Shame on NBC for very public humiliation of longtime ‘Today’ veteran

Whatever you think of Curry as a “Today” co-host, and there are legitimate disagreements on that point, no one deserves this sort of slow, forced march to a public execution.

For a solid week, from the moment The Times released a story detailing just what NBC had in mind — including her expected replacement by “Today” third-hour host Savannah Guthrie — Curry had to go on the air every day and smile.

Knowing that all her bosses, all her colleagues, almost all the media and millions of her viewers realized her employer didn’t want her there anymore.

Slow-motion dismissal may be an okay management tactic if you suspect an unpaid intern is smoking weed on lunch break. For someone who has been with the company 22 years, and whom NBC seems to genuinely value, it’s unfathomable.

“Today” is too high-profile a show, and making a host change at the time when ABC’s “Good Morning America” has pulled almost even was inevitably going to roil the pond.
NBC was hoping, no doubt, that once it had decided to bump Curry to another job, she would agree to a hugfest statement about how she loves “Today,” but couldn’t pass up this new dream offer of having her own personal news team to roam the world with cherry-picking the best stories.
Curry did say she loves that new job, as she should. But when she also described the offer as NBC “throwing some fancy titles at me,” it was clear she wasn’t going to hide how she really felt about being dumped from “Today.”
Nor did she have a reason to hide it. She’s not the perp here. She’s the vic.
Minutes after her new position was formally announced — she will be NBC News National and International Correspondent/Anchor and “Today” Anchor at Large, which is a fancy title — NBC issued a statement in which officials right up to NBC News President Steve Capus showered her with torrents of lavish praise.
And that’s great. But where were Capus and everybody else during the preceding week, when all we heard from NBC was blackout silence?
Matt Lauer joined the chorus of praise Thursday, hailing Curry’s “big heart” and saying he looked forward to working together.
That’s great, too. But Lauer was also The Quiet Man for the preceding seven days.
Now sure, it would have been inappropriate for anyone to comment on the undoubtedly delicate contract negotiations. But nothing would have stopped anyone at NBC from whispering a few general words of personal support. No one did.
As for the argument this was a private matter, that played a lot better before the whole world knew it was going on. And whether or not NBC was the source of the original revelation, NBC had ways to make it less uncomfortable. It never employed them.
NBC seemed to treat this whole issue as surgery, removing an unwanted object, and that attitude continued to the end.
Where previous “Today” hosts were sent off with video tributes and long reminiscences, Curry got no clips and less than a minute for each year of her service.
Maybe in the long term this will revive “Today.” Right now, it just feels clumsy and cold.

ObamaCare is Constitutional! Now What?

The Supreme Court upheld most of ObamaCare. The reasoning behind the decision was fascinating. In a nutshell, a divided Court concluded that the individual mandate was really a “choice,” and the penalty for not purchasing health insurance was really a “tax.” You can check out more of the details in my analysis of the ObamaCare decision. The Supreme Court’s creativity aside, the big question is what it means for all of us.
First, the Court did invalidate an important part of the statute. ObamaCare expands the scope of Medicaid and offers states some funding to address the increased costs. If a state declined to expand Medicaid, however, the statute not only held back the increased funding, but it also took away current Medicaid funding to the state. In other words, the federal government was going to put a horse’s head in the state’s bed if they refused ObamaCare’s generous offer. The Court sided with the states on this issue.
[See Seniors Win Big in Court's Obamacare Ruling.]
The expanded Medicaid issue is important to us regular folk for a couple of reasons. The Court’s decision makes it far more likely that some states will decline to expand Medicaid coverage. For those that do expand coverage, it’s likely that state taxes will be on the rise as they try to handle the increasing health costs.
Beyond Medicaid, the ruling means several things for individuals. First, beginning in 2014, individuals must either participate in a health insurance program or pay a penalty. Called the individual mandate, it’s been the subject of much controversy over the past months. While polls show that most are not in favor of the mandate, it’s here to stay.
Beginning in 2014, the cost of not purchasing health insurance for a family of four will be $285 or 1 percent of income, whichever is greater. By 2016, this penalty rises to $2,085 or 2.5 percent of income.
[See How to Save Money on Health Insurance.]
Second, states will be implementing exchanges to help regulate the cost of individual health insurance policies. Exactly how these exchanges will work or how the government can control costs remains to be seen. But beginning in 2014, individuals will be able to buy individual health insurance through these exchanges.
Third, young adults up to age 26 can remain on their parent’s insurance. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, about 2.5 million people have already taken advantage of this provision, which went into effect sooner than most of the law.
Finally, the law’s provisions on preexisting conditions remain intact. Beginning in 2014, the law makes it illegal for a health insurance company to exclude, limit, or set unrealistic rates on coverage based on preexisting conditions. This part of the law is already in effect for children under the age of 19.
[See How to Find Health Insurance in Retirement.]
The preexisting condition provision of the law is a bit of a Trojan Horse. At first glance it looks like a real gift, as insurance companies will not be able to exclude individuals from coverage because they are sick or have a chronic disease. But on closer inspection, many see a real problem with this provision and the individual mandate.
The penalty for not buying insurance is much lower than the actual cost of insurance. For this reason, many are concerned that individuals will pay the penalty rather than buy insurance. Should they get sick and need coverage, the preexisting condition provision ensures that they’ll qualify for coverage.
In the final analysis, there are some clear winners from the Court’s decision: health insurance providers, Medicaid companies, and hospitals. In trading following the decision, Medicaid and hospital stocks were up sharply, even during a day when stocks overall fell hard. While insurance stocks declined, that’s likely to turn around, as more individuals will be purchasing health insurance under ObamaCare.
DR is the founder of the popular personal finance blog The Dough Roller, and the credit card review site Credit Card Offers IQ.