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UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)
Q4 2009 Earnings Call Transcript
January 21, 2009 08:45 am ET
Stephen Hemsley – President & CEO
Gail Boudreaux – EVP, President of UnitedHealthcare
Mike Mikan – EVP & CFO
Rick Jelinek – CEO of AmeriChoice
Dawn Owens – CEO of OptumHealth
Scott Fidel – Deutsche Bank
Christine Arnold – Cowen & Co.
Carl McDonald – Oppenheimer
Kevin Fischbeck – Banc of America/Merrill Lynch
Matthew Borsch – Goldman Sachs
Justin Lake – UBS
Charles Boorady – Citi
John Rex – JP Morgan
Ana Gupte – Sanford C. Bernstein
Doug Simpson – Morgan Stanley
Brian Wright – Colin Stewart
Good morning. I will be your conference facilitator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the UnitedHealth Group fourth quarter and full-year 2009 earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer period. (Operator instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.
This call and its contents are the property of UnitedHealth Group. Any use, copying, or distribution without written permission from UnitedHealth Group is strictly prohibited. Here is some important introductory information. This call will reference non-GAAP amounts. A reconciliation of non-GAAP to GAAP amounts if available on the financial reports and SEC filings section of the company's investor page at www.unitedhealthgroup.com.
This call contains forward looking statements under the US Federal Securities laws. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical experience or present expectations. A description of some of the risks and uncertainties can be found in the reports that we've filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time, including the cautionary statements included in our current and periodic filings.
Information presented on this call is contained in the earnings release we issued this morning, and in our Form 8-K, dated January 21, 2010, which may be accessed from the investor page of the company's website at www.unitedhealthgroup.com.
I would now like to turn the conference over to the President and Chief Executive Officer of UnitedHealth Group, Mr. Stephen Hemsley.
Stephen Hemsley
Good morning and thank you for joining us. Today, we will focus our commentary in three key areas, 2009 financial performance and our early 2010 outlook, our progress against some key market facing themes discussed with you over the last two years, and lastly some thought about market needs and requirements going forward.
The results from Massachusetts on Tuesday may have affected the legislative outlook, and we're not going to comment on the outcome of health reform today. Whatever the result, we continue to believe that the heart of the issue is a need to thoughtfully stage comprehensive efforts around controlling costs, and modernizing the health systems in order to expand and sustain access to affordable health.
We will do our best to make whatever changes, which may be enacted successful, to appropriately control costs, modernize and simplify the system and to improve access to affordable quality care in this country. As you read in our release this morning, the performance momentum that steadily progressed over 2009 continued in the fourth quarter. We reported solid fourth-quarter results with earnings per share of $0.81 and operating cash flows of $1.3 billion.
All key performance metrics for the quarter were in line or improved, relative to our expectations. Full year 2009 results included just over $87 billion in revenues or 7% year-over-year growth. Earnings of $3.24 per share and cash flows from operations of $5.6 billion improved year-over-year by 10% and 16% respectively.
Cash flows were 1.5 times net earnings. We managed through many unforeseen obstacles to achieve these results, including significantly higher unemployment trends, anemic short-term investment yields, the H1N1 outbreak, slower buying behaviors in the market for health services, COBRA benefit extensions, and unexpected state actions on insurance premiums and more.
The performance drivers in the quarter were consistent with those throughout the year, discipline in commercial pricing supported by better product positioning market to market, steady and effective management of medical and operating costs, strong membership growth and market share gains across public and senior products in markets, and double-digit percentage revenue growth in our services businesses.
We see many of these performance drivers carrying forward into 2010. While we are pleased to have exceeded our financial commitments in 2009, we are equally encouraged by our advances throughout 2009 in key areas, where we are demonstrating our ability to better serve people, which enhances our potential for growth in 2010 and beyond. In 2009, the satisfaction levels improved meaningfully for every key constituency, consumers, physicians and care providers, employers and benefit sponsors, brokers and consultants.
Our proactive engagement with regulators, medical societies, and elected officials also had a meaningful and positive impact in 2009. Service and response metrics, processing and response accuracy all improved steadily each quarter. Integration efforts advanced. Some 93% of our total commercial, public and senior membership now resides on end-state operating platforms. That percentage should be 95% by the end of 2010.
These are impactful advances and we'll continue to be unrelenting in our dedication to service and fundamental execution discipline. Our commitment to practical innovation over the past year and more resulted in the introduction of the Diabetes Health Plan, The Consumer Activation Index, the Personalized Health Score, and integrated eSync personalized care platform, and our Connected Care Telehealth Program.
We had advanced our clinically integrated premium networks across 20 clinical specialties in the vast majority of our markets. We are piloting new types of physician incentives to support improved care and developing medical home programs in more settings than any other payer, including the government.
UnitedHealthcare is benefiting from its work to more effectively translate local market insights to national level initiatives, and conversely national imperatives into more effective local market execution. The results include stronger local market relationships, more effective local market deployment of new products, better recognition and response to serving local market needs and variations, all while steadily advancing national scale, productivity and cost advantages.
We are consciously nurturing a more mature, externally oriented culture and expanding our social responsibility agenda. You can see these reflected in our own employee engagement levels, advancing 600 basis points over the past 24 months, which portends [ph] well for continuing to improve performance. Our health services businesses continued to steadily diversify.
We edged into the next set of market adjacencies, including revenue and claim cycle management, consumers health change consulting services, global employee assistance, and prescription decision support in Europe, while strengthening our position in electronic health records software.
Through these efforts individually and as a whole, we believe we are steadily elevating the value we bring to our customers and markets, and meaningfully strengthening the reputation of our company and our relationships with the people we serve. These efforts will continue. Collectively, they are our fundamentals. We are committed to consistent execution and continuous improvement in these fundamentals, quarter-by-quarter as we have been emphasizing for nearly two years.
Our financial position also continues to strengthen. We have reduced our debt-to-total capital ratio by more than eight percentage points over the past 18 months to 32%. We recently announced $750 million debt tender offer for a portion of our notes. This debt repurchase is expected to further improve our financial flexibility, while reducing our net debt service cost in 2010.
Before we discuss our respective health benefits and health services businesses, as we begin this new decade, it is worth looking back briefly. When we entered 2000, UnitedHealth Group revenues were just over $19 billion. On a gross revenue basis, our business was about 60% commercial benefits, 35% public and senior benefits, and 5% health services.
Entering 2010, we see over $90 billion of revenues with roughly 40% of growth revenues in commercial benefits, 40% in public and senior benefits, and 20% in health services. And over the next decade, we see opportunities to naturally diversify further into healthcare IT services, healthcare financial services, the deeper integration with primary care, the pursuit of international market settings and more.
The scope of our business model is unique, and allows us to look at healthcare market opportunities very broadly. This includes our view of the coming healthcare modernization era, where we will pursue an opportunistic path and help enable change. In 2009, combined revenues in our health services businesses grew to $21.8 billion, a 13% year-over-year increase. Earnings from operations of $1.6 billion increased 20% over last year. The prime contributor to this growth was Prescription Solutions, where revenues reached nearly $14.5 billion, a 15% year-over-year gain, and pre-tax earnings grew an impressive 98% to $689 million.
Ingenix also grew strongly even in a challenging economic environment. Ingenix increased revenues 17% in 2009 to $1.8 billion and earnings from operations to nearly $250 million, and this is after investing significant amounts in start up efforts around payment and revenue cycle management, comparative effectiveness research, international markets and electronic health records.
OptumHealth revenues grew by 6% in 2009, and delivered the best overall external growth year in its history. The continued decline in the UnitedHealthcare commercial enrolment obscured that external market growth. It continued to impact OptumHealth's margins. New business from public sector customers tends to have lower margins than commercial risk products. That business' mixed dynamics should reverse as the overall commercial risk market strengthens.
As we look across our health benefits businesses, 2009 played out largely in line with our original expectations, albeit somewhat weaker than commercial enrolment levels as national unemployment trends were more severe than we had anticipated; more than half of our 2009 commercial membership decline was driven by attrition.
For the fourth quarter, our commercial enrolment was slightly ahead of our Investor Day outlook, posting an underlying growth of 40,000 members before employment-related attrition. The full-year commercial decline was offset by stronger than expected growth in the Medicare and Medicaid markets, and we're positioned to expand our services in the military in early 2011.
In total, health benefit revenues increased 7% to more than $81 billion. We effectively managed both medical and operating cost trends. These cost containment capabilities are becoming more mature and consistent, particularly as our benefit businesses become more integrated and simpler, using more shared services and common clinical care management processes.
Turning to our early outlook, momentum from 2009 is carrying through in our earliest 2010 indicators. We expect first-quarter commercial membership to be slightly stronger than our Investor Day outlook. We should be flat to slightly positive in first-quarter fee-based business even after attrition.
On the risk-based side, we should come in slightly favorable to our prior guidance of a decrease of about 500,000 members in the first quarter. Attrition continues to run at a high level, and will be a concern all year in this economy. Across our Medicare portfolio, with 8 million consumers choosing UnitedHealth group Medicare product in 2009. Recent enrolment period demonstrated once again the value of privately managed Medicare products for America's seniors.
Going into the enrolment period, there was considerable uncertainty about the Medicare Advantage program caused by benefit reductions, premium increases, plant closures and the ongoing healthcare reform debate. In spite of that uncertainty, demand for Medicare Advantage plan industry-wide remains solid. Our Medicare Advantage business is expected to grow nicely for 2010. We attribute that growth to a focus on affordability, managing our portfolio of benefit offerings with a steady long-term view, and our ability to adapt our plan offerings to the challenging rate environment.
Seniors continue to recognize the real value of our Medicare Advantage products, and have voted their convictions by trusting their healthcare to our plans and our strong network of quality providers. We expect first quarter net growth to be above 100,000 CVS in Medicare Advantage with strong mix towards the network-based products and 225,000 Part-D standalone participants.
That is a stronger start than we originally expected in this sector, and the Health Net Northeast acquisition will add further to our totals. First quarter Medicaid membership should grow in the area of 100,000 to 125,000 people in line with our 2010 plan. Our services businesses are all stronger as we move into 2010 than when we entered 2009.
We are on track to achieve 2010 revenue growth plans here as well. We expect consolidated 2010 revenues to grow above $90 billion. We have reconfirmed our 2010 earnings outlook at $2.90 to $3.10 per share. That outlook does not include any proposed federal healthcare reform elements that could potentially be faced in this year.
We believe this earnings range to be appropriate given the Medicare and Medicaid rate pressures, the loss of Part D performance pricing of Prescription Solutions, ongoing COBRA costs, and lower commercial membership levels going into the year. These headwinds will be strongest in the beginning of the year before any mitigating efforts can get full traction, and this pattern does not appear to be fully reflected in the first quarter consensus earnings estimates.
For 2011 and beyond, we will factor in business and market changes driven by healthcare reform and modernization, whether incremental or comprehensive. We believe coverage will expand and increasing healthcare costs will continue to make our work to promote access to quality care even more important. No matter what form change ultimately takes, there will continue to be very strong market demand for affordable, quality care, demand that will create the next generation of growth in our markets.
That future includes new ideas and committed actions around payments and incentives for quality care, development of integrated accountable care capability, transparency around quality and performance, and paperless end-to-end defect free service, further innovation around product designs to achieve lower price points, a much stronger commitment to drive outcome based payment arrangements, and a clear need in the seniors market for continuous improvement in total cost and values, which will encompass both operating and medical costs performance gains.
There will be companies who will – who can and will respond to these needs, and we intend to be one of them. Doing so will require the focus on fundamental execution and intelligent adaptation we described in Investor Day last month. We see that more than 300 million Americans will continue to need to get care, and that this care needs to be intelligently coordinated, financed and delivered and documented across the system.
Our goal is to be involved in that process through both our services businesses and our benefit businesses. In total, there is an exceptional opportunity to build an enterprise to successfully serve these important social needs. We are interested in your questions this morning, with the understanding that the health reform situation is very fluid and sensitive.
As usual, we will ask that you limit yourself to one question topic today in deference to time, and I thank you for your interest in UnitedHealth Group, and we will turn it over to the operator.
Question-and-Answer Session
(Operator instructions) Our first question will come from the line of Scott Fidel with Deutsche Bank.
Scott Fidel – Deutsche Bank
Good morning. Can you just provide an update on the pricing environment that you are seeing at this point for commercial for both the risk-based market and then the ASO [ph] market, just in terms of the level of price competition you saw for 2010 renewals relative to last year?
Stephen Hemsley
Gail Boudreaux
Sure, good morning Scott. Let me start with the risk-based market. That market continues to be competitive, but I think as we've talked about we have seen some firming in that market for the last couple of quarters, and we would expect to continue to see that type of activity. We had a very disciplined approach, and I think our ability to keep our medical cost trend very consistent and predictable, and our ability to manage our medical costs has helped us with that level of consistency.
On the self-funded side, again that market over the last several years from a fee-based perspective remains very competitive, and again I think the story there is the same. We had a very consistent approach and have not done anything traditionally different. As we look to 2010, based on the fee-based membership that we reported, and we think it is going to be slightly positive and up in the first quarter. That is a fairly significant improvement for us year-over-year from 2009 to 2010. So, that is some very good moment for us, but from a pricing perspective, pretty consistent for us year-over-year.
Scott Fidel – Deutsche Bank
And Gail, how would you just characterize the blues on the risk pricing side for 2010 relative to 2009?
Gail Boudreaux
In terms of the blues, I think the answer is pretty consistent to what I said on the risk side that we are seeing some pockets of rate increases, obviously as they take their base rates up. But it is different geography to geography, but overall there is some firming going on there.
Scott Fidel – Deutsche Bank
Okay, thank you.
Stephen Hemsley
Next question please.
Our next question will come from Christine Arnold with Cowen & Co.
Christine Arnold – Cowen & Co.
Good morning. Your PDP in Medicare enrolment are all poised to be better than you thought they would be at Investor Day. It is that your fee-based revenue is going to be up; your commercial enrolment is going to be better than anticipated. Can you help us understand, what offsets those, such that you are not increasing guidance or is this just conservatism?
Stephen Hemsley
Well, I would point out that it is January, and let me then reaffirm kind of what I would say those headwinds are. This is kind of an economic environment that is unparalleled in our lifetime. We have meaningful rate pressures in the Medicare and Medicaid environment. We have the loss of lock in pricing in the Prescription Solutions business.
We had a number of unforeseen obstacles at this time, when we entered 2009, and we have no sense of what will be coming down the road. So, I think it is quite early for us to offer any indication other than that environment hasn't changed from about a month ago when we had our Investor Day. And that environment is quite challenging, and I think that that is the – what we need to be conscious of. We have a lot of work to do in 2010 to hit the guidance that we have offered.
Christine Arnold – Cowen & Co.
Okay, thank you.
Our next question will come from the line of Carl McDonald with Oppenheimer.
Carl McDonald – Oppenheimer
Great. Thank you. Some of the smaller private plans that I've talked with over the last couple of weeks have suggested that in their commercial business, they think utilization is rising. So, when you look at your business, excluding to the extent you can the flu, COBRA expenses, do you think the underlying base utilization, based on your recent claims data is unchanged up or down, any noticeable trend there.
Stephen Hemsley
No, maybe they should answer that kind of in an enterprise wide level. So, maybe Mike, maybe you could, and then if the other businesses want to add some color.
Mike Mikan
You know, we really haven't seen any real change in underlying utilization. I would tell you though, we continue to be very focused on our clinical management programs. We have been talking about them for several years now, and we are really starting to see traction there. So, our utilization continues, if you just look at commercial as an example to be flat to down, and we are seeing other favorabilities in the Medicare and AmeriChoice Medicaid work as well.
So, I don't know what the rest of the market is seeing, but our underlying utilization continues to be stable to down, especially on the inpatient side.
Carl McDonald – Oppenheimer
Great, thank you.
Our next question will come from the line of Kevin Fischbeck with Banc of America/Merrill Lynch.
Kevin Fischbeck – Banc of America/Merrill Lynch
Okay, thanks. Good morning. Q4 favorable development for the current year looked higher than normal compared to prior years, did that favorably impact the quarter or did you reaccrue, and I guess what came in better for the first nine months than you were thinking, and does that have any impact on your cost trend outlook?
Stephen Hemsley
Let me try to answer it this way, let me give you some context on our view of reserve development. First, as we have said for some time, our reserving methodology and processes remain consistent with prior years. Second, we continue to be proud of our ability to predict cost and estimate actual usage, and I think that is evidenced by our prior year development in 2009. For 2008 and prior years it was one half of 1% of prior year medical costs, which we think is well within a normal range of variation.
With respect to current year true ups, there are several factors that have impacted our initial estimates between the quarters in 2009. First of all, we had significant growth in the government business, as you know, about 300,000 additional Medicare Advantage lives, 565,000 additional Medicaid lives. We've continued to see advancements, as I just talked about in our clinical programs that as the data trues up, that starts to prove out to be favorable.
The operational advancements that we've talked about over the last several quarter at our investor conference, you know, we've seen some of the best performance we have seen in the history of UnitedHealth Group, and as that performance continues to improve, as the data catches up to that, we have seen favorability, and then frankly, just the volatility with the abnormal flu season has created a fair amount of volatility in our reserve debt.
That is just to name a few, but overall, we feel we've got good data and insight into all these items, and are very comfortable with our 2009 full-year estimate, and with your last question with respect to trends, we wouldn't change our outlook on trend at 8%, plus or minus 50 basis points.
Kevin Fischbeck – Banc of America/Merrill Lynch
Okay, thank you.
Our next question will come from the line of Matthew Borsch with Goldman Sachs.
Matthew Borsch – Goldman Sachs
Hi, yes, thank you. Could you just talk a little bit about the AmeriChoice business, and if you can give us any sense geographically how that is running and what markets, you know, you are finding challenging or you expect to be challenging, particularly challenging in 2010 versus where you are having better results?
Stephen Hemsley
Yes, I would be happy to. I would point out that they have actually had perhaps their strongest year and really well positioned. So, Rick.
Rick Jelinek
Matt, we're coming off a very strong year as Steve mentioned, and one of the strategic positioning points that we started on a couple of quarters ago was to diversify our portfolio so that we're not over-reliant on any single customer or product line. So, from an outlook standpoint, we feel really good about our current positioning and the breadth of our state, and while some states will continue to face challenges going forward, we are working closely with those states on rates for the coming years.
Today, we have about 40% of our 2010 calendar year rate locked in, and so we have got little ways to go to get clear visibility on some of those other markets, but generally, we feel relatively comfortable across the board. There are a couple of markets that we will watch closely in terms of assuring that revenue is meeting the medical trend requirements, and if they are not, we will take a closer look at working with the state on benefit designs or other structural changes to assure that these programs are working for the long term, and in particular 2010.
Matthew Borsch – Goldman Sachs
Okay, thank you.
Our next question will come from the line of Justin Lake with UBS.
Justin Lake – UBS
Good morning. My question is on the impact reserves from the Health Net acquisition. You outlined in the earnings release that $250 million increase in medical cost reserves due to the acquisition, and I'm curious as to the driver of that. It is my understanding was that Health Net was going to be responsible for the run of claims cost in that business.
Stephen Hemsley
Justin, without getting too much into the devise [ph] on the transaction, that is a balance sheet, as we acquired the legal entities, we assume the balance sheet obligations. It gets trued up through a purchase agreement adjustment that they ultimately take the claim cost, as long as it is on their book. So, it's a balance sheet transaction, which ultimately gets trued up and we feel comfortable with that process.
Justin Lake – UBS
Okay, so there was no impact to the quarter specifically from any kind of increase or decrease in Health Net's reserves as you brought that on?
Stephen Hemsley
No. That would – it would net to 0. We don't see any benefit or detriment to that.
Justin Lake – UBS
Okay, thank you very much.
Our next question will come from the line of Charles Boorady with Citi.
Charles Boorady – Citi
Thanks, good morning. I wondered if you could comment a little bit on capital deployment, you alluded at the Investor Day to the potential, you know, increase the dividend, and you've brought that to cap down 600 bps in the year and have significant cash as apparent. So, we're clearly out of the credit crisis so I am wondering if you can characterize for us how you plan to deploy the cash this year.
Stephen Hemsley
Well, I think we described at the investor conference that we were through the course of 2009 really evaluating financial flexibility, and that's kind of been our path. I think we have made some meaningful inroads in our math. We have made acquisitions also through the course of the year, and we like to make sure that we are maintaining our financial flexibility, not only to invest internally in our business, but also for acquisitions.
So, I don't think there really has been any kind of change in our thinking along those lines, including as we said there, you know, really evaluating whether a change in our dividend policy is appropriate and we said we would take that up as kind of the reform situation clarified that it is still in the mix obviously, but we expect there will be some clarity on that early this year. So, Mike, do you have anything further? Did that get to your question?
Charles Boorady – Citi
Yes. So, the debt-to-cap at around 32%, I mean, should we think about it as being closer to 40% by a certain period of time or you know, at one point you're more comfortable with a high leverage ratio?
Stephen Hemsley
No. I would just say broadly kind of on a more middle-of-the-road kind of environment, you know, 35% something like that as a kind of a middle-of-the-road suggestion. That can vary meaningfully between 30% and 40%.
Mike Mikan
Hi, Charles, it's Mike. You know, we are comfortable with the business given the – in its current state, again health reform not trying to predict either way on impacts of health reform, but in its current state as we said before, we think that the businesses – our diversity, the growth aspect, the risk profile and support, a higher debt leverage than where we're at today. We've talked about that over time. We put out annual guidance based on what we know of, you know, ending the year somewhere between 30% and 33% debt-to-total cap and we are comfortable with that in, you know, with our current expectations.
Charles Boorady – Citi
Great, thanks.
Our next question will come from the line of John Rex with JP Morgan.
John Rex – JP Morgan
Thanks. A question back on the UHC book, and I'm thinking particularly about yields on both the risk and non-risk businesses. And so, I guess just first it looks like the commercial risk yield continued to strengthen in the 4Q, and I guess as I am thinking about the 2010 should we expect the effective yield, so that it is kind of net of kind of product mix shift and such to continue to strengthen like we're seeing throughout 2009, maybe not at that pace, but continue to come in above that level, and then specifically on the ASO book, you know, one of your competitors last week talked about lower PMPMs in the ASO business for 2010 as employers eliminate some specialty products, I am wondering if you're seeing that impact on your ASO book.
Stephen Hemsley
Gail Boudreaux
Hi John, let me start with the premium yield question first. We are pricing on our risk business to our forward view of medical cost trends, and we look at our premium yields and you commented, those are tracking in line with our expectations, and I think the best judge of that is looking at the fidelity of the medical loss ratio as we've discussed over the last couple of calls, once you adjust for COBRA and H1N1, which obviously were not predicted when we set that. So, I think you know, our philosophy and our approaches remain very consistent around our pricing, and I think ultimately our yields and bottom line our medical cost ratio.
John Rex – JP Morgan
So, would it make sense we should expect those yields to continue to rise in 2010 then like they've – kind of this trajectory we've been seeing in '09?
Gail Boudreaux
You know, again we are pricing to what we believe is the forward view of cost. So, our – again it is the stability of the medical cost ratio that we are really tracking to, and I would point you back to you know, our medical cost ratio that we shared with you at Investor Day at 83%, 83.8% plus or minus 50 basis points, and I think within that range it gives you a good sense of our expectations.
John Rex – JP Morgan
Stephen Hemsley
You know, and John I would actually say that we've seen some really good market response to the kinds of services that you're referring to, maybe Dawn could comment on that.
Dawn Owens
Hi John, Dawn Owens, OptumHealth. You know, when we look at the employer market, we've had our strongest year ever 2009-2010 selling season with not only pipeline activity up in that market across the board in all the services we offer financial, clinical care management, wellness, behavioral health, but we've translated that at a higher rate in to close, actually with a 25% conversion rate on closure. That is both in partnership with UnitedHealthcare on an integrated basis as well as an independent cross carrier externally focused agenda. So, we're actually seeing very strong demand for the services and a marketplace that is interested in productivity, health, wellness in ways that we can offer. So, we feel actually good about that market and have diversified well into it.
John Rex – JP Morgan
So, net-net on your ASO book, would you expect you know, PMPM revenue to, you know, not be worse than flat in 2010 over 2009, when you think about. So, it sounds like you are saying, you are seeing attrition of those specialty products. So is that a fair assumption?
Gail Boudreaux
Our expectation is our revenue would be relatively flat. So, our penetration rates have remained fairly stable. John, this is Gail Boudreaux.
Dawn Owens
And John, (inaudible) that we are talking about two different businesses. So, OptumHealth's direct employer business also has different – an additional revenue streams in a large employer marketplace, which would account for this additional external growth that we talked about within OptumHealth.
John Rex – JP Morgan
Okay, great. Thank you.
Stephen Hemsley
And Optum had more external, it's external growth here as 2009 was probably its best, and its pipeline is probably at strongest level. Next question please.
Our next question will come from the line of Ana Gupte with Sanford C. Bernstein.
Ana Gupte – Sanford C. Bernstein
Hi, thanks. Good morning. While I understand you cannot comment on the outcome of reform as you are doing your scenario planning internally, has that changed or would it change your view on the various portfolio businesses that you have. So, health benefits you know, versus health services, domestic versus international, MA [ph] commercial relative to Medicaid and then consolidation for capabilities relative to horizontal consolidation.
Stephen Hemsley
That's a really – it's an excellent question, but I set back a few years and put kind of reform to the side, and say if you really look at the market in terms of what the compelling needs of the markets are relative to benefits and relative to services, and how the market needs to be brought along to a more kind of what I'd say modern state, and the demand for more services and a more seamless integration of services all thrown in with the kind of consumer trends that have actually been building over the last 10 years.
That's what we have been responding to. That's how we have positioned our existing portfolio of businesses, and there are common you know, core elements of what reform is trying to get at. So, if you just put that aside and just focus on the core fundamental market needs, that's what we are responding to. They align with reform because of the same issues and challenges. So the answer to that is we wouldn't change at all. We think that the construct has been really built for that kind of response, which is why we feel we could, we can position ourselves somewhat differently, and we're going to continue that pattern. So, you have seen over the course of the last year steps into natural market adjacencies, and I think you can expect to continue to see that.
Ana Gupte – Sanford C. Bernstein
Okay, thank you.
Our next question will come from the line of Doug Simpson with Morgan Stanley.
Doug Simpson – Morgan Stanley
Hi thanks. Good morning. Steve, could you just talk a little bit about given the challenging economy, you know, health care costs continue to clip along you know, ahead of wage growth and given the unemployment situation, what are you guys seeing from customers in terms of pressure to help deal with rising cost. Has there been a heightened awareness of it and I guess along those lines, how do you guys think about impatient pricing strategy and, you know, looking out a year or two, any read on potential direction of benefit structures more broadly?
Stephen Hemsley
Well, it is all about cost and there is you know, business operators are looking at, they are committed to the benefit. They are looking at optimizing those benefits and staying with them and trying to get a better cost outcome that's actually been partly why there has been a good response in terms of more of the care management programs, the dedicated kinds of programs like diabetic health plans, et cetera because those are effective tools of getting at in an appropriate way, better of cost outcomes for their dollars.
So that is really where they have really been working, they have been to the extent they have a broad portfolio of different benefit types across their companies. They've been trying to rationalize those benefit types. They've been just trying to manage their programs and get at cost and to engage their employees, because they also recognize that it is the consumption patterns that is driving a significant portion of their trend and they think that they can influence those consumption patterns in a very positive way, and a positive way for the health of their people.
That's really where it is, those discussions are very, very consistently company to company, and that is why we've been really driving our clinical programs, as Mike talked about utilization, management and so forth. These companies want to see demonstrated performance along those lines and that's where our themes have been. Gail.
Gail Boudreaux
Just adding to Steve's comments, I think there are three core themes that our largest customers and across our book are looking at one, is managing their total cost. I think it has been very important to them this year. The second is improving the health status of their members. So, getting more value for the dollars that they spend, and the third I say is getting consumers more actively engaged in their program. We have had some very good momentum in the marketplace, because our programs directly address that. Things like our Consumer Activation Index that we shared with you.
On the provider side, we are very focused on making sure that we are paying for cost and quality. So, our premium designation network where we are trying to steer more of our members to plan, design and incentives. The second area that I would point to is we have a number of initiatives around patients at medical homes, where Steve said in his early comments have more of those than anyone else in the country, including the government.
And we are tracking the results of those very closely. The Diabetic Health Plan would be the third I would point to. We had – we introduced that a little less than a year ago and have seen wonderful up-tick from our customers, because it is a very focused program that drives results in a targeted population. So those are really the themes that employers are looking at, and again it's around managing total cost for driving better quality and outcomes for their health, for the population of their employees.
Doug Simpson – Morgan Stanley
Thank you.
Stephen Hemsley
Did it get to your question?
Doug Simpson – Morgan Stanley
Stephen Hemsley
Okay, thanks. Next.
Our final question will come from the line of Brian Wright with Colin Stewart.
Brian Wright – Colin Stewart
Thanks. Is there any potential impact on the – on your bank from the deposit tax, the proposed deposit tax?
Stephen Hemsley
We don't think so. We don't think that those accounts have – are subject to that tax, but we will – you can sense of lack of surety here. So what we will do is we will follow up and make sure that we get back to you with a more confident answer.
Brian Wright – Colin Stewart
Great, thank you.
And at this time…
Stephen Hemsley
Yes, that concludes our – the questions in line. In closing, we'd like to just quickly sum up that we think UnitedHealth Group delivered a relatively strong financial performance in 2009 despite a difficult economy. In addition to meeting our financial commitments, businesses continue to steadily advance in service, innovation, scale, national scale, and local responsiveness and continued to diversify. We are entering 2010, we think as an operating enterprise much stronger than the beginning of 2009. We are respectful of the challenges that we are facing in 2010, and we think we are really positioned well for the next generation of growth over the next several years to come. So, thank you very much for your attention this morning.
And ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's teleconference. You may all disconnect.
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2012 Craggy Range Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc Te Muna Road Vineyard Martinborough
Producer: Craggy Range Vineyards
Style: White Wine
Grape Type: Sauvignon Blanc
Origin: New Zealand
Region: New Zealand
87 Points | Stephen Tanzer's IWC - September/October 2013
Pale, bright yellow. Apple, capsicum, grass, fresh herbs and high-pitched dusty spices on the nose and palate. Supple and subtly sweet but a bit diffuse in the mouth, in need of more fruit and definition. Not bad.

subset: commoncrawl


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The Lions' quarterback competition is so tight that coach Jim Schwartz didn't even use the word "start" before the exhibition opener. He said only that the Lions would "begin the game" with Daunte Culpepper and that Matthew Stafford would come in second.
|Camp/Preseason Notes
BATTLE OF THE WEEK: Jon Jansen vs. Gosder Cherilus at starting right tackle. Cherilus, a 2008 first-round pick, seems to have a solid hold on the job. But Jansen, a proud 10-year vet, is out to prove he's still got it and wants to challenge him. Jansen is willing to help tutor Cherilus, though. For example, he gave him a pointer on a particular play recently. "And when I used it, you know, it was better," Cherilus said. "That's the kind of guy he is, and that's who we are as a group."
OTHER BATTLE FRONTS: The rash of injuries has kept some battles from playing out. It has given some young players opportunities to showcase themselves, but while some have taken advantage, others have not. Rookie Dan Gronkowski has put pressure on veteran Casey Fitzsimmons for a backup receiving tight end job, catching balls while Fitzsimmons has been out with an ankle injury. But with the top receivers out, players like Keary Colbert and Adam Jennings have hurt their causes by dropping too many passes.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Rookie running back Aaron Brown has shown his blazing speed in practice, and he showed his athleticism in the exhibition opener. He not only had a 32-yard touchdown run and a 45-yard touchdown catch-and-run, but he celebrated the second score with a cartwheel and back flip in the end zone. Still, he needs to work on his blocking and cut down on mistakes. He took a penalty on a punt, went the wrong way on a screen and drew a 15-yard flag for his highlight-reel celebration.
"Don't read anything into it," Schwartz said. "It's not like somebody's ahead of somebody on the depth chart."
Schwartz said Stafford likely would start the second exhibition, and he refused to go any further than that. Asked if who starts the third exhibition would be most meaningful, he said no.
Asked when we could read something into something, he said: "I don't know yet. We're not there yet."
Culpepper, the proud veteran, looks better than he has since he suffered a severe knee injury in 2005. He's healthy, in shape and knows the offense. In the exhibition opener against Atlanta, he went 5-for-6 for 41 yards and scrambled three times for 12 yards.
"Definitely I feel stronger," Culpepper said. "My feet, my legs, I feel I've finally gotten them back to be the player I want to be and I feel comfortable."
But Stafford, the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, looks and acts nothing like a rookie. He went 7-for-14 for 114 yards in the exhibition opener, and his stats could have looked much better had wide receiver Keary Colbert not flubbed three catchable passes.
The most impressive part of his debut was how he shrugged off Colbert's errors and a big gaffe of his own. With a blitzing defender in his face, he forced a pass that was intercepted and returned 42 yards for a touchdown. Then he bounced back and led an 80-yard touchdown drive, capped by a 25-yard touchdown pass.
"At least it was a quick and painless one," Stafford said, smiling. "It was a touchdown for them right away. I could get back out there and try to redeem myself."
Stafford is only 21, but he's confident and carries himself like a starting NFL quarterback
"That's part of his personality," Schwartz said. "That's one of the reasons we drafted him. He's not skittish. He's not afraid. He's not afraid to go back out and put himself out there.
Culpepper said when he thinks about the competition, he thinks about three D's: the debate (he's not getting involved), the decision (it's not up to him) and determination (he's in it to win it).
But while he won't go out of his way to praise Stafford, he knows what he's up against.
"Obviously he's a talented player," Culpepper said, "and he's going to be really good in this league for a long time."
INJURY REPORT: Three players have injuries coach Jim Schwartz classifies as beyond day-to-day: TE Casey Fitzsimmons (ankle), CB Keith Smith (groin) and S Louis Bullocks (knee). But several other players have missed a significant amount of practice time, and the Lions held out 16 players in the exhibition opener. Schwartz said more than half would have played in a regular-season game, but he is erring on the side of caution. The list includes receivers Calvin Johnson (thumb), Bryant Johnson (flesh wounds), Dennis Northcutt (thumb) and John Standeford (hamstring); safeties Louis Delmas (knee) and Marquand Manuel (calf); linebackers Zack Follett (shoulder) and Jordon Dizon (hamstring); TE Brandon Pettigrew (thigh); and RB Maurice Morris (hamstring).


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As with every other summer, football fans didn't have long to wait for their fix of the beautiful game. The European Championships proved to be the most exciting tournament since 1996 as well as strengthening the argument that it is a tougher competition to win than the World Cup.
If the Premier League wanted a marquee season for its 20th year, they certainly received more than they bargained for in what turned out to be a real humdinger, going right down to the wire from top to bottom. Many a pub conversation has trundled across the "which is better, the English or the Spanish league" debate, well if we have learnt anything from this year, it's that this Premier League is far from predictable, which possibly is no longer a characteristic of La Liga.
In all honesty I've been sitting on this instalment for a fortnight, I didn't want to pen anything prior to the FA Cup Semi Final in case the powers that be read my optimism and decided to jinx me, as it turns out it probably wouldn't have made much difference but we'll cover that shortly. Then following the culmination of our Cup run I didn't want to come across overly emotional and negative about the remainder of our campaign, especially before, a jaunt down the M62 for an assumed annual whooping from Manchester United at Old Trafford. So I held off, instead aiming to refer to the previous 2 games but focussing mainly on the final possible point haul for this campaign.
What March promised to deliver following on from a decent January and February, eventually lived up to its potential with 10 points from a possible 18 pushing us up to 7th place in the Premier League and a FA Cup semi final date set with Liverpool on 14th April.
Everton's annual spring revival is in flow having now only been beaten twice since the turn of the year, in a dismal display at home to Bolton and the rescheduled trip to White Hart Lane following last summer's cancellation due to the North London riots, but since then we have managed an eight match run without tasting defeat.
February has started exceptionally cold with most of the UK seeing snowflakes falling heavily, but nothing could dampen the warmth that Evertonians felt at the close of the January transfer window. In a bizarre twist of unusual occurrences Everton were for once the buyer rather that the vendor and the month that recently has terrified us the most, actually became exciting.
Its been really hard to get excited about this season so far and despite seeing in the turn of the year we are still waiting for it to take off. My last instalment saw us starting to build momentum towards a decent run, which came crashing down following a lacklustre performance against a struggling Bolton Wanderers side.
The always torturous Christmas period has been relatively kind to the Toffees as Everton's annual second half of the season resurgence appears to have started. Eight points from a possible 12 is a decent return for a team which has struggled to find consistency, four games undefeated going into a home encounter with Bolton Wanderers is surely the momentum we need to extend that run further, starting with the Trotters before a nice break in the league programme for the FA Cup.
Where do I start? This will be both the easiest and hardest thing I will write this year. On Sunday 27th November 2011, a wife lost a husband, children lost a father, football lost a gentleman and Evertonians lost a Blue. Even as I write this I'm still overwhelmed with emotion and welling up at the tragic passing of Gary Speed.
Apologies for the length of time since my last blog, I managed to fracture my wrist whist partaking in a spot of Togger. My father's words of condolence were damning: "If you didn't have bad luck you'd have no luck at all". Which is also quite an apt summary of Everton so far this autumn.
We find ourselves halfway through the month of death in Everton's Footballing calendar and the Toffees are yet to receive a single point for their efforts. In the same three fixtures last season against Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea, a very respectable 7 points were acquired and I'm sure David Moyes would have liked to have picked up at least 1 from the possible 9 on offer.
Following an exhilarating and somewhat gut wrenching last 25 minutes of the120 played in the eventual victory against West Bromwich Albion last Wednesday, Everton's hopes of taking a buoyed squad and fan base down the M62 to Manchester City at the weekend were greatly enhanced.
It's amazing what can happen over a couple of weeks in Football, it truly is a funny old game. Rewind back to the start of September, there was a dark grey cloud lurking around Goodison Park and a storm of uncertainty was brewing. Our main play maker had just departed, along with him we lost two strikers and most of our press coverage centred around the goings on everywhere except the field of play.
Followers on Twitter and contributors to forums may remember my concerns about Mikel Arteta's future at Everton a couple of weeks earlier, after Cesc Fabregas' prolonged yet inevitable departure from the Emirates to Camp Nou. Often described as a Wenger type player my only doubt about the Frenchman's pursuit of Everton's most creative player was that maybe his age may be of a concern, as it would mean breaking a tried tested recruitment policy spanning 16 years.
Following a week of social disorder and reorder throughout the country, the nation could turn its attentions back to the sporting calendar and the last two teams out of the traps could begin their adventure into the 2011\12 Premier League.
After a three month break the Premier League returns this weekend. Well, it does if the unjustified heinous actions of a few does not lead to the cancellation of games up and down the country as the police are required for duty elsewhere, of course.
I for one, would suggest that restoration of the security of the country far outweighs the anticipation of a football season starting. Many matches have already fallen foul to the madness of the last few days, including England's international against Holland, only time will tell if the powers that be decide whether the opening weekend will go ahead as scheduled.
Turn the sports news channel over, get off Twitter, in fact steer clear of the Internet completely (after reading this of course) and only peruse the 1st 40 pages of your preferred daily rag. The slowest part of the year is here and is in full swing – the summer break.
If you want it to pass smoothly and quickly, the easiest way is to not get involved with who's allegedly being sold to who, who's been spotted being shown around the training ground and definitely don't bite at the bait of any player who links themselves to your club. Silly season is well and truly upon us.
As the dust finishes settling on what was the 2010\11 Premier League season, football fans across the 20 representative clubs can possibly look back perplexed at possibly the strangest campaign in its 18 year existence. Like in many cases over the past two decades the outcome was somewhat inevitable with Manchester United taking the crown and in turn dethroning Liverpool as England's most successful side winning a record 19th title, but even they went through a period of unforeseen turbulence when Wayne Rooney decided to do his best impression of a petulant child holding the hand that feeds him to ransom.
At this time of year most players and supporters alike, start to have one eye on the next game and the other glancing towards the shiny holiday brochure, dependant on how your season has been you may have been looking for a welcome distraction even earlier. Although those at the top and those at the bottom are quite probably still transfixed on the culmination of an eventful, mesmerising, frustrating and somewhat puzzling 2010\11 Premier League, however us lumbered with upper mid-table humility basically have the flip flops on, the li-lo blown up and just need mum to rub in the factor 15.
It was a warm April evening that greeted the 200 individually selected Everton supporters who were invited to attend the Club's inaugural Fan Conference. Sceptics will suggest that this is a poor replacement for the sidelined AGM and only those who had renewed their season tickets for 2011-12 were deemed eligible for invitation.
Camera's in football were last weekends top two talking points, unfortunately the main focus of the media's attention was on Wayne Rooney's mind-boggling lack of class and limited grasp of his native tongue. Playing second fiddle to the mouth of England's most gifted footballer was a further example for those that argue for the introduction of "Goal line technology".
Last week saw the ninth anniversary of David Moyes' appointment as Everton manager, it was quite apt that it was Fulham who were this weekend's opponents, and the match finished 2-1 with Everton taking a 2 goal lead, just as it had been in March 2002. Looking back through records I can see that Will Young was number 1 with "Evergreen" that week, which is also quite an apt description of Moyes, considering what the man at the helm of Everton's resurgence in the better part of the last decade has been through and his constraints whilst in his job.
In a week when Football further detaches itself from the the foundations on which it was based, the English game could again focus its attention on its most sacred of competition. However, it seems Everton's attentions were concentrating on a latter stage of the tournament rather than the challenge at hand.
Twitter can be a dark, dark place after an Everton loss (I keep expecting to see Gollum scampering away with my BlackBerry), after the jubilation of the eight goal thriller against everyone's second favourite team, Everton reverted back to being consistently inconsistent in Sunday's game at The Reebok. Leading to my timeline being inundated with open questions about, the commitment of the players, the future of the manager and the long burning conundrum surrounding the Club's stewardship under Bill Kenwright, especially the week in which Everton released the accounts details up to May 2010.
Wow. I'm still recovering from the ridiculous spending on Monday, last time I checked we were heading for a double dip recession, it seems however, no one told the Premier League. In fact, looking at the endless list of transfers throughout January's silly season, it seems Bill Kenwright was the sole Chairman to receive that particular memo.
I told you there was nothing to worry about, a win against, self professed title challengers, Spurs, an emphatic thumping of the cliched "potential banana skin" Scunthorpe in the FA Cup, a solid second-half performance in the derby, secured a well deserved point, and finally our strikers have remembered what the main function of the rectangular netted thing at the end of the pitch is. The season starts here! (Haven't I read that somewhere before?)
Greetings and a very happy new year to all,
As the "Santa is an Evertonian" hats join the baubles once again in the big brown box marked Christmas. We reach the half way stage of this very intriguing season.
Season's Greetings,
I read some tosh last week after the draw with Wigan, I'm sure the Samaritans did some good business after 4.45, with some people seriously needing to be placed on suicide watch.
Apologies for the length of time since my last post, I could blame it on lethargy, I could blame it on other priorities, I could blame it on the boogie. But the fact is I haven't had anything to write about, those boys in Blue have been giving me nothing. I don't want to churn out out a match report everyweek, they're 10 a penny online, I want to give you fine people food for thought, but in order to do that I need some inspiration from the eleven men taking to the pitch.
The renaissance of Phil Neville continues, a week ago Everton's defender come Holding Midfielder come general Mr Nice Guy, became an overnight internet phenomenon. Following Gareth Bale's impressive embarrassment of "the World's best Right Back" Maicon, bewildered Evertonian's everywhere paid homage to Captain Nev's performance against the Welsh wonder just a week before. Twitter was awash with outlandish statements of Phil's super human abilities, granted most of these were re-workings of the Chuck Norris quips from a couple of years ago but still very funny. His cyber infamy peaked at 3rd on the trending list, taking him above Barack Obama but losing out on silver and gold to a deceased American surfer (ocean not web) and African-American's, which seems quite a broad subject?
Quite what Phil made of this is unsure, although we may get a little insight in forthcoming programme notes, but former (and hopefully future) team mate Landon Donovan Tweeted "Phil Neville is Trending?!? What is this world coming to?!?!?!?", indeed.
I hate to start with a cliche but, a week in football is such a long time. However, in the space of seven days both Liverpool and Portsmouth are saved from the brink of financial ruin, Wayne Rooney is on the first Tram from Salford to Eastlands and then back again and Everton who couldn't get three points for toffee (excuse the pun) a few weeks ago, win the Merseyside derby. That win catapulted us to the heady heights of mid-table obscurity.
Hello all,
One hates to appear arrogant but, it seems as if Mr Moyes read my last blog and took heed from its words. Phil Neville comes back into the side, we have 4 points in 2 games and this season is starting to look, at the very least, a tad rosier. Of course I state this with a wry smile, but it does seem his influence on the pitch has impacted on the team. Going into the last 2 games I think most Evertonians would have been quite happy with 2 draws, Fulham haven't been a bogey team as such but one we apparently previously had an "eye for an eye" agreement with, in that, we'll lose at the Cottage but win at Goodison each and every year (with the exception of 08/09). To add further fuel to our anxiety as we searched for a 1st win of the season, Birmingham hadn't lost at home in a year. According to our Skipper, the sight of Everton rock bottom of table was embarrassing to the players and they needed to rectify that as soon as possible, one game later and we are out of the bottom 3, a solitary place above our local rivals.
I could probably just copy and paste last weeks blog, and change a few things around after the last week. I could possibly try to find another 1000 words (Mark Bright Tweeted me to say my blogs are too long?) trying to explain why things a taking a while to kick start again. I could even go into depth about my feelings of disappointment on Wednesday morning (which were slightly lifted by 10.30pm that night) after bowing out of a competition we should be aiming to win (all credit to Brentford though and good luck for the rest of the season). I'm certainly not going to be drawn into a will he\wont he nonsense debate about David Moyes' future.
When your team has had a somewhat underwhelming opening to a new campaign and achieved just a solitary point against eleven men on community service, or Wolves as they are known, the last thing you really want to see is United next on your handy credit card sized fixture list.
Although actually in recent times our record against Manchester's red side has improved greatly in comparison to the early days of the Premier League. However, it is still an exceptionally daunting task for any club and their supporters, and one of the first matches everyone looks for.
Firstly I'd like to apologise for the time since my last blog. I can assure you it has been just as a frustrating affair for me as I have a laptop that has decided 'Z' is the only letter it wants to process, it looks like I have fallen asleep on keyboard.* Which is probably technologies attempt at irony as I try to write about Everton's start to the season.
The week leading up to the 1st game of the season is one filled with anticipation and excitement. Allowing us to forget what happened the previous year and throw money at the bookies with audacious bets, ten pounds on Everton to win the title in 2011 could earn the lucky punter £1500! So with the betting slip safely and securely in the sock drawer until May (or March more likely, when we get a true idea of what's happening) we begin our sometimes joyous and sometimes torturous 9 month journey towards destiny.
I didn't buy the 09/10 Season Review DVD but if I did I probably would've skipped straight to November dismissing the opening third of the campaign as an extended pre-season. So caught up in our rise up the league in the middle to latter stages of the season, I remember watching Burnley getting thumped at home 6-1 by Manchester City and thought "who gets beaten 6-1 at home?" and just as I was about to say it out loud I stopped myself, recalling that terrible day last August.
But so contrasting were the months either side of Christmas, it was easy forget what a torrid Autumn we had actually had. Disrupted by want-away heroes, late incumbents and an injury list similar to that of the film Commando.
So last year really wasn't a fair reflection of what this squad can achieve if all reporting for duty from the start, which gives a great sense of optimism for the challenge ahead.
Greetings and welcome,
Bit of background on myself, I've been a Blue my whole life and a Season Ticket holder in the Lower Gwladys since 07/08. Originally from Southfields in London, I moved to Liverpool in 2007 and I'm a regular contributor about Everton on the Evertonians of 606 forum.
I have recently returned from a very underwhelming World Cup, from an English perspective anyway. Although I am still relatively a novice when it comes to blogging I aim to provide you with an insightful, humorous and a somewhat constructive weekly update concerning the goings on at Goodison Park, as well keeping an eye on elsewhere.
For my first entry for Soccernet I want to focus on, what may seem a quite unimaginative subject to begin with but at this time of year it is hard to ignore, the transfer window. An Evertonians relationship with these two Summer months is indifferent, on one hand it is met with real excitement as a plethora of exotic names are linked with the club or are seen at Finch Farm or spotted with Davey and Bill in Wetherspoons. Of course the flipside of the period is we have to endure the torture of reading endless stories of our finest servants mulling over multi-million pound deals from Russian oil magnates on the Kings Road, Sheiks from East Manchester or 'Arry in his "Manor".
Johnny Heitinga believes Everton must hold on to Jack Rodwell and Steven Pienaar, for the club to have a "beautiful season".
Both Rodwell and Pienaar have been linked with possible moves away from Goodison Park in the summer and Rodwell, one of a number of first-team players to come up through the club's Academy, is rumoured to be interesting Manchester United. The England Under-21 midfielder, who only broke through into the Everton team on a regular basis last season, has made 16 Premier League starts this term and scored against the Red Devils and Hull City.
Everton boss David Moyes has suggested that he does not feel the club is in a position to move forward following the collapse of their new stadium plans, which is sure to fuel rumours that he could quit.
Moyes, preparing to entertain Liverpool in the Merseyside derby on Sunday, was said to be considering his future on Wednesday once news of the government's decision to block the plans for the ground in Kirby had emerged.
Everton defender Phil Jagielka has undergone a second knee operation and may not play again until after Christmas, adding to the injury woes at the Toffees that has seen them get off to slow starts in the Premier League and Europa League.
Jagielka, 27, has been sidelined since damaging knee ligaments in April but had been hoping to return to action before the end of November. However a problem, described by Everton as 'a small cartilage tear', means Jagielka's comeback will be delayed. Jagielka had an operation on Wednesday, Everton revealed.
Everton continue to struggle with the start of the season and few could argue with Moyes' assertion that we just aren't ready. A 1-0 defeat at Burnley follows the 6-1 drubbing by Arsenal and leaves us bottom of the table. Thankfully those results fall either side of a welcome 4-0 win over Sigma which at least gave a boost to our hopes of having a good season - imagine the doom and gloom if we'd lost that one as well !
It seems increasingly likely that Lescott will become a City player in the next few days, for a fee of about 22 million if reports are to be believed.
With the squad now well into pre-season training, things are starting to hot up on the transfer front and Everton could add some new signings to that of Jo in the next week or two.
Jo on a season long loan is a good signing I think, considering it was free and that he did relatively well for us in the second half of last season. I think I said this last term but my main criticism is that he only plays well and scores goals against inferior teams, at Goodison Park. That should still see him score a few goals for us this season then, just as he did last season.
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Cuckmaster General
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 20,695
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Why do some posters HATE certain fighters so much?
Most fighters out there have got people who "dislike" them, there are certain fighters I "dislike"
But there are people out there who literally HATE certain fighters, to the extent where they will post abuse, mockery or general negative comments, every time that fighter is mentioned, without fail.
What is it about boxing that it attracts this element?
Undisputed Champion
Join Date: Jan 2013
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I've wondered that my self, I often wonder how can people hate a humble non trash talking guys like PAC, or golovkin . But I've come to the conclusion that who they actually hate is their fans , fans fight online wars with fans of other fighters.
Undisputed Champion
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Location: Texas
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Bushbaby is sick in the head,The guy needs help.
JMM Stan
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
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Some people live vicariously through their favourite fighters, and take everything directed at them personally, or like they are the personal assistant of that fighter.
It's just an endless cycle of stupidity.
Undisputed Champion
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Fire and Blood
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Age: 30
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Fair but Firm
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Join Date: Aug 2008
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I hate Floyd/Broner fans more than I hate the fighters themselves. I still consider myself a fan of Floyd.... but I can't openly support him on this board. Not with al the little agendas and lameness displayed by his fanbase.
The worst case is obviously Bushbaby and his hate for Canelo.... it has consumed him
The Voice of Reason
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It's an easy question to answer really, just ask yourself why you hate some fighters. I don't care who you are, EVERYONE on this board hates one fighter or another. If you don't, you're lying out your arse. I'm guilty of it too.
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Freedom Flotilla: a Brave Skipper, a Grateful Family and Angry Florida Critics
Backlash in Miami
By last week Jimmy Carter's "open heart and open arms" policy toward the Cuban refugees was becoming an open wound in Southern Florida. A Miami Herald poll found that some three-quarters of Dade County residents feared there were not enough jobs, homes or classrooms to accommodate the wave of new residents. The Herald summarized: "Dade County is the land of the free—and the home of the scared."
Predictably, the refugee issue brought bigotry and xenophobia into ugly view. The Ku Klux Klan turned up to demonstrate near refugee encampments, and the less-organized forces of hyper-Americanism sounded their alarms through radio call-in show host Stan Major. The fears of Garnette Anderson, a mobile-home park tenants' organizer, were fairly typical. "These Cubans are going to kill the goose that laid the golden egg," she said last week. A 67-year-old widow, she traces her dislike for the Cuban refugees to her adult vocational school days in the early 1960s, when she learned that while she was struggling to pay her own tuition, Cuban refugees were getting scholarships and free books from local émigré associations. Now she believes the Cubans will make Southern Florida a separatist enclave like Quebec: "They won't want to be part of the country that offered them haven," she worries.
There was legitimate concern in some quarters that Castro might be emptying his mental hospitals and jails into the U.S. As he processed new arrivals at the Key West naval base, immigration officer A.L. Ahr warned with startling bluntness that 85 percent of the refugees are "convicts, robbers, murderers, homosexuals and prostitutes." (Actually, many refugees reportedly manufactured prison backgrounds with black-market documents to increase their chances of being let out of Cuba.)
White House press secretary Jody Powell announced last week that the screening process would disqualify some 35 percent of the refugees from U.S. residency—and that every effort would be made to insure that Southern Florida took no more than its fair share of the refugee burden. But reason was not apt to calm the likes of housewife Collette Pericht, 39, an early spokeswoman against the Cubans who told the Today show that the refugees "should be put in leaky boats." The remark drew widespread demands that she apologize—and, she claims, several threats on her life. But Pericht remains unrepentant. "I'll shut up," she said last week, "but I'll never apologize."
A selfless mission
One summer night in 1961 Gregory Rodriguez' father awakened him and spirited the young man, his mother, a brother and sister and 12 other relatives to a fishing boat moored next to the Cuban naval base at Mariel. In the dark, the elder Rodriguez started his motor quietly, moved cautiously through the harbor, then broke full throttle for Key West.
This month, in an early wave of the Freedom Flotilla, Gregory Rodriguez, now a 33-year-old fisherman, took his 34-foot lobster boat Trinity back to Mariel. Although one Cuban-American in Miami had offered him $40,000 to bring back the man's relatives, Rodriguez, unlike many skippers, would not accept money. "I just couldn't take anything for what I did," he says. "I would be a hypocrite."
Rodriguez, his wife, Maria, and a crew of four set out for Mariel after midnight. Some eight hours later, "We were met by a Cuban gunboat, with machine guns and two cannons pointed at us," Rodriguez recalls. Escorted to Mariel, the Trinity lay at anchor for nine days while officials located members of Rodriguez' family and passed judgment on their applications to leave—meanwhile fleecing him for the supplies he had to buy. Government supply boats charged $18 for five gallons of water, $48 for a case of beer and $5 for a pack of cigarettes. "Fidel is making a mint off this," says Rodriguez.
Sadly, he had to leave without many relatives; some were detained because they had children of military age, others for no apparent reason. One of his uncles was allowed to leave only at the last minute—and saw his house being ransacked by scavenging neighbors as he left. In all, Rodriguez brought out seven of his own kin, eight relatives of crew members and 78 others. The human cargo seriously overloaded Trinity, built to accommodate only a crew of four plus their catch. "We were lucky," Rodriguez insists. "Many boats come back from Cuba with no relatives at all."
It was a sorry shipload that Trinity disgorged in Key West. Some of the refugees had bad wounds and bruises from beatings by soldiers; one woman's ear had been cut nearly in two by a rifle butt. Almost all of the refugees had become seasick and most were still trembling with fear when they landed. "I felt sorry for these poor people," says Rodriguez. "We had only two raincoats and six towels and everyone was soaking and retching—the boat was like a big bowl of vomit." Rodriguez missed 10 days' work at the height of the fishing season for his mission of mercy, but he has no regrets: "I would have been brokenhearted if I hadn't gotten those people out of there."
A family's ordeal
When the 2 a.m. knock on the door from Castro's police came two weeks ago, Julio Herrera Blanco, 40, was ready. Once before in his career he had run afoul of the Cuban government; as a state labor union functionary in the 1960s, Herrera was arrested for anti-Communist activities and imprisoned for four and a half years. This time Herrera was happy to see the police; they were taking his entire family—his wife, Maria, and children Maria, 11, and Dom, 8—to Mariel and to freedom. Herrera had been seeking official permission to leave Cuba for years. Now in the United States, he plans to work "within the law" to bring attention to the abuses of the Castro government and the plight of those he left behind. "It is necessary that something be done as a gesture of humanity," he says.
To illustrate what he means, Herrera points to his long sentence for giving information about his union to an anti-Castro political group. Yet by Cuban standards it was not an unusual term. Herrera also notes the vindictive-ness of Cuban officials toward those who choose to leave the country. Before boarding their ship, the Herreras were held at an infamous detention camp called "the Mosquito" near Mariel, where some would-be refugees were forced to compete with their guards' hungry dogs for scraps of raw meat, where one toilet served thousands of people, where disease abounded. The Herreras were at the Mosquito only 30 hours—and they count themselves lucky. "There are people who are kept there a long time," says Julio.
Herrera says he risked such mistreatment in Cuba in the hope that his children could grow up unthreatened by it. Until the day he left Cuba, he had never told them that he had been a political prisoner before they were born, fearing that one of them might blurt out the fact in school and cause him to lose his job as a statistician. The notion that his children will be able to talk and learn freely in the U.S. makes Herrera, still bone-weary from his journey, break into a weak smile. As for himself, though he is qualified as a computer operator, he vows, "I will work at any job, wash dishes, clean toilets, anything to live in a free country where I can worship my own God and say what I think. For the first time, I have no fear of the future."
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Northern Iowa University finished in General Finishes new waterbase Pro Floor Stain - GF celebrates the first public application of their exciting new stain line.
This June General Finishes, a recognized leader in the water-borne finishes industry, launched their revolutionary Water Based Pro Wood Floor Stain System, challenging the traditional use of oil-based stains.
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- VOC compliant throughout; U.S. Sq. ft. coverage is 30% greater than oil stains.
The General Finishes Floor System consists of Pro Floor Stain, Pro Sealer, Pro Image (pre crosslinked Sealer), and Pro Shield (post catalyzed top coat). More info at http://www.generalfinishes.com/waterbase-floor-stains-topcoats.


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Violence up on Crowley's streets
CROWLEY – A trend is starting to emerge in Crowley and residents are rightfully worried.
Thursday night, two more Crowley residents were injured in a shooting.
The shooting marked the fifth since September. Two have been killed in the string of shootings, and Crowley Police are trying to determine if they are connected or what the cause of this latest shooting was.
"We have not established a motive for last night (Thursday)," said Crowley Police Chief K.P. Gibson. "Is there a possibility that these shootings could be related? By all means, we are not excluding anything at this point."
Both of the injured, whose identities have not been released, are recovering in a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
The most recent shooting in Crowley occurred Thursday just after 7 p.m. on the 700 block of West Second Street (Highway 90). The shooting was near the intersection of West Second Street (Hwy. 90) and North Avenue A.
Multiple shots were fired.
The Crowley Police Department's investigation began Thursday night and is still ongoing.
Crowley Police and residents alike have shown deep concern over safety and continue to wonder when and how the violence will stop in the community.
In the past month, residents have also marched against violence, but nothing seems to be working in the community at this point.
If anything, the shooting Thursday may just prove that the violence's end isn't in sight for Crowley, which is what police fear as the potential for retaliation in such crimes looms.
"Right now we are out working all the lead we have," said Chief Gibson. "We feel that there are people in our community, especially in that area, that have some knowledge of what is going on. We are asking them to get involved and let us know."
Another concern for Crowley Police is an innocent bystander being injured, or worse, by a stray bullet as these shootings continue.
Chief Gibson added that while he understands the fear of getting involved, informing the police is the quickest way to stop the violence that has made Crowley fearful.
Those with information concerning any of the recent shootings in Crowley that want to speak out anonymously can do so by calling the tip into Acadia Parish CrimeStoppers at 789-8477.
To speak to Crowley Police detectives directly, call, 783-1234.


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The sky has been a pale brown around the Panhandle at times this week, which in athletic terms means only one thing: Baseball season is here.
Yeah, with March upon us and the unpredictability (not to mention the occasional danger) of the winds about to dominate the conversation weatherwise, it's time to start thinking about the diamond more than the hardwood. Everybody's reported to spring training in Arizona and Florida, and they've been swinging the bats in games which count around here for at least two weeks now.
The irony for those of us who've been indoor-bound by our sports coverage for the last three months is that baseball season arrives much like the wind: out of nowhere, unexpected and all of a sudden, in your face.
That will be the focus for the next several months, whether you follow the Texas Rangers, Houston Astros or say, Bushland Falcons, all of whom are looking for their first championships. Two of those teams have pretty realistic shots at one. I'll let you guess which one doesn't.
But it's fun nonetheless to speculate. Everybody's 0-0 right now, although District 3-4A starts play less than 12 days from the time I write this. It should be very interesting.
Now if only somebody could do something about this wind.


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Score one for the citizens' right to transparency from public bodies in Pennsylvania.
A state appellate court has ruled public-records requests filed under the state's Right to Know Law need not cite the law or satisfy other technicalities when making a request to see public records.
All they need to to do is include the requester's name and address and enough information for government agencies to identify the records being sought.
The ruling came in the form of a narrow 4-3 decision in which the majority of the court panel said the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board erred in ignoring an anti-gambling activist's 2009 request for records of communication between the agency and applicants competing for a resort casino license.
Beyond the verbiage, this is a significant ruling.
It means that those making a public records requests don't have to have any particular legal savvy, which cuts to the heart of the Right to Know Law. Citizens shouldn't need an advanced level of knowledge to "qualify" for public records information. A request is a request is a request.
Making citizens be more specific than necessary is a way for agencies to hide behind the heart of the matter - giving out information on public issues. That process is supposed to be simple and accessible to all citizens. It's not supposed to be a matter left only for citizens with a particular legal understanding.
The court panel's ruling simplifies the request process. They have ruled with pragmatism and common sense and on behalf of all Pennsylvania citizens. We thank them and hope the ruling improves the practical usage of the Right to Know Law.


text: Kids' ski gloves help Keep you children's extremities warm, which is key to staying keeping them comfortable and active throughout the day. We carry a wide selection of ski gloves for all temperatures from thick warm mittens to light spring gloves. Choose from Reusch, Spyder, Gordini, and Roxy, all available through Granite Chief Lake Tahoe ski shop.


text: Ive been going through some tutorials on my own and seemed c++ had a lot in common with Java... Then I got to pointers. I get the concept (I think) but its application still alludes me. I've been writing with a few hello worlds as fun but my tests with pointers have almost all ended miserably. John Aldrich <jmaldrich at yahoo.com> wrote: >Quoting Jon Stanford <jbirdvegas at aokp.co>: > >> I'm pretty much available whenever. There are specific days I can't >> like 8/26-27 and 9/19 but I'm fairly open if I have some notice. My >> main development computer is being fixed and won't be back for >> another 8 days :( >> >> I have another older laptop but its embarrassing to have in public >> as I have to hot wire it to turn it on. >> >I've tried to learn C/C++, but I just don't do the "self-paced" thing >very well. We tried to have a "class" at Chatt State awhile back, but >I quit going to it as there was a) no text book and b) no way to study >what we were going to be talking about the next week because 1) we >were not advised what we were going to study and 2) see point (a). > >I don't know what happened to that group, but I wish 'em well. It just >wasn't for me. > >_______________________________________________ >Chugalug mailing list >Chugalug at chugalug.org >http://chugalug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/chugalug


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Food Trucks Rule!
By D. Aileen Dodd Contributing Writer | 6/21/2013, 8:10 a.m.
Vendors who want to open food carts or trucks in metro Atlanta must get licenses, permits and follow health departments guidelines for the safe preparation and storage of food.
Municipal laws also restrict where food carts can do business.
"There is no vending on city streets in Atlanta," said Melissa Mullinax, a spokeswoman with the City of Atlanta.
Food trucks can do business at festivals and visit private properties including office buildings and housing developments. A food truck "food court" was established off Howell Mill Road and Interstate 75 to give food trucks a location to do business 7-days a week.
The investment in a cart, according to industry estimates, can cost about $3,000. A truck can cost $50,000 to $100,000 or more. Permits and business licenses are needed in every city a food truck serves a plate in Georgia.
When Yumbii first began serving gourmet food from its rolling restaurant, its customer base was small. It only had two office buildings that it could visit to sell food.
"Now we have routes," Young said. Its stops and menu are listed on its website, yumbii.com. Each week the truck rolls from the Cobb Galleria Office Park to the Mall of Georgia, stopping off at locations in between. "Each one of those locations requires a separate business license and permitting process. I think it's always kind of funny when restaurants complain that food trucks aren't paying their way."
The Anglins say the challenges of the industry - the cost of permits, the over-saturation of food truck parks, and the sweltering heat - can be daunting at times.
"There is a lot of red tape," said Mia Anglin. "There is no one-two-three step to getting started."
Anglin estimates that it took six-to-eight months and "52 trips" between the City of Atlanta, the Atlanta Police Department and the Fulton County health department to get all of the permits they needed to sell food on a cart and truck.
And once you have the permits, you quickly have to learn by trial and error how much food to prepare, said Mia Anglin.
"The object is to sell out so you don't have to throw food away," she said. "You also have to pay for the gas to move the truck around."
One Love Jerk Grill sells 400 pounds of jerk chicken each week. It's made the traditional way; fresh on a grill.
"Most restaurants do it in the oven," said Troy Anglin. "Ours has the smoke to it. You can really tell it's coming off the grill. You can taste the difference."
A $10 plate includes an enticing serving of jerk chicken, rice and peas and steamed veggies. The rolling Caribbean restaurant also sells curry chicken, ox tails and beef patties. Island-imported sodas cost $2. Food is cooked daily. Exhaust fans protect the Anglins from the intense summer heat.
The Anglins said their business is growing and customers are pushing them to open a sit-down Caribbean restaurant.
"We wanted to make a name for ourselves," said Anglin. "Now we have a loyal customer base."
The Food Truck Park is located at 1850 Howell Mill Road, NW. To learn more, visit: www.atlantafoodtruckpark.com.


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by Charles Hugh Smith
Of Two Minds
Forget decoupling from Europe–we've been decoupled from reality since 2008.
Have we decoupled from the global slowdown? Doubtful. Have we decoupled from reality? Undoubtedly–and have been since 2008. One key attribute of reality is feedback: actions have consequences, and various forces reinforce or resist each other in a dynamic interplay of positive and negative feedback.
Another key attribute of reality is risk. Risk is as ever-present as gravity, and it cannot be eliminated; it can only be shared or transferred.
When you overwhelm feedback with massive interventions that mask risk, you decouple from reality. With feedback suppressed and risk hidden, the system's resilience and resourcefulness both atrophy. Participants start making decisions not on risk assessment and feedback from reality but on the results of the intervention.


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For the leaders of a country confronting a mounting national debt that causes creditors to worry about the ability to pay it off, the solution is obvious: Stop borrowing money.
But what's the best way to balance the budget? Reduce spending? Increase taxes? Try both?
Fiscal conservatives favor cutting back on government spending. Reducing some or all government programs, and perhaps eliminating others, is the way to make ends meet.
Sure, it may cause hardship for citizens, some more than others. But some of that pain would be temporary; eventually, debt payments would be eliminated, freeing more revenue for state-run programs.
Progressives point out that until then, reduced government spending would cause the national economy to shrink; funds the government had been borrowing would not enter the economy. Thus, even more people would be out of work. That would be tough in a country that already has high unemployment.
Trouble is, balancing a budget by raising taxes would have the same effect. Government spending on programs would remain steady, but use money that taxpayers would not be able to spend themselves.
Viewed this way, two things become apparent. One, the borrowing must stop sometime, and the sooner the better. Two, balancing the budget and paying down the deficit will not be painless, no matter how it is done.
The only thing left to debate is how to inflict the least amount of pain. But individual politicians are more concerned about who will feel the pain - preferably, not the ones who vote for a particular politician.
This explains much about the level of partisanship in Washington and elsewhere, and the "warfare" between voting blocs. It does not instill confidence that the debt problem will be dealt with in an effective manner.


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BloomBoxes are now being sold at uncommongoods.com here if you want to pick up one
Thanks again for all the support and patience with our project!!!
Inventory Finally Arrived!!!!
We finally have inventory stock after multiple nightmare scenarios! Anyone who did not receive their order, please message us and we will get them out ASAP. We apologize again for... Read more
Inventory Delays
Hey everyone,
Sorry about the delays with our production. We have taken our mold to a different manufacturer that can get us inventory when they say they will. At the... Read more
Shipping next week!
Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay in shipping, but our manufacturer: Mudshark, recently won a Martha Stewart award for best new small business, and has seen a crazy influx in... Read more
Facebook Page
We started our very own Facebook page! Why? I have no clue.
Check it out though http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bloombox/303698369729354
Thank you DesignSponge
We got a lot of interest in the Bloombox after this post from DesignSponge.com
PandoDaily has an interesting write-up on the Bloombox