I’m actually bemused by the “flat rate” commercials the post office is running to encourage businesses to use their boxes instead of other services with “variable” rates. I’ve used UPS, Fed Ex, and USPS for shipping services. UPS and Fed Ex usually work out to cost no more for equivalent levels of service, and if the proximity is closer, offer significant savings — precisely because their price for shipping directly reflects their cost for shipping each package. And you know, I think I’d be happier if there were less bulk mail in my snail mail box when I check it.

For a family of 4 the same search had price ranges of $260-$700 month on the recommended page, but if you look at all listings the range changes to $150 to $1725 for the gold plated plans (e.g. a no deductible, no co-insurance, $10/visit HMO plan for $1600/month, major us carrier). Picking the same well known carrier there is a plan for about $300/month for the hypothetical family, with a $1700/year deductible.

Remember, all the numbers I’m quoting are direct purchase, non-group plans. They are comparable to rates that employers currently pay to insure you. So there is a free market to fall back on, and it isn’t nearly as moribund as reform advocates claim. I expect that if the primary model for buying health insurance changed, the rates would probably come down. Right now the focus is on selling to employers, who don’t have exactly the same desires you do. Oh, and they are already pretty responsive. On a different search where I needed to provide email and phone contact information, I received two phone calls from company representatives within 5 minutes of hitting the send button; again, nationally recognized companies like Blue Cross and Blue Shied or Kaiser Permanente.

Begone, troll. Take your KnownFacts™ elsewhere.

That does not have the ring of truth. It has the clank of something made up. Perhaps you could tell us where you got numbers like that.

Also, Adam Smith is the devil. And Bill Gates. And Wal-Mart. Wouldn’t you agree?

The Post Office is left with the money losers. Government is the last resort for services we have to have, like letters to/from small towns. Stop for a moment and think what would happen if all the small towns with too much distance or too little volume were cutoff from the rest of the world. That is not what should happen in a nation like America. It is not that we need more government or less government, we need government doing the right things well.

But lawyers aren’t the only bandits in Health Care. What do you expect in a system where the person selling gets to tell you how much you are buying?

In 2002 the insurance industry had 2.4 billion in profits. In 2008 they had 12.1 billion. What miracle of capitalism did they accomplish to be so richly rewarded? Well, largely they raised rates and dropped people who had medical problems. In other words, they got a handle on their costs. They can do this because they have worked hard to individually get into a quasi-monopoly position by eliminating regulation.

Anyone who has read Adam Smith knows that the desire of business is not to succeed in competition, but to secure the maximum profits that comes from monopoly. Basic Capitalist theory and practice.

According to Rasmussen, 53% of the people are unhappy with the current proposal. Contrary to Demspeak, we do have alternatives, and we need to get this information out there as people finally begin to wake up and pay attention.

The Hippocratic Oath is what makes our doctors the best. They believe it when they take it. It’s galvanized in rationalized thought over ~8 years of study. I know plenty of personal doctors as family members and friends. However, this oath is used as leverage against them by the left as if it were an atheist playing the ‘Rules for Radicals’ against a Christian and their 10 commandments. It’s ridiculous. It’s preposterous…and it must be stopped.

A doctor, by their good hearted nature, will accept anyone who is hurt-their politics, creed, color aside. In paralell they are in fact also a generally brilliant bunch-often times, naturally, demanding more from their lives. That dichotamchy of the human condition is misunderstood by the left, and will be to their own perils in ’10.

Mr. President:

FedEx and UPS came AFTER an already established government run crappy orginization (while the post office is expected to post a 7 billion dollar tax payer LOSS and is cutting back 100/1000s of quarters). FedEx and UPS shredded them to smitherins in a few short decades, and posts _profits_ to even exist.

And with this model in comparison,

You propose to run _OUR_ _VERY_ _HEALTH_ _AS_ COMPETITION_ _AGAINST_ _THE_ _WORLD’S_ _BEST_?!?!

A little depressing, isn’t it?

In a completely free market system, something like this would be completely acceptable; heck they could even go the next step and tie the results of screening to your rates. If you don’t like that, as a consumer you would be free to vote with your dollars (assuming alternatives are available) and utilize another provider.

I suspect that another reason that the left doesn’t want these sorts of alternatives being made available is because of the shared risk nature of “insurance” (and lets be honest, what the left is offering isn’t insurance, it’s essentially mandatory welfare). If the plans you propose (and I mention) are available, the healthy and health-conscious will tend to favor those arrangements in lieu of other more generic plans, due to their presumably lower rates. This means that the number of people who contribute to the pool but rarely receive disbursements goes down, making providing insurance to the rest unsustainable. The left knows that by opening the market up to competition these kinds of plans will pop-up, and they need those customers’ money to fund their plans…

Don’t tie policy to jobs.

Cut out lawyers.

Absolutely keep insurance a free market, competitive industry.

In on board with that. Gee, I guess we should have elected John McCain.

I could even go one further. But don’t jump me for the idea. Do not punish people for health issues they can’t control. Reward people for improving the aspects of their health they can control. There are risks with pirvacy issues, and monitoring issues, which might kill these ideas, but I’d be willing to float it.

Goldberg’s large body of work also included the following timeless cartoon