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1. Comment - The fallacy of Facebook privacy

   (Nov 26, 2009 - 11:48 PM)

   I fail to see how, just because it's "their money" and the other clients pay the premiums, the insurer automatically "has all the right".
   
   Your entire argument is based on an uninformed, biased and frankly somewhat bigoted notion of what the diagnosis of "depression" means. (In fact, your argument about her deserving what she got sounds almost identical to Levy's above). The problem is that your (and the insurer's and Levy's) subjective opinion, formed on the fly without a basis in any kind of further investigation aside from glancing at a few photos, is a far cry from being conclusive. And if you give the insurer the right to make these kind of snap decisions without being able to back them up with anything more concrete than a few vacation photos, it is a slippery slope.
   
   As to your point about her driving up premiums: You're whining about this under the assumption that she's faking it, that she's playing the system. Again, no proof. But forget her, just imagine for one half of a split second that you actually *get sick* and need to cash in on that investment you've been paying to the insurer all these years. But they won't give you a cent, citing some vague, unsubstantial reason. Maybe then you wouldn't feel as sympathetic toward the insurer and towards the other people whose premiums you were so worried about being driven up.
   
   It's just as I said in my earlier post: Yes, a few people always take advantage of the system. That's unfortunately the way all systems work. Certainly, there are criminals who get out of penalties for committing crimes, for instance, because the law specifies "innocent until proven guilty", in order to protect the vast majority. Likewise, the vast majority of people who claim they are sick, really are sick! (shocking I know.) They deserve protection from being cut off, just when they need help the most.

2. Comment - The fallacy of Facebook privacy

   (Nov 26, 2009 - 5:05 PM)

   "It's hard to tell who's right and who's wrong in a case like this. And in virtually all respects, it simply doesn't matter. Manulife drew its own conclusions based on the evidence available to it through social media. Whether it's justified or not is almost irrelevant. Merely the whiff of impropriety in a social media posting is often enough to prompt an employer, an insurer, or some other class of protagonist to pull the plug."
   
   You have got to be kidding. This is exactly why we need better laws to protect us from this kind of bulls***. No insurer should have the right to withdraw coverage based on *anything* other than a change of diagnosis on the part of the doctor. Period. No insurer should have the right to fire someone *for no reason* unless they can actually prove that 1) the person actually did something to deserve it, or 2) the company is in dire financial straits.
   
   Yes, there will always be people taking advantage of the system, getting insurance or staying employed when they shouldn't be, but the risk of that is far outweighed by the risk of abuse from above if there is no oversight.

3. Comment - Harris Poll: More Americans own HD DVD consoles than Blu-ray

   (Jun 20, 2009 - 9:52 AM)

   In other news, 90% of the people claiming to own an "HD DVD" player have no idea what "HD DVD" really means....

4. Comment - The end of an era as AOL officially retires Netscape

   (Jun 20, 2009 - 9:51 AM)

   Winamp 5.5 rules!
   
   That is all.