Data.gov to be shuttered?

This is email I just sent to Rep. Bass of NH.

This has to be one of the most bone-headed ideas of how to save money I can think of. There are two issues here. First is that this is the first time that data that the taxpayers have paid for and that the federal government is storing is being made available in a transparent way and in a standard format. Not perfect, but as an informatics person, this is a quantum leap ahead of where we were before!! Second, there are many innovative businesses that have just begun to utilize this data, especially the healthdata.gov sources, and are interested in actually making money - building businesses and creating real jobs - by re-aggregating the data for use by public health officials, hospitals and individuals so that they can make more informed choices about their health. If these two are not in line with what I thought were Republican values, then I am truly puzzled. Unless the entire reason for any new proposal by Republicans is to try to stick it to the President wherever possible. I hope not.

Paul Courtney

Budget impasse

An email to Charles Bass, sent March 27, 2011.

There is compromise possible. But from the way I read about the recent negotiations, the House Republican leadership has somehow decided that they would lose something by continuing to negotiate by bringing back in their proposal as the starting point. Don't they get it? Republicans were voted in, not because of their sterling reputation for budget busting - we all know that the budget soared under both Reagan and Bush II - but because they were fed up with the quagmire that is in Congress. If the Republican Party's new recruits decide that doing nothing in the name of some dogma is better than actually getting something done for us, then you will be thrown out just as quickly as the last Democrats were in search of someone who will be willing to make progress in addressing our severe problems.

Smart people that we are in New Hampshire, we know that progress is not to be made by following some group that is trying to shout louder than the next. And progress is not going to be made by turning off our brains and following whatever Sean Hannity or any other Fox Personality has to say. Both Republicans and Democrats are responsible for the mess we are in. Both Republicans and Democrats are going to have to work together to get us out. Or else my grandchildren will be learning to speak Chinese as a second language in school.

Please just roll up your sleeves, take a deep breath, challenge your leadership in the name of your constituents, and don't try to fix the problems in one budget!!

Paul Courtney

Getting back into the fray

Senator Gregg,
Now that it has become abundantly clear that there was dissent within the Bush Administration about the legality and use of "enhanced interrogation", i.e. torture, on detainees under our control (see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/21/AR2008052102668.html?hpid=moreheadlines) I am wondering if you have changed your position on this at all? When I have written to you previously about this, what I get back is a regurgitation of Bush Executive Branch talking points, not any sort of independent reasoning for which I believe the people of the State of New Hampshire elected you. What is your position on torture as was sanctioned by the Bush Administration? What is your response to this report that demonstrated that there were serious questions at the highest level about the legality, to the extent that the Justice Department even started a "War Crimes" file? What does this tell you? What does your own conscience tell you?

Paul K. Courtney

Senator Gregg, you don't write me anymore...

I'm not quite sure what to make of it, but it used to be that when I sent Senator Gregg an email about issues or policies or bills he would at least respond with a form letter explaining to me the history of the issue and how much he appreciated my input and how he wanted me to know just how much he cared about my position/opinion even if we did not agree. But now I just don't get the feeling that he much cares anymore. I have not heard back from him in weeks, perhaps months. Maybe he has forgotten that his role as my Senator, whether or not I voted for him, is to be one of my two representatives of New Hampshire views in the Senate. As I recall, after Congressman Bass was not re-elected, he said in an interview that he just did not understand what went wrong. He thought he had done a fine job explaining to the good people of New Hampshire why the Bush Administration and the Republicans were making the choices for us they made. I think Bass forgot that this is a two-way street and that he also needed to listen to his constituents and explain to the Bush Administration and to the Republicans why he could not support their policies since that would go against his duty to represent all of his constituents.

Are you listening Senator Gregg or do you still think your job is to explain why Bush and the Republicans are making decisions for the rest of us without our input required or apparently even desired?

Senator Gregg: What if President Clinton can name enemy comabatants?

Senator Gregg,

I've been wanting to ask you for a while now about the expansion of Executive Power when a new president takes office in 2009. Would you be just as supportive of the use of warrantless wiretapping, the ability of the president to personally and without review name enemy combatants for imprisonment and the use of signing statements to essentially impose a "line item veto" of any bill the Congress has passes ir the last name of that president was Clinton or Obama or Edwards? You may believe that only a Republican will be elected to the Presidency and so somehow this would not be a problem. But what do you think? When one branch of our government is given power without oversight or enforcement of proper process then how that power is used becomes a function of the personality of that person occupying the Presidency. I understand that you are friends with President Bush and so you may believe that he will always use his powers wisely. But what about the next President or one in 20 years? Can you promise the same?

Paul Courtney

SCHIP and Senator Gregg, Take 2

I came across an article about some research done at University of Florida that looked at how sensitive lower income families are to premium increases and I had to make sure that Senator Gregg was made aware of this.

Senator Gregg,
I'm following up my previous email about SCHIP with some more information that is important to keep in mind when thinking about healthcare for lower income families. Please see the article at http://news.ufl.edu/2007/10/09/schip/ in which it is reported that "Raising monthly premiums by just $5 was enough to push many low-income families out of Florida’s State Health Insurance Program in 2003, placing thousands of children at risk for being uninsured". I realize that it is the general position of the President and you that it is important to use private insurance plans as the major part of healthcare financing in this country. However, this article points out that private insurance is not able to do the whole job. Giving people who are having trouble just making ends meet tax incentives for healthcare does not make sense. In fact, the financing of health care in this country is a very long epic story of how the benefits of more efficient delivery of healthcare is misaligned with respect to those who pay for that benefit. A perfect example is the stalling of the creation of a RHIO in Portland, OR. Overall, the RHIO would save the entire system ~$11 million per year, but that savings would accrue to patients and providers and would come out of the pockets of hospitals, who did not see the benefit, just the cost. The benefit was largely driven by reduction in duplication of tests, but the revenue stream at the hospitals had become dependent on this stream. Obviously this is not a good solution, but the entire system needs to shift in order for the costs and benefits to be appropriately shared.

Paul Courtney

I've been promised a response before and have not received one, so we'll see.

SCHIP and Senator Gregg

I just had to make sure that I had this note available to more than just Senator Gregg.

Senator Gregg,
As someone who works in healthcare and is keenly aware of policy issues, I have to take exception to the way that you have addressed the issue if SCHIP. At least you have not claimed, as the President does, that this bill covers adults. But, I believe you have been extremely selective about the facts and figures that you chose to use in your floor statement and that is a shame. There are far too many children in this country (let alone adults) who have no coverage at all or whose parents are spending an excessive percentage of their incomes on health insurance. Although I am very lucky to have a job with health insurance, the part that I pay every year goes up and if I still had dependent children at home I would need to start thinking about how to put off my own health needs to have theirs covered. This is the unfortunate state that many of the working middle class find themselves in. It may seem like earning $63,000 a year for a family of 4 is plenty, but when you factor in cost of housing in an area where you can get a job for $63,000 a year and the general cost of living, there is not much left over for anything but absolute essentials. I would hope that you would reconsider the position of being a "knee-jerk" conservative where covering children's health care is tantamount to socialism; this reaction means that true dialog about the way to handle health care costs in this country is made impossible. And remember, unless you advocate no health care for those who cannot pay, which I don't think you do belive, eventually children without adequate care will be taken to an emergency room and the rest of us will end up paying for that person anyway. Preventive care is much less expensive than acute care.

Paul Courtney