Thought for the Day

[filghy2]

I'm not sure what planet you are coming from, but if scientists found a way to rear a baby in an artificial womb why would would anyone need to be carrying the baby in their body?

[martin48]

I think the pelvis might make a difference

Maybe , through stems cells , placenta? Maybe wear the belly button is and underneath, on top of muscle but below the skin , hook up into blood vessels . Or maybe a synthetic placenta. Then even guys will/might get preggars. Oh , I would hate carrying all that weight for nine month's, no drugs, clean food ....I don't know .

[sukumvit boy]

Forgive me for restating the obvious , but I have been hearing the criticism of Obama health care insurance system that it makes people who don't require much care at this time pay for those people who do.Isn't that the basic principle behind any insurance system ?

[filghy2]

Forgive me for restating the obvious , but I have been hearing the criticism of Obama health care insurance system that it makes people who don't require much care at this time pay for those people who do.Isn't that the basic principle behind any insurance system ?

Yes, any system of universal health insurance has to rely on the healthy subsidising the sick. If you allow people to opt out then the only people who take out insurance will be those who are more likely to be making claims, which means it will be very expensive (the adverse selection problem).

Almost every other advanced country addresses this problem through the government funding universal health care, so that the subsidy occurs through taxation. The only real alternative is something like Obamacare, ie a combination of requirements to cover existing conditions, mandatory insurance and subsidies for low-income earners. The claim that there was some alternative that could provide the same or better cover without compulsion and more cheaply was always complete nonsense.

This chart shows how poorly the US health system has performed to date http://economistsview.typepad.com/ec...penditure.html The US spends 2-3 times as much per person on health care as other advanced countries, yet life expectancy in the US is significantly lower.

[sukumvit boy]

Yes, any system of universal health insurance has to rely on the healthy subsidising the sick. If you allow people to opt out then the only people who take out insurance will be those who are more likely to be making claims, which means it will be very expensive (the adverse selection problem).

Almost every other advanced country addresses this problem through the government funding universal health care, so that the subsidy occurs through taxation. The only real alternative is something like Obamacare, ie a combination of requirements to cover existing conditions, mandatory insurance and subsidies for low-income earners. The claim that there was some alternative that could provide the same or better cover without compulsion and more cheaply was always complete nonsense.

This chart shows how poorly the US health system has performed to date http://economistsview.typepad.com/ec...penditure.html The US spends 2-3 times as much per person on health care as other advanced countries, yet life expectancy in the US is significantly lower.

Excellent link flighty2 , thanks for that . Frightening evidence that the US is an 'outlier' in terms of life expectancy and health expenditure .
Further evidence of the importance of the need for universal health insurance coverage in the US that can provide basic life style counseling to reverse this trend.

[sukumvit boy]

Meanwhile , more contradictory words and actions from the Trump White House in terms of North Korea .
On the one hand Tillerson begins his Asia tour in Japan with the statement that " North Korea and its people need not fear the United States or its neighbors in the region who only seek to live in peace with North Korea ".
Does that mean that we are now going to ignore the horrible human rights abuses in North Korea ?
Also , does he forget that the North Korean 'people' will never be able to hear his message ?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017...h-north-korea/
While on the other hand the US announces the deployment of missile carrying drones across the border in South Korea.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...om-north-korea

[broncofan]

http://europe.newsweek.com/kurt-eich...t-569813?rm=eu

Thought this was an interesting piece. Have followed Kurt Eichenwald on twitter for a few months because he occasionally has useful things to say. He is a journalist who is known to suffer from epilepsy and has suffered dozens of debilitating seizures in his lifetime. Trump supporters have sent him seizure inducing images such as strobe lights to try to give him a seizure. Finally, one of the images did induce a seizure and he is moving to have the person prosecuted.

After he had a seizure, many on the right claimed they thought he was making it up for sympathy and continue to send him these images. Strange that someone would send a person a strobe image in order to induce a seizure, it does what they intend it to do, and then they would claim he must be lying. The FBI is now moving forward against twitter user jew_goldstein.....probably a lovely person who is not at all anti-semitic.

Just thought it a lovely illustration of what kind of human beings Trump supporters are.

[sukumvit boy]

[hippifried]

The original Hillary Clinton report on health care, '94, came to the conclusion that it could only work as a single payer system.

[filghy2]

They decided to work through private insurers in order to keep them onside. Obamacare was based broadly on the scheme introduced by Mitt Romney in Massachusetts, so they were hoping to get some bipartisan support. That didn't work because the Republican leadership decided to oppose everything Obama did for political reasons. Ironically, many of the problems with Obamacare that contributed to its lack of popularity were a result of the compromises involved in working through the private insurance market.