Boys club, White House style

from Prof. Althouse, via Prof. Reynolds.

Day by Day

Yeah, this pretty much sums it up ...

So's how's Healthcare reform working for Massachusetts

Short answer - not good.

Long answer.

A few highlights - but read the whole thing:

 Massachusetts has all the goodies in the Baucus bill:  subsidies, guaranteed issue, community rating, an individual mandate, and employer penalties.  Indeed, the Massachusetts program is probably to the left of where we're going to end up, on things like empowering the exchanges to negotiate with insurance companies and the size of the penalties for failing to procure insurance, two measures which are supposed to be critical for holding costs down.

and

And health-care costs have continued to grow rapidly. According to a Rand Corporation study this year, the growth now exceeds state GDP by 8%. The Boston Globe recently reported that state health-insurance commissioners are now worried that medical spending could push both employers and patients into bankruptcy, and may even threaten the system's continued existence. 

But why can't we be like Europe?

It's no good saying that well, we should try to be more like the Netherlands--you can't build a system on the assumption that you will, suddenly and for no apparent reason, be able to import someone else's political culture. 

and finally:

Progressives are watching the whole health care legislative process with utter dismay as it produces a monster of a bill that not even its mother could love--and trying to love it anyway, on the grounds that it's a start.  But this ridiculous hodgepodge, this hypertrophied Rube Goldberg apparatus, is not some startling aberration of the political process, induced by some Republican dark magic.  This is the kind of thing the American political system produces.  This is why all of our programs have a substantial element of the inexplicable and bizarre. 

Hard to argue with this

this

We've got the worst political class in American history, and its rottenness is pretty thoroughly bipartisan.

Why aren't we researching ways to remove excess CO2?

That makes more sense to me than trying to reconfigure the entire world energy structure ...

Governments are doing practically nothing to study the removal of carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere, but this technology could be a much cheaper form of climate protection than photovoltaic cells and other approaches getting lavish support, according to an article published today in Science.

ACORN and Obama

With ACORN in the news for at least three separate instances of supporting child prostitution it's a good time to remember that one of our president's early jobs was as a community organizer with ACORN. And that ACORN was in line for $4 billion in stimulus money right after the president's inauguration even while they were under investigation for voter registration fraud.

I think if this was a Republican president, we'd be hearing a LOT more about this ...

legalize, regulate, treat, tax

From New Scientist: 

Better world: Legalise drugs

Far from protecting us and our children, the war on drugs is making the world a much more dangerous place.

ACORN back in the news

... well should be at least.

Sheesh.

You'd think an organization like this would be a black mark on a resume ...

Genius bar appointment? Seriously?

I had the same experience - and reaction - as Instapundit.

Never

forget...

Personal liberty

 ... larger government not only means less personal freedom but more corruption, influence peddling, and "rent seeking" as interest groups and industries inevitably must seek to sway government representatives and bureaucrats who would hold enormous power over their economic destiny.

 Let's avoid all that. (from here)

Best health care in America at the VA?

I was reading Paul Krugman's piece in the NYTimes about various approaches to universal coverage. He mentioned that "our own Veterans Health Administration, which is run somewhat like the British health service, also manages to combine quality care with low costs."

I had thought that there were a lot of problems with VA care, but apparently that's not the case these days. This piece talks about an article singing the praises - deservedly so, it seems - of the care provided by the VHA. 

I think Krugman downplays valid concerns about following the English or Canadian models - particularly since he got burned recently polling Canadians about their thoughts on their health service.

Still, the fact that the VA manages to provide superlative care definitely gives me food for thought. 

more whole foods fun

The agitator sees irony in the proposed whole foods boycott.

Why does health care cost so much in the US?

That's the question I typed into Google. About halfway down the results page I found this article from the NYTimes Bizness section.

Compared to other countries, health care is more expensive here. We knew that. Health care expenditures per capita seem to be closely related to GDP per capita - so countries with more money spend more on health care - makes sense. 

But that doesn't account for the discrepancy in the US. We pay more here for 

" factors other than G.D.P. per capita. Prominent among these other factors are:

1. higher prices for the same health care goods and services than are paid in other countries for the same goods and services;

2. significantly higher administrative overhead costs than are incurred in other countries with simpler health-insurance systems;

3. more widespread use of high-cost, high-tech equipment and procedures than are used in other countries;

4. higher treatment costs triggered by our uniquely American tort laws, which in the context of medicine can lead to "defensive medicine" — that is, the application of tests and procedures mainly as a defense against possible malpractice litigation, rather than as a clinical imperative."

Any real reform needs to address all those factors.  

Health care reform

The president's op-ed sounds reasonable. He usually sounds reasonable until he gets off message or off prompter - which is understandable, he doesn't actually have much experience after all. It's charming, really, the glimpses into his real attitudes and ideas.

I liked that he wrote so much about reforming Medicare. That's a great idea and since that's already a government program they should get started on that right away. For the rest I think we should wait and see how that part goes.

And for a look at what's ACTUALLY in one of the bills under consideration - so, to be clear, what the actual law would be as opposed to what the op-ed says - here are answers to a few questions like - 

df

WILL THE PLAN RATION MEDICAL CARE?

um ... yeah

WILL THE PLAN PUNISH AMERICANS WHO TRY TO OPT OUT?

un hunh - well, it imposes a tax penalty, so it would only actually punish the 60% or so who actually pay taxes ...

WILL THE PLAN DESTROY PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE?

yes - it doesn't outlaw it, but it creates a situation that is so disfavorable to private plans that they will be quickly marginalized if not completely eliminated.

DOES THE PLAN ALLOW THE GOVERNMENT TO SET FEES FOR SERVICES?

of course - as with medicare. 

There's more, please follow the link and read it all for yourself.

Underage drinking considered

Prof proposes teaching kids to drink Here. Well, kinda.

This should make some people happy

Chevron's profit plunges 71%

But maybe not since they did still make a profit.

Really?

Really? This is something the leader of the free world needs to do? A "Beer Summit"? Seems like the government is being run by PR flacks. I see a new reality TV show in the offing. Move over Judge Judy. President Barry's in the house.

Gadgets circa 1979

This is kind of fun

I was in 8th grade in 1979.

I had this. And I played it a fair amount. It was basically just trying to move one dot of light through others. 

Saw this in theaters. I was a huge Steve Martin fan - had two or three of his albums.

No internet. 

No cell phones. 

VHS players were still a pretty big deal. 

No CDs.

No PCs. 

No Macs.

hard to imagine...

That was 30 years ago.

30 years from now expect to look back with the same sort of amazement at how primitive things were.

It's good to be the government

Social Security Administration spends $700,000 on conference. Good thing the government's got plenty of money ...