Diesel Civil Trust

marcovhv:

So awesome to see that America still has passionate politicians. I can’t for the world understand why anyone who isn’t part of ‘Big Greed’ (Oil, Corporate and filthy rich) would vote GOP. But then again what do I know?

(via jaundicedeye)

As the Obama administration begins to enact the new national health care law, the country’s biggest insurers are promoting affordable plans with reduced premiums that require participants to use a narrower selection of doctors or hospitals.

The first of many broken promises around healthcare, I’m sure. Emphasis mine.

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

http://www.tumblr.com/audio_file/804032098/tumblr_l5gccxYhzk1qz6q52

On today’s Planet Money, we meet Jonathan Bush — former ambulance driver, former co-owner of a birthing center, and cousin of a former President of the United States. More to the point: He’s also the CEO of athenahealth, a public company that doctors pay to manage their billing.

If insurance is this inefficient now… Emphasis mine.

Singapore, I think, has the closest thing to the sort of system Hayek had in mind. Among wealthy countries, it spends the smallest percentage of GDP on health care, and it gets about the best results. You know what that’s called? Efficiency. How do you get it? Competitive markets with freely moving prices under the rule of law! It’s the sort of thing you’re in favor of if you want everybody to have access to really good health care and money to spend on things other than health care.

So Hayek Basically Had Ezra Klein’s Views on Health Care, Right? (via jimdew)

abbyjean:

Today, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart for wrongfully firing employee Joseph Casias for using medical marijuana after work during off-duty hours in the privacy of his home. Joseph is 30 years old, married, and the father of two young children. Since 2004, he’s worked at a Wal-Mart in Battle Creek, Michigan. In 2008, he was named that store’s Associate of the Year. Joseph has sinus cancer and an inoperable brain tumor. The tumor, the size of a softball when first diagnosed, sits at the back of his head near his spinal column. He suffered from severe pain in his face, head and neck, even after extensive chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Pain medications prescribed by his doctor only helped minimally, and made him nauseous.

But in 2008, Michigan voters passed the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act (MMMA), which provides protection for the medical use of the drug under state law. Joseph’s doctor recommended that he try marijuana as permitted by the new law, so Joseph obtained the appropriate registry card from the Michigan Department of Community Health and began using marijuana to alleviate the pain. According to the complaint filed today, the effects were “immediate and profound.” His pain decreased dramatically, the new medicine did not induce nausea and Joseph was able to gain back some of the weight he had lost during treatment. The MMMA protects patients like Joseph who are registered with the State of Michigan from “arrest, prosecution, or penalty in any manner” for using marijuana as medicine. This provision protects employees from being disciplined by their employers for their use of medical marijuana so long as the employee does not use marijuana while at work, nor come to work under the influence of the drug.

The major problems with American health care are rooted in government policies that encourage excessive reliance on third-party payers. The excessive reliance on third-party payers removes incentives for individual patients to concern themselves with health care costs. Laws and policies promoting Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) resulted from a desperate attempt to control spiraling costs. However, instead of promoting an efficient health care system, HMOs further took control over health care away from patients and physicians. Furthermore, the third-party payer system creates a two-tier health care system where people whose employers can afford to offer “Cadillac” plans have access to top quality health care, while people unable to obtain health insurance from their employers face obstacles in obtaining quality health care.

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