Never would have been in this situation if he had had even a basic policy through the ACA. Healthcare.gov is not just a joke. I've used it, my friends have used it. Everyone who doesn't have health insurance in this shit-sucking country should fucking sign up. Goddamnit, people!
My father had tri-care for life. It was still a bit of a crap-shoot. They kept pushing Oxy and hoping he would die. He didn’t want to take it. We did get hospice and it was a godsend. That will never happen for me if I get sick. Matthew Sweet, wow. I listened to that album on a drive from NJ to Boston. We should not have to crowdfund healthcare.
My wife had a stroke four years ago. She's much better now, although walking will never be the same for her. But she can go for miles with a cane. Best wishes for Matthew Sweet.
Her bills were 100% covered by Medicaid. Well, not quite 100%. We did have to spend $30 for the cane. It's lasted four years, so pretty solid cane!
Here's the kicker. Right before I started going to movies with my future wife, I was working up the nerve to ask out another lady. She was a nurse at the care facility I worked at, and a damn good nurse. She liked some of the same books I did.
Then I found out she had a side job. It was working for a health-insurance company. Reviewing patient records and finding ways to deny them coverage. She said, "what's the big deal? If I don't do it, somebody else will." I immediately lost interest in asking this person out.
I was so stunned, I mentioned this to the graveyard-shift lady during shift change. She found it as disappointing as I did. Then we started talking more, and it turned out we liked a lot of the same movies. We made plans to go see a movie...
...and 19 years later, we bought a cane for $30. A pretty solid cane!
I feel bad for Matthew Sweet. I like a lot of his stuff; not just the very few songs of his that got some airplay. If he were better-looking, he might have made more money.
The Ownership Class has decided we're going to operate on an 1880s model, because they have enough money to buy up enough of the Political Class to make that happen.
They don't remember, or have decided to forget, that that society is what fostered all the anarchists and Communists and got a couple Presidents assassinated, and bombs in public places; all the sort of things desperate people pushed far enough will do.
Ever since Katrina vanden Heuvel used an entire issue of "The Nation" in 2012 to castigate healthcare experts for not wholeheartedly supporting the solutions provided by the finance sector via captured politicians; the writing on the wall has been plain to read.
Our healthcare finance system is collapsing and nobody is going to do anything about it. By now the collapse has proceeded far enough that actual healthcare is collapsing. It already has collapsed in most rural areas. Now urban hospitals are running out of money despite the highest intake of revenue ever. They can't hire or retain enough nurses to keep wards open, even in cities; despite the highest demand ever. It's a full finance-driven collapse. No way to sugarcoat what's happening right now, right in front of us.
But we mustn't say so out loud, or it might put some pressure on the bought-off political class and that might make them feel bad, or even unsupported in full.
Whatever. Stay healthy. You'd darn well better, because that's America's healthcare plan. And nobody is coming to help you, or me, or us. It's coming down, right now, so stand clear.
Amen, fellow Minnesota sir. Minnesota Medicaid was really good for several years, but much of that was emergency federal COVID funding, and that's disappearing. My wife's on traditional Medicare now under disability, but I'm pretty sure Republicans will kill disability funding ASAP. I'm 100% sure Vance hates it.
How many years, how many f***ing years, were those of us who begged for Democrats to run on this told "that's too extreme"? Losing health insurance killed my Mom, and free insurance saved my wife! I'm pretty extreme about this!
Yeah, me too. My family is going to lose the home we grew up in, and the little remaining wealth our father was able to accumulate.
All us kids (and there are a lot of us) earn enough money we're OK. We make more than our Dad did, but even the millionaires among my siblings can't pay for the major medical costs Dad incurred before he died, and our Mom incurred having most of her large intestine removed.
Oh, well, they can take the homestead when Mom has to live in a care facility.
That's what we were told we had to accept, to be "realistic" and "mature." OK then.
God, I'm so sorry. That's so terrible, I have no words.
It's so morally hideous that our health care system is like this. It's incredibly stupid from a cold, dispassionate, "economic growth" standpoint, too, but that's not what matters most to me. It's morally hideous. It's a great and intolerable wrong.
But -- it still fucking exists. I'm so sorry for what you've been through. Goddamn it!
Health insurance is the second-highest cost for most employers. They spend more only on payroll. But they're in the tank for the finance sector too. That is another reason they manufacture so much stuff overseas; especially for the global market. They can't compete globally, with companies that don't have to pay that crushing health insurance cost.
Another reason no level of tariffs is going to magically bring back manufacturing jobs to the US. And it's one no US politician will speak out loud, if they want to get or stay in office.
You can also copy the Dutch solution where having health insurance is mandatory. The government sets a minimum for what health insurance must cover and keeps an eye on the prices (Just did a check, current prices for the basic level of insurance range from €130 to €140 per month. The first €385 each year you need to pay out of pocket, which I don't like.)
Medicine (you always get the cheapest brand, otherwise pay for it yourself. Doctors can override this)
Physio
Hospital (certain insurances have specific contracts for specific experts so you may need to travel for non urgent specialist care, but all urgent care is covered)
Supporting equipment (think wheelchairs and the like)
Local nurses that come to your home
Mental health
Advice and negotiation
The insurers have differing extra coverage outside of the legal requirements and you can pay for more coverage. For example, I pay more for dental care. Which insurance you choose is up to you so it is a free market. All this means being sick is not free, but it will never financially destroy you.
Roughly 8.4 percent of my salary is paid for health insurance here in Germany. I was only in the health system a little over two years when I had to have my gall bladder removed. My co-pay was only 15 euro per day for the hospital stay. I'm not leaving Germany.
I was stationed in SoFlo in the early 90's, before Hurricane Andrew leveled the area. Three of my friends used to live near Coconut Grove and we used to frequent a bar there that had a killer selection on the jukebox. When 'Girlfriend' came out, that song pretty much defined the place for awhile. I've been a fan ever since. Yeah, Mr. Sweet has done other stuff that is great and I find it hard to believe he's not more well known. He and Susanna Hoffs did a series of covers called , rather un-uniquely, 'Under the Covers.' They strayed into a lot of different paid tribute to a lot of artists in that series, a lot of it pop, all of it excellent. From the Who, Neil Young, Mamas and the Papas, Dylan, Badfinger, Ramones...
Anyway, here's one my faves, a cover of Marshall Crenshaw's 'You're My Favorite Waste of Time.'
Here's a bonus. The early 90's were all about Grunge; and here Mr. Sweet perfectly melds his Power Pop sensibilities with that genre. It's a killer. Even better than 'Girlfriend,' in my estimation.
Not Matthew Sweet related, but speaking of cover songs, I always liked the title J̶.̶ ̶G̶e̶i̶l̶s̶ ̶B̶a̶n̶d̶ Bob Seger used for t/h/e/i/r/ his collection of covers, "Smokin' OPs".
"Now, because that kind of care will be so expensive in the United States — at least a quarter of a million dollars — Lyons has started a GoFundMe for Sweet, who does not have health insurance, to help pay his bills."
`
Tom Tomorrow had a "This Modern World" comic (some years back) where Sparky the penguin was suggesting that we have a GREAT BIG Go Fund Me that EVERYONE paid into and EVERYONE benefited from, and the guy in the suit and tie said something like, "But then how would we exclude the people who we find unworthy?"
I was racking my brain trying to think whether I'd ever heard that song.
My husband, who has been a musician since his teens and is MUCH more knowledgeable about music than I am, said it wasn't ringing any bells for him, either.
So I got the bright idea to click Play on the video.
About ten seconds in, I was like, "Nope, I have never once heard this."
Hubby happened to have his guitar handy, and about eleven seconds in, started playing along with the guitar part.
I guess I’m just a simple liberal who thinks everyone should have access to healthcare and at least a roof and heat and food. Why is universal healthcare such a dirty word(s)? Harris has obviously revamped her campaign to appeal to the broadest of voters, which I get. She must win and then she can revisit her true policy goals. But she now denies that Medicare for all or single payer is the way to go. Why? I assume because she knows incremental changes and lowering costs are more realistic and achievable, versus sweeping reform which Republicans will block at every turn.
Only the wealthy are opposed to everyone having coverage for care. It sure seems like standing up for the millions of uninsured people in America is a winning strategy, and a noble goal. But what do I know? She’s allegedly neck-and-neck with a serial liar, sexual predator and narcissistic sociopath, so the rules of the game are clearly not what we should expect.
It’s a pity America isn’t capable of sweeping changes that make life for the vast majority better. Universal healthcare would. So would gun reform that banned assault and military style AR-15 type weapons. Other nations have done it after a single mass shooting tragedy, like Australia after Port Arthur and New Zealand after Aramoana. Both enacted sweeping changes to their gun ownership legislation, and both reforms drastically reduced gun deaths. But, this being America, we will continue to insist everyone have access to guns, but not healthcare.
Until you have a serious bout of illness or a major injury, it's hard to imagine how the initial pain and sickness, the surgery or other course to fix it, the recovery period, and then the drawn-out influx of billing statements and explanations, etc. all go together as one long, unsettling experience. You want to put it all behind you and move on in wellness, but because of how our healthcare insurance system works in the USA, you really can't do that. Something like single-payer would be a lot less stressful, quite aside from the cost improvement.
While we wait for universal single payer health insurance with international coverage, consider travel insurance with emergency medical expenses and transportation back to the States, if you go out of the country. One company offers a year’s policy (no single trip more than 60 days, multiple trips during the year) for less than $500 per family. One ER visit can easily cost much more than that.
This is eerily similar to what happened to someone with whom I was acquainted. He was a local part-time musician and suffered a massive stroke on stage. He was also a full-time right wing libertarian shitbird, and before his stroke was very vocal about not signing up him and his family (wife and a kid) for that commie Obamacare, 'I'm healthy, I don't need healthcare, I'm not gonna pay for healthcare for other people', so he was, intentionally and vocally, uninsured. His care racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars at a medical facility where I also receive care. They eventually forgave all of it. But of course what "forgive" means in this context is that I'm paying a little more each time I use the facility for his freedom from insurance. Agreed, it's no way to run a healthcare system.
I know I should be sympathetic to his plight, but that story just annoys me instead. Hey, Mister-I'm-A-Libertarian-And-I-Don't-Need-Anything-From-Anyone, you should stick to your principles and *refuse* to let the hospital forgive your debt, and insist on paying it off yourself, no matter how long it takes. Because you don't want to be one of those *takers*, do you?
“This is America! People love choice!”
Planned Parenthood would like a word, please.
Never would have been in this situation if he had had even a basic policy through the ACA. Healthcare.gov is not just a joke. I've used it, my friends have used it. Everyone who doesn't have health insurance in this shit-sucking country should fucking sign up. Goddamnit, people!
My father had tri-care for life. It was still a bit of a crap-shoot. They kept pushing Oxy and hoping he would die. He didn’t want to take it. We did get hospice and it was a godsend. That will never happen for me if I get sick. Matthew Sweet, wow. I listened to that album on a drive from NJ to Boston. We should not have to crowdfund healthcare.
My wife had a stroke four years ago. She's much better now, although walking will never be the same for her. But she can go for miles with a cane. Best wishes for Matthew Sweet.
Her bills were 100% covered by Medicaid. Well, not quite 100%. We did have to spend $30 for the cane. It's lasted four years, so pretty solid cane!
Here's the kicker. Right before I started going to movies with my future wife, I was working up the nerve to ask out another lady. She was a nurse at the care facility I worked at, and a damn good nurse. She liked some of the same books I did.
Then I found out she had a side job. It was working for a health-insurance company. Reviewing patient records and finding ways to deny them coverage. She said, "what's the big deal? If I don't do it, somebody else will." I immediately lost interest in asking this person out.
I was so stunned, I mentioned this to the graveyard-shift lady during shift change. She found it as disappointing as I did. Then we started talking more, and it turned out we liked a lot of the same movies. We made plans to go see a movie...
...and 19 years later, we bought a cane for $30. A pretty solid cane!
I feel bad for Matthew Sweet. I like a lot of his stuff; not just the very few songs of his that got some airplay. If he were better-looking, he might have made more money.
The Ownership Class has decided we're going to operate on an 1880s model, because they have enough money to buy up enough of the Political Class to make that happen.
They don't remember, or have decided to forget, that that society is what fostered all the anarchists and Communists and got a couple Presidents assassinated, and bombs in public places; all the sort of things desperate people pushed far enough will do.
Ever since Katrina vanden Heuvel used an entire issue of "The Nation" in 2012 to castigate healthcare experts for not wholeheartedly supporting the solutions provided by the finance sector via captured politicians; the writing on the wall has been plain to read.
Our healthcare finance system is collapsing and nobody is going to do anything about it. By now the collapse has proceeded far enough that actual healthcare is collapsing. It already has collapsed in most rural areas. Now urban hospitals are running out of money despite the highest intake of revenue ever. They can't hire or retain enough nurses to keep wards open, even in cities; despite the highest demand ever. It's a full finance-driven collapse. No way to sugarcoat what's happening right now, right in front of us.
But we mustn't say so out loud, or it might put some pressure on the bought-off political class and that might make them feel bad, or even unsupported in full.
Whatever. Stay healthy. You'd darn well better, because that's America's healthcare plan. And nobody is coming to help you, or me, or us. It's coming down, right now, so stand clear.
Amen, fellow Minnesota sir. Minnesota Medicaid was really good for several years, but much of that was emergency federal COVID funding, and that's disappearing. My wife's on traditional Medicare now under disability, but I'm pretty sure Republicans will kill disability funding ASAP. I'm 100% sure Vance hates it.
How many years, how many f***ing years, were those of us who begged for Democrats to run on this told "that's too extreme"? Losing health insurance killed my Mom, and free insurance saved my wife! I'm pretty extreme about this!
Yeah, me too. My family is going to lose the home we grew up in, and the little remaining wealth our father was able to accumulate.
All us kids (and there are a lot of us) earn enough money we're OK. We make more than our Dad did, but even the millionaires among my siblings can't pay for the major medical costs Dad incurred before he died, and our Mom incurred having most of her large intestine removed.
Oh, well, they can take the homestead when Mom has to live in a care facility.
That's what we were told we had to accept, to be "realistic" and "mature." OK then.
God, I'm so sorry. That's so terrible, I have no words.
It's so morally hideous that our health care system is like this. It's incredibly stupid from a cold, dispassionate, "economic growth" standpoint, too, but that's not what matters most to me. It's morally hideous. It's a great and intolerable wrong.
But -- it still fucking exists. I'm so sorry for what you've been through. Goddamn it!
Many of us don't have a real choice any way as we depend on employer plans for a healthcare premium to even be affordable.
Health insurance is the second-highest cost for most employers. They spend more only on payroll. But they're in the tank for the finance sector too. That is another reason they manufacture so much stuff overseas; especially for the global market. They can't compete globally, with companies that don't have to pay that crushing health insurance cost.
Another reason no level of tariffs is going to magically bring back manufacturing jobs to the US. And it's one no US politician will speak out loud, if they want to get or stay in office.
You can also copy the Dutch solution where having health insurance is mandatory. The government sets a minimum for what health insurance must cover and keeps an eye on the prices (Just did a check, current prices for the basic level of insurance range from €130 to €140 per month. The first €385 each year you need to pay out of pocket, which I don't like.)
Here's an example of what is covered:
https://pdf.zorgweb.nl/23/00/20/230020501/basis-2024-2.pdf?afnemer=CB
General Practicioner
Medicine (you always get the cheapest brand, otherwise pay for it yourself. Doctors can override this)
Physio
Hospital (certain insurances have specific contracts for specific experts so you may need to travel for non urgent specialist care, but all urgent care is covered)
Supporting equipment (think wheelchairs and the like)
Local nurses that come to your home
Mental health
Advice and negotiation
The insurers have differing extra coverage outside of the legal requirements and you can pay for more coverage. For example, I pay more for dental care. Which insurance you choose is up to you so it is a free market. All this means being sick is not free, but it will never financially destroy you.
Roughly 8.4 percent of my salary is paid for health insurance here in Germany. I was only in the health system a little over two years when I had to have my gall bladder removed. My co-pay was only 15 euro per day for the hospital stay. I'm not leaving Germany.
Okay, Matthew Sweet plug.
I was stationed in SoFlo in the early 90's, before Hurricane Andrew leveled the area. Three of my friends used to live near Coconut Grove and we used to frequent a bar there that had a killer selection on the jukebox. When 'Girlfriend' came out, that song pretty much defined the place for awhile. I've been a fan ever since. Yeah, Mr. Sweet has done other stuff that is great and I find it hard to believe he's not more well known. He and Susanna Hoffs did a series of covers called , rather un-uniquely, 'Under the Covers.' They strayed into a lot of different paid tribute to a lot of artists in that series, a lot of it pop, all of it excellent. From the Who, Neil Young, Mamas and the Papas, Dylan, Badfinger, Ramones...
Anyway, here's one my faves, a cover of Marshall Crenshaw's 'You're My Favorite Waste of Time.'
https://youtu.be/sD-FZvwUXqk?si=aaGkB8Czn6rTy8LI
Here's a bonus. The early 90's were all about Grunge; and here Mr. Sweet perfectly melds his Power Pop sensibilities with that genre. It's a killer. Even better than 'Girlfriend,' in my estimation.
'Sick of Myself'
https://youtu.be/jeawh3IZEgQ?si=VC__c-GyN6ZTvF2g
Not Matthew Sweet related, but speaking of cover songs, I always liked the title J̶.̶ ̶G̶e̶i̶l̶s̶ ̶B̶a̶n̶d̶ Bob Seger used for t/h/e/i/r/ his collection of covers, "Smokin' OPs".
Edit: I stand corrected.
Are we sure that wasn't Bob Seger?
Relatively sure? I mean, obviously I’m not *now*.
"Now, because that kind of care will be so expensive in the United States — at least a quarter of a million dollars — Lyons has started a GoFundMe for Sweet, who does not have health insurance, to help pay his bills."
`
Tom Tomorrow had a "This Modern World" comic (some years back) where Sparky the penguin was suggesting that we have a GREAT BIG Go Fund Me that EVERYONE paid into and EVERYONE benefited from, and the guy in the suit and tie said something like, "But then how would we exclude the people who we find unworthy?"
I was racking my brain trying to think whether I'd ever heard that song.
My husband, who has been a musician since his teens and is MUCH more knowledgeable about music than I am, said it wasn't ringing any bells for him, either.
So I got the bright idea to click Play on the video.
About ten seconds in, I was like, "Nope, I have never once heard this."
Hubby happened to have his guitar handy, and about eleven seconds in, started playing along with the guitar part.
He now knows it.
Yes, he is THAT talented.
I guess I’m just a simple liberal who thinks everyone should have access to healthcare and at least a roof and heat and food. Why is universal healthcare such a dirty word(s)? Harris has obviously revamped her campaign to appeal to the broadest of voters, which I get. She must win and then she can revisit her true policy goals. But she now denies that Medicare for all or single payer is the way to go. Why? I assume because she knows incremental changes and lowering costs are more realistic and achievable, versus sweeping reform which Republicans will block at every turn.
Only the wealthy are opposed to everyone having coverage for care. It sure seems like standing up for the millions of uninsured people in America is a winning strategy, and a noble goal. But what do I know? She’s allegedly neck-and-neck with a serial liar, sexual predator and narcissistic sociopath, so the rules of the game are clearly not what we should expect.
It’s a pity America isn’t capable of sweeping changes that make life for the vast majority better. Universal healthcare would. So would gun reform that banned assault and military style AR-15 type weapons. Other nations have done it after a single mass shooting tragedy, like Australia after Port Arthur and New Zealand after Aramoana. Both enacted sweeping changes to their gun ownership legislation, and both reforms drastically reduced gun deaths. But, this being America, we will continue to insist everyone have access to guns, but not healthcare.
Until you have a serious bout of illness or a major injury, it's hard to imagine how the initial pain and sickness, the surgery or other course to fix it, the recovery period, and then the drawn-out influx of billing statements and explanations, etc. all go together as one long, unsettling experience. You want to put it all behind you and move on in wellness, but because of how our healthcare insurance system works in the USA, you really can't do that. Something like single-payer would be a lot less stressful, quite aside from the cost improvement.
My heart attack in 2019 came with a $230K bill and an $80K air ambulance ride. Medicare paid for it all. Best "senior discount" evar!
While we wait for universal single payer health insurance with international coverage, consider travel insurance with emergency medical expenses and transportation back to the States, if you go out of the country. One company offers a year’s policy (no single trip more than 60 days, multiple trips during the year) for less than $500 per family. One ER visit can easily cost much more than that.
This is eerily similar to what happened to someone with whom I was acquainted. He was a local part-time musician and suffered a massive stroke on stage. He was also a full-time right wing libertarian shitbird, and before his stroke was very vocal about not signing up him and his family (wife and a kid) for that commie Obamacare, 'I'm healthy, I don't need healthcare, I'm not gonna pay for healthcare for other people', so he was, intentionally and vocally, uninsured. His care racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars at a medical facility where I also receive care. They eventually forgave all of it. But of course what "forgive" means in this context is that I'm paying a little more each time I use the facility for his freedom from insurance. Agreed, it's no way to run a healthcare system.
I know I should be sympathetic to his plight, but that story just annoys me instead. Hey, Mister-I'm-A-Libertarian-And-I-Don't-Need-Anything-From-Anyone, you should stick to your principles and *refuse* to let the hospital forgive your debt, and insist on paying it off yourself, no matter how long it takes. Because you don't want to be one of those *takers*, do you?
Wondering about that Healthcare Plan Sir has been sitting on for about 8 or 9 years? Me too.
If he gets elected, he'll let you know about it. In two weeks.
“Promises Made. Promises Kept.”
No one has ever seen anything like it! True -- because, of course, it doesn't exist.
It's very powerful.
I thought I felt something…