Missing Piece of Health Care Puzzle

Now, his "series" is not yet over, but Bonefield's stories on the rise in health care costs are missing something. His articles so far do not mention de-mutualization of insurance companies. This is where they become full tilt corporation out for the profit of share holders, instead of for policy holders.

My health insurance has risen in cost about 20%+ percent PER YEAR over the last 4 years. I went from paying $58 a month, up to $120 dollars a month over about 5 years (my numbers are approximate). This was not cause by malpractice insurance. There have not been increases in costs that much over the last 5 years in court settlements. We are not going to see our costs go down if we cap tort settlements.

Someone is gouging the American public. Whether it is the HMO or the Insurance company or the doctors or health care manufacturers, I don't know. I do not it is not because of lawyers. 20% a year is not caused by 1,000,000 settlements or doing X-ray's. HMO's have strict rules as to what tests are run on a patient. If it falls outside the guidelines they have to justify it. Those guidelines are not something causing costs to rise, they are keeping HMO's costs down. They may or may not be bringing down the level of care, but that is a different issue.

Bronson: Good, Bad, and Well, Typical Bronson

Bronson, who is doing what his column title (Scary attempts to influence your votes) say, shows a mix of good and bad information. He surprises us with an honest presentation of the stupid mailer Carl Parrott mailed out to voters, showing mostly black felons who will not be voting for challenger O'dell Owens. According to Bronson Parrot made a post card similar to this page on his website. Bronson actually had a good piece with a comment from Owens:

Parrott said the flier emphasizes that, unlike Owens, he is a forensic pathologist who has produced evidence to solve crimes. "It's not about race, it's about crime,'' he said.

Owens said it's a reach for Parrott to take credit for what the police and prosecutor do. "I think it was just poor judgment,'' he said. "I don't interpret it as racist. I just wonder what has this got to do with the coroner's race?''

Good question. We don't need CSI to tell us the coroner's ads scare voters stiff.

Now on next matter Bronson was bad, up to his usual tricks, but with a twist. I would guess either he read Nathan Colvin's column from last week or both got their talking points from David Horowitz, or another anti-intellectual conservative. We have dogma that professors are bad. I wonder if we were to go to a Conservative school, other than Miami, where religion or puritanical issues are pushed by professors in class and go unchallenged. I would bet in a few business classes at Miami we would see professors saying Kerry's election will kill the market or raise "your taxes" where "your" is the parents of the rich kids who make up a large portion of Miami's student body.

I guess those issues where students are being scared into voting for Kerry are so effective, but when Cheney says if you vote for Kerry the terrorists will strike again. That is just honest far rhetoric, without a any sense of fear mongering.

Blameless Minister

The Enquirer had an article yesterday touting a 'Church arsonist' becoming church minister. In this article the man blames 'Satan' for him setting fire to the church, it did not burn down only damaged. He also blames the music he was listening to:

Murphy was just 17 when he and some friends splashed gasoline around the foundation of Fairview Christian and set it ablaze.

Their crime came after a night of drinking whiskey and drenching their minds in music of what Murphy now calls satanic bands - the likes of Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson.

He's not to blame, blame Marylyn Manson!!! Don't blame druken behavior, blame Trent Reznor! Don't take responsibility, just change your religious convictions and remove all responsibility! He said more:

Murphy didn't deny his role. He simply told authorities that satanic beliefs prompted him.

"I believe I was possessed by demons," Murphy said, recalling the incident last week as he cuddled his 8-month-old daughter, Jayda. "They infused me with that kind of darkness. I lost control - and I didn't care."

This story comes across as niche targeted journalism. This is the type of article one might find in CCV newsletter, not a local newspaper. I guess the fundamentalist dollars are something the Enquirer needs to get as much as the mainstream Christian. They are targets so much that they did a follow-up article today which adds nothing but a pat on the back to someone who in print takes no personal responsibility for his actions.

"I'm sure everyone has something in their past that they're not proud of. God forgives and forgets."

Unbelievable.

The Basics on the Coroner's Race

Mark Mallory sums up the bottom line issue in coroner race's:

'He either knew (about the photos) and allowed it, or he didn't know it and he should have,' said state Sen. Mark Mallory, co-chairman of the county Democratic Party. 'In either case, it is horrific. This has been one of the more grim and gruesome stories to ever come out of county politics.'

That reminds me of Bush. Either bush new there was no WMD and misled us into war, or has incredibly poor judgment in evaluating the reason for going to war.

Bush's Silver Spoon Rears Its Ugly Head

Carl Weiser reports that Bush was touting his Ohio 'roots' whileon yet another campaign stop in the state:

Bush's great-grandfather, Samuel Bush, was president of Buckeye Steel Castings Co. from 1905 to 1927 and a founder of the Scioto Country Club. Buckeye Steel is no more - it filed for bankruptcy in 2002 and is now Columbus Steel Castings - but the Scioto Country Club is still going strong.

The man from Crawford, Texas, but really from New England, now pushes his Ohio roots. Where's the consistency?

One thing is consistent, Bush comes from a long line of rich people. Founding Country Clubs is a great thing to show how he connects to the average worker. I wonder how many union-busting thugs Samuel Bush hired to beat down steel workers back when that was normal for steel barons.

Do You Feel Like I Do?

Peter Frampton comes alive.

Lincoln Ware on CNN

WDBZ's own Lincoln Ware appeared on CNN this evening discussing amending the constitution to allow foreign born residents to qualify for the Office of President. He opposed it, surprisingly. He even pulled out the race card, which is not normally something I would guess Lincoln would do, especial on this issue.

I am surprised that most of the GOP are not in favor of it. I guess that Arnold is no longer the darling of the GOP. On Capitol Gang last night, both conservatives on the panel were against it.