bhupy

16 ms·

121.
by bhupy 5y ago
> They are a significant expense. They're certainly not the only expense in healthcare and there is no single area that is driving up costs. They are certainly a "significant" expense, but zeroing it out isn't going t
122.
by bhupy 5y ago
Yeah but you're mixing up denominators. The question is how you factor in 25% of a hospital's budget to the per capita cost of healthcare provision in the link that I included, which includes all other costs. Those other costs a
123.
by bhupy 5y ago
Not sure why you're getting downvoted, but this is an observation I've had as well, working in the industry. What we're seeing in healthcare costs is analogous to what you might see happen to airline ticket costs if we all go
124.
by bhupy 5y ago
As far as I know, Self Funded plans in non-Dental/Vision are fairly rare due to the massive stop loss required. Even the Fortune 500 employers use fully funded plans for healthcare.
125.
by bhupy 5y ago
Yes, and that's because administrative expenditures from healthcare providers (specifically in claims processing, again I do this every day for a living) amortized per capita like it's done in this study is negligible. There'
126.
by bhupy 5y ago
Depends on what you mean by "half measures". One way we can dramatically improve the status quo is by decoupling health insurance from employment (effectively bringing the US to parity with Switzerland). Tactically speaking, it co
127.
by bhupy 5y ago
I work in this industry (on administration, no less) and sometimes even adjust claims myself, so I can speak to this with experience. 1/3 of US healthcare spending is absolutely not from administration fees. Here is a more concrete br
128.
by bhupy 5y ago
But RCV works just fine in places like Maine (statewide), Oregon, Minnesota, Colorado, Michigan, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maryland (select localities). It works just fine in Australia (nationwide), along with several other nations. I liv
129.
by bhupy 5y ago
"No answer" can be a perfectly acceptable answer to "what do I want out of life?" It can be a great way to live a life, and once you've decided that that's your answer, you'd obviously spend more of your m
130.
by bhupy 5y ago
> But is _is_ an unknown future prize, and countless stories prove that. Pension funds go belly up, whole industries made obsolete, an accident/injury disrupts everything, etc. This is only an "unknown future prize" if the
131.
by bhupy 5y ago
Yeah, we don't disagree. Like I said, there's an "in-between". Always "living in the moment" can be bad, depending on what you want out of life. Always "living in the future" can also be bad, dependin
132.
by bhupy 5y ago
> Not something many people say about work! Maybe when the work is truly meaningful (I wouldn’t know). The vagueness of "work" in this article is (IMO) a feature, and not a bug. Raising your children can be great work, to your
133.
by bhupy 5y ago
I don't think we disagree here; my point is that there is a broad spectrum between "YOLO" and "work,work,work,save,save,save"; and that it's up to you to decide where on that spectrum you want to be. From PG&#x
134.
by bhupy 5y ago
> Don't listen to PG, kids. Live the life you want to have now, not the life you think you'll want to have several decades out. Isn't there an in-between? My wife and I both delay a little bit of gratification with the exp
135.
by bhupy 5y ago
Because we tax income, rather than wealth? This is true for most of the OECD. None of this has changed, and it's true for any ultra-wealthy person who wishes to actually consume against their wealth. By definition, the ultra-wealthy de
136.
by bhupy 5y ago
> What does that have to do with anything? I literally have no idea what you're trying to imply. It means that government budget can be eventually consistent , unlike our personal budgets. Wealth is a leading indicator of income, a
137.
by bhupy 5y ago
Is China known to be individualistic?
138.
by bhupy 5y ago
In Canada, the single payer healthcare system is Provincial, not Federal, and yet the income tax brackets at Canada's Federal level are roughly equal to those in the US (in fact are actually higher for some earners). If we wanted to ta
139.
by bhupy 5y ago
> A large number of Americans desire massive federal power. It's complicated. A 2016 Gallup poll ( https://news.gallup.com/poll/27286/government.aspx ) revealed that 55 percent of respondents preferred power
140.
by bhupy 5y ago
One could argue that this historic wealth creation also coincided with a high degree of Judeo-Christian religiosity. We're yet to see if the same success can be replicated under an equally individualistic culture, but one without a uni
141.
by bhupy 5y ago
> In order to send representatives to the European parliment, the EU requires that representatives be elected in fair elections And the US Constitution requires that its member states have a republican (small r) form of government. >
142.
by bhupy 5y ago
> I just don’t understand how a federal election has 50 different ways of doing and qualifying things and not one way for a position that affects the whole country. This is how it works in the EU as well, and per the GGP commenter, the p
143.
by bhupy 5y ago
The challenge with moving to another country is that you have to get the requisite visa and immigration, not to mention the cost of movement every time you want to visit the US. With States, there are open borders, which brings movement cos
144.
by bhupy 5y ago
The following can be true at the same time: - An API program isn’t a magic bullet - An API program is a necessary, but not sufficient condition to replicate Amazon’s success You’re right that this case study proves that it alone is insuffi
145.
by bhupy 5y ago
Why can't it be both? Yes, housing regulations are pretty much the root cause of all of the Bay Area's problems (IMO). But at the same time, people making $100k+ aren't helpless, they have all the agency and means to live wit
146.
by bhupy 5y ago
The US Senate pre-17A was more akin to the EU upper house, the Council of the EU. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01402382.2016.11... Same with Germany’s upper house, the Bundesrat, today.
147.
by bhupy 5y ago
First of all, policymaking is downstream of elections. Second of all, the influence of lobbyists on how laws are formed is "well known" as a talking point, and nothing else. There aren't any hard empirical studies that draw a
148.
by bhupy 5y ago
I like this idea a lot, but I’m no longer sure that the stated premise holds true: “Its business is not built around ads.” https://twitter.com/modestproposal1/status/13851944692224081...
149.
by bhupy 5y ago
And my point is that there's no reason "wealth inequality" is something you'd want to prevent unless your goal was to make the rich poorer. I completely appreciate that you may think it's a worthwhile cause (or not,
150.
by bhupy 5y ago
That's possible in the USA also, you just have to do that at the State and Local levels (which are comparable in population and ideological homogeneity with El Salvador anyway). The USA isn't a unitary state, so it won't move

More ›