Shocked by the "there won't be enough doctors" comment. Franken kind of glossed over it, but wtf? There won't be enough doctors, so lots of people just shouldn't have access? Is that what they were saying?

Christ.

YOU asked Bill Moyers? Bullshit! You posted one of your bullshit letters, is what you did. The author is not going to answer YOU.

Brian is correct. In the short-term, increased preventive care, better management of chronic diseases, etc. do increase costs. However in the long term, investments in preventive care, increased wellness, better adherence to drug regimens, etc. do end up decreasing costs. There haven't been many incentives for most employer plans to really focus on providing this high-impact care, because the plan that has the person insured in 10 years is the one likely to benefit, not the current plan.

And when he talks, he can say "Shut up, Bill Kristol!"

See? Isn't that just CUTE?

Yep, no mechanism in the bill. That's because that's not how bills are written. The GOALS or REQUIREMENTS or PROHIBITIONS are written in the bill. Then agencies conduct rule-making and policy-making to implement the requirements of the bill.

I work in state government, it's the same thing. The legislature says, do this. Then we figure out how and publish rules and adjust policy in order to implement the new statute.

That's how it works with bills. It just does. Shouting the same thing over and over shows your ignorance, but proves nothing.

The law in your state that says you need car insurance isn't specific about exactly how that is verified, or the setup of the computers in DMV, or how it is determined that you are in the state's jurisdiction (well, possibly the last, but possibly not in the context of auto insurance). The procedures you go through are made by the agencies. That's how laws work.

So if Obama says, for instance, oh, geez, I can't remember all that you were bitching about, but say, that no money goes to abortion, the bill will say, no money for abortion.

The agency will set policies and procedure and prescribe ICD-p and HCPCS and CPT codes that can not be paid for, because no government money can go for abortion. In addition, the agencies will set up an auditing or monitoring function to claw back any money illegally (and accidentally, as the safeguards would have had to have failed) expended on something the bill forbids.

None of that process is in the bill, dumbass. The prohibition is--the mechanism isn't. For everything, pretty much. In every bill. That's why you sometimes get real contentious hearings in agency rule-making--because that's where the rubber hits the road.

I think you've decided what you want to believe, will latch onto anything any right-winger tells you as an excuse to hang your "belief" on. But you're not persuasive, you're not honest, you don't try to understand, and I suspect you are not very bright.

I hate them too (though they're currently gone). If any changes are going to be made to the letters, why, oh why, don't they put the name of the letter writer on top so we can more easily skip the most obnoxious trolls?

It says Amy Benfer. And posted in Amy Benfer. So, you know, I'm thinking maybe it was written by Amy Benfer?

For Mass. senator? Hm.

by Love. Yay google...

My home state, Wyoming, has the smallest population of any state in the nation.

Carry on.

He's Electrorobot. Silly.

Zorkna is not Elephantman. Elephantman was (is?) a rationalizing right-winger who never sees anything wrong with anything Bush or any Republicon does, and never sees anything good in any Democratic proposal.

Zorkna is Electrorobot, screaming steamhammers of hate, cat vs. roomba etc. He is older than E-man, lives in North Carolina, works in high-tech somehow, and is convinced that Salon and everyone on it hates Jews like him. And hopes that the US breaks up into different countries, and his wife doesn't sleep with him.

Totally different guys.

nuculear now to make GWB's ignorant mispronunciation look correct?

That's funny! You must not live where it is dry. I would love for my neighbor to shovel his snow up onto my lawn, as I do every time it snows. I'm hoping it will soak in and give my lawn and trees and bushes a fighting chance, though a chinook will come along and melt it soon enough.

Lots of snowpack, a headstart on spring.

The public option is a limp and silly thing to waste all that firepower on. If we could really get all that, we should use it to get single-payer!

It doesn't sound like the data is de-identified enough to comply with the requirements of HIPAA for research data. And individuals newly have standing to sue for criminal and civil penalties in the event of a "breach".

I see you have tried to use the word "sophomoric" in a couple of threads lately. Please note the two "o"s in the word.

thx