When the herd Hurd heard heard Hurd

September 22, 2006, 8:13 am EST

LAW BLOG

L'Affaire H-P: A Law Blog Poetry Special
Posted by Peter Lattman 

This morning we're doing some serious pre-gaming for H-P CEO Mark Hurd's press conference, scheduled today for 1:05 p.m PST. The papers are filled this morning with stories on Hurd (here, here, and here) asking how much did he know, and when? Hurd has offered to testify before Congress and at today's press conference we�ll hopefully learn more.

Yesterday, Law Blog reader Andrew Sprung, proprietor of Sprung Public Relations, told us that our headline "Hurd Wants to Be Heard" reminded him of a poem he wrote a decade ago--wholly unrelated to H-P's boss--in which he managed to string five 'hurds' in a row. So without further ado, the Law Blog presents Andrew Sprung's "Herd Instinct": 

Herbert Hurd, cattle thief
incompetent beyond belief.

He was excellent with his
ear to the ground
he could hear a herd
and track it down.

But his voice was grating,
his smell unpleasant.
Cows were uncomfortable
with him present.

When Hurd heard a herd,
he'd charge, flushed with greed.
When the herd Hurd heard heard Hurd,
they'd stampede.

One day Hurd got
a herd coralled
at the edge of a cliff
he whooped and yowled.

The agitated
cows conferred.
What happened next?
No more was Hurd.

The shop-around feature on hc.gov has remained live (though somewhat difficult to find) during the off-season, for hte benefit of people eligible for "special enrollment periods" because they've undergone life-changing events such as job loss or divorce or marriage.  And I'm happy to report that at some point in recent months (or weeks), the pop-up definitions have appeared. They work on the screen grab below:

Monthly premium

$18/mo

One enrollee

Premium before tax credit $181/mo

DeductibleThe amount you owe for health care services your health insurance or plan covers before your health insurance or plan begins to pay. For example, if your deductible is $1,000, your plan won't pay anything until you’ve met your $1,000 deductible for covered health care services subject to the deductible. The deductible may not apply to all services.

$6,350/yr

Per individual

Out-of-pocket MaximumYour expenses for medical care that aren't reimbursed by insurance. Out-of-pocket costs include deductibles, coinsurance, and copayments for covered services plus all costs for services that aren't covered.

$6,350/yr

Per individual

Note too that there's a contrast -- perhaps in too-small type? -- between the quote monthly premium and the "premium before tax credit."

I hope that that's a sign of things to come, and that there will be other improvements to the presentati

miss a lot on screens!) and b), it was a core recommendation of an in-depth user study by Penn researchers, described here.

Monthly premium

$18/mo

One enrollee

Premium before tax credit $181/mo

DeductibleThe amount you owe for health care services your health insurance or plan covers before your health insurance or plan begins to pay. For example, if your deductible is $1,000, your plan won't pay anything until you’ve met your $1,000 deductible for covered health care services subject to the deductible. The deductible may not apply to all services.

$6,350/yr

Per individual

Out-of-pocket MaximumYour expenses for medical care that aren't reimbursed by insurance. Out-of-pocket costs include deductibles, coinsurance, and copayments for covered services plus all costs for services that aren't covered.

$6,350/yr

Per individual

Healthcare.gov could do more to steer CSR-eligible buyers toward silver plans. The listing of available plans could default to silver, or at least make the sort-by-metal-level feature more prominent, or simply emphasize that the user qualifies for CSR and can only access that aid by buying silver, or warn CSR-eligible buyers more emphatically that they're forfeiting benefits if they begin to buy a not-silver plan. By and large, though, most people seem to have got the message.

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          State                % bronze         life expect       Diabetes %*   obesity**          median HH

                                                                                                             

US entire	20%	78.9	10.2%	63.4%	51.9k
MS	8	75.0	12.5	68.9	40.8k
PA	8	78.5	10.2	64.9	53.9k
AL	9	75.4	12.3	67.7	41.4k
GA	11	77.2	9.9	64.6	48.1k
AZ	12	79.6	10.6	62.0	50.6k
FL	13	79.4	11.4	62.1	47.9k
MI	13	78.2	10.5	65.6	48.8k
KY	13	76.0	10.7	66.9	42.1k
SD	14	79.5	7.8	66.1	54.4k
WV	14	75.4	13.0	68.3	40.2k
AVG group	14.25%	77.4	10.9	65.7	46.8k

          State                % bronze         life expect       Diabetes %     obesity            median HH $

                                                                                                           

US entire	20%	78.9	10.2%	63.4%	51.9k
HI	41	81.3	7.8	56.1	61.4k
CO	40	80.0	7.4	55.7	63.4k
WA	38	79.9	8.8	62.3	60.1k
DC	29	76.5	8.2	51.9	60.7k
IL	29	79.0	9.4	64.0	57.2k
IN	28	77.6	10.9	65.5	50.6k
MT	27	78.5	7.2	61.3	44.1k
AK	27	78.3	7.0	64.8	61.1k
IA	26	79.7	9.7	64.7	54.8k
NH	26	80.3	9.1	62.1	71.3k
AVG group	31.1%	79.1	8.5	60.8	58.5k

* "Diabetes" = percentage who have ever been told by a doctor that they have Diabetes.

** "obesity" = percentage who are overweight or obese.