Isn't that the whole point of the push for EMRs? And what stops her from seeing the regular doc then getting the script filled at a clinic? Or just paying the $10/mo for it? My insurance company isn't giving me free condoms, and I don't have any get out of jail free cards made available to me if my birth control fails.

Condom breaks and the woman doesn't want a kid with the guy? She can take the morning after pill, get an abortion, or give the child up for adoption. Man doesn't want a child with this woman? Too bad asshole, we're going to confiscate 15% to 25% of your post-FICA earnings for the next 18 years, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it, even if she broke the condom in the first place or lied about being on pills.

You should bump up those limits. Liability coverage is cheap and will keep you out of bankruptcy court if things go wrong one day. I have the max, $500,000 combined single limit, with another $1,000,000 of umbrella coverage hanging over that.

I'm dinged on a few areas I have little control over. First being the car, apparently it's one of the most popular stolen cars in America. Then our geography, we're in a part of New York with high DWI rates. Progressive was far and away the cheapest for both of us. I periodically check to see if this is still the case (easy to do when you work for an insurance agency) and so far it is. More's the pity.

Blah, typo.

We bought the cars together. Same dealer, same color, down to the add on options.

We had it before the ACA's mandate. 85% of group health plans provided it. Non-profits in all 50 States and many local governments make it available to those who can't afford it. The cost is not prohibitive even for those without insurance who don't wish to avail themselves of the aforementioned options.

The mandate was a solution looking for a problem, or if I'm more cynical, it was an effort to throw red meat at the base and distract them from the shitty economy. "Sure, we can't get you a job, but don't for the other guy because HE HATES WOMEN!!!"

I'd concur with you. Viagra is the ultimate elective drug. Unless it's proscribed for cardiac reasons, then I'd be cool with it being covered. Ditto for those occasions when birth control pills are proscribed for hormonal imbalances. As an elective drug though? That's absurd. Particularly when there are so many low cost generics available. Not to mention the safety net of non-profits and government health departments that give birth control out to almost anyone who asks, in many cases without even means testing them.

I'll be cool with the ACA mandating equal pricing for the genders when my auto insurance company is held to the same standard.

Shakrai, male, 32, 790 FICO score, zero moving violations, zero accidents, six month premium for 2012 Honda Civic: $450
Shakrai's ex-gf, female, 31, 710 FICO score, three moving violations, two at fault accidents, six month premium for 2011 Honda Civic: $390

Same liability limits, I had higher physical damage deductibles, and a 10% discount for defensive driver training that she lacked, both through Progressive.

I wonder when the big man at 1600 Pennsylvania is going to fix this gender disparity?

That's kind of the crux of the matter, isn't it? A month of generic birth control pills costs about $10/mo. Purchased in bulk, condoms are about $0.50/ea. Both are readily available at no cost from a variety of sources for those who can't afford them. Setting aside the heated political debate, it seems foolish to route these sorts of purchases through your insurance company, with inevitable overhead, rather than simply purchasing them yourself.

Of course, low information voters on both sides eat this shit up. It's red meat for the bases of both political parties.

Let the flame fest begin!

Google won't let you opt out of their wi-fi location database without changing your SSID. So I'm the one who has to change my network and every connected device if I don't want to be part of their geolocation efforts. Because an opt-out by MAC address would be sooooooo difficult to implement.

If only there was a way to filter what they captured and not log everything. Maybe even a free piece of software so Google wouldn't have to blow the budget.

ST 2009 was a popcorn flick that had nothing whatsoever to do with Star Trek other than borrowing the title.

The highest grossing movie (without even adjusting for inflation) out of the real Star Trek movies was the one with the least amount of action and the most cerebral plot: Star Trek IV. That just goes to show you that you can actually market Star Trek to mass audiences without dumbing it down to the lowest common denominator. Oh, and guess what? Adjusted for inflation Star Trek IV comes pretty close to beating the aforementioned popcorn flick, and it did this with a budget of $21,000,000 vs. $150,000,000.

Can't wait for JJ to take his next huge steaming dump all over the Star Wars franchise. It'll be just as good as the prequels, but with lens flares! Stiff dialogue, action movie cliches, tits and ass, and a reliance on special effects over writing. What's not to love? Turn your brain off and shove $20 worth of popcorn and soda down your throat, because that's all it's going to be good for.

There was nothing wrong with TNG the television show, particularly after it found its footing and stopped trying to emulate its predecessor. The movies on the other hand.... First Contact and Nemesis were just dumbed down dark action movies. Generations ranks was one of the most insulting movies ever made. Ironically, Insurrection, which was generally panned, was the closest they got to capturing the feel of the television show. Of course, even that one collapsed under the weight of its plot contrivances and couldn't resist the temptation to dip into action movie cliches. Here's a hint Rick Berman: Jean-Luc Picard != John McClane.

Random list of TNG episodes that were way better than any the movies: The Most Toys, Who Watches the Watchers, The Survivors, The Defector, The Measure of a Man, The Wounded, First Contact (the episode, not the movie), The Drumhead, Power Play, and Sarek. That's without going to the crown jewels of TNG, imagine Yesterday's Enterprise or The Best of Both Worlds if produced with a feature film budget. Actually, perhaps it's better that we don't, because they probably would have found a way to fuck them up.

Everything that came after All Good Things was just a bad nightmare.

Listening to cordless and cellular phone calls is indeed a crime in the United States, even though they used to be broadcast in the clear.

You believed something Microsoft said? Sucker. MSFT's promises are about as credible as "The check is in the mail" and "I'll pull out"

It's the opposite of the Star Trek movies. ;)

(Until Nemesis had to go and completely suck, even beyond the abysmal standard of the TNG movies)