Health Insurance is Bad Business

 A recent Facebook post by a friend got me thinking about health insurance. I wrote a lengthy comment on it, which I've decided to copy here...

Private medical insurance should be illegal. More, it simply shouldn't be a thing at all.

The basic idea of insurance is that a group of people pay into a common pool. In the event of a disater, the pool pays out to those impacted. The key part of this is "in the event of disaster." So, with car insurance, we all pay in and if we are in an accident, the insurance pays for (some of) the damage. That works for everyone, because more people pay in than have accidents. So, the insurance company makes money because it takes in more than it pays out. Yeah, they still play games with trying to avoid paying out because people are greedy but the general system works.

Health insurance isn't like that. Medical expenses are not occasional accidents. Medical expenses are regular occurances. You go to the doctor at least a few times a year. Everyone gets sick at least a couple of times a year. Because we live longer now, everyone ends up with chronic medical conditions that need regular medications and care. So the model of "everyone pays into the pool and only a few people draw on the pool" doesn't work! Everyone pays in and everyone draws! It simply does not work as a for profit model. It's a bad business. It's only profitable because the system has been rigged to make it profitable.

This has been me, stating the obvious. 

Onward

Week Ending 6/21

Hey, it's me...

It's been a mostly quiet week. I've been doing some writing but came to a decision. I had been publishing a chapter every week for my SimLit - In Moonlight. I've decided to take a pause, so I can work on the final chapters of the story without the self-imposed pressure of needing to get something done every week. I've actually gotten more written as a result.

A bit of exitment... was woken up around 4:30AM on Thurday by the tornado sirens. We're OK. Here, it just rained a lot and by morning, it was clear and sunny. The worst of the storm were well north of us.

That's really it. Like I said, quiet week.

Onward

Week Ending 6/14

Hey, it's me...

Another week gone by. A week of good days and bad days. A week of learning new things. Let's talk about that...

I've mentioned before that I have type-2 diabetes. My blood sugar hovers just over the line of what is called "pre-diabetes" which means it's higher than my doctors, or I, would like but it's not dangerously high. I've managed to keep it there by doing the "small" things like cutting out candy and soda and sugary good, managing the size of my meals, etc. That's kept it steady, but not brought it down. I finally decided that I wanted to try out some medication for it. Partly, to improve my blood sugar and partly, I must admit, to allow myself to feel that I could maybe eat the occasional donut or slice of cake without guilt. 

The new medication takes some time for my body to adjust to. The initial side effects were not fun, including basically knocking me out within an hour of taking the pills. However, after a couple of days, my body did adjust and I was able to take it and feel ok. The side effects are now minimal (knock on wood). At the doctors recommendation, I am slowly building up the dosage to the minimal recommended levels. 

As part of this whole journey, the doctor got me a prescription for the means to test my blood sugar. I'm not testing after every meal, because I don't actually need to monitor it that closely. It's really just for my own curiosity and reference at this point. So, me being me, for the past two weeks I've been testing every day in the morning before I eat and recording the results. 

At first, I felt encouraged but as things remain stable just above that pre-diabetes line, I've found myself getting frustrated. It wasn't improving. The numbers would dip down for a day and then shoot back up and stay up for days. I found myself wondering what the point was... which was when I realized that this is like trying to lose weight. If you monitor your weight every day, you're going to get frustrated. You're going to lose 3 pounds on Monday and then gain 6 on Wednesday. You're going to wonder why you bother putting yourself through all this and you're going to want to give up.

The solution is not to give up. The solution is to stop obsessively watching the numbers. Big changes in complex systems take time. Just do the work. Setbacks happen. Just keep going, doing your best... because that's all you can do.

... and this turned into a life lesson about all kinds of things without me intending it to. 

So, I'm going to end on a note that makes me look smart. :)

Onward

Week Ending 6/7

 Hey, it's me...

This will be short, because I'm totally worn out. Pretty good week. Did some writing. Getting some rest. Monitoring my blood sugar, which is new and exciting. We'll talk more about that later.

Now, I'm going to rest some more.

Onward

Week Ending 5/31

Hey, it's me...

This week was kind of a lot and I'm not sure where to start.

A friend from college passed away this week. His name was Kirk. Kirk was... I have no idea how to describe Kirk. He was clever and silly. He was kind but no nonsense. He was one of those people who showed me how to not take things too seriously... even though it took about 30 years and a chronic illness for me to really the point. I hadn't seen him in many years but I followed him on Facebook. He was always posting funny comments and weird dreams he'd had. He was a good person, and I will remember him. Cancer sucks. 

So, that happened...

In other news, I spent a lot of this week fighting with In Moonlight, my SimLit story. The upcoming couple of chapters were not working for me. I ended up literally ripping them into pieces and reassembling the pieces into something new that works better. I'm rather pleased with it. Check it out for yourself, if you like.

The only other thing worth mentioning is I finished my 50th model for our family painting challenge. Yay me! D and I both managed to reach 50 models. J is almost there but she let things too long and the last minis she wants to paint have turned out to be more complex than she thought. Still, she did 25 long before D or I did so we all get prizes. Go us!

Yeah, that's about the excitement for this week. 

Onward

Week Ending 5/24

 Hey, it's me...

After so many eventful weeks, this has been a fairly quiet one. 

I finally got to see Project Hail Mary, because it finally came to streaming. I liked it, but I didn't love it. You can read more about it in my review.

Otherwise, I worked on gaming stuff. I wrote another chapter of In Moonlight.

My big deal thing is I painted more minis. We'd agreed as a family to extend our "paint models" goal through the end of this month because D and I were struggling to hit the goal date. I did manage to get 25 done by the original goal but only just. However, I painted a couple more... 

For "a couple" read a full squad of 20 Skaven Clanrats. Yes, it's a horde of rat men. Yes, I'm starting another new Age of Sigmar army. Please don't judge me. 

I've got five more models to paint this coming week, and I'll hit 50. It should be fun.

Onward

Movie Review: Project Hail Mary

Hey, it's me your random movie reviewer... today I'm bring you my thoughts on Project Hail Mary. 

I wanted to like it. I really did. Actually, I think I did like it. That's my problem. I liked it. I didn't love it.

I loved The Martian, the first movie based on Andy Wier's first book. It's one of those movies J and I just watch when we feel like watching a good movie. I could watch it again tomorrow and enjoy it. 

I just did not love Project Hail Mary. 

Visually, it's stunning and it is reasonable true to the book, but I think that might be the problem. The movie suffers from trying to be too true to the book in places while skipping the heavy science-y parts. Unfortunately Andy Wier stories hinge entirely on the heavy science-y parts. That's even more true for Project Hail when we're dealing with fictional science.

Fundamentally, I think Project Hail Mary fails to build it's world. 

Mild Spoilers

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The story centers on the idea of the astrophage... an alien microscopic life form that literally eats stars. It consumes solar energy, slowly causing stars to dim. Earth's sun has been infected with the astrophage, and all life on Earth is endangered as the sun slowly fades. A desperate mission - Project Hail Mary - is launched to the one nearby star that seems unaffected by the astrophage.

Unfortunately, for me, the movie completely fails to establish the "rules" of astrophage... how it works and how and why it is ultimately used as fuel for the Hail Mary mission. These details are critical to understanding the story.

The movie also fails completely to establish any dramatic tension regarding the threat of astrophage and the potential end of all life on Earth. We can a short scene with the main character downplaying the danger to a bunch of grade school kids, and several calm, measured and dispassionate statements by Eva Strat, the leader of the project. Don't mistake me, I believe actress Sandra Hüller plays Strat perfectly. Her character is calm, controlled and driven... but no one else, at least no one over the age of 12, expresses any urgency about the impending death of the sun. I feel like we needed to see someone freaking out, shocked or afraid. Everyone is just too calm about the end of life as we know it.

So, that's why the movie doesn't work for me. It fails to establish it's world or drive home the stakes in the kind of visceral way that movies need to.

That said, I think Ryan Gosling did a great job as Ryland Grace, the reluctant heroic nerd. Rocky looks fantastic. Kudos to the movie's crew for using practical effects for him. 

The interactions between Grace and Rocky are funny, insightful and touching in turns. You really feel the friendship they form. It's the saving grace (unintended pun) of the movie.

So, yeah, I liked it but I didn't love it.