universal coverage or dragnet

Being a civil servant and a conscientious bureaucrat, I feel I am a bit spoiled when it comes to entitlements like health care coverage.  I complain about the quality and speed of reimbursement, at least in a strictly theoretical sense since I fortuneately have never had occasion to make a claim against my policy and that's mostly just commiseration with those who have been at the mercy of insurers' schedules.  I realize, however, that most others would be happy and grateful to have a plan like this, subsidized by the US government--at least until last week.

I  hope this new reform act, which also has a clever proviso that's not been talked up much that better defines SallieMae as a quasi-government agency and culls predatory lenders from the student loan process, guarantees at least these baseline standards for everyone.  One special case, however, I do wonder about would apply to this corps of us diplomats, ambassadors of red tape--I get worn down by the fact that in this job, one is not allowed or encouraged many times to be smart or helpful but the exact opposite and most of the end-products of government work is of the same ilk.  Before (at least, last week) one was allowed to drop this relatively gracious insurance package if due to what's called a "life event."  If I became eligible for insurance under the German system--or chose to go route, I would be able to opt out.  Am I still allowed to do so, and what of those already under German Krankenversicherung?  Or does that now take a full and complete renunciation.

cute interlude or the rites of Spring

The online German cultural magazine The Local (auch auf englisch) has an adorable montage of zoo babies.  This website is great to browse through from time to time for human interest and off-beat articles that usually aren't part of mainstream translation.

there's a lake of stew and soda-pop too and you can paddle all around in a big canoe

On Sunday, Obama pushed through the much simonized the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act, and I have hope that this is a good thing for America.  A lot of compromise and negotiation went into this and are still to come, surely there are more to come with Senate input.  I just hope that this does not go the way of other recent, historic overhauls like the Department of Homeland Security or Rumsfeld's mad-bomber approach to reforming the civil service system with NSPS (National Security Personnel System), which is now being rescinded or the half a dozen changes of nomenclature promulgated by the Ministry of Revisions.  One can read the full text from the Library of Congress here.
There has been a virtual landslide of commentary on both sides.  Here is a bit of point/counterpoint.  First Reuter's News Services issued this fact box with a timeline.

...WITHIN THE FIRST YEAR

-Insurance companies will be barred from dropping people from coverage when they get sick.  Lifetime coverage limits will be eliminated and annual limits are to be restricted.
-Insurers will be barred from excluding children for coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
-A temporary reinsurance program is created to help companies maintain health coverage for early retirees between 55 and 64.
-Medicare drug beneficiaries who fall into the "doughbut hole" coverage gap will get a $250 rebate...
WHAT HAPPENS IN 2011
-Employers are required to disclose the value of health benefits of employees' tax returns...
There is a virtual landslide of commentary on both sides, and here is a little bit of point/counterpoint.

Investors' Digest Daily has issued the counter-argument:
-You are young and don't want health insurance?  You are starting up a small business and need to minize expenses, and one way to do that is to forego personal insurance?  Tough.  You have to pay $750 per annum for that "privilege."
-Health insurance companies will no longer be able to underwrite on the basis of a person's health status.
-Health insurers will no longer be able to offer policies that do not cover preventive services or offer them cost sharing, despite customer wishes.
-As a hospital administrator, you can only expand your facility if and only if it is located in a county whose population has grown 150% in the last five years proportionally to the population of the surrounding state.
-Employers can no longer offer flexible spending plans, even if that's what the worker wants.

H and I talked about these developments a little bit, and suspects that German who abandon its social healthcare system, if they could get away with it, no matter how equitable it is.  I just hope there is some convergent evolution on the part of America.

orange, lemon, cherry, lime

Coinciding with United Nations Water Day, astronomers report that water on the Moon, like water under the ocean, comes in more than one flavour.  There was also some spectacular magic-lantern images of glacial formations on Mars, ice walls hewn to pristine artic craters, courtesy of the Daily Mail.

playbill

The UK Independent has a swank article on the revitalization of the graphic arts--that film posters do not have to tow a specific, formulaic line and can be creative and evocative without cramming in the static contents of the beta version of the trailers or credits over some windswept plain or cast cameo.  The article also points to this brillant artist who has meshed 80's movies with pulp fiction style book jackets, which I have blogged about several times before.  Advertisements and concert posters were quite creative little bundles and there's no call for marketing to be boring or painfully cogent and transparent.

spring funk

For this past week, I've not felt motivated to take much advantage of the nicer weather, and H told me about a phenomenon called Frühjahrsmüdigkeit, Spring time tiredness--like a seasonal affective disorder.  I've just been sleepy, and although warmer and squandrons of migrating water fowl are overhead, the sun is still conspicuously absent and threatens prolonged periods of rain.