Before the disease. Before the War. Before everything went so horribly wrong. ( Read more... )
Mar. 31st, 2015
Before the disease. Before the War. Before everything went so horribly wrong. ( Read more... )
The Enduring Myth Of Cost Shifting
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By Wendell Potter
Health insurance executives and lobbyists have for years told us that one of the main reasons they charge us so much for coverage is the cost shifting that results from Uncle Sam’s stinginess.
The story goes like this: hospitals are paid so inadequately by government programs like Medicare and Medicaid that they have to charge private insurers more to keep their doors open.
One of the regular communicators of this theory is Karen Ignagni, CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans, the industry’s biggest PR and lobbying group.Ignagni pushed this line incessantly during the health care reform debate. She even cited it in response to a question about why the industry was so opposed to the creation of a government-run “public option” health plan.
“What we have is a significant amount of cost shifting because the government underpays,” she said. “Our [premium] rates are higher as a result of that. If you set up a public structure, whatever you call it, and it has the benefit of government rates, we are still being disadvantaged because of the cost shifting.”
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Twenty years ago this week, Tommy Boy hit theaters (and that deer). While it was never a critical smash, the film has amassed a cult following thanks to its star, Chris Farley. To celebrate 20 years of that son of a–, let’s look back on things you may not know about the movie.
Tommy Boy has a 3rd Rock from the Sun connection.

[Photo Credit: NBC]
Rob Lowe, one of the movie’s stars, is uncredited.

[Photo Credit: Paramount]
Chris Farley and David Spade got into a bro fight over Rob Lowe.

[Photo Credit: Paramount]
“Chris was actually jealous of Rob Lowe,” Spade said. “He admitted it later. That’s probably why I’m not married now; my first experience didn’t work out.”
Farley was sober the whole time he shot the movie.

[Photo Credit: Paramount]
Chris Farley’s tragic addictions took him at only 33 years old. But while making this movie, he was sober, says director Peter Segal. And he drank a LOT of coffee on set.
David Spade’s hair was all David Spade.

[Photo Credit: Paramount]
OK, maybe not in this scene, but the rest of the movie. He wouldn’t let the film’s stylist work on his hair. That’s why it’s so unkempt.
Roger Ebert was not a fan.

[Photo Credit: Getty]
Want to know how life went for Tommy Boy Callahan? Just watch 50 First Dates.

[Photo Credit: Happy Madison]
[Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures]
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No wonder Pence didn't want the signing ceremony done in public, or that Pence refused to identify these guys to the press when the photo became public.
via Towle Road
Indiana Governor Mike Pence told George Stephanopoulos that SB101, the "religious freedom" bill he signed into law, is not about anti-gay discrimination.
Yet when he signed it, as the graphic above so helpfully points out, he was surrounding by several men, Micah Clark, Curt Smith, and Eric Milled, who have been working for years to demonize gays and lesbians.
When asked by the Indianapolis Star who the lobbyists in this photo are, Pence refused to identify them.
Mike Pence is a liar out to destroy the state of Indiana with his anti-gay animus.
(graphic by @seamonkey237 based on GLAAD cap by Jeremy Hooper)