It’s been a few months since the launch of the health care exchange, one of the biggest remaining pieces of Obamacare. It’s been rocky, but the numbers are not too far off from projections. As the exchanges and the other pieces of the law become status quo, however, that has not stopped the doom and… Continue reading Healthcare Agonistes Redux
Author: Nathan Hunstad
2013 Tax Incidence
Hey, it’s time for my now-annual blog post on tax incidence! Graphs below…
Dealing With Stolen Credit Cards
How funny: the day after I write about password breaches, I learn that one of my credit care numbers has been stolen. Thankfully, though, I was well prepared for this event, and should be back to normal operations very quickly.
Password Breaches: Don’t Panic, Be Prepared
Hey, look, there’s been another password breach! Is it time to panic? I decided not to. In fact, I decided to pretty much ignore the whole story. As a result of this breach, I only rotated one password, and frankly, it wasn’t because I was worried that this password had been compromised. Wait, shouldn’t you… Continue reading Password Breaches: Don’t Panic, Be Prepared
MVP
How good would you feel about an IRS website that promised you 90% of your income tax refund if you used it? Or a DMV website that allowed you to have a pretty good shot of renewing your license tabs, but if your birthday was in December you’d find that your purchase couldn’t be completed?… Continue reading MVP
Rollout
So it’s been a month since the rollout of the health insurance exchanges created by the ACA, and it hasn’t exactly been a fantastic rollout. It also isn’t that unexpected, nor is it the worst rollout of all time. It certainly doesn’t mean that Obamacare is doomed to failure. But there are a lot of… Continue reading Rollout
How to manufacture a controversy
There’s a whole lot of stupid involved with the government shutdown, but the story that just blows me away is the Vitter Amendment and the so-called “special treatment” that Congress is supposedly getting with regards to health insurance. If you want to hear a small part of why we are in the situation we are… Continue reading How to manufacture a controversy
Bravely tilting at windmills
There’s hardly much more to be said about the all-too-likely government shutdown, or the possibility of an even more terrifying default on our debt obligations. But even so, I firmly believe it’s a good idea to repeat this as often as possible so everybody understands it: Republicans in Congress are drawing their line in the… Continue reading Bravely tilting at windmills
Minnesota Insurance Rates
MNsure and the Department of Commerce announced yesterday the rates for the insurance plans that will become available on the exchange October 1st, and it was great news: Minnesota has the lowest average rates in the country based on all the states that have made their rates public. A young non-smoker in the Twin Cities… Continue reading Minnesota Insurance Rates
Breaking Encryption
The big news today is that the NSA has “broken” much internet encryption. Details are scarce, and comments are plentiful, but it’s important to understand at a high level what it means to “break” encryption. There are essentially three ways to “break” encryption, and they all mean different things.