Entries by Philip Turner

An Interesting Political Turnabout

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Update: Had an interesting exchange on Twitter with Jonathan Krohn after writing about  him in a post at The Great Gray Bridge blog. 

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Do you follow politics closely? If so, If you follow politics closely you may remember Jonathan Krohn, onetime boy wonder of the conservative movement, who it turns out has disowned the positions he espoused just a few years ago. H/t Patrick Gavin of Politico who’s got the story. My take including my own non-role in Krohn’s book is at The Great Gray Bridge, with links to Gavin’s story.

Canada Day, 2012

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To celebrate Canada Day, I’ve scanned two photos I took during Canadian road trips some years ago. The first is from Parc Forillon in Quebec from a visit to the Gaspé Peninsula earlier in the ’80s. The second is of Roche Percé, the amazing pierced rock. Happy Birthday to all my Canadian friends! Also posted at The Great Gray Bridge website.

An Outrageous Health Care Premium Rate Increase Request

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I can hardly believe that on the eve of the Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act, I’m drafting a letter to the New York State Superintendent of Financial Services about the 2013 rate increase requested by United Healthcare, the health insurer for my small business, Philip Turner Book Productions.

  • The amount of their requested rate increase?
  • A staggering 18.1%.
  • The total compensation of United Healthcare CEO Stephen Hemsley in 2010 and 2011?
  • A staggering $101.96 million in 2010 and $48 million in 2011, making him the highest paid CEO in the entire healthcare field, and one of the highest-paid executives in any American industry.

I don’t know what the Court ruling will be when it’s announced tomorrow morning at 10:00 AM, but I do know the system sucks when a CEO can make money like that. There is an insidious dynamic at work here: Hemlsey’s compensation and the rate increase request are diabolically inter-related–he makes more money when the company is more profitable, and the company is more profitable the more they charge their policyholders.

I’ll finish the letter tomorrow and mail it off to Albany, by which time we’ll know how the Court has ruled. It’s going to an interesting, historic, stressful day.