Two Unrelated Items

Massive Juice Sets

Yesterday, the Governor of Massachusetts signed that big health care bill. Contrary to the Grey Lady’s coverage, this will not make them “the first [state] to provide health coverage to virtually all of its citizens.” Nope, anybody who calls this “universal health care” is unclear on what the phrase means.

There are two components to this legislation. Part one is that any employer with more than 10 employees who does not provide health benefits to employees will have to pay a fine of $295 per employee per year. Inasmuch as a typical business can easily spend $295 per employee per month on health insurance, I consider this laughable. Raise this fine twelvefold and just maybe it will have the desired effect.

The other major thing this legislation does is impose a tax penalty for Massachusetts citizens who fail to obtain health insurance. You may point out that states already require motorists to have automobile liability insurance; you can get out of that requirement by not owning a car, and last I heard Boston had a decent mass transit system. Nor does this compare to requiring homeowners to have insurance on their homes; that requirement is from the mortgage holder, not the government. The biggest problem is this: the state is requiring citizens to get insurance, but they are not requiring the insurance companies to write policies, and they are not requiring that insurance companies charge affordable rates.

In the end — unless you live or do business in Massachusetts — all you need to know about this bill is that the insurance companies did not oppose it.

I wonder if this bill will be referenced in 2008 as “proof that universal health care doesn’t work.”

What Woz That?

And now for something completely different, a man who loves practical jokes.

Yesterday, Steve Wozniak spoke at the University of Washington to a low-tech crowd. He told fun stories and such. One tale he related involved putting a metronome he had made into a classmate’s locker at school. The incessant tick drove school officials nuts.

Today, he would have been expelled, if not charged with faking a bomb threat. How the world changes.