Y2HH

Oh, and I thought part of the reform was preventing insurance companies from raising rates unless they can justify why... So much for that.

QUOTE (jasonxctf @ Nov 10, 2010 -> 03:05 PM) Insurance Profits up an average of 41% from 2009. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/10/h...-_n_781636.html While all true, the fact remains that health insurance profits are still the lowest in the industry, but nobody seems to care. I said early on in this thread that health insurance companies are raising premiums to price in the unexpected that will come from the reform laws (this report shows that), but once again, because the Health Insurance Lobby points out that their profits are far less than any other area of the industry, it's ignored. They keep attacking the insurance companies because it's easy, but it's not resulting in much savings for the people (if any at all), and it won't until they start going after the other key areas of the industry, too, which continue to be ignored.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 10, 2010 -> 02:12 PM) Do you genuinely think that a plan calling for the elimination of the mortgage interest tax deduction and of the tax deduction for health care costs is anything other than political suicide for anyone who votes for it? It will never happen anyway. The last thing the housing market can sustain right now is the elimination of mortgage interest tax. And the last thing opponents of the Health Care legislation need right now is a removal of that tax deduction. It'll turn a lot more people against this new reform even if it's unrelated changes of law.

QUOTE (Controlled Chaos @ Nov 10, 2010 -> 11:06 AM) Does anyone use their fingers and not thumbs? For other input means on the device, such as pinch to zoom, etc. So yes, though not specifically to type.

QUOTE (SnB @ Nov 10, 2010 -> 10:38 AM) i just got my droid about a month ago and still trying to adjust to the onscreen keyboard. ( i have the droid 2 w/ the pullout physical keyboard for longer messages). My biggest obstacle is that I want to type every letter w/ my right thumb and my left thumb doesn't want to do anything....haha As I've told many people when they were having similar problems is that hold the device naturally as possible, so both thumbs are free to move, and don't TRY to help the phone correct your typing, just type. People tend to over compensate for the phone in trying to be precise, when they're actually making themselves less precise by over extending reach, etc. The software was designed to work with you, so don't try to work against it via "helping" it out.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 10, 2010 -> 10:27 AM) Because blackberry keyboards are on another level than all other smartphones. There isnt anyone that can replicate the experience typing on a blackberry. Blackberry keyboards are terrible, IMO. That said, all small form factor physical keyboards are terrible, but of them all, BB designed them ever so slightly better than the rest. The QWERTY keyboard was designed for two hands (10 fingers), not for 2 thumbs. The reason why you feel the way you do is simple, people forced themselves to get used to using a design in a way it was never meant to be used because it was ever so slightly better than the rest. In the end, it's still using a wrench to hammer in a nail. It works, and if you keep doing it, you can probably get it to work quite well...but it's still not a hammer. Now, they're stuck in their ways, despite a newer/better design existing that was designed almost specifically for 2 finger/2 thumb small form factor input, that being software driven multipoint touchscreen. Most don't even want to try it, they have convinced themselves that tactile feedback is necessary, when all it does, in fact, is slow you down unless you can use all 10 digits. Keep using your wrench on that nail.

When I first got my iPhone, and this probably mirrors most peoples experiences (Android users included), the touchscreen was "cool", yet odd, especially for typing. After a few weeks of using it, not only was I able to type much faster and more accurately on the touchscreen, but I realized how cumbersome the physical keyboard on my BB (for work) actually is and how much it slowed me down. I currently have the Blackberry 8800, and an iPhon4, and I can type WAY faster on my iPhone, it's not even a contest. Not only that, but for the first time, I actually don't mind writing longer emails on my phone, where with the Blackberry, I still prefer to keep my responses very short.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 10, 2010 -> 08:51 AM) Of course it sets a bad precedent. Everything we did for about a 2 year period set a bad precedent. And we still haven't corrected that problem. My biggest disagreement with you is on the fact that the shareholders/bondholders were ripped off. If that car company had to close its doors completely, it wasn't going to reopen. That would have sent a shock to the whole system. At that point, the only thing the bondholders and shareholders would have had a claim to is GM's assets; mainly its land and equipment. But...if the entire company has collapsed, and auto manufacturing in the U.S. has taken a huge hit, and all of GM's technical work is getting locked in a closet somewhere, all of its people are laid off, and there's an ongoing financial crisis, the land and assets GM had wouldn't have been worth all that much to the stakeholders anyway. They were basically going to get wiped out in a non-federally-mediated bankruptcy as well. One other disagreement I have is that you say the phrase "mismanagement of a public company". I'd counter that the auto manufacturers weren't exactly public companies when the mismanagement happened. Those people lost everything because of mismanagement of a private company, to the point that the government stepped in. It's easy to speculate on something that never happened. Fact is, nobody REALLY knows what would have happened if GM was left to fail. What we have here is a lot of guessing. GM was publicly traded, and therefore it was a public company. This is the SECOND time that industry was bailed out due to mismanagement. This is the SECOND time that industry gets to start over as if they never did anything wrong.

I have rather strong opinions on GM and the governments involvement in this entire debacle. They were basically enabled to rip people off (shareholders/bondholders), and come out clean on the other side...meanwhile the government glosses over the fact that while they saved jobs and GM is about IPO as a profitable company again, a lot of people lost a lot -- potentially everything -- due to mismanagement of a public company, and in the end, nothing will happen to any of them because of it. Oh, and GM gets to start over as if they never did anything wrong. This is far more complicated than many are even scratching the surface of. I think it set a bad precedent.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 10, 2010 -> 08:25 AM) Eventually you're right, the cost curve does have to be bent downwards, and there remains a lot of work to do despite this bill. Politically though, we saw how hard it was to even do 1 slice...the insurance slice. You know my feelings already...I think you're letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. There was, undoubtedly, some good in this law. * Children can stay on insurance until 26. Good. * Cannot be dropped. Good. * High risk pools for those that cannot get accepted will be created. Good after this is created. * No lifetime limits on coverage. Good, so long as hospitals/doctors do not exploit this. Those are the *major* talking points in that bill. Even in extended lawyer speak, that's about 20 pages of text/rules per talking point. That's 80 pages, but let's say 100 for good measure. There are still 2000 something pages of who knows what in that law, which is concerning to me. I know they stuffed things in that bill which have nothing to do with health care, I just don't know what yet, or how it applies. This, to me, is akin to the IRS and the current tax law. It's so big, cumbersome and complex, nobody really understands it, and it's completely exploitable...this monstrosity will be no different. Meanwhile, we didn't even touch the rest of the industry. There is simply too much unknown in this for me to be happy with it right now, and the worst part about it...all we can do is "wait and see."

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 10, 2010 -> 08:07 AM) My point of view continues to be...if we can do exactly what is said here...get premiums to rise at exactly the rate they were beforehand, but also cover 30 million+ additional people...then the bill was a good thing. I think there's more to that as you all know, but I can live with exactly this for now. First, the 30 million haven't been added yet, speculating on what may or may not happen is meaningless until it happens and we see the outcome. I'm not some insurance defender, but I feel that even if you add the 30+M new people, and the cost of care does not go down, this bill has failed. I find it unacceptable that premiums continue to rise, even if they add 30+M people, considering many of them will be massively subsidized. Rising premiums should slow or go down because of this bill, not stay at the same rate.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 10, 2010 -> 07:20 AM) So what you are saying, really, is that everyone is raising prices because they don't know what will happen. To me, that's not a reason to criticize the health care law, that's just being alarmist for no good reason. Just curious... what exactly in the new health care law is it that you think will result in higher costs, long run? I mean, costs were already going up far faster than inflation for some time, and I agree with you that insurance companies aren't the only ones to blame. I don't much like what I've seen of the health care law either, but, could you be more specific as to what problems you think it will cause that will result in insurance costs going up or quality going down? Good questions. First, when I speak of "quality" in terms of insurance, I merely mean coverage. What they cover and how much of it they cover. Do you have co-pays for certain services and not for others? How about well and baby care? What about immunizations? What is the deductible for the other services not covered by co-pay? What is the total OOP (out of pocket) you can pay per calendar year? What about prescriptions? There are many factors that go into what they pay and why they pay it depending on the plan. When I speak of "quality" I merely mean how much the insurance company is going to cover. The actual "quality" of that care has nothing to do with the insurance companies. That has everything to do with the hospital and the specific set of surgeons/doctors/nurses you happen to get for emergency care, or the ones you go to for non-emergency care. For example, HMO's usually tend to cover more, however, they usually have a much smaller network. I've often found that almost no doctors I think are really good accept HMO plans. Also, keep in mind that PCP care (primary care physician), a requirement of any HMO, IMO, is a purposefully terrible design and it should have been outlawed in that bill. If my knee hurts because I tore something in it, having to go to my PCP so he can tell me my knee hurts and I have to see a specialist is ridiculous. Some of us have busy lives and we don't have extra time/days to be throwing around having to visit PCP's so they can recommend going to a knee specialist, which we already knew. This is another way the doctors/hospitals spread money through the system, because they know that anyone with an HMO, for any ailment, MUST see a minimum of two doctors, one for the recommendation, another for actual treatment. These were originally created in part by insurance companies to prevent people from seeing 'specialists' they did not need to see, saving them money, time, etc. However, there are times when you KNOW what's wrong without a PCP having to tell you. Also, at the time, family doctors were a norm, today, they are a rarity, making it even harder for this system to work well. Lower quality plans will tend to have higher deductibles and higher maximum out of pocket expenses. The reason why the cost of insurance will rise now is simple. This law did everything to curb any control insurance companies had to defend themselves, but did nothing to those who send the actual bills. Now, you have to consider that the doctors/hospitals are aware of that. They know that insurance companies cannot drop people for any reason, coupled with the fact that they can no longer attach lifetime maximums. That is what a they call a bottomless pit of money. Of course, good doctors wouldn't exploit the reformed system. And after financial reform, good mortgage lenders would never lend people money knowing they won't pay it back. Premiums will continue to rise at exactly the same rate as before, or even faster, counter to what they promised. And this will continue to happen until they reform the people who create the drugs and price them, or perform the services and send the bills.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Nov 9, 2010 -> 07:51 PM) Probably. I dunno. It probably has more to do with the financial shape my firm is in (outstanding) than anything else. OT: I need your e-mail address if you don't mind, I always have little questions that I want to ask someone about investing etc. and you're a pretty sharp dude, but I can't get on ST at work A lot of what will happen with healthcare is unknown right now, which is why the prices are going up. Hospitals/doctors/pharma/insurance companies are not sure what the future holds, so all of them are kind of pricing in the unknown (how they do that, don't ask), much of it seems like greed due to uncertainty, but some of it seems necessary in some ways, as obviously they're on the hook for a lot more now. Anyway, I maintain that something needs to be done about the entire industry. Insurance companies aside, pharma and the industry in general still need reform, because despite a 2000+ page law, they were left untouched. Anyway...email/chat: [email protected] Or you can AIM me at y2hh

QUOTE (lostfan @ Nov 9, 2010 -> 07:21 PM) My insurance coverage hasn't changed at all except they switched dental coverage for 2011 for basically all the same coverage. This data isn't new btw... if you break it up into individual pieces of things people wanted changed people support all of them by pretty wide margins. Add in the mandate and put them under a banner like "Obamacare" and the favorability goes way down. Your coverage will eventually change, and sooner rather than later. It's more expensive for insurance companies now, so if you think your rates will remain the same, you're in for a surprise.

As people know, I work for a health insurance company, and I can tell you from the inside out how this affected everyone, and it wasn't good. The few good things are already being counter weighted with the bad. Across the board, my benefits have been reduced, and across the board my premiums are up. Keep in mind I work for them, so this will end up being even worse for you. So, what I have now is lower quality health insurance at an even LESS affordable price. Great job. They did do a few good things, but they forgot to look out for the massive cost increases they claimed they looked out for. Fact is premiums can rise so long as it can be shown why, which is really easy since the doctors and hospitals weren't affected, and can continue to raise the cost of care, which the insurance companies have to pay for. Which means you have to pay for, too. My company makes 1.7% profit margin. Meanwhile, Bristol Myers (drug company), their profit margin is nearing 30%. Oh. Told ya so. And as time goes on, it's going to get even worse. Oh well. I guess we will endure, as we usually do.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 9, 2010 -> 11:17 AM) I think, in that case, we can count on Q helping us out by giving the Captain a chance to un-do the damage. That would make you the captain since Q doesn't really talk to me.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 9, 2010 -> 10:59 AM) Jurassic Park was a "controlled" environment. Look how that turned out. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I MEAN. SOUND THE ALARMS.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 9, 2010 -> 10:07 AM) Agreed, but, doesn't it seem a little broken to you, that people in Northfield pay a much lower percentage to property taxes than people in Robbins? I'm not sure why that is. A lot factors into these things. Are we talking about per individual house that their taxes are higher? Or are we considering their taxes higher because it's a denser population? Location also matters.

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Nov 9, 2010 -> 09:45 AM) If I had to pick a bank to short, BAC would be numero uno. I think we see an 8 handle before a 15 handle. I bought them at 6.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 9, 2010 -> 09:35 AM) But they can predict this sort of stuff based on the math. It's not any more impossible to say it's a safe or controlled environment than it is to be absolutely sure of the truth of anything. The Standard Model would have to be pretty well broken for anything catastrophic to come from this. You've done nothing to alleviate my fears that they will rip the space time continuum which will undoubtedly cause disastrous consequences to either the entire universe or, more probable, to our localized galaxy.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 9, 2010 -> 09:27 AM) We're talking about very, very small amounts of matter (sub-atomic particles) reaching those temperatures for infintisimally small amounts of time. Oh, I get that, I'm merely saying that playing with such things can create unexpected side effects. Exact science is not an exact science, after all. I know it's mostly sensationalized, as we love to think the worst of these types of experiments, but as they cannot be certain about what these experiments may render, it's scientifically impossible to say it's a safe/controlled environment. What if that temperature is enough to rip the space time continuum and create a pocket of anti-time that would move backwards through space time? What then? 50 years ago that bunker didn't exist...and what about the people 500 years ago running into that pocket of anti-time, they could destroy everything! TELL ME WHAT THEN?

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 9, 2010 -> 08:49 AM) I just saw an article this morning in the Trib, that stated that the percentage effective property tax rate for Chicago residents was actually one of the lowest in the metro area. Northfield was the lowest, and the highest was in poor areas where property values have sunk badly. The property tax regime in Cook County is actually quite regressive. They need to be low in Chicago, unlike the surrounding suburbs who pay much higher taxes, a HUGE percentage of those taxes go to their schools.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Nov 9, 2010 -> 08:43 AM) When I lived in cook county years ago, my tax bill was just over $2000 a year. Yeah, there were portions on their for local school districts, police, etc, but the largest by far were the county, especially if you added them all together. Cook County Hospital, Forest preserve, Road fund, etc. Half the tax bill were for Cook County things. I now pay about 2.5x that here in Will county, but my roads are better and the schools a ton better. I live in cook county now, and my taxes are over 2700$ a year, and rising.

This process took place in a safe, controlled environment, generating incredibly hot and dense sub-atomic fireballs with temperatures of over ten trillion degrees, a million times hotter than the center of the Sun. While I feel this is cool to the Nth degree, I cannot explain my uneasiness about what they're doing here. Recreating mini versions of a universal phenomenon that we can't even scratch the surface of explaining or understanding the immense power of to even a billionth of a degree seems dangerous to a level I can't even grasp. A controlled environment? Laugh worthy. If you accidentally create something in that environment, it would undoubtedly destroy that controlled environment in it's unending quest to remain uncontrollable. Full story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20101...big-bang-in-lab

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 9, 2010 -> 08:20 AM) Real estate shouldn't be the kind of market that can "rebound", real estate should be a steady, long-term, fairly safe investment. It was, for a long time, and then the bubble occurred. And when I say bubble, I mean when the great housing/lending scam. It will be a long lonnnnng time before it gets back on track due to the things they did in that industry. They found a way to sell the American dream, if you will. The problem was/is, that "dream" was never meant to be for "sale".