A few random links

[yendi]

1. Since no one reads LJ on the weekend, I'd like to note that I made a joke on Saturday night.

2. Andrew Vachss has the first post I've seen noting that the judge who freed accused child rapist Jerry Sandusky on bail has a huge conflict of interest.

3. Frank Miller finds a place where there are no screaming terrorists.

4. Comic fans should read this thorough (and depressing) update/bio on Bill Mantlo. You also might feel like kicking a CIGNA employee in the crotch after reading it (CIGNA, of course, will argue that they were just following procedure. You know, like Joe Paterno just followed procedure.)

5. Although the blog's in French, there are some great entries here showing themes and tropes in movie posters.

Comments

[jeff-morris.livejournal.com]

Dammit, you found it first. :)

Also, my wife, who is an employee of CIGNA, points out that it's not necessarily CIGNA who's being the prick here. Far more likely in her experience that it's the company who's contracted to CIGNA for the coverage, which I think was the Legal Aid people, who are trying to find a way to weasel out.

I know this because she reamed the hell out of me the other day when I mentioned this. :)

[yendi]

Heh. I'll admit enough ignorance to not want to guess where the exact amount of blame lies, but I don't notice CIGNA doing much to protest their decision or shift the blame here. That said, it's hard to know the context in which the interviews were conducted.

[yendi]

(That said, since I'm not married to a CIGNA employee, it's a little easier for me to point fingers.)

[jeff-morris.livejournal.com]

CIGNA most likely has no idea who Bill Mantlo is, so why protest? The article even concedes:

CIGNA, by all accounts, did not act abberantly or in contradiction with its own procedures. It abided by the contractual obligations of Bill’s policy language, even if it did appear to pursue its claims management aggressively. Everything Bill Mantlo went through, from his acute care through his various rehabilitations, reflect the inner workings of a healthcare delivery system that functioned according to its design. This is not a case of the system breaking down, Mike believes. It is a case of a system designed to deliver results not all feel are just.

I'm not terribly impressed by the fact-checking in the article, honestly. Guy seems to think he has a moral right to patient information.

[yendi]

Oh, I certainly didn't mean to imply I saw it as an exception; that's part of the problem. Mantlo is getting fucked by a broken system, and to CIGNA, he was just a number. As he would have been to Aetna, Blue Cross, etc. But it's a broken system that the industry hasn't shown any inclination to fix (and why would they, from an free market point of view? Which, mind you, is about the last POV I'm inclined to take in almost any situation, but obviously the operating idea here).

[jeff-morris.livejournal.com]

Let's not forget that trying to fix the healthcare system is akin to supporting Islamic socialism.

That's very important.

[yendi]

Homosexual Islamic socialism, to be precise.

[phantom_wolfboy]

I've known of the Mantlo situation for a while, and it depresses the fuck out of me. He wrote some of my favourite comics.

[yendi]

Ditto.

[captain18.livejournal.com]

I loved ROM ever since I was a kid, to the point of collecting the whole series. I was tickled to find someone even scanned the entire run.

It's a horrible situation, but an interesting one for having been written for an insurance journal.

[yendi]

Yeah, I was also a huge ROM fan as a kid. Cheesy, but a fun book.

[captain18.livejournal.com]

I remember being creeped out by #47 when the Dire Wraiths are effectively reborn.

[cissa.livejournal.com]

Insurance company profits are made by denying care to their subscribers. That is the only way in which they can make money. And since profits have to rise every quarter, for-profit insurance companies deny more covered care every quarter. This is necessary for their Wall Street success (and for the huge salaries/bonuses the execs get- including the execs that are directly responsible for saying "No, we're not going to cover that care for one of our subscribers". Conflict of interest much?).

[yendi]

*nod* It's a problematic business model, even moreso than the extended version of gambling insurance started as.