US health care question

[Admiral Yi]

(CNN) -- Most Congress members conducting town hall meetings this month have chosen a noncombative posture to deal with angry participants who disrupt the proceedings. Not Rep. Barney Frank.


Rep. Barney Frank argues with a man after a town hall meeting Tuesday night in Dartmouth, Massachusetts.

1 of 2  At a lively two-hour meeting Tuesday night in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, Frank gave as good as he got in confronting opponents of overhauling the nation's health care system.

The crowded hall had both supporters and detractors, but the opposing side was much louder and more raucous, booing the Massachusetts Democrat from the moment he was introduced and shouting questions and challenges at him throughout.

"You want me to talk about it or do you want to yell?" he asked over and over when interrupted while trying to answer. Continued shouting brought a sterner rebuke.

"Disruption never helps your cause," he said more than once. "It just looks like you're afraid to have rational discussion."  Watch Frank slam "vile, contemptible nonsense" »

While Frank attempted to respond to all questions, he gave up when one woman compared health care proposals favored by Frank and President Obama to policies of Nazi Germany.

"When you ask me that question, I'm going to revert to my ethnic heritage and ask you a question: On what planet do you spend most of your time?" Frank asked.

"You stand there with a picture of the president defaced to look like Hitler and compare the effort to increase health care to the Nazis," he said, adding such behavior demonstrated the strength of First Amendment guarantees of what he called "contemptible" free speech.

"Trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table," Frank said to the woman. "I have no interest in doing it."

Despite the disruptions, the meeting covered many of the issues of the health care debate, with Frank shooting down rumors that a House health care bill would mandate free insurance coverage for illegal immigrants.

He read from the section of the bill that excludes payments for that purpose, and when another questioner referred to a different section guaranteeing nondiscrimination, Frank pointed out that the first section he read superseded that language.


Some in the crowd applauded, but others booed and shouted. Frank asked why the detractors shouted for him to answer, and when he did, they shouted more.

"What's the matter with you all?" he said. "I don't know if you get angrier when I answer the questions, or when you don't think I do."

[garbon]

What a professional.

[Caliga]

*shrug* I think he gets a pass.  IIRC Barney is a Jew, and comparing Obama to Hitler on a topic like this is crossing the line.

[Admiral Yi]

I give Barney a thumbs up.

[The Minsky Moment]

What a professional.

I agree.  Without the sarcasm.

[Razgovory]

What a professional.

I agree.  Without the sarcasm.

Indeed.  This is what Gays should try to emulate.

[garbon]

I agree.  Without the sarcasm.

How do you know I'm being sarcastic?

[The Minsky Moment]

How do you know I'm being sarcastic?

I don't but I had to cover myself just in case. 

[Razgovory]

I agree.  Without the sarcasm.

How do you know I'm being sarcastic?

Cause you are a one trick pony.

[garbon]

Cause you are a one trick pony.

Oh honey, I've got tricks you've never even dreamed of.

[garbon]

I don't but I had to cover myself just in case. 

I'm of two minds. I hate Barney Frank so some contempt comes unbidden but then what he was confronted with was over the top and offensive, so it is good that he didn't just sit there and take it.

[Razgovory]

Cause you are a one trick pony.

Oh honey, I've got tricks you've never even dreamed of.

I've never had a homoerotic dream before.

[garbon]

I've never had a homoerotic dream before.

Well there you go!

[KRonn]

I saw some of the video of Frank's town hall. He acted like he tries to be so flip, glib and/or condescending with his peers or political opponents, and I think it had the opposite affect on his voters at the town hall. Voters may have gone too far but Frank didn't necessarily help himself out nor conduct an instructive meeting, at least not the parts I saw. However, I'm neutral on it - he'll get re-elected, or not, most likely will. Up to the voters in his district to decide.

Frank is for a government run health care system, single payer. Has said so and hasn't backed down from that. I don't agree with that view but at least he doesn't dance around the question and try to be all things to all people.

[DontSayBanana]

If you run the probabilities of the future medical costs of Iormlund, you will have to compensate an insurance company so that they take in more than those costs. Basically, if an actuary calculates expected costs in the next year of $30k, the premium will be more than $30k (the insurance company needs to eat too). In short, he is uninsurable as a private citizen.

However, if Iormlund had a job at a company with a healthcare plan mandating coverage for everyone and sets premiums for all new entrants, the insurance company will charge far less. That is because adverse selection will be overcome through the mandate for insurance coverage. In a company of 10,000 people, of course some will have expensive medical problems, but an insurance company will be able to distribute individual crises over all employees.

So you think it would be somewhat akin to the way car insurance premiums can be kept down by requiring drivers to have insurance, correct?