What is a Person Anyway?

            When you break it down, and I mean really break it down, what constitutes a person. There is of course the physical body, but that is pretty easily described as a collection of organs dynamically reacting to various stimuli. But then there is the brain. The brain is, of course, still an organ, and it still reacts to stimuli. But we cannot predict the outcome like we can with other organs. It blurs the lines of simply reacting, by the veil of what we call consciousness.

By contrast, take the heart. When the body begins exerting greater than usual energy, the heart is presented with stimuli that cause it to react. The heart responds by beating faster to provide greater blood flow, and ultimately more oxygen. The heart behaves predictably in this way. The heart is not assessing the situation and weighing its options in order to determine the best course of action. The heart is not concerned with outcomes. The heart is simply reacting to stimuli based on how it was “programmed.” Programmed being a metaphor for the evolution of organs to include specific combinations and arrangements of cells such that energetically driven chemical reactions result in evolutionarily favored outcomes.

But the brain is different, you say. The brain does weigh options and consider outcomes and that is what leads to interpersonal differences within humanity. But what if it is not. What if everything the brain does is predictable just like the heart, lungs, and every other organ. Think about the heart again. The heart can be conditioned. If you engage in aerobic exercise for sixty minutes a day, five days a week for five years, your heart will physically change and beat more efficiently. The way it responds to the same stimuli from five years ago will be different due to its conditioning. The brain is no different. The brain can be conditioned. In fact, the brain is apt to be conditioned, and even small changes can result in noticeable intrapersonal differences.

So maybe the brain is still just reacting to stimuli in a predictable manner, but individual brains are just too different from one another, or even from themselves just five minutes ago, that we cannot figure out the equation. So, what is a person really, but a collection of conditioned organs dynamically reacting to various stimuli… exactly as they have been “programmed” to do.

-AMS

Medication is Expensive. Health Insurance is Expensive. You get to pay for Both

            Based on recent experiences, I noticed two things that seem to make sense until you think about them both together. Let me explain. In the United States we have health insurance, money we pay to a company, so that in the event of an illness, that company will cover our health expenses, which in today’s market can be almost comically excessive. Given these massive expenses, and that fact that the U.S. economy profit driven, companies implement different tactics to minimize their costs. Larger companies are able to negotiate reduced rates on the premise that they will encourage (read: refuse to pay for otherwise) their insurees to use a particular product, service, or provider. While perhaps not morally sound, you have to admit it makes sense from a business stand point. As does a company implementing a copay system, in which insurees must pay at least some portion of their health expense. This seems a bit unfair, as the whole point of insurance is to cover one’s medical costs, but again makes sense economically. People will take just about anything for free, but put at least a small price tag on it, and they’ll weigh their options. Of course, this begins to create problems when the “small” price tag becomes anything but. In summary, people pay for insurance, which then allows them to pay less for healthcare, but they still have to pay something.

            Now, let’s follow some humans down on their luck. One was recently laid off of her job due to budget cuts. She expects to be working again soon, but the next few months will be tight. Another is a single parent of a young child, below school age, and she can only work part time as she cannot afford daycare. Another is a young man of twenty-three, currently working on a master’s degree in laboratory sciences. He is hard working but puts in fifty hours a week toward his degree. These people are all incapable of affording health insurance despite being deserving of it. How do we address this? We have government sponsored healthcare for individuals meeting certain eligibility criteria. Additionally, such plans usually have either no copay, or a very minimal copay, as these individuals clearly have financial barriers. Again, this makes perfect sense. People who deserve healthcare but cannot afford it for a variety of reasons should not be penalized.

            Now here is the part that does not make sense. Let us say that a particular state offers free healthcare coverage for individuals making an annual salary of X dollars or less. Individuals making more than this are expected to obtain their own healthcare, as they can theoretically afford it. Now, imagine a man making $1000 less than that cutoff, and who does not qualify for insurance through his employer. He has free healthcare through the government, and no copay on his medical services and prescriptions. Next year receives a raise putting him at $500 above the cutoff, but still does not qualify for insurance through his employer. He now gets to pay about $300 a month, a copay of about $20 per office visit, about $10 per month for each medication he takes, as well as a variable deductible that could be a couple thousand dollars a year. That’s a hell of a raise he got.

            -AMS

What is a Millennial Anyway?

            You see it all over the news, and especially on whatever you call Fox “news.” Millennials are lazy, self-entitled naïfs who are destroying the fabric of this country with their political correctness. But what is a millennial. Quick name a date range you think describes the millennial generation. It is subjective of course, as generations are general and don’t have rigid defining years, but generally speaking, millennials are considered to have been born between the early 80s and mid to late 90s. Now let’s do some quick math and we’ll see that millennials on the upper end are closer to 40 than 30. Probably not the age you were picturing was it. On the lower end, millennials are able to drink and just finishing up that bachelor’s degree, or at least close to it. Now, for all of those old millennials/young gen Xers out there that want to complain about today’s youth. Feel free. Trust me, we’re saying much worse about you. But at least get your vocabulary straight. Words are important.

            -AMS