The House Republicans have a 10-step plan that has been on their website for many months. They have introduced a bill for each of the 10 steps. Unfortunately, with one exception, none of the bills have ever made it out of committee. Apparently the legislator most responsible for leaving these bills languishing in committee is Representative Eileen Cody, Chair of the House Health Care and Wellness Committee.

The House Democrat’s plan? It’s “under construction” according to their website as of February 6th. (See screen shot below.)

Here is the irony, the only bill in the House Republicans’ Plan that has made it out of committee was HB 1383. Signed by Governor Gregoire into law in 2006, it allows the state to offer health savings accounts to state employees. According to Representative Doug Ericksen, a primary author of the House Republicans’ 10-step plan, the administration has refused to implement it, laying the blame to an incompatible computer system among other things. So four years and still no health savings account option for state employees.

I asked Ericksen what, if anything, is likely to get done this legislative session on health care. Not a lot it appears. He said a bill that will put more pressure on the administration to implement health savings accounts for state employees has made it out of committee.

The only other health care-related bill that has made it out of committee is HB 3015, which would authorize the Insurance Commissioner to enter into compacts with other states to permit the sale of small group health benefit plans across state lines. Ericksen says this is fine as far as it goes, but is too lenient in his view, since it is only optional. He would prefer to see a more forceful bill.

Here is the screen shot from the House Democrats’ website as of February 6th, 2010:

“Civilian full-time equivalent employees,” as they’re known in budgetese, held relatively constant before Mr. Obama came to Washington, but they surged to 1.978 million in 2009 from 1.875 million in 2008. In fiscal 2010, the Administration expects to add another 170,000 workers—a 14.5% leap in two years.

I guess this explains why United Van Lines moved nearly seven families to Washington D.C. last year for every three it moved out.  The average federal worker, according to USA Today,  makes something like $70,000, while the wage of the average private worker — the ones who support federal workers — is about $40,000.  This trend is marching us along the path to poverty.

Update: WSJ cites U.S. Department of Labor statistics that show that unionized public sector workers now outnumber unionized private sector employees. We’re becoming Europe.

Health insurance is similar in the way that individuals optimizing their personal situation results in greater costs for all.  Once someone or their employer has paid their premium, they have no incentive to economize their use of health services, and their doctor advising them has a strong economic incentive to over-prescribe procedures (both for revenue and tort-avoidance reasons).  The foregoing is mitigated somewhat by co-pays and deductibles.  The result, which we have observed over the last several decades, is that health services are over-consumed, insurance rates increase the next year, and the cycle starts over.  There is nothing in Obama care that addresses this fundamental problem.  In fact, it seems designed to acerbate it.

At the conference, a presenter on digital health developments made the point that, more and more, telemedicine and other technology will replace human interaction with doctors.  He said this will be necessary because there simply are not enough doctors to cover the baby boom generation as it ages.

It is no secret that extensive compilation and sharing of digital health data creates significant privacy challenges.  What may be surprising to some is that the privacy problem is not caused by the inability to keep electronic data encrypted and secure.  We can do that pretty well if we don’t need to share the data extensively.  The problem arises because we share parts of our information with so many people – doctors and nurses yes, but also pharmacists, insurance providers, employers to a certain extent, loved ones.  Moreover, much of what could be considered health information can be gleaned from all of the other electronic data that is gathered about us.

As we get deeper into the digital age, more and more of our life is recorded in “the cloud,” and that data is always accessible to someone.  This includes virtually everything we purchase (including, for example, the payments we make to hospitals and the prescription drugs we buy) and every place we go (including a doctor’s office, a rehab clinic, the gym, the emergency room).  Telecom companies know where our cell phone is at any given time.  Many of our assets – bank accounts, mortgage records, stock portfolios – only exist in an electronic entry somewhere.

One presenter recommended Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a website that compiles information about privacy rights in the digital age and recommends ways to protect them.  For example, don’t give your pharmacist or insurance company permission to share your purchase data with other insurance companies.  (Databases of this information exist and some insurance companies share them with other insurance companies to help screen insurance applicants.)

Certainly we will apply technology and pass numerous laws to maintain our privacy and the security of our assets.  But I think addressing the problem will require more than just a matter of using passwords and signing release forms.  Socialization and establishing new mores is vital.  As technology changes society, our shared values and conventions need to change along with it.  What was once considered no big deal – say, sharing someone’s birth date – is now a big deal, and becoming more so all of the time.

Kids and adults try biathlon for the first time

It is said that the most popular winter spectator sport in Europe is biathlon.  Large crowds assemble to watch their favorite athletes speed around the ski course on fast skate skis, interrupted by tense shooting bouts that frequently cause the lead to change several times during the race.

Though participant numbers here are small compared to other sports, there are actually two active biathlon clubs in Washington. The Methow Valley Nordic Team has a biathlon group that caters to youth, but has adult racers as well. A few of the teenagers in the club are nationally ranked. Last weekend (see picture) my kids and I participated in a biathlon in Methow Valley and we had a blast. (No, not literally. The .22 target rounds barely make a popping noise.)

The other local club is the Washington Biathlon Association, based in Seattle. Each year they host six winter races at Stevens Pass and four summer races (run/shoot and mountain bike/shoot) here in Seattle.

They WBA welcomes new participants and is hosting a beginner’s training clinic on January 9th at the Stevens Pass Nordic Center. For more information contact WBA President Bob Vallor, whose contact information is in the linked flyer.

I have set up a data entry form here:

The location of traffic cameras in your area of Seattle can be found here.

The results you submit will be posted here:

I measured the yellow light durations at the two intersections in West Seattle that have ticket cameras. Here are the results:

The above times are consistent with what has been stated by Wayne Wentz, Seattle’s traffic management director.  Seattle PI quoted him as saying that yellow signal times were shortened as part of a re-timing of downtown signals in March 2008, to make sure intersections are cleared of vehicles when lights change.

“Many of our downtown signals were operating with four seconds of yellow time, then going directly to green for the other direction,” Wentz said. “During our recent optimization, we changed the signals to 3.5 seconds of yellow time and added one second of red in all directions for a total of 4.5 seconds. This actually increased the vehicle clearance time by 0.5 seconds.”

The “all red” time at the two intersections I observed was about one second.  So that is also consistent with Mr. Wentz’s statement.

The 3.5 seconds of yellow is too short in my view for 35 MPH streets, and it is shorter than the 4 seconds recommended by others.  If borrowing a second or so from the green light would screw up the city’s carefully optimized system,  I would support moving .5 seconds from the all red period to the yellow light, at least on an experimental basis to gather data.  That would give drivers more time to make the stop-or-go decision, and still leave a half second of all red to allow the intersection to clear.

“I know that some people would perceive that a local government would use this as a cash cow,” she said. “That is not our intention at all … What this amendment does is it restricts them, so that they cannot have a fine higher than their parking violations.

“Which is about — the state recommends $20. The idea is to change behavior, not collect a lot of money.

Of course, it’s the words of the statute, not a legislator’s intent, that matters.  Legislation has consequences.  It’s difficult, if not impossible to determine all of the effects.  Which is a good reason to “proceed with caution.”