When It Makes Sense, It Won't Fly in D.C.

A Web site called Business Insider offers up a thoughtful analysis called "Our Health Care Wish List."

Now, mind you, probably none of the changes suggested in the article will ever be implemented, let alone even seriously discussed in Congress or the White House, but there are some good ideas in the piece.

Let me focus on a couple:

One is to let pharmacists write prescriptions, as is done in Europe (in Mexico, you just walk up to the pharmacy and buy what you want, I hear). What a time- and cost-saving idea. When I had a sore throat last year and knew I needed antibiotics, I had to trudge to the doctor's anyway and let her ring up a $200 office visit. What a waste of time and money. In Europe, I could've gone to the pharmacy and just asked for amoxicillin.

The other proposal is to create mini-doctors, which the article defines as "someone with minimal training," to examine sore throats and infections and treat them at $20 a pop. (Why not just train the pharmacists to do these basic functions?) I've always felt that most doctors' visits could just as easily be handled by nurse practitioners, but as I reconsider the situation, creating a new category like a corpsman in the Navy would be perfect.

I guess I should mention one other proposal--get rid of insurance entirely for the routine stuff and just use insurance for the big-ticket items that require specialized procedures and/or hospital stays--catastrophic insurance, in other words.

Personally, I would have no problem paying for the routine stuff if I could get a catastrophic policy for the price of a small car a month, say a couple of c-bills or so. Of course, bringing down the cost of medicine would help immensely too, but already WalMart and Target have huge lists of drugs they'll sell you for $4 a month or $10 for 90 days. If you can stick to the list, it's cheaper than using your insurance and its co-pay.

But, as I said, none of this will matter once the politicians debate health care reform. Then it will be all about creating government bureaucracies and so-called initiatives. And no one will take on the American Medical Association, so look for high-cost, physician-based insurance to reign from cradle to grave (except for the politicians who will feed off the taxpayers' largesse for free).

When government reforms something, we all end up paying.

They Pay for the Honor to Work at McDonald's

To be honest, I'd never heard of this phenomenon before, so I thought I'd better share it. It seems that young Thai university students pay $3,000 and up to come to the U.S. and work in a fast-food joint for the honor of listing "foreign work experience" on their resumes.

Now, $3,000 in Thai current is a huge sum, but listen to Jiratchaya Intarakhumwong: "Honestly, if I had the money, I'd go back."

Back to what? Jiratchaya and two friends spent the summer cramped in a Best Value Inn, the cost of which wasn't included in the $3,000 work-travel package, and each morning donned McDonald's uniforms and took the shuttle bus to the Pittsburgh International Airport to begin their 6 a.m. minimum-wage shifts.

It paid off. Jiratchaya is now 22, a university graduate, and works as a service representative for the deluxe Sofitel Hotel in Bangkok.

The Thai language book Go Work, Go Study, Go Vacation in America: Don't Think You Can't is part how-to guide, part memoir about a Bangkok college student's stints at McDonald's and Whattaburger franchises in the Florida panhandle.

The author, known only as "Baeya," explains in detail the concept of a "drive-thru," her no-nonsense manager named "Diamond," and the persistent customers who tried to woo her.

"We were all very excited," she wrote of her first day at McDonald's. "I tried to tell myself and all my friends that we don't have to worry. Even if they scold us, we won't understand anyway."

Even former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra once worked at a Kentucky Fried Chicken in the U.S.

Many of the young women report being hit on by farangs, the Thai term for white-skinned foreigners.

Welcome to America, the land of McDonald's--and horny McDonald's customers.

Nice Gig If You Can Get It

Here are (reportedly) the salaries of some of the top health care execs in the nation:

• Ronald A. Williams, Chair/ CEO, Aetna Inc., $23,045,834
• H. Edward Hanway, Chair/ CEO, Cigna Corp, $30.16 million
• David B. Snow, Jr, Chair/ CEO, Medco Health, $21.76 million
• Michael B. MCallister, CEO, Humana Inc, $20.06 million
• Stephen J. Hemsley, CEO, UnitedHealth Group, $13,164,529
• Angela F. Braly, President/ CEO, Wellpoint, $9,094,771
• Dale B. Wolf, CEO, Coventry Health Care, $20.86 million
• Jay M. Gellert, President/ CEO, Health Net, $16.65 million
• William C. Van Faasen, Chairman, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, $3 million plus $16.4 million in retirement benefits
• Charlie Baker, President/ CEO, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, $1.5 million
• James Roosevelt, Jr., CEO, Tufts Associated Health Plans, $1.3 million
• Cleve L. Killingsworth, President/CEO Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, $3.6 million
• Raymond McCaskey, CEO, Health Care Service Corp (Blue Cross Blue Shield), $10.3 million
• Daniel P. McCartney, CEO, Healthcare Services Group, Inc, $ 1,061,513
• Daniel Loepp, CEO, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, $1,657,555
• Todd S. Farha, CEO, WellCare Health Plans, $5,270,825
• Michael F. Neidorff, CEO, Centene Corp, $8,750,751
• Daniel Loepp, CEO, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, $1,657,555
• Todd S. Farha, CEO, WellCare Health Plans, $5,270,825
• Michael F. Neidorff, CEO, Centene Corp, $8,750,751

Now, the people who posted this used it as an argument in favor of single-payer (yup, socialized) health care. I fear that a lot of people in the country these days are using jealousy over other people's pay to advocate for socialization of everything.

Is Major League Baseball next? Obama can make Joe Biden "the czar of sports" to go along with his other meaningless (and unfulfillable) titles.

Personnel Concepts and Its 'Final Notice' Tactic

A firm that markets labor law posters out in California called Personnel Concepts has gained a lot of notoriety, not all of it positive, for its Final Notice campaign.

I've received these marketing pieces in the mail, and they do look a lot like an "official" government notice, which evidently freaks some people out. However, if you look through the letter, it's really just a reminder that you need to stay current with labor law and safety notification requirements. I actually think it's kind of clever--sure got me to open it, anyway.

If anybody has any thoughts on the "Final Notice," please use the comments section. I'd like to hear your experience.

Administration to Protect Those With No Ability

Congress is proposing, and Barack Obama is poised to sign, new legislation called the Americans With No Ability Act (AWNAA) to protect the millions who possess no discernible work skills.

Read all about AWNAA.