The comments on that WSJ are insane, insulting, and I guess should have been totally predictable. This one is great: "And this is why I hide my WSJ password from my wife."
Yeah, our AI policy is basically taking a bullet train to hell because we have to get there before China. That's bad enough, but made much worse when you consider China's AI policy is focusing on how to integrate it into society. Meanwhile, we're basically Mickey Mouse in "Fantasia" chopping up magical evil brooms to do our chores for us.
Funniest newsletter to date! I loved starting my day with this. Wait, actually I started my day with a sincere rant about how adding one (healthy) dependent to my spouse’s insurance kicks premiums up to $20k/yr. Then I opened the newsletter and laughter came back to the chat. Thank you for your work!
Another raging frustration with the doctor’s office’s reliance on all these different apps and sites is the data security of it all. I've gotten multiple notifications over the years saying some variation of “oops, sorry, the website for your doctor’s office/medical records was hacked and now all your sensitive info and health records are out there. Our bad!!” Infuriating. And there's either no recourse or they might offer you a years free subscription to a privacy data monitoring service or something along those lines.
I gladly join the not-everything-needs-an-app resistance!
Reminds me of a previous job where the Microsoft Authenticator app had very severe trust issues that probably needed to be resolved in therapy. As in, I literally just got logged back in with my password after nuking my lunch to eat at my desk. Yes, it is really me. I am using the phone you already know I have, from the location I literally was not even 5 minutes ago. Please let me respond to Jan's Teams message about what kind of catered sandwich I want for next week's staff update lunch.
Katie, I absolutely love your emails. Given that it's so easy to waste hours scrolling, when I settle in with your content, and spend hours reading the articles you discuss, I always feel like I nourished my mind. Thank you for everything you do and sharing it.
Your point about how awful the inundation of apps are ended on a point I’ve been thinking about: how damn expensive the actual doctors/health appointments are even when you have insurance coverage and even if they didn’t really do anything that addressed your concerns for coming in. When do we stop saying paying for insurance is worth it anymore, especially as premiums are expected to climb next year? I’m seriously wondering if I should stop, even just from a “what would they do if none of us paid it anymore” POV.
Additionally, found the point about Piker’s assistances interesting where the woman assistant actually was a PA at her Blizzard job, only to become an assistant, where the man who was a product lead at his previous role became the PA. I was surprised(?) about the switcheroo.
I have been thinking the same thing. What if we all just stopped paying for a health insurance? I know too many people with serious health issues that would just not even be able to consider it but how about all the people who don't have chronic health issues? This has to stop somewhere. To say it is unsustainable is an absolute understatement.
And Katie absolutely nailed it on the stupidity that is the doctors offices. I went down a rabbit hole of asking ChatGPT how we could fix this. I am a Software product manager, and this is the kind of thing that I really like to dig into.
What a can of worms I opened up!
Apparently, I'm not the only person thinking about how to make this better. But it is a very heavy lift.
Personally, i have five different medical apps I am navigating due to some specialist I see. And of course, none of them connect to each other. The fact that we have a system that works for the doctors offices, but not for the patients is the number one problem.
I have noticed so many more dr office's having signage up about self-pay. I think people ARE beginning to stop paying for health insurance bc its so expensive and pointless. It really does have to stop
That’s not that all surprising to me! I would have to believe between the people who actually can’t afford healthcare and those who see it as a moot point, as I do, there could be a truly real contingent of people who could use this as a striking power against health insurance companies. Because at a point, I think many of us are petty enough for this.
The comments on that WSJ are insane, insulting, and I guess should have been totally predictable. This one is great: "And this is why I hide my WSJ password from my wife."
What a gem he must be.
Millennial Humor: I hate my life.
Boomer Humor: I hate my wife.
You are so wise and witty! Thank you for your talent!
Yeah, our AI policy is basically taking a bullet train to hell because we have to get there before China. That's bad enough, but made much worse when you consider China's AI policy is focusing on how to integrate it into society. Meanwhile, we're basically Mickey Mouse in "Fantasia" chopping up magical evil brooms to do our chores for us.
An exposition of Okie’s “made worse by” point and the most useful thing I’ve read about what exactly an AI race means: https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/there-is-no-ai-race#rid=f8090f59-ae40-4660-af0a-13053a2bb888&q=ai+race (I personally cannot get enough pieces about AI that situate it calmly within the history of technology and consult experts who do not work at AI companies.)
Gosh I love your writing
Anti-app solidarity AND a petition to end the tyranny of 2FA for everything!! I am not overly concerned about the security of my Canva account!!
Someone better buy that book of essays off you. I can’t wait to read it.
Re: Jensen Huang, I enjoyed this very ranty coverage of the situation by Ed Zitron. Nothing says romance like helping your lover smuggle chips to China https://www.wheresyoured.at/jensens-bizarre-adventure/
Funniest newsletter to date! I loved starting my day with this. Wait, actually I started my day with a sincere rant about how adding one (healthy) dependent to my spouse’s insurance kicks premiums up to $20k/yr. Then I opened the newsletter and laughter came back to the chat. Thank you for your work!
Another raging frustration with the doctor’s office’s reliance on all these different apps and sites is the data security of it all. I've gotten multiple notifications over the years saying some variation of “oops, sorry, the website for your doctor’s office/medical records was hacked and now all your sensitive info and health records are out there. Our bad!!” Infuriating. And there's either no recourse or they might offer you a years free subscription to a privacy data monitoring service or something along those lines.
I gladly join the not-everything-needs-an-app resistance!
Reminds me of a previous job where the Microsoft Authenticator app had very severe trust issues that probably needed to be resolved in therapy. As in, I literally just got logged back in with my password after nuking my lunch to eat at my desk. Yes, it is really me. I am using the phone you already know I have, from the location I literally was not even 5 minutes ago. Please let me respond to Jan's Teams message about what kind of catered sandwich I want for next week's staff update lunch.
Katie, I absolutely love your emails. Given that it's so easy to waste hours scrolling, when I settle in with your content, and spend hours reading the articles you discuss, I always feel like I nourished my mind. Thank you for everything you do and sharing it.
Your point about how awful the inundation of apps are ended on a point I’ve been thinking about: how damn expensive the actual doctors/health appointments are even when you have insurance coverage and even if they didn’t really do anything that addressed your concerns for coming in. When do we stop saying paying for insurance is worth it anymore, especially as premiums are expected to climb next year? I’m seriously wondering if I should stop, even just from a “what would they do if none of us paid it anymore” POV.
Additionally, found the point about Piker’s assistances interesting where the woman assistant actually was a PA at her Blizzard job, only to become an assistant, where the man who was a product lead at his previous role became the PA. I was surprised(?) about the switcheroo.
I have been thinking the same thing. What if we all just stopped paying for a health insurance? I know too many people with serious health issues that would just not even be able to consider it but how about all the people who don't have chronic health issues? This has to stop somewhere. To say it is unsustainable is an absolute understatement.
And Katie absolutely nailed it on the stupidity that is the doctors offices. I went down a rabbit hole of asking ChatGPT how we could fix this. I am a Software product manager, and this is the kind of thing that I really like to dig into.
What a can of worms I opened up!
Apparently, I'm not the only person thinking about how to make this better. But it is a very heavy lift.
Personally, i have five different medical apps I am navigating due to some specialist I see. And of course, none of them connect to each other. The fact that we have a system that works for the doctors offices, but not for the patients is the number one problem.
lol hi I’m also a PM!
I have noticed so many more dr office's having signage up about self-pay. I think people ARE beginning to stop paying for health insurance bc its so expensive and pointless. It really does have to stop
That’s not that all surprising to me! I would have to believe between the people who actually can’t afford healthcare and those who see it as a moot point, as I do, there could be a truly real contingent of people who could use this as a striking power against health insurance companies. Because at a point, I think many of us are petty enough for this.