Isn't it time for a new election thread?!

[ikol]

That's sucky. Why OB so high, wan kanobi? I always wonder what effect insurance companies have. I guess I'll look it up on the google when I get a chance.

 

Ask John Edwards. I guess because there are so many potential complications of pregnancy and because there's so much of an emotional investment that OB doctors are easy targets.

[stooka]

Hey, you're in med school? Medical or Psy? What is your take on the effect that insurance companies have on medical pricing? What actually effects the cost of medical care and drugs? I am aware, well from 3 or so years ago, that liability or malpractice insurance was stifling the physicians to a point they were moving around the US to find the best deal.

 

 

At least for our office, Medicare rates are the biggest factor. The insurance companies contract with surgeons who sign-up and the cost of each procedure code is based pretty much on what Medicare is doing.

 

Medical providers and hospitals can mark-up charges, knowing that insurance companies will negotiate a lower payment. Obviously, this is more complex and also depends on if the provider is contracted through a third party. (PPO)

 

Insurance companies also make the hospital and docs pre-certify a procedure or admission, they determine the length of stay (out patient, 23 hr observation, in-patient, rehab, etc) and the patient must meet their criteria in order for them to pay for the care. It is not uncommon for a physician working for an insurance co. to deny benefits for medical care if they deem it unnecessary.

 

Recent changes in medical malpractice made many docs that had a lot of good years left, retire. At least that was my observation.

 

Don't even get me started on Workman's Compensation

[Analogman]

Dude, where's my Obama sign?

 

Plouffe Fights ACORN Smears: It's A Smokescreen

 

The son of William F. Buckley has decided

[LouieB]

Even William would have appreciated Barack's cool intellectualism as opposed to McCain's hot and impulsive personality.

 

LouieB

[Analogman]

Even William would have appreciated Barack's cool intellectualism as opposed to McCain's hot and impulsive personality.

 

LouieB

 

Not that I would ever vote for a Republican - but those who do, and vote for McCain/Palin, must be nuts.

[Doug C]

Thank you for the Buckley, Aman. I enjoy his voice and style. I agree. You must be either unintelligent or crazy to vote McCain. Ideology is irrelevant in this case. Clearly one candidate is better for the country than the other, regardless of his views on the issues. I hope that I'd do the right thing if the roles were reversed.

[Duck-Billed Catechist]

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/10/oba...-voters-in.html

[John Smith]

Sign of the apocalypse? Or just a dumb ass letting people know he's a dumb ass?

 

MAN NAMES BABY SARAH MCCAIN PALIN -- AGAINST WIFE'S WISHES

 

ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. -- A new father has secretly named his baby girl Sarah McCain Palin after the Republican ticket for president and vice president.

Mark Ciptak of Elizabethton put that name on the documents for the girl's birth certificate, ignoring the name Ava Grace, which he and his wife had picked earlier.

"I don't think she believes me yet," he told the Kingsport Times-News for a story to be published Tuesday. "It's going to take some more convincing."

Ciptak, a blood bank employee for the American Red Cross, said he named his third child after John McCain and Sarah Palin to "to get the word out" about the campaign.

"I took one for the cause," he said. "I can't give a lot of financial support for the (McCain/Palin) campaign. I do have a sign up in my yard, but I can do very little."

[Doug C]

And he can obviously do very little for his child. Poor kid.

[Sir Stewart]

Sarah McCain Palin Ciptak. Maybe she'll someday be on a reality show with Geraldine Fritz Ferraro Mondale Jones.

[John Smith]

And he can obviously do very little for his child. Poor kid.

 

I had a friend growing up who was born in 1960 after the elections and he was named for that years loser Richard Nixon.

[myboyblue]

You must be either unintelligent or crazy to vote McCain. Ideology is irrelevant in this case.

 

Although I have a difficult time understanding why anyone would think that McCain is the right choice for the country right now, this is an inaccurate statement.

[Duck-Billed Catechist]

His wife will make him change it back, I bet.

 

I had a friend growing up who was born in 1960 after the elections and he was named for that years loser Richard Nixon.

Our dog is named after John Kerry.

[Sir Stewart]

I had a friend growing up who was born in 1960 after the elections and he was named for that years loser Richard Nixon.

[fatheadfred]

Not that I would ever vote for a Republican - but those who do, and vote for McCain/Palin, must be nuts.

Oh here we go, you din't.

 

The video cam vigilante kid rules, thanx for the linx.

[John Smith]

Our dog is named after John Kerry.

 

My buddy's dog is named Hannity.

[Doug C]

Although I have a difficult time understanding why anyone would think that McCain is the right choice for the country right now, this is an inaccurate statement.

I do not see how an intelligent Republican objectively reading the words of Allison, Parker, Buckley and others could still vote for McCain. An even-tempered hand on the tiller is what is needed right now. If the only sure hand is that of another ideology then the choice is clear. I can see an unstable ideologue, an anti-abortion fanatic for example, still voting for McCain but I cannot understand how a reasonably intelligent person, after truly researching and analyzing as Buckley and others have done, could still vote for McCain. As I said, I hope that if the situation were reversed, I'd vote against my ideology.

[fatheadfred]

Sign of the apocalypse? Or just a dumb ass letting people know he's a dumb ass?

 

MAN NAMES BABY SARAH MCCAIN PALIN -- AGAINST WIFE'S WISHES

 

ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. -- A new father has secretly named his baby girl Sarah McCain Palin after the Republican ticket for president and vice president.

Mark Ciptak of Elizabethton put that name on the documents for the girl's birth certificate, ignoring the name Ava Grace, which he and his wife had picked earlier.

"I don't think she believes me yet," he told the Kingsport Times-News for a story to be published Tuesday. "It's going to take some more convincing."

Ciptak, a blood bank employee for the American Red Cross, said he named his third child after John McCain and Sarah Palin to "to get the word out" about the campaign.

"I took one for the cause," he said. "I can't give a lot of financial support for the (McCain/Palin) campaign. I do have a sign up in my yard, but I can do very little."

These dudes sure have a hard on for the crispy women of god with hopes she may suck their cob.

 

You all see the nerdy Rep. WSJ dude on Maher last week? When it came down to revealing his reason for voting for Palin (not McCain) he said she was hot.

[M. (hristine]

"Yeah I know it's an election year, but calling one of the candidates the anti-Christ is just intensely offensive to me."

[embiggen]

that has to be one of the dumbest things I have ever read.

[myboyblue]

I do not see how an intelligent Republican objectively reading the words of Allison, Parker, Buckley and others could still vote for McCain. An even-tempered hand on the tiller is what is needed right now. If the only sure hand is that of another ideology then the choice is clear. I can see an unstable ideologue, an anti-abortion fanatic for example, still voting for McCain but I cannot understand how a reasonably intelligent person, after truly researching and analyzing as Buckley and others have done, could still vote for McCain. As I said, I hope that if the situation were reversed, I'd vote against my ideology.

 

Oh, I believe that having the ability to vote outside of your party is imperative to a Democratic society. I believe that this is rare. I would have likely voted for McCain over Kerry in 2004 but I don't toe a party line. I would say that if you toe a party line, and aren't a politician, you are likely very misguided. Again, I have a very difficult time understanding how someone would punch a McCain/Palin ticket this year. I just don't agree that it is an "unintelligent or crazy" decision. There are most definitely intelligent, sane people that will punch that ticket. I consider it more to be a case of 'head in the sand' politics which gets practiced on both sides.

[embiggen]

according to my uncle, the entire state of South Carolina is voting for the Republican ticket "no matter who the candidates are. "

[Doug C]

Oh, I believe that having the ability to vote outside of your party is imperative to a Democratic society. I believe that this is rare. I would have likely voted for McCain over Kerry in 2004 but I don't toe a party line. I would say that if you toe a party line, and aren't a politician, you are likely very misguided. Again, I have a very difficult time understanding how someone would punch a McCain/Palin ticket this year. I just don't agree that it is an "unintelligent or crazy" decision. There are most definitely intelligent, sane people that will punch that ticket. I consider it more to be a case of 'head in the sand' politics which gets practiced on both sides.

We agree. Our disagreement is due to semantics. The fanatical ideologue I would label 'crazy', an admitted exaggeration for unbalanced, and keeping your 'head in the sand' I would label as unintelligent. Cheers.

[Mrs. Peel]

Other factors go into it, such as supply and demand of skills. A much larger % of the population has the necessary skills and training for watermelon picking than for lawyering, and since no one likes watermelons (instead favoring the much superior cantaloupe) and everyone likes to sue or be sued, there's a greater demand for lawyers.

 

A little late, but damn this made me laugh!

Thanks for the new sig, ikol! (in Cantaloupe color, of course)

[Duck-Billed Catechist]

I have never voted for a Republican over a Democrat and have a hard time imagining that I ever would*.

 

I'd be much more likely to vote for a third party candidate.

 

 

*Well, the Democratic candidate v. George Ryan ran to the right of him (before I could vote), but Ryan was a crook.