I went through nine months of United Healthcare and Medicare saying they would not cover my husband's end of life expenses, each claimed the other owed the payment. Thankfully one lovely woman at the hospital persevered and determined that because my company was less than 50 people (my husband had medicare and my company insurance), it could never have been the primary insurer, and finally medicare covered the claims. It's so awful when a loved one dies, and you are inundated with these huge bills that come in, just terrible! Assassination is never justified, but this one has at least brought attention to the abysmal state of the insurance coverage in the good old US of A.
reading the comments on that bluesky post - all these right wingers scolding about doxxing, when they're ok with it if they are the ones doing the doxxing - what a bunch of choads
Speaking of the objectification of women... Why use a photo of a woman naked (breasts showing) on an operating table having liposuction at the top of this piece? Why not a man having his gall bladder removed or his hemorrhoids tended to? Or a big fat guy having heart bypass surgery?
Critical care nurse here. Anthem's little power play was BS from the start, IMO. I think they meant it, but I think they knew it wasn't going to fly from the beginning. Personally, I think they were testing the waters of what they could get by with, given the new regime ready to take over. I posit that they were ready to pull back if there was blowback, and thank goodness there was. Assholes.
I'm gonna have to get open heart surgery in the near future, so the bit about waking up in the middle of it was a bit vivid. My heart works great, but there's a little dingus on one of the valves that may be throwing clots, some of which go right to my brain, which is Not Good.
Just woke from a crazy dream thought I just had that made me laugh aloud. Biden resigned from the Presidency a day before Christmas and Kamala because President. She named Pelosi as her VP. Orange Foolius spends the next month flipping out. On Inauguration Day, Kamala gives an outgoing speech that serves to trigger Trump worse than her remarks about his rally. He spends the next few hours ranting during his inauguration speech, giving the Americans yet another reminder of what they just elected. Ah.. a boy can dream…
Is it too soon for a conspiracy theory about the assassin's flawless targeting, stalking, execution and now his seeming ability to vanish from the face of the earth?
It is too soon?
OK. I won't do that.
But I will say that the NY DA is NOT too happy about the idea of empaneling a jury to convict this guy.
"Are you kidding? It won't be just one asshole refusing to convict! We cannot possibly get the win unless we can get twelve insurance company executives to agree to be on the jury. And even then it may not work because they are all direct competitors with each other."
I find it ridiculous that anyone can seriously think that the lobbying arm of a particular group of doctors is MORE robust than the lobbying arm of the insurance industry.
I mean.
Worse than kettle v pot on that one.
Not that it does not exist or they do not want more money, mind, just laughable that some bluesky dude has decided the poor insurance companies are the underdog in any scenario.
How much of a pretzel does one need to twist their brain into, to see the massively wealthy behemoth that is our insurance industry as...an UNDERDOG?!?!?!
Ta, Robyn. When Dad became an amputee in the 1960s, his insurance (good Union contract) paid for it all. Still, my parents got a copy of the charges in the mail. When Mom saw the anesthesiologist's fee, she blanched.
About the United CEO getting murdered in broad daylight: I work in a federally qualified health center (FQHC) where we can turn no one away for being unable to pay. A couple of the medical assistants were talking about how calm and cool the shooter was, and one of them had the video on her phone. I told her the best thing I'd read on the internet about it was that there were at least 80,000 suspects. She looked puzzled for a moment, then the reason dawned on her. Every patient-facing employee in the clinic hates United. Not only do they go out of their way to deny claims, they make a game of requiring prior authorization for fucking EVERYTHING -- the most mundane, routine medical procedures. If there weren't seven more heads springing from his just-died neck, I'd have a quiet celebration of his demise. I'm sure the testimony he now cannot give would have been worth hearing.
This has always seemed back-asswards to me. A bunch of pencil pushing insurance dweebs sans medical degrees are able to decide how actual doctors can treat their patients. Or what is absolutely necessary for treatment and what isn't. I'm sure many very sick people have had to forego healthcare and probably even died because some damned insurance asshole refused to pay for an expensive treatment.
I have a friend who is still paying off chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer from 12 years ago, and another who struggles to pay for insulin. Because for both of them, their work insurance restricted its coverage to the bare minimum. And from what they tell me, those premiums they have paid for years and are still paying ain't cheap.
He was killed to prevent him from testifying about insider trading. The killer was clearly a pro, used a lot of misdirection to make people think he was an amateur, used the engraved casings to lead people to think he was the relative/friend of someone denied care. The guy in the photo from the hostel is not the one who did the shooting—the jacket and the backpack are different.
Now, those crack experts of the NYPD are saying he took an interstate bus and is gone from NY. They will never find the shooter. He’s totally in the wind and they have no idea who he is. They never will, either.
I realize I sound like a crazed conspiracy theorist, but this whole thing doesn’t ring true.
Oh yeah that was another thing in the Biden/Harris admin that people were too busy typing "Joe Biden OLD" and ignoring Kamala Harris to share, that the admin had been tackling the "surprise billing." Just another thing that was on the ballot and that'll pay some dividends for the greedy healthcare companies once the second maladministration takes hold.
God, that was so fucking STUPID it was embarrassing. And this brain dead idiot is the one who is second in line for the Oval Office. And the line of succession after him is ... horrifying to say the least.
Barrimg* the commision of fraud, I definitely come down on the side of the gas passers. They are not just responsible for bringing you back, but for bringing YOU back. I have the same feeling about neurosurgeons.
It's all in the framing. Most people like their doctor and don't want to change them. So don't tell them that your medicare for all bill going to end private providers. Tell them that, like medicare, all bills will go to one payment company and it doesn't matter where you are, your bill will be paid.
No organization can have more than one top priority. If it's profit, then it can't be healthcare. A basic need like healthcare should be nonprofit. The fact that it isn't tells us what our "leaders" think of citizens versus rich donors.
I went through nine months of United Healthcare and Medicare saying they would not cover my husband's end of life expenses, each claimed the other owed the payment. Thankfully one lovely woman at the hospital persevered and determined that because my company was less than 50 people (my husband had medicare and my company insurance), it could never have been the primary insurer, and finally medicare covered the claims. It's so awful when a loved one dies, and you are inundated with these huge bills that come in, just terrible! Assassination is never justified, but this one has at least brought attention to the abysmal state of the insurance coverage in the good old US of A.
reading the comments on that bluesky post - all these right wingers scolding about doxxing, when they're ok with it if they are the ones doing the doxxing - what a bunch of choads
Speaking of the objectification of women... Why use a photo of a woman naked (breasts showing) on an operating table having liposuction at the top of this piece? Why not a man having his gall bladder removed or his hemorrhoids tended to? Or a big fat guy having heart bypass surgery?
Critical care nurse here. Anthem's little power play was BS from the start, IMO. I think they meant it, but I think they knew it wasn't going to fly from the beginning. Personally, I think they were testing the waters of what they could get by with, given the new regime ready to take over. I posit that they were ready to pull back if there was blowback, and thank goodness there was. Assholes.
I'm gonna have to get open heart surgery in the near future, so the bit about waking up in the middle of it was a bit vivid. My heart works great, but there's a little dingus on one of the valves that may be throwing clots, some of which go right to my brain, which is Not Good.
My late husband, an anesthesiologist, worked hard and was obsessively concerned with his patients. He died of a heart attack at age 54.
Just woke from a crazy dream thought I just had that made me laugh aloud. Biden resigned from the Presidency a day before Christmas and Kamala because President. She named Pelosi as her VP. Orange Foolius spends the next month flipping out. On Inauguration Day, Kamala gives an outgoing speech that serves to trigger Trump worse than her remarks about his rally. He spends the next few hours ranting during his inauguration speech, giving the Americans yet another reminder of what they just elected. Ah.. a boy can dream…
Another funny thing about that is that it would push TFG down to being the 48th prez, and all that 47 merch would be worthless.
🤣 Now that would be funny! He’d likely die in the spot!
A girl can too.
That would be amusing.
Is it too soon for a conspiracy theory about the assassin's flawless targeting, stalking, execution and now his seeming ability to vanish from the face of the earth?
It is too soon?
OK. I won't do that.
But I will say that the NY DA is NOT too happy about the idea of empaneling a jury to convict this guy.
"Are you kidding? It won't be just one asshole refusing to convict! We cannot possibly get the win unless we can get twelve insurance company executives to agree to be on the jury. And even then it may not work because they are all direct competitors with each other."
Snork!
It's almost as if universal healthcare without a for profit model would have benefits
The insurance industry is far too entrenched here and would never allow that to happen
I find it ridiculous that anyone can seriously think that the lobbying arm of a particular group of doctors is MORE robust than the lobbying arm of the insurance industry.
I mean.
Worse than kettle v pot on that one.
Not that it does not exist or they do not want more money, mind, just laughable that some bluesky dude has decided the poor insurance companies are the underdog in any scenario.
How much of a pretzel does one need to twist their brain into, to see the massively wealthy behemoth that is our insurance industry as...an UNDERDOG?!?!?!
Ta, Robyn. When Dad became an amputee in the 1960s, his insurance (good Union contract) paid for it all. Still, my parents got a copy of the charges in the mail. When Mom saw the anesthesiologist's fee, she blanched.
About the United CEO getting murdered in broad daylight: I work in a federally qualified health center (FQHC) where we can turn no one away for being unable to pay. A couple of the medical assistants were talking about how calm and cool the shooter was, and one of them had the video on her phone. I told her the best thing I'd read on the internet about it was that there were at least 80,000 suspects. She looked puzzled for a moment, then the reason dawned on her. Every patient-facing employee in the clinic hates United. Not only do they go out of their way to deny claims, they make a game of requiring prior authorization for fucking EVERYTHING -- the most mundane, routine medical procedures. If there weren't seven more heads springing from his just-died neck, I'd have a quiet celebration of his demise. I'm sure the testimony he now cannot give would have been worth hearing.
This has always seemed back-asswards to me. A bunch of pencil pushing insurance dweebs sans medical degrees are able to decide how actual doctors can treat their patients. Or what is absolutely necessary for treatment and what isn't. I'm sure many very sick people have had to forego healthcare and probably even died because some damned insurance asshole refused to pay for an expensive treatment.
I have a friend who is still paying off chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer from 12 years ago, and another who struggles to pay for insulin. Because for both of them, their work insurance restricted its coverage to the bare minimum. And from what they tell me, those premiums they have paid for years and are still paying ain't cheap.
My two cents?
He was killed to prevent him from testifying about insider trading. The killer was clearly a pro, used a lot of misdirection to make people think he was an amateur, used the engraved casings to lead people to think he was the relative/friend of someone denied care. The guy in the photo from the hostel is not the one who did the shooting—the jacket and the backpack are different.
Now, those crack experts of the NYPD are saying he took an interstate bus and is gone from NY. They will never find the shooter. He’s totally in the wind and they have no idea who he is. They never will, either.
I realize I sound like a crazed conspiracy theorist, but this whole thing doesn’t ring true.
Deal with insurance companies long enough, and the notion of an angry insurance customer starts to make sense.
Oh yeah that was another thing in the Biden/Harris admin that people were too busy typing "Joe Biden OLD" and ignoring Kamala Harris to share, that the admin had been tackling the "surprise billing." Just another thing that was on the ballot and that'll pay some dividends for the greedy healthcare companies once the second maladministration takes hold.
But alas, "eggs cost too much."
God, that was so fucking STUPID it was embarrassing. And this brain dead idiot is the one who is second in line for the Oval Office. And the line of succession after him is ... horrifying to say the least.
ok sorry but i think the medical profession and medical providers are as much to blame as insurance companies. our whole system is pretty awful.
but here we are. and we'll be lucky to keep what we have.
Barrimg* the commision of fraud, I definitely come down on the side of the gas passers. They are not just responsible for bringing you back, but for bringing YOU back. I have the same feeling about neurosurgeons.
*I swear that "m" jumped in the way.
It's all in the framing. Most people like their doctor and don't want to change them. So don't tell them that your medicare for all bill going to end private providers. Tell them that, like medicare, all bills will go to one payment company and it doesn't matter where you are, your bill will be paid.
*SIGH*
The Democrats have never been great at framing issues. That's partly why the GOP has been able to shoot most of them down.
i don't know i fucking hate the medical profession and blame them every bit as much as the insurance world.
Honestly, I'm a fan. A bunch of them recently stopped my bewbs from killing me, and I'm pretty grateful.
Lotta doctors and nurses in the Wonkettariat, friend
Every healthcare practitioner I know HATES insurance companies. Almost all of them support some sort of single-payer healthcare as well.
And fathers of doctors.
I happen to be both
No organization can have more than one top priority. If it's profit, then it can't be healthcare. A basic need like healthcare should be nonprofit. The fact that it isn't tells us what our "leaders" think of citizens versus rich donors.
^THIS!!!^