Mandating and Incentivizing Health Care

(((The logic of mandates and penalties in health insurance; it's really hilarious to be lectured on how the penalties actually have to mean something by industry representatives with actuaries who probably do those very calculations for every move these companies make.)))

Blue Cross/Blue Shield representative on Morning Edition this morning sounding all sternly maternal, pointing out that a mandate has to be a mandate, and if there's no penalty for not buying into the health care system, people will find it much more reasonable to pay some small fine than to pay what it takes to buy insurance.

Wait, you're saying small fines for breaking the laws, not abiding by guidelines, missing certain kinds of targets, and so on, those fines can be worth paying when you stand to pay less overall -- or even, let's say, make lots more money -- by going ahead and doing what you're not supposed to do?

Shocking. It's as if the private sector has thought about this before. And, well, it's like they've all become . . . socialists! Obama wins!

Doping: It's not Just for Cyclists Any More

(((Steroids in major sports; naming names; test for real or drop the pretense)))

So George Mitchell released his report, counting 89 drugged players. That's really all? Wouldn't it be interesting to see the trends? But that would take real testing, wouldn't it, to really know the extent of the situation and the way it's changed over time. It's pretty obvious, too, that we can only expect more of it in the future, since high school and college athletes are doping like never before.

The FT notes:

Several players were angered that Mr Mitchell opted to disclose names in his report even though the evidence was based on limited sources.

Of course, there's one easy way to fix that thing about sources, if the players really care about this: genuine, effective testing. Like the way cycling actually busts people and bans them from the sport. Of course, a lot of people would say that doping has destroyed cycling's potential for growth, and that they would be better off if they were more like MLB and just pretended to test. Or gave up on banning performance enhancement altogether. There's that.

But if people are going to talk the talk about how awful steroids are, then they need to walk the walk. I frankly don't believe the athletes are worried about false positives with WADA/UCI-type testing. I believe they're worried about genuine positives.

On the other hand, it's also clearly an arms race: testing vs. advances both in the performance enhancing techniques and in masking their use. One wonders if fighting it like this is really worth the effort.

tags technorati : steroids, Mitchell Report, baseball, politics, sports, cycling

CNN: Rudy Hearts Hillary-Haters

(((Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, Socialists, Fascists, Red-baiting, Political Discourse, Construction of the Political Enemy as That Which We Most Despise)))

If American liberals and leftists often play fast and loose with "nazi" and "fascist," they are in that respect, as in so many others, only pale images of their right-wing antagonists in their use of "socialist."

Case in point—John Kerry and John Edwards were easily the furthest left of the Dems in the 04 primary, but you'd have thought that Howard Dean, a moderate at best, was the second coming of Lenin. Until, of course, they had run him out of the race for a spasm of enthusiasm in which the candidate seemed to forget that he would be on national TV.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/pragmatic_gop

A conservative voter visiting Georgia from Minnesota, Murphy said Clinton is his main motivation for voting. "She is a socialist," he said. "She is a dirty, rotten scoundrel."

Because, you know, socialists are, in fact, by definition, dirty rotten scoundrels, full of hatred and despicable disdain for The American Way of Life™.