Rasta Rants

The press has been on fire over Obamacare. I feel so sorry for all the millions of folks out there that do not understand insurance. I guess this is one time I can say I am blessed to have been in the health insurance business for 35 years. (we in the industry are usually running for cover as we are criticized constantly). Let me try clarify a few things about Obamacare. First there is all this noise about the President lying to America by saying we could keep the coverage we had. So what - this isn't his first lie. You got to keep what you had till essential benefits were decided in each state and then the insurance companies were forced to change your policy to comply or terminate it. If you had a limited benefit plan at a lower costs, chances are you are going to get a cancelation notice. Here is why. Insurers based the price of a policy on many factors but the biggest is the plan design. If a policy limits what it pays then it will be cheaper. Since Obamacare forced essenti...

Okay I admit at my age it is not hard for me to be confused, a fact my wife and kids remind me of regularly. I tell them that my brain is like a glass and after 56 years it is very full so when I am given more information to add to it I have to be selective. Accordingly anything trivial or irrelevant to my days priorities gets dumped. This explains why I never remember social engagements, stories about other people's life's, shopping or sports that I don't like. Despite this malty I am actually in full control of all my faculties and relatively acute. So it concerns me when I become confused. This whole government shut and debt ceiling debate has done just that. So help me understand less I become fed up and dump it from my already full glass - as I suspect most Americans have done already. If you believe the apathetic polling results. So the Republicans won't fund the government (the 17% that is shut down) because they want to defund Obamacare. I think I got that r...

As I watched the news last night I had an epiphany that I thought I would share. Everyone is mad at the Congress for the "shutdown" of the US Government. The Democrats and President blame the Republicans and the Republicans blame the President and the Democrats. There was so much rhetoric and finger pointing -  so much hatred and anger. It made me sad and disappointed in us as a country. Then it hit me. We are a Democracy (or a Democratic Republic as the conservatives would say) and as such our elected officials are a reflection of us. We elect them - we choose them and we drive them to some extent. So is it any wonder that we have such a divided Congress? After all we have a very divided country. In my 35 years of living here I have never seen such a divided America. Sure we have had differences before and to a great extent those opposing views have kept us balanced and strong. The juxtaposition of the two parties created national debate and compromise. Not any more! Sur...