Originally posted to MySpace, September 21, 2010 Kelly claims: Liberals have absolutely no solutions...they make no effort to try and make a positive difference. Facts: Republican answers to problems currently being tackled by the Obama Administration are in fact non-solutions. Let’s look at an example: health insurance reform. One Republican idea was to let people buy insurance outside the state they live in. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas has a non-HSA plan, PPO Select Choice, with a $2,500 deductible, a $242 premium, and 80% coverage. BCBS of New Mexico does not offer the same plan, but it does have one (Blue Direct Enhanced, 80% coverage) with a $2,000 deductible and a $207 premium. Sounds like a deal, but how much would I sacrifice by going with what’s cheaper? If interstate insurance were permitted, an insurance co. like Blue Cross would most likely create uniform insurance packages to make comparison shopping easier. But with that kind of insurance market, would it charg...

Originally, posted to MySpace, July 26, 2009     When it comes to America’s screwed-up health care system, the insurance industry is not entirely innocent. Since my back trouble returned, I have been looking at various health insurance plans. The gist is that no one is willing to cover my pre-existing condition without making me suffer for it financially. Insurance companies will fight over your business—provided you are a fit as a fiddle. Yet, if you have so much as a pimple on your butt, insurance will cost you an arm and a leg. A former high school classmate of mine used to have his own insurance company. A recent online discussion prompted me to ask him to explain why health care in the U.S. is so expensive. He responded with a detailed letter that was eventually summed up in one sentence: the insurance industry is “in business to make money”. It’s a basic law of economics that people get into business to earn a profit. You can’t blame them for that. Hell, whether ...

Originally posted to MySpace, July 19, 2009   I have a bad back. I injured it in 1995 while living in Germany. At first it caused only acute pain. As time went by, the pain became chronic and eventually got so bad that I went to the doctor. An MRI of my spine in 2002 revealed the trouble: I had two bulging discs. Though not severe, they did prove to be a real pain in the butt—I mean back. A major flare-up in 2006 prompted me to visit my doctor again, have more scans done, and seek out a back specialist. He was shocked at how herniated the discs were, but he remained confident that it was treatable. The two cortisone treatments he gave me proved worthless. I never returned for a third. Thanks to the nature of the German medical system, all these visits to the doctor and radiologist never cost me a dime, except for the quarterly ten-euro fee for visits to the doctor. I never had a deductible. I never had a co-payment. For the lion’s share of medical treatment under the German s...

Originally posted to MySpace, May 31, 2009   American pharmaceutical commercials are a riot. They spend more time warning you about the dangers of the medication than praising its benefits. Y ou get 15 seconds of “This is some good stuff...”, then 1 minute and 45 seconds of “...but it could also cause x, y, z, and it might even KILL you.” In the past, US drug commercials simply included fine print towards the end—with or without a voice announcement—that read “Use only as directed,” i.e., as directed by the instructions in or on the package or as your doctor tells you. In Germany, every pharmaceutical ad on TV ends with the same message displayed on a solid color background with a voiceover:   Zu Risiken und Nebenwirkungen lesen Sie die Packungsbeilage und fragen Sie Ihren Arzt oder Apotheker. Loosely translated, it means “For information on risks and side-effects, read the enclosed instructions and ask your doctor or pharmacist.” That’s quite a mouthful (reflecting...