Saturday, August 29, 2009

Why I Had a Kid

This is why Claire and I shouldn't be left alone with a baby. We met for dinner in Phoenix and couldn't resist introducing Ella to lemons. This face makes it look like we were torchering her, but the video is proof she actually really liked it. I must admit that in a "twisted" way the lemon face is one of my favorite.

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Ella changed a lot while she and I were in Phoenix for the past two weeks. It was a crazy time. We stayed 7 different places and I commuted from Tucson to Phoenix for 3 days. Brad's family took good care of Ella and she is now crawling everywhere and starting to stand up and hold on to things. She also learned to drive...
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Here's Ella with our friends Jean and Ryan
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She had a good time playing with Great Grandpa McChulloch

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Health Care Reform

OK, I figured I'd throw my non-politically correct 2 cents into the ring. Note, my thoughts are my own and do not reflect the opinion of my employer.

1) Problem - Lack of portability. It doesn't seem right that people who loose their employer sponsored insurance may not qualify for an affordable individual plan. Or that people who buy individual insurance and then develop a condition cannot shop around because they can't pass underwriting. I would change the law so that all insurers who offer individual plans would have to accept any person who had any type of medical insurance coverage in the past 60 days (similar to current HIPAA rules, but expanded to individual coverage and at rate levels the rest of the market pays).

This would have the effect of encouraging people to stay in the insurance market and would reward them for doing so by giving them freedom of choice in return. I estimate (very loosely) that this would add about 10%-15% to current individual market rates.

2) Problem - Individual rates are high (plus I just added 10%-15%). I have several ideas in this realm:
a) Simplify the individual insurance market. Idea #1 goes a long way toward simplification. I think some of the things the government has done in the Medicare Supplement Market make it a very simple market for people to understand. Maybe have a set of standardized plans that all carriers have to offer (but they are not limited to). I would also keep the plans simple. Something like deductible, coinsurance. Period. This would enable easy comparison of plans.
b) Eliminate broker fees on individual plans(or at least put severe limits on them, and require them to disclose what they are being paid). I guess brokers provide a small service to members who can't figure out the Internet and they help people navigate the confusing world of individual insurance. But...if my simplification plan were in place, we really wouldn't need them. Eliminating broker fees would save 5%-10% depending on the company. Some companies run promotions like, sell 30 contracts in a specified period and get a $10,000 bonus! This is not a joke, do you really think a broker with that kind of incentive is going to be unbiased? What a waste of money!
c) Start charging rates based on lifestyle. 90% of health care costs are caused by preventable illnesses. Why should the people who work out, eat healthy and don't smoke pay for the costs of those who chose to live other wise? This is America, you're free to live however you want, but you should have to pay for it. Higher rates might give people an incentive to change.
d) Turn health insurance back into insurance instead of health care. High deductibles designed to protect from large financial loss. The problem with this is many American's can't save enough money to take the risk of a $100 Dr visit.
e) Increase cost and quality transparency so that patients can be turned into consumers.

3) Problem - The 18% of Americans that are currently uninsured. I think the uninsured fall in to several categories:
a) Uninsurable - those who are too sick to qualify for coverage. All states should have high risk pools for these people that have slightly higher premiums than the individual market and are subsidised by a tax on insurers or hospitals. Most states already have one. They could also be used for the high risk people in #1 in order to spread the risk over all carriers selling in a state.
b) Can't Afford - Have community based care centers to provide care. I agree that in America we can afford to provide basic medical care for the people in our communities. I would not call health care a right though. It's a privilege that we enjoy in our rich nation. I wouldn't mind chipping in to help out others in my community, but it should be kept at the local or state level.
c) Won't Afford - If they want to take the risk of not having insurance then they should face the risk of bankruptcy when something happens.

OK, so maybe this is more like a random collection of rants, but this is where I would start...

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Friends

Ella and I have been enjoying the summer hanging out with lots of friends. Last week we went over to the Klynstra's and Brayn's just to hang out. Debbie snapped this picture so I could see what I look like with 5 kids.
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Last friday night Ricky Skaggs was playing a free concert in Bonner's Ferry. So, you know me, mention the word free and I'm there. I really do like bluegrass though so we went with Ella's uncle Mike and the Bryan family. It was a lot of fun and the kids enjoyed playing with Ella and dancing to the music.

Kaylee and Trevor
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What a good big brother Trevor would make :)
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And Kaylee too!
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Brad and I had a nice relaxing weekend. We accomplished absolutely nothing, laid around and ate.
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Ella was in a hyper mood tonight, talking up a storm and happy as can be.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Happy Birt

Ella is 1/2 a year old today. I borrowed a friend's camera and snapped some pictures of her this weekend in some outfits my mom made her. The quilt in the pictures was made by my Aunt Shareen. I am totally in love with the Nikon D200 I borrowed. No offense to anyone who uses this camera, but a blind person could take good pictures with it (no offense to blind people either). Anyway, Brad if you ever read this you could get it for my next five birthdays, Christmases and Valentine's Days (I'm not willing to give up Monther's Days and Anniversaries).

Anyway, here she is (no outfits were harmed in the shooting of these pictures, Mom):


My favorites:
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