It's doubtful that the country will be popping bottles of champagne on January 1, 2013?we can't afford it. But we will be throwing confetti printed by the Federal Reserve over a cliff.

As of November 27, 2012, the country's debt was $16.279 trillion?just $115 billion below the $16.394 trillion statutory ceiling. The Treasury predicts that borrowing will reach the current limit near the end of December 2012. Right around the Mayan calendar "end date" of 12-21-12.

Apocalyptic prophecies aside, there are a number of things that are scheduled to expire at the end of 2012. One is the Medicare "Doc Fix," which postponed until Dec 31 the day that the rates at which Medicare pays physicians will decrease by 27 percent. Another is the "Bush tax cuts." On January 1, all income tax, estate, and capital gains tax rates will go up substantially, and millions more people will be subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax.

Then there are new taxes, compliments of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA or ObamaCare), some of which take effect in 2013. These include the Medicare surtax on so-called millionaires and billionaires, i.e., individuals making more than $200,000 a year ($250,000 if married), and a new 3.8% tax on capital gains and dividends, interest, and other passive income. The now infamous penalty-that-is-really-a-tax kicks in for those who don't buy government-approved health insurance in 2014. Another revenue-raising measure is a cap of $2,500 on previously unlimited Flexible Spending Accounts. This discourages Americans from taking personal responsibility for medical spending instead of relying on third-party payments.

And January 2 could ring in sequestration, that is, automatic budget cuts. The Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA) authorized the President to increase the debt ceiling by $2.1 trillion in exchange for some $917 billion in cuts, from 2012 to 2021, in "discretionary"?that is, nonentitlement?programs such as defense, education, national parks, the FBI, the EPA, low-income housing assistance, medical research, and many others. Unless Congress and the President agree to modify or repeal the BCA, spending reductions of some $109 billion per year with half coming from defense budget and half from nondefense are triggered. Sequestration for Medicare payments to health care providers and health plans is limited to 2%.

The President does not want cuts to his signature law, the inappropriately named Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). It is, however, a financial disaster. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has projected a cost of $1.4 trillion over 10 years, but if we look at history, such projections are meaningless. In 1967, the House Ways and Means Committee said Medicare would only cost $12 billion in 1990. The actual cost was $110 billion. In 2010, total Medicare expenditures were $523 billion. Medicare spending has been forecasted by the CBO to increase to $922 billion in 2020.

Just the IRS and HHS costs to implement the PPACA, $20 billion over 10 years, exceed the House's initial estimate for all Medicare spending. And how can we afford a vast new entitlement when the CBO admits in an Oct 1 report, CRS Report R41390, that "even maintaining current funding levels for existing programs with an established appropriations history may prove a challenge under growing pressure to reduce federal discretionary spending."

In the PPACA, there are about 100 new programs with noble-sounding names or goals: for example, the program to facilitate shared decision making, culture change (to patient-centered care), the Elder Justice Coordinating Council, the Offices of Minority Health, and the Offices on Women's Health. But none have been evaluated for effectiveness before we start pouring money into them. Under the circumstances, I think we should add more funds to the newly minted Centers of Excellence for Depression.

Fortunately, the PPACA's discretionary provisions are subject to the congressional appropriations process, which can potentially defund a program. Additionally, appropriations are needed for administrative costs associated with even exempt programs. Thus, Congress has the power to back off from the PPACA contribution to the cliff, if it has the will to do so.

The cliff, however, is not going away. Cliff diving, anyone?

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http://www.aapsonline.org/

Federal Funding will Upgrade Health Information Technology for 1,600 Providers Across the State

CHICAGO - December 1, 2012. Governor Pat Quinn today announced that $1.3 million in federal funding was awarded to three Illinois not-for-profit organizations to help them upgrade health information technology services in underserved areas of the state. The grants made possible by the Illinois Office of Health Information Technology (OHIT) as part of its White Space Grant Program will connect providers in the Metro-Chicago area, Central and Southern Illinois. The OHIT anticipates the grants will enable more than 1,600 individual providers to connect with more than 48 health care organizations serving hundreds of thousands of patients every year.

"Upgrading our health information technology network is a critical part of our efforts to transform our health care system into one that focuses on wellness and keeping people healthy through better preventive care," Governor Quinn said. "Improving communication among providers is a key to this transformation. These grants are another important step in the direction of a fully connected Illinois and better patient care."

Federal health officials refer to "White Space" health care providers as those who are practicing in areas that are currently underserved by health information technology infrastructure.

The three grants totaling $1.3 million will be awarded to:

1.  Heartland Health Outreach, the Alliance of Community Health Services and the Chicago Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (CHITREC) in Chicago. Grant amount: $500,000.

2.  The Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network in Princeton. Grant amount: $495,120.

3.  Southern Illinois Healthcare in Carbondale. Grant amount: $338,600.

Funding for these grants is made possible through the $18.8 million in federal funding awarded to Illinois in 2010 under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act as part of the HIE Cooperative Agreement Program. Illinois is using the funding to implement the Illinois Health Information Exchange (ILHIE), a network for the secure sharing of clinical and administrative data among health care providers across the state.

The ILHIE will allow for better care coordination among providers, reduced medical errors and duplicative tests, controlled health care costs, and improved health outcomes. The White Space grants will fill in gaps throughout Illinois and connect organizations to health information exchange services that would not otherwise be able to connect.

"Illinois' health information exchange network is only as strong as the volume and geographic diversity of providers connected to it," OHIT Director Laura Zaremba said. "Through these projects we are connecting providers in communities that need our assistance the most."

"Illinois is in an outstanding position to be a national leader in health information exchange for many years to come, " added ILHIE Authority Executive Director Raul Recarey, who will be working closely with these and other providers all across Illinois. "This is an opportunity to leverage our federal funding in a way that promotes connectivity and improves health care quality and care coordination among providers."

For additional information about health information exchange in Illinois please visit the ILHIE website at http://hie.illinois.gov.

About the Illinois Office of Health Information Technology (OHIT)

and the Illinois Health Information Exchange (ILHIE)

The Illinois Health Information Exchange (ILHIE) is a statewide, secure electronic transport network for sharing clinical and administrative data among health care providers in Illinois. The ILHIE allows providers to exchange electronic health information in real time and in a secure environment to improve health care quality and patient care. The Illinois Office of Health Information Technology  (OHIT) is working with the ILHIE Authority to support its development.

There are many complicated opinions from experts about why America's children are becoming fatter, more diseased and emotionally unstable each year.

At the same time, bullying, teen suicides and child obesity continue to rise, and proposed solutions to these problems tend to be expensive and unlikely to be undertaken in these tough economic times, says Gordon Filepas, author of "Lean And Healthy To 100," (www.adviceformychildren.com), a guide for achieving optimal health based on studying cultures where long lives are the norm.

"Even if implemented, most of these 'solutions' are not likely to solve the problem," he says. "That's because most Americans were never taught the simple, common-sense root of most obesity and disease. There's no mystery or magic to it at all."

Filepas talks about easy, inexpensive and natural steps to solving child obesity in five years or less:

• Parental accountability: Your job as a parent is to teach your children what they need to learn to become productive, balanced and healthy adults. Buying snack foods, sodas and junk food for your children is not being responsible. Plus, you're rewarding companies that make these products. You're probably listening to the "popular" health advice in America, which is mostly incorrect. You need to learn the correct common sense information once and for all so that it becomes easy for your child to stop craving these "foods."

• School accountability: If your school sells and profits from any type of junk food in vending machines, it should be ashamed of itself. I know school budgets are strained, but making money from junk food is wrong on so many levels. If a school really needs to carry these foods to make money, then we should mandate that manufacturers create a "school version" that contains all the nutrients the human body needs and are made from only whole, natural food sources and nothing man-made. If implemented, students would shine in so many ways.

• Teach parents and children the root cause: From 20 years of health research, I've learned from experts that the root cause of obesity and disease is due to imbalances in the human body. The underlying, real root cause of these imbalances is a lifestyle that does not honor how the human body actually works, or respects what it really needs. The proper lifestyle is composed of the proper nutrition and daily living habits that maintain and preserve this nutrient foundation, and balances biological function. Without this lifestyle, biochemical imbalances occur inside the body at every level and begin to create the "symptoms" we call weight gain, addictions, cravings, emotional and behavioral imbalances, mood swings, learning problems, poor attitude, poor choices, disease and ultimately death.

• Focus on the inside first: The fatal flaw America is making in terms of its health and obesity is that it is trying to solve health and weight problems using outside-in solutions like calorie counting, calorie restriction, willpower, dieting, etc. This is ineffective because it does not create natural internal balance. These are "unnatural" man-made solutions that do not respect what the human body needs or how it works. The secret is to balance the inside first. Then everything on the outside will naturally balance itself automatically.

About Gordon Filepas

Health author and father Gordon Filepas spent thousands of hours over a 20-year period researching the research of the world's top health, anti-aging and longevity experts and long-lived cultures after his father and brother both died of cancer. He boiled down more than 80 years of their research into the seven daily steps that ultimately matter. He has recently partnered with the national charity Beating the Odds Foundation to teach the information in his book, "Lean And Healthy To 100," in schools to end child obesity. Gordon donates approximately $9 from every book sale to Beating the Odds Foundation when the book is purchased from this link: www.endchildobesity.us. Individuals or organizations interested in helping to end child obesity in America can contact Gordon through www.endchildobesity.us.

Life is filled with confusing options and competing interests, which is why W. Granville Brown wrote his new guide, 5 Simple Steps to Choosing Your Path (www.wgranvillebrown.com).

"For better or for worse, your life is shaped by your choices and decisions, and knowing the difference between the two helps tremendously in organizing your will," Brown says. "There is a distinction between the two that goes far beyond semantics."

A choice, generally speaking, is a selection from a number of options, and a decision entails reaching a conclusion or passing judgment on an issue, he says.

Why is this important to understand as we navigate our lives?

Brown gives an example:

"A friend of mine loved the year-round sunshine of Las Vegas, where she worked. But she always complained about being unable to break through the glass ceiling at her job," Brown says. "Finally, her company offered her a promotion: managing its new branch in Boston. Although this seems like a no-brainer - whether to grow with a great career in an exciting new city, or stay safe in Vegas - she clouded her mind as if she had multiple choices."

If Lisa had equally attractive career options in Miami and Philadelphia in addition to the Boston offer, she would be faced with choices. But actually, the options were between the safety and comfort of what she knew versus the unknowable future of a great opportunity. Her dilemma begged a decision.

Much of the time, however, we face choices, Brown notes. Does the teenager choose to adhere to his curfew or violate it? Does the adult choose to spend all of his earnings or save part of them?

"Once you recognize the choices in your life, you can think each one through and make the one that is right for you," Brown says. "That's Step. 1. You'll also need to recognize that, since it is your choice, you must deal with the consequences. You must accept responsibility for those choices."

Brown's guide walks readers through his five steps using illustrative anecdotes to clarify points. The result is a how-to for anyone seeking to take control of their life.

"When I applied W. Granville Brown's five simple steps, I went from working at a dead-end job to going back to school and getting my degree in accounting," writes reviewer Donna from Kinston, N.C.

Arthur, from Philadelphia, writes: "You're never too old to grow and learn. At 63, I've struggled with making wise choices my entire life. After counseling with Brown and applying his methods, I have a renewed lease on life."

About W. Granville Brown

After serving in the U.S. Army and earning his degree in business administration, W. Granville Brown embarked on a successful career in the insurance industry spanning two decades. He later became committed to improving the lives of others by encouraging inward reflection, and became a bestselling, self-published author. As a certified life coach, Brown has helped many clients transform their lives for the better by using real-world methods.