My Wife Is Still Funnier Than You

An interesting story in Reuters a couple of days ago (July 7) about a physician practice outside Seattle which does not accept insurance of any kind. ( I would link to it, except the story I saw is behind a members only wall. It’s probably available on Google News, I would assume.) According to the story, they are doing so well they have attracted venture capital funding and are looking to expand.

Patients “pay $99 to join, then a flat monthly rate of $39 to $119, depending on age and level of service. Patients can quit without notice and no one is rejected for pre-existing conditions. Patients must go to outside brokers and qualify medically to buy catastrophic care insurance. One broker said a 30-year-old could expect to pay $133 per month for such a policy, and a 60-year-old nearly $400, plus substantial deductibles. Qliance patients get unrestricted round-the-clock primary care access and 30-minute appointments.”
“[Co founder] Dr. Bliss rejected the idea that unrestricted access causes overuse, calling that ‘nonsense promoted by insurance companies .... There's nobody I've ever met who gets their pleasure by seeing doctors. Why would a doctor not want to see sick people? That doesn't make sense, unless you're an insurance company,’ he said. Dr. Bliss said that dumping rigid, convoluted insurance requirements and paperwork saves large amounts of money.”
This is very interesting, especially coming off of my reading of “The Age of The Unthinkable”, a radical new book that still has my head spinning even after finishing it yesterday. This represents the kind of new thinking that is going to be required if we are going to get out of this mess we are in.
One of the main points I have been arguing, and will continue to argue, is that for profit insurance companies are one of the major problems, and will continue to be one of the problems, with health care. Making profits by denying care is wrong, and it creates suffering along with profits that would be better spent on care.
Hopefully, innovative programs like this will still be allowed if health reform is ever achieved. I’m not sure they will be or can be-for non healthy people, I can see problems with this model. But eliminating the link between health care and other goods-health care is not the same as purchasing an automobile or a TV-can only help the discussion along.
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My Wife Is Still Funnier Than You
HER: I want a rock.
ME: You want to rock?
HER: No, I want A rock.
ME: Oh, I thought Dee Snider was there for a minute.
HER: If he was, I was not going to take it. (Pause) Any more.
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I don’t care what you say, that’s a gorgeous joke.
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I’m kind of excited about Google Chrome OS, truth be told. I’m kind of sick of Windows.
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Bill Simmons and Colin Cowherd made an excellent point on a recent “BS Report” that ties in to the “Age of the Unthinkable” book. Simmons commented that he enjoys watching and attending sports with his wife (a non-sports fan) because of her ability to bring a unique perspective to the game-seeing coaches and players as people instead of as their reputations or abilities. Cowherd, a radio host, noted that he preferred an intelligent caller who didn’t know so much about sports to a sports nut who is less intelligent.
What strikes me about this is what we are talking about is out of the box thinking-approaching a problem without preconception, without framing, to view it with fresh eyes.
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