Surprise, surprise!

A story on page one of the October 23rd issue of the Manhattan Free Press says Hawaii is ending it's child health care plan after only seven months. Seems the do-gooders there had decided that the state should buy health insurance for any kid whose parents weren't paying for health insurance.

A state official said families were dropping private coverage so their children would be eligible for the subsidized plan.

Duh. Did anyone seriously expect people to keep paying for something the state was giving away?

The Mafia in Topeka

I'm a card-carrying member of Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of Kansas. A few weeks ago, I got a letter from them announcing that Geary Community Hospital (GCH) of Junction City was about to be dropped from their list of contracting providers. Basically, I was told that if I expected to get much money out of BCBS, I'd better take my business somewhere other than GCH. Then I started hearing ads on the radio saying that GCH would lower their prices for BCBS members ... for now. But we'd better find new insurance, and quick.

Since I'm not normally a customer of GCH, it didn't really bother me much. I know that insurance companies work hard at putting the squeeze on medical providers, and BCBS squeezes harder than most. My only concern was that this might be the start of a trend. Would Wamego City Hospital or Mercy Regional decide to do the same?

In yesterday's mail, another letter arrived from BCBS. This one had all the tone of a Mafia boss announcing that a business owner had decided to continue paying protection money after all. It was all sweetness and light, but the tone between the lines was ominous. It comes down to this: GCH has agreed to BCBS's original proposal. And what will BCBS do in return? Well, read it for yourself:

We always wanted Geary Community Hospital to remain in our network and were disappointed to receive their cancellation letter. Rather than hold them to that letter, we decided to give them an opportunity to reconsider our original offer. I firmly believe it was in the best interest of our members in Geary County, and the surrounding counties, and the people of Junction City to be flexible in allowing the hospital to withdraw its cancellation letter.

--Part of a letter from Andrew C. Corbin, President/CEO, BCBS of Kansas

Can't you almost see the smiling Mafia boss, one arm around the GCH man, patting him on the cheek (but almost slapping)? Subtly hinting that everyone else had better keep toeing the BCBS line, or there would be trouble. If anybody else tries this, they might not be so kind in allowing them to withdraw their letter.

PS: As I mentioned, I carry a BCBS card, so don't anybody tell them I said this! :)

Two Stories

A man was just waking up from anesthesia after surgery, and his wife was sitting by his side. His eyes fluttered open and he said, "You're beautiful." Then he fell asleep again.

His wife had never heard him say that, so she stayed by his side. A few minutes later, his eyes fluttered open and he said, "You're cute!"

The wife was disappointed because instead of "beautiful," it was now "cute." She said, "What happened to 'beautiful'?"

The man replied, "The drugs are wearing off!"

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An old man went to his doctor and said, "Doc, I think I'm getting senile. Several times lately, I have forgotten to zip up."

"That's not senility," replied the doctor. "Senility is when you forget to zip down."

Is Bush to blame?

In this week's Manhattan Free Press, publisher Jon Brake says:

For those who want to blame President George Bush for the market problems:
"In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.
Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits."
NY Times Article: Sept. 30, 1999

The fact is that no President is responsible for the mess. It's been coming for a long time, and is exacerbated by pressures like the above from various Administrations, Congresses, and shareholders. Blaming George W. Bush (Or Bill Clinton, for that matter) is akin to blaming Herbert Hoover for the Great Depression. Many factors, the majority of which were out of his control, came together to cause the problem on his watch.

Still, there is a good reason why Harry Truman had a sign on his desk stating, "The buck stops here." We humans have a tendency to need someone onto which to pin ultimate blame. Bush will be blamed for this one, even though it's the product of many decades of bad policy-making from members of both parties.