Catastrophic coverage not the answer
Ross Douthat’s earnest but flawed portrayal of catastrophic health coverage as a superior alternative to ObamaCare inspired me to write a counter argument.
Conservatives have long pushed for catastrophic coverage — whereby folks pay out-of-pocket for ordinary care and insurance kicks in only for the major expenses. Examples would be kidney transplants, intensive care for newborns and advanced cancer treatments. It is an example of conservatives they approvingly call “consumer-driver health care.”
ObamaCare seeks to curb wasteful health-care spending in other ways. Meanwhile, it expands Medicaid, a program that picks up medical bills large and small.
While the catastrophic coverage approach has its merits, it unfortunately assumes that patients can judge when their doctors are prescribing too much medicine and stop them from doing so.
But do we want to second-guess our doctors? If we feel a doctor is ordering too many tests and office visits, isn’t the logical response to find another doctor?
CONSUMERS NOT THE BEST DRIVERS OF HEALTH CARE
Tags: conservatives, economy, health care, ObamaCare
Gosh, could have leased the Fiat 500e instead
Years ago I drove a lovable, old sardine-can Fiat 500 in its hometown of Torino, Italy. It squealed in pain every time I shifted gears. I now regard that experience as a kind of automotive girl-scout badge, a memento of an achievement that does not need repeating.
But today, WSJ’s Dan Neil explodes in ecstasy over the new electric Fiat 500e, and he makes a quite a case for it:
The Fiat 500e is just awesome, a nutty electric elf of a car. All dressed up in Playskool aero pieces and available in Life Savers colors, the 500e feels like the big-kid toy the Fiat 500 always wanted to be, with an otherworldly electric hum to go with its whimsical aesthetics.
The new Fiat 500e
Having just leased a sensible Honda Accord, my automotive indulgences must stay on hold. But do I now feel a bit of leaser’s remorse? I do.
I adore Dan Neil for reasons other than his wacky wit. Hear my big-beating liberal heart quicken as he defends America’s and California’s energy and emission standards:
If corporations want to dance in the American discothèque, there’s a cover charge called the public good.
No apologies. That’s the way.
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Only one Castro brother charged
As you probably know by now, only Ariel Castro was charged with abducting and brutalizing the three women in Cleveland.
Many changes have been made to my original column on the subject. I’ll post a link to the new version as soon as it’s out.
Three girls lost in Cleveland
How do we process this shocking story? Three young women are held captive for about 10 years in a boarded-up house in a crowded neighborhood not far from their own homes.
Police now investigate how this house of torment went undetected.
But psychologists have the job of dissecting the twisted minds of the three brothers with the pathological need to control and degrade women — and taunt the public as they did it.
This story is unusual but, sadly, not unique.
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Cleveland 911 did just fine
I had no problem with the 911 dispatcher’s response to Amanda Berry’s frantic call for help. She wasn’t rude. She was professional.
Of course, she had to get the right address.
Dilemma of the $8 t-shirt
As hideous as the offshore sweatshops seem to Westerners, they represent new-found power for the women toiling in them.
Shaheena became the face of these women, when she tragically died after enduring several days in the ruins of Rana Plaza. What was she about?
Tags: Bangladesh, labor, trade, women
Serfs with too much money
Pete Wells concludes his review of San Francisco’s Saison restaurant as follows:
I do know, that for all of the extraordinary demands it makes on diners, Saison delivers a meal that is at least as extraordinary.
Before we get here, Wells tells us of the extraordinary price ($298 for a tasting menu), extraordinary reservation policy (you must cancel at least three days in advance or lose your money) and extraordinary lack of hospitality.
This being his second visit to the restaurant, now in a new location, Wells notes gratefully
the staff this time was kinder and less cocky
What I want to know is did he leave a good tip?
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Tags: California, culture, dining, San Francisco
The armchair workout
Thinking about working out
Reading about apps purporting to motivate exercisers? Pondering whether another, niftier bicycle might get you to pedal?
Fewer activities are more delusional — or pleasurable — than contemplating fitness programs. No hurry, though.
HOW TO GET FIT WITHOUT REALLY TRYING
Legal marijuana will give state budgets a high
Colorado and Washington state lead the way in showing the rest of us what legalizing recreational pot can do for state coffers. The feds will eventually come around to recognizing the insanity of the war on pot. Why don’t they start now, and save us some trouble?
LEGAL POT MEANS MORE MONEY FOR STATES, LESS FOR GANGS
Tags: Colorado, marijuana, War on Drugs, Washington state
‘Work beasts’ and the disability scam
A torn rotator cuff should not generate a lifetime of leisure on disability checks. Workers unite!
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Tags: Canada, labor, Rhode Island, Social Security, taxes
