Category Archives: Health Care

Brand New Day

Posted on January 15, 2010 | 2 comments

I still think that we’ll lose this, but my oh my, this would be HUGE!

Riding a wave of opposition to Democratic health-care reform, GOP upstart Scott Brown is leading in the U.S. Senate race, raising the odds of a historic upset that would reverberate all the way to the White House, a new poll shows.

Does this mean Brown is gonna win?  No way.  This is too big for the Dems to lose for them not to rally.  But serious, this guy was down by 30 3 months ago.  He is surging and surging huge.

Why?  Because no one wants this health care to pass.  Not even those in Kennedy’s home state:

…it appears Kennedy’s quest for universal health care has fallen out of favor, with 51 percent of voters saying they oppose the “national near-universal health-care package” and 61 percent saying they believe the government cannot afford to pay for it.

Further, this race has massive a massive impact in Washington politics.  It is so big that Obama doesn’t know what to do about this race.  He can not afford to support a Democrat that loses a major race; see Jersey Govna’.  Yet, he desperately needs to support the winner.  And right now, he’s stuck.  Does he fly to Massachusetts and risk losing or does he stay home and risk winning without him?

Gotta tell ya, this is an interesting time.  Who woulda thunk that the Senate seat held by royalty could go Red?

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Posted in Health Care, Politics: National

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HealthCare: Price vs. Cost

Posted on January 2, 2010 | Leave a comment

I wish that I could say that I said it.  But I didn’t; Mr. Munger did:

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Right now, our attempts at reform are doomed by a law of accounting physics: Insurance can’t cost less than the health care it insures.

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Consider: I have car insurance. But my insurance doesn’t pay for oil changes.

Instead, I go down to the Happy Lube, without an appointment, get a diagnosis of the needs of my car, and choose services based on a price list published online. Some of these services are complex, and require large expensive machines and equipment. But I don’t have to pay a separate bill, or go wait in another line, at another office or lab.

…

… compare it to car insurance, for two people. Imagine neither of us has to pay for our car repairs, from accidents or engine wear. We can go to the garage as often as we like, and get whatever service we want, for free. The car repair shop can charge our insurance whatever they want, because insurance pays everything. An oil change would bill out at $600; an alignment would bill our insurance $2,200, with another $800 tacked on to pay for micro-digital wheel axis imaging.

Of course, the services aren’t really free. At the end of every year, we sum the total repair costs for both people, and each of us pays half of that total.

The cost of that free car care would be enormous, because of all the unnecessary and overly expensive charges. Of course, the government could subsidize the final bill; would that help? The answer is no, for two clear reasons.

First, having the government (meaning taxpayers) subsidize the total would do nothing to reduce the runaway cost increases. Buyers won’t shop around if they don’t know or care about real costs. Subsidies mean I don’t pay if I spend, and I don’t save if I’m frugal.

Second, let’s expand the example from two people (each paying half) to 300 million people getting free care (but paying an equal share of total costs). We have met the public option, and it is us! Once we are all paying ourselves, there is no one else to hit up to help with the costs. We are simply taking each person’s money in taxes, then giving some of it back in subsidies. There is no saving, even to individuals.

Just good stuff.

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Posted in Economics, Health Care, Politics: North Carolina

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It's That Time of Year

Posted on December 21, 2009 | Leave a comment

Actually, you could say it’s that time of Decade [ you would be wrong, of course, the decade doesn’t end until December 31, 2010 ] but the point is this.  At around this time of year we begin looking for the “Best of” stuff.  Best movie, book TV or whatever.

I think that I have the “Best Quote”.  This idea is really Coyote’s, but I just HAD to post it here:

From the outset, the White House’s core claim was that reform would reduce health costs for individuals and businesses, and they’re sticking to that story. “Anyone who says otherwise simply hasn’t read the bills,” Mr. Obama said over the weekend. This is so utterly disingenuous that we doubt the President really believes it.

This is hilarious.  Not only had few people been able to slog through the old 2000+ page bill, but Harry Reid threw the whole thing out and substituted a double secret replacement bill on Saturday the NO ONE has read, Obama included.  So this statement is technically true, but reverse statement is also equally true – “anyone who agrees with the President simply hasn’t read the bill, either.”

Truly amazing.

Hope and Change people, Hope and Change.

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Posted in Health Care, Politics: National

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Government Run Health Care

Posted on December 16, 2009 | Leave a comment

In action!

ATLANTA – Hundreds of thousands of swine flu shots for children have been recalled because tests indicate the vaccine doses lost some strength, government health officials said Tuesday.

Render unto Caesar!

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Posted in Health Care, Politics: National

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Jerk-Ass Radio Show Host

Posted on December 15, 2009 | 1 comment

Brad and Britt.  Man, ya gotta love ’em.  I mean, even when you hate ’em, you gotta hand it to ’em.

This morning they are talking about health care legislation and Joe Lieberman.  I guess Joe is to the Democrats as Snowe is to the Republicans.  Anyway, that’s what they were talking about.

Then, during a break, Neil Boortz came on and pitched his show; a quick 15 second bit advertising his show at 10:00.  During his bit, he made mention that this health care legislation was “Government takeover of health care.”

Heh.  Brad went nuts.  He lashed out in his typical 2 octaves above normal voice and began ranting and raving.  Finally, he ended with the comment that “this is not government takeover of health care, I don’t care what a jerk-ass radio talk show host says.”

Stay classy guys, stay classy.

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Posted in Health Care, Politics: North Carolina

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This Will Soon Be US

Posted on December 13, 2009 | 1 comment

As we slip further and further into the cluthes and dangerous mindset of the Government nanny state, we will soon find ourselves in THIS siutation:

A SHOPKEEPER has been fined £180 by Southend Council for NOT producing commercial rubbish.

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Mr Howard was astonished when a council official visited to check his waste disposal credentials. The officer refused to believe he did not produce any waste and he was issued with a £180 fixed penalty notice…

Awesome.

Now that I think of it, this is EXACTLY where the Leftists are sending us.  If you DON’T use our Health Care system, we will fine you!

Hat Tip: Kids Prefer Cheese

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Posted in Health Care, Politics: International

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When Down is Up

Posted on December 10, 2009 | Leave a comment

Let’s say that you are running a lemonade stand.  You buy your cups, your ice, sugar and lemons.  All in, it costs you $0.10 to make a cup of lemonade.  Include your time and risk plus the profit you need and you sell it for $0.20 a cup.  Anything less and the risk of running the stand forces you to pack up shop and go back to work at the local grocery store.

Now, let’s say that the friendly neighborhood HOA comes over and says that some of your customers are kids who are thirsty because they are mowing lawns for the old ladies on the block.  They can’t afford the 20 cents you are asking but it’s just not fair that these kids don’t get to drink lemonade when they are so so thirsty and so so deserving.  You shake your head and kick your toes….you know what’s coming.

If you wanna keep selling lemonade on this street you have to sell lemonade to the kids for a nickel; a stinkin’ nickel!

What happens to your lemonade business model?  Well, you either:

  • Quit
  • Raise the price such that you compensate for the reduced price to kids
  • Move to another street so that none of your customers, including the poor deserving yet thirsty kids have ANY lemonade.

Right?

So how is that different than this?

WASHINGTON – A bipartisan group of lawmakers hopes to finally win a long struggle to ease curbs against importing low-cost prescription drugs…

Same thing, right?

Drug companies have a market that they sell into.  The prices currently are set such that they make the profits they need to exist.  In fact, those prices might ALREADY be higher than they would because foreign nations are already forcing prices below market levels.

Well, guess what will happen when/if this becomes law?  Our fearless reporter gets to it.  In the SIXTH paragraph:

…the billions of dollars drug companies would lose if Americans began buying large amounts of lower-priced pharmaceuticals from other nations — has prevented the proposal from being implemented for about a decade.

Good for our young reporter!  Finally he gets what might happen.  See, if the drug companies lose billions of dollars they are going to have to …. Ahh, what?  What did you say?  Our fearless reporter is continuing in ANOTHER direction?

“Does the pharmaceutical industry have a lot of clout? The answer is they sure do,” Dorgan said Wednesday. He said when it comes to a vote, he hoped “the interest of the American consumers will have as much clout in this chamber.”

Heh.  I should have known.  But lucky for us we can spot the key phrase:

the interest of the American consumers

And that means that this bill is a bunch of:

You Know What This IS

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Posted in Economics, Economy, Health Care

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The Dangers of the Left

Posted on December 10, 2009 | Leave a comment

Over at The Progressive Pulse Chris is talking about Medicare and how Medicare is playing a role in the Health Care debate.

One of the Republican talking points about the latest health care reform proposal is that it slashes Medicare benefits. It’s not true of course, but that doesn’t matter when you are trying to scare seniors.

I find the irony rich.  The whole point of Chris’ post is how hard it is to keep up with the right and how hard it is to separate truth from fiction.  I think Chris is both right and wrong.  I think he is right when he correctly points out a flaw in the Right’s tactics:

…Tea Party activists shouting “keep government’s hands off my Medicare,”…

However, he is completely wrong when he claims no shenanigans surrounding Medicare.

One of the tricks employed by the Democrats during this whole debate was that one which brought the Heal Care bill in under $1 trillion.  See, the Dems wrote the bill to include reduced Medicare spending.  A reduction such that the entirely of the bill would come in less than the politically unattractive trillion dollar mark.  The way around this?  They then would submit a SEPARATE bill that would delay such spending for 10 years.

So take your pick Chris.  Either the bill is a pig well over what the Dems are advertising or Medicare spending will be slashed.

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Posted in Health Care, Politics: North Carolina

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And I Will Name Him — Success

Posted on December 9, 2009 | 6 comments

I can’t prove it, of course.  And, in fact, it may not even happen.  But I swear to you that I won’t be surprised if the recent reports of H1N1 vaccine being available is reported as reducing the number of cases of H1N1.

Back in late November, experts were calling the H1N1 peak:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The pandemic of swine flu may be hitting a peak in the Northern Hemisphere, global health officials said on Friday, but they cautioned it was far from over.

Not sure that a lot of people caught that.  And for those that did, they may have responded like I did:

Big “effin” deal.  My family already got it.

But, when you combine the news that the outbreak has peaked with this bit of good news:

Raleigh, N.C. — About 200 people showed up Tuesday morning at the Wake County Public Health Center in Raleigh to get the H1N1 flu vaccine.

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Tuesday was the first day the county opened the vaccine up to anyone over 6 months old.

Traffic was slow and steady at the Sunnybrook Road location, as well as three other health department sites in Fuquay-Varina, Wake Forest and Zebulon.

Ray Martin, 71, said he was in and out of the Raleigh site in 15 minutes – a stark contrast to earlier this year, in which hundreds lined up and were turned away due to a limited supply of the vaccine.

Now look, I for one am very pleased to see that those folks who need a shot are getting one.  But really.  Providing a shot to people older than 6 months of age fully 2 weeks AFTER the peak is not really A-Okay in my book.  Especially considering that the vaccine takes nearly 2 weeks to fully “bake-in”.

Sadly, I am afraid that this is what we have to look forward to in the Government sponsored health care.  See, in the world of government, a vaccine is an expense that needs to be minimized.  In the private world, the vaccine is a product that needs to be available, marketed and sold.

‘Nuff said.

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Posted in Economics, Health Care

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Free Market Guy

Posted on December 5, 2009 | Leave a comment

So, word is that I trust the free market to a fault.  It might be hard to dispute that, but then again, my limited knowledge of economics as a science could argue in my favor that what I do or don’t know doesn’t mean squat.  Hell, for all I know, the only reason that I feel the way I do is that when I was a kid I mighta thought my dad was a Republican.  [he wasn’t, democrat blue through and through].  Anyway, so I started thinking.  They have books on sports.  Everything from who wins and loses, point spread, over under and even crazy things, like TDs in a game, fumbles in the first half or yards rushing per carry.  Crazy crazy stuff.  More crazy is how accurate it is.

See, it’s one thing to SAY that the Vikings are gonna beat Green Bay.  It’s another thing entirely to BET money that they will.  One is a hope.  The other is, or can be, an investment.

So I went out to see if there was a market for the stuff that I talk about here.  Turns out; there is:  Intrade

Intrade is a clearing house for all kinds of strange things.  You can bet on whoo will have control of the House of Representatives after 2010 election.  You can bet on Cap and Trade regulations, Gov Sanford staying in office and–well, Health Care plans.  Let’s check it out.

And as of right now, this board is tracking three “markets”

  1. A federal government-run health insurance plan to be approved before midnight ET 31 Dec 2009
  2. A federal government-run health insurance plan to be approved before midnight ET 31 March 2010
  3. A federal government-run health insurance plan to be approved before midnight ET 30 June 2010

Now, the way it works is that the “Closing Price” is what the “market” feels is the % chance that a “thing” will occur.  So, if the closing price for the “Vikings winning the NFC Norris” is at 83.5, then that is saying the market feels there is an 83.5% chance of the Vikings winning the Division.

Check out the graphs for each of our Health Care scenarios:


Price for Will a federal government run health insurance plan (a public option) be approved in the US? at intrade.com

This one looks very promising.  With a closing price of 2.7, the market is saying that there is only a 2.7% chance that we’ll see a “Public Option” by December 31, 2009.  How about March 31, 2010?

Note:  These graphs are show with their real time rates.  At the time of prining the first was at 2.7 and the bottom two at 12.0.


Price for Will a federal government run health insurance plan (a public option) be approved in the US? at intrade.com

Ouch, that one doesn’t look so good.  Fully 400% increase to 12% that we’ll see the public option by March 31, 2010.  For our last time frame; June 30, 2010?


Price for Will a federal government run health insurance plan (a public option) be approved in the US? at intrade.com

Fascinating.  The exact same closing price; 12.  The market feels that there is a 12% chance that we’ll have a “Public Option” passed by June 30th, 2010.

Very interesting stuff.  One note, this data is saying that if we don’t pass this by April 1, there is a zero percent chance that we’ll pass it by July 1.  If the market felt that there was a chance of passing after March 31, the close would reflect a number HIGHER than the March 31 closing.

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Posted in Economics, Health Care

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