Not That I'm Bitter

As you know, I really truly hate my health insurance company. But as you also probably know, most health insurance companies (and let's face it, insurance companies of every kind)--completely suck.

After reading a great article on why there's no problem with frivolous law suits, but instead a simple problem of giving malpractice insurance to shitty doctors who get sued all the time, I wanted to read more.

It turns out that when insurance companies claim they're raising premiums due to rising costs, they are lying through their teeth. The only reason insurance costs rise significantly is when the stock market falls.

You see, insurance companies are all about investments. Yes, investments.

They take your premiums, and they put them in the stock market, and then they get rich. When premiums go up, it's not your fault as they would have you believe. Turns out they don't give a shit about how sick you are or whether or not your house catches on fire. They're playing the stock market with your money, and that's the important thing to their bottom line. Only they can't say that--they have to pretend to care. So they make up bullshit about trial lawyers and frivolous suits and blah blah blah, and meanwhile they're in the back room counting their cash.

If you want to fight back, there's apparently a bunch of people already doing so over at Americans for Insurance Reform. In the mean time, don't ever feel sorry for an insurance company. Don't ever let them trick you into it. Because while you're wondering how you're going to pay for your prescriptions, they're wondering what they should do with their gigantic piles of money.

last updated 2 years ago #

Someone over at Mother Jones read the same story I did, and linked to this article on why the electoral college is bad.

Again, it brings up all the points I did, with a few more thrown in for good measure. The only person I've ever heard defend the Electoral College was a law student whose arguments reeked of constitution-worship. Doesn't anyone realize that ideas should stand and fall on their own merits, and that historical reasons for doing things can become irrelevant over time? Actually, according to that article, about 60% of people do, since that's what percent of Americans are in favor of abolishing the electoral college.

Almost a shock to see that many people get something so simple so right. (Not that I'm cynical).

last updated 2 years ago #

This NY Times Editorial about states dropping out of the electoral college is great. It touches on every point I made in my post (minus the swear words), and then goes on to suggest a course of action that doesn't involve trying to change the constitution. Sweet! If the electoral college is subverted in my lifetime, I will have my faith in humanity restored.

last updated 2 years ago #

When this site was on Blogger, Google just plain didn't index it. No matter what I typed in, it wouldn't find the site.

Now, according to my traffic logs, people who search for MDIPA on Google are coming here!

I tried it myself, and I was the second site listed: right after their official company site. Holy cow!

I really hope that people who have a choice between MDIPA and something else will see this site and choose Something Else. Hell, I wish I had, or that I could now.

The other search engine that seems to be hitting this site is MSN search, for searches on Key Bank. It doesn't seem to work with Google.

Again, I just hope that someone considering opening a Key Bank account will check this out and realize they should take their business elsewhere. It pains me to think of an endless stream of college students opening Key Bank accounts in trusting innocence, only to emerge from their undergraduate experience full of hatred and sorrow.

Then again, if no one ever got screwed, no one would ever be bitter.

last updated 2 years ago #

I haven't really written my rant on Airport "Security" yet, but here's a news story about a guy who has decided he's not going to take it any more. It's pretty amazing, you should check it out.

last updated 2 years ago #

Speaking of bitterness, someone actually noticed this site! It got a mention on the Infogami blog, and on the Javacript wiki sidebar. Crazy!

In other news, I added an entry about MDIPA that I think is fun.

I also stuck a counter on this site, to see if anyone is actually coming here to soak up all the bitter. Back at Blogger, people could leave comments on my entries, but that's not a feature that's been implemented here yet, so for now I'll just have to get feedback the hard way.

last updated 2 years ago #

The NTIB website, formerly hosted by Blogger at wwww.nothatimbitter.blogspot.com, has been moved to its new home at the fantastic notthatimbitter.infogami.com. Stay tuned for more bitterness!

last updated 2 years ago #