Word: states
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Gone, at least for the big-network audience, was the culture warrior who praised the "pro-America areas" of America. (Though her book-tour itinerary looks like a battleground-state campaign map.) Invited by Walters to rate Obama on a scale of 1 to 10, Palin gave him a 4--a charitable score for a guy she accused of scheming to deny lifesaving care to the elderly and disabled. Whom do you have to kill to get a 3 around here...
...order to hitch its wagon to the world's most dynamic economy but today worries that a declining dollar will impede China's growth. Many in Washington and on Wall Street believe that China's currency policy gives it unfair advantages in trade and that its reliance on state spending rather than domestic consumption is a core cause of the global economic crisis. (See pictures of the global financial crisis...
Psychology Professor Anita Blanchard has a pretty sweet deal with her employer. Even if the 40-something mother of three leaves her job at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the state of North Carolina guarantees her premium-free health insurance that will cover 80% of her health care costs for life. But's there's a hitch: she can't gain too much weight or start smoking. If she does, she could be on the hook for an additional 10% of her health care...
Companies have long promoted healthier behavior by subsidizing gym memberships and smoking-cessation classes. But several private and public employers have started tying financial incentives to their health-insurance plans. North Carolina this year became the second state to approve an increase in out-of-pocket expenses for state workers who smoke and don't try to quit or who are morbidly obese and don't try to lose weight. Alabama was the first to pass what critics call a fat fee, in 2008, and several state insurance plans have started imposing a $25 monthly surcharge on smokers...
...there's a big difference between handing out gift cards and jacking up people's co-pays. The Tar Heel State in particular has been criticized for using a big-stick approach. Starting in July, state workers who smoke will be moved from the plan that covers 80% of health care costs to one that pays 70%, an out-of-pocket difference of approximately $480 a year, unless they agree to enroll in a smoking-cessation program...