Alleged MJ Love Child Surfaces -- Wants Money - page 8 - TMZ Articles - Michael Jackson Death Hoax Investigators - Page 8

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Alleged MJ Love Child Surfaces -- Wants Money
7/27/2010 11:42 AM PDT by TMZ Staff

A woman who claims to be Michael Jackson's illegitimate love child -- conceived when MJ was a minor
-- has filed legal documents claiming there was a diabolical plot to cover up her existence ... involving murder, abduction and Diana Ross' sister.

The alleged MJ spawn -- Mocienne Petit Jackson -- has filed documents with L.A. County Superior
Court claiming she will surely be in line for a serious inheritance check ... if a judge will give the go-ahead on a DNA test.

Here's the story -- MPJ claims back in 1975, 17-year-old Michael Jackson secretly impregnated her
mother Barbara ... who happens to be Diana Ross' sister.

MPJ claims when she was 9-years-old, Katherine Jackson hatched a plan to "abduct" MPJ and send her
to Belgium to protect Michael's "reputation." She claims all 7 of her abductors were later murdered.

Now MPJ -- who currently lives in the Netherlands -- has decided to come forward with her story ... so
she can "formally claim my part of my father's inheritance." She also wants custody of MJ's kids so she
can give them a "more normal life."

MPJ also claims she was diagnosed with Vitiligo ... so, there's that.

Calls to Diana Ross, Barbara Ross and MJ's camp have not been returned.

AMJLCSWM

AM J - Short for: Am J Health Syst Pharm; American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy
There are several articles on Heath Care Reform in this Journal but I can not access them without an account which you must pay for.

Future of pharmacy provisions in health care reform not clear, ASHP staff says
Cheryl A. Thompson
Am J Health Syst Pharm 2010 67: 416-418. [Full Text] [PDF]

With or without health reform, officials eye improved care
Kate Traynor
Am J Health Syst Pharm 2010 67: 418-421. [Full Text] [PDF]
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LCS - Low Cost Sharing
Health Insurance Premiums and Cost-Sharing: Findings from the Research on Low-Income Populations
By Julie Hudman and Molly O’Malley March 2003
The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured Health insurance coverage is a vital component to ensure access to needed health care services, including preventive care. Historically, the Medicaid program has prohibited or sharply limited premiums and cost-sharing because it serves a low-income population who lack substantial resources to apply to out-of-pocket costs. However, as publicly financed health coverage programs, including the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, have expanded to reach families with somewhat higher incomes, family contributions to premiums for coverage or cost-sharing for services have come under renewed discussion.

A significant body of literature exists that examines the effect of cost-sharing on various measures of access to care, utilization of services, and health outcomes. Most, but not all, studies reached the same conclusion – that cost-sharing reduces utilization, especially primary care and preventive services[/color] (Leibowitz et al, 1985; Anderson et al, 1991; Blustein, 1995; Solanki and Schauffler, 1999; Solanki et al, 2000; Blais et al, 2001; Wong et al, 2001). A handful of studies, however, did not find that cost-sharing
significantly impacted utilization for the general population (Soumerai et al, 1987; Cherkin et al, 1990; Johnson et al, 1997a) or health status and outcomes (Johnson et al, 1997b; Wong et al, 2001).
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So in other words if there is a small fee for services, than patients will seek medical attention only when necessary and not for things that don't require medical attention. When insured, with no payment required, people seek medical attention more often, even when none is required and increase the cost of medical insurance over all. The draw back is that low income families will seek less medical attention even when it may be required due to lack of funds to pay the fee.

WM - Weighted Mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The notion of weighted mean plays a role in descriptive statistics and also occurs in a more general form in several other areas of mathematics.
If all the weights are equal, then the weighted mean is the same as the arithmetic mean. While weighted means generally behave in a similar fashion to arithmetic means, they do have a few counter-intuitive properties, as captured for instance in Simpson's paradox.
The term weighted average usually refers to a weighted arithmetic mean, but weighted versions of other means can also be calculated, such as the weighted geometric mean and the weighted harmonic mean.
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Explaining Health Care Reform: What Are Health Insurance Subsidies?
1. Make coverage more affordable. Health insurance is expensive and its cost can be a significant financial obstacle for families with lower incomes who are much less likely to have insurance than higher income people. In 2007, 35% of non-elderly people with family incomes under poverty and 29% of people with family incomes between one and two times the poverty level lacked coverage, compared to just 5% of people with family incomes of at least four times poverty. The issue is more acute for lower-income adults, who are less likely than children to be eligible for public coverage. Lower-income families are much less likely to be offered health insurance at work, and even when it is offered they are less likely to take it up. The high cost of health insurance means that many families may need assistance to afford private coverage. The average premium for group coverage exceeded $4,500 for single coverage and $12,500 for family coverage in 2008. Non-group coverage sold directly to individuals often has lower premiums, but provides much less coverage and exposes families to high out-of-pocket costs if someone in the family becomes seriously ill. Given the cost of insurance, many lower-income families would need to spend substantial portions of their incomes to pay the full premium for non-group coverage. For example, a family of three with income at 200% of the federal poverty level in 2008 ($35,200) would have spent around 17% of their pretax income to purchase an average non-group family policy, which would still leave them exposed to thousands of dollars of cost sharing if someone covered by the policy were to become seriously ill. Purchasing more comprehensive coverage with less cost sharing, similar to that provided by employers, would likely have required the family to pay closer to 30% of pretax income.
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NCPA Offers Updated Health Care Reform Recommendations As Senate, House Prepare Final Legislation
Alexandria, Va. - January 06, 2010
In a letter (available here) to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., NCPA offered the following suggestions:
* Reform the Medicaid Average Manufacturer Price (AMP) reimbursement system for generic drugs and adopt, at a minimum, the Senate's federal upper limit of no less than 175% of the weighted average AMP. Anything less could force many independent community pharmacies, which care for an extraordinarily high number of Medicaid patients, out of the program.
NCPA's letter also raises questions about how a new, government-sponsored "public option" would impact independent pharmacies, both in terms of reimbursement as well as small business health insurance requirements; suggests alternatives to a costly proposed mandate under Medicare; cautions against any federal pre-emption of state-based "any willing provider" laws; opposes moving Medicare vaccination coverage into the Part B program; backs safeguards to prevent 340B low-income drug subsidies from being diverted to hospital employees and others; seeks clarification that any provision allowing the government to set Medicare drug prices not apply to pharmacy reimbursement; and supports House-passed language to close the Medicare Part D coverage gap, or "donut hole."
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ATCHMNMC

ATC - Average Total Cost
Average cost - In economics, average cost is equal to total cost divided by the number of goods produced (the output quantity, Q). It is also equal to the sum of average variable costs (total variable costs divided by Q) plus average fixed costs (total fixed costs divided by Q). Average costs may be dependent on the time period considered (increasing production may be expensive or impossible in the short term, for example). Average costs affect the supply curve and are a fundamental component of supply and demand.
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Average Total Cost - is the sum of all the production costs divided by the number of units produced.
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What Will Health Care Reform Cost You?
Aug 10, 2009
Health care reform, if it passes, will cost about $1 trillion over the next 10 years. Negotiators in the Senate and House are now saying they've winnowed the cost down to "only" $900 billion or so. Where will that money come from? Look in the mirror.

Although President Obama and congressional leaders have been adamant that health care reform will be financed through savings on existing programs or new revenue, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the House proposal would actually increase the deficit by $239 billion over 10 years. While it's too soon to say what the final plan or its financing will look like - several versions of the bill in both the House and the Senate would have to be reconciled before final votes are held - here are the key financing options that are on the table.

Squeeze savings out of Medicare and Medicaid
Support: Fairly broad-based
Opposition: Some insurers and health care providers that stand to lose money
Likelihood of inclusion in final bill: High
Value over 10 years: $465 billion
Potential cost to you: If you're a Medicare Advantage patient, the quality of care might suffer.

This proposal would provide about half the money necessary for the health care overhaul, in part by reducing payments to hospitals that treat Medicare patients. Payments to private Medicare Advantage plans would be trimmed by $156 billion over 10 years to bring them in line with payment rates for patients in traditional Medicare. Supporters of a private-market approach to Medicare, who have seen the writing on the wall for some time on this issue, caution that some seniors may suffer if private plans, which may offer enhanced services and better-coordinated care than traditional Medicare, pull back in their markets.

Tax the wealthy
Support: House Democrats
Opposition: Republicans, some newly elected House Democrats from wealthier districts, Senate Finance Committee members who believe any new tax revenue should come directly from the health care sector
Likelihood of inclusion in final bill: Uncertain
Value over 10 years: $544 billion
Potential cost to you: If you're an individual making over $280,000 or a family with income over $350,000, you could eventually be looking at a tax surcharge of from 1.0 to 5.4 percent on your income above that amount.[/color]

The current House bill would impose an income tax surcharge starting at 1.0 percent on the top 1.2 percent of earners in the country, or individuals with adjusted gross incomes over $280,000 and families that earn more than $350,000 (some legislators are calling for a higher threshold, however). The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that the surcharge would have no impact on 96 percent of small businesses, but "imposing taxes on anybody in a recession is not going to promote economic growth," says Joseph Antos, a health policy expert at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute. Negotiators on the Senate Finance Committee reportedly prefer to raise revenues to pay for health reform from within the health care system itself, by taxing the value of health insurance benefits, for example, or penalizing employers who don't offer health insurance.

Tax employee health insurance benefits
Support: Senate members have discussed implementing a capped version of this tax; President Obama has not ruled it out.
Opposition: Labor unions
Likelihood of inclusion in final bill: Moderate
Value over 10 years: Full taxation would yield $2.5 trillion; capping the exclusion at the level of the standard federal employee plan would generate $418.5 billion.
Potential cost to you: You'd have to pay taxes on the value of your employee health plan or, more likely, on the amount of its value that exceeds an average employee's - now about $13,000.

A typical health insurance plan for a family costs about $13,000 a year, but you pay no income tax on the contributions that your employer makes toward those benefits. That freebie costs the federal government approximately $245 billion in forgone income tax revenues every year. Economists and health policy experts favor eliminating the tax exclusion, as it's called, on the grounds that it encourages overly generous coverage that, in turn, encourages employees to use more health care than they need. Rather than eliminating the tax break entirely, another option would be to cap it at a certain level - for example, the amount of the standard federal employee's health plan, which is now worth about $13,100. Unions, which often have richer-than-average benefits, are strongly opposed to any tax change. Recently, a third option emerged: Tax the insurers or employers that offer "overly" generous plans. Although more politically palatable, experts warn that those charges would get passed along to consumers, likely in the form of higher premiums.

Limit the itemized deductions of the wealthy
Support: President Obama
Opposition: Nonprofits, homeowners groups, real estate professionals
Likelihood of inclusion in final bill: Slim
Value over 10 years: $267 billion
Potential cost to you: If you're in the top income tax brackets, your ability to fully itemize deductions would be reduced.

This proposal would require taxpayers in the top 33 percent and 35 percent income tax brackets to deduct certain items, like their contributions to charitable organizations and mortgage interest, at the lower 28 percent rate. President Obama recently spoke in favor of this revenue raiser, but it was loudly booed by nonprofits that depend on charitable contributions, as well as homeowners and real estate professionals who benefit from the mortgage tax break. Like the surcharge on the wealthy, this proposal has also gotten less traction among Senate Finance Committee members, because it isn't directly linked to the health sector.

Impose or raise "sin" taxes
Support: Senate Finance Committee members
Opposition: Soft drink and alcoholic beverage manufacturers, grocery and restaurant trade groups
Likelihood of inclusion in final bill: Uncertain
Value over 10 years: $113 billion
Potential cost to you: A tax of 3 cents per 12-ounce can of sugar-sweetened beverage and an excise tax of about 14 cents per bottle of beer or glass of wine

Although not strictly related to health care financing, there's a certain logic to raising money for health reform through taxes on sugary soft drinks and alcohol. On the other hand, sin taxes tend to fall disproportionately on poor people, who have less ability to pay taxes in the first place. Interest in this option got a boost following a recent report that obesity-related costs account for over 9 percent of all annual medical spending, or $147 billion. People changing their habits as a result of new taxes could lower these expenses, but those savings are hard to quantify and may be offset by Social Security and Medicare costs attributed to people living longer, as the CBO has noted.

Penalize employers who don't offer health insurance
Support: Broad-based
Opposition: Some small-business groups
Likelihood of inclusion in final bill: High
Value over 10 years: Up to $163 billion
Potential cost to you: If you're a small-business owner, you might have to pay a stiff penalty if you don't insure your workers.

Both bills have "pay or play" provisions that penalize employers who don't offer health insurance to their workers. But penalties in the House version are more stringent - up to 8 percent of payroll - compared with the Senate version, which would impose a flat $750 penalty per full-time worker. Some small businesses would be exempt from this provision, including employers with 25 or fewer employees under the Senate bill and employers with annual payrolls of less than either $250,000 or $500,000 under the House bill. (The House committees approved different thresholds and will have to work out the differences.)

Lower the insurance subsidy threshold
Support: Fiscal conservatives
Opposition: Consumer advocacy groups
Likelihood of inclusion in final bill: Uncertain
Value over 10 years: Unspecified for now
Potential cost to you: If you make between $32,490 and $43,320 a year, you might lose out on subsidies to help you pay for your health insurance.

Current House and Senate bills allow individuals and families with incomes up to four times the federal poverty level ($43,320 for a single person or $88,200 for a family of four) to qualify for help buying coverage through the national insurance exchange. But as negotiators look for ways to trim health reform's trillion-dollar price tag, the more than $700 billion that's earmarked for subsidies could come under scrutiny. "Reducing the outlay from 400 [percent] to 300 percent of poverty is probably something they'll have to do," says Paul Ginsburg, president of the Center for Studying Health System Change, a nonpartisan research and policy organization. It's a tough call between raising health insurance costs for someone who earns just a bit more than someone else and saving tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars in total program costs. Then again, most of these choices are.
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HMN - Health Management Network (Health Insurance)
Health Insurance in the United States
The term health insurance is commonly used in the United States to describe any program that helps pay for medical expenses, whether through privately purchased insurance, social insurance or a non-insurance social welfare program funded by the government. Synonyms for this usage include "health coverage," "health care coverage" and "health benefits."

In a more technical sense, the term is used to describe any form of insurance that provides protection against the costs of medical services. This usage includes private insurance and social insurance programs such as Medicare, but excludes social welfare programs such as Medicaid. In addition to medical expense insurance, it also includes insurance covering disability or long-term nursing or custodial care needs.

The US health care system relies heavily on private and not-for-profit health insurance, which is the primary source of coverage for most Americans. According to the United States Census Bureau, approximately 85% of Americans have health insurance; nearly 60% obtain it through an employer, while about 9% purchase it directly. Various government agencies provide coverage to about 28% of Americans (there is some overlap in these figures).

In 2007, there were nearly 46 million people in the US (over 15% of the population) who were without health insurance for at least part of that year. Over 1 million workers lost their health care coverage in January, February and March of 2009. Approximately, 268,400 more workers lost health care coverage in March 2009 than in March 2008. Proving that today, that number is markedly higher as many workers who have lost their jobs have also lost their employer-provided health insurance. The percentage of the non-elderly population who are uninsured has been generally increasing since the year 2000. There is considerable debate in the US on the causes of and possible remedies for this level of uninsured as well as the impact it has on the overall US health care system.
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Health Care Reform in the United States
The debate over health care reform in the United States centers on questions about
* whether there is a fundamental right to health care
* who should have access to health care and under what circumstances
* who should be required to contribute toward the costs of providing health care in a society
* whether the government should support health care commerce by forcing citizens to buy insurance or pay a tax
* the quality achieved for the sums spent
* the sustainability of expenditures that have been rising faster than the level of general inflation and the growth in the economy
* the role of the federal government in bringing about such change
* concerns over unfunded liabilities
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MC - Middle Class
The middle class are any class in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class.
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How Health Care Reform Affects the Middle Class
Ways Obama's Health Insurance Plan will Affect Americans
Mar 25, 2010 Emily Rogers
Many Americans have mixed opinions on how they feel about the health care reform bill. Some believe it’s going to fix our struggling health care system and others believe it’s only going to help the lower class while the middle to upper class are going to suffer. However, taking effect this 2010, there will be major changes to our health care system, affecting everyone in different ways.

How Obama's Health Care Reform will Affect Americans
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, millions of low-income families will be getting health insurance without a fight, some for the first time. While this may greatly benefit the low-income portion of the economy, it will take away from the high-income families substantially, as they will be facing higher taxes to help pay for the lower income Americans.

How the Health Care Reform will Affect the Middle Class
Some who are already struggling to make ends meet, will be forced to pay specific health insurance costs, or they may face serious penalties. According to Kaiser Family Foundation, the American middle- class will be the worse off under this health care reform, as they will be mandated to pay for health insurance coverage, as they struggle to pay for their basic living expenses such as; food, childcare and housing.

According to Miranda, a journalist with Financial Highway, those families earning more than $250,000 a year or individuals earning $200,000 a year, will go from a 1.45% Medicare tax to 2.35%. However, the biggest change to the United States will cause families to be forced to pay for health insurance plans, as it will no longer be a choice. Many individuals have lived without health insurance, as they could not afford the cost. However, the cost will no longer be an option, for Americans will be taxed.

Health Care Reform Debate in the United States
The United States health care system has been a major political debate for years. According to Wikipedia stats, the United States holds the highest healthcare costs versus the size of the economy in the world. With 30 million citizens, about 10% lives without healthcare coverage. The debate has revolved around how to safely get our health care system under control.

The middle class is defined as those with incomes that range from $44,000 to $88,000 for a family of four. It’s expected that both middle and upper-middle class families may face extremely high premiums in attempt to collect hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes. This is all aimed to help pay for the uninsured medium to lower income bracket. This also requires everyone to have the best insurance plans available.

Calculate Health Care Costs Versus Income Bracket
Overall, most Americans agree that our health care system needs some major changes, as many have been struggling to get basic care for years. However, the debate on whether Obama’s health care reform will change our system for the better remains widely controversial. For those trying to prepare for the financial changes coming their way, they may search online for a health care calculator in order to figure out what their costs may be.
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