Wednesday, December 4, 2013

African-American Women Consider Trucking

My Comments:
 Source: Women In Trucking Founder: Ellen Voie


African-American Women Consider Trucking

By Ellen Voie

If you’ve ever attended Women In Trucking’s “Salute to Women Behind the Wheel” in Louisville, Kentucky, you’ll find the largest gathering of female professional drivers in the United States. These women come from all parts of the country, as well as Canada. Some are in their seventies; others are in their twenties. Some have been driving for decades, others are newcomers to the industry.

The event allows these women to meet one another and to enjoy the acknowledgement they receive for their service as professional drivers.

One group that has become more visible is female African-American drivers. Although women only comprise 5.4 percent of the driver population, the number of African-American female drivers is closer to one-half of one percent.

However, that could be changing.

Recently, Women In Trucking Association partnered with an organization called WorkAmerica  (www.workamerica.co), whose mission is to put Americans back to work with a new approach to recruiting and training. They partner with schools to pre-qualify, train, and place new drivers with carriers.

Collin Gutman, WorkAmerica’s CEO, has been surprised to find an increased interest in African-American women who are looking for a new career. Collin shares this insight. “Over the past months, as I’ve attended job fairs from Delaware to Virginia to Tennessee recruiting drivers for WorkAmerica, I’ve noticed a new trend in driver recruiting. The individuals stopping by our booth interested in trucking jobs didn’t fit the profile of the stereotypical truck driver. Some wore heels, others were in fatigues, but, surprisingly, most were women. A few had children or husbands in tow, while others came solo. Most of these women had one unexpected trait in common:  they were African-American.”

 
“At each fair, they came early and they came often. ‘I would love to be over the road, driving an 18 wheeler. It is a whole new lifestyle,’ said the first lady to stop by my table at Delaware’s New Castle County Job Fair last week. ‘Trucking is trucking, no difference between genders,’ declared my next visitor a few minutes later, as she picked up a business card. Her friend agreed, ‘I mean, I should be accepted for whoever I want to be.’ At the end of this fair alone, we had over twenty African-American women signed up for interviews, totaling half of our interested applicants from that job fair.”

Thanks to organizations like Women in Trucking, seeing a female driver behind the wheel of a tractor-trailer isn’t as rare as it used to be. Now a little over five percent of drivers are women, and while this is a low number, the trend is encouraging. Since women of all ethnicities represent one out of twenty of our nation’s 3.2 million drivers, the fact that approximately fifty percent of WorkAmerica’s new driver applicants are exclusively African-American women is something to note! And this is even more remarkable when considered in the context of the crippling driver shortage.
 
With 30,000 current vacancies and a predicted shortage of 239,000 drivers by 2022, CDL schools, carriers, trucking associations, and more are all scrambling for solutions. Recently the Allied Committee for Transportation (ACT 1) unveiled TruckingMovesAmerica, an ambitious re-branding campaign with an impressive roster of members working to raise $5 million over five years.

 
This is a great start, and there’s opportunity for more. To be truly successful at attracting new recruits, we must look to do more than simply grow the pool of “traditional” drivers. We can’t just hope to change the public’s view of “truckers,” we need to actively reach out to these new recruits. This means changing recruiting methods, messaging, and branding. It means embracing the knowledge that these women already know-- “that trucking is trucking,” and everyone is welcome. White and Latino men still comprise the majority of truckers and we certainly must continue to build bridges into these communities.

 
But it’s time for someone to start building bridges into other communities. African-American women are clearly ready for trucking and might represent our best hope for dramatically increasing the number of professional drivers entering the industry over the next five years.

As an industry, it’s time for us to move forward and think outside the box when we think about who is in the truck. Let’s encourage, support, and invite all individuals to join us in the most vital industry of trucking.
 

Is Healthcare.gov Working Now? Yes and No

My Comments: The source is The New Yorker

Is healthcare.gov working well now, as the Obama Administration claims that it is? Some of Monday’s media coverage is skeptical. On the front page of the Times, there is an article with the headline “INSURERS CLAIM HEALTH WEBSITE IS STILL FLAWED.” The Wall Street Journal went with “INSURERS SEEK TO BYPASS HEALTH SITE.

Given the problems that the online exchange has experienced in the past couple of months, reporters are right to be skeptical. Despite the numerous fixes that have been made to the site and the extra capacity that has been added, there are still frequent reports of it going down. And a couple of weeks ago, Henry Chao, a senior official at the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (C.M.S.), the agency responsible for healthcare.gov, conceded in a testimony on Capitol Hill that much of its back end—the bit responsible for billing and payments—remains to be built.

Still, the functionality of the site does appear to have improved considerably. At least, that’s what I found when I tried it out again yesterday, acting as a potential purchaser of a family plan. On my first visit to the site, back in October, immediately after it was launched, I got practically nowhere; it was frozen. This time, it was working and was far more user friendly. Its Web pages loaded almost instantaneously, the navigation tools were easy to use, and the forms I filled in were self-explanatory. Before long, I had received an e-mail with an identification number and confirmation that I had created an account. That’s progress.

However, I didn’t get the opportunity to submit an application, or even to choose a plan. After filling in forms and fiddling around for about forty minutes, I reached a screen that said, “You have started an application for health coverage, but our verification system is temporarily unavailable. Without completing verification you cannot submit your application …” According to other reports I’ve seen, this still happens often. The verification process is proving difficult to fix, which is hardly surprising, since almost a dozen federal agencies are involved in confirming the veracity of the information that applicants are asked to supply. All too frequently, the result is you spend half an hour or longer on the site, creating an account and inputting information about your family, your income, and your citizenship status. You think you are doing pretty well. Then you get blocked—or, at least, I did.

That’s frustrating. But this time I did manage to elicit some valuable information about the insurance policies on offer through the exchange, and how much they cost.

One of the big drawbacks with the site when it launched was the lack of a “shopping” feature. Before users could find out what policies were available in their area, they had to register, create an account, and supply copious amounts of information about their family members, their Social Security numbers, their citizenship status, and their income. Then they had to wait for all that stuff to be verified. Which takes time—often, a long time.

Some Republicans have claimed that the Administration deliberately omitted the shopping feature because it was worried about the users experiencing “sticker shock” if they saw the prices of the insurance policies (although those prices didn’t account for the generous subsidies many people would get). In Congressional testimony a few weeks ago, Henry Chao told a different story. The “shop around” feature failed testing, and that was why it was left out, he insisted. Nobody at the White House was involved.

Whatever really happened, the shopping feature is now part of healthcare.gov, and it’s prominently displayed on the home page. Consequently, the site feels more like one of the state exchanges that have been working pretty well, such as the California site, CoveredCa, which has a “Shop and Compare” tool on its home page, illustrated by picture of a calculator. If you click on it, and click again, you arrive at a page that asks you for your Zip Code, your household income, and the number of people in your family, plus their ages. Once you enter this information, the site shows you all the insurance policies available in your area, and how much they will cost you. If you want to buy one, you go to the home page and start filling out an application.

That’s pretty much how commercial e-commerce sites work, and it’s also how President Obama promised that healthcare.gov would function. On October 1st, he said, “Just visit healthcare.gov, and there you can compare insurance plans, side by side, the same way you’d shop for a plane ticket on Kayak or a TV on Amazon.”

Given the persistence of various technical problems on healthcare.gov, it still can’t be compared to the big consumer sites. But from a user perspective it is getting closer. On the home page, there is now a button that says “See Plans Before I Apply.” Once you click on it, the next page asks for the type of insurance plan you are looking for (family or small business), the county and state where you live, and the ages of your family members. When I entered information as if I lived in Travis County, Texas—one of the states that isn’t operating its own exchange—and was the thirty-five-year-old parent of two young children, the site showed me ten available family plans. They range from a Humana Connect Basic plan, for a hundred and thirty-one a month with an annual deductible of twelve thousand seven hundred dollars, to an Ambretta Bronze 4+ Vision plan, which costs seven hundred and two dollars a month, with an annual deductible of eight thousand dollars. (Silver and gold plans are also available; the prices don’t account for subsidies.)

This is precisely the sort of information that individuals and families who don’t have any health-care coverage need to have at their fingertips. On some of the state exchanges, such as CoveredCa, there is a cost calculator that people can use to figure out if they qualify for subsidies. For some inexplicable reason, healthcare.gov still doesn’t have a subsidy calculator of its own. To find out how much they would end up paying for various policies, its users have to fill out a full application. But now at least the home page features a link to an external subsidy calculator—one operated by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

That’s the sort of tool that should have been there from the beginning. One of the most bewildering things about the rollout is how the Administration managed to launch a site that was so unfriendly to consumers. One answer I’ve seen is that the C.M.S. didn’t have the technical know-how to create a consumer-friendly experience. That appears to be wrong: medicare.gov, the official site of the retiree health-care system, is much easier to navigate than healthcare.gov was when it launched. Earlier today, without submitting any personal details except my Zip Code, I used that site to get details, including the monthly premiums and the participating pharmacies, of twenty-six prescription-drug plans that are available in my area. If, from the beginning, healthcare.gov had been modelled on medicare.gov, or on CoveredCa, it would be much easier to use, and it wouldn’t be as buggy—at least, not on the front end.

Some substantial improvements have finally been made, and there’s no reason to doubt that there are more to come. But there’s still a lot of work to be done. Until Americans can routinely use the site to find insurance policies, compare them, and enroll in them all at one sitting, without having to wait hours or days to complete the various parts of the application process, the online exchange can’t be considered a success.

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Truckin’ Tips: Part II

My Comments: Very helpful!

Truckin’ Tips:  Part II
Copyright Sandy Long
 
Here are some good ones.
 
Truckkeeping:
  A child sized broom, found in the toy section of some stores, makes it easy to sweep out your truck if you do not have a vacuum.
  Your rubber mats will really shine if you clean them with spray tire cleaner.
  Furniture polish works great on dashes and vinyl interiors.  It does not attract and hold dust like an oil based polish.
  Put your vents on recirculate once a month…spray an antibacterial spray thickly in your truck and get out and let it run for about 15 minutes to sanitize your vent system and the whole cab.
  Keep the antibacterial spray next to your seat.  Spray your floor boards and pedals every couple of days.
  Keep a small bucket, soft bristled scrub brush, rags and antibacterial cleaning product on the truck.  Most truckstops have tall sinks somewhere that you can get hot water to wash down the interior when you have time.
  Spray window cleaner will clean cloth covered interiors.  I prefer the aerosol foam window cleaner that comes in the can for this.
  Cheap paper towels clean windows better than expensive ones do.
  If you smoke.  Spray the empty ash tray with antibacterial spray and shut it up when you are getting out of the truck.  It will help cut down on the smoke smell and will take it out of the inside of the dash.  Don’t forget to wash the ash tray once in awhile.
 
Personal:
§  Carry spray disinfectant in your shower bag…spray the floor of the shower before you take off your shoes.
§  Spray a little antibacterial spray in your boots or shoes periodically before you go to bed.  Then put in a little antifungal powder before you put them on.
§  No reason to be dirty on the road even if there is no shower available.  Babywipes and fresh clothes will keep you looking good.
§  Carry a couple of towels on the truck.  Some service plazas on the toll roads have free showers but they do not provide towels.  Some truckstops will let you shower for free late night if you have your own towels.
§  Put your jeans under the mattress.  It will keep them creased.
§  Keep a small box of baby wipes by the driver’s seat to wipe your hands after fueling and before getting in the truck to move forward.
§  Try to avoid using pay phones.  You will not get the flu or colds as often.
§  Buy your necessities ie:  Shampoo, deoderant etc. while at home.  These items are expensive in truck stops.
§  Put your shampoo, liquid bath soap, hand lotions(anything in plastic bottles and your tooth paste) in zip up plasic bags.  If you keep your shower bag under the bunk in the winter, the contents will freeze and come out of the bottles.  If you are going over mountains at any time of year, the bottles will pressurize and force the contents out of the bottles.
 
Laundry:        
F Carry some sort of laundry stain remover with you.  If you get grease or oil on your clothes, pretreat the spot when you take your clothes off and put them in your laundry bag.
F Coke in the wash water will help to take out grease spots.
F Grease removing dish soap will help take grease out of clothes.
F A colored pillow case makes a great laundry bag.
F Carry laundry soap and dryer sheets from home, it is cheaper and the type you are used to.  Truckstops usually only carry one or two kinds.
F Make sure that you carry at least a couple of wire hangers.  They come in handy if you need to make some repairs or bend one to reach something fallen between the bunk and the cabinets.
 
Backing up:
ð  If the dock is blocked from view, throw a glove or other non breakable object that you can see down out in front of the left bumper of the dock where you can see it beyond the blockage, to show you your pivot point.
ð  If you are having problems getting straight with the dock, estimate where the left side of the nose of the trailer should be and put something on the ground where you can see it in your mirrors…align the trailer up with the object.
ð  Turn on your marker lights when backing up even in the daytime, it helps you to see where the end of the trailer is and you can soft bump the dock better.
ð  Back up at idle speed.  If you do hit a trailer or truck you will not do as much damage.
ð  If you get frustrated.  Stop, take a deep breath and a sip of water and start again.
ð  If you cannot get it in the dock or in a tight situation.  Don’t be a hero!  Ask someone to watch your blind side or for advice.
ð  A wise driver said, “It don’t matter how long it takes, or how many pull ups ya gotta make…a good back is where ya don’t hit nothin’!”
ð  If you see someone backing in…back off and patiently wait on them to get done. Don’t crowd them.
ð  If you see someone backing in and they are having trouble…get out and watch their blind side for them…it will be your turn to have a bad backing day someday.
 
Miscellaneous:
§  Dish soap on the sliders will make your tandems slide better.
§  Carry an ace bandage on the truck.  You never know when you will sprain a wrist or ankle.
§  Baby wipes will work to clean the truck with in a pinch.
§  Dilute dish soap and put in a spray bottle.  When you know you will be hitting rain, spray the frame, tires and wheels, the rain will clean them for you.
§  Carry a finger splint and medical adhesive tape on the truck.
§  A laminated atlas makes a great table when laid on the steering wheel.
§  Clean your laminated atlas with baby wipes…the aloe helps keep the plastic coating from cracking.
§  Keep some sort of envelope on the truck to keep receipts in.
 
I hope my Truckin’ tips help make your job and life easier.  You will perhaps add to them as you go along down the road.  Share them with your brother and sister drivers, you will more than likely hear some others in return.  Take care and be safe.
 
 

Truckin’ Tips: Part One

My Comments: Awesome Sandy, thanks for sharing!

Truckin’ Tips: Part One
Copyright Sandy Long
You can learn a lot sitting in a truckstop listening to some ol’ hands talk, or by being observant at any time on the road; fuel stops, loading docks, rest areas and jobsites are a trucker’s classroom, other drivers are the professors.  Through my years on the road I have picked up some tips to make my job easier.
 
Winter
¥  Carry an emergency kit of food and water.  Peanut butter, crackers, canned meat, fruits, vegetables and juice will provide you high energy food to wait out a storm. 
¥  Take a big metal coffee can and punch some holes around the bottom side of it.  Place a couple of emergency candles in it and light them.  Close your sleeper curtains and the candle furnace will keep you from freezing if the truck shuts down.  Make sure you keep a window cracked though.
¥  Place a spare heavy blanket under your bunk mattress.  Bring the sides up against the wall.  It will help stop the cold air coming up from under the bunk. 
¥  Rubbing alcohol will work to keep your air lines from freezing, also a pint in each tank will help keep fuel from jelling if you cannot find fuel additives.
¥  If you are running from temperature extremes, run a bottle of car gas line additive to each tank once every couple of weeks.  Really helps keep water out of the tanks.
¥  Collapsible snow shovels are light and do not take up much space. 
¥  Carry 5#s of salt in your truck to get out of that dock that is icy.
¥  Keep good books, magazines, puzzle books on the truck in the winter in case you get snowed in.
 
Windshields/Mirrors
Ø  Ammonia based window cleaners seem to take bugs off fairly well.  I spray my windshields with the cleaner before I seat the fuel nozzle in the tanks, then let it sit while I get started fueling, then use the truckstop’s fluid and sponge/squeegie to finish cleaning the windows.
Ø  Rubbing alcohol will help thaw ice from mirrors.
Ø  If you use the truckstop’s fluid from the bucket, then make your windshield very wet with it and then let it soak while you do other chores, then go back and scrub the windshields.
Ø  A small piece of wet carpet will take bugs off of windshields, painted surfaces or grills without scratching them.
Ø  A coat of that product that makes rain bead helps ease window washing.
Ø  A 6” squeegie is a slick tool to carry to quickly clean a mirror when it is raining and you have to back up.
 
Trailers
v  Carry a white grease pencil to mark the side walls of the trailer tires in the winter time, this allows you to make sure that the brakes have not frozen up and the tires are turning.
v  Balm for chapped lips that comes in the little squeeze tube makes a great glad hand gasket lubricant…it is small enough to fit in your pocket and won’t leak out.
v  If you own your own dry van trailer and the wooden floor starts leaking through the cracks of the board floor…wash it out completely, let it dry and then coat the floor thickly with marine grade polyurathane .
v  I use the product made to ease stuck bolts to keep my tandem sliders sliding easily.
v  Carry a 1’ long piece of 4x4 in case your tandem brakes won’t hold to slide.
v  If your tandem pins are hard to pull and you are live loading, then try it while the loader is going in and out of the trailer or before you move the trailer…sometimes it is enough bounce to loosen the pins.
v  Go in reverse and hit the brakes..then set the tractor brakes and let the trailer settle…sometimes this will center the tandem pins in the middle of the hole so you can get them pulled.
v  If you are dropping the trailer, pull your 5th wheel release before you dolly down…MAKE SURE YOU SET THE TRAILER BRAKES AND THE TRACTOR BRAKES BEFORE YOU DO THIS!
 
Flatbeds
¬  Loads of lumber and small pipe walk out of the bundles…Put an extra 2x4 on top of your dunnage in the front of the first stack and the rear of the last stack to raise the front of the front bundle and the rear of the rear bundle.  If you don’t do this, you are hauling lumber, and the boards walk…find a hose and wet them down.  Lumber dries out when going down the road.
¬  When loading long objects like 50’ beam, put two pieces of dunnage on top of each other on the rear of your trailer…this makes up for the hump in the trailer so the beam doesn’t rock. 
¬  A 2x4 under the front and back of an empty container on a flatbed will make securing it easier.
¬  Carpet remnants and packing quilts make excellent padding under your tarps to protect them from tearing. 
¬  Find old mud flaps and hang them behind your chains in the headache rack.  Stops your chains from banging and also protects the headache rack.
¬  If you have an uneven top line to your load, where it dips down, run a piece of rope thru the d-rings and tie it off to the rub rail…then run a bungie or two from the rope to the center beam under the trailer, pull the bungie tight, it will help keep the tarp from flapping too much.
 
A day where you learn something new is not a wasted day.  Most drivers are flattered if you ask them why they do something a certain way and will be glad to explain it to you.  The knowledge you glean from them and by observing how others do things will help make your job easier along the way.
 
Happy Holidays to you and yours from me and mine!  Be safe.

Friday, November 8, 2013

Take Opening w/ Prayer Out of Government Meetings?

Cities and town have opened public meetings with prayers for hundreds of years, but two residents in the town of Greece, N.Y., have sued, saying the prayers that open their town board meetings are unconstitutional. [It seems we must please 2 people in any group rather than the majority]


WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court, testing the wall between church and state in a sensitive case, wrestled Wednesday with how far government bodies can go in offering prayers at the start of official meetings.

It seemed certain, after courtroom arguments in a case brought by two women from upstate New York, that the justices had no interest in eliminating prayer at government meetings.
Instead, the justices grappled with whether they could come up with limits that allow such prayer without making those who disagree with the message feel coerced into participating, or fear that they may alienate government officials.

Justice Elena Kagan wondered aloud whether it would be permissible for the Supreme Court to open its sessions by having a minister face the lawyers and “acknowledge the saving sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.”
 
Suppose, the justice said, “the members of the court who had stood responded, ‘Amen,’ made the sign of the cross, and the chief justice then called your case. Would that be permissible?”
Thomas Hungar, a lawyer for the town, said he didn’t think so. But in the case of prayer before a legislative body, court doctrine has found that the country, “from its very foundations and founding,” allows it, he said.

James Lawler Duggan / Reuters
Rev. Patrick Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition prays outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Two women, one Jewish and one atheist, sued the town of Greece, where meetings of the governing board have opened with a prayer since 1999. Until 2007, when the women complained, the prayer was offered exclusively by Christians.

It is the first case on legislative prayer to come before the court since 1983, when the justices held that the Nebraska Legislature did not violate the Constitution by opening sessions with a prayer from a Presbyterian minister acting as the state-paid chaplain.
The thorny nature of the case was apparent throughout the argument. Some justices wondered what would be an acceptable prayer to appeal to all faiths, and to nonbelievers. Justice Antonin Scalia asked, to laughter in the courtroom: “What about devil-worshippers?”
Chief Justice John Roberts wanted to know: “Who is going to make this determination?”
Scalia drew a distinction between prayers before a legislative session and prayers before a judicial session, as in Kagan’s example.

“They are there as citizens,” Scalia said, speaking of legislators. “And as citizens, they bring to their job all of — all of the predispositions that citizens have. And these people perhaps invoke the deity at meals. They should not be able to invoke it before they undertake a serious governmental task such as enacting laws or ordinances?”

Douglas Laycock, representing the two women, answered that it was fine for them to invoke a deity or have a prayer, and certainly to pray to themselves.

“We’ve said they cannot impose sectarian prayer on the citizenry, and that is very different from what Congress does,” he said. “It is very different from what this court does.”
The Supreme Court opens its sessions with an invocation: “God save the United States and this honorable court.”

In the Nebraska case, three decades ago, Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote that legislative opening prayers had become “part of the fabric of our society.” The women have argued that their case is different.

In part, they argue that in Greece, the opening prayer amounts to coercion because members of the public are often required to appear before the board for town business — as opposed to passively sitting in on a session of the state Legislature.
Chaplains in Greece, the women said, have spoken of “our Christian faith” and of “us as Christian people.” An Easter prayer at a town meeting referred to spring as a symbol of “the new life of the risen Christ,” they said.

A lower federal court sided with the town, but an appeals court sided with the women.
The town is perfectly free to open public meetings with a prayer or invocation, the appeals court stressed. But under the circumstances — including who is chosen to give the prayers and what they say — “the town’s prayer practice must be viewed as an endorsement of a particular religious viewpoint,” the appeals court wrote.
Organizations on the political right, plus 119 mostly Republican members of the House and Senate, saw the case as a chance for the Supreme Court to clarify a confusing series of rulings on the line between church and state.
 
They are asking the court to adopt a simple, more permissive test — requiring only that the government not force participation in any religion or religious exercise, or create a national religion.
The Justice Department filed a brief supporting the town, citing the history of legislative prayers since the Continental Congress and arguing that such a prayer is permissible if it does not “proselytize or advance any one, or disparage any other, faith or belief.”

Besides the long history, the Justice Department said, the federal courts are not well-suited to “police the content” of legislative prayers.

Erin McClam reported from New York.

Friday, October 25, 2013

If you make less than $20k per year

My Comments: People who make less than $11,100 per year will still get free medical care but instead of having to visit the ER for the common flu, they can establish themselves a doctor, specialist, etc. IF one is available in their area. In other words those who can afford to pay and who pay taxes will not only still foot the bill for those who don't or can't but the tax payers (middle class) will continue to bear the burden of the poor. The big change is the poor will now get the entire full treatment on the backs of the middle class. Some agree that's ok and others believe too many of the 'poor' are poor by choice with their hand stuck out. They pose the question: Why should they work if they get it all for free? What's the incentive?

SILVER PLAN: Based on a 60 yr old, smoker, 1 person in family, adult, net income $19k

The information below is about subsidized exchange coverage. Note that subsidies are only available for people purchasing coverage on their own in the exchange (not through an employer). Depending on your state's eligibility criteria, you or some members of your family may qualify for Medicaid.
Household income in 2014:
165% of poverty level
Maximum % of income you have to pay for the non-tobacco premium, if eligible for a subsidy:
4.71%
(before accounting for a tobacco surcharge, if applicable)
Health Insurance premium in 2014 (for a silver plan, before tax credit):
$6,730 per year
In most states, insurers can charge a tobacco surcharge of up to 50% of your total premium before the tax credit. The tax credit cannot be applied to the tobacco surcharge.
You could receive a government tax credit subsidy of up to:
$5,836 per year
(which covers 87% of the overall premium)
Amount you pay for the premium:
$894 per year
(which equals 4.71% of your household income and covers 13% of the overall premium)
      

Other Levels of Coverage

The premium and subsidy amounts above are based on a Silver plan. You have the option to apply the subsidy toward the purchase of other levels of coverage, such as a Gold plan (which would be more comprehensive) or a Bronze plan (which would be less comprehensive).
      
For example, you could enroll in a Bronze plan for about $0 per year (which is 0% of your household income). By enrolling in a Bronze plan, you would receive $4,691 in subsidies, which would cover the entire amount of your Bronze premium. For most people, the Bronze plan represents the minimum level of coverage required under health reform. Although you would pay less in premiums by enrolling in a Bronze plan, you will face higher out-of-pocket costs than if you enrolled in a Silver plan.

Out of Pocket Costs

Your out-of-pocket maximum for a Silver plan (not including the premium) can be no more than $2,250. Whether you reach this maximum level will depend on the amount of health care services you use. Currently, about one in four people use no health care services in any given year.
You are guaranteed access to a Silver plan with an actuarial value of 87%. This means that for all enrollees in a typical population, the plan will pay for 87% of expenses in total for covered benefits, with enrollees responsible for the rest. If you choose to enroll in a Bronze plan, the actuarial value will be 60%, meaning your out-of-pocket costs when you use services will likely be higher. Regardless of which level of coverage you choose, deductibles and copayments will vary from plan to plan, and out-of-pocket costs will depend on your health care expenses. Preventive services will be covered with no cost sharing required.

Government official source:  Kaiser Family Foundation:

Thursday, October 24, 2013

HealthCare.gov - A Hacker Haven

My Comments: What a huge mess!

John McAfee, founder of anti-virus company McAfee, Inc., on the ObamaCare exchanges:
 
Source: Fox News
 
On Fox Business Network’s “Cavuto” on Wednesday, computer programmer and founder of McAfee, Inc. John McAfee said the online component of Obamacare “is a hacker’s dream” that will cause “the loss of income for the millions of Americans who are going to lose their identities.”
 
For starters, McAfee said the way it is set up makes it possible for fake websites be set up to fool people to think they’re signing up for Obamacare.
 
“It’s seriously bad,” McAfee said. “Somebody made a grave error, not in designing the program but in simply implementing the web aspect of it. I mean, for example, anybody can put up a web page and claim to be a broker for this system. There is no central place where I can go and say, ‘OK, here are all the legitimate brokers, the examiners for all of the states and pick and choose one.’”
 
“Instead, any hacker can put a website up, make it look extremely competitive, and because of the nature of the system — and this is health care, after all — they can ask you the most intimate questions, and you’re freely going to answer them,” he continued. “What’s my Social Security number? My birth date? What are my health issues?”
 
According to McAfee, there’s not a quick fix — and as long as it set up this way, it could be a playground for computer hackers.
 
“Here’s the problem: It’s not something software can solve,” McAfee continued. “I mean, what idiot put this system out there and did not create a central depository? There should be one website, run by the government, you go to that website and then you can click on all of the agencies. This is insane. So, I will predict that the loss of income for the millions of Americans who are going to lose their identities — I mean, you can imagine some retired lady in Utah, who has $75,000 dollars in the bank, saving her whole life, having it wiped out in one day because she signed up for Obamacare. And believe me, this is going to happen millions of times. This is a hacker’s dream. I mean I cannot believe that they did this.”

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Reid Just Lied! He Mis-Lead Americans

My Comments: I just took my lunch break and of course flipped on C-Span 1. Senator Reid was speaking at a press gathering. He quoted, supposedly, Gov Sandoval of Nevada as saying yesterday, Oct 8, 2013, "Nevada is in danger of “catastrophic” consequences if the Republican shutdown persists until the end of the month". First all, the Gov didn't make that statement at all. Reid made it clear that Gov Sandoval said the 'Republican Shutdown'. Not true according to ANY report I can find, instead, this is the opening quote made by a reporter:
[Republican] Gov. Brian Sandoval said today Nevada is in danger of “catastrophic” consequences if the federal government shutdown persists until the end of the month.
Source:

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Don Schneider Dies at 76

My Comments: Another giant in trucking laid to rest.

By John D. Schulz, Contributing Editor
January 13, 2012

Donald J. “Don” Schneider, a trucking industry visionary and chairman emeritus and former president and CEO of truckload giant Schneider National, died Jan. 13 in De Pere, Wis., following a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Schneider was 76.
 

Senator Obama Against Raising Debt Ceiling

My Comments: Too many of us have forgotten Obama's years as a senator. Many of the very policies he now embraces were on his "D" list (drop) or his "C" list (change). Example below:

Friday, October 4, 2013

USA Truck Rejects Original Knight Deal

My Comments: Knight Transportation plans seem to have not changed even though their offer has been rejected by USA Truck Inc (USAT) of Van Buren AR.

Source: OverDrive Magazine online: OverDrive

This week, Knight disclosed it had increased its ownership of USA Truck’s outstanding shares from 8 percent to 11.3 percent.

In a statement last month, Knight said it's “ready and willing” to carry through with the transaction. The proposed value was and still is $242 million to buy out USA Truck.

USAT has not fully recovered from the industry's downturn from the 2008-2009 recession, and  turnaround efforts have not yet yielded profits that are consistant. The offer by Knight of 39 percent higher  than USAT’s closing price on Sept. 25 has not swayed USAT's decision.

Quote from OverDrive Online article:

USA, however, said the proposal and a Knight statement were a “disappointment.” Knight, too, said the rejection was a disappointment and said it is “prepared to take the necessary steps to make this combination a reality.”

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Affordable Care Act Trucking Industry Fallout

My Comments: Nobody actually has a handle on exactly what the ACA has in store for Americans so it's obvious neither do the trucking employers.
The article excerpts below was posted on TransportTopics Oct 1st.

"Trucking companies are planning to make employees contribute more to health-care plans, implement wellness plans and take other steps in response to the Affordable Care Act, Transport Capital Partners said.
Only 8% of carriers said the law will not change their business.
 
Citing its August survey, TCP said wellness programs, health-savings accounts and using more independent contractors have become increasingly popular responses to ACA since the group first conducted the carrier survey in 2011.
 
Small carriers were more likely to report adverse effects from the health-care law than large carriers, with 30% of small companies considering dropping health-care coverage for employees compared with 10% of large carriers.
”Smaller carriers are at a disadvantage to find and retain drivers if they cannot compete with the health packages offered by larger carriers,” TCP Partner Richard Mikes said in an Oct. 1 statement that announced the report.
 
The health-care law, also known as Obama Care, will require most companies with more than 50 employees to provide health insurance to workers." Source: TransportTopics.com

Monday, September 30, 2013

9:40pm 2nd Time Senate Kills the Gov't Funding Bill 54-46

My Comments: I've watched the proceedings as much as possible the last 10 days and it's quite easy as I watch it live, to see the why and what's going on. The Republicans desperately trying to find a compromise the Democrats can pass the CR on and the Dems turning everything submitted down even to the point of shutting down half the government in less than 2 hours..........

Republicans at this point were asking for this compromise:

1) Delay the ACA mandate for individuals for 1 year so the states are ready with their exchanges and other messes can be cleared up just as Obama did for countless others like big box stores and unions
2) Their funding resolution keeps government open until Dec. 15 at a level of $986 billion.
(this was accepted reluctantly)

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/house-gop-budget-strategy-government-shutdown-97496.html#ixzz2gQldAJYB

Friday, September 27, 2013

Second Career Truckers by Sandy Long

My Comments: Sandy Long is 40 yr truck driver veteran. Sandy is our newest addition to DriverFinder Network and is the Trucking Industry Coach on www.LadyTruckDrivers.com.
 
Second Career Truckers
Copyright S. Long
How many times since you have started to drive have you heard, “Gee, I always wanted to drive a truck, but am too old now to do it”, from someone working at a dock or store.  I hear it usually at least once a week.  I tell them all the same thing, “You are never too old to start.” 
 
Today, with the job availability scarce outside of the trucking industry and social security and retirement benefits being cut, many people think of trucking as a second career.  Trucking schools advertise the ease of acquiring of CDLs and the high earnings one can make as a driver.  The newspapers are full of driving jobs; therefore, trucking appears attractive to a lot of people.
   
Truck drivers come from all walks of life, start trucking for many different reasons and at different stages of life. The illusion of the ‘freedom of the road’ and ‘getting paid to see the country’ seem to be the main reasons people enter the industry, though economics enter in as most perceive the job of trucking to be an easy way to earn ‘big’ money for sitting on one’s toukus..
 
When I worked in personnel for a trucking company in the 80’s, I found many people from many different professions chucking it all and going to truck driving school to become truckers.  One might think that these folks came from blue collar industrial jobs, but that was not the case, they ranged from a man who had a PhD in Education and had been a superintendent of a large school district to lawyers and doctors.  Most of the white collar professionals that I worked with that wanted to be truckers, cited less job stress/job burnout as the reason they wanted to drive.
 
Not many women enter the industry as soon as they are old enough to get a cdl so most women enter the industry at an older age than men do, therefore trucking is almost always a second career choice for them.  I have found that this is due to women’s role of family care giver and mother more than anything else.  It is hard for a woman with small children to be gone for as long as the industry standards require.  Some women enter in for strictly economic reasons to provide a better living for themselves and/or their children, leaving their children with other family members.  The existence of non discriminatory pay is an enticement for women too.
 
Deciding to Drive Truck as a Second Career
 
A consultation with one’s family doctor is the first step in making the decision to drive truck for older people.  The physical requirements of the job are demanding and health issues are a big deterrent to entering the industry, but with improved equipment and accessories, most people can drive truck as long as they are reasonably healthy.  Great physical strength is not necessary, though one must be able to get in and out of the truck and do the necessary work involved in the job, but stamina is; if you get tired or stressed going to the local store, trucking is not for you.  One cannot have certain health issues such as insulin dependent diabetes, vision problems or take certain prescriptions that might make one drowsy or disorientated.
 
Do your research on companies in your area, their requirements and what you need and expect from them.  Here are a few things you have to consider:
  • How often will you be home
  • What are their physical requirements
  • Is the pay adequate to your lifestyle
  • Will the benefits cover you and your family adequately
  • Driving truck is not only a career, but is a lifestyle also.  Make sure that:
  • You understand the scope and parameters of the job
  • Your spouse and/or family understand that you will more than likely not be home often at least for the first year or two
  • You can tolerate missing family events
  • You can handle high stress situations
  • You can stand the isolation of the road
 
Trucking can be adaptable to many types of situations.  My favorite story of second career truckers is that of a couple from FL.  He had been a railroader and she had been a postal worker.  When they reached retirement age, they retired, sold their home and bought a truck and trailer.  He liked to play golf, she liked to go antiquing.  They got their own authority so they could go where they wanted to go.  They would get a load going to where a big golf course would be, he would play golf for a few days, she would buy antiques and have them shipped home to their daughter‘s antique store, then they would get another load going somewhere else to play.  They traveled the country in their truck enjoying time together and doing what they wanted to do.
 
Is trucking an option for you as a second career?  Only you can be the judge of that, but just because you are not a spring chicken doesn’t mean you cannot drive truck.  There are plenty of us older drivers out on the road running strong, loving and doing our job and many of us are second career truckers.  So give it a thought and a try, you won’t know for sure until you do.