Great email to describe health care reform
This was from a forwarded email from my dad. I don’t know who the author is but it’s nice and simple and easy to understand for those idiots out there that don’t get it!
A 12 year-old (you), starts a bicycle insurance business.
You tell all your friends that you’ll offer to insure their bikes against damage, loss, or theft up to $100. The monthly cost will vary, depending on how well they treat their bikes now.
One of your friends, Ron, always takes good care of his bike, locks it in public, and puts it away in the garage.
Another of your friends, Pam, takes horrible care of her bike. She leaves it out in the rain, and has had 2 bikes stolen when she left them unlocked at the mall.
Pam’s parents have spent $417 over 3 years, fixing and replacing her bikes.
Ron’s parents have spent $92 total on the only bike he has owned.
You offer Ron a policy at $1 /month.
You offer Pam a policy at $9 /month, since, based on Pamela’s pre-existing condition of carelessness (not her fault–she’s only 11) she runs a much higher risk of having her bike stolen.
You offer policies to your other friends. You explain that you have $300 of capital, that you’re diligent in charging high-risk kids relatively higher rates, and low-risk kids relatively lower rates. You promise to investigate any claims of mysteriously "losing" a bike, in case the claim’s a lie.
Your friends are free to take out an insurance policy with you, or not. Enough of them buy policies that your business turns a 10% profit the 1st year. You invest the remaining revenues to keep a pool of capital available to pay legit claims, and you hire an employee, Todd, as a claims investigator.
Todd exposes a fraudulent claim made by a kid named Dan. He said his bike was stolen, and filed a $100 claim, but he had really sold it for $50 to another kid named Pat. Todd exposed his fib, and saved your company $100 minus the expense of his salary.
Your company thrives, until one day you receive a visit from a lady named Nancy, who heads an organization called Fair Insurance Bike Reform (FIBR). Nancy says you must change your company’s practice of offering insurance for kid’s bikes priced according to the riskiness of their bike-related behavior, and instead you must offer policies at the same price for everyone.
You laugh, and explain that that would be silly, since offering insurance to kids with a "Ron" profile for the price of a "Pam" profile would likely influence kids to decline your offer, and get their bike insurance elsewhere. Conversely, offering insurance to kids with "Pam" profiles for the price of a "Ron" profile would likely cost your company unnecessary expense, up to and including driving your company out of business.
You offer to show Nancy the math, but she’s not interested. She says that you must either offer a single price for all policies, or face fines of $100 /day until you change your money-grubbing ways. You deliberate, and decide that since you want to stay in business, you’ll raise the rates of your policies to the level of the worst risk, Pam, so that all your customers will pay the higher rates, even the low-risk customers, like Ron.
About 25% of your customers cancel their policies in disgust. All of these customers were low-risk. Now, the majority of your customers are high-risk. You decide that you won’t take on any new customers that show high-risk bike-related behavior, because doing so will reduce your company’s profit so much that you’ll have to fire Todd, and perhaps even close your business.
The next day you are again visited by Nancy, who now explains that you MUST take ANYONE WHO APPLIES, no matter HOW risky their bike-related behavior. Nancy says that if you refuse, you’ll face fines of $100 per day until you change your money-grubbing ways.
You explain to Nancy that such a policy would surely attract those kids who are the riskiest of all, and that your company will probably go out of business from having to pay too many claims to these high-risk kids. You explain your low-risk customers prefer not to have that happen, and that it hardly seems fair that you be forced to contract with kids whose behavior almost guarantees that they’ll be making a claim for damages.
Nancy replies that risk should have nothing to do with it. She explains that everyone has a right to have their bike insured, and that not only will you be required to offer insurance to kids who show high-risk bike behavior, you’ll also be required to insure kids’ bikes that have ALREADY BEEN STOLEN.
Your jaw drops.
You ask Nancy to repeat that last part. She does. You ask Nancy if she has the slightest clue as to what the central concept of insurance is. Nancy replies that yes, she does, that central concept of insurance is "equal treatment".
Nancy escorts into your office two kids named Karen and Jana, each of whom had their bikes stolen last week, and orders you to issue insurance policies for the stolen bikes, and tells you to cut their $100 claim checks.
You hand Nancy the keys to your office, turn off the lights, and tape the "Closed" sign permanently to the door.
Welcome to Health Insurance "REFORM"!
Latest pictures….
I don’t update my blog that much but I do post up pictures at least once a month or so. The latest pictures can be located here: Latest pictures
Cold weather outdoor exercise gear
Today I skated in 32 degree weather and I was quite comfortable. This was not always the case. After two years of trying different things, I finally have gotten the right combination of clothes to keep me warm yet still allow for the freedom of movement that I need to keep my pace up. I’ll start with my head and go to my feet. One thing to note is that I’m not trying to win any beauty contests here so I might be ugly or strange looking but I sure am warm.
First on my head is the performance bike windproof balaclava(http://tinyurl.com/5gcosu). This will keep your whole head warm and it has a mesh material to allow for ample breathing. Forget wearing glasses with it though because they will fog up. As for shirts I wear 3 layers. I have a couple of different base layers(from nike, under armour and performance bike) but I like this one(http://tinyurl.com/64s7qc) It’s cheaper than the nike or the under armour and it provides the same results. As for the middle layer, this is where I splurged a little. I like the under armour compression cold gear(http://tinyurl.com/6xpwyj). This shirt really keeps you warm and toasty. The first time I wore it, it was in upper 40’s and I just about sweated to death. It’s worth the money if you’re stupid like me and like getting out in 30 degree weather. As for the top layer, I once again like the performance bike stuff(http://tinyurl.com/5rnr9o). It’s inexpensive and it gets the job done. It also has pockets in the back to allow you to store things. It’s nice to have that when you want to take your gloves off to down a power gel.
As for the gloves, I like these(http://tinyurl.com/5hqfwk). They really keep your hands warm(even down to 32 degrees) and they are wind proof(as much as a glove can be). As for pants, I wear 2 layers. I wear underwear as my base layer and I’m still looking into warmer alternatives here. One thing I can definitely recommend is never ever consider going commando in 30 degree weather with just tights on. You will not be a happy camper(at least if you are a male) after doing this. Just don’t. As for the tights, I have tried a couple of different light weight running tights by new balance and they were ok until it got down into the low 40’s. Once you get into the 30’s you need something with a little fleece in it. I personally recommend these(http://tinyurl.com/6lmupb). If you are a biker, you can purchase the same tights with a chamois. These really have kept me warm on the past couple of 30 degree skates. And last but not least, you have to keep your feet warm. All I can say is these socks work.(http://tinyurl.com/5bz485). They wick away sweat and still keep your feet nice and toasty. I highly recommend them. Anyways, I hope this helps you keep warm if you are crazy like me and like to exercise in cold weather for more than an hour….
Walking to work
I have been taking our transit system(Marta) off and on for 3 years now. At first I took it to avoid the headache of traffic in Atlanta. It really sucks if you haven’t had the pleasure of being on one of our major thorough fares between 3 and 6 on any weekday. Well Marta provided a nice relief but I had to drive to the park and ride and that was a headache in itself with 7 lights between our house and the lot. Well one day I was stuck at the transit station so I started looking at bus routes and lo and behold I found a bus that ran directly to the transit station and was only a quarter of a mile from our house. Since that day I have had the pleasure of walking to work every day. I really hate it when I have to drive in. I have also had the benefit of dropping several pounds because I’m getting more exercise. If you live in the Atlanta area please check out the different mass transit options. You might be surprised that you have options instead of filling up with that expensive gas.
Williams First birthday video at Pop and Lulu’s
Baby teeth suck(for a better term)
Our youngest son, William, is getting his teeth in and we are going through(once again) the challenge of “"Should we go in and comfort him” versus “He needs to be able to deal with a little pain himself”. You really want to go in and comfort him but you know that if you do that, he will wake up every hour wanting attention(from our experience with Ashton). Last night William got up at 11:30 and we let him cry for about 10 – 15 minutes and he finally put himself to sleep. I think he only woke up one more time last night so hopefully we can get him back to sleeping through the night again(mainly for Melanie’s sake since she has been getting up with him).
William turned 1 yesterday.
Yes, It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since we came home from the hospital with him. We celebrated by going down to my parents this weekend. They spoiled him as they always do. William also had his first cupcake which he thoroughly enjoyed eating as well as wearing(pictures to come). I think his birthday wish was to get all his teeth in because he is now starting to get all his teeth in at the same time.(Ow)
Everyone else in the family is doing well. We are working on potty training Ashton but it is a slow and painful process. Hopefully he’ll be ready by September when he goes back to school. Til next post…..Short but sweet..
I haven’t had much time to post lately because I’ve been working on a project at work that is taking all my time. All in all, everyone is doing well. Ashton turned 3 last week and is starting to talk more. We are trying to get him off of diapers but it is a slow(snail slow) process. William is standing up and is pretty close to walking. We have a feeling that he may be an early walker and talker. Melanie is staying very busy trying to keep up with the kids and my needs. I don’t know how she does what she does in a day. I would be wiped out. As for me, I reached one of my goals for the year two weeks ago. The goal was to complete an inline marathon in less than two hours. I was able to check this goal off my list by completing the Callaway marathon in 1:54. I now have set a new goal of doing my next marathon in 1:45. Til the next post.
