Portable Planet

Halloween may be over, but Medicare Part D beneficiaries shopping during open enrollment could be in for a nasty scare, with up to $1,915 in cost increases next year for premiums and five commonly used prescriptions — the equivalent of about two month’s worth of Social Security checks.

“Anyone currently enrolled in the Medicare drug program should sit down with their family this holiday season to make sure their plan still offers a good deal next year,” said Bill Vaughan, senior health policy analyst for Consumers Union.

“Those folks who simply stick with their current drug plan and fail to check next year’s prices and premiums could face financial disaster come January,” Vaughan added.

Consumers Union also found that while many plans are reducing monthly premiums for next year, they actually are increasing overall annual costs for a theoretical basket of five common prescription drugs monitored in the study.

“Lower monthly premiums can be dangerously deceptive to a senior who doesn’t also check on the costs of the drugs they are taking under that plan,” Vaughan said. “Just because you see your monthly premiums go down, don’t assume your drug costs won’t go up, perhaps dramatically.”

In zip codes in five states (New York, Illinois, California, Texas and Florida), Consumers Union compared January 2007 Medicare Part D Plan out-of-pocket prices for five common drugs(1) and monthly premiums with those advertised for January 2008. At least 82 percent of plans in each state increased their overall costs(2), and out of the total 247 plans, 39 plans, or 16 percent, increased their costs by 25 percent or more(3).

The largest increase among the five states sampled was for Envision RxPlus Gold of New York, which increased total premium and drug costs 60 percent(4) - or $1,915 - from January 2007 to January 2008. This plan also had the highest increases in Florida and California, and Texas (along with Blue MedicareRx Standard), and was second only to Blue MedicareRx Standard in Illinois.

“It is so important to take the time and shop among plans, and use the Medicare website (www.Medicare.gov) to check your drug costs,” Vaughan said, adding that CU found up to a $2,700 difference between the lowest and highest cost plan within a state for the five drugs sampled. “A plan that was a bargain this year may be the exact opposite next year. Beneficiaries have just a few weeks during open enrollment to avoid being stuck with a high cost plan in 2008.”

While the majority of plans CU sampled increased overall costs, some plans kept costs low, or even reduced their costs from year to year.

In 2007, HealthSpring Prescription Drug Plan-Reg 22 had the fifth lowest overall drug costs of any plan in Texas for the five sampled drugs and premiums, and a 2008 cost increase of as little as 3 percent(5). This now makes it the least expensive plan in the state for the five drugs (in New York, Illinois and California the least expensive plans for these five drugs are also run by HealthSpring).

“It is essential that beneficiaries look carefully on the Medicare website and in the ‘Medicare and You Handbook’ for plans with prices that start low and stay low,” Vaughan said.

Consumers Union also reminds beneficiaries that many could benefit by reviewing their drug options with their doctors and considering effective, lower-cost alternatives. Savings from moving to a generic or lower cost brand alternative might more than cover their Part D premiums. Information on the safest, most effective drugs is available, free, on the CU website, www.CRBestBuyDrugs.org.

Source: Consumers Union

Mark Rein, Vice President of Epic Games, is so impressed with his company’s Unreal Tournament III for PS3 that he has gone on the record saying that the graphics will surpass Gears Of War on Xbox 360.

“People are going to be pleasantly surprised,” he said of the PlayStation 3 title to website Pro-G. “It’s a really high end experience that pushes the graphics bar up even higher than Gears of War. There’s more polygons, there’s more stuff going on, there’s more explosions and there’s more things happening, so we’re just really pleased with the way the game runs on the PS3.”

Unfortunately, European gamers may have to wait a little longer to get to play Unreal Tournament III. 

“Europe’s a problem because the certification process in Europe takes longer,” he recently told Eurogamer.  “They’re testing all these different languages in all these different countries, so I doubt it’ll be released this year in Europe. But I don’t know. We’ll have to cross our fingers and wait and see.”

Carnegie Mellon University’s Tartan Racing Team, sponsored by Continental Automotive Systems, won the 2007 Defense Advance Research Project Agency (DARPA) Urban Challenge and the $2 million first place prize in the autonomous vehicle competition, held at the former George Air Force Base November 3 in Victorville, CA.

The 2007 Urban Challenge represents the first time that autonomous (driverless) vehicles traversed suburban roads at speed with real traffic represented by 50 moving sedans with human drivers and the 11 race finalists in robot-on-robot competition. The autonomous vehicles in the DARPA Urban Challenge were required to navigate, park, and handle traffic on a 60-mile urban course within a six-hour time limit. The vehicles operated without human guidance and relied only on sensors and computers. The also had to obey traffic laws, merge into moving traffic, avoid obstacles, and negotiate intersections. In addition to the $2 million first prize, $1 million and $500,000 were awarded to the second-and third-place finishers, respectively.

“This was an historic day in the push to make vehicles safer and smarter,” said Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann, president Continental Automotive Systems. ” We have been saying ’smart cars are coming’ and there was clear evidence of that this weekend. The Continental environmental sensors performed flawlessly and helped Tartan Racing’s driverless vehicle ‘Boss’ see the path to victory, moving intelligent vehicle technology forward. To watch these vehicles speed off on their own after months of experimenting was really exhilarating. It was a thrill for us to be part of the first place Tartan Racing Team at the DARPA Urban Challenge and I know what we have learned about sensorics and data fusion will be applied to future passenger vehicles giving drivers’ additional tools to improve safety on the road.

At Continental we believe the Urban Challenge was not ‘pie in the sky’ thinking on display. Instead, we view the competition as an incubator for the driving experience of the future. What DARPA seeks to demonstrate we at Continental embrace as our fundamental business culture as we strive to offer our customers … and ‘consumers who are their customers’ … the very best in automotive innovation, performance and reliability.”

Continental provided to Tartan Racing an array of advanced active safety radar and lidar sensors that help vehicles anticipate trouble before it happens, as well as its General brand Grabber UHP tires with Contiseal. In addition, the tier one automotive supplier provided engineering resources, including an imbedded engineer with expertise in sensor data fusion that like the human brain, enhances computing capability by combining information from different sensors to provide the robot and image of the total traffic environment in order to make appropriate decisions.

“Our sponsorship and active involvement with the Urban Challenge underscores our dedication to leveraging active safety technology in the development of intelligent vehicles to change the driving experience for the better-making individual mobility safer, more comfortable and sustainable,” added Dr. Neumann.

Source: CAS

There’s an Amy Fisher sex tape that’s already in the can and set to be sold starting next month.

“Amy Fisher Caught on Tape” was filmed by her husband,  Lou Bellera, who then sold the tape while the couple was split up.  Bellera was upset at the time because the “Long Island Lolita” had started dating Joey Buttafuoco, of all people.

“I did it out of the heat of anger and passion,” Bellera explained to The New York Post.

“We were estranged. She was seeing Joey. I was seething about the whole thing. It just came to a point where I was hurt and embarrassed by it . . . and it pressed the wrong button. I just used that as a vehicle to strike back at her.”

He sold the tape to Light District Video, but in the meantime, the couple have reconciled and she is willing to forgive him and work things out.

“We have two beautiful children, and we have a nice life, so we have to think about that,” she said.

Naturally, she thought the tape was going to be for their eyes only.

“It’s all fun and games,”said Fisher. “I never thought that . . . anything like this would ever happen.”