Call your hospitalization insurance carrier and, assuming you ever get to talk to a real person, ask this question:
"If Florida actually does cap medical malpractice awards with the intent of lowering the cost of malpractice insurance, which should then lower the cost of medical care (hold your breath) then at what point will my health insurance premiums go down?"
Doesn't seem like such a tough question. That is allegedly the reasoning behind the proposal. When will we start seeing the result on our paycheck stubs? Will it be as effective as seat belt, airbag and motorcycle helmet laws have been in lowering (ahem) auto insurance rates?
Yeah, yeah. We know you will still have to pass along a share of the costs of massive awards in other states not as forward-thinking as Florida, but what if Jeb Bush's big brother gets his way and a nationwide cap goes into effect? How long then? Will this happen in my lifetime?
Also, for fun, call your doctor's office and ask how much the cost of an office visit will come down, and ask the nearest hospital about cutting costs on things like appendectomies, anesthesia, daily room rates and things like that.
Don't expect any definite answers; just avail yourself of the entertainment value in asking the question.
Another question came to mind Wednesday after I read that sheriff's deputies in Roanoke, Va., are investigating allegations that counselors at a 4-H summer camp there arranged fistfights between children ages 9 to 13, charged admission to the brawls and allowed betting.
My question is: Did they have their clothes on?
Did U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-West Palm Beach, demand an investigation?
Foley, you will remember, is the guy running for Senate who became extremely exercised over the fact that Lake Como, a nudist facility in Pasco County, has a summer camp for nudist kids.
My question is, is it more important to demand investigations of places where someone is afraid that something might happen than it is to investigate places where there are allegations that something already did?
You could argue that Virginia isn't Foley's state, but, then again, Lake Como isn't his district, either.
I know it's a sensitive issue.
Just wondering.
And, speaking of sensitive issues, apparently circumcision is one, no pun intended.
I got dozens of letters, ranging from polite and informative to a few from raving, insulting zealots, for saying, and I say it again, that there are more important issues.
Those who form lobbying groups and special interest groups and maintain bulletin boards where anything on the subject is posted (and I assume they do, unless I am suddenly popular and well-read in places like Utah, Oregon and France) apparently spend a lot of time thinking about it.
The column reference, to the state's decision to cut Medicaid funding for the procedure, stated that I, in fact, didn't have any problem with that, and I don't. Circumcision is a surgical procedure done for no apparent health reason to infants unable to express themselves on whether they want it.
But that reference apparently wasn't strong enough for anticircumcision forces, many of whom explained to me that there is no controversy on the subject because theirs is the only possible way of seeing things.
The overall point of the column, and I will make it again for those who missed it, is that there are many more important issues than circumcision: war, medical care, unemployment, homelessness, and the kind of violence that lets someone walk into his workplace and murder people.
You would have thought I had come out in favor of water fluoridation.
