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So if you have a "jobby" job you usually get health insurance
included as a component of your total compensation package
But Why?!?

I mean to get to work I have to drive there every day and I
am legally required by law to have car insurance so why
isn't that included?

Maybe they should pay the AAA premiums for those people
who are forgetful and too weak to change their own flat tires?

Hey for that matter most workers would be much less productive
if they were homeless so why don't they pay for my homeowners
policy? Or renter's insurance? Flood insurance?


I am gonna tell you why....

It goes back to World World II, which was September 1, 1939
through September 2, 1945 according to wikipedia.

After the 1st world war most Americans had the attitude of
"damn, glad that is over, now let get down and party".
In my mind, think "Great Gatsby"

Then things started to heat up in Europe again and we said,
"fu(k 'em, let them handle their own sh|t, were gonna stay
home this time".

But then the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor so now we all
want to fight like someone slapped our mom.

Men 18+ left good manufacturing jobs to enlist, young guys
lied about their age to join up, and the country geared up.

Pretty soon the factories needed workers to fill the empty
slots so women left the suburbs and bungalows and started
to fill a crucial role hence "Rosie the Riveter" and the long
slow beginning of women's lib.

As the war dragged on the demand for labor in the private
sector and in the military continued. As we recall from
Economics 101 people and markets respond to price.

A guy graduated highschool and can go to war where
getting killed or injured is a possible outcome OR stay
home, work at a manufacturing job, probably not die,
and as a bonus, be surrounded by a ton of women

So to entice men to choose a manufacturing job the
factories upped their starting salary a little, this was
not good for Uncle Sam hence the government passed
a moritorium on increasing wages because they could
not compete.

I mean anyone who is old or any of us younger peeps
born later who paid attention to old people telling
stories will remember that our entire country was
pulling together with victory gardens, rationing, etc.

Well the people who run big business were making
big money from government contracts to produce
goods for the war effort.

Being clever monkeys they just offered fringe benefits
as a way to increase one's compensation package w/o
violating the letter of the rule, but obviously the spirit.


S0Ooo as time went buy the insurance companies and
the medical industry continued to collude, price fix, etc.
which are all illegal according to the Sherman Act and
the Clayton Act but the assholes in Washington already
have great health insurance so they can't be bothered
and would rather spend a few months talking about
over paid dipshits using steroids.

My employer, a community college, pays the exact
rate to insure my health as another employee who is
short, very fat, like 330, black, and approaching 60.

If Andrew Karnowski goes to buy car insurance Geico
does the due diligence to look up his driving record
before offering him a price. Since he has a DUI it
makes sense that he is gonna pay a little more.

But with health insurance the companies do not want
to do their homework, hence healthy people who eat
vegetables, drink water, and exercises basically end
up supplementing the costs of the fatties who do not
do anything to manage their own health.


Also, by having this type of buying arrangement all
of the people who work important but under paid
jobs get screwed over as 2nd class citizens.


Furthermore, what the hell does a tire shop, a flower
shop, and a pet store know about health care plans
yet each is given the responsibility to purchase these
on behalf of many, many people, their employees.


Okay smarties, go ahead and bust my balls for some
slight fu(k up of the facts, but the sentiment rings true.

I got a PM asking if I was a racist.
In the words of Jerry Maguire:

I love black people,
I am Mr. black people!

In all seriousness I have no problems
with any group or race, during college
I was room mates with: a black guy,
a gay guy, & a guy in a wheelchair.
I've also dated women of all races.

With all that said, my reference was to
an actual person I know, but still applies
to well documented cultural trends.

Tupac (a dead black rapper) in a song
urged black America to take a look at
how they eat, behave, etc.

The number of people in America has been
increasing steadily and at a faster rate over
the last 2 decades than before due to legal
immigration, illegal immigration, people are
living longer, people means more babies,
and thanks to medical advances less moms
die during child birth.

Hence, the demand for medical services
continue to rise, yet the supply of doctors
in our country, which is regulated by the
AMA and the number of medical schools
is controlled just like a Cartel.

Florida State University opened the first
new medical school in the USA in the last
2 decades, or so I am told.

Whenever Demand is greater than Supply
we have a shortage and the natural result
is to raise prices.

So with a country full of people and getting
fuller by the minute, who eat too much and
exercise too little you see an huge spike in
the demand for medical services but no big
increase in the supply.

This situation gives market power to doctors,
health insurance companies, and companies
that make all those fun little pills.

1. Have less children
2. Open new medical schools
3. Get people to eat less
4. Get people to exercise more
5. Tax fast food
6. Offer sterilization for free
7. Prohibit drug companies from advertising
8. Prohibit employers from supplying heathcare
9. Possibly offer basic healthcare to all citizens

Sounds like socialism.

Honey we are all ready a socialist banking and auto industry where we don't need it why not give us health care so we can spend more money on useless shit? This would make the economy much better! Don't you think?

I think that's the plan with the so-called 888 billion dollar stimulus bill.

It has more pork then the meat section at the grocery.

How funding pet projects of the democrats is going to help people find jobs, put food on the table and not continue to bare the burden of a deficit that will have us soon to be stamped, "Owned by China" is a mystery to me.

It has more pork then the meat section at the grocery.

It has more pork THAN the meat section at the grocery.

And who grades you? Let me go though all your comments and point out the errors.

Oh, wait...I can't because I have a LIFE.

Well I thought about arguing
with you about your comment
of socialism but figured since
I am an economic professor
it would come off weird.

i have heard that phrased different ways, but it always strikes me as kind of a weird conspiracy theory. there's a consensus in some medical circles that there will be a future shortage of doctors, and would fix it if they could. individual medical schools often hate to increase class size, because the philosophy is that a larger class size has a negative effect on the educational experience (i'd tend to agree with that)

my hypothesis is that opening a new medical school is expensive, challenging, and carries some big risks, and that's a bigger barrier than a back-room cartel of doctors who are conspiring to keep MD salaries high. And what about DO schools?

Hi Colm,

You are in training correct? Cool, your view
and input then is very valuable. What is DO?

Now I never couched it as a conspiracy theory,
but the static supply of medical professionals
versus ever increasing demand for medical
services is simply one variable explaining
why health care costs are skyrocketing.

FYI - lawyers, economists, and plumbers all
do a similar thing with the actions of their
industrial organizations, just w/ less success
than the AMA.

The argument I hear for restricting the growth
of medical personnel and schools is that with
greater competition you get better people.

Any dipshit can teach 3rd grade, hell most
half wits could teach history at a community
college but when grandma is on the table you
want the best of the best cutting her open.

So okay, sure, we get slightly better care if
schools are limited and positions are very
competitive. But let's shift our focus...


How about importing nurses from other countries??

These nurses typically are hungrier to work, since
some of their large salaries (comparatively) are
sent back home to help their families. Hence they
are willing to work long hours, slightly less pay,
and shifts others do not want. Plus they bring the
ability to speak another language which really
helps with some patients and their families.


Now if you were a nurse working in America
would you want the hospital you work at to
import nurse labor? Of course not, because
it gives the hospital for flexibility (elasticity)
and weakens the bargaining position of all
the current nurses.

Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O. or DO) is an academic degree offered in the United States. It is a graduate-level first professional degree for physicians and surgeons, requiring four years to complete. Holders of the D.O. degree are known as osteopathic medical physicians. D.O.s are trained much in the same way as M.D.s, with the addition of osteopathic manipulative medicine techniques.

DO's are becoming more popular as well as NP's (Nurse Practitioner's) with the rising costs of seeing a MD.

Cool, thanks for the 411.

Sounds like a smart trend.

DO's also complain they do not get the respect they deserve from the establishment or MD's.

a friend of mine stated they have to know everything a MD does, plus their speciality to pass their boards. thus they can write prescriptions, authorize lab tests, etc.