As shown in this screenshot, Great Barrington is the only town so far to vote majority No on 2, and it was by a huge margin.

Why is this? Does the CEO of Delta Dental live there or something?

In Olde English, “Barrington” means “Town of Dentists”

Well, the dentists are overwhelmingly in favor of Q2. So maybe you're mistaken and Barrington means "Town of Insurers"?

Because the government putting their dirty sticky hands in anything is a bad fucking idea and leads to extra cost through taxation and administration which translates to more cost for you for less. Terrible fucking idea.

You're right! I miss when companies dumped toxic waste in our drinking supply!

You can certainly move into the woods of Alaska if big bad govt is so awful. But you wouldn't because you know damn well you need the government. So chill out with the bluster

False. No one needs government, people just like government because it makes them feel all warm and fuzzy that someone is supposed to be looking out for you - they’re not.

Because they don’t have teeth anyways

What’s different now? They inject toxic chemicals into your food, the environment and your body and tell you it’s for your health and it’s not toxic and you just eat that up, literally, just wondering why are dying from cancer after following all the governments advice…. Camp Lejeune is the current headline but let’s not forget about all the food additives the FDA says are great and turn out to be horrible…. So weird….you simpleton

apparently this town has its own currency too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BerkShares

> You can certainly move into the woods of Alaska if big bad govt is so awful.

Except for Alaska's socialist policy of distributing oil money to all individuals. God-damned communists.

[deleted]

Great Barrington is one of the towns in the Berkshires that are full of rich old people so makes sense they voted this way

You're right! I guess dude is really only left with Antarctica or maybe Afghanistan

the website for berkshares does list a decent number of companies in Great Barrington that does accept the bills though

https://berkshares.org/directory/?select=&lp_s_loc=Great+Barrington&lp_s_tag=&lp_s_cat=&s=home&post_type=listing

but maybe it's something that's died out since 2006?

Yes. You. Do. Right now you're using a device that wouldn't exist without federal govt R&D, using electricity regulated by the government (unless you have your own power generation, transmission and storage), the internet (also thanks to govt R&D). And eating food you would have no possibility of obtaining without the government.

What makes you so special that the government needs to "look out for you" in particular? This is a society my friend. You live in it. The government does it's best to provide for all. You are certainly free to unplug and go into the wild, but again, you won't.

l

The only thing I can think of is the American Institute of Economic Research is located there. It is a libertarian thinktank. Maybe they canvased the area with placards, etc. The area itself is very blue so it should have gone the way of the rest of the Berkshires, so that really is an oddity.

Thank you for providing an actual answer! You could be right, although it's such an anomaly that at this point I'm more likely to believe the Globe made a mistake in reporting.

Imagine being this stupid and thinking you're not

>Camp Lejeune is the current headline

This is the right wing conspiracy theory darling right now, yes. You outed yourself with that reference.

Out here in the real world, military bases are all a huge environmental issue.

I live in GB and use BerkShares, so this other person has some other agenda.

I also voted yes on 2, so I don’t know what happened there…

My assumption is that there's probably 6 teeth in the whole entire town.

Doesn't pittsfield/dalton print the money? Or have they moved?

It’s Dalton look up Crane paper company if you want to learn more!

Great Barrington voter here. I’m all for regulating dental insurers, but the 83% figure seems arbitrary, not based on data, insurers will have numerous ways to meet the 83% threshold, and there’s no guarantee that this will in any way lower costs or improve overall dental health.

There’s a town in MA called Great Barrington? I think you’re just making that up.

Yep definitely from Great Barrington

What convinced you that it was better to let insurance companies have no regulation in the amount of profit they can make? Like, how do you think an arbitrary number like 83% is worse than letting dental insurance companies charge more in premiums than they actually cover and services annually? Most dental insurance plans charge incredibly high premiums, and you can’t even begin to get major work done until at least the second or third year, by which time unless you’ve paid more in premiums than you are eligible for in the 50-65% coverage in services.

You’re a shill. It’s not arbitrary, it’s based on a similar requirement for medical insurance, which has a ratio of 88%

They aren't making it up. I know that town.

I voted no on that, because my dental insurance and plan has been very good and low cost for over 50 years.

Whenever you add more regulation and more laws.. and you get is a higher cost. Just watch what happens to our dental plans now.

I only wish our regular health care worked as well as our dental plans

It’s better when you realize that Great Barrington was called that because there was another Barrington in Massachusetts (the one now in Rhode Island) when the town was created. So it wasn’t New Barrington, they went with Great Barrington because it’s that much better.

lol you’d be dead wrong. great barrington is (for the most part) loaded.

Could you share that dental plan? I’d certainly appreciate a low cost dental plan that’s existed for 50 years.

But if your’s is already low costs and your benefits equal your premiums, then you wouldn’t have been affected.

You know what? I don’t think you are telling the truth at all. You’ve only become active in the last year in the MA & NH subs. Are a Jordan Peterson fan. And make really weird assertions about communism.

What low cost plan do you have available to you in Great Barrington?

It’s a map error. Unofficial results from the town website.

216 blank, 2323 yes, 444 no.

It looks like they entered it as “yes, no, blank” instead of “blank, yes, no” when they made the map.

So you bought dental insurance in MA in 1972? Only 6 years after is became available in MA? And have kept the same insurance company for 50 years? So you must have Delta Dental. THATS you idea of a low cost high benefit plan? Lmao…. No.

Obviously you’ve never been there. Their noses are stuck up way higher than yours.

Most dental is low cost.

Oh now THAT makes sense! Thank you!

“It’s in the west, so it must be full of rednecks”. Typical Bostonian.

Lmfao!!!!! Hahahahahahahahahahahaha! Get the fuck out of here shill. You already lost

There's a possibility that the numbers are just flipped, and which number was for which position got flipped at some point in the chain. Maybe the Town Clerk reported that issue wrong to the State and it will get fixed before it's certified, or maybe it got reported wrong to whatever data service the the Globe is using (assuming these aren't directly from the Secretary of State's website).

Man I love the day after election day in Massachusetts where it reminds Republicans living here that their voice means sh*t. Every once in a while we toss them a very moderate republican governor and they get their hopes up that they have a chance here. I mean they actually ran a republican candidate with the political views of Diehl here. It’s just F’in hilarious

His flair is that he's from the Greater Boston area, the state ceases to exist West of Worcester for the geographically challenged out there.

BerkShares are a thing throughout south county.

Where do you live?

And by west they mean like the other side of Worcester

I’ve met far more hicks on the eastern side of the state.

[deleted]

[removed]

Gov’t does it’s best to provide for the government. Private business does the rest.

Hurts my head that people are as dense as you. I blame your parents.

Choose to believe what you want. Until one day the government comes and kicks you out of your house to flood your town for the common good.

Today I learned I never want to visit Great Barrington.

Just so everyone knows who might’ve missed it. It was a joke.

No shit. It’s a headline. It’s not political that military families are suffering because the government lies and treats people like animals.

Something happened in the last two generations where shot head kids got old enough to vote and they think we need the government. It’s supposed to be public service. The governement needs you and your tax money. Now it’s just blatant corruption yet all you Libs keep going down the same path.

I enjoy occasionally framing things less on party lines and I should make a coffee table book of lib reactions - you all love conservatism, as long as it’s not framed that way.

What’s funny is any stream of conscious from a liberal. Now that will get a laugh.

Move to some shithole state like Alabama then. Why stay in mass. Free county. Don't like it, leave

Has to be the Russian troll-bots at it again!

The community is really nice and like the rest of the Berkshires quite liberal and welcoming. Main street is confusing to drive down, there is this strange curve in the road. The institute dates back to the 30s.

My thought was that people do not always understand the complexities of some of the ballot questions and if you see vote no signs all over place, you might vote no.

It should be 100% if we're looking for a non-arbitrary number! This bill guarantees them 17% to skim off the top of insurance premiums just for being the middle-man in financial transactions for when we need to get our gums cleaned and our teeth polished.

Amazing that people that are not trained in dentistry can make $17 BY LAW for every $100 we spend for getting root canals and fillings and they are complaining about it. Be grateful for our corrupted system. We could overhaul the entire thing and put them out of business.

Everyone out that way is kind of a moron tbh...my work has a location in Sheffield and the bs I've had to listen to from town officials makes my brain melt. Everyone in the Berkshires pretends they are liberal until the second it's time to actually prove it with money and effort

That makes sense. Thanks.

What is the source of this map? I know I've seen election results by town in previous years but i can't find it this year for some reason. My usually excellent google fu is failing me.

Worcester? Try 128

I'm just teasing actually like The Berkshires a lot. I didn't realize there was a colony of nut jobs in great barrington.

Anti-dentites are everywhere these days.

Working on it. But thanks for the well thought out advice.

Great catch!

You don't deserve well thought out advice you hick. Please leave the state, we don't want you here

How do you see the results by town?

RAAAaaBID Anti-dentites!!

I’ve lived in Bourne, Worcester, Milford, and Bellingham, in that order.

This is clearly the answer. I have encountered similar transcription errors in voting records before -- it doesn't seem to be that uncommon.

Live two towns over. The reason is we have no teeth around here. So why should we pay for yours?

I jest of course. It's a lovely place to live and most people here are pretty community-oriented. And while we probably have fewer teeth than Boston, we have enough to get the job done.

😂😂😂 this is a typical liberal response, ignorant and about as eloquent as a dying boar.

You’re a college kid from Georgia calling me a hick? 😂😂😂😂😂😂 nearly pissed myself when I saw that

My girlfriend from GB lives a few blocks from this and had no idea that it existed.

[deleted]

Thirsty ass freak https://www.reddit.com/r/SlutsLastRefuge/comments/x47lm5/curious_question_mf/

"Great" Barrington? More like "Okay Barrington", at best.

I live in GB. The AIER has not placarded the town pushing a radical pro-dentist agenda.

Quite the contrary.

There are others - more professional lawn signs - that say things like "Our water looks and smells like shit." And it's true!

Wow thanks so much for digging and finding this out!

Boston Globe

This made me laugh audibly on the T

Another sad day in Mass for you, maybe you should move to Florida. You can be in the Republicans paradise! Why continue to stay cold and sad in liberal Massachusetts?

Now that that is settled. Where did you find this map?

All of those places have equally ridiculous names as Great Barrington. I mean they’re all named after places in England.

I like ride my motorcycle through the AIER campus and rev it really obnoxiously loud.

(Sorry to your gf.)

My first thought, the map. Before anything else.

[deleted]

Ugh, paywalled :(

Who cares

Only thing I think of when is this video when I hear about this bitch ass town.

Boston Globe

Download the extension EditThisCookie and use it to trial-and-error block cookies until you find the ones that get rid of the paywall while still rendering the content correctly

Cheers

I agree on it not being uncommon. I ran across a bunch of weird results from Charlton last night that had a similar issue, except there were errors in both the unofficial results (since updated) and the map results in different places. It gave 5000-1 result for one of the questions, which is a lot more obvious than this sort of error.

It’s just tough to perfectly parse this much data from this many towns and hard to find errors like this unless you’re specifically looking for specific weirdness in a particular area on a particular question. It all gets cleared up for the official results, so it’s just a matter of slightly annoying us impatient people who need our data now.

Next thing you know you’ll be saying they should have their own schools!

for now

Sorry I don't post to your standard of acceptability.

Peterson is a fascinating speaker, making a great impact on thousands (more than any reddit poster).

As to me, if I've paid more than $30 a year over 50 years on dental costs (beyond the premium, which is <$5 a week), I'ld be surprised (and it was usually a mistake by the dentist where he overcharged.. and I let it go).

Hey, as one of the owners of one of those businesses (Yellow House Books), YES, we do take Berkshares. I also know the co-op takes them, because that's where we spend ours, lol.

We have the book "The First 175 Years of Crane Papermaking" in our local book section, if anyone gets really interested in the topic!

It's used less often than it was in years past, but it is still around. A digital Berkshares currency was just launched this year, too.

Prove it. Show me ONE dental plan in MA that has existed for 50 years that costs less than $5 a week and covers enough to only pay $30 a year in co-pays.

There isn’t one, you big fat lying shill. Get the fuck out of here because you already lost.

There has been no plan available in Massachusetts for 50 years that cost less than five dollars a week and covers everything. Prove it or you’re a big fat lying shil.

Wow.. you are really the example of reddit commenter.

I said I have had insurance here for over 50 years.. first through parents, then through my employer for last 35 years. Im sure the insurer changed many times over the years, but I just checked my paystub and I paid 8.88 for a two week period.

Sorry your life is so tough. I'm saying I like my dental care. Sad that you let this get you so upset, life is too short for that.

Yup. I am a typical Redditor. I know how easy it is to provide evidence. But you refuse to… because you can’t. Honestly, embarrass me! Prove me wrong!

Lmao…. If you can’t stand the typical Redditor this much, then maybe you don’t belong here. Because we all expect evidence. We aren’t stupid, we know what astroturfing is we know what paid shills look like, and we know what trolls look like. This isn’t Facebook. Try somewhere else if you think you can do better.

Or prove me wrong. With evidence besides your invaluable word

Really… prove to me that those numbers ACTUALLY exist.

Seriously, prove it. Blank out your name and address besides zip code, since you are pretending to be from Great Barrington. Show my those paystubs. And link me the the dental plan. It’s publicly available information

I pay like $125 a month

Prove it. Show me the paystubs with your address and name blanked. But you better leave the zip code since you are pretending to be from Great Barrington. Or link to the plan. Because you are a liar

Your word means nothing. Evidence is publicly available. Or you could provide your own individual evidence blanking out identifying information. Do it or fuck off. Because you’re a goddamn liar

And show me what benefits you are eligible for at that price. Because it’s nothing more than a scam

So you pay $1500 a year. For what? $75 for an annual exam? X rays every couple of years for $250 every two years? So you spend $1500 a year to get $200 a year in preventative care? What’s your co-pay for that? How much do they cover in other services?

Seriously, come with numbers and proof of those numbers or GTFO. Because you STILL haven’t provided anything but your bullshit word.

That’s not how math works. 17% doesn’t magically become 40%. And if they can skim that much under the new law, how much were they scamming us for before? Shills are getting sad in their efforts

[deleted]

What happened to the free market? If costs go up so much, it will be cheaper to just pay for the dental work, and people won’t buy the insurance.

You do realize that they are required to spend 83% of the premiums on services right? Because if premiums go up, the paid for services just as well. You really don’t get this

[deleted]

Except that people won’t buy dental insurance that doesn’t make sense for them. And you can’t make a profit if you can’t sell a product. People who need more expensive work can buy the insurance but it won’t make them a profit

Weird how the same requirements have worked for health insurance… but won’t for dental? An unnecessary insurance?

If you can predict how this law will lead to unsustainable premium increases, can you show evidence of where it’s happened before? Peer reviewed studies… NOT just your words. Because you do keep saying the same thing but ignoring the fact that people will drop plans that don’t work for them, AND that it’s worked well for health insurance. Please provide evidence to support your assumed assertions. Otherwise it means nothing

[deleted]

Here is an article for HR folks about increases in premiums.

Look at the graph based on Dept of Labor statistics showing the increases in total insurance costs. The premiums had a huge spike around 2000, and then dropped substantially and regularly after the ACA (Obamacare) was passed. Even now, premium increases are out paced by inflation. And that’s not considering the added costs to health care with an aging population. The Boomers are getting older and sicker. So, premiums HAVE GONE DOWN since the same law was instituted for health care. Why would it be different for a voluntary insurance that most people wouldn’t need if the premiums got higher than preventative care cost. Please… show me

It’s funny how I provided evidence, but you won’t. Probably because the evidence supports that premiums will not go through the roof. we don’t need to wait a year to see what happens, there’s already data that shows what happens when we pass these kinds of laws. It’s also weird that you were completely interested in debating this point until I asked for evidence and provided some of my own. But it’s cool, you can wait a year to see that I was right

Did you see the other comment? I did provide evidence that shows regulations like these do not increase premiums. With graphs and reputable statistics and everything

Oh yeah, and that’s not why insurance works. Insurance works because insurers can negotiate lower rates for services on an individual can. So we pay premiums and they pay lower cost, that’s where their profit comes from. Not from people paying worthless insurance that they will never use

[deleted]

[deleted]

I think YOU didn’t read your link. It’s an opinion column. NOT a study. About what health insurance companies want… not about what happens. Lmao

[deleted]

Moving the goalpost there real nice.

I want peer reviewed studies showing that the 83% rule leads to unsustainable premium increases. Not an opinion column whose citations include showing the Medicaid costs went up after chiropractic services were added. You didn’t read it.

But go ahead, wait a year. Then come on back and show me how the dental plans in MA are worse. Even use the remind me! bot. Bc I’m done. You aren’t engaging in good faith and I’m bored. Bye!

Seems like a lot of anger over a quote.

https://sqe.deltadentalma.com/Recommended.aspx

That’s a family plan. 4 people.

Yes, I’m so aaaangry. Now you’ve really proved me wrong. Lmao

Those plans every single one of them has a maximum benefit of $1000 a year. MAX! Plus deductibles. And at best cover preventative care and 40-50% of other dental care. Including fillings. But only up to $1000. That’s it’s.

And you STILL didn’t prove that’s what you pay. Nor that the new law wouldn’t make it better.

Go away shill. You lost and you still haven’t shown me anything that backs up your argument. Bye!

Bye shill!

You need some help. I feel bad for your boyfriend, although, he’s probably as nuts as you are.

Ohhhhh noooooo…. I’m sooooo hurt. I must be really crazy if some idiot on Reddit resorts to ad hominem attacks. 😂😂😂 That’s honestly pathetic. Bye!

[removed]

[removed]