Credit Cards
 

We are in complete agreement on that score. I think that where bankruptcy reform is really needed is a uniform exemption, and stricter rules about restricting discharge for credit that is obtained shortly prior to filing. I also think that asset protection trusts, either domestic or foreign, are abusive as well.

Wow
 

Wasn't it you who, just last week, was firml rminding some poster that certain things said between posters are not meant for general distribution?

Credit Cards
 

Of course you have bargaining power with the providers, and you should use it when you come in with a concussion and go to a different hospital if the one you are at won't give you the services at the price you want (i.e., the amount your insurer will reimburse). While I'm being sarcastic about the concussion thing to point out that this is one service it is difficult to bargain about, I'm serious about the bargaining. A lot of doctors I see lately have signs up saying that some insurers do not reimburse the full amout of the charges, and that the patient will be responsible for any amounts not reimbursed.

If you want everything covered, go with an HMO not and indemnity or whatever it's called.

Wow
 

Answer me this. Is it ever possible that something that happens in country 1 could effect country 2, without there being a direct, uninterrupted causal connection?

Wow
 

Yes, of course.

Credit Cards
 

You're mistaken as to what you contracted for. It's your *reasonable* health care costs. Nothing prevents you from paying more for additional services.

Credit Cards
 

Just adding that the word "reasonable" is specifically and explicitly defined in the contract.

Credit Cards
 

I'm sure it's on the front page in large print, too.

Wow
 

Well you seem to suggest that unless we can draw a straight, uninterrupted line between the events in Iraq and the events in Lebannon/Syria, it is laughable to suggest that one had any effect on the other.

And IMO, it is not just limited to the events in Iraq. It's also the President's general themes of freedom and democracy which he has repeated over and over again, and the events in Ukraine, Afganistan, Israel/Pali, Egypt (though I recognize these are very modest), and other places.

Wow
 

Actually, there is a good chance Assad would lose Syria if he loses Lebanon. Economically, Syria is dependent on it. Geopolitically, Syria would become completely surrounded by generally pro-American states.

Wow
 

I've already suggested that I think our invasion of Iraq has had an effect on Lebanon. It's just not the effect that you seem to be advocating. And it's not the January election there, it's our willingness to use force to remove a leader we don't like and the presence of our troops on Syria's eastern border.

I think it takes a naif to think that sporadic happy talk from Bush about the importance of freedom and democracy has had much of anything to do with developments in Afghanistan, Ukraine, or Israel & Palestine. Egypt I'll grant you, but I'm not convinced that it means anything -- I think Mubarak is betting that he can make a couple cosmetic changes and our attention will move on to something else. We'll see. An election in which the largest opposition party is not permitted to run is not much of an election.

Oh, and you forgot Bolivia.

Wow
 

Heh. Heh, heh. That's pretty thin, Club. What you say has been true for oh, about 49 days.

For that matter, al Qaeda was in Afghanistan as guests of the Afghan government -- so that doesn't say much.

S_A_M

What Bias?
 

Does the same skepticism apply to the finding that Club cited?

Quite a few.

But I wouldn't trade an American teenager's life for an Iraqi school, so I don't see the driving need to be "even-handed" on that coverage.

Non-technical article on health care for Wanker, bilmore and Burger
 

Non-technical article on health care for Wanker, bilmore and Burger
 

I wonder if there might be a valid legal argument that, when you're carried into an E-room for E-care, and you truly can't drive to the "approved" facility, the charges, no matter how high (as long as they are the facility's usual charges) are per se "reasonable" and thus fully payable by your insurer.