Train Wreck And Remembering Amtrak -- Nothing About The Bakken -- Politcal In Nature And Reminiscing -- Please Ignore If You Came Here For The Bakken

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Later, 11:14 pm: This is another example of crazy coincidences. Earlier I posted a story of an $82,000 parking spot in San Francisco -- see below. That was a few hours ago. Now, while watching the late evening news, there was a story about two back-to-back parking spots on Commonwealth Avenue in the Back Bay of Boston went, through auction, for $560,000. The record for a single parking spot in Boston is $300,000.

Two rambling notes. First, I have no idea what possesses me to post some non-Bakken posts. But I am always surprised how timely some of them happen to be.

Second, a more personal note. Back in 1973, I spent some time visiting a close friend who lived on Commonwealth Avenue, Boston. I was on my way home from a summer hitchhiking in Europe. I had hitchhiked from Williston to NYC earlier that summer on my way to Europe (Icelandic Airlines), but I would take Amtrak home from Boston to North Dakota. (Yes, Amtrak began operations in 1971.)

Original Post

This is not good news.

The LA Times is reporting:

Kaiser Permanente has offered some of the highest rates in the California health exchanges next year. It denies that it is doing so to avoid treating many of the sickest newly insured patients. 

The lede:

In California's new state-run health insurance market, Kaiser Permanente will cost you.
The healthcare giant has the highest rates in Southern California and some other areas of the state, surpassing rivals such as Anthem Blue Cross and other smaller competitors.

The relatively high premiums from such a strong supporter of the federal healthcare law surprised industry analysts, and it has sparked considerable debate about the company's motives.

Some experts say Kaiser intentionally bid high to avoid drawing too many customers next year who are sick or who have been uninsured for years and may be costlier to treat. Others suspect Kaiser was worried that lower premiums would bring an influx of newly insured patients that could overwhelm its in-house roster of doctors and hospitals.

Cue up Connie Francis.

Read the story closely.

My hunch is that others will re-assess their bids. One does not want to become the low-cost premium  provider of healthcare in California.

Wow. Train wreck.

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But everything is relative. A San Francisco parking spot was sold for $82,000.

What’s eight feet wide and 12 feet deep and sells for $82,000?

As it turns out, a parking spot near San Francisco’s AT&T Park.

The enclosed parking spot in a condo building in the South Park neighborhood is creating buzz in a town where the housing market is so hot most things fail to startle.

But San Francisco Chronicle columnist C.W. Nevius reports Thursday the parking deal might be part of a new trend.

The spot was sold last week by Sean Sullivan, an agent with Climb Real Estate who had some experience: He sold another one in the same building for $95,000 during San Francisco’s last boom.

What a great country. Rental units are subject to rent control, but apparently not rental spaces.