Health Care

[Fool]

Don't like being called "prejudice" (assuming I was one of the two guys you left unnamed) especially against my own religion.

[Tahoe]

Don't start pouting. We all have prejudices.

[Fool]

Don't start pouting. We all have prejudices.

Pouting? Make sense.

Now I agree with Gla.

[Tahoe]

Pouting? Make sense.

Now I agree with Gla.

Uh oh, you're getting owned. Have to bring in third person.

[Fool]

Only in your disjointed vodka in your orange juice thoughts are you making sense, let alone owning anyone.

[Glenn]

No death threats or spitting, please.

[Tahoe]

Mxy to the rescue!

I mean putting it back on topic.

[Uncle Mxy]

Here's a reasonable summary of the trumped-up numbers that some corporations will claim the new healthcare reform law will cost them:

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2010...-the-hangover/

Note that the hit to companies who take this Medicare Part D subsidy is spread out over the lifetime of its current and future retirees -- decades. But, with asset-based accounting, the cost has to be added up immediately. Imagine if you were told that your broadband bill was going up by $5-10/month a few years from now, then declaring you have a $5-10k loss today and you had to make major changes in how you spend money. That's roughly equivalent to what's going on here. Insight into what the "real" costs will be like 10-20+ years down the line is poor, but that doesn't stop beancounters from recalibrating the asset values based on what they know.

[Uncle Mxy]

b-diddy, the initial cut of Social Security was such that, in practical terms, only white males were covered. Medicare was amended a year after it was passed to deal with significant loopholes and other fucked-uppedness. This is the start. not the end. There will undoubtedly be refinements to healthcare reform as the evitable and inevitable loopholes rear their ugly heads. No one was going to get it right on the first try, and there's going to be constant recalibration to get things closer to "right", as there is with most government programs.

[DennyMcLain]

What is needed:

Tort reform, to stem frivolous malpractice suits and curb hospital insurance costs.

Basic healthcare packages for illegal immigrants who file for citizenship. It's a problem that's not going away, so make the best of it (excludes Canadians).

Line item procedures, where having a medical procedure is like buying a car -- everything is itemized and transparent (so scalpel blades don't cost $100 ea.)

Umbrella plans for local Chambers of Commerce, so even the smallest business can offer the most basic health care for their employees.

Make local politicians accountable for regional health care campaigns. When Martin Luther King Hospital (King/Drew Hospital) went under last year, I blamed the local congressmen, such as Mark Ridley Thomas, who'd rather blow his load on getting an NFL team to LA than protecting the area hospital/trauma center.