March 25, 2017 Open Thread
The frontline of child abuse in Delaware (link)
$15.5 million bridge project awarded, will close Del. 141 (link)
Two 23-year-old men shot in Wilmington, police say (link)
Marijuana legalization bill announced by Delaware state Senator Margaret Rose-Henry (link)
Why can’t we transition health insurance companies into, and/or create new one’s that are nonprofit/not-for-profit corporations? Wouldn’t this translate into cheaper insurance?
I realize that these companies are, for the most part, publicly traded, but there should be a way of compensating the shareholders without desolving the companies.
As soon as AI and Automation become commonplace in the healthcare industry,what we are accustomed to is going to go the way of the steam engine anyway, so anything we do now is just a stop-gap solution until that happens.
Kansas(!) is about to vote for accepting Medicaid expansion. The bill already passed the KS House, and a Senate committee has approved it for a vote.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/03/kansas-state-senate-medicaid
In a state that never met a racket it didn’t love it amazes me that marijuana is not legalized, taxed and regulated. Just the usual greed factor would usually be enough to push it over the top, but on this one the tiny minds in Dover drop the ball, repeatedly. And if your enjoying the Trump/Ryan debacle on repealing the ACA take the time to realize that all the games merely drive us towards Single Payer, there is no other answer.
“Why can’t we transition health insurance companies into, and/or create new one’s that are nonprofit/not-for-profit corporations?”
There used to be a successful non-profit insurance company called Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Because of the rules surrounding insurance, this non-profit company was required to keep a reserve of hundreds of millions of dollars on hand in case it was flooded with claims. That big pool of money acted as bait for people who see health care as a profit center, and they destroyed that company so they could get their hands on it. They worked at this project for nearly 30 years before Karen Weldin Stewart finally got the deal done for them.
So the answer to your question is, we can’t do that because people are greedy assholes. That’s why we can’t have nice things.
@bamboozer: It has nothing to do with the tiny minds in Dover. State police and their outsized power in Dover are the reason we won’t get legal marijuana before the rest of the country.
@Fightingbluehen: Blue Cross Blue Shield of DE used to be a nonprofit company not all that long ago. They offered some decent individual plans at relatively reasonable prices, covering preventive appointments (annual checkup, gynecologist, certain screenings) at 100% even before the deductible was met. Then KWS approved a merger with Highmark and the company became for-profit and prices rose at an increasing rate. All this around 2010-2012? Maybe a couple years earlier. I’d have to look through my files.
I think health insurance should be a nonprofit or coop or government enterprise. I object to betting with a for-profit enterprise about my health, and I resist providing complete information about my health to a for-profit enterprise, which I assume will find a way to exploit it or sell it.
As well, I am more likely to overuse healthcare if I am paying a for-profit company for it. If this is a business transaction, then I want my money’s worth! If I’m paying into a community pool, or even a government-run system, I’ll be aware that any excess on my part reduces the pool for others who might be sicker or poorer. A government or nonprofit has financial incentive to keep people healthy and productive. The many Medicaid and Medicare demonstration projects show that the government can work with doctors and hospitals to innovate in that direction. A for-profit company has only the profit incentive, and the worst will profit at the expense of patients and healthcare providers.
The AHCA/Trumpcare/Ryancare/Wealthcare was not patient-centered, it was insurance-company-centered. I wonder why we haven’t heard anything from them in TV ads or press releases about it. You can be sure that if they didn’t like it we would have been inundated with negative ads.
Copeland quitting: http://delawarepublic.org/post/gop-chair-two-others-step-down-party-executive-team
Y’all ain’t really readin’ the news on the weekends, are ya?
Senator Margaret Rose-Henry’s bill real legalization, or is it some stupid bullshit legalization similar to the stupid bullshit way Delaware tried to half-ass online poker?
‘Intercollegiate Studies Institute’. Guy’s always got a scam going.
Pete DuPont is a Trustee Emeritus.
BTW, let’s play a game. Try to spot the black guy in this cornucopia of Caucasians:
https://home.isi.org/team
If Copeland ends up “falling” in front of an Amtrak train, I’ll bet they find Nick Reid’s hand prints on his back.
BTW, it was a trick question. There AREN’T any black people in that lineup. Not even a token right-winger from India. All white and mostly old money.
El Som,
Great link — I see that Copeland is also president if ISI’s board of trustees– a nice piece of double duty.
Also, those trustees emeriti include not only Pete but Ed Meese (Reagan’s AG) and Richard De Vos (spouse of the current Secretary of Education).
And it’s a 501(c)3.
Tax-free, just the way they like it.
Erik Raser-Schramm to be Chair of Del-dems!!!!!!!!!!
A positive development.