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On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:57:28 -0400, wrote:

On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 10:27:23 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

Note from the above link about Medicare admin costs,
"Nor does it count most of Medicare's billing, which is outsourced --
and this might surprise people -- to private insurers like Blue Cross
Blue Shield and listed under vendor services rather than program
administration."

Wasn't aware of that.
So all the bitching about Medicare billing can as easily be laid off
on the private insurance industry by those who want to.
And now you know that the private health insurance companies are also
sucking blood from Medicare, which is covered with the private ticks.


It also debunks that idea that medicare's administrative costs are
only 5% doesn't it?

No, according to the link - you cut it, you can find it - the usual
claim is 2%. But I've always heard 3%.
Adding in what they pay the private insurance companies doing the
billing brings them to 5-6%.
Forget about trying to beat that.
You can't.
Besides, that article has some other gems, such as the there's no
evidence the private insurers do any better with fraud than does
Medicare.
I'm done arguing about this. All the facts are out there, including
the fact that many modern countries beat our ass in health care.
How it's done is well known to anybody who looks.
Cat is out of the bag.
I can afford insurance and keep my house.
Let the whiners who suffer medical bankruptcy, die because they have
no health care, worry about their kids' ailments, and the whining
businessmen who have their profits deeply cut into and who can't
compete because of health care costs worry about it.
No skin off our nose, eh?
Me and you will do just fine.

--Vic

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On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:20:35 -0400, wrote:

Carter didn't shoot any rabbits that we heard about but he did beat
one about half to death with a canoe paddle in a rogue rabbit attack.

Saw an interview with a retired Secret Service agent when he was
pumping his book.
There were some real tense moments when one SS guy notified the rest
of the team via walky talky that Pres Carter's boat was being attacked
by a rabbit.
Rabbit was momentarily understood to be "robot."
Same guy guarded Nixon, who occasionally strolled the streets of DC at
night.
Nixon wanted some smokes and turned into what he thought was a smoke
shop. It was a head shop.
Went to the counter to get a pack of smokes. The glass case in front
of clerk had both bongs and dildoes in it.
According to the agent, when the clerk saw who was asking for a pack
of Luckies in front of the bongs and dildoes, the look on his face
was.....priceless.

--Vic

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On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:07:55 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

There were some real tense moments when one SS guy notified the rest
of the team via walky talky that Pres Carter's boat was being attacked
by a rabbit.

Rabbit was momentarily understood to be "robot."

Somehow, strangely, that figures.

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On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:55:45 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

All the facts are out there, including
the fact that many modern countries beat our ass in health care.

In terms of what?

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On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:14:48 -0400, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:

On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:55:45 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

All the facts are out there, including
the fact that many modern countries beat our ass in health care.

In terms of what?

hehe.

--Vic

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wrote in message
...
On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:14:25 -0400, H the K
wrote:

And cheney...he shot his friends.

Hey he shot his lawyer. That was the high point in his otherwise
undistinguished career in my opinion.


You forgot to mention that his lawyer then apologized for getting shot.

--
Nom=de=Plume

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wrote in message
...
On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 12:13:19 -0700, "nom=de=plume"
wrote:

Finance-wise, he was better than Reagan, since he pushed to get us on
track
for a surplus, but reg wise he wasn't better. A mixed bag I guess.

Clinton had the advantage of a Republican congress that wanted a
balanced budget, the biggest tax increase in a generation and a
booming economy that we now know was mostly an illusion. The beginning
of the bubble that popped a couple years ago.


Societally, he was much, much better. I think Obama recently took up golf,
but I'm not sure. Didn't Carter shoot rabbits?

Carter didn't shoot any rabbits that we heard about but he did beat
one about half to death with a canoe paddle in a rogue rabbit attack.



That was it!

--
Nom=de=Plume

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wrote in message
...
On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 10:43:30 -0700, "nom=de=plume"
wrote:

Perhaps, that's certainly a big number. Something like 70% of docs want
a
public option or single payer. They're just as sick of the paperwork as
everyone else.


They just want a government rubber stamp on their bills. I don't blame
them but if you are going to control costs more than the insurance
companies do you will be denying a lot more of their bills.

If you took every penny of insurance company profits away and reduced
the top pay for their executives to a GS16 level you wouldn't come
close to having the kind of money it takes for universal coverage.



Sure is easy to blame the doctors, but it's a fallacy that the are the
cause
of the problem. Insurance companies are only interested in profit, they
don't care a fig about people's health.

I am talking about the medical conglomerates like HMA and the other
mega medical corporations that own the doctors.



I'm not familiar with that company. They don't appear to be around here, but
I could be wrong. Kaiser is here in a big way. I'm not a fan of them, but
the docs are usually pretty good. They get a salary, and I know a couple of
them. They are not in anyone's pocket.

--
Nom=de=Plume

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On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:07:55 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:20:35 -0400, wrote:

Carter didn't shoot any rabbits that we heard about but he did beat
one about half to death with a canoe paddle in a rogue rabbit attack.

Saw an interview with a retired Secret Service agent when he was
pumping his book.
There were some real tense moments when one SS guy notified the rest
of the team via walky talky that Pres Carter's boat was being attacked
by a rabbit.
Rabbit was momentarily understood to be "robot."
Same guy guarded Nixon, who occasionally strolled the streets of DC at
night.
Nixon wanted some smokes and turned into what he thought was a smoke
shop. It was a head shop.
Went to the counter to get a pack of smokes. The glass case in front
of clerk had both bongs and dildoes in it.
According to the agent, when the clerk saw who was asking for a pack
of Luckies in front of the bongs and dildoes, the look on his face
was.....priceless.

--Vic

That's hilarious. I'd like to have seen Nixon's face as he was
combing the wares...

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"jps" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:24:31 -0700, "Bill McKee"
wrote:


"jps" wrote in message
. ..
On Fri, 23 Oct 2009 22:37:36 -0700, "Bill McKee"
wrote:


"nom=de=plume" wrote in message
...
"Jim" wrote in message
...
nom=de=plume wrote:
"Bill McKee" wrote in message
m...
"nom=de=plume" wrote in message
...
"Tosk" wrote in message
...
In article ,
says...
"Tosk" wrote in message
...
In article ,
says...
On Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:51:29 -0400, Tosk wrote:


After all, how can a for profit org compete with a public
funded not for profit?
Huh? I thought "privatization" was the cost cutting mantra of
the
Right. You know, how a lean mean corporation was more
efficient
than a
bloated government agency. So, does this mean that if we
eliminate
private health insurance companies, and go with a single payer
public
option, our health cost would go down? Damn, you're turning
into
a
Liberal.
Not really, look at the success record of govt "not for profit"
organizations. I would rather pay for something that works,
than
pay
double for something that doesn't.
Yup. Medicare and the VA don't work. Bummer.
Well, I guess it depends on who is in office at the time. When it
was
Bush they sure didn't, that is if you listen to the chattering
class.
Now miraculously a 10% unemployment rate is a recovery...

You really need to review the facts about the VA, for example,
before
you make statements like this. Check out the person who's in
charge
of
the VA.

There is a technical recovery in process. Jobs are still a problem
and
will continue to be for quite a while. What's your point?

--
Nom=de=Plume

Where is the recovery? The lead in the Dow rise is financials.
And
they are going up because of the huge amounts of money the Fed is
tossing at them. The job outlook is bad, the retail outlook is
bad,
as those 20%+ without a job are not spending. The housing sales
increase, but the price decreased, and the $8k gift from the Fed
just
accelerated the purchases and seems as if they are looking at $500
million if fraud with the program. Look for the Dow to pull back
10-15%
shortly. Put stops on your stocks.

Look it up. It's been all over the news. So far, you haven't said
anything revealing about the recovery or lack thereof.

The recovery hasn't started yet. And it won't until REAL jobs are
created
and REAL workers have money to spend on REAL goods and services,
which
of
course will be provided by REAL people doing REAL work. The way your
party is handling the situation is UNREAL. You should be ashamed of
yourself for supporting The king and his court in their underhanded
activities.


You should be ashamed of your intellectual dishonestly.

http://www.recovery.gov


--
Nom=de=Plume


Actually it is you with the intellectual dishonesty. The government
spent
tons of money in the wrong place for one thing. Sent it to their
cronies
on
Wall Street. Want a better recovery, put 50% of that money spent in to
SBA
loans. And not spend the other 50%. Let Goldmansackus and the other
"investment" banks fail. The recovery act has not created jobs. Other
than
a few paving and infrastucture jobs that needed to be done anyway. When
that paving job is done. Where is the next job for the worker.
Govenment
does not creat wealth by borrowing and spending.

Hank Paulson and George Bush got that ball rolling.

Goldman Sachs strikes again...

Hell, Bush was just continuing rolling the Clinton ball. Clinton and his
administration caused the dot.com bubble, set the stage for the housing
bubble and Bush just continuing the screw ups.

Oh yeah, it was Clinton who caused the bubble.

I don't think you want to know the reason why Bill. It was for lack
of regulation and control of the greedy assholes who run Wall Street.

When you give control of the economy to folks who'd have you investing
in tulip bulbs, you've given them too much control.

Deregulation was a Republican mantra that the Democrats bought. We
also bought supply side economics.

Both ideas suck and they're still trying to repackage them every time
we turn around.

Get a clue. Even if you have to pay for it. Clinton pushed for the easy
loans, named the first black leader of Fannie Mae. Franklin Raines. Was
Clinton Justice Department that made a deal to settle for 10 million and
they dropped the fraud charges. He lied about FM's profits while buying all
the subprime loans and pocket $100 million in bonus money. He should have
had to pay back all the bonus money plus all the costs of the investigation
at the minimum and at the maximum, spent time in the stony lonesome.
Clinton led the subprime lending, deregulation of Delimitative. Bush did
not correct the problems and kept Greenspan on as the Fed Man.