Dr. Marc K. Siegel, a practicing physician and TV commentator, writes in the New York Post on what he thinks a “public option” would mean for his patients in the real world.

Siegel writes:  “Like many other doctors, I’ve been looking at my panel of patients and trying to decide whether a “public option” in health reforms will help them. Unfortunately, I can’t think of a single patient where it will.

As an internist, I have a varied practice, with patients ranging from rich to poor, from chronically ill to “worried well.” On any given day, I see at least one quarter of cases (including Medicaid patients) without charge; one or two come in without insurance and pay me cash. Most of the time, I accept the patient’s HMO or Medicare without looking closely at how much I get paid.

The biggest problem I’m having now is the shrinking network of doctors to refer my patients to for procedures or specialty evaluations. The public option won’t help here — and could make things worse.”

Read the column here. 

Interested in how federal health care reform will impact your business?  The Business Council presents Forum 2009: Federal Health Care Reform - Understanding the Impact on New York’s Businesses to provide information to businesses and other interested stakeholders. Including: understand how any changes will affect coverage options for employees, result in new taxes or surcharges, impact access to health care services, and affect your bottom-line. Sign up today click here.

The federal government through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has recently approved implementation of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). This act will prohibit employers from discriminating against employees or candidates based on a genetic condition or predisposition to certain diseases. Here in New York State, such a prohibition has been part of the New York State Human Rights law for some time.

This new federal law calls for an employer required posting in the workplace. The law is effective November 21, 2009 and the EEOC has updated its poster with the new required information.

If you would like to download it for free, The Business Council has it available from its Labor & HR Committee webpage. Most of the other required federal and state posters are also available for download from this webpage at

http://www.bcnys.org/inside/laborcom.htm#posters

Press “Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Poster.”

Business Council members are invited to call the HR Line at 800-332-2117 with any questions about this new requirement

Juliet Eilperin a Washington Post staff writer reports -”For a decade or more, the political battle over climate change has been fought largely over the validity of the science of global warming. But Tuesday, as the Environment and Public Works Committee opened its first hearing on a Senate climate change bill, those concerns took a rear seat to a different issue: the potential economic impact of climate change.

And the scene was set for a battle over best estimates.

The shift, which has taken place everywhere from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to the most liberal environmental groups, has prompted an array of competing studies aimed at predicting what will happen if the United States comes up with a means of charging industries for creating the emissions linked to global warming. The answer to that question is based on complex calculations projecting years into the future — the interpretation of which is influenced by each side’s underlying beliefs. And it promises to define the debate on Capitol Hill for the next several months.”

To read the rest of the story click here.

Chesapeake Energy announced yesterday that they will not pursue drilling in the New York City watershed. According to the New York Times (10/28/09), Chesapeake is the only leaseholder in the watershed and currently holds 5,000 acres which will remain undeveloped. The acreage held by Chesapeake is very small compared to their other holdings in the Marcellus. Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon also stated that they would not acquire new leases in the NYC watershed and would be surprised if anyone else in the industry would. He suggested that it was not worth the risk or the aggravation.

It remains to be seen whether the DEC will now decide to ban drilling in the watershed as many downstate environmental activists are advocating for. It almost seems like a moot point if the energy companies have no intention of drilling in the watershed anyway.

I wonder if all the landowners who live in the watershed view this as a victory. There are so many small, rural towns in Delaware, Sullivan and other counties in the watershed that are suffering and looking for some way out of their economic depression. These landowners have few options and now that it looks like their land won’t be developed, I wonder if they will remain.

New York State lost more residents between 2000-2008 than any other state in the US according to today’s Times Union. This population drain is largely due to NYS tax burden, housing costs, and “the lack of economic opportunities upstate”. No one can blame Chesapeake for abandoning the NYC watershed. I hope that they and other energy companies who plan to drill in central New York and the Southern Tier are not driven away from these areas as well. The Upstate economy desperately needs the kind of jobs and long term economic development that drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale can provide.

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Jennifer Levine has been invited by The Business Council to be a guest contributing author to the Capital Business Blog to enhance our readers understanding of the Marcellus shale issue and the job creating opportunities that surround it.

Jennifer Levine, recently worked at the New York State Assembly for a member whose district includes five counties in the Marcellus play where she gained exposure to this issue. Previously, she worked in government relations for MCI Communications in Washington, D.C. Jennifer can be reached at jklevine@nycap.rr.com

The Hill.com reports - “Organized labor is flexing its muscle in Senate negotiations over healthcare reform and winning important concessions from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

Reid has not given labor unions everything. But he has done enough to keep them from turning completely against the bill: including a version of the government-run health insurance program; raising the taxable level on high-cost insurance plans; and increasing the penalty for those companies that fail to provide health insurance to employees.

Keeping labor unions, a reliable Democratic-base group, on his side is an important accomplishment for Reid as he heads into a multi-week floor debate on the party’s biggest legislative priority.”

To read the rest of thestory click here.

Interested in how federal health care reform will impact your business?  The Business Council presents Forum 2009: Federal Health Care Reform - Understanding the Impact on New York’s Businesses to provide information to businesses and other interested stakeholders. Including: understand how any changes will affect coverage options for employees, result in new taxes or surcharges, impact access to health care services, and affect your bottom-line. Sign up today click here.

Jenny Lee-Adrian of writes in today’s Poughkeepsie Journal - “With the bill due Monday, Dutchess County still doesn’t seem to know how it will pay the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s mobility tax of $324,000.

Asked how the county will make the payment this year, Colleen Pillus, spokeswoman for County Executive William Steinhaus, said: “The Dutchess County Legislature has made the policy decision to decline to appropriate the money to pay the bill.”

To read the rest of the story click here.

Andy Soltis reports in today’s New York Post - “New Yorkers are fleeing the state and city in alarming numbers — and costing a fortune in lost tax dollars, a new study shows.

More than 1.5 million state residents left for other parts of the United States from 2000 to 2008, according to the report from the Empire Center for New York State Policy. It was the biggest out-of-state migration in the country.

The vast majority of the migrants, 1.1 million, were former residents of New York City — meaning one out of seven city taxpayers moved out.

“The Empire State is being drained of an invaluable resource — people,” the report said. ”

To read the rest of the story click here.

To read the report from the Empire Center for New York State Policy click here.

The following is part of and editorial in today’s Daily News.

“The old wheeze about New York being a great place to visit but not to live is a bad joke come true. Far too many people are packing up after trying, and failing, to make a go of life here.

From 2000 to 2008, 1.5 million people left the state, including 1.1 million from the city. Most went to the Sun Belt, but it wasn’t the weather that drew them. What stole them away was the promise of a better life at lower cost.

And, make no mistake, the departees were not down-on-their-luck types. They were solid wage earners with average adjusted gross incomes in 2006 and 2007 of $57,144, according to Internal Revenue Service statistics analyzed by the Empire Center for New York State Policy.”

To read the rest of the story click here.

Jon Campbell writes in today’s Pressconnects.com - “Voters in New York will be asked to decide a pair of amendments to the state constitution when they head to the polls Nov. 3
The first proposal would allow the state and the power company National Grid to swap forest preserve land in St. Lawrence County in an already completed power-line project, while the other would let prisoners perform volunteer work at non-profit organizations.

The second proposal would offer inmates more chances to work outside of prisons. Currently, the constitution allows prisoners to perform work for governmental agencies, but the amendment would allow them to volunteer for religious, charitable and educational groups as well.”

To read the rest of the story click here.

Jeromy Peters writes in today’s New york Times - “From a command center inside the Days Inn here, conservatives from around the country are fighting to preserve what they see as the integrity of the Republican Party.

Urged on by leaders like former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska and Dick Armey, the former House majority leader from Texas, they have come to defeat Dede Scozzafava, the Republican candidate for Congress in the 23rd District, whose views on abortion, same-sex marriage and taxes they deem insufficiently conservative for anyone running as a Republican.”

To read the rest of the styory click here.

To find out more about the race for the 23rd congressional district seat go to www.bcnys.org and click on the Fix New York button. There you will be able to view detailed information about the 23rd district as well as the latest news from local and statewide news papers on issues that Business Council members say are important to them and our economy. It gives visitors the ability to find their local chamber of commerce, links to state government sites and other vital information that will allow them to make informed decisions.