Should Insurance Companies Be Outsourcing Your Health Care?

Nov 11, 2006 by big-brother | Posted in Politics

In the U.S., health care costs are getting so high that some businesses and insurance companies are starting to eye the potential savings of outsourcing health care.

"It's just one of the many ways in which our world is flattening," said Arnold Milstein, chief physician at New York-based Mercer Health & Benefits who's researching the feasibility of outsourcing medical care for three Fortune 500 corporations. "Many companies see it as a natural extension of the competition they've faced in other aspects of their business."

Blue Shield of California and Health Net of California is now offering lower-cost policies allowing members to seek medical care in Mexico. Florida-based United Group Programs, which sells self-insurance policies to small businesses, offers a plan that sends patients to Bumrungrad International hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. It says the plan will save employers more than 50 percent on major medical costs and slash employees' out-of-pocket expenses to zero.
AP
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/05/business/AS_FEA_MED_India_Outsourcing_Health.php

Americans have been told for the last 20 years not to worry about manufacturing jobs leaving the US, they were being replaced by high tech and service jobs. When customer service and tech support jobs were contracted to S Asia, we were told these weren't really the kind of white collar jobs Americans wanted anyway. Now we have to leave the country to get professional services? Come, on, this is globalization for the sake of globalization, MBA's justifying their salaries and their business trips.

*Bungee Jumping in Mexico *?

Jul 20, 2007 by I'm outta here | Posted in Jokes & Riddles

*Bungee Jumping in Mexico *

Alice and Frank were Bungee jumping one day.
Alice says to Frank, "You know we could make a lot of money running our
own Bungee-jumping business in Mexico ."
Frank thinks this is a great idea, so they pool their money and buy
everything they need: a tower, an elastic cord, insurance, etc.

They travel to Mexico and begin to set up on the square. As they are
constructing the tower, a crowd begins to assemble. Slowly, more and more
people gather to watch them at work.

When they had finished, there was such a crowd, they thought it would be
a good idea to give a demonstration, so Alice jumps.

She bounces at the end of the cord, but when she comes back up, Frank
notices that she has a few cuts and scratches. Unfortunately, Frank isn't
able to catch her and she falls again, bounces, and comes back up again.
This time, she is bruised and bleeding.

Again, Frank misses her. Alice falls again and bounces back up. This
time, she comes back pretty messed up -- she's got a couple of broken
bones and is almost unconscious.

Luckily, Frank finally catches her this time and says, "What happened???
Was the cord too long????"

Barely able to speak, Alice gasps, "No, the Bungee cord was fine...it
was the crowd!....What the HELL is a Piñata?!"

OMG!!!! That is hilarious! I could think of a few people I would like to send bungee jumping in Mexico!!

How would you fix this economy?

Nov 26, 2008 by DayinthePark | Posted in Economics

Here are my ideas. What are yours?

1) Small scale lending must be nationalized. The "free market" has little interest in lending to individuals and small businesses. The "free market" will always avoid the risk of small loans. It isn't something that will get better with affluence or wealth. Thus, all of the historic government programs designed to facilitate lending to small borrowers must be nationalized or firmly regulated like a monopoly. The historic separation of risk and reward, the co-signing or guaranteeing of loans that has been done by Freddy mac, fanny May, FHA and others, needs to be scrapped for a government department dedicated to small capitalization lending, or heavily regulate it. Most mortgages and small business loans will fall into this category, say anything under a million dollars. Here is an easy way to think of it: We all understand that utilities have monopoly power and must be regulated. Think of residential lending in the same way. The free market will not willingly fulfill this function. The current system of private funding and government guarantee is a separation of function that simply does not work. Do you find this idea somewhat socialist? Then is the regulation of your utility company also socialist?

2) the aspects of derivative trading legalized by the "Financial reform act of 2001" needs to be repealed, permanently, or revised to have the same underwriting and capitalization requirements as the insurance industry. If an insurance business insures beyond their means, then they are consequently held criminally liable. Derivative trades must be held to the same standard. Is this too harsh? Too conservative? Then why do we hold the insurance industry to this standard, and not the investment houses?

3) Outsourcing needs to be taxed to attempt to slow or stop the capital that the the United States bleeds to India, Mexico and China. The amount those countries have grown from our outsourcing, the economic power they've used to bid up the global price of oil, is an accurate measure of the economic power the United States has lost, to outsourcing. Those revenues should be used to help fund higher education (state university systems). Let's build an affluent populous. Are you thinking Smoot Halley? India really likes it that you think that way.

4) the federal government must make provisions to develop energy sources other than foreign oil, primarily wind and nuclear energy. The raping of our coast lines and oceans for oil should be legislated permanently illegal. Notice how the call for drilling has stopped? The destruction of our oceans and coast lines shouldn't be subject to the daily price of oil.

5) disclosure of the terms of adjustable rate mortgages must be required to be in a large font size, in plain English, like effective interest rates are required to be displayed currently on all conventional mortgages. The length and nature of the "teaser" period of ARMs must be legislated to be clear and comprehensive to someone with a sixth grade education.

Tell each billionaire to give up 1 billion dollars to the US government

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