While I completely agree that opting in / choosing add-ons must be left to the home owner, I have had vastly different experiences with AHS than many folks here, apparently. I had a new home built in Texas around 2005 and chose to add AHS to my home mortgage bill. They initially gave me a $25 copay amount for parts and labor which went up to $75/incident a year later. I lived in that house for 11 years and used AHS several times a year in that time to repair my A/C compressor, replace a water heater, snake plumbing lines, replace a built-in microwave, repair a washing machine, address in-house plumbing leaks and more. AHS more than paid for itself albeit not every claim was fully paid.
This is in stark contrast to the home warranty I obtained with the purchase of an older house in Alaska a year ago. It came Choice Home Warranty for 2.5 years and features a $40 copay. I've tried to use them about a dozen times and they've only paid a couple of claims. In every case the home warranty paid little to nothing and extended the outage of each issue. AHS was great, by comparison. Your mileage may vary. I concur with previous posts and comments recommending a small nest egg for home repairs.
Perhaps I wasn't clear. Puff for puff, taste for taste, cigarettes are primarily nicotine delivery while pipe/cigar tobacco is a more prolonged taste-based enjoyment.
After five minutes into a cigar/pipe/cigarette I do think nicotine is generally a higher punch.
One cigar versus one cigarette... or a bowl of Brown Irish XX.... the cigarette loses!
I smoke a lot of Gawith Lakelands - dark bird's eye and brown bogie are the favorites.
Happy Brown Bogie for your first rope ---- the best, IMO!
Glad to see a fellow briar on the slash.
--dk
Ever tried cigars or pipe tobaccos? Far more enjoyable, in my opinion, than cigarettes.
Cigars are a flavorful artform .
Pipe tobaccos, without artificial "casings," commonly referred to as English blends, offer an even broader spectrum of taste.
Cigarettes are comparatively flavorless with a higher spike of nicotine in my experience.
I tend to think a good bit of motivation behind the anti-smoking brigade is a disdain for tobacco's nasal presence. The anti-smoking lobby is fraught with metastudies and bad science- at least as much as was perpetrated by big tobacco in years' past.
Tobacco- distinctly American. Used in trade to the French to supply us with guns, soldiers and money to fund the RevoWar.
We wouldn't exist without it!
Actually, many if not all states have programs to pick up the slack Medicare/Medicaid leaves behind.
County hospitals funded by their municipalities which receive state funding, for starters. I would go as far to say that cities and states are picking up the brunt of the healthcare crisis whereas Washington just spends with accountability. Inflation cyclically rises and we're left with an overburdened system.
I'd like to see all the money go to States to individually decide how to insure their residents. It would produce more local accountability by not giving state politicians an easyh out to say "Washington DC broke it."
As for a race to the bottom: this is more true in our present federal scenario. Having little or no visibility, people get on the welfare train and there's a disconnect between handing off local/state social services and those relying on federal subsistence. Every state has a different outlook and needs- one size rarely fits all in our multiplicitous union. A greater percentage of Americans than not prefer to work hard and succeed in life. Bottom-climbers (what a label) are exceptions rather than the rule. Systemically we already gateway bottom-climbing beyond reasonable amounts. This happens as a result of political survival pandering legislation by the behemoth elements and hawing asses in DC.
I quite like Arnold's proposal in California that stipulates employers - even small ones - to either provide a level of health insurance or a marginal percentage will be taken from paychecks to contribute to the catch-all state insurance. While I think government-sponsored insurance programs are bloated self-subsisting entities with no focus on competative quality or care, I think this plan would be greatly improved by creating a renewable, blind bidding process for private insurers every year or two that would:
1. Provide the most benefits for the least cost
2. Have service/accessibility benchmarks weighted in the bidder profiles
3. All pre-existing medical conditions covered
4. Guarantee service acceptance for all at public and private practicioners
5. Limit legal liabilities to gross malpractice
That being said, the three contributors to our health care crisis can be summed up as:
1. Lack of pre-existing coverage limitations
2. Health insurance tied to employment
3. Cost of medical care
4. Ability of insurers to deny coverage to individuals
Thus sick, poor people between jobs are penalized the most.
Address these systemic root-causes, in any way, and universal coverage begins.
This is an excellent point that highlights possibilities provided by the intended spirit of our Constitutionally-limited federal government. We're stuck with a self-perpetuating economic-political machine that has diminished states' rights of self-determinism.
The federal government should assess and recommend domestic standards. Not dictate and enforce.
I'm glad to see Dr. Paul getting media time to put these ideas out to sheeple who sway with the wind blowing.
Several things come to mind while reading this.
First, the retiree-age of the U.S. baby boomer population might skew the proliferation of technology usage a bit. That being said, my boomer folks have IPODs and use the Internet at home (and work) regularly.
Secondly, the U.S. porn industry has historically been the innovators. People past autoerotic-gratification age may be less likely to engage... personal handheld technologies. See the first point.
Third, private/corporate U.S. business has embraced and optimized technology to explicit levels. However, it is mostly geared towards short-term quarterly earnings -focus rather than sustainable cultural changes. The size of the country makes it more difficult, than say Norway or Finland. However, the integration of public and private technology--- and the usability of these systems- surpasses the American personal technology posture.
I agree with the slashdotter who stated that the quality of life is not dependent on the proliferation of time spent using gadgets. I believe the converse could be true. Information-overload contributes to shuttered attention span which ultimately degrades a consistent, long-term focus on real quality of life measures. I define these as diverse personal experience (physical/emotional/mental), quality interaction with family/friends/society and an extropian self-progression.
Having stated this, I offend my own beliefs hourly. Constant usage of electronics, computers, the Internet (at work and at home--- and working at home, often). This gives me pause for thought and a vision of improvements needed.
This comes as no surprise. The Thai government is notorious for "keeping the Thai man down" to preserve an economic feudal system that has the business-government-mafia hybrid elite maintaining a level poverty as they rake profit of every private and public venture.
Only six years of elementary school is mandatory for Thai children. It is prohibitively expensive to send the kids to middle/high school much less college. In this light, I agree that money should be spent bolstering fundamental education, ie- free through high school - at least. However, the beneficient will of the government is suspect.
Even with the corruption and some very bad ideas of the deposed Thaksin administration, there were a few good key things promoted during that time (since repealed). The most notable in my mind were the 100,000 baht (US$2250) 0%-interest loans for small businesses that were to be repaid at a 2 year mark.
Police and local mafia got their fare share of the pie but it enabled blue-collar entrepreneurs a way out of $200/month jobs with 6 to 7 day work weeks at 12 hours a day.
Thailand is still much better off than many of its neighbors with an estimated $200 a month average salary. Compare this with $75/month in China or $40 a month in Indonesia.
--dk
Slashdot Mirror
While I completely agree that opting in / choosing add-ons must be left to the home owner, I have had vastly different experiences with AHS than many folks here, apparently. I had a new home built in Texas around 2005 and chose to add AHS to my home mortgage bill. They initially gave me a $25 copay amount for parts and labor which went up to $75/incident a year later. I lived in that house for 11 years and used AHS several times a year in that time to repair my A/C compressor, replace a water heater, snake plumbing lines, replace a built-in microwave, repair a washing machine, address in-house plumbing leaks and more. AHS more than paid for itself albeit not every claim was fully paid. This is in stark contrast to the home warranty I obtained with the purchase of an older house in Alaska a year ago. It came Choice Home Warranty for 2.5 years and features a $40 copay. I've tried to use them about a dozen times and they've only paid a couple of claims. In every case the home warranty paid little to nothing and extended the outage of each issue. AHS was great, by comparison. Your mileage may vary. I concur with previous posts and comments recommending a small nest egg for home repairs.
Perhaps I wasn't clear. Puff for puff, taste for taste, cigarettes are primarily nicotine delivery while pipe/cigar tobacco is a more prolonged taste-based enjoyment. After five minutes into a cigar/pipe/cigarette I do think nicotine is generally a higher punch. One cigar versus one cigarette... or a bowl of Brown Irish XX.... the cigarette loses! I smoke a lot of Gawith Lakelands - dark bird's eye and brown bogie are the favorites. Happy Brown Bogie for your first rope ---- the best, IMO! Glad to see a fellow briar on the slash. --dk
Ever tried cigars or pipe tobaccos? Far more enjoyable, in my opinion, than cigarettes. Cigars are a flavorful artform . Pipe tobaccos, without artificial "casings," commonly referred to as English blends, offer an even broader spectrum of taste. Cigarettes are comparatively flavorless with a higher spike of nicotine in my experience. I tend to think a good bit of motivation behind the anti-smoking brigade is a disdain for tobacco's nasal presence. The anti-smoking lobby is fraught with metastudies and bad science- at least as much as was perpetrated by big tobacco in years' past. Tobacco- distinctly American. Used in trade to the French to supply us with guns, soldiers and money to fund the RevoWar. We wouldn't exist without it!
Actually, many if not all states have programs to pick up the slack Medicare/Medicaid leaves behind. County hospitals funded by their municipalities which receive state funding, for starters. I would go as far to say that cities and states are picking up the brunt of the healthcare crisis whereas Washington just spends with accountability. Inflation cyclically rises and we're left with an overburdened system. I'd like to see all the money go to States to individually decide how to insure their residents. It would produce more local accountability by not giving state politicians an easyh out to say "Washington DC broke it." As for a race to the bottom: this is more true in our present federal scenario. Having little or no visibility, people get on the welfare train and there's a disconnect between handing off local/state social services and those relying on federal subsistence. Every state has a different outlook and needs- one size rarely fits all in our multiplicitous union. A greater percentage of Americans than not prefer to work hard and succeed in life. Bottom-climbers (what a label) are exceptions rather than the rule. Systemically we already gateway bottom-climbing beyond reasonable amounts. This happens as a result of political survival pandering legislation by the behemoth elements and hawing asses in DC. I quite like Arnold's proposal in California that stipulates employers - even small ones - to either provide a level of health insurance or a marginal percentage will be taken from paychecks to contribute to the catch-all state insurance. While I think government-sponsored insurance programs are bloated self-subsisting entities with no focus on competative quality or care, I think this plan would be greatly improved by creating a renewable, blind bidding process for private insurers every year or two that would: 1. Provide the most benefits for the least cost 2. Have service/accessibility benchmarks weighted in the bidder profiles 3. All pre-existing medical conditions covered 4. Guarantee service acceptance for all at public and private practicioners 5. Limit legal liabilities to gross malpractice That being said, the three contributors to our health care crisis can be summed up as: 1. Lack of pre-existing coverage limitations 2. Health insurance tied to employment 3. Cost of medical care 4. Ability of insurers to deny coverage to individuals Thus sick, poor people between jobs are penalized the most. Address these systemic root-causes, in any way, and universal coverage begins.
This is an excellent point that highlights possibilities provided by the intended spirit of our Constitutionally-limited federal government. We're stuck with a self-perpetuating economic-political machine that has diminished states' rights of self-determinism. The federal government should assess and recommend domestic standards. Not dictate and enforce. I'm glad to see Dr. Paul getting media time to put these ideas out to sheeple who sway with the wind blowing.
Several things come to mind while reading this. First, the retiree-age of the U.S. baby boomer population might skew the proliferation of technology usage a bit. That being said, my boomer folks have IPODs and use the Internet at home (and work) regularly. Secondly, the U.S. porn industry has historically been the innovators. People past autoerotic-gratification age may be less likely to engage... personal handheld technologies. See the first point. Third, private/corporate U.S. business has embraced and optimized technology to explicit levels. However, it is mostly geared towards short-term quarterly earnings -focus rather than sustainable cultural changes. The size of the country makes it more difficult, than say Norway or Finland. However, the integration of public and private technology--- and the usability of these systems- surpasses the American personal technology posture. I agree with the slashdotter who stated that the quality of life is not dependent on the proliferation of time spent using gadgets. I believe the converse could be true. Information-overload contributes to shuttered attention span which ultimately degrades a consistent, long-term focus on real quality of life measures. I define these as diverse personal experience (physical/emotional/mental), quality interaction with family/friends/society and an extropian self-progression. Having stated this, I offend my own beliefs hourly. Constant usage of electronics, computers, the Internet (at work and at home--- and working at home, often). This gives me pause for thought and a vision of improvements needed.
This comes as no surprise. The Thai government is notorious for "keeping the Thai man down" to preserve an economic feudal system that has the business-government-mafia hybrid elite maintaining a level poverty as they rake profit of every private and public venture. Only six years of elementary school is mandatory for Thai children. It is prohibitively expensive to send the kids to middle/high school much less college. In this light, I agree that money should be spent bolstering fundamental education, ie- free through high school - at least. However, the beneficient will of the government is suspect. Even with the corruption and some very bad ideas of the deposed Thaksin administration, there were a few good key things promoted during that time (since repealed). The most notable in my mind were the 100,000 baht (US$2250) 0%-interest loans for small businesses that were to be repaid at a 2 year mark. Police and local mafia got their fare share of the pie but it enabled blue-collar entrepreneurs a way out of $200/month jobs with 6 to 7 day work weeks at 12 hours a day. Thailand is still much better off than many of its neighbors with an estimated $200 a month average salary. Compare this with $75/month in China or $40 a month in Indonesia. --dk