°F (4 and 163°C), which reduces the loss-of-containment risk in extreme environments. ISO Extreme well barriers are available for tubing sizes from 3.5 through 7 in. The variety of deployment options — including electric line, slickline, tubing and coiled tubing — further increases operational flexibility.
Unlike comparable technologies available for the high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) market, the ISO Extreme barrier does not require any nipple profiles and is retrieved by first shifting down to equalise the pressures then jarring up to release. This safety feature reduces the risk of trapped pressure below the plug prior to releasing. Additionally, the small diameter of the plug enables passage through typical wellbore restrictions for easy deployment and removal even in challenging environments.
“We are pleased to add the first V0-qualified and field-proven HPHT well barrier to our industry-leading portfolio of wellbore isolation technologies,” said Mark Hopmann, Vice President of Completions at Weatherford. “With this addition, we now have a comprehensive offering of well barriers for diverse applications and environments.” |
LIDAR system uses continuous light to improve accuracy | Silicon Valley start-up Aeva has joined in with efforts to build more effective sensors for autonomous vehicles. Driverless cars under development today track their surroundings using cameras, radar, GPS and light detection and ranging (LIDAR) devices that measure distances using pulses of light emitted individually. However, the Aeva prototype sends out a continuous wave of light, enabling a more precise and reliable view of the world around autonomous cars. Founded by two ex-members of Apple’s special projects group, the Aeva prototype is still under development, but the company hopes to start selling devices next year. | https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/09/20/technology/former-apple-engineers-driverless-cars.html | 2017-09-25 05:50:51.637000 | The company’s name, Aeva, is a play on “Eve,” the name of the robot in the Pixar movie “WALL-E.”
The market for autonomous vehicles will grow to $42 billion by 2025, according to research by the Boston Consulting Group. But for that to happen, the vehicles will need new and more powerful sensors. Today’s autonomous cars are ill prepared for high-speed driving, bad weather and other common situations.
The recent improvements in self-driving cars coincided with the improvements offered by new lidar sensors from a Silicon Valley company called Velodyne. These sensors gave cars a way of measuring distances to nearby vehicles, pedestrians and other objects. They also provided Google and other companies with a way of mapping urban roadways in three dimensions, so that cars will know exactly where they are at any given moment — something GPS cannot always provide.
But these lidar sensors have additional shortcomings. They can gather information only about objects that are relatively close to them, which limits how fast the cars can travel. Their measurements aren’t always detailed enough to distinguish one object from another. And when multiple driverless cars are close together, their signals can become garbled.
Other devices can pick up some of slack. Cameras are a better way of identifying pedestrians and street signs, for example, and radar works over longer distances. That’s why today’s self-driving cars track their surroundings through so many different sensors. But despite this wide array of hardware — which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per vehicle — even the best autonomous vehicles still have trouble in so many situations that humans can navigate with ease. |
Prisa changes stance on header bidding to cut page latency | A year after adopting header bidding, Madrid-based media group Prisa is moving to Switch Concept's server-to-server platform, according to Matthias Mondini, the company's yield management and business insights director. He cited unsustainable page latency as the reason behind the decision, and said although he was aware of the risks of reduced user matching with server-side bidding, the platform also presented more opportunities for programmatic-direct deals, which have grown to make up 30% of Prisa's programmatic revenue. | https://digiday.com/media/el-pais-owner-prisa-shifting-header-bidding-server-side-bidding-9-markets/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=170922 | 2017-09-25 05:36:44.653000 | Running programmatic ad operations across multiple countries can be an operational nightmare. Spanish- and Portuguese-language media group Prisa, which owns major national newspapers like El País and spans 22 markets, thinks it’s found the answer with server-to-server integration.
Programmatic advertising accounts for between 25 and 40 percent of Prisa’s advertising revenue, depending on the markets and titles. For example, programmatic ads across its flagship Spanish national newspaper El País and football site As.com account for between 30 and 40 percent of those titles’ ad revenue, but that number is closer to 25 percent in Prisa’s Latin American markets.
The group deployed header bidding a year ago and generated yield increases of between 30 and 50 percent across different titles. But the trade-off between yield and page latency caused by header bidding is no longer sustainable, according to Matthias Mondini, yield management and business insights director at Prisa. Plus, operating header bidding with different systems across the nine markets in which it has sales and ad operations was becoming unwieldy, overly complex and difficult to scale.
“We want transparency [of the bid streams] and to be able to manage and control incoming ad quality via one platform,” he said. “For header bidding to work at its best, you need between five and 10 different interfaces — we wanted to reduce that technology fragmentation and make our operations more nimble.”
That’s why it turned to Switch Concepts’ server-to-server platform, which provides a transparent and unified overview of a publisher’s live bid streams across all its exchanges simultaneously, while facilitating a unified auction off the publisher’s own header.
That additional visibility of the bid streams shows the publisher who is winning and losing bids, opening up valuable insights into who would make suitable programmatic-direct partners, which it can feed to sales teams. Programmatic-direct deals are on the rise everywhere. Around 30 percent of Prisa’s programmatic revenue now comes from direct deals, compared to less than 10 percent two years ago, according to Mondini. While agencies are still pushing for open marketplace auctions, large advertisers that want brand-safety guarantees are actively pushing for programmatic direct, he added.
Prisa is also bullish about managing ad quality, but doing so across the some 12 billion monthly impressions across its portfolio of titles, with fragmented systems in each market, has been challenging, to say the least. The Switch platform should help alleviate that. Previously, ad quality was managed via 10 different platforms, with staff manually screening sites for bad ads, figuring out their sources and then blocking them. “Operationally, it was far from perfect, and reporting was equally difficult and costly,” said Mondini.
Server-side auctions have been welcomed by publishers for their ability to allay page latency caused by header bidding. Content loads separately from ads across Prisa titles, and it wasn’t a great user experience to have them appearing on page at different times. “We want to reduce the ad-load time from 700 milliseconds to 100-200 milliseconds, which we believe is more acceptable,” said Mondini. Prisa also expects yields to grow as a result of the additional bid density that server-side bidding can offer.
Prisa has also tested Google’s server-side option, exchange bidding in dynamic allocation, and has seen decent yield lifts compared to what Google’s ad exchange is generating, according to Mondini. But there are drawbacks. “The product itself is a bit limited still. You can’t set up programmatic-direct deals outside of Google AdX, so you can’t use other third-party platforms,” he said. “Google’s auction mechanics with AdX and EBDA are still a black box — we don’t know how they work. Ultimately, we want to work with agnostic tech providers.”
This is a reason why it hasn’t investigated Amazon’s server-side solution more, as questions around Amazon’s potential conflict of interest in buying and selling media haven’t yet been answered. That said, given Amazon’s unique demand, Prisa won’t close the door on header bidding entirely. “We want to reduce client-side header bidding integration as much as we can,” Mondini said. “However, we may not be able to reduce it to zero, as there is some uncertainty around demand partners like Criteo and Amazon, which want publishers to use their own products and may not be willing to integrate with third-party platforms.”
While page-latency issues have dogged header bidding, reduced user matching has cast a shadow over server-side bidding. Prisa isn’t immune to the risks. “We want to manage the risk we see in terms of lower cookie-syncing rates,” said Mondini. “So far, we haven’t seen a huge difference, but it’s true that cookie-syncing rates can potentially negatively impact yield.”
However, Mondini stressed that chasing yield increases is not Prisa’s only objective in opting for server-side integration. The ultimate aim is to have a single system from which it can better manage and control its digital ad trading across all its markets. |
Aire drone can scan homes for insurance purposes | A new drone that uses artificial intelligence to avoid objects around the home, allowing it to be flown indoors, could be used to scan homes for insurance coverage. The Aire drone, which is being funded by a Kickstarter campaign, can be flown remotely when a user is away from home. It can also take basic Alexa voice commands. | https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/9/19/16333920/aire-home-drone-alexa-security-camera-robot | 2017-09-25 05:35:13.970000 | The Aire drone is one of the most ambitious home robotics projects I've ever encountered. If I hadn't seen it fly in person, I wouldn't even believe it's real. But Aire is real. It actually flies. And I actually asked it to take a photo of me using Alexa.
On Kickstarter, Aire is advertised as a "self-flying robotic assistant for the home." The basic idea is that the drone is smart enough to keep itself upright in the air and avoid obstacles, so you can safely fly it indoors without crashing into too many lamps or small dogs. You can remotely control the drone with your phone to check a suspicious situation when you're away from home, or to video conference with your family (there's a built-in microphone and speaker).
Aire doesn't sound or move like a typical drone, which is a big point of emphasis for its creators. It sounds a bit like a vacuum cleaner or hair dryer, instead of that mosquito-in-your-ear sound you get from most drones. It's also really safe to interact with. For instance, when we were asking Aire to take a photo, it was totally cool to grab the drone and position it in the desired spot — once you let go it stabilizes and keeps flying like nothing happened.
The technology that makes this stable flight possible is what makes Aire so interesting. The prototype I saw had stereo cameras for vision, a 3D depth camera for obstacle avoidance, a downward facing camera for positioning, and sonar sensors all around for more obstacle avoidance. There's an Nvidia TX1 chip processing all this sensor data. Right now that mostly just means Aire is stable in the air, can land automatically, and can carry out very basic Alexa and IFTTT commands.
But there's enough technology here to do some very interesting things if Aire is successful. For instance, you could ask Aire to scan your entire home for insurance purposes, or create a 3D map of your home for help with a remodel. Aire could search your home for a specific person, or patrol your home for anomalies. These are all features that could set it apart from a traditional security camera setup, or a traditional drone, but who knows if they'll ever get built. Aire's autonomous skills are very limited right now: it can take off and land from a wireless charging dock if it can see the dock, and it can take a photo when you ask it to over Alexa.
Aire is supposed to ship in December of next year, with a beta model out that September. The retail price is supposed to be $1,499, but the Kickstarter price is $749 if you're willing to put your money down right now. |
Commerce-focused publishers struggle to find best use for Facebook | Social media giant Facebook can't compete with online retail behemoth Amazon when it comes to e-commerce, according to industry insiders. Many said the news feed is "ill-suited" to promoting time-sensitive deals, while others said video, which is hugely popular on the site, doesn't dovetail with most e-commerce strategies. Facebook's previous attempts to enter the e-commerce market, Shop and Marketplace, both failed, and Susan Bidel, a senior analyst at Forrester suggests the site is still a long way from being able to compete with Amazon's seamless and sophisticated shopping experience. | https://digiday.com/media/social-black-hole-commerce-focused-publishers-facebook-problem/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=daily&utm_content=170922 | 2017-09-25 05:31:27.940000 | A lot of commerce-focused publishers have hit a wall on Facebook.
Many publishers are turning to commerce to generate revenue in a challenging ad climate. But they’re having a hard time incorporating Facebook into their plans.
That’s partly because the economics of commerce-focused posts differ from ad-supported posts. But it’s also because Facebook’s role in e-commerce is still evolving, and that uncertainty is hampering the growth of publishers’ affiliate commerce efforts.
“Social is a black hole for us,” said one executive at a commerce-focused publisher.
E-commerce sales have tripled over the past 10 years, to account for $105 billion in the second quarter and 9 percent of the country’s total retail sales, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
And as e-commerce climbs, Facebook has tried a number of approaches to get involved. It launched its first marketplace in 2007, abandoning it two years later. It added a kind of storefront, Facebook Shop, in 2015 and a new Facebook Marketplace last year. It recently introduced a number of shoppable ad formats, including Canvas and Carousel. While most of these tools are aimed at retailers and marketers, a handful of publishers have experimented with Facebook Shop.
But the news feed, the tool most publishers rely on for Facebook audience growth, is a poor fit for commerce-focused content. Because the feed is algorithmically driven, the content people see can be hours, sometimes even days old. That makes the feed ill-suited to distribute timely deals.
Deal-focused publishers have found workarounds. For example, Gizmodo Media Group, which organizes its commerce efforts around a brand called Kinja Deals, recently launched a Kinja Deals Facebook Messenger bot that sends offers directly to readers via mobile push notifications.
Beyond the time-sensitive issue, the feed isn’t the best place to reach people who are in a shopping mood. “The intent of the [Facebook] user is so low,” another commerce-focused publisher executive said. “Performance marketing is terrible.”
In addition, two publisher products that Facebook is pushing, Instant Articles and video, fit uncomfortably into commerce strategies, despite publishers’ efforts to use them. “Facebook has been very encouraging of [us] to do video,” said another commerce-focused executive. “But video with product recommendations don’t go hand in hand. There’s not a lot of great video to be done around commerce.”
There’s also the question of where commerce content is subject to the Federal Trade Commission’s regulations that require advertising content shared to a social platform to be disclosed.
In most cases, commerce-focused content isn’t positioned as advertising, but the lack of clarity around the issue worries publishers. “I think they don’t know exactly how to play in this space because the rules haven’t been clearly defined,” a third executive said. “We don’t know how to manage the Facebook handshake when it comes to commerce content. I think platforms are reluctant to draw too much attention to this.”
But if Facebook isn’t driving satisfactory conversions for some publishers, others see it as a way to access data about readers’ intent, which can be monetized. “Commerce-focused content is the same [as regular content],” said Troy Young, global president of Hearst Digital Media. “The difference is that it creates new opportunities to gather data for publishers to market products for advertisers. … Publishers that have the ability to tie data around content, products and individuals will have a competitive advantage in the future.”
There also are practical hurdles to selling on Facebook. Being able to target a post about a gray T-shirt at the right person on Facebook is one thing. But a retailer’s fantasy — having that reader see the post, decide she would rather buy that shirt in blue and in two different sizes and be able to act on that impulse, all inside Facebook — is a ways away. “There are technological challenges to tying it all together,” said Rich Fulop, CEO of the linens brand Brooklinen. “I don’t think we’re there at all.”
And until it can deliver something along those lines, Facebook may feel it’s in its best interests to wait. “Consumers expect the kind of service they’re going to get from Amazon,” said Susan Bidel, a senior analyst at Forrester. “I cannot imagine any of the other platforms coming out of the gate with that level of sophistication and service [right now]. They’re probably smart not to try it until they can do it in a competitive way.” |
Fintechs protest against proposed EU 'screen scraping' ban | Seventy-one European fintech firms have warned their industry could be severely damaged if the European Banking Authority's proposed ban on "screen scraping" is approved. The practice, in which fintech firms access consenting customer data by logging into banking applications, was legitimised by the European Union’s revised Payment Services Directive, which required banks to ease their grip on customer data and open it up to third parties. Banks argue the move relegated them to being "simple data holders" and that screen scraping is insecure. A final decision on screen scraping is expected in October or November. | http://tech.eu/features/17332/fintech-startups-banks-face-off-europe-psd2/ | 2017-09-25 05:27:58.090000 | A large group of over 70 European fintech companies are warning that new EU rules on payments processing could unfairly pit them against large banks and decimate the industry if they are passed into law.
The rules are part of the European Union’s Payment Services Directive (PSD) and would ban the practice of “screen scraping,” a common practice used by fintech companies to “scrape” display data from one application (like an online banking service) and display it on their own.
Usually, fintech startups scrape data by logging into banking applications on behalf of their customers with sensitive data like passwords and PIN codes.
In their manifesto, the 71 fintech firms argue that the ban on scraping is unreasonable and a backdoor method for traditional banks to claw back control as the Fintech revolution threatens to upend their business models.
However, banks are arguing that screen scraping is too dangerous and that customer data should only be accessible through bank-provided application programming interfaces (APIs) in the interest of customer security.
“The customer is in control of what can and cannot be shared with a third party, as the API is consent and permission-driven. Alternative technologies for sharing data exist, but are less robust and less secure than APIs,” said David Song, an EU affairs expert at UK Finance, a representation of over 300 firms providing banking, payments, and financial services in the United Kingdom.
Fintech companies, for their part, say that banks have an incentive to build semi-functional APIs that would tarnish fintech upstarts’ own quality of service and scare customers away from using their products, which at times compete directly with the services that banks offer to their clients.
“If we’re forced to use an API that doesn’t provide a good service, it will kill our business. We’ll have to use a low-quality interface that won’t meet our service needs and will drive customers away,” said Joan Burkovic of Bankin, a French fintech startup that helps customers manage their money and finances via an app that links to their existing bank accounts.
They also argue that a fallback option to screen scraping should necessarily be kept open in case a bank’s API fails.
“Without the fallback option, our business is effectively in the hands of banks. They’ll have full control over all the information they give to us and can even impose restrictions on how they send it. That goes entirely against the spirit of EU rules that guarantee technological neutrality for payments,” said Arturo González Mac Dowell, President & CEO of EuroBits, a payments aggregator headquartered in Spain.
Revised payment services directive
The European Union’s Payment Services Directive (PSD), originally passed in 2007, built a single market for cashless payments in Europe, making cross-border payments as easy and efficient for European consumers and businesses as domestic transfers.
It was revised in 2015 by the European Commission in part to promote more competition and digital innovation within the banking and payments sector.
Most importantly, the revised PSD (also known as PSD2) mandated that banks loosen their grip over customer account data and allow third parties to be able to access it with customers’ permission.
It is no secret that this will present a challenge to retail banks, who will lose their exclusive hold over customer data and be forced to innovate in both payments processing and customer data analytics, where many of their upstart competitors already have a significant lead.
“This presents banks with a challenge. At best, PSD2 puts at risk an important income stream for banks and at worst will relegate them to the status of a utility, acting as simple data holder,” said Jacqui Hatfield, former partner at the law firm Reed Smith, in an editorial for Banking Tech.
However, as is common practice in European financial regulation, a regulatory agency under the Commission’s authority was given the right to draft technical guidelines (such as the rules on screen scraping) that would come into effect after the general framework of the PSD2 was finalized and agreed among lawmakers.
The controversial ban on screen scraping was first tabled by the European Banking Authority, a London-based agency of the European Commission which has regulatory oversight over European banks, in February.
“The EBA is of the view that accessing accounts through screen scraping will no longer be allowed on the basis of a number of provisions under PSD2, especially the requirements on secure communication and on restrictions on in accessing data and information from accounts and transactions,” the agency said in its February proposal.
Banks agree.
“API-based solutions gain the benefits of device-based multi-factor authentication that is both safer and easy for consumers to use than typing codes into a form. Breach after breach has made clear that there is no such things as a ‘secure’ or ‘strong’ way to use passwords”, said the FIDO Alliance, an industry consortium of banks and payment services providers like Visa and MasterCard, in an open letter to EU lawmakers at the end of August.
The European Commission, which has final say over the proposed draft rules, has publicly disagreed with the EBA’s position and swooped in from above this summer to propose amendments to the guidelines, allowing for a “fall back” to screen scraping if banks’ APIs failed to provide fintech companies with reliable account data.
But in any case, the final rules will have to be vetted by both the European Parliament and finance ministers in the European Council, who have the right to veto them. It is expected by some that Council representatives from countries without a substantial fintech industry may push for a compromise between the Commission and EBA versions.
Why it matters for fintech startups
PSD2 falls into line with the Juncker Commission’s Digital Single Market strategy from 2014, in which it promised to break down barriers in the provision and sale of digital services and to ensure the free movement of data between consumers and companies in Europe.
The rules on digital payments are also envisaged to help break Europe’s longstanding dependency on bank finance. Many see the over-dominance of banks as an endemic problem to the growth of European capital markets and an important cause of the sovereign debt crises of 2010-2015.
However, the standoff on screen scraping suggests to some that large banks can still throw their weight around in lobbying EU laws aimed at increasing competition in financial services.
“The European Banking Authority has been behaving more like the European Banking Association on PSD2. It’s incredible that they haven’t met with any fintech companies at all to discuss their needs but are regularly taking meetings with banking associations on digital innovation,” said one fintech startup executive who declined to be named for the purposes of the article.
It has also shown that there is no single European rulebook dedicated to FinTech regulation, and is instead managed by a mix of national regulators and a constellation of institutions and agencies at the European level.
“It is striking to observe the large number of institutions currently commenting, regulating, drafting consulting, and exchanging ideas on fintech. There are already overlaps at European level, but more importantly there is already substantial regulatory divergence between EU countries,” wrote a team of three researchers from Brussels think-tank Bruegel for a discussion of EU finance ministers in Estonia this month.
However, it also pointed out that “in the European context, issues such as data privacy, cybersecurity, consumer protection and operational risks will be central importance for consumer acceptance.”
Still, the outstanding question is whether banks’ privacy concerns in the PSD2 are merely a Trojan horse to torpedo a nascent FinTech industry in Europe and to cling to their waning hold over customer account data.
“The bottom line is this: the Payment Services Directive 2 was designed in order to increase competition in the sphere of payments. Putting a ban screen scraping would undermine that principle”, said Nick Wallace of the Centre for Data Innovation.
The first parts of the PSD2 will come into force in all 28 Member States and the European Economic Area in January 2018. The Commission is expected to present its finalized set of rules on screen scraping in October or November, which will come into force 18 months after they are adopted by EU institutions.
Featured image credit: Didier Weemaels on Unsplash |
Scottish Power pushes for more support for onshore wind farms | Scottish Power Renewables has called on the UK government to back further development of onshore wind farms in Scotland. The company has completed a £650m ($875m) infrastructure project and seeks increased support from regulators and politicians to further develop the industry and keep pace with increasing demand. "It's now cheaper, easier and faster to build onshore wind," commented Keith Anderson, the CEO of Scottish Power Renewables. "If the UK government is serious about reducing carbon emissions and having enough clean power to support the huge expected growth in electric vehicles, then more onshore wind is essential."
| https://stv.tv/news/politics/1398450-scottish-power-urges-backing-for-more-onshore-wind-farms/ | 2017-09-25 05:15:37.200000 | ScottishPower has called for political support to develop more onshore wind farms after hitting a record high of power from the sector.
After the completion of a £650m infrastructure project, Scottish Power Renewables has passed the 2000 megawatt (MW) UK milestone.
The company has now called for politicians and regulators to back the development of the industry in Scotland in order to keep up with an anticipated increase in demand.
Keith Anderson, chief executive of Scottish Power Renewables, said: "It's now cheaper, easier and faster to build onshore wind.
"In a little over 18 months we have built over 470 megawatts of onshore wind, delivering enough power for more than 280,000 homes and with it significant environmental and financial benefits for the UK.
"If the UK Government is serious about reducing carbon emissions and having enough clean power to support the huge expected growth in electric vehicles, then more onshore wind is essential."
He added: "One new onshore wind turbine could power around 7000 electric vehicles but we need to act now to meet growing demand."
Analysis from the firm shows 66% of investment in onshore wind has been spent in the UK and more than three-quarters of the total UK investment has been spent in Scotland.
Scottish Government minister for business, innovation and energy Paul Wheelhouse said: "Investing in renewables is key to Scotland's transition to a low carbon future.
"It has not only brought jobs to our communities, and boosted our economy, but it has contributed to the progress of Scotland's world leading climate change targets."
A spokesman for the UK's department for business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) said: "The UK is a global leader in tackling climate change and the UK Government's latest auction for renewable technologies secured projects set to deliver over three gigawatts of electricity, enough to power 3.6 million homes.
"We're committed to supporting the development of onshore wind projects in the remote islands of Scotland and will set out our plans shortly.
"And by setting long-term targets, like the one to end the sale of new conventional petrol and diesel cars by 2040, we can ensure the grid is ready for the mass transition to cleaner technologies." |
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