Entries Tagged 'Health insurance' ↓

It’s at this point that Libertarians get all excited because this article is all about whether an interfering government should tell people how to live their lives. Think about the debate over criminalizing those who use soft drugs like cannabis. Victimless crimes, they shout. What we do in the privacy of our own homes is our affair. That’s why we’re all signed-up members of the NRA and will shoot to kill if threatened. Well, let’s add to the list of stuff that can kill you. Everyone has to know that smoking causes a range of cancers and other usually fatal diseases. So far, big government has refused to ban the sale of this lethal drug. It’s a major double standard. If smoking cannabis, even for medicinal purposes, is a crime in most states, why is nicotine treated differently when it kills rather more people?

Thinking back to the good old days of Eliot Ness and the Untouchables, Prohibition was not the greatest success. Indeed, the real statistics show that more alcohol per head was consumed during the period of the ban than before. So trying the same thing today is not going to produce better results. People will not be told to quit smoking or stop drinking to excess or to eat more healthy food or to exercise more. Even though, when you put all four factors together and show the catastrophic effect on health, the majority of Americans will resent being told – even though privately, they might admit it’s good advice.

This leaves it all up to the insurance companies. While the real Libertarians will defend their right to kill themselves in the privacy of their own home, some of them do emerge from time to time complaining of disease. At this moment, the insurers feel an attack on their profits coming on. These overweight people with cancers and heart disease make their way to the nearest hospital. There they find a band of health professionals waiting to greet them. This welcome is all the more enthusiastic because these dedicated workers make a profit from treating people. So everyone in the healthcare industry is in favor of the majority of people making themselves ill through their lifestyle. The more it happens, the more money they make. Put the two forces together and the insurance companies feel the squeeze. Continue reading →

Not that we want to come over allpessimistic, but this recession has been going on for a long time now andthere’s no real sign it’s going to come to an end anytime soon. Looking around,the property market is still in deep trouble. Foreclosures were slowed by therobo-signing problem, but banks are picking up the pace again. The unemploymentrate is stuck in the 9.5% area nationally. Locally, of course, it can be farworse, particularly among the young and the older workers. So what do you do ifthe worst happens and your job is suddenly on the line? Well, the first part ofthe answer is you negotiate to stay in work. Even though you may have to worklonger hours or take a cut, this is better than no money coming in. Other thanthat? Well, it all comes down to how careful you’ve been with your money.

Looking back, some of the moralists havedrawn on nature for models of how best to live. Some animals are reallyindustrious during the summer. This is the time of plenty but they run aroundlike there’s no tomorrow, collecting food and burying it or putting itsomewhere safe for the hard times during the winter. Others sit around gettingfat and, when the food runs out, they starve and die. Well, it’s the same withus humans. If you not only stay within your budgets, but save while the boomyears give you plenty, you’re well set-up when hardship comes. But if youborrowed heavily and never paid down your debts, you’re in trouble when the paychecks stop. Continue reading →