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TIME:

How out of touch is Barack Obama? He's so out of touch that he suggested that if all Americans inflated their tires properly and took their cars for regular tune-ups, they could save as much oil as new offshore drilling would produce. Gleeful Republicans have made this their daily talking point; Rush Limbaugh is having a field day; and the Republican National Committee is sending tire gauges labeled "Barack Obama's Energy Plan" to Washington reporters.

But who's really out of touch? The Bush Administration estimates that expanded offshore drilling could increase oil production by 200,000 bbl. per day by 2030. We use about 20 million bbl. per day, so that would meet about 1% of our demand two decades from now. Meanwhile, efficiency experts say that keeping tires inflated can improve gas mileage 3%, and regular maintenance can add another 4%. Many drivers already follow their advice, but if everyone did, we could immediately reduce demand several percentage points. In other words: Obama is right. [...]

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nyceve at Daily Kos:

The medical loss ratio refers to the percentage of dollars actually spent on medical care versus administrative costs or profit. The higher the ratio, the more money is being spent on actual delivery of care. Components of the medical loss ratio include payments to physicians, hospitals, pharmacists and other providers of health care.

For example, an unheard of medical loss ratio of 91 percent means that 91 cents out of every dollar goes to practitioners and providers. This never happens, of course. Most medical loss ratios are in the neighborhood of 80–81 percent.

The mission of the U.S. insurance industry is to keep this ratio as low as possible. The way they do this is with ruthless companies like TC3 Total Claims Capture and Control which I'm going to introduce you to today. When the medical loss ratio creeps up, which means too much money is being spent on our healthcare needs, the for-profit insurer turns to TC3 to bring costs (losses) down.