According to Governor Cuomo, about one hundredth of one percent of regulated tenants cheat by applying for School Tax Relief that they’re not entitled to. At about $700 per head, that amounts to a whopping $109,200 per year. On the other hand, Cuomo has raked in over $2 million from landlords, so it kind of evens out.
BuzzFeed has apparently been rooting around in NY Governor Andrew Cuomo’s trash recently, and they found a memo from Cuomo’s Communications Director outlining what he doesn’t like about reporter Liz Benjamin’s coverage of the governor.
It’s dirty work and AJ Weberman must have been busy, so we’re glad that BuzzFeed took on the task.
I had never heard of Liz Benjamin before this, but if she’s important enough that Cuomo’s people demanded a meeting with her employer, then she’s important enough for us to start reading. Here’s the link and have fun: Capital Tonight by Liz Benjamin.
Original story came from: Document by Cuomo Aide Shows Governor’s Views on Press – NYTimes.com.
Will a larger DNA database help solve more crimes? Sure. Will it keep some innocent people out of jail? Yes. But why not go all the way and install video cameras in everyone’s home? That would solve even more crimes and keep even more innocents out of jail.
For eroding my privacy, Cuomo and the legislature can Bite Me.
New York to start ‘all crimes DNA’ collection in August | SILive.com.
Manhattan Democratic District Leader Curis Arluck on the new redistricting lines drawn by the state legislature: “The primary fault for this [the gerrymandered lines] lies with the State Senate Republicans, who devised this monstrosity, but considerable blame must also be given to our Governor and various good government groups, who bombarded us with sanctimonious claptrap about “independent” redistricting commissions—not a very popular concept in our area, which has no local City Council representation under just such an arrangement—and abdicated their role in taking the original lines and demanding they be improved. Redistricting is a practical process, not a gesture in breast beating and pontification.”
A review by the New York State Department of Financial Services found that patients who went out of their way to make sure the non-emergency treatment they sought was covered by their medical insurance still wound up with bills from specialists — such as assistant surgeons, anesthesiologists and radiologists — who were outside their plan. That’s because it’s often unclear who will be involved and how much it will cost, the report found.
One patient who complained to the Financial Services department made sure to go to an in-network hospital for brain surgery but wound up with a surgeon who wasn’t in his plan. The surgeon billed him $40,091 and the insurer covered only $8,386 – leaving him to cough up $31,704.
[Much of the above comes from the Daily News, which had the best of the articles that I saw. Except that the Daily News blamed the insurance companies. While I hate the insurance companies as much as the next fellow, this is the fault of the doctors and hospitals. It even happened to me. I went for a procedure with a doctor who was in-network. While I was being prepped, the anesthesiologist, who works for one of those rent-a-doc outfits, wanted me to sign a contract saying I would pay for his services myself even though he wasn’t in network. Fat chance, doc. You can Bite Me.]
via Insurance companies to blame for ‘surprise’ medical bills: state report – NY Daily News.