Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Reminder: Next Cafe Philo in New York City next month (1/14/2010): "What does society owe the individual?"

Just a reminder that due to the holidays Cafe Philo in New York City will not meet this week, so the next discussion meeting will occur on Thursday, January 14, 2010. The discussion topic will be "What does society owe the individual?"

I will likely continue to be the guest moderator until Bernard Roy feels up to resuming his moderator role. Bernard has attended most of our recent meetings as a participant.

There were 6 diehards in attendence two weeks ago who managed to overcome holiday distractions and the cold weather for a lively and interative disscussion of "What is money?"

Catch up on preparatory online discussions in the Yahoo! group for Cafe Philo NYC.

As usual, the meeting will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the back room at Bamiyan Restaurant (Afghan food) at the northwest corner of Third Avenue and 26th Street in New York City. In exchange for free meeting space, it is expected that each attendee will purchase a minimum of $5 of food or drink. A glass of red wine costs $6.

There are also usually some number of attendees who go across the street to McCormack's Bar for drinks and food and extended discussion after Cafe Philo, but not limited to the scheduled discussion topic.

There are a number of small groups in the U.S. and Europe who meet regularly to discuss topics related to philosophy. Some of these groups go by the name "Cafe Philo." There is one here in New York City that meets every two weeks, every other Thursday. It is organized and moderated by Bernard Roy, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Ramapo College of New Jersey. Each meeting focuses on a specific topic which was suggested and voted on by the participants at the last meeting.

Also, there is an online discussion forum for the NYC Cafe Philo at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nycafephilo/

There is also a new web site for NYC Cafe Philowww.nycafephilo.org.

I have been attending the NYC Cafe Philo off and on since 2004. Previously I had attended the Cafe Philo in Washington, D.C. starting in 2001.

-- Jack Krupansky

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Next Cafe Philo in New York City next month (1/14): "What does society owe the individual?"

Cafe Philo in New York City is taking a brief hiatus due to the holidays, so the next discussion meeting will occur on Thursday, January 14, 2010. The discussion topic will be "What does society owe the individual?"

I will likely continue to be the guest moderator until Bernard Roy feels up to resuming his moderator role. Bernard has attended most of our recent meetings as a participant.

There were 6 diehards there this past Thursday who managed to overcome holiday distractions and the cold weather for the disscussion of "What is money?"

Catch up on preparatory online discussions in the Yahoo! group for Cafe Philo NYC.

As usual, the meeting will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the back room at Bamiyan Restaurant (Afghan food) at the northwest corner of Third Avenue and 26th Street in New York City. In exchange for free meeting space, it is expected that each attendee will purchase a minimum of $5 of food or drink. A glass of red wine costs $6.

There are also usually some number of attendees who go across the street to McCormack's Bar for drinks and food and extended discussion after Cafe Philo, but not limited to the scheduled discussion topic.

There are a number of small groups in the U.S. and Europe who meet regularly to discuss topics related to philosophy. Some of these groups go by the name "Cafe Philo." There is one here in New York City that meets every two weeks, every other Thursday. It is organized and moderated by Bernard Roy, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Ramapo College of New Jersey. Each meeting focuses on a specific topic which was suggested and voted on by the participants at the last meeting.

Also, there is an online discussion forum for the NYC Cafe Philo at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nycafephilo/

There is also a new web site for NYC Cafe Philowww.nycafephilo.org.

I have been attending the NYC Cafe Philo off and on since 2004. Previously I had attended the Cafe Philo in Washington, D.C. starting in 2001.

-- Jack Krupansky

Government subsidy of catastrophic health care costs

Sure, maybe the proposed health insurance reform may finally be enacted early next year, but its not too soon to start thinking about how to address issues beyond the superficial issues addressed in this first phase of health insurance reform. The issue that seems most intractable to me is how to deal with the cost of catastrophic health crises. Private health insurance can easily cope with the full range of "normal" health contingences that most people run into during their daily lives, things like flu, broken bones, pregnancy, contagious disease, even heart attacks. Health insurance companies, just like life insurance companies, can gather and study detailed historical actuarial data and reasonably project potential expenses and set premiums to cover those projected expenses plus a moderate profit. The problem comes on three fronts: 1) catastrophic health crises, 2) severe chronic conditions, and 3) end of life care. The basic problem is that the costs of all three can be so high and so unpredictable that no mere mortal (let alone an insurance company) can forecast what the "reasonable" cost should be on average so that it can be fully funded from normal premiums without either a high risk of financial ruin for the insurance company or excessively high premiums for "normal" people - the latter being what most people are experiencing today. My solution is to put a reasonable upper-end cap on such expenses, with the federal government covering the excess costs, and insurance companies and insurees would pay a moderate premium amortized over all insurees of all insurance companies to cover a sizable portion of the excess costs, and to do it in a way that is predictable enough that insurance companies have no excuse for "fat" premiums simply to compensate them for the extra risk that were taking before. This also eliminates the motivation for insurance companies to refuse to insure high-risk individuals or those with pre-existing conditions, and to do it in a way that doesn't put upwards pressure on premiums or that encourages them to seek compensation elsewhere in the business in a way that has negative consequences for insurees.

In addition, the federal government might also contract out private reinsurance to cover a sizable fraction of excess catastrophic health care costs. Putting it simply, ask Warren Buffett what piece of that reinsurance business he would want (since that is a business he is already in) and use that as a guideline. The federal government and taxpayers would have to eat the rest. Congress and government health care agencies would be responsible for trying to keep such costs down, but at least insurees would no longer have to fight with the insurance companies over such costs.

End of life care can be extremely expensive, especially as people live longer and with more underlying chronic conditions, and as new medical technology and new treatments tend to add to costs by keeping people with chronic conditions alive even longer. There is no way to reasonably expect that private insurance companies can take on the totality of these costs without passing them along as dramatic increases in the health insurance premiums of  average and healthy individuals. Better to set an average end-of-life cost that insurance companies and health insurance premiums should cover, and then "lay off" the excess to the federal government, which would then amortize the cost over all taxpayers and then somehow proportion that amount between tax revenues and higher insurance premiums.

There is also the issue of "older" persons who are now within "striking distance" of end of life. There simply are not enough years left until the insurance company needs to expect that on average such persons will start incurring end of life expenses. We still want there to be a significant financial incentive for private insurance companies to offer insurance coverage to such individuals for all "normal" health expenses, but not have either the insuree or the insurance company take on some impossible financial burden. The insuree should continue to pay "normal" insurance (same as an early middle-aged person, say 40 years old), with the federal government and private reinsurance covering 100% of all excess health care costs, both end of live and the incremental increase of health care costs expected due to being past "prime" health stage of life. This should address outrageously high health insurance premiums for those over 50.

A similar model is needed for pre-existing conditions and for those who are "at risk". Maybe part of the overall premiums collected by a health insurance company need to be "mandated" to specifically target subsidy of those two categories so that their premiums can remain "normal" at no loss to the insurance company. This should be done based on real actuarial data, with government subsidy beyond "reasonable" expenses. So, for example, if the sum of all chronic condition treatment costs exceeds a mandated fraction of total premiums collected by that insurance company, the government begins to pick up the tab for the excess for new insurees so that there is no financial disincentive for the insurance company to turn down pre-existing conditions or those at risk.

-- Jack Krupansky

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Cafe Philo in New York City tonight: "What is money?"

The discussion topic for Cafe Philo in New York City, tonight, Thursday, December 17, 2009, is "What is money?".

I have been acting as moderator lately. Bernard has been attending recently as a participant, but he is out of town tonight.

Catch up on preparatory online discussions in the Yahoo! group for Cafe Philo NYC.

As usual, the meeting will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the back room at Bamiyan Restaurant (Afghan food) at the northwest corner of Third Avenue and 26th Street in New York City. In exchange for free meeting space, it is expected that each attendee will purchase a minimum of $5 of food or drink. By the way, the room has a great new air conditioner, so it is a welcome oasis on a hot or humid summer day.

There is also usually some number of attendees who go across the street to McCormack's Bar for drinks and food and extended discussion after Cafe Philo, but not limited to the scheduled discussion topic.

There are a number of small groups in the U.S. and Europe who meet regularly to discuss topics related to philosophy. Some of these groups go by the name "Cafe Philo." There is one here in New York City that meets every two weeks, every other Thursday. It is organized and moderated by Bernard Roy, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Ramapo College of New Jersey. Each meeting focuses on a specific topic which was suggested and voted on by the participants at the last meeting.

Also, there is an online discussion forum for the NYC Cafe Philo at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nycafephilo/

There is also a new web site for NYC Cafe Philowww.nycafephilo.org.

I have been attending the NYC Cafe Philo off and on since 2004. Previously I had attended the Cafe Philo in Washington, D.C. starting in 2001.

-- Jack Krupansky

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Laptop overheating problems and solution - Belkin Laptop Cooling Stand

For future reference, if you ever run into laptop overheating problems and don't have a good solution, the solution that has worked for me with my Toshiba notebook PC is the Belkin Laptop Cooling Stand. I bought mine for $29 at BestBuy, but you can get it for $19 on Amazon:

(Note: The Amazon product title refers to it as a "Belkin F5L001 Laptop Cooling Pad", but the detailed description makes clear that it is a "Cooling Stand", meaning mainly that it does have a powerful, built-in, USB-powered fan.)

It adds space under your laptop, has a big cooling fan (USB-powered), and gives your laptop a more ergonomic angle (two choices). It is noisier than an overheating laptop, but it works a lot better than an overheated laptop.

It keeps most of the bottom of the laptop cool to the touch, which is as much as you could hope for. It virtually eliminates the need for the fan inside your notebook computer to run at all.

I almost tried a "cooling pad", but I went for broke to solve my problem. A cooling pad may be fine for some problems and may be better for people who travel a lot and do not want the bulky "stand".

Incidentally, when I traveled last time I had no overheating problem with my notebook PC on the hotel desk. Maybe the hard Formica and construction of the desk and better air flow in the hotel room avoided the problem. So, you may not need the cooling stand when you go on the road even if you need it in your home "office."

For reference, some coming symptoms of laptop overheating:

  • Keyboard "dies"
  • Hard drive "dies"
  • Some keyboard keys "die" or there are "phantom" repeating keystrokes.
  • System slows down and maybe the screen dims

-- Jack Krupansky