Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues -- today's "One Minute Over Attytood"
News blogs, sports blogs, entertainment blogs, and more from Philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues -- today's "One Minute Over Attytood"
As George W. Bush probably is saying about now, writing a book is...hard work. So here's a Bob Dylan song I can't get out of my head -- wonder why. And Dylan used to have a sense of humor...who knew?
Comments (85)
RG - do you have evidence as to how many of the increased MA bankruptcies are a reflection of the healthcare policy? In case you didn't notice, the economy hasn't been doing all that great, you know, mortgage defaults, unemployment, that kind of stuff. That said, however, it does seem quite possible that the MA plan has not reduced bankruptcies - since the plan is largely designed to be favorable to insurance companies. Nonetheless, bankruptcies are a huge negative of the current system, and should be considered as a cost when evaluating various alternatives.— Talking point sleuth- "RG - do you have evidence as to how many of the increased MA bankruptcies are a reflection of the healthcare policy?" No, I simply refuted your claim that bankruptcies went down in general. Bankruptcy law changed in 2005, so people rushed to file before the law passed, creating an artificial spike. The numbers went down the following year, but started rising again as the economy tanked.— RG
- First, I never said there was a drop, RG. Sorry if you got confused. As for the relationship between insurance rates and bankruptcy rates: --snip-- Medical Debt: A significant percentage of bankruptcies are caused by uninsured medical debt, so one might think that states with the highest filing rates would have the highest percentage of uninsured. This is not so. Texas, South Carolina and Alaska have significantly higher percentages of uninsured than do the states with the highest bankruptcy filing rate. --snip-- A classic case of not controlling for variables. Just because some states have higher rates of uninsured and lower bankruptcy rates does not disprove (or prove) anything about the relationship between insurance rates and bankruptcy rates. As I said, it is quite possible that the plan in MA hasn't reduced bankruptcies due to medical costs - but just throwing overall bankruptcy rates out there (particularly during this economy), and nor does simplistic comparisons that don't control for influences. The fact remains, the hundreds of thousands of bankruptcies caused in this country the inability to cover medical costs, a phenomenon which doesn't exist in countries with universal coverage, is a demerit of our privatized system. If you are interested in a good faith analysis of the comparative systems, you need to deal with that. Or. You could just keep dreaming on about the Shangi-La in your libertarian stupor.— Talking point sleuth
- "If you are interested in a good faith analysis of the comparative systems, you need to deal with that." And if you are interested in a good faith analysis, look at how alot of those countries have high unemployment, low economic growth, and high taxation rates. And how they are still struggling to control health care costs amid demographic shifts and aging populations. Meanwhile, universal coverage, when tried at the state levels here, has lead to increased costs.— RG
Comment removed.
"here are friends who I can't believe, who have a nice income with attractive homes,cars and take winter vacations and no health insurance." . . . . . Enjoy it now, friends of sportsman. It will be wiped out after your first catastrophic illness.- "You could just keep dreaming on about the Shangi-La in your libertarian stupor." . . . . . That place where health care is a consumer choice, not a human necessity? Where illnesses neglected by lack of health care have no social costs no impact on the economy? And rising costs are nobody's fault except Governor Mitt Romney?
- "That place where health care is a consumer choice, not a human necessity?" What drama. We're talking about health insurance, not health care. Past that, my previous argument still stands. If someone gets sick, should we force a doctor to treat them w/o reimbursement? "Enjoy it now, friends of sportsman. It will be wiped out after your first catastrophic illness." Way to root for others to get sick because they exercised personal choice.— RG
- MSL didn't say he hoped it would happen. He was just pointing out what can happen (and unfortunately often does happen) if you don't protect yourself. If you don't have a family this could be a way to go but if you do have a family it is very irresponsible. This is where we get bent over a barrell by Big Insurance.— James TL
- "He was just pointing out what can happen (and unfortunately often does happen) if you don't protect yourself. If you don't have a family this could be a way to go but if you do have a family it is very irresponsible." Last time I checked, we have the freedom to be "irresponsible" in the USA. In fact, irresponsibility is a bit subjective, wouldn't you say. The young person in question might believe it to be irresponsible to purchase insurance, considering that the actuaries would tell him that he'll probably never use it. It's called choice.— legatus
- I definately agree with you Legatus. It's up to the induvidual to decide. You just have to realize that it may cost a lot if you don't have insurance.— James TL
- That's correct James. The problem is that there are those who would take that freedom from the individual and mandate insurance coverage for all. How many more freedoms are we willing to give to the nanny state?— legatus
- Definately agree with that Legatus. However, a person has to realize how costly it can become if he or she doesn't have insurance. If you are young you may not need it but it does become more costly the later you sign up to have it. I believe in choice when it comes to most things as long as it's done responsibly.— James TL
- "I believe in choice when it comes to most things as long as it's done responsibly." Since "responsibly" is measured subjectively, this is really just another way of saying that you don't believe in choice in this area. I think that people should be free to choose, even irresponsibly, to be uninsured.— legatus
- Sorry about the double post. I don't support those that would force anyone to buy insurance.— James TL
Popular Posts
Search this blog:
Blog Roll
- Andrew Sullivan
- Blinq
- Blogorrhea
- Blonde Sagacity
- Free Republic
- Instapundit
- James Taranto
- ScrappleFace
- The Corner
- Buzzmachine
- Eat the Press
- Editor and Publisher
- Media (Huffington Post)
- Media Bloodhound
- Mickey Kaus
- Pressthink
- Romenesko
- The Inksniffer
- A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago
- Above Average Jane
- BlankBaby
- Citizen Mom
- Keystone Blog
- Metroblogging Philadelphia
- Phawker
- Philadelphia - America's Hometown
- Philadelphia Will Do
- Philebrity
- Philly Future
- Phillyblog
- Phillyist
- The Clog
- The Next Mayor
- Welcome to Phillyville
- Young Philly Politics
- Afro-Netizen
- All-Spin Zone
- Atrios
- Bad Attitudes
- Billmon
- Booman Tribune
- CorrenteWire
- Fables of the Reconstruction
- iFlipFlop
- Kiko's House
- MyDD
- Philly (Dragonballyee)
- Rowhouse Logic
- Slacktivist
- Suburban Guerilla
- Tattered Coat
- upyernoz
- AmericaBlog
- Andy Borowitz
- BuzzFlash
- Crooks and Liars
- Cursor
- Daily Kos
- David Sirota
- Drudge Report
- Echidne of the Snakes
- Fire Dog Lake
- Glenn Greenwald
- Hullabaloo
- Jesus' General
- Jon Swift
- Josh Marshall
- Juan Cole
- Kevin Drum
- Mad Kane
- Majikthise
- Matthew Yglesias
- Oliver Willis
- Raw Story
- Swing State Project
- Talk Left
- Taylor Marsh
- TBogg
- The Carpetbagger Report
- Think Progress
- War and Piece
- Wonkette
- A Citizen's Blog
- Balls, Sticks and Stuff
- Beer Leaguer
- Dick Polman
- Phillies Nation
- Philling Station
- Shallow Center
- The 700 Level
- The Good Phight
Classifieds:
Site Services:
Partners: