MetaFilter posts tagged with insurance

Sen. Lieberman (I - Aetna).

markkraft — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 08:28:11 -0800

Joe Lieberman... Deal or No Deal?! (SLYT) A campaign ad for Ned Lamont has suddenly become very relevant, considering Sen. Joe Lieberman's recent statement threatening to block any health care legislation with a public option. "I accused him of, after 20 years, dithering on that topic," said Ned Lamont yesterday. "As far as I can tell, a filibuster is one more dither."

insurance companies need our support

philip-random — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 22:14:14 -0800

something terrible is happening

Healthcare on 4 Napkins.

lunit — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 09:55:16 -0800

The healthcare debate explained on the back of 4 napkins. Napkin 1: The health care equation. Napkin 2: It's not about health care. Napkin 3: The plans on the table. Napkin 4: What's it mean to me?

The Stupid History of Health Insurance Regulation in the US

cimbrog — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 14:33:46 -0800

fxgillis at the League of Ordinary Gentlemen tells "the stupid history of how the stupid Supreme Court and a stupid Congress wound up saddling us with such a stupid system for regulating the insurance market." That is the reason that health insurance regulations look like this right now. This issue was brought up most recently by the McCain campaign as part of their health care plan, but there was criticism pdf that this plan would create a race to the bottom for coverage.

Hurry! Cash For Clunkers Ends Monday

netbros — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 10:37:42 -0800

What’s so special about the super cars that make people spend cosmic sums on a single car to buy it? Here are the Most Expensive Supercars: Exotic Showcase. Looking for cheap wheels? Here they are — the ten least-expensive 2009 cars on sale in America. But sticker price insn't everything; here are the 10 most and least expensive cars to insure.

A very good article on health care economics

kliuless — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 06:40:28 -0800

How American Health Care Killed My Father After the needless death of his father, the author, a business executive, began a personal exploration of a health-care industry that for years has delivered poor service and irregular quality at astonishingly high cost. It is a system, he argues, that is not worth preserving in anything like its current form. And the health-care reform now being contemplated will not fix it. Here’s a radical solution to an agonizing problem. (via mr) BONUS -Health Care Spending and PCE -Consumer Driven Health Care Plans -4 Points on Health Care -A Public Option Isn't a Curse, or a Cure [also btw Thaler vs. Posner] -'A Plan to Swissify America' (P.Krugman) -Why We Need Health Care Reform (B.Obama) -Health 2.0 could shock the system (E.Dyson) -Mont. Clinic Aims to Deliver Top-quality Care for Less -Cleveland Clinic Chief: Lower Care Costs Must Be Focus in Reform Efforts -Healthcare lessons -The world's worst healthcare reforms

Where do you get your health insurance from?

sid abotu — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 22:25:54 -0800

A simple question shows how complex the issue is. Chris at "Cynical C" asks his fellow citizens where they get thier health care (insurance) from and the incredible diversity of the current options and situations is immediately apparent. Quite spontaneously (but surely not unexpectedly), the question of "How much does it cost you?" becomes an essential part of the answers. Outsiders opine and tell stories and commiserate. For further information regarding the issue and the forces at work this Canadian has leaned on Bill Moyers and The Daily Howler.

healthcare the safe way?

kliuless — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 08:32:47 -0800

How Safeway Is Cutting Health-Care Costs - "At Safeway we believe that well-designed health-care reform, utilizing market-based solutions, can ultimately reduce our nation's health-care bill by 40%. The key to achieving these savings is health-care plans that reward healthy behavior... 70% of all health-care costs are the direct result of behavior... 74% of all costs are confined to four chronic conditions (cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity). Furthermore, 80% of cardiovascular disease and diabetes is preventable, 60% of cancers are preventable, and more than 90% of obesity is preventable." [1,2] cf. Wyden's Third Way & Healthcare CEOs Shoot Themselves in the Foot BONUS

Obama: Health Care Reform as the Key to Our Fiscal Future
Obama: If You Like Your Doctor, You Can Keep Your Doctor [cf.]
OMB: Debating Health Care
Health Care Rationing Rhetoric Overlooks Reality - "The choice isn't between rationing and not rationing. It's between rationing well and rationing badly." [more]
More from Gawande on controlling healthcare costs

previously...

“I want you to know I care deeply about your views”

univac — Wed, 06 May 2009 23:01:19 -0800

Single-payer health care advocates arrested at Senate hearing. On May 5, 2009 advocates of a U.S. national health care program disrupted a Senate Finance Committee event to call for single-payer healthcare to be part of the discussion. The eight protesters were subsequently arrested. The protesters included representatives of Physicians for a National Health Program, which favors the The United States National Health Care Act, H.R. 676. Committee Chair Max Baucus (D - Montana), who has received more money in contributions from health insurance companies than any other member of Congress, favors requiring Americans to purchase private health insurance from those companies. Baucus, who has previously said that single-payer is "off the table," responded to the doctors and their fellow activists with, “I want you to know I care deeply about your views," and then, "we need more police [to eject protesters]."

Your death is his bonus

orthogonality — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 07:43:45 -0800

The diagnosis was only the first shock. The second came a few weeks later, in an Aug. 5 letter from Pat's health-insurance company. For six years — since losing the last job he had that provided medical coverage — Pat had been faithfully paying premiums to Assurant Health, buying a series of six-month medical policies, one after the other, always hoping he would soon find a job that would include health coverage. Until that happened, "unexpected illnesses and accidents happen every day, and the resulting medical bills can be disastrous," Assurant's website warned. "Safeguard your financial future with Short Term Medical temporary insurance. It provides the peace of mind and health care access you need at a price you can afford." [But] diagnosing and treating an illness may not fall neatly into six-month increments. While Pat had been continuously covered since 2002 by the same company, Assurant Health, each successive policy treated him as a brand-new customer. In looking back over Pat's medical records, the company noticed test results from December, eight months earlier. Though Pat's doctors didn't determine the precise cause of the problem until the following July, his kidney disease was nonetheless judged a "pre-existing condition" — meaning his insurance wouldn't cover it, since he was now under a different six-month policy from the one he had when he got those first tests..... I tried to talk to Assurant for this story. Its only response was a written statement from Scott Krienke, senior vice president for product lines: "Due to privacy regulations, we cannot discuss the specifics of any of our customers' coverage."

Iggy Gone Wrong

Stephen Elliott — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:38:58 -0800

A car insurer admitted it refuses to cover musicians despite featuring Iggy Pop in its advertisements. (via The Morning News)

Sombody Deserves a Break Today

thisisdrew — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 10:05:51 -0800

Be a hero on your own time (VIDEO) When McDonald's employee Nigel Haskett interceded to stop a man who was beating a woman in the restaurant, the assailant went outside, retrieved a gun from his car and shot Haskett – “multiple times,” as the employee stood at the door to keep the assailant from re-entering the restaurant. $300,000 in medical bills later, McDonald's insurance says no dice: "we have denied this claim in its entirety as it is our opinion that Mr. Haskett's injuries did not arise out of or within the course and scope of his employment."

Gorilla Hospitals

Kirth Gerson — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 03:46:01 -0800

The invisible hand of the Free Market guides insurance payments to hospitals "Call it the best-kept secret in Massachusetts medicine: Health insurance companies pay a handful of hospitals far more for the same work even when there is no evidence that the higher-priced care produces healthier patients. In fact, sometimes the opposite is true: Massachusetts General Hospital, for example, earns 15 percent more than Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for treating heart-failure patients even though government figures show that Beth Israel has for years reported lower patient death rates."

"It seems like a money-saving exercise," she said. "If a patient dies, tough."

anotherpanacea — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 09:27:36 -0800

£35,000-a-year kidney cancer drugs too costly for NHS: Sutent offers to extend a kidney or GIST cancer patient's life by about 26 months, but the British NHS refuses to fund it, citing "marginal benefit at quite often an extreme cost."

A day at the fair

oneirodynia — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 09:30:44 -0800

You may remember Stan Brock from as the British anaconda wrangler from Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom (top right video). These days he runs Remote Area Medical, a volunteer airborne relief corps that brings medical, dental, and educational assistance to remote areas of the world. Every year, they go to remote Appalachian Virginia, a one day drive from Washington DC, for a 3 day event at the fairgrounds.

The Prognosis, Doc?

Weebot — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:28:21 -0800

Two years since Massachusetts instituted major statewide healthcare reform, the statistics are coming in. 340,000 residents, roughly half the state's previously uninsured, are now insured. The state says that 95% of its population is now covered, based on Department of Revenue estimates. However, a large portion of them are enrolled through state-subsidized insurance programs, and those program's rate of enrollment have far outpaced estimates. This has led lawmakers to forsee a budget shortfall. Premiums and co-pays are going up, cigarette taxes have increased, and a cost control proposal is making its way through the legislature. Assessments have been all over the map.

Life Lock's CEO Identity Stolen

DJWeezy — Wed, 28 May 2008 13:19:28 -0800

Life Lock CEO's Identify Stolen Remember all those commercials recently tell us to steal Life Lock's CEO Todd Davis' Identity? Well seems as though someone did.

But Officer ...

netbros — Sun, 11 May 2008 21:02:12 -0800

The Unofficial Guide to the DMV ― This web site was created to provide easy-to-access information and resources for all your Department of Motor Vehicles needs for all 50 states. Details about driver’s licenses, driving records and ID cards, as well as vehicle registrations, title transfers, bills of sale and smog checks are available here. DMV.ORG also offers information you wouldn't think of getting from the Department of Motor Vehicles. You’ll find guides to buying a new car, ways to order a vehicle history report, and links to auto insurance. Got a traffic ticket? DMV.ORG teaches you about online traffic schools, as well as driver's ed courses for new drivers. You can also use DMV.ORG for information about lemon laws and important updates on safety recalls. It isn't all legalese, forms and publications though. Don't miss the fun stuff section that includes several links to interesting license plates and cop jokes for example. This is one content rich, useful site. Sorry, U.S. only.

Many Retirees May Lose Benefit From Employers

brevator — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 20:18:03 -0800

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Wednesday that employers could reduce or eliminate health benefits for retirees when they turn 65 and become eligible for Medicare without violating the Age Discrimination in Employment Act The policy, set forth in a new regulation, allows employers to establish two classes of retirees, with more comprehensive benefits for those under 65 and more limited benefits for those who are older. Many retirees may lose their benefits entirely.

Closer to the heart

Blazecock Pileon — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 02:42:21 -0800

"In 2003, Americans spent an estimated US$5,635 per capita on health care, while Canadians spent US$3,003... Canada’s single-payer system, which relies on not-for-profit delivery, achieves health outcomes that are at least equal to those in the United States at two-thirds the cost." What do wealthy, educated Americans living in Canada think?

Elect Susie!

Mur — Thu, 17 May 2007 12:07:15 -0800

Millions of uninsured children in this country. Even with public assistance, they teeter on the brink of a catastrophic illness. What's the answer? Elect Susie!

I WAITED FOR YOU, FRY

Sticherbeast — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 22:20:53 -0800

Thailand has some sad insurance commercials. [via]

What kind of smart-ass comment is that?

airguitar — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 15:02:48 -0800

Steel Belted Romeos is based on a true story. (NSFW)

Mr. Universe's muscular agenda

kliuless — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 23:09:51 -0800

California's Governor Seeks Universal Care: Under a plan by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, California would become the largest state to attempt to provide near universal health coverage.

Insurers prefer Borat to Bond

SharQ — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 07:53:23 -0800

Going head-to head in the cinemas, Borat and James Bond have generated a lot of press and publicity. Recently, one insurer calculated that James Bond's car insurance would come to about £7,000. Not to be outdome, another insurance company proclaims that Bond can shove it, and that they'd much rather insure Borat, despite the Bear he's transporting around.