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eBay To Offer Health Insurance
Logic Bomb writes "EBay has announced it will be offering group health coverage for "full time eBay merchants". Anyone who grosses over $1000/month in sales -- at least a whopping 80,000 users in good standing -- will be eligible to buy into a typical "employee" health plan. This is a big first in the Internet world. Full details from the LA Times." And the LA Times, trying to cop a pose from the NY Times, reqs a login.
Please, don't let our HR department find out about this.
Flintstone Vitamins and Band-aids for everyone!
Free Mac Mini
I wonder how they are managing to legitimize expensing the health care coverage of their "employee's" when the "employee's" are basically users on their website...
Does eBay pay those who auction their goods? Obviously the auctioners make money for eBay, but what are the direct (from eBay) rewards to the seller?
dmarien
Will anyone have to bid for a place? ;)
The important questions:
Will they allow you to give feedback to health providers in your area?
Can you pay with PayPal?
Will you be able to set up a doctor's appointment for organ removal and simultaneously list the spare kidney for sale?
What's your damage, Heather?
My computer works for them full-time. Lord knows I'll need the insurance if my computer cracks the code and I have a heart attack... w00t $1000 smackeroos! How about /. readers?
And the NY Times, invented the username/password idea?
And the LA Times, trying to cop a pose from the NY Times, reqs a login.
What happens if the reseve on your bid isn't met? Do you die?
use http://www.majcher.com/nytview.html to login...
I think we're seeing the eventual effects of the web that were severely disturbed by the dot-boom(bomb) phenomenon. Ebay is unquestionably _the_ online auction website and its full time merchants generate a significant amount of revenue for ebay. This further increases the incentive for many of these "marginal" merchants to go full time -- they can drop the job that they may have "just for the benefits" and furthermore, it may make dealing with some of Ebay's idiosyncracies a bit more palateable. About time! Hopefully, ebay will set a nice precedent for the rest of the industry.
When in doubt, parenthesize. At the very least it will let some poor schmuck bounce on the % key in vi. (Larry Wall)
You would think that with the way the dot com bubble has burst over the last year or two that people would know better than to trust an online company with something that important.
I know that the chances of ebay going under are miniscule, but I wouldn't risk paying into it to have it fold and be left empty handed.
Next they'll offer vacation benefits as well...and they have some featured time shares they could recommend...
----------
Something cleverEbay as a full time job..
what a way to live!
The greatest right given is the right to be wrong...
slightly OT: slashdot should do this, anyone with 1,000 karma or more gets health insurance, or protection from negative karma forever on topic: what does it cover you for though, if your making $1,000 a month on eBay expect alot of RSI, bad back etc....
as a small business trying to operate mainly on eBay (for credit card purposes), this is another step in proving how corporate they have become, and another step in eliminating the small sellers, which was the whole purpose of eBay to begin with, the access to COLLECTIBLES not mass-produced merchandise.
Thats pretty cool. I just hope that porn sites start rewarding regular viewers with a Health Plan. Then maybe I'd be able to do something about my rapidly deteriorating eyesight!
http://www.davetansley.com - you proba
Don't be misled. Today is Chinese April Fools Day.
-3Suns
~~~~
The Revolution will be Slashdotted
Health insurance has always been a huge game of numbers and betting on the odds. Betting on the odds that you are, or aren't going to get sick, are or aren't going to need major medical, are or aren't going to need an operation, etc. And in that big game, the more people you have on the plan, the more likely you're going to find alot of people who pay you for insurance, but don't need those things.
..when will we get to have /. insurance? Any web-following then, with sufficient numbers, should be able to follow suit and get big discounts on a group plan. With enough people, you even get to have the nice and spiffy plans where you can pick the sort of benefits you want.
An insurance company is out to make money, just like you and me, who get a job to make money (or sell things on eBay in this case.) So, if you offer them a large customer base, 80,000 people, then that's a big enough market you start to drop your prices signifigantely.
This will be an interesting precident to set in the marketplace of health insurance. If it goes through and works,
Whose going to manage these benefits? Will eBay have a new department for assisting their people with benefit claims?
Hmm...imagine if http://www.yahoo.com/ or http://www.msn.com/ were able to follow suit and offer health insurance. Anyone else think there's a web-organization that can claim more members?
Awk! Pieces of eight. Pieces of eight. Pieces of seven... ERROR: General Protection Fault. [Paroty Error.]
And the LA Times, trying to cop a pose from the NY Times, reqs a login.
Would you rather they post a policy against linking directly to their articles?
I bid $200 a year for insurance.
Action closes 29/6/2002
Cruise TT
Houston Chronicle has the story available with no register.
I was talking to a Consultant- a sub-con who works for himself and he was commenting on the the differences between being a salaried employee and being a contractor.
I commented "it must stink paying for your own health coverage"- His response was that Health care coverage is nice, but not as expensive as everyone makes it seem. Actually the biggest expenses are that vacations are unpaid, and education costs are solely your own.
Insurance companies are always looking to make money and I'm sure they give volume discounts, just like everybody else! (who actually pays $1.50 for a resistor at radio shack?)
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
I can see it now. So many more people will now be hawking their wares on E-Bay in a desperate attempt to qualify for health insurance. The volume goes up. the quality goes down...
Oh wait, That's already happened.
There is nothing so silly as other peoples traditions, and nothing so sacred as our own.
Super Fast service!!! A++++++++ Doctor!!!! Highly recommend!!!!
I mean, come on, companies offer benefits to their customers reluctantly because it costs them money to do so. Most companies would rather not offer benefits, but don't want to seem cheap.
My question is 'why is ebay doing this?' I mean it's not like they really give a damn about anyone but themselves. So the thing is what's in it for them? Obviously offering benefits is a pain, but they still are choosing to do it. I wonder why....
I wouldn't do this, my friend's sister's cousin tried getting a surgeon on eBay. He seemed nice and said he had great deals on triple bypass surgery because a "friend's" practice was going under and he wanted to use up the remaining surgical supplies as soon as possible. But the next thing she knew, she woke up in a bathtub of ice with two scars on her back and a note that said "Dial 911 Immediately"!!!!
Dang, in too much of a hurry to go through the registration crap (-1; Didn't Follow Link) but it makes me wonder if someone's feedback rating ties in to this; could leaving negative feedback go from being an "inconcenience to doing business" to a healthcare threatening situation??
SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
Click here or here.
An interesting idea. But I'm underwhelmed considering the pressing need to reform the health system in the U.S.
Of course, th 43 million without health insurance doesn't include those that are under insured.
It'll be interesting if this plan doesn't add to that larger number.
However, from a larger picture, it is good to see the new internet companies continuing to innovate and think outside the box. Competitive edge and something akin to a social-conscience.
Will you be able to set up a doctor's appointment for organ removal and simultaneously list the spare kindey for sale?
I find that prospect likely. Afterall, Ebay does provide you with the necessary (unused) tools.
I think you missed a key point - It's only sellers who gross over $1k/month that eBay is offering this too, not eBay's entire userbase.
eBay takes a commission from every sale - So those sellers are far, far beyond even paying customers at many sites as far as the revenue they bring into the company.
Meanwhile, Yahoo and MSN are free services, or if they charge, they don't charge nearly as much as the amounts of commissions eBay skims from the qualifying classes of sellers.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Who registered :)
u: slashdot
p: slashdot
...and will the LA Times remain clueless enough for this to continue working as thousands upon thousdands of people use it in the span of a few hours?
When are you gonna start using your head? Work smarter, not harder!!! :)
You're in Michigan aren't you?
If your single and just need insurance because your self-employed go with a major HMO. They won't cost you much at all, probably less than dealing with ebay's system.
Plus you don't need to be in good standing with ebay to use it.
"oh no sir, I'm sorry, we can't operate until you take the link to your webstore off your auction pages"
-BlingBlings Flossin it
Am I the only person on here that knows how to fill out a registration form with *gasp* FAKE INFORMATION? It's not like there's any legal repercussions for lying on a web form, are there?
They probably will not cover any visits to a psychiatrist. Ebay explicitly prohibits any dealings involving drugs or shrunken heads.
Ergonomica Auctorita Illico!
When you do need medical attention, let's say an operation, will it be out on EBay so doctors can bid on who should do it?
And no, they would not big higher than the previous one, but lower... ^_~
When I was just a wee
We'd go into 7-11 to get slurpees, or a big gulp. Get the BIGGEST cup we could, and toss candybars and other high-dollar items in there. Top it off with your favorite drink, and walk outta there with the 7-11 crew none the wiser.
It all ended one summer day. One of us knocked our cup over, and it fell out on the counter, displaying the goods! I'll never forget the look on the clerks face when he seen what was in the cop and chased us out.
cyperpunks/cypherpunks
Now I must say lots of gibberish so that this post goes through any lameness filter that exists. Hopefully what I wrote is enough.
This I feel is the start of the second Internet boom, just this one will be for real. All the companies with no hope of making a profit online are gone. The ones that are left either make money, or at least have a pile of cash they are sitting on.
Buying your couch online is out...earth to owner, couches cost A LOT more to ship than books, and people want to sit in them first. Commerce on the web that makes sense is in. eBay is probably the first in the second stream of successful internet companies to start gaining attention.
Can't wait to see more real profits from the internet...
-Pete
Soccer Goal Plans
the LA Times, trying to cop a pose from the NY Times, reqs a login.
I found myself asking these questions:
In the end, I'm left with the impression that this is just a young kid editing a web page who wants to use a clever turn of phrase he heard. It adds nothing to the story; it takes away much.
Son of a bitch! Cypherpunks/cypherpunks login actually worked! :D
Just because ebay is offering group insurance to this group of individuals does not mean that it's costing ebay anything. Other groups, such as owner-operator truckers have plans available to them for being members of a group.
Chamber of Commerce plans do the same thing for small businesses. The group buying power is what helps lower the rates.
So this insurance still ends up costing the Power Sellers more per month than most plans they would get as employees, because ebay isn't pitching in the 50-70% that many employers do.
Since I doubt that most of theses sellers declare thier full income from ebay, I wonder if the IRS will attempt to use this to get a listing of thoses people.
Additionaly, eBay representatives have said that they are considering a plan to offer complementary health care benefits to eBay users who have been screwed out of $1000 or more per month in a bid (pun intended) to keep suckers coming back for more.
True believers seek redemption from the sin of death.
TRADER: Honestly, how can you tell if you have health insurance that is good through eBay?
eBay SUPPORT: There is a BIG GOLD STAR next to their name.
TRADER: Oh. Okay... cool. Fine by me.
Please, PLEASE, stop commenting on /.'s editing. It's been done to death. It adds nothing to the comments. You're coping a pose with a 1000 other posters. Why do you care???
...but around here they call it "Blue Cross Blue Shield" -- still, a rose is a rose, and I find my healthcare being auctioned off to the highest bidder rather routinely.
I'm just waiting for eBay to start offering sick days and paid vacation so I can quit my day job.
"A terrorist is someone who has a bomb but doesn't have an air force." -William Blum
Now they are trying to prop up the revenue figure by offering this! How pathetic. Bring back the old eBay service and people might be interested in shopping there again but for now it is turning to another junky e-commerce site with no apparent cost benefit to shopping there but increased risk for the buyer. Bleh!
Your pizza just the way you ought to have it.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Why bother...
Read about it on CNET without the hassle.
How to Download YouTube Videos
What do you think? Health insurance companies are looking for targeted groups; this one is largly male, under the age of 50, and in a rather 'soft' industry where on-the-job injuries (except carpel tunnel) are not that common.
I could use it...
80,000 users * (at least)1000$/month = $80,000,000 a month.
* 12 months = $960,000,000 / year.
These people represent at least a billion $ in sales, at a rough market P/S ratio that's at least a mid-cap company.
It seems like a smart move; keep your "employees" healthy and happy. This is essentially revenue insurance for Ebay.
So I have to keep my account in good standing? That means if some malichious little brat decides he doesn't like me and makes up all sorts of slander and negative feedback I can lose my eBay healt insurance? Or by good standing do they simply mean paying my auctions fees? Anyone have any input?
That was my favorite line from "The Minority Report!"
Just remember that if you signed up with eBay's health insurance, you've probably signed up with the lowest bidder. :)
- Serge Wroclawski
Is it all a big game and gamble we play along with, because not doing so is generally frightening enough that we do want to play this game. And interestingly enough, one of the Insurance Companies in the Midwest recently announced that it wouldn't be accepting any more new home owners for Kansas or Missouri.
Apparently from the storm damage of the last 2 years, they've paid out more than they took in, and thus are having to figure out where to cut corners, and thus cut their losses. In the future, I wonder how wide-spread disasters will cause issues for insurance, like the current wildfires that are running around in the western side of the US.
Certainly they weren't "Acts of God" since we've got a suspect in the Colorado fires.
Awk! Pieces of eight. Pieces of eight. Pieces of seven... ERROR: General Protection Fault. [Paroty Error.]
To all those wondering how auction sellers qualify as employees -- a quick "find text" in the article doesn't turn up any form of the word "employ".
This is simply a group policy, like those you can get thru the National Association of the Self-Employed, or dozens of other small-business and "group" organizations.
All you need for group discounts is a large group -- they don't have to be co-workers. E-Bay isn't contributing to the funds.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
will buy insurance on such a program ?
your health-insurance agent is someone you should trust with your life.
actually, you do
because when you are healthy, the insurance companies earn their bread from you.
when you are sick, they'll try to get rid of you like you were made of radioactive waste, only a reliable HI agent will be able to recover these funds for you.
what happens if ebay collapses ? will you still be insured ? what happens if you can no longer be a 1000$ costumer (if you'll need serious medical care, believe me, you probably wouldn't) AND you are now sick ? no IC will accept you then
I don't get it, I don't live in the US, so maybe there's something else hidden between the lines here, but I just don't get it.
Working for necessity's mother.
EBay Merchants to Gain Access to Health Coverage
Insurance: The plan for those making their living on the site is considered a first in e-commerce.
By DAVID COLKER
Times Staff Writer
June 23 2002
EBay Inc. said Saturday that it plans to offer health insurance to its community of small entrepreneurs who make their living auctioning goods on the Internet and have helped turn the San Jose-based company into one of the few profitable dot-coms.
The insurance program, to begin in October, is considered a first in the world of e-commerce--no other major online site provides subscribers access to group health coverage. On EBay, subscribers pay to use the Web site as a virtual storefront to display and sell their wares. "We are getting more and more people--husband and wife teams, extended families, groups of women--who have left their jobs to sell full time and don't have access to insurance," said company President Meg Whitman on Saturday. She announced the program to rapturous applause during EBay Live--the company's first convention for sellers and buyers--at the Anaheim Convention Center.
The plan could also help EBay ease brewing dissent from its core merchant base of individuals and mom-and-pop operations that have to compete with corporations such as Walt Disney Co. and IBM that also auction products on the site.
The plan will be available to EBay merchants who gross at least $1,000 a month in sales. This level has been reached by at least 80,000, according to the company. The subscribers sell everything from used cars and Persian carpets to comic books and fine--even not so fine--antiques.
The plan could help EBay retain and build its subscriber base.
"You have someone working in an antique shop without insurance, and now they can get health coverage, which is not cheap, at a good rate if they sell on EBay," said e-commerce consultant Lauren Freedman, president of the Etailing Group in Chicago.
"It keeps people selling on EBay, which of course makes money for the company," she added. Offering such a program "builds incredible loyalty. It's very smart."
Keeping their merchants happy was indeed an impetus for EBay to offer coverage, said company spokesman Kevin Pursglove, who estimated that small merchants generate 95% of the site's transactions.
"We are trying to send a message to individual sellers that we listen to them. We want them to stay on EBay," he said.
"[EBay] seems to be paying more attention to the big businesses these days," said Brian Anderson, 34, who traveled to the Anaheim convention from Olathe, Kan. He uses EBay to auction items from his family's pawnshop.
The company will not be contributing to the insurance plan, however, which will be structured similarly to those offered by alumni organizations and other groups.
Pursglove said the number of subscribers who will be eligible has not yet been determined, but about 150,000 subscribers consider selling on EBay to be their full-time jobs, according to a survey the company conducted earlier this year. At least 80,000 gross $2,000 or more a month and are in good standing.
"We were able to pool together our numbers and get some pretty good rates," said Whitman. The rates, under the program negotiated with Physicians Mutual Insurance Co., will not be formally announced for another month, company officials said.
Mention of the plan drew the loudest applause of Whitman's keynote speech. The weekend convention drew about 4,000 EBay buyers and sellers.
"This is a dream come true," said Larry Bennett, who left his full-time job at a ball-bearing factory in Grand Rapids, Mich., 16 months ago to sell camping equipment on EBay. "I'm a stay-at-home dad now, and my wife kept her factory job for the insurance. Now maybe she can quit." He and his wife chose to celebrate their fifth anniversary by attending the convention.
Full-time merchants such as Bennett were clearly the stars of the gathering in the eyes of EBay and were feted with dinners and other events, in some cases even having their travel expenses covered.
Karen Young has completed 10,000 transactions and has had consistently positive feedback from buyers of her goods, which puts her in an elite tier of EBay merchants. The company flew her from Crawfordsville, Ind., to attend the convention, which continues today.
Describing the prospect of group insurance as "awesome," she said it would be particularly good for her and her husband.
Young started on the site in 1997, selling "obsolete, used software that was just junk" and eventually began an EBay-only packing supply business. She figured that people who used the site would have a great need for boxes, tape, bubble wrap and packing peanuts.
"Now we have a warehouse that we just expanded and an office," said Young, 43. Her husband quit his job to become her partner in the business. "Then we had to get insurance ourselves, and that means high rates."
Many of the full-time sellers said they were in it for the long run, even given the uncertainties of the online world. EBay has remained healthy--Whitman said the company will host $12 billion in transactions this year and make a profit of $1 billion from fees and commissions. But other auction sites by major online players such as Amazon.com and Yahoo have almost faded from the scene.
This did not faze Ronald Hoffman, 43, of Anaheim, who began on EBay selling Beanie Babies and moved on to general collectibles.
"This is not a fad," said Hoffman, who left his restaurant business to devote 14 hours a day to EBay. "People are always going to buy. It's what America is based on."
He did admit to some auction gaffes. "I bought 5,000 collectibles about those boy bands," he said. "I sold 4,000 of them and got stuck with the rest."
And what about those leftovers?
"They make great gifts," he said
And this comes hot on the tail of a announcement that Ebay was instituting a program to bring back the little guy into their auction system... I smell management on the insurance system and marketing on the little guy program. No one communicated on these deals i'll bet, the idiots! Simply put, they just cancelled each other out.
First rule of holes; When in one, stop digging.
I rarely laugh out loud when I read stuff, but for some reason I found that incredibly funny =).
Opinions stated are mine and do not reflect those of the Illuminati
wow, she must heal up mighty fast :)
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
All eBay will do is contract the administration out to a third-party administrator, whose costs will be covered by the premiums that the signed-up eBay customers will pay. eBay potentially gains a base of people who have a much tighter association to eBay, so they gain more loyal users who have a reason to want to continue using eBay, to keep their sales volume up so they qualify for the insurance, etc.
Maybe Ebay will have to start filing 1099's !
Get a life
Quiet, droid. Just because your input sensors cannot handle objective and subjective commentary in the same passage, does not mean any of the rest of us should listen to your squealing.
> 1. Why do I need to be told a login is required? Won't I find that out soon enough?
I would waste more time trying to load a slashdotted page than reading a sentence fragment and deciding that since I'm not going to register anyway I might as well just go to the comments and hope someone has whored the story.
I'm of mixed opinion on the reference. On one hand, it's childish and, as you indicated, is trying to be "hip". On the other hand, I'd rather have bad personality than none at all. I view slashdot as a community, not a newsfeed. If I want a newsfeed, I can check out Newsforge or C|Net or CNN's Tech section and get it there. I come to Slashdot because of the (sometimes) insightful commentary coming from people who know more than I do about a subject, and the occasional amusement from some troll who has been modded up. Sense of aquaitance is important. I don't want hemos and cmdtaco and whoever aloof from Slashdot's user base (even though they sometimes seem to be from themselves) - the site looses a lot of its appeal because it becomes just another newsfeed I'll check a few times a day.
Big THANK YOU!!! to you all for this one!
actually, i think it should be "copping" a pose.
or maybe "coping with" a pose? or "coping with a posse?" and we won't even go into the question of cop-as-in-police-officer vs. cop-as-in-copulation.
This Like That - fun with words!
Where else could we have the laziest people in the country and with the most junk sitting around making money off of some other schmuck who wants to buy it and get health insurance for it?
No TiVo and no caffeine make me something something...
Now you can get insurance to cover your doctors visit to take care of what you caught from your other eBay purchases.
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
"The company will not be contributing to the insurance plan..."
:)
Whats the big deal here? All they are offering is a group rate, which you could get nearly anywhere, and probably only saves you a few bucks. Not only is eBay not kicking in any of their own money, but they are probably going to make some large kickbacks from the insurance company off our backs.
I really dont need to save the $2 a month baldy enough to support eBay anymore than I already do.
Mom wont miss those extra 2 20-minute 10-10-220 calls anyway.
In the end, I suspect my agency was taking a hefty commision on my premiums, and I ended up finding a better deal on my own.
Suppose a seller sells $1000 worth of goods per month which he paid $500 for to begin with (pretty average profit rate on Ebay). He will make $500/month, or $12,000 per year. Who can live off of $12,000/year as their full time job? I sell a small amount of goods on ebay, and just keeping track of 20 auctions at once is quite a handful; I could imagine it eating up 30-40 hours per week, which wouldn't leave any time for a second job.
Is there some way that stories can just be edited for spelling, clarity and facts, and then LEFT ALONE
Yeah, two ways, actually: 1) Do your own story research. 2) Demand the money that you paid for viewing the site back.
--
$tar -xvf
Yeah, and in no way should someone that uses a site ever give constructive feedback. I mean, that might be useful for everybody. It might even make the site better. So probably if you ever want anything slightly different that what's given to you, we should just ship you off to Russia or something.
You notice the irony? That's kind of the point of the original poster. To wit:
"Quiet, Hemos. Just because your input sensors cannot handle sites that may require a login, does not mean any of the rest of us should listen to your squealing."
"No mother, it IS a job, health plana dn everything look! btw, you need that chair of yours?"
You americans are really funny people.
Having a health insurance is prescribed by most european governments, and it's much less expensive than in the US. Go and tell your local president (who'll surely hear it the first time), or - better - elect someone else. Instead of gambling away your health at eBay.
apt-get welfare_system
I'm not going to accept any insurance plan until I get a feedback rating on them!
then we would be getting somewhere. Or what about tuition reimbursement? Better yet.... power ebay sellers should get free beer on Fridays!
YES, there is a McDonald's in Hanoi Square.
OK, let's say that I, for instance, who sells nothing on Ebay, was to make an application to join this particular pool. From the standpoint of the insurance company, I would simply be another premium payer assigned to the rates of this particular pool. I would be no less nor more of a pay out potential than any other people in the pool who were $1K-a-month Ebay merchants. But I would be prohibited from joining the pool because I wasn't an Ebay merchant. Therefore, the only reason to deny me coverage from the standpoint of the insurance company would be that Ebay was paying a large percentage of the premiums for each of its merchants, and therefore would not subsidize my premium because I wasn't an Ebay merchant. So how big a premium slice is Ebay actually paying out of its own pocket for each of its merchants?
Parenthetically, if a pool as small as the Ebay merchants pool can get "reduced" rates from a carrier (reduced from what a self-employed individual would have to pay), why can't the entire nation be considered a "pool" and therefore subject to rates far reduced over their current levels? If members of a pool get reduced rates compared to non members, it has to ultimately be deduced that the non-pool premium payers are subsidizing the premium payers who belong to the pool. And that stinks, I think. Costs ought to be divided equally with no policy holder getting special economic treatment from an insurance carrier simply because he's involved with a pool somewhere.
Doctors were fast and helpfull!! A+++++++++++++ HIGLY RECOMENDED!! Ideal health insurance!! Would do surgury again!
There is so much irony here, I think we've all become numb to it.
Raters can be persuaded to consider all EBay merchants earning $1,000/month as 'full-time' active employees.
This defines a group that can be deemed eligible for the group employer rates like any large employer could get. The actuaries want to separate the casual, sporadic EBay user from the 'fulltime' active people. It is the 'fulltime' category which can be priced as a 'gainfully' employed group of a determinable kind.
The great unwashed masses of undefined 'users' can be anybody, presumably 18 to 99 years old. In the view of an actuary, such people are likely to be those for whom health insurance should be more expensive. The raters generally assume that 'healthy' hardworking, fulltime people experience less health problems than the general populace. The general masses are those who may be hocking their last piece of furniture, their 1979 Ford Pinto, or a CD of photos of a family member, or their 'unused' Microsoft software.
Perhaps Slashdot could offer Term Life? Make it a mutual plan so dividends (earnings after benefts are paid out) are split amongst members and Slashdot. To qualify one must login in with a compliant browser more than 7 hours a day, and be between age 18 and 80, with positive Karma, and who metamoderate. Failure to log in or logging in with a noncompliant (IE) browser terminates coverage. We can call this group professional posters!
Slashdot could offer a Health program as a nonprofit, but not fund it. Determine a way to define an associate relationship with an interest, like creating a very large board of directors. Everybody pays the actual premium cost, but at a group rate. Since individual family insurance runs $9,000 to $15,000 a year, depending on region, this might be desirable.
Shall we demand that Cowboy Neal offer a Slashdot poll on benefit plans most desirable to readers?
Why do I need to be told a login is required? Won't I find that out soon enough?
Saves me a wasted click. Why should I go to the LA Times' site, and then be turned away due to a stupid 'free registration' policy? Wouldn't you want to know if a store is open or closed before you leave your house and head for it?
Why reference the NYTimes?
You must be new around here. The NYT's useless policy has been mentioned many times, and people have implemented trivial workarounds. And LAT has switched to this 'free registration' thing recently.
What's this "coping a pose" reference?
What are you, a prude?
Is the LATimes copying from the NYTimes...
Seeing that NYT has had this 'free registration' BS for years, and LAT just started doing this, you make the call. (I hope 'BS' is not too hip for you...)
Learn to read. The italics stuff is that submitted by the submitter; the non-italics text is the editor's opinion/remarks . It is plain as daylight. Maybe you should lurk here longer?
Oh, and by the way: welcome to Slashdot! Next time, pick a name and post using that name.
"Couldn't find your Subscriber ID or Password. Please re-enter them."
theads I mean slashdotters enable the LA Times to require logins, just like your constant promotion of the NYTimes on this site. When your profile info is collated and disseminated, don't go cryin' to mama that your identity has been stolen. And filling in fake info won't help. AI is already extensively used in your travels.
As sellers become employees of ebay, it means they lose some of their fluidity to take their business elsewhere. E-bay will now have the ability to strongly encourage "merchents" (ie employees) to support changes in policy, etc. Will E-bay be quite as open a marketplace in the near future?
Big deal.
The Canadians know: single payer is where it's at.
1:Saves you a trip to LAT if you don't plan to register.
:)
2:Yes.
3:Yes.
4:Yes (not the other way around).
5:No.
6:That's what the different fonts are for. You'll get used to it if you hang around here for a while.
I'm left with the impression that this is just a young kid editing a web page
Welcome to CmdrTaco, Hemos, and CowboyNeil's clubhouse
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- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.