Good Question

"How could all of these weeks and months go by and no one is examining and talking about what has worked and what hasn't worked in Massachusetts?"

Something to think about: Massachusetts has exactly the reforms the Democrats are seeking for the rest of us. Here a speechwriter for John Edwards, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and others, can tell you about it:

Since I care more about my country than my personal pride, here's how I lost my insurance: I moved. That's right, I moved from Washington, D.C., back to Massachusetts, a state with universal health care.

In D.C., I had a policy with a national company, an HMO, and surprisingly I was very happy with it. I had a fantastic primary care doctor at Georgetown University Hospital. As a self-employed writer, my premium was $225 a month, plus $10 for a dental discount.

In Massachusetts, the cost for a similar plan is around $550, give or take a few dollars. My risk factors haven't changed. I didn't stop writing and become a stunt double. I don't smoke. I drink a little and every once in a while a little more than I should. I have a Newfoundland dog. I am only 41. There has been no change in the way I live my life except my zip code -- to a state with universal health care.

Massachusetts has enacted many of the necessary reforms being talked about in Washington. There is a mandate for all residents to get insurance, a law to prevent insurance companies from denying coverage because of a pre-existing condition, an automatic enrollment requirement, and insurance companies are no longer allowed to cap coverage or drop people when they get sick because they forgot to include a sprained ankle back in 1989 on their application.

Even if the economy was strong and I was working more, I still couldn't afford my premium. I am not alone; I've got 46 million friends in a similar situation. We wake up every day worried that a bad cough, an accident while walking the dog, or that dreaded pain on the right side of the abdomen will send us into complete financial ruin.

h/t:NRO

Flu for You, Boogie Woogie Too

Relax everyone. It looks like we're dodging imaginary bullets:

The presidential science council warned in late August that, "in a plausible scenario," swine flu might kill 90,000 Americans with the epidemic peaking in "mid-October." But it's now obvious that this won't happen....

...New York City data indicate that swine flu is perhaps a tenth as lethal as the seasonal variety. Plus, government Web sites from such southern hemisphere countries as Australia and New Zealand, whose flu season is now ending, show fewer flu deaths than normal.

And the Swine Flu Count Web site shows about 4,100 deaths worldwide in the last six months, fewer than die every six days from seasonal flu.

Note that, when it issued its "up to 90,000 deaths" report, the presidential council had ample access to the preliminary data from all these sources (and many more) showing the mildness of swine flu. Some scientists.

And, because nobody asked for it, Flu music:

Officer, May I Recomend You Use the Taser?

Farmers angered by collapsing milk prices demonstrated in
Brussels on Monday, pelting police with bottles and chickens
and spraying officers with milk directly from a cow's udders.

What I want to see is the officers being pelted with chickens. Just how does one with a chicken pelt? Also:

They drove hundreds of tractors to the centre of Brussels and covered the streets in milk and manure.

The jittery cow, frightened by firecrackers, sprang loose and chased an office worker down the street.

Chased an office worker? I suspect the cow was just running away and the office worker assumed he was being chased. After all, nature has given the cow few offensive weapons.

So, anyway this gives me an opening to tell about learning to milk a cow. I did it on a friends farm, well, and on his cow too. Thing about it is, a twenty year old can't milk a cow without giving his instructor at least one squirt in the face. Course, then there's the retaliation, and the reretaliation, and the rereretaliation. Long story short, it's all fun and games until somebody puts an eye out.

Really, the worst of it is having to go around smelling of sour milk the rest of the day.

What Are They Singing About?

Health care reform, I know. But what plan? Are they singing about single payer? The Baucus bill? Are they singing about mandated coverage? Or the fine (tax) for not having coverage? It seems like they're just singing about generic improved health care. I won't argue with that. Just so we know what it is. "Just give the President a pen and he'll sketch something out" doesn't work for me.

Time Waster II

For those of you who are getting too much real work done: When Pizzas Attack

h/t: Miss Cellania

We've Been Here Before

Daily mail post on brain stuff. I feel as though I read this last year:

Deja vu is characterised by a sudden intense feeling of familiarity and the sense you have experienced the same moment before.

One explanation is that a situation triggers a memory of a similar experience in the past and wrongly 'tags' it as familiar, creating a sense of recognition without bringing to mind the previous event.

Jamais vu is when you're in a situation that should be familiar, but which seems strange. You may suddenly find your own home to be unfamiliar or for a second not realise that the person approaching you is someone you know well.

We've Been Here Before

Daily mail post on brain stuff. I feel as though I read this last year:

Deja vu is characterised by a sudden intense feeling of familiarity and the sense you have experienced the same moment before.

One explanation is that a situation triggers a memory of a similar experience in the past and wrongly 'tags' it as familiar, creating a sense of recognition without bringing to mind the previous event.

Jamais vu is when you're in a situation that should be familiar, but which seems strange. You may suddenly find your own home to be unfamiliar or for a second not realise that the person approaching you is someone you know well.

Doctors in the White House

These pictures got wide attention. See? See? At least a lawnfull of Doctors want to work for the government. As far as I can tell, only the NY Post is displaying this next image, which shows White House staffers handing out lab coats in order to set up the shot:


And this next one you won't find anywhere except on Are We Lumberjacks; it shows the first attempt to get everyone in costume, unfortunately gone wrong due to a breakdown in communications:




***Update: (Oregon Guy again)

click to embiggen

Government Doctorin'

Come down to it, nobody can criticize the "public option" because it doesn't exist. The best argument for a public option is an argument against those heartless insurance companies. They deny too many claims. And the government wouldn't do that; they just want to help, right?

So how often do those heartless bastiges deny claims? We don't have a public option to compare them to, but the above chart from the AMA's 2008 National Health Insurer Report Card (PDF) gives you an idea of how they stack up against Medicare, the government's closest approximation to public option. Whoops. Looks like the largest denier by far is Medicare.

And while we're on the subject: public option would become single payer. It would become government supplied health care because the government would regulate insurers while offering its own alternative. In that situation it's a simple matter to force the competition out of business. When they're gone, all you have left is Doctor Obama. So, bend over the gurney and try to relax, the man who fixed GM will be with you shortly.

(chart lifted from article at Big Government)

Don't Blame Me

(click to embiggen)

Don't blame me. Oregon Guy made me do it.