You folks know that I’m a bit of a crusader. That’s because I keep wishing for a better world, so I’m obliged to try doing my little part to help that impossible dream along. You also know that our Earth is my big thing because of my deep fascination with the wonders of her physical systems, how they evolved, and what a fantastic biosphere it’s created for us humans to take advantage of (and, let’s not forget Earth created us.). But, don’t be fooled I also have a deep attachment to fellow humans, which is why I got sucked into an entirely new arena.
It started with a simple Letter to the Editor responding to one from Pinnacol Assurance, (Colorado’s workers comp insurance carrier) president and CEO Phil Kalin.
I wrote it because of my own first hand experience with Pinnacol’s decidedly dishonest, and totally NOT FAIR PLAY practices.
Of course the letter demanded a little research to see if my personal resentment toward Pinnacol was echoed by others and any objective evidence. I had no idea the can of worms, or more accurate the dark vortexes I was climbing into. Then I crashed into the case of Dr. Horiagon MD, MoccH (Master of Occupational Health) vs. petty bureaucratic self-interest, stonewalling and reprisal - in my own Colorado.
I started out a little skeptical, but as I’ve had a change to seek out more information and read about more details it’s been a real shocker, and the doctor gains in my estimation with every new bit of corroborating evidence. My most recent revelations have really rocked me. I had little idea notion of physician and medical student suicide or the meat-grinder pace and stress they are forced through. Now reading some details I feel compelled to share.
It’s still a journey of discovery for me. That’s why I’m putting it out here. I want to see if anyone has anything they’d like to add on one side or the other of this story.
September 11, 2016
Response to Pinnacol Assurance's CEO Phil Kalin's Amendment 69 bashing letter.
http://memescourier2016.blogspot.com/2016/09/pinnacol-ceo-kalin-amendment-69.html
September 17, 2016
Physician suicides, courtesy of our sick profits driven medical industry.
http://memescourier2016.blogspot.com/2016/09/physician-suicides-profits-driven.html
You should be embracing and thanking Mr. Kalin for crusading for the workers and Colorado business owners. We all know that Worker’s Compensation (WC) will need some changes if the country ever adopts the medical for everyone system of some sort.
What is WC? It is two items. One is medical insurance for injury with no cap on the costs it will pay. Second it is a protection against lawsuits against the employers from the employees for medical injuries.
WC is a system that has taken decades to fine tune and requires many safeguards that Amendment 69 will not address.
Colorado is no different than any other state when it comes to WC fraud. It is not uncommon for loss runs to be in the 60 to 70% area for State operated WC insurance and 8 to 12% for the private carriers. The different is due to the fraud controls.
Due to the past history of States that have made major changes the WC systems. After a few years it was not uncommon for a company’s modifier to change from a 50% to a 400% rate. Which has the effect of putting hundreds of business out of business. It was really bad in California a few decades ago.
Colorado is no different. When the DIA project was nearing completion the WC carriers sent in safety teams a month before the completion date to lower the rate of injury claims due to job completion. These are the type of items that private industries will do and the State will not.
Another item one should consider is the health care. Most successful WC carriers today will provide better health care that the States that are monopolistic. Colorado being a competitive provider state will not provide the same level of health care that the private WC carriers will. Most private carriers today operate under the method that the best medical specialist will heal the injury the quickest. The faster the healing process, the better for the worker. And the costs turn out to actually be less in the long run. I think you will find that the medical service provided by the private WC providers would be the doctors that you would want working on you, should the need arise.
I notice you pretend Pinnacol Assurance is never guilty of fraud.
I notice you must feel monstrously large executive pay checks and bonus packages are fine and dandy.
I also notice you don’t have a thought for doctors and medical students and the conditions they are expected to function within.
Mike, you say Colorado’s Work Comp system is so great.
Offer something more constructive than your pontificating.
How about backing it up with some links to serious examinations of Colorado’s Workers Comp situation. Help me find solid info.
As for worker’s fraud, there again, got anything objective, authoritative and useful to add, or is it just more lip flapping?
Believe me I’m interested in reading what’s out there.
This is truly a journey of discovery, lend a hand.
And so it goes.
Sometimes after responding to Mike with exasperated and harsh words I feel a little guilty - sugar and wine always works better than the cold slap of reality.
But, then Mike simply plays right into my impressions (or should I say my irritation spot) that he’s simply another phony, but oh so self-certain bs artist.
He shows up here all big mouthed, making all the typical claims.
But when asked to support his message with some substantive links to objective sources of information.
And it’s big fat zero.
Typical Republican strategy - jump in with as much crazy making as one can conjure, plant all the doubt and questions one can unload.
Then disappear back into the mirky place where sl… b…s go for recharging.
It’s no wonder things seem more hopeless with every news cycle.
“Inherent conflict of interest"
https://fightingforjusticewa.com/tag/workers-compensation/
MAY 18, 2016
NPR reports that a new study from the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions (IAIABC) says that:
Injured workers face “inherent conflict of interest," barriers to benefits, “unequal treatment," limited appeals, and little to no independent oversight, when employers opt out of state-regulated workers’ compensation.
Labor Secretary Thomas Perez called opt-out a “pathway to poverty." Barriers to qualifying for compensation for medical care and lost wages are throwing injured workers into poverty. The report discredits claims that these plans serve injured workers, enhance treatment, or are cheaper or quicker.
This article is the newest addition to the ProPublica & NPR series on the dismantling of workers’ compensation.
Read the whole series here: https://www.propublica.org/article/the-demolition-of-workers-compensation
INSULT TO INJURY: AMERICA'S VANISHING WORKER PROTECTIONS
Labor Secretary Calls Workers' Comp Opt-Out Plans A 'Pathway To Poverty'
Howard Berkes | March 25, 2016
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/03/25/471849458/labor-secretary-calls-workers-comp-opt-out-plans-a-pathway-to-poverty
U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Thomas Perez says his agency will use its "bully pulpit" to strike at what he calls "a disturbing trend" that leaves workers without medical care and wage replacement payments when they are injured on the job.
In an interview with NPR, Perez also confirms a Labor Department investigation of an opt-out alternative to state-regulated workers' compensation that has saved employers millions of dollars but that he says is "undermining that basic bargain" for American workers.
Perez says the probe focuses on a practice by thousands of employers in Texas and Oklahoma to opt out of conventional state workers' compensation in favor of benefits plans that provide lower and fewer payments, make it more difficult to qualify for benefits, control access to doctors and limit independent appeals of benefits decisions.
"What opt-out programs really are all about is enabling employers to reduce benefits," Perez says. Opt-out programs "create really a pathway to poverty for people who get injured on the job."
Perez wouldn't provide any details. But last month, his agency sent a letter to Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, disclosing "contact with the company cited in the ProPublica/National Public Radio report that is offering services to employers in Texas and Oklahoma" who opt out of workers' comp.
I notice you pretend Pinnacol Assurance is never guilty of fraud.
I notice you must feel monstrously large executive pay checks and bonus packages are fine and dandy.
I also notice you don't have a thought for doctors and medical students and the conditions they are expected to function within.
You are correct. I think that all these issues really have so little to do with the issue at hand and are muddle the main subject matter. First, guilty of fraud. I think all big organizations and corporations are guilty of fraud in your mind except Obamacare and the Clinton Foundation, so we can round file that issue. Second, big paychecks and bonus. In the WC industry, you are either making money or losing money, there does not seem to be a steady flow of stability due to the fact that the industry is driven by the economic conditions of the areas they are operating in. Third, the problems of medical students cannot be helped by the WC industry. Did you not get the point that the WC really prefers working with medical specialist anyway? I am surprised you not blaming climate change on Pinnacol too.
I notice you pretend Pinnacol Assurance is never guilty of fraud.
I notice you must feel monstrously large executive pay checks and bonus packages are fine and dandy.
I also notice you don't have a thought for doctors and medical students and the conditions they are expected to function within.
You are correct. I think that all these issues really have so little to do with the issue at hand and are muddle the main subject matter. First, guilty of fraud. I think all big organizations and corporations are guilty of fraud in your mind except Obamacare and the Clinton Foundation, so we can round file that issue. Second, big paychecks and bonus. In the WC industry, you are either making money or losing money, there does not seem to be a steady flow of stability due to the fact that the industry is driven by the economic conditions of the areas they are operating in. Third, the problems of medical students cannot be helped by the WC industry. Did you not get the point that the WC really prefers working with medical specialist anyway? I am surprised you not blaming climate change on Pinnacol too. Okay we don't like each, nor do we trust each other's evaluation and judgement process. - Now that that's out of the way.
I was asking you for some substantive information - not more lip flapping.
http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/2011/04/employer-fraud-is-alive-and-well.html
Let’s look at some facts. First of all, there have been several studies that have evaluated employee fraud, and these studies show that employee fraud is less than 1% of all claims filed.[1] Texas Mutual Insurance Company, who uses the slogan Fighting Fraud. Some Advertise It. We Do It.,[2] publishes fraud statistics on its website and their percentages of employee fraud are also low (in 2008 there were 9 convictions of employee fraud in 1,544 reported cases; in 2009 there were 13 convictions out of 1,443 reported cases).[3] This company also offers a $1,000.00 reward for information leading to arrest or indictment of workers’ compensation fraud perpetrators, but its advertisement is clearly directed at employee fraud (see poster attached to this article).
The most surprising information contained in these statistics, however, was the amount of money discovered from employer fraud.
In 2005 there was $446,826.00 in employee fraud, but $12 million dollars in fraud by employers.[4] Texas Mutual reported the following statistics in July of 2009:
Claimant Fraud Discovered:
2007 $462,611.00
2008 $467,435.00
2009 $406,028.00
Premium Fraud Discovered:
2007 $8,000,000. 00
2008 $9,300,000.00
2009 $4,350,000.00
As can be seen from the above numbers, the amount of money being recovered from employer fraud dwarfs the amount of money recovered from claimant fraud.
Also, the average claimant fraud in Texas between 2006 and 2009 was $2,152.00 per claim.[6]
2015 Top Ten Workers’ Compensation Fraud Cases
http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/2016/01/2015-top-ten-workers-compensation-fraud.html
January 18, 2016
Today's guest post is authored Leonard Jernigan, Esq. of the NC Bar who annually writes a survey article on the subject of workers' compensation fraud.
Mr. Jernigan is a former president of the Workplace Injury Litigation Group and represents injured workers and their families.
Fraud is yet another element in the deterioration of workers' compensation programs throughout the US.
Value Number
$ 848,000,000. ---Non-Employee Fraud Cases 9
$ 1,500,000. ---Employee Fraud Cases 1
$ 849,500,000. --- Total
The top six of our top ten fraud cases of 2015 are from California, a perennial offender. The other four cases are from New York, Washington, Utah, and Massachusetts. As we continue to discover each year, non-employee fraud cases dominated the list. This year’s dollar amounts were particularly large, with nearly $850 million in total frauds. The largest fraud was a $580 million kickback scheme out of southern California. Authorities have begun to enforce the law against companies who have misclassified their workers and we expect to see a continued increase in these enforcement actions, both against our traditional offenders and against some of the sharing economy companies who are now the subject of multiple lawsuits.
I notice you pretend Pinnacol Assurance is never guilty of fraud.
I notice you must feel monstrously large executive pay checks and bonus packages are fine and dandy.
I also notice you don't have a thought for doctors and medical students and the conditions they are expected to function within.
You are correct.
I think that all these issues really have so little to do with the issue at hand and are muddle the main subject matter.
Guess the bigger issue went over your head. THE NEED FOR COLORADO CITIZENS TO WRESTLE AWAY HEALTHCARE FROM PROFITS OBSESSED AMORAL CORPORATIONS WHO ARE ONLY CONCERNED WITH THEIR OWN INTERESTS.
YES ON COLORADO AMENDMENT 69
So you see funny bunny, those questions are very much a part of this issue.
Oh and again you've produced nothing to offer anyone anything substantive to work with, either pro or con.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Here's a con argument, but it doesn't seem that convincing for me, particularly since it doesn't acknowledge any problems with the current system either
and it's the usual don't rock the boat argument. If ColoradoCare Amendment 69 passed, the roll over probably will be a little rocky -
but at least it'll be in the direction of better health care - than towards yet further enrichment of corporations at the expense of good
and dare I say compassionate (sure I know, no room for that in our corporate run society), health care for Coloradans.
Passage of Amendment 69 Could be Bad News for Colorado Workers’ Compensation
by Kaplan Morrell
kaplanmorrell{.}com/denver-workers-compensation-colorado-ammendment-69/
(CFI doesn't like that url, adjust as needed.)
Hmmm, so it seems the future of Workers Comp isn’t that safe in any event.
MAY 30, 2016
Should workers’ comp be eliminated for 90% of workers and employers?
http://workerscompperspectives.blogspot.com/2016/05/should-workers-comp-be-eliminated-for.html
In the current issue of IAIABC’s Perspectives magazine, Berkeley researcher Frank Neuhauser proposes the elimination of workers’ compensation for 90% of workers and employers. [The full edition of the magazine including Frank’s article are available to registered IAIABC members and non-members who take advantage of the free registration available at http://www.iaiabc.org/iaiabc/Perspectives.asp ]. Frank bases his argument on the following facts, all of which he supports with convincing data:
working actually reduces the overall number of injuries
work reduces the overall costs of health care
occupational injury risk has dramatically declined
the forty percent of occupations with the greatest risk represent only 10% of employment
The statements are simple matters of fact and the presented data reinforce his main points. Work is good for you and often has a protective effect; occupational injury rates have fallen; and certain occupations have higher injury frequency rates than others. He argues, ....
Corporate profits-über-alles driven inhumanity is truly staggering.
Money all that mean anything in the realm.
But, life and living is soon much more.
I notice you pretend Pinnacol Assurance is never guilty of fraud.
I notice you must feel monstrously large executive pay checks and bonus packages are fine and dandy.
I also notice you don't have a thought for doctors and medical students and the conditions they are expected to function within.
You are correct. I think that all these issues really have so little to do with the issue at hand and are muddle the main subject matter. First, guilty of fraud. I think all big organizations and corporations are guilty of fraud in your mind except Obamacare and the Clinton Foundation, so we can round file that issue. Second, big paychecks and bonus. In the WC industry, you are either making money or losing money, there does not seem to be a steady flow of stability due to the fact that the industry is driven by the economic conditions of the areas they are operating in. Third, the problems of medical students cannot be helped by the WC industry. Did you not get the point that the WC really prefers working with medical specialist anyway? I am surprised you not blaming climate change on Pinnacol too. Okay we don't like each, nor do we trust each other's evaluation and judgement process. - Now that that's out of the way.
I was asking you for some substantive information - not more lip flapping.
http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/2011/04/employer-fraud-is-alive-and-well.html
Let’s look at some facts. First of all, there have been several studies that have evaluated employee fraud, and these studies show that employee fraud is less than 1% of all claims filed.[1] Texas Mutual Insurance Company, who uses the slogan Fighting Fraud. Some Advertise It. We Do It.,[2] publishes fraud statistics on its website and their percentages of employee fraud are also low (in 2008 there were 9 convictions of employee fraud in 1,544 reported cases; in 2009 there were 13 convictions out of 1,443 reported cases).[3] This company also offers a $1,000.00 reward for information leading to arrest or indictment of workers’ compensation fraud perpetrators, but its advertisement is clearly directed at employee fraud (see poster attached to this article).
The most surprising information contained in these statistics, however, was the amount of money discovered from employer fraud.
In 2005 there was $446,826.00 in employee fraud, but $12 million dollars in fraud by employers.[4] Texas Mutual reported the following statistics in July of 2009:
Claimant Fraud Discovered:
2007 $462,611.00
2008 $467,435.00
2009 $406,028.00
Premium Fraud Discovered:
2007 $8,000,000. 00
2008 $9,300,000.00
2009 $4,350,000.00
As can be seen from the above numbers, the amount of money being recovered from employer fraud dwarfs the amount of money recovered from claimant fraud.
Also, the average claimant fraud in Texas between 2006 and 2009 was $2,152.00 per claim.[6]
2015 Top Ten Workers’ Compensation Fraud Cases
http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/2016/01/2015-top-ten-workers-compensation-fraud.html
January 18, 2016
Today's guest post is authored Leonard Jernigan, Esq. of the NC Bar who annually writes a survey article on the subject of workers' compensation fraud.
Mr. Jernigan is a former president of the Workplace Injury Litigation Group and represents injured workers and their families.
Fraud is yet another element in the deterioration of workers' compensation programs throughout the US.
Value Number
$ 848,000,000. ---Non-Employee Fraud Cases 9
$ 1,500,000. ---Employee Fraud Cases 1
$ 849,500,000. --- Total
The top six of our top ten fraud cases of 2015 are from California, a perennial offender. The other four cases are from New York, Washington, Utah, and Massachusetts. As we continue to discover each year, non-employee fraud cases dominated the list. This year’s dollar amounts were particularly large, with nearly $850 million in total frauds. The largest fraud was a $580 million kickback scheme out of southern California. Authorities have begun to enforce the law against companies who have misclassified their workers and we expect to see a continued increase in these enforcement actions, both against our traditional offenders and against some of the sharing economy companies who are now the subject of multiple lawsuits.
You are posting data from the web. What does it mean? Do you have any idea?
I think that all these issues really have so little to do with the issue at hand and are muddle the main subject matter.
Guess the bigger issue went over your head. THE NEED FOR COLORADO CITIZENS TO WRESTLE AWAY HEALTHCARE FROM PROFITS OBSESSED AMORAL CORPORATIONS WHO ARE ONLY CONCERNED WITH THEIR OWN INTERESTS.
YES ON COLORADO AMENDMENT 69
So you see funny bunny, those questions are very much a part of this issue.
Oh and again you've produced nothing to offer anyone anything substantive to work with, either pro or con.
If 69 passes, a thousand lawyers will be buying a vacation home in the Bahamas another home in Vail Colorado.
Call a horse a horse. Amendment 69 wants to create a new tax on all workers at a rate of 10%.
Question, is the 10% rate the same for a single man as for a family of seven? Are pre-existing medical conditions covered? Is the part of the employee’s tax that is paid by the employer taxed by the IRS? How does this tax affect the employees’ taxable gross earnings?
I get the feeling that instead of trying to sell the tax on its values, they are using the WC profits by one company to confuse the issue. Seems very deceiving.
That’s just more lip flapping.
Hell, you can’t even acknowledge that those extra 10% taxes are going to be paid by folks who will have extra cash because they won’t be forced to make those crazy expensive private insurance payments anymore.
Nor the fact of getting a little We The People oversight over the healthy care system.
But, all you have eye’s for is the Republican corporate way - (but a look at the past decades shows what a hideous bargain that is for regular people.)
Exploring "ColoradoCare," Single-Payer in Colorado
Published on Dec 31, 2015
T.R. Reid from the Colorado Foundation for Universal Health Care and Hadley Heath Manning from the Independent Women's Forum make arguments for and against the upcoming ballot initiative that would enact a single-payer health care system called ColoradoCare.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh3Qy59ApCM
I notice both sides admitted that the current system is intolerable.
Here's an excellent follow up.
Published on Jan 31, 2016
Senator Irene Aguilar answers questions regarding Colorado Care
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81mU0NjTacg
also
Senator Irene Aguilar, MD: “ColoradoCare is real progress, right now"
by Owen Perkins | Aug 19, 2016
https://www.coloradocare.org/posts/senator-irene-aguilar-md-coloradocare-real-progress-right-now/
That's just more lip flapping.
Hell, you can't even acknowledge that those extra 10% taxes are going to be paid by folks who will have extra cash because they won't be forced to make those crazy expensive private insurance payments anymore.
Nor the fact of getting a little We The People oversight over the healthy care system.
But, all you have eye's for is the Republican corporate way - (but a look at the past decades shows what a hideous bargain that is for regular people.)
Talk about lip service. You did not answer a single question. What’s the problem? But I got to say you are getting very good at dancing. Great side steps.
That's total BS about not costing workers anything more! You know there is 350,000 uninsured workers in CO.
Of these 350,000 workers who will now have to paying an extra 10%. How many are going to quit and give up work and decide working is not worth the compensation anymore and its time for them live of the taxpayers?
You also know that the ObamaCare has costed the taxpayers billions and billions. So, let's keep that system alive in CO.
You also know that the old and retired who once had the greatest health plans have been screwed by these plans.
You also know that the greatest fraud is in government programs. Hell the government right now is claiming one guy alone has ripped off the government health care system for over a billion dollars.
You also know that there is nothing for free, so get real.
Try and answer one question. If this system gets put into operation. Let say I or anyone else in the whole world need a million dollar medical surgery followed by lifetime medical care at the cost of 20 million. What's in place to stop me or anyone else in the world from going to Colorado and getting a simple job and then having the taxpayers of Colorado paying all my medical bills? That in itself is one of the reasons Obamcare was destine for failure. Obama needed to take care of immigration first or the cost of providing medical care for anyone in the world who could get to America would have bankrupted the system.
I'll tell you right now, our government can't operate SSI or SSDI in efficient manner. Yet, you are not protesting those issues. You just want to give the government more to regulate at the expense of the workers.
When I got my SocSec number, the government had brochures explaining why the taxes were high. That was because we were paying a lot of people that never payed into the system. That was because the system was new. The brochures went on to explain that retirement ages would be dropping after the system stabilized. We should be looking at retirement in Social Security at around 45. By then they predicted that the country would be on a four day work week. Point being, all these figures you have, is a game that has been played over and over again with the best intentions. They all end up with a lot of finger pointing as to why it didn't work. You are doing your finger pointing now. I would like it more if you stuck to the numbers. You know that we are heading for hyper inflation. Yet, it is not being talked about. Hyper inflation and a recession would implode projects like this if they did get started. Our best hope, at this time is technological advances in the medical area that will help cut medical costs.
Obviously mikie still hasn’t learned the difference between lip flapping and serious engagement.
Response to C.Conover's response to W.Potter's outrage at CEO compensation packages.
http://memescourier2016.blogspot.com/2016/09/forbes-conover-potter-ceo-compensation.html
It started with an article by Wendell Potter bemoaning extravagant and increasing CEO compensation packages. Rising to Wendell's challenge Chris Conover over at Forbes wrote an article where he takes CEO pay and divides it among all the employees. It's a great argument and I'm sure his math holds.
But, Conover deftly skips over the reason for the outrage with his little math trick. First Mr. Potter:
{...}
Mr. Conover's retort:
{...}
Mr Conover misses the point. It’s not about redistributing those dollars among the tens of thousands of workers out there. It's about distributing that money back into the healthcare system and making health care job one. Something that is decidedly not the case under our current self-interested corporate leadership and the awful system they have created for us.
There’s more to this than objection to that sense of entitlement among corporate executes. There’s the problem of how they manage to justify those excessive bonus packages.
They justify them by squeezing every ounce of profit, no matter how amoral the means of achieving those savings and extra profits, out of their systems.
Let me spell it out: It's the absolutely self-interested and amoral corporate mentality that's problem one!
Your profits obsessed CEO mind-set is killing us down here.
We object not just to executive's obscene incomes but to their entire myopic self-interested approach to health care!
That’s why so many are working to get Colorado's ColoradoCare Amendment 69 passed. Yes it is a “socialist" plan in a sense. So what? After all, we humans are social animals, so get over it!
We The People have the right to demand that the money we spend on health care goes into providing quality compassionate healthy care - and not paying for minds that are constantly scheming on how to take more for themselves.
_________________________________________________
{*}
I was astounded at the claim that the average American wage was over $25.00/hr. So I looked into it. That figure represents "employees on private nonfarm payrolls by industry sector." But it's funny what can be done with numbers.
Here's what I would call a more realistic review of average American incomes:
... (check the link for the details)
CC, these health care program are political. It was all about the some of the largest reserve pools ever, being protected by buying the top political power in the country. But those issues never made the news because they were able to keep the spin turning on by people who clouded the issues. Just look at North Carolina today for an example of Obamacare. It is costing the government almost $5,000 per person each year to keep the system operating and the medical provider says they lost $50M last year. Not a good business profile for success. People were told that the cost would drop because with good health care people would not be as sick and would be healed before they need costly surgeries. That did not happen. Do you think they did not know that when they lied to us? What you don’t seem to realize is that part of health care requires human talent by the health care specialists. And this is lacking in the industries health care systems. The skills required now is the doctor’s ability to speak English. I know that this does not solve your hate for Pinnacol but you do have the option to move to Venezuela who has a socialist medical system that they have been bragging about for years.
The public needs to really question the motives behind these political driven programs. They say Marissa Mayer for example is a lefty democrat. They say she is really, really smart. But given a few years and Yahoo had to be sold. Look at the problems they are having today. Point being, these changes should take time and be looked at and completely understood before changes are made. Not, driven by presidential legacy or unproven ideas. Now, looking at Marissa, worth $430 million not counting stock options. Clintons, now control billions. How hard has Colorado care been looked at?
Workers compenation is part and parcel of the whole medical mess we have in the US. If we had a decent single payer system, Workers Compenaation would be fixed along with Veterans’ medical care, pharmaceutical pricinping and everyone else’s medical care. Medical issues can’t be fixed piecemeal, a little here, a little there. Fraud has to be rooted out from the bottom up. Civilized countries with universal healthcare don’t have a fraction of the medical system issues that the US has–and will continue to have unless and until the whole system is revamped. Trying to fix it piecemeal is a recipe for continuing disaster, corruption and fraud. There are too many people, organizations and politicians falling all over themselves trying to protect the medical system from becoming an organozation that could prevent fraud. Fraud is just too lucrative for too many players. No one wants to rock the great big money machine, no matter how bad the American medical system becomes and no matter how many people are ruined by it.
Lois
I agree with you Lois. One of the problems that needs taken care of is the liability placed upon the employers. Insurance in not their business. They have no training and very little understanding of the systems themselves. But the employers are responsible for safety of the workplace. And it is the liabilities of higher cost if they don’t do a good job of safety that makes the workplace safe. But health insurance is and never should have been the responsibility of the employer. We may have to face the fact that we can’t solve all the problems at this time. This may be something that can be solved with better technology in twenty years. Right now we should respect the doctors who are doing the healing and leave a lot of the decision making to them.
