Saturday, November 28, 2009

First State Diner

Everyone one, especially the media, is all in a dither about Michaele and Tareq Salahi successful crashing the White House first state dinner. Does not their outwitting the Secret Service pale in comparison to the couple who fooled the American Electorate with the help of the blind media?. Michaele and Barak Obama will stay for four years not just one evening dinner! Now that is what’s outrageous!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Yesterday, home of the free and the brave: Tomorrow, home of the wheeps and the slave!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucca_Mountain_nuclear_waste_repository



For anyone who has an ounce of faith in developing technology and reducing reliance on foreign oil to avoid the pending global climate change illusion, I suggest that you become familiar with the Yucca Mountain project. (see link above) Then ask yourself, do we really want to become a third world nation? What will it take to open the eyes of the masses  as to where the current administration is trying to take us?

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Some Thoughts About Insurance Options!

If indeed this country can not deliver a good health system without involvement of insurance let’s broaden the options to include not only private insurance companies and the so called public option but a private option as well. This private option would be self insurance or funded Health Savings Accounts (HSA) that could buy high deductible Catastrophe Insurance with tax treatment compared to the so called Cadillac plans. This feature should soften the objection of the libertarians who opposed mandated purchase. Low income people who elect to have the private option could be granted health stamps to fund their HSA’s.


Then, continue the states authority to monitor all health insurance sold or issued in their respective jurisdictions. Continue the states obligation to see that all insurance companies issue policies that have a fair and adequate premium (this will include any public option) as well as have the financial strengths to pay all current and future claims arising out of current claims and newly discovered catastrophic conditions. This would also apply to any federal plans or their sponsored co-ops or other schemes.


Individual risk that our deemed to be so adverse that no premium is adequate could be pooled and assigned to carriers. The assignment similar to auto assigned risk would be based upon each insurer’s prior three year average premium written in the particular state and further factored based upon the quintiles of profitability. These quintiles would be assigned a number of zero through four with zero the least profitable to four the most profitable. To determine profitability 100% minus the loss ratio (claims incurred divided by premiums earned) minus .12 (12% of premium standard for all) would equal percent of earnings. Note, income taxes would not enter into the profitability equations as all health Insurance carriers should be exempt from income tax just as the public option schemes would be. The 12% allowance for administrative cost should be adequate to cover reasonable expenses and motivate efficiencies and innovation. The loss ratios which state insurance examiners will verify every three years will hold steady at 85%+/- if the growth in utilization and hypochondrias holds at current rate which is highly unlikely.


In the event that this country’s health care cost as a percent of the Gross National Product does not decrease by two percent by the tenth year of this law then all health insurance programs except HSA’s should be terminated and a direct repayment of Medicare tax to all wage earners who have paid into the Medicare trust fund.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Medicare(less)

The current healthcare bills offered in the house and senate appears DOA (dead on arrival) and should go away. However, the current bill foes not only are failing to offer a package that addresses the cause for out of control escalating healthcare cost, they are insulting the intelligence of the seniors of this country with adds that imply they we are entitled to the current Medicare system and thus should not be touched. WRONG! It is our age group that voted in the FDR “new dealers” and the LBJ ‘great society” Medicare program without regard for actuarial funding. Now we expect our offspring to pay the bill; how selfish indeed!
I am sickened while listening to many of my fellow old age coots who sit around comparing their aches and pains and anticipate their next visit to the doctors as the highlight of their dull existence. They should be instead educating their offspring and harping how our generation lost its greatness by surrendering our independence for entitlement. Our age group on average incur five times more resources than the youngest tier, Yes, we allowed our politicians to fool us into thinking our healthcare needs would be funded by inadequate payroll tax. But at some point we as a group need to bite the bullet and act like grownups!