Comments (15) Jump to Comments Form

1. 

   fennec said, about 1 month ago

   I do like Bennett. Neat images.

2. 

   motivemagus said, about 1 month ago

   Elegantly done.

3. 

   believecommonsense said, about 1 month ago

   Very elegantly executed.
   I’m trying to find good info on the monopolies some insurers have in some states and regions. I hear about them anecdotally. Fennec, motive, have either of you run across any data about that?

4. 

   fennec said, about 1 month ago

   No, BCS, but I’ll look into it. But, in truth, I usually rely on you for this kind of info. I’m just a (somewhat autistic) scientist! I do have access to the NIH data banks, and if it’s there I’ll let you know.

5. 

   motivemagus said, about 1 month ago

   I seem to recall seeing a reference in a couple of places; in the states mentioned in the toon some vast majority (like 80%) have one choice of insurer, and whaddya know, the costs are higher for the consumer. I’ll try to track down the data again.

6. 

   comYics said, about 1 month ago

   I hope I get my Maine and Georgia on my pull tickets from my mcd’s. I could use the million.

7. 

   believecommonsense said, about 1 month ago

   fennec, motive — I’ve had a hard time finding good data. Found report from HealthCare for America now. Haven’t had chance to read it yet.

   http://hcfan.3cdn.net/1b741c44183247e6ac_20m6i6nzc.pdf

8. 

   comsymp said, about 1 month ago

   believecommonsense-

   Here’s a nice list of reports on the status of health insurance markets in all 50 states. It tells you just how few companies control how much of each market. Eighty-three percent of the Alabama commercial insurance market, for instance, is contolled by Blue Cross & Blue Shield.

   Anyway- you can look at each state’s report here: http://tinyurl.com/l7kab9

9. 

   comsymp said, about 1 month ago

   Here are some of the states dominated by Blue Cross & Blue Shield:

   Wyoming- 70% of the commercial market controlled by BC&BS

   Vermont- 77% of the market

   South Dakota- 61%

   South Carolina- 66%

   Rhode Island- 79%

   North Dakota- 89%

   Montana- 75%

   Minnesota- 61%

   Michigan- 65%

   Louisiana- 61%

   Hawaii- 78%

   Arkansas- 75%

   Alabama- 83%

   Alaska- 60%

10. 

    Corosive Frog said, about 1 month ago

    The dices don’t make sense, but the toon does.

11. 

    dtroutma said, about 1 month ago

    No matter how you roll,(the die or dice) it’s snake eyes. Monopoly has been the game for a long time, and abetted by previous administrations, and Congress.

    I often wonder why those who don’t know Medicare is a federal program don’t ever worry about corporate monopoly.

12. 

    believecommonsense said, about 1 month ago

    compsymp, thanks. Your link is to the same site as mine Healthcare for America Now.

13. 

    twieliczka said, about 1 month ago

    The dice are suppose to depict how many insurance companies you can choose from in your state - ONE!

14. 

    scottfreitas said, about 1 month ago

    Guys… how many times has the GOP pointed out that the Demoncrat congress has deliberately structured our laws to ENSURE that insurance companies cannot compete across state lines?

    It’s the same bleeep we went through with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The GOP raised the alarm from 2003-2006 (basically giving up once the Donkeys were rewarded back into power), saying they wanted to reform the way banks were being forced to issue home mortgages to people who obviously couldn’t afford the homes and / or had poor credit ratings. The Demoncrats had changed the laws to force mortage lenders to underwrite “poor and minority” borrowers, with every GOP effort to bring sanity to the process killed in committe by the Democrat-controlled Senate.

    The Demoncrats keep creating these problems; they openly stop the GOP from fixing them, while only Fox News and C-SPAN ever show it happening. The Demoncrats unashamedly pour gasoline on every fire they start, and then they blame the GOP and the mainstream media immediately starts giving them nonstop coverage to do so.

    This is such concrete proof the Left is frankly STUPID. Retarded, even. They vote for the corrupt liars who deliberately create one phony “crisis” after another. They join right in on blaming the people who are desperately trying to STOP it. Then when everything blows up and even leftie voters lose their homes and jobs and health insurance, they still keep on hating the GOP for trying to save them from themselves…

    I’ll never understand it, short of meditating nonstop upon the many verses in the Bible which flatly declare Godless fools always have, and always will, behave in this same destructive manner… :/

15. 

    comsymp said, 29 days ago

    scott- The interstate insurance argument, like tort reform sounds good, but it’s empty rhetoric that does next to nothing to solve the real problem of health care costs.

    Expanding the marketplace for purchasing health insurance is no guarantee for lower premiums or better coverage. In fact, many experts claim it would be a guarantee for just the opposite. Like credit card companies, insurers would camp out in the states with the least regulation and oversight, and policy holders would suffer the consequences.

    The whole idea behind keeping private insurance confined to single states was to keep a market at a size where smaller companies can compete. The bigger the playing field, the bigger the players will have to be. So, is your idea of increased competition, to help the big companies become even bigger?

    Of course, if health insurance becomes interstate commerce (as you suggest it should be), the federal government would have to repeal any anti-trust law exemptions that the industry currently enjoys and take full regulatory control from the states.

    I just don’t see exactly what economic factors your scheme would produce to lessen cost. All I see is big companies becoming bigger, small companies being trampled, and consumers cleaning up the mess that’s left when the dust settles.

    Like tort reform, your idea does very little to address the real problem, unless you see the problem being that the big and powerful in this country are not quite big and powerful enough.