The cost of boating just went up. Gas hits all-time high.
 

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...

On Wed, 09 May 2007 16:31:06 +0000, NOYB wrote:


85% of this country is getting along just fine with the health insurance
that they have,
\

bull****.

How's your health insurance?

The cost of boating just went up. Gas hits all-time high.
 

On Wed, 09 May 2007 22:39:21 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Wed, 9 May 2007 17:28:11 -0400, "John" wrote:

"There's no correlation any longer between crude oil prices and gasoline
prices," he insists. "Crude could drop to $10/barrel, and you could still
have gasoline go to $4/gallon. All the crude oil price does is set a floor
on gasoline prices."

Nonsense.

Never argue with somebody who doesn't understand the oil/gas spread.

I once entered into an discussion with somebody who wanted to boycott
Exxon Mobile because of excess profits. I tried to explain that a
boycott of Exxon Mobile wouldn't do anything because of the way gas
pricing is structured and how all the major retailers sell gas to each
other all the time.

Also couldn't get him to understand this one simple fact - that demand
decrease (boycott) for one leads to an increase in price for the
others becasue while demand goes down for one retailer, demand goes up
for others supplying the same product.

Just didn't get it.

Simple economics is beyond the ken of most folks.

The cost of boating just went up. Gas hits all-time high.
 

On Thu, 10 May 2007 04:56:14 +0000, NOYB wrote:

"thunder" wrote in message

General
Motors, for instance, has been expanding it's operations in Canada,
while shrinking them here. Want to guess the reason?

I know you want to claim the answer is "health insurance"...but the real
answer is "unions".

Once GM and Ford and Chrysler shut their factories here, and move them
abroad, they'll be out from under the unions. And then, 10 years from
now, you can bet that they'll open new union-free operations stateside
again.

Come on, NOYB, we were talking about Canada. Your union excuse doesn't
fly. Ever hear of the Canadian Auto Workers? They split from the UAW
because they are more militant, and didn't like the UAW's give-backs.

Oh, and just so you don't think I'm making this up, Google Rick Wagoner.
He is the one who said health care costs are wrecking the US economy.

The cost of boating just went up. Gas hits all-time high.
 

"NOYB" wrote in message
link.net...

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...

On Wed, 09 May 2007 16:31:06 +0000, NOYB wrote:


85% of this country is getting along just fine with the health
insurance
that they have,
\

bull****.

How's your health insurance?



Perhaps you can explain why, in some states, we can no longer get what was
once called major medical insurance. Let the customer pay all the cheap
stuff (doctor's visits), and the insurance is for the horror shows (car
accidents). I think the key word is "some states". Why the discrepancies?

The cost of boating just went up. Gas hits all-time high.
 

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...


Perhaps you can explain why, in some states, we can no longer get what was
once called major medical insurance. Let the customer pay all the cheap
stuff (doctor's visits), and the insurance is for the horror shows (car
accidents). I think the key word is "some states". Why the discrepancies?


I don't know about *all* states, but you can still get it in some.

The reason major medical policies disappeared is due to consumer demand for
the HMOs. When HMOs started becoming popular in the late 70's, early 80's
employees covered by company health insurance wanted them because they only
had to pay a small contribution for each doctor visit. Companies, in order
to stay competitive in benefits to attract and keep employees were forced to
switch to the HMO plans. I have personal experience with this.

I've ranted before about this, including an analysis I did a few years back
where I determined that it would be less expensive for the company and the
employees if we went back to a major medical plan and the company simply
paid for the employee's and their family's regular doctor visits for
checkups or for little Johnny's runny nose.

Eisboch

The cost of boating just went up. Gas hits all-time high.
 

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...


Perhaps you can explain why, in some states, we can no longer get what
was once called major medical insurance. Let the customer pay all the
cheap stuff (doctor's visits), and the insurance is for the horror shows
(car accidents). I think the key word is "some states". Why the
discrepancies?


I don't know about *all* states, but you can still get it in some.



BTW ... the only companies (that I know of) here in MA that still offer a
major medical plan are those big enough to self-insure rather than
participate in a group plan. The last I knew, small companies (fewer than
50 or 100 employees .... I forget) have to have 100 percent participation in
whatever group plan they subscribe to. It makes it tough if a prospective
new and desirable employee's primary care physician is not in the company's
particular plan.

Eisboch

The cost of boating just went up. Gas hits all-time high.
 

"RCE" wrote in message
...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...


Perhaps you can explain why, in some states, we can no longer get what
was once called major medical insurance. Let the customer pay all the
cheap stuff (doctor's visits), and the insurance is for the horror shows
(car accidents). I think the key word is "some states". Why the
discrepancies?


I don't know about *all* states, but you can still get it in some.

The reason major medical policies disappeared is due to consumer demand
for the HMOs. When HMOs started becoming popular in the late 70's, early
80's employees covered by company health insurance wanted them because
they only had to pay a small contribution for each doctor visit.
Companies, in order to stay competitive in benefits to attract and keep
employees were forced to switch to the HMO plans. I have personal
experience with this.

I've ranted before about this, including an analysis I did a few years
back where I determined that it would be less expensive for the company
and the employees if we went back to a major medical plan and the company
simply paid for the employee's and their family's regular doctor visits
for checkups or for little Johnny's runny nose.

Eisboch


On an individual basis, your last paragraph is certainly true for me. My
COBRA advantage will end soon, and my premiums will jump from $340-ish to
$650 per month. My employer will cover the expense because it's cheaper for
them to do that than to put me on their plan (for various complicated
reasons not important here). But still, it's crazy, to anyone with a
penchant for budgets. I live in a relatively cheap place, in terms of
doctor's office visits. My internest charges $60. I see a specialist twice a
year, who charges under $100. Sure, I could get very sick, I could be in a
car accident. But....cripes...I have a quarter mil of life insurance that
costs a fraction of these rates. It's all just math.

The cost of boating just went up. Gas hits all-time high.
 

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...


On an individual basis, your last paragraph is certainly true for me. My
COBRA advantage will end soon, and my premiums will jump from $340-ish to
$650 per month. My employer will cover the expense because it's cheaper
for them to do that than to put me on their plan (for various complicated
reasons not important here). But still, it's crazy, to anyone with a
penchant for budgets. I live in a relatively cheap place, in terms of
doctor's office visits. My internest charges $60. I see a specialist twice
a year, who charges under $100. Sure, I could get very sick, I could be in
a car accident. But....cripes...I have a quarter mil of life insurance
that costs a fraction of these rates. It's all just math.

Obviously, the results of my analysis indicated that the bulk of regular,
non-catastrophic doctor visit costs were by those employees with infants and
small kids. They tend to visit the doctor regularly for check-ups and all
the normal kid ailments. Even still, it would have been cheaper for the
company to pay 100 percent for a Major Medical family plan and then pay for
the regular doctor visits than to pay 75 percent (employees paid the other
25 percent) of the monthly premiums for a HMO family plan.

Eisboch

The cost of boating just went up. Gas hits all-time high.
 

"RCE" wrote in message
...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...


On an individual basis, your last paragraph is certainly true for me. My
COBRA advantage will end soon, and my premiums will jump from $340-ish to
$650 per month. My employer will cover the expense because it's cheaper
for them to do that than to put me on their plan (for various complicated
reasons not important here). But still, it's crazy, to anyone with a
penchant for budgets. I live in a relatively cheap place, in terms of
doctor's office visits. My internest charges $60. I see a specialist
twice a year, who charges under $100. Sure, I could get very sick, I
could be in a car accident. But....cripes...I have a quarter mil of life
insurance that costs a fraction of these rates. It's all just math.

Obviously, the results of my analysis indicated that the bulk of regular,
non-catastrophic doctor visit costs were by those employees with infants
and small kids. They tend to visit the doctor regularly for check-ups and
all the normal kid ailments. Even still, it would have been cheaper for
the company to pay 100 percent for a Major Medical family plan and then
pay for the regular doctor visits than to pay 75 percent (employees paid
the other 25 percent) of the monthly premiums for a HMO family plan.

Eisboch


Exactly. I wonder why the HMO thing goes unquestioned in some companies.
Hell - self insure for some of these costs. Stick the money in a series of
rolling CDs or high rated bonds.

I don't recall where I recently read this, but Starbucks' biggest vendor
(from whom it purchases goods or services) is not a coffee bean supplier.
It's Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

The cost of boating just went up. Gas hits all-time high.
 

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"NOYB" wrote in message
link.net...

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...

On Wed, 09 May 2007 16:31:06 +0000, NOYB wrote:


85% of this country is getting along just fine with the health
insurance
that they have,
\

bull****.

How's your health insurance?



Perhaps you can explain why, in some states, we can no longer get what was
once called major medical insurance. Let the customer pay all the cheap
stuff (doctor's visits), and the insurance is for the horror shows (car
accidents). I think the key word is "some states". Why the discrepancies?

Two reasons:

1) McCarran-Ferguson Act.


2) the Democrats filibustered a vote on Association Health Plans that would
have allowed small businesses to purchase health insurance for its employees
across state lines through their national association. The plans would have
been uniform from to state to state.

http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdoc.cfm?index=...e=0&sequence=0

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill...&bill=h109-525