It's so hard to come up with a plan when your only strategy is deceit.
For as long as you can string people along with the promise of an eventual plan, you only have to lie once. You have to repeat the lie every time the promised plan fails to materialize, but this is easy, given that people have short memories and most news broadcasters are pushovers.
But when you have to present an actual plan, this is tough. Every item of the plan has to be a separate, newly made-up lie. This takes work. Moreover, the more lies you have to tell all at once, the more likely it is that somebody, even a lazy news broadcaster, is going to notice at least one of them.
How do you comparison shop a year in advance when you don't know what medical condition you are likely to have? In 2023, I wouldn't have been focusing on the cost of inpatient treatment for hypertension or surgery to insert a stent in my renal artery. In 2024, I wouldn't have been looking at the cost of back surgery or in 2025, the cost of rotator cuff surgery.
My wife, herself a pharmacist and educated person, and myself, a law-talkin’ guy (as the Simpsons put it) recently admitted to each other that life has become too hard and complicated for many people, us included. I said it feels like being tasked with holding a pile of loose sand in your hands, as you try desperately to hold onto it, more just keeps sifting through your fingers. Or one of those cartoons with a dam about to burst, with too many holes to plug with your fingers and toes. You try to keep plugging new holes while neglecting the others. And we are supposedly capable, intelligent, sober, rational, talented and above-average looking people. And it’s just too much. Insurance companies charge too much and enjoy billions in surpluses as they deny, delay or ignore too many claims. And with a staggering 3 years left of this madness, there is no serious, realistic economic relief coming. I can totally understand the hopeless feeling people have with life’s endless responsibilities to pay for housing, transportation, auto insurance, homeowners insurance, life insurance, health insurance, education expenses, food, utilities, cell phones, cell service, streaming services, etc., etc., etc.
I should be too old for a midlife crisis, but considering how long I held onto my youth and bachelorhood, this makes sense. As long as it doesn’t mean I’ll live to 104. I’m no Henry Kissinger.
My gawd, what maroon comes up with these names for these illegitimate "bills"? The Big Beautiful Bill, The Great Healthcare Plan, it's embarrassing that people fall for this.
It’s all propaganda clumsily packaged for the ignorant true believers who still believe Trump will save them from life’s sorrows. John McCain, for all his faults, at least saw through this transparent bullshit. The GOP have no intention to reduce healthcare costs, at least not from an insurance standpoint. The insurance lobby funnels millions of people’s premiums into politician’s pockets to keep the gravy train a rollin’. So Trump will somehow hereby lower prescription prices. Ok. Highly unlikely, but even so it’s a small part of the problem. People pay exorbitantly for access to healthcare. It’s the access that is costing America a fortune, with more and more people simply unable or unwilling to pay for insurance. They simply neglect their health until they have an emergency, then they go to a hospital and hope for care, which is then written off or billed to Medicaid or Medicare. Eventually, and not too far away, private health plans will be too expensive for the non-wealthy. Then we are back to the same problem, if you want people to pay for healthcare, something we all need, tax it, and nationalize it. Medicare for all. At least a base plan that includes routine care and most emergencies. The rich can still upgrade their plans to a premium package if they want. But if healthcare is needed by everyone, and payment is optional, we have a problem.
What a clusterfuck this is. My shoulder has no cartilage, and the humerus is about 1/3 out of the socket. My reverse replacement was less than a month away. I received the pre-surgical instructions. Today the surgeon's secretary called me to inform me that my insurance won't cover the procedure because I have not gone through 6 weeks of physical therapy.
My bet is that P.T. will not coax that bone back, and they'll end up paying for the surgery anyway. Only in America.
Ta, Robyn. I'd like the same health insurance plan members of Congress get, if we can't have single payer, which is really the only sane choice. Medicare For All.
It'll sound like a shitload of money to the yokels but won't cover a year's worth of coverage. None of these people understand how much the subsidies, or the employer contribution, amounts for the total cost of healthcare.
With the employees, they see that monthly deduction from their paycheck and think that's the total amount for their coverage.
These idiots keep up the brainwashing and their base and propagandists love it. The main thrust of the ACA is to standardize what insurance is required to provide so that when you compare premiums it's for the same coverage. Before the ACA there was just junk insurance for the non-employer-covered. Didn't cover pre-existing. Or maybe pregnancy. Or whatever. But look, it costs less! Same with the Walmart Txgiving dinner - you're paying less to get less. And the chicken-broccoli-tortilla dinner, look how cheap! While their $Billionaires skim off the big taxbux and eat caviar. BTW, OrangeRx was supposed to launch this month, still "coming soon". I bet GoodRx will still clean its clock.
The t-Rump healthcare plan is very similar to his infrastructure plan, social services plan, renewable energy plan, climate action plan, education plan, peace plan...
Perhaps we can go to Acme like Wily Coyote and get us some healthcare there. Anvils falling on our heads should eliminate the need for further remedies.
Considering the regimes daily barrage of insanity, suffering and increased stress levels in the population it's going to shorten US life spans by decades.
Here is my interpretation of anything that comes from the administration and associated agencies and Republicans: blah, blah, blah. Nothing burger. Hot air on dry toast.
The "great plan" from Ozymandias sounds as if he was watching WWF on the telly one afternoon and a Liberty Insurance commercial came on, touting "only pay for what you need." The shout, "Eureka!" was heard all the way to the Left Coast and, after getting someone to take down his idea on a Big Mac wrapper, Ozymandias went back to watching rasslin'. He later called in the White House physician for treatment of a shoulder injury caused by patting himself on the back.
Whar infrastructure plan? Still two weeks?
I asked AI how the US could improve healthcare and it said to build a time machine and go back 61 years ago and make Medicare available from birth.
It's so hard to come up with a plan when your only strategy is deceit.
For as long as you can string people along with the promise of an eventual plan, you only have to lie once. You have to repeat the lie every time the promised plan fails to materialize, but this is easy, given that people have short memories and most news broadcasters are pushovers.
But when you have to present an actual plan, this is tough. Every item of the plan has to be a separate, newly made-up lie. This takes work. Moreover, the more lies you have to tell all at once, the more likely it is that somebody, even a lazy news broadcaster, is going to notice at least one of them.
How do you comparison shop a year in advance when you don't know what medical condition you are likely to have? In 2023, I wouldn't have been focusing on the cost of inpatient treatment for hypertension or surgery to insert a stent in my renal artery. In 2024, I wouldn't have been looking at the cost of back surgery or in 2025, the cost of rotator cuff surgery.
My wife, herself a pharmacist and educated person, and myself, a law-talkin’ guy (as the Simpsons put it) recently admitted to each other that life has become too hard and complicated for many people, us included. I said it feels like being tasked with holding a pile of loose sand in your hands, as you try desperately to hold onto it, more just keeps sifting through your fingers. Or one of those cartoons with a dam about to burst, with too many holes to plug with your fingers and toes. You try to keep plugging new holes while neglecting the others. And we are supposedly capable, intelligent, sober, rational, talented and above-average looking people. And it’s just too much. Insurance companies charge too much and enjoy billions in surpluses as they deny, delay or ignore too many claims. And with a staggering 3 years left of this madness, there is no serious, realistic economic relief coming. I can totally understand the hopeless feeling people have with life’s endless responsibilities to pay for housing, transportation, auto insurance, homeowners insurance, life insurance, health insurance, education expenses, food, utilities, cell phones, cell service, streaming services, etc., etc., etc.
I should be too old for a midlife crisis, but considering how long I held onto my youth and bachelorhood, this makes sense. As long as it doesn’t mean I’ll live to 104. I’m no Henry Kissinger.
My gawd, what maroon comes up with these names for these illegitimate "bills"? The Big Beautiful Bill, The Great Healthcare Plan, it's embarrassing that people fall for this.
It’s all propaganda clumsily packaged for the ignorant true believers who still believe Trump will save them from life’s sorrows. John McCain, for all his faults, at least saw through this transparent bullshit. The GOP have no intention to reduce healthcare costs, at least not from an insurance standpoint. The insurance lobby funnels millions of people’s premiums into politician’s pockets to keep the gravy train a rollin’. So Trump will somehow hereby lower prescription prices. Ok. Highly unlikely, but even so it’s a small part of the problem. People pay exorbitantly for access to healthcare. It’s the access that is costing America a fortune, with more and more people simply unable or unwilling to pay for insurance. They simply neglect their health until they have an emergency, then they go to a hospital and hope for care, which is then written off or billed to Medicaid or Medicare. Eventually, and not too far away, private health plans will be too expensive for the non-wealthy. Then we are back to the same problem, if you want people to pay for healthcare, something we all need, tax it, and nationalize it. Medicare for all. At least a base plan that includes routine care and most emergencies. The rich can still upgrade their plans to a premium package if they want. But if healthcare is needed by everyone, and payment is optional, we have a problem.
What a clusterfuck this is. My shoulder has no cartilage, and the humerus is about 1/3 out of the socket. My reverse replacement was less than a month away. I received the pre-surgical instructions. Today the surgeon's secretary called me to inform me that my insurance won't cover the procedure because I have not gone through 6 weeks of physical therapy.
My bet is that P.T. will not coax that bone back, and they'll end up paying for the surgery anyway. Only in America.
What if 80% of ‘insured’ people cancelled their private employer, or ACA plans, for 3 or 4 months?
I’d bet it would be much more a problem for insurers finances than any policy holders, who get denied benefits even when they pay monthly premiums.
A great many of those people would die.
Ta, Robyn. I'd like the same health insurance plan members of Congress get, if we can't have single payer, which is really the only sane choice. Medicare For All.
I guess I'm just fucking stupid but I have no idea what ANY of that gobble-de-gook means.
Is the government going to give me money to buy healthcare? If so, how much? If not, none of that other shit matters at all.
It'll sound like a shitload of money to the yokels but won't cover a year's worth of coverage. None of these people understand how much the subsidies, or the employer contribution, amounts for the total cost of healthcare.
With the employees, they see that monthly deduction from their paycheck and think that's the total amount for their coverage.
These idiots keep up the brainwashing and their base and propagandists love it. The main thrust of the ACA is to standardize what insurance is required to provide so that when you compare premiums it's for the same coverage. Before the ACA there was just junk insurance for the non-employer-covered. Didn't cover pre-existing. Or maybe pregnancy. Or whatever. But look, it costs less! Same with the Walmart Txgiving dinner - you're paying less to get less. And the chicken-broccoli-tortilla dinner, look how cheap! While their $Billionaires skim off the big taxbux and eat caviar. BTW, OrangeRx was supposed to launch this month, still "coming soon". I bet GoodRx will still clean its clock.
The t-Rump healthcare plan is very similar to his infrastructure plan, social services plan, renewable energy plan, climate action plan, education plan, peace plan...
Just another Tramp Nothing Burder!
OT
Did ANYONE see POTUS TACOs speech today?
I thought it was an SNL sketch.
Perhaps we can go to Acme like Wily Coyote and get us some healthcare there. Anvils falling on our heads should eliminate the need for further remedies.
Considering the regimes daily barrage of insanity, suffering and increased stress levels in the population it's going to shorten US life spans by decades.
Here is my interpretation of anything that comes from the administration and associated agencies and Republicans: blah, blah, blah. Nothing burger. Hot air on dry toast.
The "great plan" from Ozymandias sounds as if he was watching WWF on the telly one afternoon and a Liberty Insurance commercial came on, touting "only pay for what you need." The shout, "Eureka!" was heard all the way to the Left Coast and, after getting someone to take down his idea on a Big Mac wrapper, Ozymandias went back to watching rasslin'. He later called in the White House physician for treatment of a shoulder injury caused by patting himself on the back.