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On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Francis Cianfrocca to discuss how MF Global went bankrupt, why the CPI is an inaccurate reflection of life for an average American, and what the real financial situation is for many families today.

We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment and Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

Ex-MF Global CEO Jon Corzine denies allegations
Why MF Global Really Went Bankrupt
Inflation holds steady in November
Accelerating Health Care Costs Wiping Out Much of Americans’ Income Gains
Japan mulls relaxing beef import restrictions

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The hosts and guests of Coffee and Markets speak only for ourselves, not any clients or employers.

The US Postal Service is planning to reduce payroll by 20 percent. That’s a nicer way of saying 20 percent will join the unemployment lines. The Postal Service is citing increasing costs from employees and declining mail volume.

Notably among the costs cited were retirement and healthcare. It was only in 2007 that Congress mandated it pay over $ 5 billion a year into its retiree funds.

ATTLE — The financially strapped U.S. Postal Service is proposing to cut its workforce by 20 percent and to withdraw from the federal health and retirement plans because it believes it could provide benefits at a lower cost.

The layoffs would be achieved in part by breaking labor agreements, a proposal that drew swift fire from postal unions. The plan would require congressional approval but, if successful, could be precedent-setting, with possible ripple effects throughout government. It would also deliver a major blow to the nation’s labor movement.

In a notice informing employees of its proposals — with the headline “Financial crisis calls for significant actions” — the Postal Service said, “We will be insolvent next month due to significant declines in mail volume and retiree health benefit pre-funding costs imposed by Congress.”

During the past four years, the service lost $20 billion, including $8.5 billion in fiscal 2010. Over that period, mail volume dropped by 20 percent.

The Postal Service is not directly financed by the government, and, therefore, must finance itself.

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Have you wondered how healthcare reform will play out? You only need to look at how healthcare has been laid out by the World Health Organization (WHO). The International Classification of Disease also known as the ICD is the coding system that is used to classify diseases. It is published by the (WHO), and it is also the basis for reimbursement for hospitals and physicians.

There have been several iterations of the ICD. The most recent is ICD-10. Seven countries have adopted it to date. The first country to adopt it for clinical use was Australia in 1998 then Canada in 2000. The most recent country to adopt it was Thailand in 2007. The United States is scheduled to adopt it in 2013. Just in time for the major pieces for the healthcare reform pieces to take effect. The mad rush to pass healthcare reform makes a lot of sense when this time table is taken into consideration. It finally brings the US healthcare system into the global healthcare system overseen by the WHO.

How will our healthcare system change when 30 million new people will be covered and will need healthcare? The system in British Columbia, Canada provides an example of what we can expect. They have adopted a healthcare system that has clinical treatment guidelines set forth by a protocols advisory committee. Our healthcare reform system also sets up an advisory panel that will use evidence based medicine.

These advisory panels set up treatment flow sheets that will make it easy for healthcare providers such as physician assistants to provide care. Now I understand how Governor Rendell can make the statement that he did a couple of weeks ago that health care providers are “just as good as primary care physicians”. Although we have a shortage of physicians, the statement is clearly based in the premise that anyone can use algorithms to cookbook medical care. All you need to do is connect the dots.

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