The health insurance issue is going to come front and center in the next few days, once everyone stops twittering about Iran and notices that the Senate is really hunkering down to attempt to overhaul how health insurance works in this country. One of the main issues is the cost of providing health care, which is enormous, and will cost the government trillions of dollars they don’t have if they decide they are going to provide us all with health care.Facing that predicament, lots of people are talking about how to reduce our health care costs. A great one was written about yesterday in the Wall Street Journal (via Kottke). At Safeway, using an innovative new system that correlates employee behavior with insurance premiums, they have kept their costs flat over the last four years, despite the national average for companies increasing by 38 percent.How does it work? Simple. Be healthy. Pay less. Like car insurance, the amount you pay goes up if you do bad things. Get a speeding ticket, your car insurance goes up. Start smoking, your Safeway health insurance costs go up. This is because Safeway realized that nearly all their health care costs were from a small group of diseases (cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity), and that, in large part, these diseases can be easily mitigated or even prevented by simple changes in lifestyle.So, all Safeway employees are tested annually for tobacco usage, healthy weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels. The healthier you are, the less you pay, and your health is the sole determinant in your premium costs. This is in stark contrast to how most health insurance works, where everyone pays the same amount, and if you are a fat smoker with bad cholesterol and go to the hospital 20 times a year, the healthy non-smoker who gets into a freak accident and has to go to the hospital for the first time in 10 years has to subsidize the costs of all your visits.This is also a perfect free-market approach to getting all of America healthier. Fitting into a bathing suit might be motivation for some, but getting more money in your wallet while shedding pounds would probably motivate a lot more people.What do you think? Would you sign up for health insurance that got cheaper as you got healthier?
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Man’s dog suddenly becomes protective of his wife, Internet clocks the reason right away
The online community came through in a big way.
Reddit user Girlfriendhatesmefor’s three-year-old pitbull, Otis, had recently become overprotective of his wife. So he asked the online community if they knew what might be wrong with the dog.
“A week or two ago, my wife got some sort of stomach bug,” the Reddit user wrote under the subreddit /r/dogs. “She was really nauseous and ill for about a week. Otis is very in tune with her emotions (we once got in a fight and she was upset, I swear he was staring daggers at me lol) and during this time didn’t even want to leave her to go on walks. We thought it was adorable!”
His wife soon felt better, butthe dog’s behavior didn’t change.
Otis knew before they did. Canva Girlfriendhatesmefor began to fear that Otis’ behavior may be an early sign of an aggression issue or an indication that the dog was hurt or sick.
So he threw a question out to fellow Reddit users: “Has anyone else’s dog suddenly developed attachment/aggression issues? Any and all advice appreciated, even if it’s that we’re being paranoid!”
The most popular response to his thread was by ZZBC.
Any chance your wife is pregnant?
ZZBC | Reddit
The potential news hit Girlfriendhatesmefor like a ton of bricks. A few days later, Girlfriendhatesmefor posted an update and ZZBC was right!
“The wifey is pregnant!” the father-to-be wrote. “Otis is still being overprotective but it all makes sense now! Thanks for all the advice and kind words! Sorry for the delayed reply, I didn’t check back until just now!”
Redditors responded with similar experiences.
Anecdotal I know but I swear my dog knew I was pregnant before I was. He was super clingy (more than normal) and was always resting his head on my belly.
realityisworse | Reddit
So why do dogs get overprotective when someone is pregnant?
Jeff Werber, PhD, president and chief veterinarian of the Century Veterinary Group in Los Angeles, told Health.com that “dogs can also smell the hormonal changes going on in a woman’s body at that time.” He added the dog may “not understand that this new scent of your skin and breath is caused by a developing baby, but they will know that something is different with you—which might cause them to be more curious or attentive.”
The big lesson here is to listen to your pets and to ask questions when their behavior abruptly changes. They may be trying to tell you something, and the news may be life-changing.
This article originally appeared last year.
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14 images of badass women who destroyed stereotypes and inspired future generations
These trailblazers redefined what a woman could be.
Throughout history, women have stood up and fought to break down barriers imposed on them from stereotypes and societal expectations. The trailblazers in these photos made history and redefined what a woman could be. In doing so, they paved the way for future generations to stand up and continue to fight for equality.
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Why mass shootings spawn conspiracy theories
Mass shootings and conspiracy theories have a long history.
While conspiracy theories are not limited to any topic, there is one type of event that seems particularly likely to spark them: mass shootings, typically defined as attacks in which a shooter kills at least four other people.
When one person kills many others in a single incident, particularly when it seems random, people naturally seek out answers for why the tragedy happened. After all, if a mass shooting is random, anyone can be a target.
Pointing to some nefarious plan by a powerful group – such as the government – can be more comforting than the idea that the attack was the result of a disturbed or mentally ill individual who obtained a firearm legally.
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