Stuff, and more stuff, and then webcomic stuff

[dorchadas]

I don't understand how insurance repricing works. I got a bill for around $800 from the doctor today. Okay, not surprising, he's a specialist. What was surprising is how far down insurance reduced it: $180. That's to $180, not by $180. And most of my bills are like that. Either health care is obscenely overpriced and only people with good insurance are getting anything remotely approaching a fair price, or my doctor is going to go bankrupt.

It's probably the former.

I saw 300 tonight. It was, in a word, badass. If you took pure badass, and let it ferment for a while, and distilled it into celluloid, and then wrote on it with a brush made of awesome it would still not be as badass as 300 was. I can kind of see how people could see it as slightly racist, or as a right-wing power fantasy, but I don't think it's something most movie-goers either wouldn't pick up on, or wouldn't care out. Perhaps they should...but oh well. THIS! IS! SPARTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

So, webcomics. What makes webcomics so awesome? Probably the fact that they're unbound by syndication rules and most of them don't make any money, despite what their writers might want. Anyway, I just know that webcomics have raised the bar high enough that most of the comics in the paper are unfunny trash to me currently. I've found some--like Zombie Hunters--that are great, but which would never make it in a normal newspaper.

I've been thinking about making one, but I can't draw worth crap. I might be better at it than keeping a on writing a story. Speaking of, I need to finish my NaNo...

Comments

[jdcohen.livejournal.com]

That's because Frank Miller is a right-wing power fantasy. Actually, more like a libertarian power fantasy, but who's counting?

What I'D like to know is what happened to his idea to make a Batman comic about capturing Osama Bin Laden?

--Jeff

[dorchadas]

Shot: Osama bin Laden lying on the ground, looking up at the shadowy figure looming over him.

Osama: "American devil! Who...who are you?"

Shot: Close up of Batman's face, silhouetted against the moonlight. Only his eyes are visible.

Batman: "I'm the goddamn Batman"

[nytesenvy.livejournal.com]

so insurance pricing:

it depends on your plan but usually it works like this

actual bill total: 800
what insurance, due to your coverage, thinks they should have to pay: 620.00
what insurance, due to your coverage, thinks you should have to pay:180.00

because of your deductible policy what you actually pay: $0

its a matter of percentages and the term "fair and reasonable"

[desh]

Yeah, anyone without insurance (or people with out-of-network coverage) is on the hook for a much, much more expensive rate. I can't figure out how it's legal. But this is market forces at work: when people with good health insurance never see the "real" cost (whether "real" is overinflated or not), there's no market incentive to keep it down.