We've been trapped Inside a Bad Health Care System So Long,

[one...two...tree 2,762]

So you're advocating ending all lawsuits, including the ones filed by companies?

Companies are not individuals, the restriction would only be on individuals.

So the individual by defacto, is not considered a crucial element of a free market?

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Wow, to see an American of your age to be as unfamiliar with the very free market principles upon which this nation was founded is truly heartbreaking.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Wow, to see an American of your age to be as unfamiliar with the very free market principles upon which this nation was founded is truly heartbreaking.

I've lived a sheltered life.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Clearly.

[The_Dude 1,142]

Time for you to go teabag something small AJ.

[Ban Hammer 13,344]

Time for you to go teabag something small AJ.

are you telling him to perform an anatomically impossible act?

[justashooter 430]

According to city-data, Harrisburg (the city, not the metro area) in 2000 had fewer people than my 'suburb' in jersey does

Sounds good. We'd be a much stronger nation if we cut off the deadwood. The sick, the unemployed, the handicapped.

Adolf felt that way, too. Didn't work out all that great for him...

That's because that socialist FDR got in the way

Yeah, the commies always get in the way.

actually, there was this fellow stalin, too. the russkies just don't get much credit for the sacrifice they made. they took out more than 1/3 of the third reich, and the lion's share of it's heavy hardware. if not for the eastern front, the western front would still be offshore.

City limits - Ottawa vs. Harrisburg - 812,000 vs 48,950 - factor 16:1.

Metro area - Ottawa vs. Harrisburg - 1,130,000 vs 656,781 - factor 1.7: 1

As usual, you are just plain, factually dead wrong and manifestly incapable of even conducting a basic fact check before posting your factual misstatements. Given that you can't even get basic facts like urban populations right,is it really any wonder no one gives any credence to your equally bizarre statements of opinion?

I am most certainly not your 'buddy'.

man, you guys have absolutely no sense of humour.

you cannucks are so sensitive about your small, well, everything shrinks in the cold, right?

[NickD 203]

We wanted government deregulation and we got it, so quit b!tching.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Lucky for you and me, the American people are not stupid enough to be hoodwinked by ####### like that. We know better. Pay-go is the way to go.

If it isn't pay-go, it's commie.

Green is the color of pay-go. And no, the green territories are not the US.

Welcome to the Communist Nation of America!

Edited July 7, 2009 by Mr. Big Dog

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Not to take this thread on too much of a tangent, but my mom had an appointment with a Blue Cross agent yesterday who tried to sell her something called a "basic and essential" plan. I had told her to ask him as many questions as she could think of and to have him leave behind as much material as he could. I dropped by later to check it out and this plan puts absurdly low limits on every type of coverage and plain doesn't cover certain things like ambulance. Of course, it's "basic and essential" so that's why but here's the rub: the sales agent tried to pitch it as if it could replace her much better (and much more expensive) group COBRA plan. It's my opinion that the basic and essential suite of plans are good for someone young and healthy, but a horrible choice for someone entering their 60s. Why an agent would try to pitch it to someone like that is beyond me, unless all they're after is the possibility of making a sale (of course).

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Not to take this thread on too much of a tangent, but my mom had an appointment with a Blue Cross agent yesterday who tried to sell her something called a "basic and essential" plan. I had told her to ask him as many questions as she could think of and to have him leave behind as much material as he could. I dropped by later to check it out and this plan puts absurdly low limits on every type of coverage and plain doesn't cover certain things like ambulance. Of course, it's "basic and essential" so that's why but here's the rub: the sales agent tried to pitch it as if it could replace her much better (and much more expensive) group COBRA plan. It's my opinion that the basic and essential suite of plans are good for someone young and healthy, but a horrible choice for someone entering their 60s. Why an agent would try to pitch it to someone like that is beyond me, unless all they're after is the possibility of making a sale (of course).

That's just evil.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Not to take this thread on too much of a tangent, but my mom had an appointment with a Blue Cross agent yesterday who tried to sell her something called a "basic and essential" plan. I had told her to ask him as many questions as she could think of and to have him leave behind as much material as he could. I dropped by later to check it out and this plan puts absurdly low limits on every type of coverage and plain doesn't cover certain things like ambulance. Of course, it's "basic and essential" so that's why but here's the rub: the sales agent tried to pitch it as if it could replace her much better (and much more expensive) group COBRA plan. It's my opinion that the basic and essential suite of plans are good for someone young and healthy, but a horrible choice for someone entering their 60s. Why an agent would try to pitch it to someone like that is beyond me, unless all they're after is the possibility of making a sale (of course).

That's just evil.

IMHO .. it's not "evil".

The way you structure incentives is a huge driver of behavior. The problem isn't that the sales guy is "evil", it's that his incentive structure is based on selling policies, period. Any policy to anyone.

And no, I don't have a better idea that I could express in anything but the most qualitative terms.

[justashooter 430]

Lucky for you and me, the American people are not stupid enough to be hoodwinked by ####### like that. We know better. Pay-go is the way to go.

If it isn't pay-go, it's commie.

Green is the color of pay-go. And no, the green territories are not the US.

Welcome to the Communist Nation of America!

your green countries all have either very high taxation or no governmental control over health care, including education, facilities, and medications. i watched an American guy die in one of those countries in a barren concrete room. he would have lived in any American hospital.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Lucky for you and me, the American people are not stupid enough to be hoodwinked by ####### like that. We know better. Pay-go is the way to go.

If it isn't pay-go, it's commie.

Green is the color of pay-go. And no, the green territories are not the US.

Welcome to the Communist Nation of America!

your green countries all have either very high taxation or no governmental control over health care, including education, facilities, and medications. i watched an American guy die in one of those countries in a barren concrete room. he would have lived in any American hospital.

These aren't "my green countries", the countries in green are examples of pay-go governments - i.e. low public debt to GDP ratio. AJ pointed out that anything but pay-go is commie so I thought it would be interesting to show that we are more commie than Australia, China and Russia and no less commie than Western Europe and Canada.

As for your sample guy, he would have lived in any hospital in Western Europe or Canada but may not have had access to a hospital in the US - in which case the point that he would have lived there becomes mute.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Not to take this thread on too much of a tangent, but my mom had an appointment with a Blue Cross agent yesterday who tried to sell her something called a "basic and essential" plan. I had told her to ask him as many questions as she could think of and to have him leave behind as much material as he could. I dropped by later to check it out and this plan puts absurdly low limits on every type of coverage and plain doesn't cover certain things like ambulance. Of course, it's "basic and essential" so that's why but here's the rub: the sales agent tried to pitch it as if it could replace her much better (and much more expensive) group COBRA plan. It's my opinion that the basic and essential suite of plans are good for someone young and healthy, but a horrible choice for someone entering their 60s. Why an agent would try to pitch it to someone like that is beyond me, unless all they're after is the possibility of making a sale (of course).

That's just evil.

IMHO .. it's not "evil".

The way you structure incentives is a huge driver of behavior. The problem isn't that the sales guy is "evil", it's that his incentive structure is based on selling policies, period. Any policy to anyone.

And no, I don't have a better idea that I could express in anything but the most qualitative terms.

The incentive for health insurance companies should be to provide the best quality service to their customers that they are able to, and by building on that reputation they will be successful. That is a fundamental principle behind Milton Friedman's free market vision - consumer choice. You can't have true competition without it.