Health care reform with private insurers

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Ezra Klein has a fascinating interview with Kaiser Permanente CEO George Halvorson here (Part one | Part two).

It’s no surprise that he’s not a fan of nationalized single-payor system, but the man makes a good case and he brings up great points. It’s no secret that KP is one of the leading lights in U.S. health care (no snickering!) and if this issue interests you, check out what the man has to say.

Money quote:

The Commonwealth study looked at 5 million claims across a broad population and asked how much care shouldn’t have happened. They concluded that of $2 trillion spent, $500 billion was for the wrong care. Milliman did the same study but asked what would happen if we took the practices of the best medical plans, how much will we save? They got $500 billion.

Randomness for 11/6

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1) Rear Gear! For the easily offended. via Jay Lake

2) “They must be professional house shooters.”

3) Rush Limbaugh: Victim of Racism.

4) Death by anti-science: Iraqi General to use dowsing rods to detect IEDs. From the article: “He is such a believer that the Iraqi military are abandoning proven methods such as sniffer dogs.” This is my unhappy face. via James Nicoll.

5) Hard sales numbers from a NY Times bestselling author.