Politics of the healthcare reform billl Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Politics of the healthcare reform billl - Essay Example With lobbyists for health insurance companies, trial lawyers, doctors and drug manufacturers taking part in closed-door meetings with the proponents of the bill (Abelson) to reach a consensus about how Senate were to proceed with regard to the proposal. Moreover, advertisement campaigns were launched, as well as community meetings so as to reach out to the voters in an effort to win them over (Rutenberg). President Obama was also involved in meeting many of his own party Senators in an effort to win them over, as well as those from conservative groups in an effort to make his proposal and its acceptance as bipartisan as possible (Pear, â€Å"Obama’s Health Plan†). In March of 2009, President Obama presented his proposal before Congress (Geisel). The proposal faced two main difficulties; the Republicans were very vocal against the proposal from the onset. Even though President Obama had just made a basic outline, with giving Congress the free hand to fill in the details later (Pear, â€Å"Obama’s Health Plan†), the Republicans were not convinced that such a revamping of the healthcare system was necessary. Therefore, from the onset, under the leadership of Senator McConnell, they decided that they would try their best not to let it pass by causing as much procedural delay as they could (Herszenhorn, and Pear). On the other hand, a group of Democrats did not favor it either, as they thought some of the provisions laid out in the bill were against their principles or stance (for instance, restrictions on abortions) (Herszenhorn, and Pear). For the latter group of people, many concessions were made, with new resolutions introduced into the bill that would remove the objections of the Representatives (Herszenhorn, and Pear). However, there were also meetings that took place between the Speaker of the House, Ms. Nancy Pelosi and the reluctant Democrat members of the House

Should medicare and medicaid be reformed How so Explain fully Essay

Should medicare and medicaid be reformed How so Explain fully - Essay Example But in practice, leads to the fact that medicine in America has become absurdly, mega expensive.  Being for-profit businesses, insurance companies are focused on money earning.  They can get profits denying sick people medical care, raising prices or paying less to doctors. The last option is unrealistic, since doctors are a very powerful cast - America is ruled by doctors and lawyers.  Therefore, insurance companies are choosing raise cost of services and refuse compensations.  Most people do not pay the doctors themselves, their treatment is covered by insurance.  A huge percentage of Americans - 47 million people, roughly one in six, do not have insurance for many reasons.  So, all citizens who are outside the health care system do not undergo medical examination, health surveys and preventive treatments - as a result visit doctors with advanced stages of diseases that are expensive to treat.   No wonder that having such fantastic ineffective expenditures on Medicare and Medicaid and quite more successful examples of the problem solution, like in Canada, the Government took a risk of reforms that split society. It’s obvious that the state should strengthen its influence in the medical field.  It has to introduce a more strict control over private hospitals’ prices of services. Health care should become more social.

Week 3 Discussion Questions and Participation Questions Essay - 1

Week 3 Discussion Questions and Participation Questions - Essay Example When a firm uses product differentiation the market structure of the firm is monopolistic competition. Examples of firms that use product differentiation are fast food companies such as McDonalds and Burger King. I believe that my firm could not benefit from product differentiation due to its integration to a perfect competition marketplace. Product differentiation would be an added cost that would not provide the firm with any added benefits. I agree that competition in price and services can be as effective as price strategies. Proving a top customer service can improve the customer retention rate of the company. Quality products that last a long time help companies built a good reputation which increases sales in the long run. Since they are not able to achieve economic profits in the long run corporations prefer to use non price competition. There are dangers associated with price competition such as price wars. The use of non price factors such as marketing campaigns can improve the demand for the product without having to reduce the price. A way to maintain the ability to be the sole participation in the marketplace companies can the legal protection that comes from obtaining a patent. A patent protects a company’s product for 17 years. Patents are utilized a lot in the pharmaceutical industry. Due to the massive amounts of money these firms invest in R&D they need patent protection to be able to get a return on their investment. A patent is the best way to achieve legal protection that allows a firm to participate in a monopoly marketplace. Despite the fact monopolist can charge any price they want due to the lack of competition the monopolist structure is still subject to the law of supply and demand. I do not agree with the statement that monopolist raise price until customers are not willing to pay more. A lot of monopolists exist to serve a social purpose. For example the utilities companies often have regional

Ethical Leadership in Corporate America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6500 words

Ethical Leadership in Corporate America - Essay Example United States possesses anti-fraud regulations that can execute the offenders in the courts of law as criminals of the society. But significant number of fraudulent activities happen in the United States erasing hundreds of billions of dollars of government treasury and public money every year. The Enron fraud revealed the huge extent of involvement of corporate executives in illegal market manipulations and tampering of financial books & balance sheets that can shake the fundamentals of US economy and in turn the global economy. [Ostas. 2007. p.571-578] Enron fraud was a significant event in the history that resulted in a mammoth decline of about $1.5 Trillion in the New York Stock Exchange alone within an year of their public disclosures which eroded the confidence of the general investors significantly in the United States and rest of world [Ostas. 2007. p.571-578]. This was one of the most rude shocks to the world about a country where ethical conduct is taught as dedicated management subject and Jesuit tradition of education is followed in so many universities. Is America developing bad managers at the academic level or the work environment in the corporations erases their fundamental learning of ethics that they bring from the academic world This is a question that is not easy to answer but the people of United States and from all across the world have begin to wonder if the corporations of the United States are in the hands of managers that are incapable and selfish that possess very poor self restraint and self reliance and poor (or NIL) dignity towards the nation and its people. In this article, I present a review of the impact of leadership values and ethics within Corporate America taking the events in Enron as the baseline. The article begins with an analysis of the events in Enron and their mapping with the empirical theories of corporate ethics. Further to this, the alternatives are discussed that management in Enron should have considered to prevent this fraud and the most appropriate alternative is discussed in detail along with its implementation plan. Table of Contents: 1.1 Background of the Enron Scandal 7 1.1.1 What was the ENRON scandal 7 1.1.2 Brief summary of the issue 9 1.1.3 Sarbanes - Oxley Act and other major changes post Enron Scandal 10 1.1.4 The Problem Statement 12 2.1 Amazing rise of Enron and its fall thereafter 13 2.2 Where did Enron lacked in Corporate Ethics 15 2.3 Linking Enron and the Corporate America with the empirical theories of corporate ethics 18 Table of Figures: S.No. Description and Hyperlink in the document Figure 1 The mapping of IT enabled Corporate Governance with the corresponding attributes (Source: IT Governance Institute. 2000) Figure 2 The extremely complex transactional framework created by Enron to sell their SPEs (Source: Jenson, Bob. at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory/00overview/speoverview.htm) Figure 3 The Critical Thinking Model (Source: Paul and Elder. 2006. p.3-21) Figure 4 The decision making process that develops the individual traits helping in being more

Software-generated information to make decision in an oganisation Essay

Software-generated information to make decision in an oganisation - Essay Example Activity Immediate Predecessor Time (Days) Earliest Start time Earliest Finish time Latest Start Time Latest Finish Time Slack 01 None 1 0 1 0 1 0 02 01 11 01 12 1 12 0 03 01 14 12 26 38 52 26 04 03 5 26 31 52 57 26 05 02 23 12 35 29 52 17 06 05 5 35 40 52 57 17 07 02 20 12 32 37 57 25 08 02 30 12 42 12 42 0 09 08 15 42 57 42 57 0 10 08 2 42 44 50 52 8 11 02 33 12 45 14 47 2 12 11 10 45 55 47 57 2 13 10 4 44 48 52 56 8 14 13,10 1 48 49 56 57 8 15 06,07,09,14 1 57 58 57 58 0 Answer A The normal time for completing the project is expected to be 58 days. For the project to be completed on 30th November 2013 having commenced on 1st October 2013, it calls for crashing the time because the period of completion is shorter than the predicted time in the activity plan. Activities to be crashed must have the minimum cost implication for the process and usually they are those in the critical path. It is worth to note that, the Microsoft project considers work only done for five days of the week thus the time span for the project adds up to forty-five days. The Gantt chart that would be realized from the above information is as indicated in the MS Project. (See attached file) Answer B The network diagram of the project information in the above tables as follows Answer C The critical path refers to a sequence of activities in a project that form the longest chain in terms of their completion time. The set of these activities in a project network are determined by calculating the slack. Where by the slack is obtained by subtracting the earliest start time and activity duration from latest finish time. The critical path is realized in those activities whose slack is equal to zero. From the above table, the activities with a zero slack are 01, 02, 08, 09, and 15. Thus, the critical path can be concluded to be 01 – 02 – 08 – 09-15. Answer D The project duration is determined by adding up the time durations of all the activities in the critical path of the p roject network. In the above project network, the critical path was determined above and realized to be 01 – 02 – 08 – 09 - 15. To determine the least time duration would be (1 + 11 + 30 + 15 + 1) = 58 days. Answer to Task 2 Year Cash inflows Discounting factor (10%) Discounted cash inflow Cash inflows (C) Discounting factor (15%) Discounted cash inflow (Ci) 1 2500 0.9091 2272.73 2500 0.8696 2173.91 2 2750 0.8264 2272.73 2750 0.7561 2079.40 3 3025 0.7513 2272.73 3025 0.6575 1988.99 4 3327.5 0.6830 2272.73 3327.5 0.5718 1902.51 5 3660.25 0.6209 2272.73 3660.25 0.4972 1819.79 Total 11363.63 9964.60 Net Present Value (NPV) is a measure used for evaluating the value of a business by determining the present value of such investment by adding up all the discounted cash inflows received within the given period of the investment. The formula for discounting by the NVP method Where C0= Cash outflow also known as Initial Investment Ci = Cash flows for the given years r = Discount rate T = Time Where r = the discount rate, and T = time NVP the rate is at 10% NVP = 198.43 NVP when the rate is at 15% NVP = 46.19533 This method is used to determine the profitability and suitability of a project before commencing a plan to undertake the investment. A project with a positive NPV is said to be favorable, whereas one with a negative NPV is regarded as unfavorable and thus investor would be discouraged to undertake that project. Report Summery Project management

Question wk 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Question wk 3 - Essay Example Leaders are big zeros without followers. Followers are the strengths and weaknesses of the leaders. Some leaders might get better followers and they will face fewer problems in leading them whereas some other leaders may get problematic followers and it is difficult for them to lead such followers towards the target. People will never follow somebody blindly. They will follow somebody for some purpose. Leaders can effectively lead the followers only if they will be able to provide genuine reasons for the mutual benefits. In any case, leadership and followership are interconnected and neither of it can survive without having the support from the other one. I expect my followers to support me always even if I made some unpopular decisions. They should realize that the ultimate aim of my decisions would be to reach the target which is good for them as well. If they have some disagreements with my decisions, I expect them to make me aware of it privately rather than complaining publicly. My followers should keep all their discussions with me as a private matter and they should never discuss it with their colleagues. Such open discussions may create problems to me as well as to them also. They should accept all the responsibilities provided to them. I don’t like somebody capable of taking a responsibility, denying it when it is offered to him. My followers should reveal the truth or the exact reasons to me if they were unable to do something instructed. They should never hide any information related to the project from me. Moreover, they should have better knowledge about their own strengths and weaknesses. I expect all my follower s to communicate well with me and communicate well with each other. They should take initiatives wherever possible to solve a problem and should not wait for my instructions always, if they have absolute surety of the solutions. I always try to keep all the above aspects of followership in my dealings with my

Islamic Religion in Prison Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Islamic Religion in Prison - Essay Example can be traced back to the eighteenth century (Latessa & Allen, 1997), and many scholars of the contemporary prison noted down that religious reflection and beliefs had lots of influence on developing current, secular prison practices (Rothman, 1995; Young, Gartner, O'Connor, Larson, & Wright, 1990). In light of this, this paper presents the results of a study exploring the process of conversion to Islam amongst young male prisoners. In accordance with Rambo (1993, pg. 13), there are effectively four ways in which religious adaptation can be practiced: it perhaps a practice of increased loyalty and commitment within the same religious composition; a move from non religious devotion to a religious life; a change from one religion to another; and the shifting of a person from one group of people to another inside the same major religious practices. As such, the population of Islamic conversions in prison is expected to be varied, consisting of different traditions and different previous experiences of religious activities, as well as persons who recognize themselves as Muslim whose religiousity becomes more important upon imprisonment; persons who do not identify themselves with any religion prior to imprisonment but who then subsequently adopt Islam whilst in jail; and inmates who were following non-Islamic religions prior to, or certainly during part of, their imprisonment, but who then convert to Islam. Within prison, a potential convert can come across a setting that is in support of the practice of conversion. Kose's (1996) study of Muslim conversions in prison shows that the majority of persons practiced three patterns of conversion to Islamic religion, given that "intellectual, affectional, and investigational patterns". Initial skepticism about prior faiths and intellectual finding within Islam values often paves the way towards conversion, and this has come with by individualistic contacts with Muslim brothers or links and a period of "carrying-out-tests" with Islamic religion. The prison environment is itself sometimes a 'hazardous environment' for inmates, owing to the high levels of 'violent behavior' that can be practiced, which may consist of sexual or physical threats and attacks (Edgar and O'Donnell, 1998). However, converting to Islam in jail may serve to lessen an inmate's threat from unfair treatment. Several researchers reported