Sep. 16th, 2008

furrbear: (FreeBSD Daemon)
There's a new biggest known RSA modulus. It is (in hexadecimal notation):

FF...(total of 9289166 F's)...FFDFF...(total of 1488985 F's)...FF800...(total of 9289165 0's)...001

It is guaranteed to be the product of two different large primes, and it has more than 80 million bits. Impressive security...
furrbear: (Screwed by an Elephant)
From Medscape (Registration req'd): Prajwal Ciryam, second-year MD/PhD student at Northwestern University and Co-Founding Member of Health Care for All Illinois, explains why an American single-payer system is right for US. It would certainly do a lot to catch the US up with most of the rest of the "developed world" in terms of health care for its citizens.
A Market for Compassion: Single-Payer Health Insurance

Prajwal Ciryam, MSII
Medscape J Med. 2008;10(9):208. ©2008 Medscape
Posted 09/05/2008

When the ethics and the economics of major public policy agree, we ought to pay attention. House Resolution 676 promises to create a single-payer health insurance system to provide expanded and improved Medicare for all Americans.[1] It will insure everyone, and unlike many competing proposals, it could actually work.

In a single-payer system, the government will fund health insurance, but private providers will continue to deliver care. Economies of scale will save the money to make this possible. Many Americans, including Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, concede that single-payer insurance is probably our most efficient option.[2] But they worry that it lacks the spirit of the American market. Nothing could be further from the truth.

A single-payer system will harness the market's strengths while addressing its limitations. The private health insurance market is inefficient, bloated by advertising, duplicated bureaucracies, dividends, and executive compensation. What's worse, insurance policies are so complex and individuals' future needs so unpredictable that consumers cannot make the informed selections that induce competition between insurers.

However, consumers can create competition among healthcare providers. This is paramount because patients need the best healthcare, not the best middlemen to pay for it. Currently, providers are insulated from competition because private insurers often restrict coverage to select physicians. In addition, the 47 million uninsured Americans[3] have little impact on the market. A single-payer system will give all consumers the power of choice and open all healthcare providers to the effects of consumer decisions.

Single-payer works because of the efficiency of specialization. The government will manage the paperwork and private entities will provide the care. Adam Smith would be proud.

So if you believe in the market, ask your congressman to support HR 676. Together, we can restore common sense and common decency to American healthcare.

That's my opinion, I'm Prajwal Ciryam, a second-year MD/PhD student in the Medical Scientist Training Program at Northwestern University and a Co-Founding Member of Health Care for All Illinois.


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