Health Care, AIDS, and Starbucks

Okay, let's talk health care for a bit. If you are currently employed as an insurance executive or have parents who work at an insurance company, then you're not going to like this.

Remember the Clinton days? Clinton had a dream of a national health care plan. Some plan that could make health insurance affordable for all Americans. Well, he never achieved that plan, and it still remains unachieved today. As it stands, insurance and pharmaceutical companies are still private and are r(e)aping ridiculously huge profits. I'm not foolish enough to say that profits are inherently bad, but I do think that these particular companies' profits have risen to the point that we should be concerned. In other words, something stinks.

Lots of people are obsessed with the "single-payer" idea. I kind of like it, but I think that it won't deflate the ridiculous profits. It will actually make health care suck because there will be no market in place. And no, I don't think single-payer is the unholy will of the evil, pinko Communists. Additionally, single-payer will cause deductibles to increase dramatically. Which begs the question...."If we're trying to make health care more affordable, then why are we jacking up the deductibles?" And I understand how insurance works. Higher deductibles mean lower premiums. Yay for lower premiums! There was much rejoicing! But what about Johnny Jobhopper who makes $12,000 a year? How is he going to pay that $1000+ deductible? Hmm? All I'm saying is that, in the realm of national health care plans, we can do better than single-payer.

That's enough of that.

Here's an interesting article about AIDS in Africa. It reports that previous U.N. estimates are exaggerated. This kind of makes me mad. Yes, the numbers were wrong, but we're not talking about a big difference here. When U.N. studies show that the AIDS rate in Botswana is 37% and the DHS shows that they're closer to 34%, that's not much to report. AIDS is still one of the biggest health risks in Southern Africa. This article almost seem to say, "AIDS isn't as big a deal as we thought. Don't worry, it's all going to be A-OK". Dangit, Washington Post.

In other news, I drank one of those Starbucks Frappuccino Coffee Drinks today. They remain delciously tasty. Teh End.