Saturday, January 23, 2010

Déjà pensé and Magical Thinking

I was trying to hold back my excitement with Scott Browns elections the other day. My excitement was that hopefully there might be some meaningful discussion about the good and bad of our medical system and a true attempt to tweat it to make it better. In medicine we straddle both the consumer and producer fence of healthcare. As a small businessman, I have to negotiate health insurance contracts for my employees and try hard to pay for it. As a deliverer of healthcare, I have to negotiate contracts with insurance companies to hopefully get paid for what we do. The biggest problem is that there is no competition, both are take it and leave it. There are only two insurance companies that will write small business health insurnace in our area of the state. The difference in price is minimal between the two for the same policies. Interestingly, one if for proffit and the other isn't but that is another discussion. As to how much we get paid, guess what. There is the government which has a set fee schedule, and then the same two insurance companies.

I was hoping that the Massachusetts election might make Congress look at different ideas and consider getting away from the laws that presently make it so that there are only really two insurance companies and do things like allow out of state competition. Why cant we have GEICO, ALLSTATE, PROGRESSIVE, STATE FARM all fighting it out for our health insurance dollars?

I was thinking of this and had my fingers crossed when I sam Obama being interviewed as well as Pelosi and Harry Reid. They just seemed to ignore and come up with a new idea (one that they had before) and just think that if they blame Bush and increase taxes it will all just fix itself.

2 comments:

SeaSpray said...

Why hold back your excitement Throckmorton? Let it fly!!!

It was a GREAT win!!!

Boy ..you're between a rock and a hard place having to deal with insurances both ways.

You are so right about this. Perhaps you and a bunch of your colleagues could write/sign a letter sending not only to who matters in your state but also to "41" because he seems to be listening to the people ..that is where his heart is now and maybe an out of state letter (if you're not from Mass, from a bunch of doctors would get his attention. All eyes and ears are on him right now and so his voice matters.

At least he is talking tort reform. opening up state borders makes so much sense. He fought to keep taxes down for his constituents too. He seems to really appreciate a how hard it is to make a dollar. Even paid for his education by volunteering for the National Guard. He seems to appreciate the small business man. he stated that he is not a wealthy man.

He is strong on national defense and disagrees with trying terrorists in our court system.

And ..he drives a truck! ;)

He is refreshing!
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I hear you about those three. But it was also sweet watching them and Kerry eating some humble pie too. They have all been atrocious with the mean things they've said about the tea party people ..who DO represent the people. They've lied, bribed and been deceptive and the people have spoken against them. That whole blame Bush thing is so lame and every one sees it now except for the LWL'S (left wing loons).

Will be interesting to see how the State of the Union Address goes on Wednesday.


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Watching the election results *warmed my heart*. For additional fun ..I turned to MSNBC (PATHETIC commentary) to hear what they had to say. Neither CNN or MSNBC aired the acceptance speech that I could tell. :)

I feel as hopeful about Brown as I imagine Obama supporters did about him, except that this guy has experience and substance. I really believe he's listening to the people vs Obama's elitist rhetoric.

Great acceptance speech! Little odd about the daughters being available and I'm sure he paid for that later. :)

Love the post title!

SeaSpray said...

I was looking for this HILARIOUS link (on my blog now- got it from sid's political blog)) to give you about Jon Stewart making fun of the how the Dems are blowing all their opportunities:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-january-18-2010/mass-backwards

but then came across this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5l2Zy3FFmo

When you have time ..I highly recommend watching them for a good laugh. They're very funny! The 1st one is my favorite, but it's refreshing to see Stewart stick up for Brown and calling Olberman out on his reporting and is extremely funny while doing so. :)

Both parties screw up. All I want is *fair* reporting. Olberman is like a rabid NUTjob in his description of Brown.

I stopped watching MSNBC because I couldn't handle the biased news coverage during the presidential election ..but now after seeing this, I'm thinking of watching for the amusement factor since it's obvious that no one but the extreme LWLs would take him seriously.

Watching the video ..I half expected to see them come out with a straight jacket or a net at the very least. YIKES!

Enjoy!