Comment Re:mother nature (Score 1) 260
Anyway, I look forward to your RCT comparing not being a sissy to placebo.
Since the doctor examination is theater anyway, why not just run down the symptom checklist and guess at a prescription just like they do in doctor's offices anyway!
If this is what your doctor does, you need to find a new one.
Most of the time I have gone to the doctor when I was sick they did not bother with blood work - they just prescribed some medicine to treat my symptoms.
Perhaps your symptoms didn't warrant a blood test. There are hundreds of tests than can be ordered, they all cost money, and none of them are perfect. If someone has a cold, should blood tests be ordered? Of course not. The likelihood is that the person will get over their symptoms in a few days on their own. Ordering blood tests in this situation, on a macro level, will result in lots of false positives that lead to further work-up of non-existent problems. This leads to patient anxiety, possible iatrogenic diseases, and (even more) skyrocketing health costs.
In the few cases where they did order blood work, I was well on my own by the time the blood work came back.
Sometimes tests are negative. That doesn't mean they shouldn't have been ordered. Many other people had your symptoms, got your tests, and had a far different result.
dude... big entertainment (yes, these GREAT big games, like GTA, Gears of War, Modern Warfare, Uncharted, etc.... They take millions of dollars to develop. GTA 4 cost TONS and was worth every penny.
They gotta be driven by profits, and people gladly pay for good games. Its not something that really *needs* to be done for free. People love games like they love everything else they do a lot of in life. You like to skate, you buy skateboard and wheels n stuff. YOu like to rock climb, you get into it, you buy the gear and spend money going places that are nice for it. You get into some solid new games and, well, why not pay for it!
I'm not saying its not a great option to have or for people to do. I'm just saying that we all pay gladly, and aside from early buyers being kinda treated like beta testers on many games, we're pretty happy! Games are REALLY good now. They are a little too easy, but still VERY good. I'm in movies now man. That's what its like. I'm in a van damme movie. I'm all hero.
Its nuts. Games are worth every penny. Artists earn it hardcore. The coders make stuff happen thats never been done in software before. They make visual fx that are amazing.. the whole industry drives shader standards and gfx processor development needs... even when many are pirating some games, it doesn't matter really. The great companies that invest a lot end up taking the cake so long as its not wasted on jets and CEO bonus. I don't even know if that kinda stuff happens in the game industry. I'd guess the good companies are just playing smart.
All hail iD, Epic, EA (yeah, i hate ot say it), Infinity Ward, Nintendo, capcom, acclaim, sony, naughty dog. etc etc etc. Thank you!
And the only reason that the primary method of providing healthcare is insurance is because of government tax laws for businesses.
If it weren't for that, everyone would still pay for medical expenses out of pocket, with some people choosing to have disaster-level insurance for major procedures, just like they do for car wrecks, unexpected death, and home fires.
There is a problem with people who have chronic, recurring problems. The thing is, at that point that person is essentially a charity case - whether it's charity through higher premiums everyone else pays or through a government mandate, they are someone who costs more to keep alive than they will produce with their life. The insurance model breaks down. That is still not a particularly good reason for trying to still ram them into an insurance model of any sort, government or otherwise.
Personally I'd love a purely free market approach, untied from employment, for the vast majority of people to cover unexpected horrible events, and possibly a government funded program that yes, rations funds, to pay for the charity cases.
Politics: A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage. -- Ambrose Bierce