About a decade before Danny was born, many if not most employers provided only catastrophic coverage. The switch to more complete coverage was gradual and I think temporally coincided with the advent of HMOs.

Having a universal program that covers catastrophes and basic preventative care, while leaving other forms of care as an economic decision for the consumer, seems like a rational plan. But not a rational plan that has any chance of getting through Congress, because the public is still under the delusion that every man, woman and child is somehow entitled to receive $10000 worth of care at $5000 cost.

That said… I’m waiting for iPad 2.0 (or at least 1.5) – I’ve been burned by 1st-generation Apple devices enough. On top of that, for at least a few months most of the apps will be either straight iPhone apps enlarged, or marginally fixed up for the larger screen, not rethought for the iPad. Simply designing an iPhone app to be resolution-independent isn’t nearly enough; most apps will require an interface rethinking to really take advantage of the options the extra real estate allows, and that’ll probably take time to get right.

Eventually I’ll probably get one and use it 95% as an ebook reader — but what I’m most excited about isn’t checking my email on the couch or reading books on the bus, it’s the possibilities for music creation. With a little hardware add-on, this thing could become the best travel four-track recorder for musicians in its price range, and/or the niftiest MIDI control interface in recent history. I mean, slap a few inputs and outputs into the 30-pin jack and you could have a Korg Kaoss Pad no problem.

For example this is not this.