I mostly avoid healthcare if I can because even with insurance, nothing is ever actually covered. Providers aren’t covered at the office where they work but at some other office hours away, so no coverage. Or providers charge a copay for several visits and then say “oh we don’t actually take your insurance even though you were sent here by your pcp in agonizing pain after your pcp reviewed your insurance’s coverage”. Or they list a cash price and claim they accept your insurance and think “hey even if they’re lying about taking my insurance, I can afford that cash price” but HA HA IDIOT, that cash price is for uninsured patients. You’re insured and they take insurance from your provider, but not *your* actual insurance nevermind the copays they’ve estimated and charged for moths after having the insurance card in file. Oh, want to pretend to be uninsured so you can pay the cash price? That’s insurance fraud so fuck you.
Yes, my mental health provider said they took my insurance and had reasonable cash prices and then 6 months later secretly charged my CC for full price (double the posted cash price) for lots of appointments. They said my insurance required them to charge that high price even though they don’t take my insurance plan.
So when I feel sad bad mad hopeless self-harmy give-up game over, I know that there is NO HELP. Not in this country. Help in the form of misleading swindling lies is no help at all. Yes, make me feel worse about confusing healthcare and see how that improves my wellbeing. Nothing triggers my self harm as fast as healthcare confusion.
I haaaate that the response to every confusing healthcare problem is something about how I should have trusted the information IN WRITING and I should have verified on the phone. In what other industry does the verbal approval if a phone stranger carry more weight than the written information provided by that entity? Why can’t I ever trust what is written when it comes to healthcare? Why is trusting the written words seen as a foolish ignorant dumb move?
I'm sure he'll find a way. He has all legal scholarship of the Federalist Society to drawn on. Whoever provides the needed gobbledygook will be a candidate for the endowed Carl Schmitt Chair at the Scalia School of Law.
Gov. Cooper has been a gift to NC. Despite how fucked our state govt. is, during Trump's Oval Office squat we knew Cooper was there for the people, and up to now he's at least been a counter to the state legislature. I wish he could run for another term, he'd win easily.
Must not forget the contributions of Thomas Hofeller, gerrymanderist extraordinaire! Another fine product of Claremont McKenna and Claremont Graduate University, home of John Eastman and other reptiles.
Same here in KY with our very impressive Dem Gov, Andy Beshear. Our legislature is chock full o' nuts, but the governor is sane, and he's worked hard to help the people - almost as if he understands and believes that he's there to serve, weirdly enough. He is also term-limited and I have zero hope for another Dem to follow him. Our cycle is: GQP fouls up everything, Dems fix, voters give GQP another chance, GQP fouls up, Dems fix . . . ad infinitum. So it's time for the idiots to vote in whatever mangled hellbeast the GQP finds to run for Gov next time.
I would still disagree - The dictionary definition is "Head of state, the highest representative of a sovereign state" - and US states share their sovereignty with the federal government ( and the supremacy clause in the Constitution would give precedence to the president over governors. )
There's a reason the USA has shorter wait times to see a doctor. It is because NOT EVERYONE GETS HEALTH CARE. Lots of people who should go to the doctor or hospital will stay home because they know they probably won't be able to afford to pay the bill when it comes. HENCE SHORTER LINES. Of course the lines are longer in countries that provide universal health care because 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘰.
Yesterday, in the evening, I realised I needed to see a dr to renew a script. I got online and had an appointment for this morning - and hour and a half from now - in less than a minute, And that visit is free as the clinic bulk bills for it, And the price of the medication is capped.
The only draw-back (?) is that when I pay my taxes I get a 1.5% levy on my taxable income to pay for universal healthcare for ALL Australians.
As an ex-nurse who still has lots of family and friends in the medical field in the US, I can confirm this and also add that YES, PEOPLE DIE EVERY FUCKING DAY BECAUSE OF THIS.
Sometimes it's putting off checking that lump until their cancer has spread past the point of removing. Sometimes it's damage done to the heart, lungs and other organs from untreated or poorly treated diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or other systemic issues. (Surprise! People need to be on their medication *all the time*- not going on when they can afford it and off when they can't.) And sometimes it's simply ignoring the early (and late!) symptoms of a heart attack until your heart can't do it anymore. People must be able to trust in their healthcare!
I think this is what killed my roommate. High blood pressure, no insurance, so no treatment of probable small strokes/bleeds prior to the big one that landed him in ICU. All because of our for-profit health "care" system.
There is also the fact that many provinces are run by conservatives who are busy trying to ratfuck our healthcare in order to privitize it for their buddies. Canadians really, really need to learn how to vote. We suck at it and we are giving our country away at bargain prices
If I had to have what the oncologist calls "aggressive" cancer, I can still be glad for two things: Keytruda seems to have been designed exactly to treat my case and that I have no idea how much all this costs since I'm lucky enough to have an employer insurance plan that leaves me on the hook to cover a fraction of the total bill. Cause it's a big one. Thank you Obamacare's rules for insurance coverage.
Memories of when I was a kid during the Medicare debate and the AMA produced a record with Pruneface Reagan denouncing LBJ's Medicare bill. Our Family Dr supported Medicare and when anyone went into his office there was a glass case showing Pruneface Reagan's record smashed to pieces and the record cover had a big X drawn over Pruneface's picture.
Do you ever go on the net to find out what a politician said? This was the only way to do that kind of thing then. No, it isn't what you would put on at a party.
Don't worry. Our NC Republican supermajority in the state house and senate will dispose of that idea in no time. We actually have an abundance of excellent healthcare facilities in the blue dots of the state, but all those rural state legislators are very worried about their constituents and their freedom from government overreach. Cynical? Not me, no.
Never forget that Boris Manchin and Natasha Sinema sided with Republicans to filibuster and kill the John Lewis Voting Rights Act that would have eliminated gerrymandering.
We've been so consumed with undoing the damage Trump wrought with the pandemic and fighting off his threats to democracy there's been little focus on wide-scale health care reform. Which is a shame because it's still one of the biggest drivers of financial insecurity, and our current system is absurd.
This is what happens when we let Republicans have any amount of power. Shit doesn't get done.
It's why Dems have to plan several steps ahead. It's not enough to pass a reform, you have to entrench power so you can keep it from getting fucked.
Look at how much LBJ passed, only to have Nixon defund half of it a few years later.
By contrast, most of what FDR implemented stayed, because by the time Ike got in there people had gotten so used to it there wasn't enough appetite to undo it.
<Forty-one percent of US Americans have medical debt. By that same token, 59 percent of us are one medical emergency away from financial ruin (and probably more, depending on the medical
emergency).>
This really hit home for me this year. I suffered a broken elbow (on Leap Day) which required surgery from which I am still recovering. I didn't seek care for 5 days because A) high pain tolerance, it can't be serious; B) if can avoid doctors, I will. C) I didn't want to miss any work, and I didn't for 3 days.
But it was obvious something was wrong and here we are. I was out of work for 6 weeks and fell into such a depression over it I didn't even remember I had short term disability for about 3 weeks. So, bills piling up and no income for 6 weeks. Thankfully, I have a supportive partner (she works part time, which I am happy about) and funds to tide me over for a while. But it's a 6 week hole that's been dug and when you imagine your account rapidly dwindling with mortgage, car, utility, and other payments it gets scary.
I am grateful for the modern world of medicine and its practitioners. I would think, "What if this happened to me in a remote area and I was self employed or a farmer? What if I was living 100-150 years ago?" Fortunately, unbeknownst to me at the time, the company that employs me paid me anyway because they value me (some vacation & sick time but also extra beyond that). This is the exception and I know how lucky I am. They did not have to do this. I have to pretend to my coworkers that this did not happen.
But it shouldn't be this way in a country where we can fund wars whether US conflicts or not; fund political campaigns that last as long as some wars, it seems; and have people rich enough to buy Kevin McCarthy's used lip balm for $100,000 who work to undermine the health of that nation and its denizens. Don't tell me "we" can't pay for it. We most certainly can.
I have zero coverage. I pay out of pocket for my dental cleanings and once-every-three-years physical/ bloodwork. Now, with both of my parents gone to their final rest, I don't have to worry about how sad they would be when I don't seek treatment for whatever I get.
We all get something, that's why healthcare should be a right, and health insurance should be illegal. There's no "if" about healthcare, only "when."
I have a friend, a keyboard player who I have known for 35 years. He supported himself as a bartender at a small private club and playing gigs He was getting set to move to New Orleans a few years ago but never made it because he had some medical problems which has limited him. No health insurance and at his age and skill level for "day jobs", he's probably in a permanent hole. It's sad that you need to work a "straight" job just to cover health things.
He may be able to or is on it but this is a guy who didn't have a checking account when I was playing with him in the '00s. He had a pile of money orders on the table. He's hit really hard times lately with a GoFundMe once and a housing crisis last month. We stopped playing during COVID so I don't see him these days.
It's one of the things that makes retirement almost impossible to effectively plan. You just can't budget for "unexpected health care fuckups" knowing it could drain you quickly.
I'm 56. My income earning days are finite. A few thousand bucks for slipping on ice in the dark is a jagged pill to swallow. It could be used for the next vehicle, a leach field replacement, vet bills, anything unexpected. At least insurance helps a bit. It's the first time in my life I ever made the deductible threshold. I've been incredibly lucky health wise other than some potentially deadly episodes with an abscess and blood poisoning.
My older sister is planning to retire in a few months, mostly because her job is such a clusterfuck she can't stand it for much longer. She has the funds to do it, but she's also on the sickly side, and I fear what might happen if she has an unplanned medical fuckup.
I have some bitter memories of finding some of my patients on the neuro ward crying secondary to fear of the debt compiling during their hospitalization. Some demanded to be discharged before they were ready to go home simply because they were SO terrified of the tab that was going to come due,
How in the HELL does this provide the sick and injured the calm, comforting, supportive environment required for the acute and critically ill?
Roy Cooper has never lost an election. He’s got plans.
Ta, Robyn. I always appreciate good news.
Important to note that Governor Roy Cooper, in addition to being a decent human being, is term limited and ineligible to run for reelection this year.
I mostly avoid healthcare if I can because even with insurance, nothing is ever actually covered. Providers aren’t covered at the office where they work but at some other office hours away, so no coverage. Or providers charge a copay for several visits and then say “oh we don’t actually take your insurance even though you were sent here by your pcp in agonizing pain after your pcp reviewed your insurance’s coverage”. Or they list a cash price and claim they accept your insurance and think “hey even if they’re lying about taking my insurance, I can afford that cash price” but HA HA IDIOT, that cash price is for uninsured patients. You’re insured and they take insurance from your provider, but not *your* actual insurance nevermind the copays they’ve estimated and charged for moths after having the insurance card in file. Oh, want to pretend to be uninsured so you can pay the cash price? That’s insurance fraud so fuck you.
Yes, my mental health provider said they took my insurance and had reasonable cash prices and then 6 months later secretly charged my CC for full price (double the posted cash price) for lots of appointments. They said my insurance required them to charge that high price even though they don’t take my insurance plan.
So when I feel sad bad mad hopeless self-harmy give-up game over, I know that there is NO HELP. Not in this country. Help in the form of misleading swindling lies is no help at all. Yes, make me feel worse about confusing healthcare and see how that improves my wellbeing. Nothing triggers my self harm as fast as healthcare confusion.
I haaaate that the response to every confusing healthcare problem is something about how I should have trusted the information IN WRITING and I should have verified on the phone. In what other industry does the verbal approval if a phone stranger carry more weight than the written information provided by that entity? Why can’t I ever trust what is written when it comes to healthcare? Why is trusting the written words seen as a foolish ignorant dumb move?
Single payer now please?
Wow...Democrats doing good legislation.....how can John Roberts fuck this up....
I'm sure he'll find a way. He has all legal scholarship of the Federalist Society to drawn on. Whoever provides the needed gobbledygook will be a candidate for the endowed Carl Schmitt Chair at the Scalia School of Law.
I'm just skimming the bullet points, but is this a stepping stone to Medicare For All?
This is a state government action. It's done in tandem with a long delayed expansion of Medicaid in that state under the affordable Care act.
Gov. Cooper has been a gift to NC. Despite how fucked our state govt. is, during Trump's Oval Office squat we knew Cooper was there for the people, and up to now he's at least been a counter to the state legislature. I wish he could run for another term, he'd win easily.
Yep. And he slid through the door by a small number of votes, thank ye gods. Every vote counts!
The NC state lege is a sewer of corruption, racism, and fascism. Art Pope financed it all.
Must not forget the contributions of Thomas Hofeller, gerrymanderist extraordinaire! Another fine product of Claremont McKenna and Claremont Graduate University, home of John Eastman and other reptiles.
Same here in KY with our very impressive Dem Gov, Andy Beshear. Our legislature is chock full o' nuts, but the governor is sane, and he's worked hard to help the people - almost as if he understands and believes that he's there to serve, weirdly enough. He is also term-limited and I have zero hope for another Dem to follow him. Our cycle is: GQP fouls up everything, Dems fix, voters give GQP another chance, GQP fouls up, Dems fix . . . ad infinitum. So it's time for the idiots to vote in whatever mangled hellbeast the GQP finds to run for Gov next time.
I live in KY too...wouldn't be surprised if Comer took another go at it...
No doubt, the right wing suit against this move in North Carolina will be filed in Texas ( Kacsmaryk's district court ).
How will they have jurisdiction over NC state government?
And didn’t the SC just rule that heads of state are kings?
1) I'm sure Kacsmaryk will grant them standing, and
2) The term "head of state" does not really apply to governors.
Umm, they are literally the titular head of their state..... but I know what you mean.
I would still disagree - The dictionary definition is "Head of state, the highest representative of a sovereign state" - and US states share their sovereignty with the federal government ( and the supremacy clause in the Constitution would give precedence to the president over governors. )
There's a reason the USA has shorter wait times to see a doctor. It is because NOT EVERYONE GETS HEALTH CARE. Lots of people who should go to the doctor or hospital will stay home because they know they probably won't be able to afford to pay the bill when it comes. HENCE SHORTER LINES. Of course the lines are longer in countries that provide universal health care because 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘰.
Yesterday, in the evening, I realised I needed to see a dr to renew a script. I got online and had an appointment for this morning - and hour and a half from now - in less than a minute, And that visit is free as the clinic bulk bills for it, And the price of the medication is capped.
The only draw-back (?) is that when I pay my taxes I get a 1.5% levy on my taxable income to pay for universal healthcare for ALL Australians.
I still have to wait about five months to see my GI doctor. My pulmonologist is a six month wait. The number of doctors is kept artificially low.
As an ex-nurse who still has lots of family and friends in the medical field in the US, I can confirm this and also add that YES, PEOPLE DIE EVERY FUCKING DAY BECAUSE OF THIS.
Sometimes it's putting off checking that lump until their cancer has spread past the point of removing. Sometimes it's damage done to the heart, lungs and other organs from untreated or poorly treated diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or other systemic issues. (Surprise! People need to be on their medication *all the time*- not going on when they can afford it and off when they can't.) And sometimes it's simply ignoring the early (and late!) symptoms of a heart attack until your heart can't do it anymore. People must be able to trust in their healthcare!
I think this is what killed my roommate. High blood pressure, no insurance, so no treatment of probable small strokes/bleeds prior to the big one that landed him in ICU. All because of our for-profit health "care" system.
There is also the fact that many provinces are run by conservatives who are busy trying to ratfuck our healthcare in order to privitize it for their buddies. Canadians really, really need to learn how to vote. We suck at it and we are giving our country away at bargain prices
We Americans know a thing or two about that.
The American Medical "Care" System is a huge grift, with plenty of parasites sucking off of disease, injury, and death.
If I had to have what the oncologist calls "aggressive" cancer, I can still be glad for two things: Keytruda seems to have been designed exactly to treat my case and that I have no idea how much all this costs since I'm lucky enough to have an employer insurance plan that leaves me on the hook to cover a fraction of the total bill. Cause it's a big one. Thank you Obamacare's rules for insurance coverage.
Memories of when I was a kid during the Medicare debate and the AMA produced a record with Pruneface Reagan denouncing LBJ's Medicare bill. Our Family Dr supported Medicare and when anyone went into his office there was a glass case showing Pruneface Reagan's record smashed to pieces and the record cover had a big X drawn over Pruneface's picture.
Punk rock ahead of time!
That's awesome!
It's crazy to me that in those days, people had LPs of political speeches. Just a weird thing to put on the hi-fi at a party!
Do you ever go on the net to find out what a politician said? This was the only way to do that kind of thing then. No, it isn't what you would put on at a party.
Don't worry. Our NC Republican supermajority in the state house and senate will dispose of that idea in no time. We actually have an abundance of excellent healthcare facilities in the blue dots of the state, but all those rural state legislators are very worried about their constituents and their freedom from government overreach. Cynical? Not me, no.
I wish voters had the sense to punish that shit.
Never forget that Boris Manchin and Natasha Sinema sided with Republicans to filibuster and kill the John Lewis Voting Rights Act that would have eliminated gerrymandering.
We've been so consumed with undoing the damage Trump wrought with the pandemic and fighting off his threats to democracy there's been little focus on wide-scale health care reform. Which is a shame because it's still one of the biggest drivers of financial insecurity, and our current system is absurd.
This is what happens when we let Republicans have any amount of power. Shit doesn't get done.
Worse, they tend to drag us backwards.
And too much in the way of positives are undone.
It's why Dems have to plan several steps ahead. It's not enough to pass a reform, you have to entrench power so you can keep it from getting fucked.
Look at how much LBJ passed, only to have Nixon defund half of it a few years later.
By contrast, most of what FDR implemented stayed, because by the time Ike got in there people had gotten so used to it there wasn't enough appetite to undo it.
<Forty-one percent of US Americans have medical debt. By that same token, 59 percent of us are one medical emergency away from financial ruin (and probably more, depending on the medical
emergency).>
This really hit home for me this year. I suffered a broken elbow (on Leap Day) which required surgery from which I am still recovering. I didn't seek care for 5 days because A) high pain tolerance, it can't be serious; B) if can avoid doctors, I will. C) I didn't want to miss any work, and I didn't for 3 days.
But it was obvious something was wrong and here we are. I was out of work for 6 weeks and fell into such a depression over it I didn't even remember I had short term disability for about 3 weeks. So, bills piling up and no income for 6 weeks. Thankfully, I have a supportive partner (she works part time, which I am happy about) and funds to tide me over for a while. But it's a 6 week hole that's been dug and when you imagine your account rapidly dwindling with mortgage, car, utility, and other payments it gets scary.
I am grateful for the modern world of medicine and its practitioners. I would think, "What if this happened to me in a remote area and I was self employed or a farmer? What if I was living 100-150 years ago?" Fortunately, unbeknownst to me at the time, the company that employs me paid me anyway because they value me (some vacation & sick time but also extra beyond that). This is the exception and I know how lucky I am. They did not have to do this. I have to pretend to my coworkers that this did not happen.
But it shouldn't be this way in a country where we can fund wars whether US conflicts or not; fund political campaigns that last as long as some wars, it seems; and have people rich enough to buy Kevin McCarthy's used lip balm for $100,000 who work to undermine the health of that nation and its denizens. Don't tell me "we" can't pay for it. We most certainly can.
I have zero coverage. I pay out of pocket for my dental cleanings and once-every-three-years physical/ bloodwork. Now, with both of my parents gone to their final rest, I don't have to worry about how sad they would be when I don't seek treatment for whatever I get.
We all get something, that's why healthcare should be a right, and health insurance should be illegal. There's no "if" about healthcare, only "when."
I have a friend, a keyboard player who I have known for 35 years. He supported himself as a bartender at a small private club and playing gigs He was getting set to move to New Orleans a few years ago but never made it because he had some medical problems which has limited him. No health insurance and at his age and skill level for "day jobs", he's probably in a permanent hole. It's sad that you need to work a "straight" job just to cover health things.
Why can't he get the ACA assistance?
He may be able to or is on it but this is a guy who didn't have a checking account when I was playing with him in the '00s. He had a pile of money orders on the table. He's hit really hard times lately with a GoFundMe once and a housing crisis last month. We stopped playing during COVID so I don't see him these days.
It's one of the things that makes retirement almost impossible to effectively plan. You just can't budget for "unexpected health care fuckups" knowing it could drain you quickly.
Our system is fucked.
I'm 56. My income earning days are finite. A few thousand bucks for slipping on ice in the dark is a jagged pill to swallow. It could be used for the next vehicle, a leach field replacement, vet bills, anything unexpected. At least insurance helps a bit. It's the first time in my life I ever made the deductible threshold. I've been incredibly lucky health wise other than some potentially deadly episodes with an abscess and blood poisoning.
So. Much. This.
My older sister is planning to retire in a few months, mostly because her job is such a clusterfuck she can't stand it for much longer. She has the funds to do it, but she's also on the sickly side, and I fear what might happen if she has an unplanned medical fuckup.
Well said. If the "Defense Sector" can get $850 billion(!!!) for big boy toys how can we not "afford" health care for all Americans?
Glad you made it. But you're ABSOLUTELY right, we shouldn’t have to think about the details.
I have some bitter memories of finding some of my patients on the neuro ward crying secondary to fear of the debt compiling during their hospitalization. Some demanded to be discharged before they were ready to go home simply because they were SO terrified of the tab that was going to come due,
How in the HELL does this provide the sick and injured the calm, comforting, supportive environment required for the acute and critically ill?