Anthem Inc announced this morning a deal to buy Cigna Corp for $54.2 billion, creating the largest health insurer in the nation by the number of members. Also, nearly two-thirds of roads in the Los Angeles and Orange County area are in poor condition. Then, in an effort to mitigate food waste, a company, Imperfect Produce, is selling produce with an off color, strange shape or unusual size. Would you buy it?
Impact of Anthem / Cigna proposed merger on consumers
Anthem Inc. announced this morning a deal to buy Cigna Corp for $54.2 billion, creating the largest health insurer in the nation by the number of members.
The deal comes on the heels of another sizable merger between Aetna Inc and Humana Inc for $37 billion, and is part of a consolidation trend in the health care industry following the rollout of the Affordable Care Act.
If regulators approve the Anthem / Cigna deal, it will likely close by the end of 2016 and would leave only three players in the health insurance field.
Would the Anthem / Cigna deal pass regulatory muster? Would the deal hurt -- or help -- consumers?
Guests:
Martin Makary, M.D. surgeon and professor of health policy at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Medicine. He is the author of “Unaccountable: What Hospitals Won’t Tell You and How Transparency Can Revolutionize Health Care“ (Bloomsbury Press, 2013).
Jerry Flanagan, lead staff attorney focusing on the health care industry for Consumer Watchdog, a consumer advocacy group
Rough ride: Southern California’s roads rank low in quality
Southern California has endless sunny days and miles of beautiful beaches, but why are its roads so bad?
Nearly two-thirds of roads in the Los Angeles and Orange County area are in poor condition. According to a new study released this week, poor road conditions cost the average motorist $1,031 a year in vehicle deterioration, increased maintenance, as well as increased fuel consumption, and tire wear.
Do you feel safe driving on Southern California roads? Are road conditions getting better or worse? And what is being done at the state level to improve the roads?
Bumpy Roads Ahead: America’s Roughest Rides and Strategies to Make our Roads Smoother
Guests:
Rocky Moretti, Director of Policy and Research at TRIP, a national transportation research non-profit, based in Washington D.C. - TRIP is sponsored by insurance companies, equipment manufacturers, distributors and suppliers, businesses involved in highway and transit engineering and construction, labor unions, and organizations concerned with an efficient and safe surface transportation network.
Steve Finnegan, manager of government and community affairs for the Automobile Club of Southern California
Cosmetically-challenged fruits and veggies
Ugly fruits and vegetables will soon be sold in Southern California.
By ugly, we mean produce that has an off color, strange shape or unusual size, but is completely safe to eat. The produce is not decayed or damaged — that’s an issue of condition. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), over 20 percent of food that’s grown on farms is never consumed by people.
So, in an effort to mitigate food waste, Imperfect, a start-up based in Northern California, sources fruit and vegetables from farms that have been rejected by grocery stores. The produce is carefully inspected and then packaged, then either home delivered or dropped off at a convenient location.
A Northern California grocery chain, Raley’s, is carrying Imperfect’s produce at a discounted price. In about three years Imperfect hopes to sell their fruit in Southern California.
Will you buy it? What is it about a two pronged-carrot or a pear collapsing on itself that makes you grimace, favoring its more idealized sibling? How strong of an influence does the mind have over flavor?
Guest:
Charles Spence, Professor of Experimental Psychology at Oxford University, who has a focus on how brains process information through the five senses
Filmweek: 'Pixels,' 'Paper Towns,' 'Southpaw' and more
Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Justin Chang and Amy Nicholson including comedic sci-fi "Pixels," the coming-of-age story "Paper Towns," filmmaker Antoine Fuqua's latest dramatic action film "Southpaw" and more.
TGI-Filmweek!
*Correction: This segment of FilmWeek included a review of the film "Phoenix." However, that does not open in Los Angeles until Friday, July 31.
Guests:
Justin Chang, film critic for KPCC and Chief Film Critic for Variety
Amy Nicholson, film critic for KPCC and Chief Film Critic for LA Weekly
Oscar-nominated documentarian on follow-up to controversial ‘Act of Killing’
Few documentaries in recent years have inspired as much debate as Joshua Oppenheimer’s “The Act of Killing.”
The then 38-year-old first-time director trained his gaze on a subject few people knew about: the Indonesian massacres of 1965-66, a political purge that claimed the lives of more than 500,000 communists, suspected communists and their supporters.
In that film, Oppenheimer decided to tell the stories of the killings from the perspective of a gang of perpetrators and, more controversially, re-staged the murders in fantastical yet disturbing details.
Oppenheimer has been at work making a second documentary on the same topic. The result is “The Look of Silence.” It’s been described as a companion piece to the earlier work, and this time around, the incident is told from the victim’s point of view, in particular an optometrist named Adi in Indonesia, whose brother was killed during the period of political upheaval.
"The Look of Silence" will be playing at the Hammer Museum tonight, Jan. 20, at 7:30pm. Click here for more info and to purchase ticket.
Guest:
Joshua Oppenheimer, director behind the new documentary, “The Look of Silence” -- a companion piece to the Oscar-nominated “The Act of Killing,” which came out in 2012. “The Look of Silence” opens this weekend at the Nuart Theatre in West Los Angeles