Endymion_Mallorn

You may attempt to do so,

I’m sadly aware of how ridiculous the insurance situation is. In our current legal (and legislative) environment, the fact that we don’t have firm tort limits is problematic. It means that doctors who might be accused of malpractice either will do so flagrantly, or refuse to act without massive barriers (provided, of course, by the insurance companies). There are a lot of things that need to change to upset it and I think any of them would be valuable.

Reduce the public financial aid availability - schools will lower their tuition costs and fees eventually, or they’ll find themselves with far less students. That way, doctors & lawyers don’t end up saddled with a lifetime’s worth of education debt (and side benefit - neither does anybody else).

Instate firm lifetime tort limits, so that a doctor (who’s already saddled with debt) doesn’t have to fear for his career with every patient. That will sharply lower insurance loss rates and payouts, which should impact premiums. Less fear for doctors, less work for lawyers, less work for actuaries.

Those two broad changes alone would fix a lot of issues.

If you do need some form of public insurance, don’t insure the patients. Everyone is a patient, supporting them might not pay back. Instead, set up a government funded malpractice insurance fund for all medical (dental/psych/etc) doctors. That encourages more people to become doctors, sets a de facto limit on the insurance plan and premium, and supports the skilled and educated people we actually want.

Then how do you face the issue that all doctors are functionally companies? And certainly that all doctors’ offices are?

1. There would have to be hard and fast proof that those who pay in would see a significant benefit. I’m not opposed to voluntary charity - so long as the doctor has the final say in how they get paid and the rate they set for their labor. I have donated to Doctors Without Borders, the Red Cross/Red ‘Crystal’, and some of the groups who’ve helped out in stopping the spread of malaria and ebola. I chose the groups to whom I gave that money when I had it to give, and the amount which I felt I was willing or able to give. That’s the fundamental difference between charity and taxation. I’ve also given to the American Bald Eagle Foundation, Save the Manatee Foundation, and the Wildlife Conservation Society. I chose to do those things. It was not taken by force.

2. There is no such system. The government is, and generally always has been (so long as there’s been a thing called ‘the government’), made up of warmongering narcissistic lunkheads whose priorities are disconnected from any form of common reality. I will support focused, local, voluntary charity over mandatory taxation and government waste for any community task you might imagine. I even find my City Council to be horribly out of step with the common people where I live. Maybe my ward council would be reasonable, if it weren’t for the fact that they’re a bucket of political crabs trying to create careers of taking money from the public coffers. I wouldn’t consider our current pack of political figures (top to bottom, globally) fit to manage a McDonald’s, let alone a complex system accountable to the public.

That’s entirely your right. I wholeheartedly encourage you to do what you feel is best for yourself and continue your charitable work. Don’t force me to do so because you believe in it.

Wake Me Up When (Eternal) September Ends.

Healthcare cannot be free as long as there are humans in the loop. Either you pay for yourself or you pay for everyone.

If you want your labor to be paid for, then you have to pay for the labor of others. Doctors, nurses, medical office assistants, etc., all put in significant hours of work. And many of them are in massive educational debt. And there’s no way we can guarantee that the government will allocate the money they take from us in the way we wish.

Other problems can be solved, yes. As an example, there are homeless people, and there are abandoned homes across the country. The sooner we bring the two groups together, the sooner we’ll see improvement.

But we can’t expect construction or contracting companies to do the necessary labor for free, either. The money will have to come from somewhere - and governments have repeatedly shown that they’re not equipped for the task. Either you pay for yourself or you pay for everyone. My experience says that I don’t have the money to pay for everyone who won’t be able to pay me back. So I’ll pay for the things I need and use, and let everyone else do the same.

The Mrrshan were cool, but my pick is the Elerians.

That’s about 40 years too long.

I wish I was shocked, given the town it’s in.

On one hand, it is a lot of revenue lost. On the other, it’s also a lot of resources freed up for Americans that would otherwise have been used by foreign tourists. As long as the supply remains the same and the demand drops, prices should get reduced as well. That’s what people understand.

What they don’t understand is that companies expect this to be temporary, and they’d rather have losses they can write off, rather than smaller profits that their investors will be upset about.

I’m genuinely struggling to see where this is really a bad thing. Then again, I’m also struggling to see where it isn’t exactly what was promised during the election. Tighter border controls and firm enforcement of immigration laws and border policies means that less people come in by all means. This outcome is exactly what people voted for.

Still gonna stay with Starfleet Command 2: Orion Pirates.

But I do enjoy the point-and-click adventure games (and I wish Voyager had gotten one in addition to Elite Force).

Was it the same one the first Bowler fell down?

Not enough masks for 2022, but you’ve captured my experience under the lockdowns.

Not everything gets tested at Groom Lake. There’s also the Lakehurst skunk works.

He’s just saying the quiet part out loud though. This was always the rule.

I don’t think their thoughts go that far in advance. But yes, that’s how it’ll be sold in six months to a year when our chicken populations stabilize. For me though, this shouldn’t even be a matter for the government, if it’s going to happen at all. The egg producers should be doing this as part of their private enterprise, not the government. Eggland’s Best, Goldhen, and the like could handle it. I don’t want the government trying to do something that should be left to the free market.

Why are we asking for this? Just let the flu work itself out, deal with our costs, and focus on domestic production. Eggs are getting thrown out still. And those imports won’t save anyone who’s actually starving.

Sure. And they’ll get paid by the person who chooses to buy it to release it, or by the library.