some things will be created whether we steal them or not, movies and music for example. and producing them gets cheaper every day. i do not necessarily advocate allowing people to sell information they did not create, but i definitely advocate distributing all information freely. drugs are incredibly expensive to produce, so i wouldnt favor stealing them. they need your cash just as much as you need their product. nobody has an upper hand. if you get mad enough, boycott their products. you can even get your friends to boycott, although i know some people wouldnt because they say "collusion is wrong". in todays world there is really no such thing as a monopoly that isnt created by the government.
I show you facts in an article, you just say it can't be so, but show me no facts. Go do some research and bring back some facts. Don't tell me I'm being less than honest, I just showed a fact I found. It's close to several other reports I've seen on the topic. Why is our heathcare system breaking us, and preventing us from saving for our retirement? Someone wants you to think its trial lawyers. What is the size of that problem? Heck, so some research and find out. When writing legislation, it will either be ok to bring most cases, which will be heard and then be decided in court, or it will not be ok to bring most cases, in which instance many cases that should be heard will not have the chance to be heard. You can't say, "its ok to bring legitimate cases but not ok to bring illegitimate cases"; how would you define "legitimate"? You will either take too many cases and weed out the bad ones, or you will take too few cases and deny some legitimate cases from being heard. What's the better way? Yes, he's one voice, but he's informed and sees the system up close every day. He has a lot of common sense, and I trust him. What does your dr. say? Here's an interesting article: http://www.wanderings.net/notebook/Main/ExperimentInPrivateHealthcare Why is that? I'm only interested in facts now. Now we know rich people receive excellent care, and us in the middle class come out ok, so that leaves the poor folks, who have less access to high quality care, to bring down the averages on infant mortality and lifespan. http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/...e_tmln&hlthcr_studies=hlthcr_studies_academic Same source as previous quote. Same source as previous quote. Same source as the above quote.
If medical malpractice costs are such a big problem, then why is it that after Texas capped malpractice awards, the insurers instituted huge price increases for premiums? http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/malpractice_ge.html It appears to me the insurance industry is a much bigger problem than the trial lawyers, based on some reported facts.
Tort reform consequences in Texas, if they make a mistake and kill your relative, TOUGH! http://messageboards.aol.com/aol/en...=false&filterHidden=true&filterUnhidden=false Are you going to pay these guys their hourly rate to prosecute? I didn't think so. Are they going to take it on contingency at a 250K cap on pain and suffering? No. Be careful what you ask for. Can a hospital be guilty of negligence that kills your relative and get away with it? Youbetcha. Tort reform at its finest. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And yet, malpractice claims only amounted to 1% of the cost of healthcare, per my previous post that is substantiated with a link at least. We spend 31% on admin overhead compared to 16.7% in Canada, enough to cover all of our uninsured, but we go after malpractice caps when malpractice awards only accounted for 1% of healthcare costs. It just appears we don't have our priorities straight.
I probably could find any article I wanted to on the internet to support any view I take in the world. I said one isn't being honest if you don't bring in frivolous lawsuits for discussion on this topic. Plenty of reasons including illegals, frivolous lawsuits, medical development, etc, it all plays a role. I don't know but you are trying to tell me that trial lawyers play no part at all in this problem and I ain't going to buy that. That has to have a role involved like everything else. Its kinda like saying Al Quada is all over the world but never was in Iraq. Why not? Its easy, if one spills McDonald's coffee on lap one shouldn't be rewarded damages. You also have to determine what amount is enough money to reward. Someone has to already come up with these figures in a court of law and the outcome of cases. You make all of this seem like rocket science. I don't know what my doctor says but like I said just because one scientist, fill in the blank says something doesn't make it so. It isn't the only reason if this turns out to be true. Mortality rate is easily explained by other factors such as our food supply. Between fast food, trans fat, sodium, preservatives our kids and adults have become unhealthy, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, heart failure, etc. The rate is off the charts the last 30 years or so. This is no surprise here when you could say the same about the justice system in this country and yet I hear no one crying about it. If you are rich or have power you can hire the best and get off the hook. I am suspicious of all sources, found interesting information on co-founder of Yes. http://www.davidkorten.org/bio.htm Once again the difference between you and I is the following. I think you have to look at the big picture and consider every aspect of a problem to fix it, you want to totally leave out frivolous lawsuits I believe? Then you state all this information and expect me to believe the reason all of this is happening is nothing but bad health care while discounting the health of the people in the USA including expecting mothers. I'm not saying health care doesn't play a role but there are many other factors in an equation. I also have said our system isn't perfect but neither is Canada's or any other country listed above the US. Some thoughts... I guess you and your family will be going to Canada for all of your health care? We now know you are for mal practice law suits and against tort reform? Are you a lawyer btw? Edit: Do you support government run healthcare then? The article also doesn't talk about the fact that you could die in Canada waiting in line for healthcare.
Then find it and post it and we can discuss it. Post some facts or suspected facts. You only post opinions, without support. Your statement is true, only if the cost of malpractice law suits is a sufficiently large component of overall healthcare costs. I posted an article that states they are 1% of overall healthcare costs, and in another article, that we spend 30% of our money on heathcare goes to administrative cost, vs. 16.7% in Canada, showing our inefficiency is a much greater problem than litigation. If you want to argue it is not true, do some research and post some results and lets discuss it. Plenty of reasons including illegals, frivolous lawsuits, medical development, etc, it all plays a role. What is the size of each problem? We can discuss anything, but we need some facts. I am trying to tell you from my research, the size of the medical malpractice problem in America amounts to 1% of overall healthcare costs per year, if I remember the content of the article I posted on it. I never said 1% = 'no part'. If you don't like my number, find an article which states the size of the malpractice problem and post it. This is about writing legislation so frivilous lawsuits are not brought. How would you change the law? In Tex. it was changed so pain and suffering damages are limited to 250K, now you can't get a lawyer to bring a malpractice suit for anything, and 'tort reform' really is bonus and wealth protection for the dr. and hospitals, and the insurance companies who did NOT reduce premiums, but are assured their payouts are capped, or better, that legitimate cases of malpractice will not be brought because the plaintiff cannot possibly collect an award sufficient to cover the cost of the litigation. Think about it, who does 'tort reform' benefit the most? Post an article on it. Find an article and post some facts. Does Canada not have fast food, trans fat, sodium, or preservatives? This may be a factor, but if you think that this explains our poor infant mortality performance, please explain, with a fact. I heard some crying when OJ got off, about the unfairness of the justice system. I heard crying when Nifong charged the Duke lacross players and they got off, but it took lots of money to show the system had been abused. You are making up conclusions that I have not stated. My posts are clear. Based on my research, malpractice costs 1% of healthcare annually, and inefficient administration costs about 15% of healthcare costs annually. I did not say leave out frivilous lawsuits, you just stated I said that, inaccurately I will add. I also believe if we are to solve a complex problem we have to look at all the possible causes. When did I say we should not? No, I'm middle class, so I'm ok, absent a catastrophe. I believe that when someone is legitimately harmed by a dr. or an institutions 'policy', or misapplication of the policy, that they are entitled to restitution for their legitimate damages, economic and suffering. I believe the cost to the system for that is approximately 1% annually of total heathcare spend in the country, based on an article I found. I manage IT development, I am not a lawyer. Do I support govt. run health care? I support healthcare that works for everyone including the poor. I don't believe the CEO at health insurance companies brings much to helping anyone's health, so why should we feel so much better that he makes $5 mill. per year, and not think that its good that someone who was legitimately wronged should not collect anything, because malpractice claims are wrong. Does tort reform go farther in insulating you from high healthcare costs, or does it go farther in guaranteeing that the CEOs get their quarterly bonuses, because there won't be any 'unexpected hits' in any quarter? Post any facts you would like on the topic. Like this: http://cbs2.com/topstories/topstories_story_164143716.html Or this: http://www.aheartylife.com/2006/09/16/woman-dies-of-heart-attack-in-er-waiting-room/
CEO Pay: http://www.everybodyinnobodyout.org/FAQ/datCEOs.htm That's hard to read, but what do those boys do to improve healthcare in the US? Set a broken leg, take your temp, take an XRAY? Do you feel better that they make so many millions per year, but someone legitimately harmed by the system in Texas is now limited to 250K total for pain and suffering? Who does tort reform help the most? My health insurance premiums go up every year in Tex., including the year where our legislature passed 'tort reform', or the CEO guaranteed early retirement plan as I call it. My premiums have never gone down. Why don't the dr. make more money? Why does it goes to CEO's who do nothing for us directly?
Many of these patented drugs have no alternatives that are not also patented. Generics are not always available. I take Zyrtek for my allergies. It is the only product that has ever allowed me to breath normally druing the springtime pollen season. It is bloody expensive and no generic is available. And you may notice that they don't advertise the drugs that have generic equivalents--even if they make generic versions themselves. They advertise the overpriced patented drugs. And they still lobby the doctors to prescribe the patented drugs. I know my doctor always does. My pharmacy switches them to generic whenever they are available at my request.
Why not just be a thief of everything? Why the contradiction? No one will make them if they can't make a living doing it. Thieves hurt everybody.
i dont believe the same rules should apply to information that apply to tangible goods. information isnt scarce in the same sense as other things. your logic applies to most things, including drugs. but not all information. not music or movies, or even encyclopedias. people are happy to provide information for free, for the most part. years ago, you never would have thought people could produce something like a massive encyclopedia (or a huge OS like linux), collectively, for free. but it happens. the free spread of information has helped everyone in these cases. one day i will start a thread on this and discuss it. it is pretty inteeresting, i think things are about to really change in the copyright world.
