health insurance again

Borrowed from this post, which points to this Economist article.

In a nutshell, the various health-insurance plans floating around Capitol Hill right now are getting more complicated by the day, as various Congressbeings add ad hoc amendments to address particular concerns that other Congressbeings have raised. The result is likely to be so bizarre and complex that nobody really understands it except the lobbyists and insurance executives who stand to benefit the most from nobody else understanding it.

There are alternatives: in 2006 the Netherlands passed a beautifully simple, though not single-payer, system that addresses all the major requirements.

what is it today?

We've lived in this house for almost eight years, and I think I've gotten one phone call offering to clean my chimney. I just got two such phone calls, from two different companies (at least they claim to be two different companies, and they quote different prices) within an hour.

Of course, the weather has started getting cool, so we ought to have it done before turning on the furnace for the winter.