Jimbo's Journal

Chilling!

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:23:59 GMT

When I opened my garage this morning, the thermometer in my car read 12°F. By the time I was out of the garage, it read 10°F. When I reached the corner light, it was already down to 0°F and it got down as low as -3°F .... and it's supposed to get really windy later. Epic Suck!

I had a blockage on LJ emails. I hadn't received an email with LJ responses since 12/8 at around 3:15pm. Last evening they started to trickle in. Yesterday when I got home from work (12/9 4pm), I got an email dated 12/9 8am; a few emails later and about 10pm I received one time-stamped 4pm. This morning I get to work and check my email and there are 16 emails from LJ with timestamps as early as 4pm-ish. I don't think it affected any regular email, but just seems to be an LJ problem. Anyone else having delays?

Communication

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 03:34:44 GMT

'That was Luke's attitude, too. In 'Empire', when he found out Vader was his father, instead of putting away his light saber and talking about it, he overreacted and got his hand cut off. I mean, they worked it out eventually. But at what cost? The Death Star was destroyed, Boba Fett got eaten by the Sarlacc, and everyone got The Ewoks. It all could have been avoided if they had just, you know, communicated. Because let's face it: Ewoks suck, dude.'' — Hurley (LOST)

No Trek

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:44:01 GMT

Tonight is one of the LoA meetings. I have been waffling all night about whether (weather) to go or not. It's snowing like a sumbitch out there, but the place is only about a mile away. I decided that I would not use the weather as an excuse and go. So I got my coat on and went outside to get my car out of the garage and..... Holy crap! it's a lot worse than it even looked from out the window. I bet we have 2-3 inches already. Back inside. Not going. They haven't plowed the lot or anything, and I just don't feel like driving in this. Excuse? Maybe. Oh well.

-------------------------------------------
Oh, and I got half of my order in the mail from Amazon. A realty book for my cousin and ....

DVD Collection

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 02:27:54 GMT

12/4

I have been contemplating some way to catalog my DVDs for quite some time. I've (limitedly) tried using IMDb's movie database and at one point I found an online one, which I have since forgotten. I think it had the name "Fish" in the web URL, but I also think the site has ceased to exist.

Well, I finally found a site that offered a downloadable program that references online databases of movies and seems pretty darn cool. I've only just begun to explore it, but I like it so far. It has a Restricted Freeware version which loses some features at some point. The full version, which includes all future upgrades is only $30.

The short review from which I found it is here: http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-dvd-collection-software.htm

The actual software is here: http://www.invelos.com/

-------------------------------------------
Oops!

I decided to enter The West Wing: The Complete Series in order to see how it would handle a large multi-disc collection.
Two unfortunate things happened:

It took me over the 50 DVD threshold which then limited my access to the trial features.

~~though maybe not immediately~~

I didn't like the way it organized the discs in the box set.

----------------------------------
12/8

My entire collection, online sharable version: http://www.invelos.com/dvdcollection.aspx/jimbow8

Printers

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:43:02 GMT

So which of you IT/Tech savvy persons can explain this for me?

Every once in a while at work, I go to print something and get an error that there is a printer problem (don't know the exact wording of the message window). What happens is that my computer loses communication with the printers attached to the server.

(click for more readability)
Upon REFRESHing full STATUS message goes from "Opening" to either
"Access denied, unable to connect" or to just "Unable to connect"

After a while it will spontaneously reconnect, and everything will be fine. Also, I can reboot my puter, but that is cumbersome. I showed this to our "IT guy" here and he showed me a better/more correct path to connect to the printers on the server, but either it doesn't permanently change the path or it reverts to the old path or the connection breaks again anyway or whatever. This happens only occasionally but often enough (1-3 times per month) to be annoying and inconvenient when I need to print things.

Last time I clicked on Add new Printer and went through the motions of going down the "more correct" path to the server and all the printers automagically seemed to fix themselves. Today when I click on Add new Printer, the thing gives me the wonderful "Not Responding" message.

Any ideas?

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:13:33 GMT

Right-wing Nutjob Guy from work is in the hospital. He's been pretty consistently sick for .... a month or two now. Breathing troubles, coughing, etc. Early this week (Monday or Tuesday night, I forget) he was having a problem breathing so his wife took him to the emergency room. From what we can gather and conjecture, we think it's because he breathed in some smoke from burning poison ivy. This can apparently be extremely bad, even fatal in some cases. I personally haven't ever gotten rash from poison ivy, and I wouldn't even recognize the plant if I saw it. But I had no idea the smoke was so dangerous.

The strange thing is that we believe that he made doctors aware of breathing in the smoke months ago when he started having all these symptoms. So why didn't they do anything about it? [Insert snark about America having the bestest healthcare in the world here.]

Anyway, politics aside, I hope he gets better soon.

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:47:20 GMT

Anyone else having a problem with userpics? I looked and 4 of my 15 userpics were broken. I deleted one and tried to upload a new pic (of me) and the LJ site give me an "oops" error message, which is incidentally very easy to not see as it is just a line of text at the top of the screen.

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:04:40 GMT

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone !!!
Have a safe one

On channeling and non-physical intelligence

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:26:08 GMT

One of my failings is that I give up on things too quickly. If it doesn't yield immediate results, it must not be working, so I discard it. This is something that I have known about myself for quite some time, but I have recently been guilty of it in a particular instance and also had it confirmed by a very close friend. So I am making a concerted, conscious effort to give things more of a chance and try a bit harder.

So.... As I posted recently, I went to the local unitarian church. (Don't ask me all the specifics but, fyi, they aren't Congregational Unitarian, but Universal Unitarian. Whatever.) I went the once and then either forgot or prioritized it behind football or other things until I was able to go again a couple weeks ago. I then went to a group meeting which was mentioned in the bulletin, called Law of Attraction. Yeah, I know what you're thinking, so did I at first, but that isn't what it is about. It's based on a book of the same name about attracting positive things into your life, basically like "The Power of Positive Thinking" kinda thing from what I gather. That first week we watched a film called The Shift based on works of Wayne Dyer. I'd never heard of him before. It was decent to good. Some interesting things, and others that I either didn't agree with or didn't get.

Tonight's was different. We listened to the beginning of an audio book. To summarize (possibly unfairly) this woman went to see someone who channeled a "spirit guide" and then through meditation channeled her own. I am apparently WAY too skeptical, because the whole time I was internally rolling my eyes and scoffing the entire time while she talked about non-physical intellingences, etc. I sat there wondering what the hell I had gotten myself into, what was I doing there, and that I should just get up and leave.

Maybe I'm not only skeptical but also cynical. I don't know. I like to think that I'm not opposed to the concept or possibility of God, but things like this make me rethink that. Maybe I truly don't believe. As I said before, after watching the PBS special on National Parks, I felt somewhat inspired and, I thought, spiritually enlightened. Maybe it wasn't spiritual but merely visceral (is that the right word?) or natural. Nature really is beautiful, and maybe that's all it is; not some product of something more than that.

I'm open to the idea of meditation. I even kinda liked it when I was doing a bit of yoga. But I see it as a means of relaxation and maybe examining INWARD, into yourself, your subconscious, that sort of thing. Not as a means of channeling external intelligence. Hell, I'm even open to such things as ghosts, but as forms of lingering energy or even subconscious memory, but again not really as intelligent beings.

After listening to this audio book segment, I tried to express these thoughts and feelings, expecting that they wouldn't much like what I had to say. Instead I was met with nods and told that this is perfectly fine. On the one hand I kinda feel like they were saying, that's fine, you'll come around. But on the other hand, they may be perfectly fine with my skepticism and cynicism. These people (of the Unitarian church) seem to be much more open to diverse opinions and beliefs than I am accustomed to. It's a bit disconcerting. but in a good way, I guess.

So I think I am going to try to push on and give it more of a chance. The people are all really nice. There's only four others, all women, older than me. Maybe this isn't the right group for me. We'll see. I intend to check out the "Current Events" discussion, but that takes place on Sunday at 9am before the service and I haven't been able to get to that one yet. We'll see. Still a work in progress. So it goes.

Can't stop poppin'

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 03:26:43 GMT

I like Pringles. Apparently, so does my cat. I actually have know this for a while. I gave her a couple Pringles crumbs and she ate them. But just now I had a stack of four on the coffee table. She came up and grabbed one in her mouth and took off with it. She quickly dropped it because she didn't have a good grip on it because she had tried to "sneak" up and grab it. So I got the Pringle back. I gave her a little piece.

Cheap Reward

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:29:43 GMT

by Elvis Costello

Oh, well, I feel so loose tonight I might fall to pieces
So be prepared to sweep me out the door
And I might be horizontal by the time the music ceases
So I think I'll get acquainted with the floor
Oh, I was trying to get away from the things that I always do
Hello, floorboards once again - how are you?

Lip Service - well, that's all you'll ever get from me
Well, how could you believe I'll take you seriously?
With your cheap rewards, your blackmail, and your comical rage
Just remember you'll only be the boss so long as you pay my wage

All the sign posts on this road that point one way
Don't act like you're above me, just look at your shoes
I'll turn the light out now 'cause there's nothing more to say
And it's all been lost before so there's nothing to lose

Oh, but you could say that you love me very painlessly
I would've done the same for you, oh, but you said to me:

Lip service - well, that's all you'll ever get from me
Well, how could you believe I'd take you seriously?
With your cheap rewards, your blackmail, and your comical rage
Just remember you'll only be the boss so long as you pay my wage

Just remember you'll only be the boss so long as you pay my wage

-------------------------------------------------------------
Stephen Colbert interviews Elvis Costello.
Then, beginning around the four minute mark, Stephen sings Cheap Reward with Elvis accompanying on guitar (he had a sore throat). I gotta say, Stephen was pretty impressive.

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Elvis Costello

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

U.S. Speedskating

Award-winning Recipe

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:07:10 GMT

Based off of Rachel Ray's Cowboy Spaghetti:

Ingredients

2 pounds spaghetti
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
8 slices smoky bacon, chopped
2 pounds ground Italian sausage (I used one hot, one mild)
1 medium onion, chopped
5 to 6 cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoons hot sauce, eyeball it
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 (14-ounce) can, chopped or crushed fire roasted tomatoes
1 (8-ounces) can, tomato sauce
8 ounces sharp Cheddar
4 scallions, chopped

Directions

Heat a pot of water to a boil. Add spaghetti and salt the water. Cook to al dente or with a bite to it.

Heat a deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil and bacon. Brown and crisp bacon, 5 minutes, remove with a slotted spoon. Drain off a little excess fat if necessary. Leave just enough to coat the bottom of the skillet. Add beef and crumble it as it browns, 3 to 4 minutes. Add onions, garlic and stir into meat. Season the meat with hot sauce and cayenne pepper. Add crumbled bacon to mix. Cook 5 to 6 minutes more then stir in tomatoes and tomato sauce.

Serve with spaghetti. Adjust seasonings and serve up pasta in shallow bowls. Grate some cheese over the pasta and sprinkle with scallions. Garnish with crisp bacon

----------------------------------------------------------------
I honestly cannot believe that this won. I was worried if it would even be edible. It also took me a LOT longer than it should have to make because of my ineptitude in the kitchen. I finally tried a non-sample portion last night and I thought it was good but not nearly as good as my chili. ;-) I generally prefer a thicker sauce. Incidentally, I accidentally didn't double the amount of tomato sauce in the recipe like I doubled most of the other ingredients.

I really had a good time Saturday. Thanks to drmagoo and wife for hosting and thanks to annieover and R for carpooling. All of the food was fantastic.

Did the Mob Kill JFK?

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:19:18 GMT

I know at least one LJ friend is interested in stuff about the JFK assassination, so I thought I'd mention

Discovery Channel Sunday 11/22 7:00pm Central Time - "Did the Mob Kill JFK?"

I've heard the guy involved (somehow) in the show, Lamar Waldron, on the radio a few times this week and it apparently contains newly released classified info. And I think Thom Hartmann might even appear in the show.

Ball AFTER stick?!?!

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:55:01 GMT

Travesty, I tell you!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Windowless News Van for Kids - The Ball

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Health Care Crisis

Open and Shut

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:29:02 GMT

Probably a year and a half ago, I was asked by my condo association for permission to go through my garage for access to someone else's garage (it's a long strip of garages). Afterward they told me that my opener wasn't working right. I don't generally use my garage in Spring through Autumn because it's detached and just easier to leave my car outside. It had been working fine, but I don't know when I had last used it. Well, a year and a half later, after opening it by hand this past winter, I finally tried doing something about it. I had been pretty much resigned to calling a repair service or having to buy a new one. Instead, the other day I went online to find the manual. Today I went out there and spent less than 5 minutes and adjusted a setting, and it seems to be working just fine.

The positive: It seems I have a working garage door again.

The negative: I'm an idiot. Procrastination doesn't work.

Lesson learned? On how to fix a garage door - YES. On giving up procrastination - I doubt it. *sigh/chuckle*

World Population milestones

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:17:09 GMT

Population (in billions)	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9
Year	1804		1927		1959		1974		1987		1999		2012		2025		2040
Years elapsed		123		32		14.75		13.25		12.25		12.33		13		15

Per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population#Milestones

Asperatus

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:29:40 GMT

I came across some pictures of Asperatus clouds from the Cloud Appreciation Society. Some of these cloud formations are terrifying(here, here, here), some are just plain awesome looking (here, here, here), and some are both. It made me think that maybe these clouds are a reason why some people think that god is going to kill them/destroy the earth. LOL Frankly, seeing some of these pictures, I can kinda understand that.

TMQ on Health Care Insurance debate, Part 2

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:32:52 GMT

Part one is HERE

Part two:

I proposed that most people would be better off with insurance only for catastrophic health problems such as severe illness, while paying for routine exams and minor issues themselves -- if the typical family earned an added $10,000 per year for the money employers and government would not need to spend on comprehensive health insurance. Randy Rasmussen of Mantua, Utah, writes, "Health insurance is not insurance in the classical sense. Insurance in the classical sense means paying a relatively small sum to guard against a large contingence. Classical insurance is something you buy hoping you will never use it. Health insurance on the other hand is something everyone expects to use continually." In most types of insurance purchases, the ideal outcome is that 100 percent of the buyer's cost is wasted. Home insurance, car insurance -- if your home never burns down and you're never in an auto accident, then all your premium dollars are total waste. But that's the ideal outcome! Waste is the ideal outcome for life insurance, since you'd much rather live to 65 -- the age past which insurers won't indemnify males, at least at realistic prices -- than die young and have your heirs receive a check. Health care needs by contrast are ongoing; even those who experience good luck with their health need regular physician and clinic services. Yet Americans use insurance, a product devised for rare and unlikely events, to finance common, continuous events. Small wonder the health care system is so fouled up.

I further said true health care payment reform is impossible until patients can comparison shop, and physicians and hospitals fight like the dickens to keep pricing information inaccessible. Marcy Kimmel of Edmonds, Wash., recommends this Web site, which allows you to get an estimate of the true prices of health care services -- the amount insurers actually pay -- versus the inflated list prices. She also reports, "There's a minor movement in the Pacific Northwest for people to go without insurance, and for physicians to refuse to accept any insurance; the docs who do this post their prices on the web, and people comparison-shop." There's a lot to be worked out in self-pay medicine, including the need for catastrophe insurance and the need for employers to convey, as pay, money that would have been spent on health care insurance; plus employer-paid plans are tax-favored while Medicare and Medicaid are taxpayer-funded, which causes numerous complications for those willing to go it alone. A future world in which most people earn more, pay most of their health care costs out of pocket, and carry only catastrophe coverage might or might not work. But one can imagine such a world controlling costs and rationalizing services. One can't imagine that from current Democratic proposals (new bureaucracies, more rules, avalanche of debt-funded subsidies) or Republican proposals (no structural reform, more subsidies only to blocs that reliably vote Republican).

I think it's an excellent point that the "ideal outcome" of most insurance is that 100% of the premium is wasted and the insurance never has to be used. However, I think that's a horribly UNcapitalistic business model. Although I guess you could argue that the product/service being provided is peace of mind.

John Stewart channels Glenn Beck

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:27:21 GMT

Hilarious!

The 11/3 Project

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

The 11/3 Project

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Health Care Crisis

That was complicated, but worth it.

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:25:56 GMT

My couple plans for Halloween fell through, so I was just sitting at home last night. I decided to try installing Half-Life 2 again. It didn't start out well. It requires you to install STEAM in order to install the game. STEAM sucks. It wouldn't install, and therefore wouldn't install the game either. It kept crashing while trying to install STEAM and its updates; this is why I've had the game for a year or so and never played it. I figure that the version on the disc is just so old that the update doesn't mesh with Vista or something. I was about to give up when it occurred to me to check for an online version. TaDa! I went to the website and installed it from there. Now on to installing the game. It gives me an error. After checking online again, I turn off the "Windows compatibility" feature. Now it tells me that there isn't enough disc space to install HL2. What? I have over 100GB free. Check online again, and someone suggests copying the entire CD to the HD and installing it from there. That works. So I finally got it working and wound up playing until about 1am. (Another hour and I would have played until 1am. *snicker*) The game starts out kinda slow, and I didn't care much for the driving-the-boat-around section, but then it kicked in.

I was seriously creeped out at several points. I remember back in the early 90s, playing DOOM when it was relatively new. I would sit all alone in the dark with the surround sound speakers turned up. I got freaked out by some of the noises. HL2 kinda reminds me of that.

The latest computer travails

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:36:20 GMT

.... we're getting a new system/software at work. ..... we're designing some of the forms using some version of Crystal Reports (I've never used it before). C's computer wasn't able to access the crystal reports program and was giving a win32.dll kernel error. My brilliant deduction was that maybe since she hadn't run ANY Windows updates in several YEARS, maybe that was the problem. (Our main "IT Guy" wasn't here at the time.) I had her do many, many, many updates, at least going back to Windows service pack 3. After several hours, I think the crystal reports was working. The PROBLEM was now that no MS Office programs were working, which are MUCH more important. After much work from me and IT Guy, nothing was working. Finally C went out and bought MS Office 2007 (yes, we had been using 2000). IT Guy got that installed. That still doesn't work. More specifically, it doesn't work under C's name/password signed on to the network. If it is an ADMIN sign on (or other user????? not sure) it seems to work fine.

Any ideas?

Lesson to be learned: Don't EVER update/ correct/etc other people's computers.
Also now I'm getting the looks and quarter-to-half-joking comments which I am guiltily perceiving to mean "Why did you have to F*@# up my computer?!?!? It was just fine before you made me do the updates."

Don't pull my finger

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:31:43 GMT

My finger hurts. My right middle finger. I crack my knuckles a lot. Always have, with no problems. Maybe it's finally catching up to me. Maybe it's the start of arthritis. But it's only in the one finger.

I smell .... burnt. I don't know how long, but it came into my head today at work, this sensation of a burnt smell. I've heard the theory that such a smell means a brain tumor or something, so my mind immediately went there. Paranoia for $1000, Alex!

I was in the office at work when Mr. Owner brought in a fax from our insurance broker with an offer from BC/BS of IL about taking over our insurance policy at work. We have a small company, only 14 employees. The new cost of insurance being offered is (I think I have this correct) $12,496.35 ....... per MONTH. Apparently that comes in at a single penny under the cost of the current contract. We have no idea whether the policy is better or worse at this point as far as coverage, deductibles, doctor membership, etc.

File this under "Be Careful What You Wish For"?

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:12:51 GMT

I just heard on the radio that our company's health insurance company (aka racket) just announced that it will be leaving Illinois and Texas to concentrate on ..... something or other.

They just changed our policy around as of Sept. 1, now they announce they are leaving. Apparently they haven't even contacted us yet.

They suck. I hate them. But I have this dread that any transition will be painful.

Maybe I'll get a good company and I'll suddenly be extremely happy with them and no longer want insurance refo......

Bwahaha!!!! I got pretty close to finishing that sentence. Bwhahaha!

Not just sports medicine

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:46:50 GMT

Some lucid points about the health insurance crisis from, of all places, ESPN. From the Tuesday Morning Quarterback, Gregg Easterbrook:

Why Not Standard Pricing? I don't really understand what's in the congressional health care plan at the moment -- and since it changes daily, I bet most members of the House and Senate don't really understand either. Health care is only the single largest segment of the U.S. economy, so surely there is no risk in passing a 1,000-page health care bill no one understands! Universal access to health insurance is a moral imperative. But huge cost increases are likely to be triggered: Extending coverage will create more demand for services, and rising demand means rising price.

If reform eliminates the dreaded "pre-existing condition" basis for denial of coverage -- which makes sense for individual insurers and is nonsensical for society as a whole -- that will be significant. Denying coverage to people with medical conditions is not only unjust, it causes insurers to waste money engaging in wars with their own customers. If health insurers must sell to anyone who wishes to buy, then their resources can be better invested in providing care. There needs to be a standard-price rule imposed, too, so insurers can't effectively bar pre-existing conditions by saying, "Sure we will insure you, the price is $100,000 per year." My impression is that so much lobbying attention has focused on the handouts, giveaways and interest-group demands for a gigantic new civil-service bureaucracy that not enough attention has gone to a simple change that would remove much of the injustice from health insurance -- standard rates with no denials for existing conditions. This is the key to the successful health care system of the Netherlands.

So far as I know, health care proposals now in the Senate are so utterly fixated on handouts and giveaways that they don't even address a core problem -- the inability of individuals to buy at insurer's prices. This is the PPO problem, and is serious. Most health insurance now operates through some variation on the Preferred Provider Organization. Physicians and clinics sign up with some insurers but not others; they agree to discount their list prices; if the patient goes to someone within the PPO, the provider gets business while the patient and insurer pay less. Sensible? The system is full of crazy disincentives.

Recently, a family member needed an MRI. The clinic had a list price of $1,500 for the scan but was in the insurer's PPO, and so discounted ("adjusted") the price to $690, of which we paid 10 percent and the insurer paid the rest. Clearly, that $690 price allows the MRI clinic to do business, pay its technicians and radiologists, etc., or else the clinic would not participate in the PPO. Yet if I'd walked in off the street and said, "I will buy this MRI myself," the price would have been $1,500. Meanwhile, if the clinic had not been a member of my PPO, the insurer would have paid the same $621 it pays within the PPO, and I would have been on the hook for the rest, $879. The benefits sections of insurance manuals make it appear that if you use a PPO you pay 10 percent and if you go outside the PPO you pay 20 or 30 percent. Not mentioned, or stated in legalese, is that outside the PPO, the insurer only pays its "adjusted" amount -- you pay 20 or 30 percent plus the balance of the list price.

The distinction between list prices and "adjusted" prices prevents health care services from functioning as a rational marketplace. It's not just that many physicians refuse to speak about dollar figures. ("We don't discuss prices over the phone," a doctor's office told me a few months ago when I had the gall to ask what something would cost, adding, "after the doctor has seen you, then we will tell you what the visit cost.") It's not just that many physicians' offices and clinics do not have anyone authorized to discuss prices: They have minimum-wage receptionists and Mercedes-driving docs who expect the max under all conditions, but no one who will talk price with patients. The larger issue is that the system prevents the consumer from seeking the best price. If an MRI makes money for the clinic at $690, any customer should be able to buy at that price. The theory of the PPO from the provider's prospective is that the provider grants a discount in order to get business: The self-pay customer represents business, just like the PPO customer. But the self-pay customer can't get the PPO price, and the PPO price is the true price of the service. This prevents the bargaining-for-a-good-deal seen in the parts of the free-market system that function smoothly and hold down prices.

That the typical person cannot get the best price for health services is the big obstacle to transitioning away from the pass-along mentality that dominates health care. Right now Americans gripe about health insurance costs, but as this fascinating article by Ron Haskins shows, don't directly pay most of the cost -- most is paid by employers or government (which, in the latter case, means billed to the young via deficit spending). If you're not directly paying most of the costs, you have little incentive to make smart consumer decisions. And if you can't buy at the best price, you can't make smart consumer decisions.

Think about a radically different way to attain health care -- in which most people carry only catastrophic-cost insurance, then pay other health costs themselves. No one can budget for a severe illness or injury; every family will always need insurance against catastrophic medical expense. Suppose insurance covered only catastrophes, and you paid the rest. You might think, "No way I am paying some doctor hundreds of dollars to set a broken arm." But today a typical family's health care policy that appears to cost the family $5,000 a year actually costs $15,000, it's just that much of the money is hidden as employer's costs -- and thus, as higher wages the employer can't pay. If you spent $5,000 a year for catastrophic coverage but earned an additional $10,000 a year, you could cover those strep-throat and broken-arm bills yourself, and probably come out ahead. Plus you'd have a keen incentive to comparison shop. Doctors could no longer loftily say, "We don't discuss prices."

Homeowner's insurance is catastrophe insurance. It pays if the house burns down -- the kind of thing no one can budget for. It doesn't cover all costs of maintaining a home; you pay most ownership costs and you comparison shop. If homeowner's insurance worked like American health insurance, it would not only pay for fires but also cover utility bills, replacing broken appliances, baseballs hit into the window and all the food, drink and paper towels that pass through the kitchen. Certainly, a company could offer an insurance product that covered absolutely every expense of living in a home. But such insurance would be phenomenally expensive and full of ultra-complex rules; the insurer would also acquire an incentive to dream up excuses to deny payment. Just like American health care insurance!

Gradually transitioning to a system in which most people carry catastrophic-cost medical insurance but pay the rest themselves could rationalize health care economics while restraining costs, because the wasteful paperwork aspect of the system would decline. The first step would be a standard-price rule -- specifying that providers must offer the same price to all comers, whether insured patients, self-pay or Medicare. And the standard price must be published to allow comparison shopping. Good physicians and hospitals could still distinguish themselves through quality of care; in most of the free market, prices are similar, and quality is the basis of sales appeal. Stipulating that health care providers offer standard, published prices would lay the groundwork for an informed free market in health care delivery -- and free markets control costs. They do it on their own, without layers of agencies and regulations. We've got to control health care costs or the future doesn't work. Yet the current health-care reform plan is to add more agencies and regulations.

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 22:49:33 GMT

I'm all pissed off. Right-wing Fucktard (yes, he's been downgraded from nutjob) lured me into a conversation (The St Louis Limbaughs) and then he pulled his little fucking trick. What he does is he goes on and on without making a point or he makes a completely nonsensical argument. I try to press him for a little coherence, and then he tells me that I am just closed minded to understanding what he is saying, that I am unwilling to understand.

I can't think of any alternative but to COMPLETELY quit talking to this guy. It's kind of a shame, because he is a nice guy and I get along with him well otherwise, but I just can't deal with it anymore. Fuck him; he's cut off!