■ FoIB Avik Roy makes a point about the Emperor's New Clothes CBO scoring fiasco:
"73% Of Coverage Difference Between Obamacare & GOP Bills Driven By Individual Mandate"
Okay, but what does that mean? It's actually pretty simple: not forcing folks to buy something doesn't mean they won't, anyway. And it certainly doesn't "strip" anyone of coverage, either (another popular meme).
Sheesh.
■ A few years ago, we blogged on the sad case of insurance agent Glenn Neasham, who ran afoul - quite by accident, it seems - of California insurance regulators and was sentenced to jail for selling an elderly woman an (as in one) annuity.
It appears that Mr Neasham was merely a piker:
"Prosecutors in California have accused Shawn Heffernan, a retirement planner and insurance agent, of persuading five older clients to surrender annuities and replace the contracts with new annuities"
To the tune of nearly half a million dollars, of which just shy of $300,000 (allegedly) went into Mr Heffernan's pockets.
Yikes.
■ Finally, our good friend Bob Graboyes dares to tell the ugly truth about all those nifty preventive care initiatives:
"[P]reventive measures generally increase rather than decrease costs."
Ooops.
Which is not to say that we should stop encouraging their use, just that we need to back off on the cost-savings-panacea talk: "we shouldn’t spend time dreaming up ways to spend the savings that will result" (because we're going to be very disappointed).
Reminds me of something...
"73% Of Coverage Difference Between Obamacare & GOP Bills Driven By Individual Mandate"
Okay, but what does that mean? It's actually pretty simple: not forcing folks to buy something doesn't mean they won't, anyway. And it certainly doesn't "strip" anyone of coverage, either (another popular meme).
Sheesh.
■ A few years ago, we blogged on the sad case of insurance agent Glenn Neasham, who ran afoul - quite by accident, it seems - of California insurance regulators and was sentenced to jail for selling an elderly woman an (as in one) annuity.
It appears that Mr Neasham was merely a piker:
"Prosecutors in California have accused Shawn Heffernan, a retirement planner and insurance agent, of persuading five older clients to surrender annuities and replace the contracts with new annuities"
To the tune of nearly half a million dollars, of which just shy of $300,000 (allegedly) went into Mr Heffernan's pockets.
Yikes.
■ Finally, our good friend Bob Graboyes dares to tell the ugly truth about all those nifty preventive care initiatives:
"[P]reventive measures generally increase rather than decrease costs."
Ooops.
Which is not to say that we should stop encouraging their use, just that we need to back off on the cost-savings-panacea talk: "we shouldn’t spend time dreaming up ways to spend the savings that will result" (because we're going to be very disappointed).
Reminds me of something...