@snoopydawg

ACA as it was being written. When it was reported in the news that the public option was off the table, people higher up in the party were telling us that it wasn't true. Ha!

Still I bought the "nowhere else to go" line until Bernie came along. Well that and John Lewis saying that Democrats don't want free stuff. It was then impossible for me to believe that Dems believed in anything.

I see the two parties as two tentacles of the Vampire Squid. Nothing they do will be for the benefit of the 99%. If Dems has passed Medicare for all I wouldn't feel this way. Instead they gave us Romneycare. I'm done cheerleading for those crooks.

the elites have wanted to roll back the new deal since FDR created it.
The democrats and Obama had the chance to fix the health care of this country for good, but as usual we got screwed.
They did have the votes for single payer because they passed it without one republican voting for it, but they kept letting the republicans water it down and telling us that it was because they needed their votes.
Then they gave it to Baucus who had Liz Fowler from WellPoint on his staff and she helped write it.
We also learned that while the democrats were working on it, Obama was making deals with the insurance and pharmaceutical companies and giving them everything they wanted.
Many of us did try to fight against what the democrats was doing remember? We called, emailed and signed petitions trying to get their attention but they ignored us.
And after it came out and we saw how shitty it was, we were told to STFU because we didn't get our f 'cking pony.
And we were told that it was a step towards single payer. Before I left DK, I kept asking people if that was true, then who has been working on making the ACA better the last 6 years?

As you wrote, they are going after Medicaid first because it's going to affect 'those' people who don't work hard enough to get out of poverty.

You are right that this should be our red line, but too many people hate 'Obamacare' because their premiums and deductibles went way up.
Wait until they see what type of rates they are going to be paying after the republicans gut the best parts of it.

Off topic, but still important. They are going to cut $9 billion from the HUD budget. The program has so little money in it already and this is going to cause great harm to the people who depend on the program.
People who need help with housing are already waiting years to get either a housing voucher or a place that HUD runs.

The democrats aren't going to do shit for us as you stated. Look at how many voted for Carson to run it. Warren said that she voted for him because Trump might have put some else less qualified to run it. Who the hell could be worse than Carson?
Bohica big time!

@Linda Wood
There are examples in the world to show the USA how it is done. From my point of view, the US governments have worked tirelessly to avoid giving their population full comprehensive health care. Everything the US attempts on health care is built around profits for the insurance companies and a light tax burden on the very rich. One day the US government might see that a healthy population is good for the economy, just as climate change mitigation is good for the economy in the long run. Their short-sighted thinking is based on protecting the rich today but their legislation is guaranteed to hurt the entire population including the rich in the future.

I felt sick reading about Trump-care last night, there's no compassion there.

is one of the reasons we must find a way to stop funding a corrupt, treasonous government, to file a criminal complaint against government officials who have committed crimes against the people of the United States and the people of countries we've pulverized. National tax strike might be a good concept, but our taxes mean pretty much nothing as we have a 20 trillion dollar debt, and our government keeps printing money for war.

I keep asking myself why we can't have State health plans if Finand, Norway, and Sweden can have health plans. We're told they're such small countries. So what? We have many states with similar populations. Does it have to do with square mileage vs population? Several comparisons can be made. What's the problem?

Finland
Population 5.439 million (2013)
130,127 square miles

Sweden
Population 9.593 million (2013)
173,731 square miles

Norway
Population 5.084 million (2013)
125,182 square miles

Populations
Michigan 9,883,640
Georgia 9,687,653
North Carolina 9,535,483

Missouri 5,988,927
Maryland 5,773,552
Wisconsin 5,686,986
Minnesota 5,303,925
Colorado 5,029,196

@RantingRooster My big mistake may have been not going to the ER, but the satellite medical campus. I have good NYS retiree insurance (Medicare next year if it exists)but 5 weeks of a broken foot sounds like Canada as we are told.

Do not do Fentatnyl. I am a widow, such drugs exist to test our mettle. Sciatica is bad, had that for part of a pregnancy. I have the burning feet. I cannot stand more than enough to load the dishwasher. Two trees to plant, and a broken foot.

Hang with us, we are caring and kind.

on the Mafia business model pay or die. I wrote about it last year, both at the Great Orange Echo Chamber, as well as here, but since I'm using an android tablet, and don't how to copy links, see my Essay link on my c99 profile.

I've lived in chronic back pain for, come April, 21 years. I was rear ended by a felony, hit and run drunk driver. The impact moved a vertabre, L-5, forward and it rubs up against my siatic nerve sending electrocution like shocks down my legs, up my spine and making my legs and feet feel like they are on fire at times. It a big reason I'm having a difficult time finding work. The job interview I went on last week that was promising, didn't work out because I couldn't deal with the pain of being on my feet. I could only last 4 hours during my "observation trial". (Not to mention the team leader was a huge hillary bot infected, russia phobic asshole!)

Heck last night I was washing dishes, which I have to do by hand and generate hot water using my coffee pot, my legs and feet felt like they were on fire after only twenty minutes. My feet still burn right now. I'm debating with myself on whether to spend my last couple of bucks on either parking or a bus pass to go to the emergency room. But thnking it through, what good will it do since I can't afford any medications they might prescribe.

My wife died from Cancer becuase our platinum insurance plan would only cover chemo or radiation, and no other potentially life saving treatments. Some choice huh? Hell the radiation treatments caused even more damage to her body, which required additionaly surgeries unrelated to her Cancer and while recovering from her surgeries she developed blood clots in both her legs, which required additional emergency surgery to install stents to catch any of the blood clots. Oh, and the blood thinner they perscrib, caused internal bleeding, gee go figure.

I do have a couple of boxes of high dose fentanyl from when my wife was under hospice care, that they missed, but more than lilely, it would just kill me. Since I can't pay for healthcare, what other choice do I have? Wait for death in agonizing pain, or use the fentanyl and die somewhat "happy". I'm kicking myself for not stashing all the extra moriphine that was left over.

Maybe I could sell the fentanyl on the darkweb for hospital parking fees?

@detroitmechworks I wouldn't send my dog to the VA hospital.

What we need is an NHS.

We have it for the Disabled Veterans, at least the closest we're going to get to it. The VA isn't incredible, but it's a strong step in the right direction.

If we're going to fix healthcare, we have to start somewhere. I say we start with the VA hospitals, use their model to START, and begin converting civilian hospitals one by one. Fuck trying to get the private doctors or the insurance companies on board, we never will, as long as they can make profits. Cut them out of it COMPLETELY.

Yes, I know completely impossible in this political climate. However, we need to start thinking of going to hospital as the first resort when sick, not going to a "Primary Care Provider". Nope, far as I'm concerned, you're sick, you go to hospital.

There will be many many people who tell me that this can't be done. They claim that there are HUGE problems with it in England. All of which, I'd like to point out, were initiated by Thatcher's conservatives who were desperate to fuck it over in the name of "Personal Responsibility." Even with these "Huge Problems" the quality of care in Great Britain is far better for the average person than it is here.

I do not believe in Single payer. I believe in Fully Socialized Medicine. That's MY starting offer, and I'm not budging from it.

@detroitmechworks I was lucky enough to get my wife and I to Canada a few years back. We don't exactly have single-payer not is exactly full coverage medical care. My wife and I lost our primary care physician more than a year ago and still haven't gotten a new one (so we're experiencing the worst possible face of the system). Even so, our experience is so vastly different than the American experience. I may not have the continuity of care that a PCP provides but I can walk into any hospital or clinic at any time and say, "I have a problem" and someone will deal with it.... no money changing hands.

The notable gaps are in places like optical, dental, hearing, and home care... all of which aren't covered and I think I can make some good arguments why they shouldn't be. But when I asked a natural Canadian what was covered under my health plan they answered, "If it happens to you in a hospital, it's covered." There are no limits, and no deductibles. There's some minor copay on prescriptions. In my mind, that's pretty damned good for the $135/mo (family plan) we pay.

Canada can pull it off pretty damned nicely even without a full, national, single-payer system. I experience that daily. So every time someone tells me why the US can't I just have to laugh. Insurance programs get MORE EFFICIENT with scaling, not less.

What we need is an NHS.

We have it for the Disabled Veterans, at least the closest we're going to get to it. The VA isn't incredible, but it's a strong step in the right direction.

If we're going to fix healthcare, we have to start somewhere. I say we start with the VA hospitals, use their model to START, and begin converting civilian hospitals one by one. Fuck trying to get the private doctors or the insurance companies on board, we never will, as long as they can make profits. Cut them out of it COMPLETELY.

Yes, I know completely impossible in this political climate. However, we need to start thinking of going to hospital as the first resort when sick, not going to a "Primary Care Provider". Nope, far as I'm concerned, you're sick, you go to hospital.

There will be many many people who tell me that this can't be done. They claim that there are HUGE problems with it in England. All of which, I'd like to point out, were initiated by Thatcher's conservatives who were desperate to fuck it over in the name of "Personal Responsibility." Even with these "Huge Problems" the quality of care in Great Britain is far better for the average person than it is here.

I do not believe in Single payer. I believe in Fully Socialized Medicine. That's MY starting offer, and I'm not budging from it.

@MarilynW

former Speaker Boehner predicted (and I posted) a couple weeks ago. The change which affects seniors is those age 64 and younger, who are not yet eligible to enroll in Medicare.

IOW, instead of a 3:1 ratio, there will be a 5:1 ratio regarding the premium amount that insurers can charge older beneficiaries (age 64 and younger). By current and proposed law, folks eligible for Medicare at age 65, cannot participate in the Exchange (under most circumstances). Obviously, that is awful for seniors. The truth of the matter is that this move might lower premiums for other cohorts, as well as for the 'Young Invincibles." Still, I don't condone the move for the obvious reason that some, if not many of the folks who are aging, and in the most need of medicare care, will likely be priced out of the market.

There are other ways that these problems could have been addressed, other than the way that the ACA, and Ryan's ACA-Lite, are employing. Health care experts know this, but chose instead to concentrate on setting up a system that lowered destroyed the benefits of folks who participate in employer-sponsored health plans--which they've achieved in spades. More on this later.

Please, if anyone has a link regarding cuts to Medicare (in Ryan's plan), please share them. If I get a chance, I'll post an excerpt from Secretary Price speaking at the White House Press Briefing. He explicitly stated that Medicare will not be affected (by this round of 'reforms')--which also matches MSM reporting.

I'm still trying to look into a claim that AARP apparently made, but can't find anything on it. (I've seen it posted, with no links or substantiation.) Beware--the current CEO, also the first woman and AA CEO of the organization, IIRC, served in the Reagan Administration. I've got a boatload to say about her (later), including a photo of her with Reagan.

Don't get me wrong, I don't trust that Medicare cuts won't come down the pike, eventually. But, for now, from everything that I've read and heard, Ryan has acquiesced to DT in not proposing cuts to Medicare.

Instead, it seems that they are going to eviscerate Medicaid. IMO, a program that steals what are, in many cases, amounts to the only asset (a home) of lower income Americans, is not a program that should stay in place. My solution would be to enroll those folks in Traditional Medicare, Part D, and a Medigap policy, until we manage to implement a single-payer system.

Mollie

“I believe in the redemptive powers of a dog’s love. It is in recognition of each dog’s potential to lift the human spirit and therefore– to change society for the better, that I fight to make sure every street dog has its day.”
--Stasha Wong, Secretary, Save Our Street Dogs (SOSD)

The SOSD Fantastic Four

a much smaller country but it never seemed that complicated to get economists and health care professionals to advise the government in the beginning. Seems like Trump-care is a Frankenstein monster created by lawmakers without any compassion. Making health care for those over 64 so expensive it would absorb their entire pension. If they pay the exorbitant premiums, they will have nothing left for food, if they don't pay, they will be able to eat but cannot afford health insurance. Either way, they suffer and die early in the richest country in the world. It will lower life-expectancy in the USA. So much for MAGA. It's MASA, Make America Sick Again.

@earthling1 That is a new one for me. At least I have one.

healthcare insurance companies as "Death Panels".
Perhaps, but not likely, we can shame them nationwide. Something like;
"Death Panelist member Blue Cross/Blue Shield ordered cuts today...."

@ZimInSeattle and there is NO out of pocket limit. The sky is the limit if you don't have a supplement. And you need another $100 a month for drug coverage. Good employer insurance such as the Fortune 500 companies used to provide is better. I last had that kind of insurance (private employer) in 2003. From 2005 to 2010 I had Federal employee Health Benefits, just as good as any private employer's and from 2010 on I have had both FEHB and Medicare. FEHB primary while I worked, secondary after retirement.

for profit healthcare. I can't think of anything more immoral than profiting off of someones sickness and old age issues. I recently had to spend 24 hours in the hospital and the bill was $13,600. I work for Boeing and my insurance covered most of it. But the insurance isn't like it used to be. We now pay about $100 per month on premiums and there is a $2000 per year max out of pocket. I think about someone making $30K per year and that cost to them would be prohibitive. Let's hope California is successful in implementing single payer. Employer based healthcare is bullshit. It just gives the corporations even more leverage over our lives. Good article here: http://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/03/09/american-health-care-act-wealth-grab-not-health-plan

@ZimInSeattle we paid over 400 a month with 6500 deductible, each, on her employer "sponsored" plan. After she got sick, they fired her and dropped her coverage, which I had to go the cobra route at 1200 a month to continue her shitty ass plan. When we finally qualified for the ACA, I selected a platinum plan with 1500 deductible each, but still had to pay 400 a month, while the ACA covered 700. Then after she died, United health continued to bill me on the family plan for another 7 months. I finally got them to reimburse me, but then they signed me up to a individual plan, without me knowing about it. It took another couple of months to get that shit straighten out and get my money back.

I completely agree with you, charging people for healthcare, especially when "rich"people have something like 20 to 30 Trillion stashed in tax havens around the planet.

I truly wish someone would "takeout" the insurance company CEO's, maybe then they might get the point, it's fucking evil what they do, especially considering the millions they make in compensation compared to the suffering they actually cause by their greed and gluttony.

for profit healthcare. I can't think of anything more immoral than profiting off of someones sickness and old age issues. I recently had to spend 24 hours in the hospital and the bill was $13,600. I work for Boeing and my insurance covered most of it. But the insurance isn't like it used to be. We now pay about $100 per month on premiums and there is a $2000 per year max out of pocket. I think about someone making $30K per year and that cost to them would be prohibitive. Let's hope California is successful in implementing single payer. Employer based healthcare is bullshit. It just gives the corporations even more leverage over our lives. Good article here: http://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/03/09/american-health-care-act-wealth-grab-not-health-plan