Skyrocketing Health Costs Pit Worker Against Worker

Wall Street Journal ^ | June 17, 2003 | TIMOTHY AEPPEL

[Axenolith]

Any bets on what year we'll start debating when and under what circumstances we put the old and infirm ones to sleep??? />sarcasm

[Old Professer]

One cannot reason with a pig.

[Old Professer]

You read like you're 70.

[Old Professer]

I would guess that the reduction was covered for the same reason that they now do preventive mastectomies for women who have a strong family history of breast cancer; breast cancer is the second biggest cancer-killer among women, prostate cancer is the second biggest cancer-killer among men -- how long until we do preventive prostatectomies?

[Old Professer]

If it weren't so hilarious, it would be scary.

[Old Professer]

How do you explain the complexity of the eye?

BTW, do you know where I can get some Moose-cheese?

[Old Professer]

Neither did our grandparents.

[Old Professer]

You must have a BMI of 32+

[Cogadh na Sith]

That was the first thing I thought of--the old guy who loved records vs. the girl who needed braces.

There is always a limited amount of resources, but need knows no upper limit.

This is sick, sick stuff and it lies at the rotten heart of socialism.

[Old Professer]

There are two kinds of drug-pushers, the accepted and the shunned. Depending on market conditions and fads one may be cheaper that the other; only the legal one requires you to pay before you receive his services.

[Cate]

There are obvious signs that we can all see that are health risks. Overeating, smoking, excessive drinking. But for the 'health' police running around this company pointing out people who are at risk is quite evil. Who knows what wonderful soaps the vegetarian consumes everyday on his lettuce that could cause him to have some vile form of cancer in 5 years? We are all at risk for some health crisis, and I'd like to think that if something horrible happens to me or my husband, the people I work with would be a bit more compassionate than this group of icky people. No benefits would be good enough to work with that bunch. If I were the overweight guy, I'd sit on the vegetarians head by accident one day at lunch. Enough said.

[Cogadh na Sith]

BMI is crap.

I'm 6'2 and 275#. I'm a powerlifter and a runner. I run 4 miles 3-4 times a week and spend 8-10 hours in the gym besides. My BMI is 35 or something--putting me in the 'morbidly obese' category....

[this_ol_patriot]

Well let's see. I refuse to pay for AIDS treatments, women's problems, back injuries, skin cancers, alcohol and drug treatment, vehicle accidents, asthma treatments, birth defects, sports injuries and childhood illnesses because I'm straight, a man, don't lift heavy objects, don't sunbathe or work in the sun, don't drink or do drugs, drive carefully, don't have asthma, was born normal and too old to have more kids, don't play sports and my kids are grown up.

I will pay for smoking related illnesses, diabetes and geriatric diseases because I smoke, like to eat well and will grow old. That seems fair to me.

Of course if an accident should befall me or I get AIDS from a transfusion I'll find someone to sue because it's not my fault.

Now that's the ticket.

[JerseyHighlander]

I'm wondering what people across the nation pay for insurance. In NJ, where there is no smoker discrimination, the lowest decent coverage available is $380 a month per single. In NY, non-smoker, it's a little over $400.


TO those who saw Atlas Shrugged in this article, I'd saw Gattaga is much closer. The mob mentality can be easily induced, as shown here, the addition of under $100 DNA tests for various illnesses will bring us close to Gattaga in the distribution of healthcare resources. And job opportunities.

There is an inverse someone brought up, the more people who give up junk food, the lower the price of junk food and the lower the quality of junk food (more transfat and whatnot), inducing poorer people with government insurance to buy more junk food, raising costs and taxes for the now fit taxpaying workers.

The only solution I see is to create national exercise regiments for children, with strict discipline that will raise a generation of fit hardworking worker serfs to support the baby boomers.

[Old Professer]

I'm not so sure that the degree of strength is an accurate measure of well-being; more and more it seems that the race belongs to the lean. I've been told that a silk thread only .005inch in diameter can support a 16 pound bowlimg ball.

[lorrainer]

I always think of Hitlery when I read about Ivy Starnes.

Funny, I always think of Ivy Starnes when I read about Hitlery. Hmmm....

[SamAdams76]

Nothing wrong with being 70. Hope to make it there myself.

[Kozak]

"If we paid premiums based on ACTUAL frequency of use rather than use that MAY occur, I'd go for it in a second"

If we paid premiums based on actual frequency of use, then it wouldn't be insurance. Those who had medical expenses could simply pay their medical expenses, and those who didn't, could save their money.

Not many want that system, however, because of the risk of serious illness. Not many of us have $50,000 or $150,000 lying around waiting to pay the doc and hospital....

The problem is we DON'T treat it like insurance. Insurance should be for unexpected MAJOR expences. We want our "insurance" to cover everything, from routine checkups to all our medications AND still pay for the big stuff if it happens. Compare that to auto or home owners insurance. How much would your auto policy cost if you expected it to pay for routine maintence, normal wear and tear AND replace the vehicle in an accident?

On top of that we have divorced who pays for the service from who gets the service. If I have a low copay, or no charge to be seen or get a treatment or prescription OF course my threshold for seeking care goes down. Thats why people show up in ER's with the sniffles.

[prairiebreeze]

Agreed that some people abuse the system. Your examples illustrate that managed care hasn't been particularly effective in getting people to change this behavior, which is unfortunate for all of us. My gripe is that we can hire the healthiest guy in the world, and if he gets hurt in a car crash, our company will pay. And pay and keep on paying. Premiums won't ever return to levels they were.

Makes it rough. We are considering going strictly with contractor relationships which would be without benefits. Frankly, we don't know what else to do.

Prairie