Open Thread

Very good, 1910! Welcome to the club 🙂

a. gender – Female
b. sexual preference – Hetero, and mid-40’s (youthufl so they tell me) confirmed Spinster – IMHO THEEE most marginalized demographic in the US today. Ask me about it.
c. if male and gay, would you likely be eye candy for Dave – No, sorry
d. new construction fan or preservationist, preservationist, but is certainly can appreciate well executed modern and reasonable modern convenience udates to old homes.
e. mayo or miracle whip – neith both gross.
f. cat lover/owner or one of those *other* types of people- cat lover, lover, lover but current small dog owner.
h. policitacl affiliation – registered Independant

Health care is certainly a lot better than it was in the 70s when I was uninsured & got cancer & has been in the years leading up to now. Hospital wouldn’t let me back in for 2nd surgery – “You don’t have coverage, you owe us $18,000. already & you may not be checking out.”

By blowfish on October 27, 2010 5:12 PM

legion:
it’s another example of how the free market was starting
to sort out the healthcare mess.”

blowfish:
“ha! hilarious. its been indentified as a mess since the fifties, but the “free market” was just getting around to fixing it, huh, and then the big bad meddling government stepped in before the market could finish? ”

legion:
No blowfish, it really wasn’t a mess until it suddenly became an issue in the 1990’s and failed with Hillary Clinton. It still wasn’t a “crisis” until Pres. Obama suddenly said it was. Despite the fact that the large majority of Americans stated they were satisfied with their healthcare. The big sell, was that there were 47 million uninsured, then it came down to 30 million, then the numbers revealed that the actual number was closer to 15 million.

blowfish:
“first of all, healthcare is still a free market industry.”

legion:
No, with the passage of the Healthcare Reform Act, the President and the dems that passed the bill effectively placed a massive entitlement program in the middle of a free market system. Won’t work. And I’ve already been proven right by the dozens of private US companies applying for exclusion from the overwhelming cost burden being mandated by the Reform Act. It is an entitlement program with no regard for free market economics.

blowfish:
“second of all, the $4 Walmart prescription plan is not an impressive model. The drugs Wal-Mart is discounting represent less than 2% of the generic market, and are all older generics that already have lower reimbursement rates for health plans, with a typical copay of less than $4 under many health plans, and a typical copay of $5 for Medicare recipients. The program is not significant in the area of fixing healthcare”

Legion:
It’s one of many different ways in which people who couldn’t afford meds could now afford them within the free market system. Look up the pharm. web-sites, every one of them has a voucher program for free or low cost meds if you can prove your need. We already know that the poor are covered by the Medicaid system. The $4 dollar program fills a niche in the market for those with high co-pays or with no insurance. Generic Ciclopirox works just as well as Cipro.

As it stands, the Healthcare reform Act is undermining the free market by raising premiums and busting state budgets. Private companies cannot afford the onerous mandates and for all the Trillion’s in cost we bump up coverage from 87% to 93%.

I give it a Fail. :o(

Jester – A lot of mysteries are really good reading – Reginald Hill, Peter Robinson, Ian Rankin, Deborah Crombie, Sara Caudwell.