There are so many fronts the United States government is battling in combating the COVID-19 Virus. While there are countries around the world that offered Free COVID-19 testing from the very early stages of the virus spread. The United States delayed the topic to what may seems beyond the last minute. 

While there are plenty of fronts the United States Government is trying to tackle. The biggest may be simply getting people to seek the care they need. The sad truth is that here in the United States there are many people that are simply afraid to get tested and treated. 

Let’s just go over three categories of people that most likely fall in this front. 

The Uninsured

According to the United States Census Bureau in 2018 There were approximately 27.5 million people in the United States without any kind of health insurance. When trying to face an issue like stopping the spread of COVID-19 you also have to stop people for transmitting it.

The Issue

How do you tell someone that cannot afford health insurance to get tested and treated. Time Magazine just came out with a story that shares the cost of what a women was billed for while getting treated for the COVID-19 Virus.

This person was uninsured and received a bill for $34,927.43. 

Even though the US Government is trying to stop the spread as much as it possibly can. It will be Incredibly difficult to convince people that are afraid of even getting test to go get tested and treated.

Even though the Uninsured maybe a difficult front for the government to overcome. There are two other categories of people that may pose an even greater threat to stopping the spread of the virus. 

The Under Insured

Here in the United States there are many levels and kind of health insurance that you can purchase and with most of them. The costs to be treated can still be very expensive.  

Here are some estimated costs complied by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Private Health Insurance

Cost Sharing

• • Your cost depends on the amount of Out-Of-Pocket costs your required to cover before your health insurance kicks in.
    • Here are the limits of your costs.
      • $8,150 for single coverage
      • $16,300 For a family Policy
      • Depending on the level of health insurance you purchased you may be required to pay one of the amounts before your insurance even kicks in. But your cost may be much less depending the your specific plan, these are maximums.
      • This is according to HealthCare.gov

Provider Networks

• • This is a very popular plan. This plan usually requires you to pay 20-50% or the care you receive
    • In-network costs are usually 20%
    • Out-of-network cost can be 50%
      • With the average costs to be treated for COVID-19 ranging from $9,763 to $20,20292.  your cost can quickly skyrocket. 

Even though we live in an amazing country our health care is extremely expensive. Even people that have great health care can many times get large bills that can be very difficult to over come. But, even though these two catagories may already be massive hurdles for the United States Government to overcome to solve this epidemic. There still is one more group that can be even more difficult to help.

The Ones That Just Can’t Afford It

This is probably one of the hardest groups of people to help. This group of people can be from either one of other two categories. They can simply be uninsured because they just can’t afford health care in general. Or they maybe insured with limits that they simply can’t afford. Making their insurance just a step above uninsured. Virtually the same thing because they can afford the deductible for their insurance to kick in. 

Even when you take the topic of insurance out of the equation. You are asking someone that maybe living pay check to pay check to just stop working. It may be simple to think that they can just make it up later. But, when someone is working pay check to pay check. Even minimal money lost can have a massive effect on someone’s life. 

The Statistics of Money in America

When the theory of people in the United States all have money is used. The theory can be drastically wrong . Yes there are plenty of people that have vast wealth but according to a story Yahoo Finance posted. 58% of all Americans have less than $1,000 in savings. 

• • According to the United States Census Bureau The United States Has 329,422,252 people. 
  • If 58% of all Americans have less than $1,000 that is 191,064,906 people can’t afford a $1,000 bill. Let’s take this a bit further.
  • Yahoo’s same survey said that 79% of the population has $9,999 or less in savings.
  • Hypothetically if the total cost of contracting the Cover-19 Virus when you include out of pocket expenses for health care, loss of works, and any other miscellaneous costs is $10,000 or more. 260,243,579 People in the United States could not afford it. 

Final Thought

The COVID-19 Virus Runs the possibility of literally bankrupting the majority of Americans simply in health care costs. If you get sick you should seek care and know that you are not alone. There are politicians that you elect just make sure you make your voice and your vote heard.  

The post COVID-19 Will Change The U.S. Health Care System Forever appeared first on Your Other View.

“Did The United States Ignore All The Warning Signs”. Here we are going to go over just one of the probably many warning signs that were missed.

Here we are going to cover the defense that this sign is being given.

January 23 2020 – China Puts Wuhan and three other cities on lockdown

January 24th 2020 to January 30th 2020 – China extended lockdowns to the country and began to build hospitals.

55 Days After China Locks Down Wuhan. 

March 18th 2010 – Free Coronavirus Testing Is Approved In The United States.

The defense in delay

This is the defense that I have come across from multi places.

“China Covered it Up”

The defense that is told by many that just doesn’t hold up is that China Covered it up. 

You may argue that there may have been a delay, but it shouldn’t have been for as long as it was. On January 23rd the news began to report that China was beginning lockdown measures of an entire city of millions. By January 30th China was on full blown lockdown. 

By this point even if China was attempting to disguise the lockdowns as not to be taken too seriously. We have to look at just how drastic this move is.

Why This Was So Big Of A Red Flag

China is a massive source of goods to millions of companies all around the globe. At a time that many around the globe are attempting to bring back their manufacturing to their local countries, China basically cut them off. This was no small move.

Just one example of just how big this move really was.

I know a small business that sources various products from China. This business like the millions that count on products from China had planned for this. Inventories on hand had been adjusted for and delivery time frames had been accounted for. 

When China announced that lockdowns were being placed and factories weren’t going to be opening up this forced companies all around the world to scramble for needed inventories. This local business literally began purchasing equipment to begin its own manufacturing. There was just so much uncertainty that the business made a drastic decision just because of a small time frame in uncertainty. 

Just how bad a lapse in availability really is. 

It is impossible for China to not know that when you provide a product or service to a business and delay it. You will always have repercussions, especially from businesses that relay on you. 

If you don’t believe me, let’s do a quick example of just how detrimental, even a small amount of time, China closing can be.

Businesses usually have a very strict time frame for their goods and services, because they also have to be on time for their customers.

Imagine if you order a package from Amazon. Let’s say Cat food. You order your cat some food because you are on your last days worth and Amazon is awesome at delivering very fast. So you worry not for nearly running out.

But WAIT

Amazon sends you an email that they will not be able to get your food for at least two weeks, and that is just hopefully… 

Any normal person that is on their last days worth of cat food will obviously  just order from another source.

Amazon like most manufactures is extremely intelligent. They know that they have the possibility of losing you to a competitor. This is why Amazon will rarely ever allow a customer go with out a needed item even if they have to overnight it though a separate carrier. 

China Knows This Risks

China like any business knows the risks of closing and leaving its customers without what they need. The business that I spoke with had been doing business with a manufacture for a significant amount of time and never eve thought of bringing manufacturing home. The process had always been so great and simple. But just this small time frame in uncertainty caused them to seek alternative measures and brought all manufacturing in-house. Now Just imagine this by the millions that count on their Chinese suppliers.

Link Back to the Delay in response.

When you look at just how detrimental closing for longer than expected time is for a business or manufacture, which China is a massive manufacture. How the United States did not look at this and believe that this maybe a bigger problem that it seemed is practically impossible.

The post The Red Flags The U.S.A. Missed appeared first on Your Other View.

I will admit that this heading sounds like I am really over blowing the thought on this post. But, I really don’t think I am. You may have never heard this from anywhere and you’re probably never even thought about it. Even if you don’t believe me just read a bit further and you will most likely begin to think differently here. 

Accepting accidents

If you read the part one “Whats Holding Self Driving Cars Back” we mainly focused on the fact that there are going to be many accidents. I know that many people are going to argue that self driving cars are meant to prevent accidents. But, with just the shear volume of traffic and other drivers on the road. It is nearly impossible to expect zero accidents. Once we accept that accidents will happen, let’s go beyond the idea of an accident and look at the process of the accident. 

Heres the Link to Part one If you haven’t read it

Whats Holding Self Driving Cars Back?

A possible Massive Oversimplification.

I know that there are going to be computer programers that are going to think I skipped overlay to many millions of lines of code they have written. But, Here I go anyway. As a self driving car is driving down the street. The car is processing millions lines of code. The cars computer has to take in everything as a persons brain would. The car must look ahead and calculate every possible scenario it possibly can. This can be from constantly calculating stopping distance to just trying to predict whats going to happen next. Just as a new driver must learn to drive humans understand the people do stupid things. And, this can be incredibly difficult to code. The car must think that others around it may do completely ridiculous and abrupt actions that’s nearly impossible to plan for.

Amazing Florida Drivers

I live in Florida, so I see so many absurd driving situations its amazing traffic still flows sometimes. (Many times) I’ve seen people merge onto the interstates at speeds way below 35 MPH (Speed limit is 70 MPH and just about every one speeds). Many people here probably believe the turn signal is simply an extra unknown light the auto manufactures just decided to throw in. These people will simply cut across four lanes of traffic for what appears to be for no over reason but to be in a lane they like more.

Let’s Understand A Cars Brain

Let’s try and look into the brain of a car try to see what it sees. Everything to do with computers work on probabilities. Simply put it constantly is taking the best guess, just a human would. If the self driving car is passing on a green through an intersection is has to continually monitor all directions. If the self driving car detects a car approaching the intersection from the right. The self driving car must calculate the speed at which the car is approaching and if it will be able to stop before cross in front causing an accident. Just as a human driver has to, the self driving car has to calculate the possibility of the other car running its red light. 

Now To Tackle That Heading

Again I know that this heading is a bit much but as we all know accidents are accidents and we really shouldn’t have planned to have one. Here we are going to go over two plausible situations that can and probably have happened at one point in time. This isn’t meant to be grim, but until regulations are created to guide these types of rules. The self driving car is for the future. 

Scenario #1

A Computer Will Decide For You

Set Up

It’s night time and dark out. Roads are in perfect condition and wether is great.

A self driving car is driving at a steady 60 MPH down a two lane highway, one lane in either direction.

Scenario

I use to travel all over the United States and this has happened to me while driving more than once. I am driving down a dark road when suddenly just going over a small hill or turn there is a massive tire or branch in the road. Here it doesn’t matter how many sensors you have on a car. A self driving car can only see so far ahead. 

The Choices

Here the choices are limited but in a fraction of a second the car will have to make an amazing amount of calculations. First the car will have to determine if it can identify what the obstruction is and know if it’s moving. After the car has calculated that the obstruction isn’t moving. The self driveling car will then have to calculate the level of impact the object will have on the car. The car then will then have to calculate the chances of successfully maneuvering around the object vs hitting the object. Here your car will have to make a decision of possibly losing control or hitting a tire in the rode.

This sounds like a simple answer but what if that object is a broken truck in the middle of the road? The decision your car will make will then be worth your life. Here the car will have to understand that there is no safe way to maneuver. It will have to calculate the safest path possible. Whether that be running off the road into a field. Just attempting to slow as much as possible before impact. 

Scenario 1 conclusion

Here it may have seemed that the decisions are a no brainer just minimize damages as least as possible. But Let’s take this much further and see when a car truly has to make a decision on who live. 

Scenario #2

Your Car Will Choose Who Lives

Set Up

It’s a perfect day out and visibility is perfect. Roads are in perfect condition and wether is great.

A self driving car is driving at a steady 65 MPH down a dived two lane road, one lane in either direction with a median in-between.

scenario

You’re in your self driving car traveling 65 MPH. While coming up to a section of road that has a light post on your left and right a person not seeing you approach suddenly walks into your path. In a fraction of a second, faster than your ability to react. You’re car determines that there are not possible maneuvers. The choices are: hit either pole head on or continue straight and just attempt to reduce as much speed. Here your car will have made a decision on who’s life to save. 

If You Choose Pedestrian’s Life

Let’s change this just slightly and say theres a barrier on your right and oncoming traffic on your left. Your car again will have to make a choice to hit the pedestrian or the other innocent driver in oncoming traffic.

Scenario #2 Conclusion

There may be people that argue that this is too specific of in instance but when you compare it to the infinite possible scenarios just about anything is possible. This could have easily been a car driving a down a city street when chidden impossible to see dart out between cars. 

The statistics and sources

I understand when talking about specific scinerions the situation may fell like they be to unlikely. But here are some numbers.

According the National Highway Safety Administration

These are the figures only for the year of 2018

According to to the the CDC in 2017, there were an estimated 137,000 personal treated in emergency departments for non fatal crash related injuries. 

Conclusion

Self Driving Cars will remain for the future until regulations are built around the understanding that accidents will happen. If the Self Driving Car has the capability to lower the number of accidents and traffic related fatalities. We would look at every life saved is another family spared the loss of a loved one. 

The post Self Driving Cars Will Have To be Programed to Allow People To Die appeared first on Your Other View.

 We are going to cover 2 moral problems that companies face that no one really talks about.

This Is Moral Problem One Of 2 Major One We See.

There is a Link to Moral Problem #2 we see at the bottom of this page.

I know that this is going to sound a bit morbid or possibly evil. But, here it goes.

The Value of A Human Life Has to Have an Acknowledged and accepted Dollar Value. 

Again this may sound a bit absurd and possibly just something that people will probably just say “This Will NEVER Happen”. But, truthfully if you like it or not it already exists in some instances and we all live with a price tag on our heads. But, here comes the biggest dilemma . Depending on where you look you will see that our lives are worth completely different dollar amounts. And, this is where the issue lies. 

It may seem that we go off in a bit of a tangent here, but just follow me for j a bit. I’m am going to go over four ways dollar amounts are fixed onto a human life and then explain how in the world this effects self driving cars. 

Example One

Life If Not Priceless and really does have a price 

I personally agree that my life is completely priceless. I would pay an infinite amount of money. But, the sad truth is that I don’t have an infinite amount of money. And I can really only buy so much health insurance.

Health Insurance Companies

Here in America there are many health insurance options that can drastically vary from one another. Some insurances can be worth the paper they are written on, and some can be amazingly valuable (especially when you need it). 

Nowadays it is common to be expected to pay something when you go to the doctors office. Whether this be a copay, deductible, or simply a set percentage of the total procedure (many times 20%).

The Truth

This is the sad truth and this really deserves a lot of attention on its own. But, our health insurance options can be absolutely terrible. There are low cost plans that can require you to pay massive deductibles. Currently health insurance planes have Maximum out of pocket expense that are $8,150 for individuals and up to $16,300 for families. This means that your health insurance will only kick in after your pay a massive amount of money. The worst pat of it all is that if you were on a low cost plan to save money because you couldn’t afford better coverage. You most likely would find it quite difficult to come up with $16,300 if you have a family plan. 

But I’m Priceless Afterwards Right?

Nope,

Time Did a great article on this. They explained that the international standard for private and government run health insurance plans use a dollar amount to determine if treatment is worth its cost. Health insurance companies use a dollar amount to determine if a treatment is worth its cost. They state this amount is $50,000 per year of “quality life”. While Stanfords economist demonstrated that this figure should be $129,000, it’s really up the insurance company right now. 

How does this relate?

This shows that even though I may believe I’m priceless. If I have a health insurance plan that has a deductible that I can’t afford. I’m sort of out of luck and not even worth that 8 to 16K.

You can see these numbers at HealhtCare.gov

Example Two 

Life Insurance

This one is going to be a bit quick because it literally is a dollar value that we put on out own lives. Wether it be $1,000 or many Millions, we literally put on paper a value we put on our own lives.

Example Three

Use the current numbers.

Currently the value of a human life can vary drastically depending on who you ask. Some look at age, current income, and potential income. But surprisingly, our government actually puts a pretty high dollar amount on our lives. But, even in the government this number changes and there’s really not one set number. The EPA, FDA and USDA all have different  number but they are mostly 7+ million dollars. Here the EPA’s take on the subject EPA.gov

Even though these numbers are pretty high these kinds of amounts are not often paid. This then leads to our final example that now leads to the self driving car dilemma 

Example Four

The Hard Way

This is the hard way because it is extremely expensive and time consuming for both the person that is seeking compensation and the company that is set to pay the amount. This is Going to Court. 

Currently when there is an accident and there is some sort of damages caused especially by a large company. The amounts of compensation has to be determined for that specific situation. Whether this is through the courts or some sort of intermediary. This process has been used for a long time and has it benefits and negatives. 

The Connection 

Accepting the Truth

Driving is dangerous and we have to accept that people do die in motor vehicle accidents. In 2018 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recorded that 36,560 people died in traffic related deaths. This mean on average there are more than 4 deaths per hour every hour. 

Accepting this fact we must understand that self driving cars will have accidents. When there is small accident that there isn’t any bodily harm. The process can be very simple. With the use of cameras and just how it has always been handled the fault is determined. The damages are assessed, amount owed is paid and then repaired. But, what happens when there is bodily harm?

The Complicated accidents

Whether the bodily harm is serious or minimal. This actually become complicated for a variety of reasons. 

Responsibility

Currently any driving assist features currently available are classified as driver assist. Even though they may have other names that may sound different. The current technologies are only to assist the driver. The driver is meant to pay full attention and be responsible for the vehicles actions and take control when needed. This removes the responsibility form the technology as it is only there to assist. But, now let’s cover if the car was truly self driving or completely autonomous with out a steering wheel. This is where responsibility becomes very vague. 

If you are the owner of the autonomous vehicle. You will most likely have certain responsibilities to maintain the the vehicle to certain standards. But, what if there is a malfunction out of your control that cause bodily harm or a death. This is where laws will most likely place the manufacture responsible. But this isn’t the problem yet.

Insurance

Every manufacture has an insurance policy that takes into the risk of damage and possible costs of the product they produce. Companies can possibly estimate the amount of accidents that may occur though possible equipment/software malfunctions or environmental impacts. This may sound like the company is acting unethical, but accidents will most likely happen. If you still disagree with this, what if a company can lower the number of traffic related deaths every year.  Every death less is one less family losing a loved one. Should we accept a number then just continually seek lower numbers in the future?

The Incalculable 

Damages can be determined relatively easy. If the self driving car hit a mail box. The damages are simple. A mail box and installation. If the self driving car totals a brand new $90,000 car, the replacement is $90,000. But lets go over what’s not simple.

I am not saying that this process is wrong and I am not arguing the importance of the process. But, when a life is lost or a person is injured the process for proper compensation can be very lengthy and extremely expensive for both the injured and the company at fault. 

The Dilemma 

If a company plans on launching thousands, if not millions of self driving cars on to the roads accidents are going to be inevitable. With the current process it is nearly impossible to calculate a risk cost or insurance policy. When two people are in an accident the cost are calculated in a few ways. 

When Regular People Get Into Accidents

Who is at fault. If the person that is not at fault suffered bodily harm the insurance to the maximum limits are available to be sued for. If the amount the injured are seeking is above the person’s (at fault) insurance limits. The injured can then attempt to sue the person at fault personally. This can only work so much because you can’t take what the person doesn’t have. This is the reason why having under and uninsured mortise insurance is so important. Legal minimums can be very little and cover almost nothing in some states. 

Now When Companies Are involved

When commercial vehicles are involved, the entire “sueing” changes. Commercial policies usually carry much higher limits. While people with personal policies may carry $10,000 limits on their vehicles. Commercial policies usually carry limits in the upper 100’s of thousands and even millions. Then like the example above that you can personally sue the responsible person the company has much more value that can then play a role in how much money the injured is seeking. The level of possible compensation can be drastically different. This is why some lawyers specifically seek cases involving commercial vehicles like truck accidents. 

For Companies To Make The Last Jump

For Companies to make the last jump into self diving isn’t just technology improvements. I believe it’s a streamline in handling the shear number of claims that they will be responsible for.

There Will be a Massive Volume

Some people will argue that if everyone else already deals with every case individually why can’t the company with self driving cars do this.

Understand Scale

• • Let’s put this into scale and look and the shear of vehicles a company would be responsible for. 
  • Ford Sold about 5,386,000 vehicles in just the year of 2019 according to their Annual Report filing. This doesn’t include GM Chrysler Toyota, Nissan and every other company.
  • Everyone can agree that the US Postal Service Has A LOT of vehicles. According to USPS.com the USPS has about 216,000 owned vehicles. We all see USPS trucks everywhere and every day.
  • If a company looked at creating a ride share company like Uber with Self Driving Cars. Let take a close look at Uber. According to SEC filling Uber filed with the SEC. Uber has about 3.9 million drivers . Imagine replacing all of those drivers with self driving cars. Even if Uber needed just  10 percent of the number of  self driving cars to replace all their drivers. That is still nearly doubly of the vehicles the USPS operates.

Conclusion 

The number of vehicles that will be under the responsibly of any company that offers truly self driving technology will be massive. And until a list of responsibilities and compensations are set, companies cannot sufficiently calculate risk. Causing Self Driving to be for the future.

Link: The Second Moral Problem To Self Driving Cars.

• Self Driving Cars Will Have To Be Programed To Allow People To Die, Seriously! (coming Soon)

The post Whats Holding Self Driving Cars Back? appeared first on Your Other View.

The United States is massive and to build the required Temporary hospitals is going to be an astronomical task. Why delay the needed hospital bed capacity by building temporary hospitals when Hotels are literally the ideal places. Hotels are EVERYWHERE and are in the best locations. They are almost always placed at Express way interchanges and exits meaning that access to them will be the best for both patients and staff.

• • Hotels Near Hospitals can be the most useful as they will allow for near by emergency rooms.
  • patients can be categorized to a location by condition.
  • A nearby hospital can allow an easy location for patients to find. 

WHY HOTELS MAY WORK!

This is just a few reasons why hotels maybe the best chance to help save people.

• • Most hotels are designed to separate guest the best possible. This means that their heating and air conditioning are usually completely separated from one another.
    • With the Heating and Air Conditioning already separated from one room to another this would minimize the possibility of cross contamination of rooms. 
  • Because hotel rooms contain their own bathrooms this can easily allow people to stay comfortably in their assigned rooms. 
  • Hotels are designed to accommodate people entering and leaving rapidly everyday.
    • Hotels have the elevator capacity to move people in and out fast enough.
      • Hotels have to empty and refill their entire building multiple times a day. And because hotels relay on their elevator for their guest. Most hotels make sure that their elevators are in good shape and reliable.
    • Most hotels have controlled points of entry and exit. This would allow medical staff to control the premises.
      • This would also allow the common areas to easily be continually cleaned and disinfected.
  • Most hotels have industrial washer machines.
    • This would allow staff at the hotel to clean the rooms faster and more effectively. 
    • This would speed the rooms readiness to minutes and allow the premises to be self sufficient instead of taking capacity from near by hospitals.
  • Most hotels have the building wired for internet.
    • This can be easily converted to more secure forms of connectivity if needed.
  • Most Hotels are designed to have large power draws.
    • Instead of having every room have refrigerators and microwaves these rooms can support ventilators and other health equipment.
    • Instead of running the hotels pools and attractive features these can be used to run integral equipment. 
  • Most Hotels have parking lots.
    • These parking lots will allow staff and supplies to easily move to and from the building.

There are a few ways that these hotels can be acquired.

• • If there are any hotels chains currently needing a bailout. The US government can simply buy months of the hotels capacity and return the building afterwards. 
  • The cost of building a massive network of hospitals would probably be more than what many hotel brands are worth. The US Government can purchase the buildings from the hotels. 
  • The US Government can Lease the buildings from these brands.

Because time is literally running low, this maybe much faster. 

New York

The government has announced that they are planning on sending two massive ships to the coast of New York to help provide additional capacity to the local hospitals. 

The City of New York can match the number of beds these massive ships with just a few buildings that are almost ready. .

It is faster to fly the needed health equipment to New York and place the items in these rooms. 

• • All unnecessary room items can be removed and if needed be placed into a large warehouse to allow more space for staff, patients, and health equipment.
  • Heating in most New York Buildings are heated by radiators. This will allow no connection between rooms.
  • Many hotels have separate air conditioners in each individual room.
    • If rooms are connected to a central heating or air conditioning system. These can have filters on intakes and outputs to minimize any contamination. 

The post Faster And Better Than Building Hospitals To Treat People During This Epidemic appeared first on Your Other View.