Self-Employed Losing Health Insurance Options; LA Chamber of Commerce Advocates in DC; New Pasadena School District Superintendent; Evangelicals' Disputed Agenda; The Jesus Machine
Self-Employed Losing Health Insurance Options
Health insurance companies have been luring healthy, self-employed people away from trade associations with offers of lower premiums if they buy insurance directly. The result: trade associations are left with older, less healthy, higher risk individuals. Now health insurance companies such as Blue Shield are looking at dropping trade associations. Larry discusses this trend with Gerald Kominski, Associate Director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, and Jim Clarke, Vice President of Public Policy for the American Society of Association Executives.
LA Chamber of Commerce Advocates in DC
The LA Chamber of Commerce is in Washington, D.C. for its annual Access DC advocacy trip. For the first time politicians and civic leaders are making the trip along with area business leaders. The 200 delegates will meet with 50 different lawmaker and legislators to advocate for federal investment in Southern California projects and programs. Larry talks with Gary Toebben, President of the LA Chamber of Commerce, and City Councilman Eric Garcetti, about some of the issues the delegation will focus on including Education, Transportation, and Public Safety.
New Pasadena School District Superintendent
Larry talks with Edwin Diaz, the new Superintendent of the Pasadena Unified School District, about his plans for the district. Diaz previously served as Superintendent of the Gilroy Unified School District and was named Educator of the Year in 2002 by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Evangelicals' Disputed Agenda
While Evangelical Christians remain politically unified against abortion, a schism is developing about the relative importance of issues such as the environment, the war in Iraq and poverty. Larry talks with Richard Cizik, Vice President for Governmental Affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals, and Calvin Beisner, Associate Professor of Historical Theology and Social Ethics at Knox Theological Seminary in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Cizik and Beisner represent opposing sides of the Evangelical community.
The Jesus Machine
In his new book, The Jesus Machine (St. Martin's Press), journalist Dan Gilgoff argues that James Dobson, of Focus on the Family, is the country's most powerful evangelical spokesman because his constituency was built on dispensing family advice to millions of Americans and not on any explicit political platform. Larry talks with Gilgoff about Dobson's influence in American politics.