Single Payer, Time to Crash the Gates

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The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report for Trump and the Republican's "American Health Care Act" has come out.

"The House Republican plan to replace the Affordable Care Act would increase the number of people without health insurance by 24 million by 2026, while slicing $337 billion off federal budget deficits over that time, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Monday."

[video:https://youtu.be/TPJfKdp3bDs]

Oh you're such a fucking liar.

(Republican conference room: "If we keep just 24 million of the serfs from being able to get health insurance we can save $337 billion off the deficit in ten years."
"What if we made it 50 million, wouldn't that basically double that?"
"Ya".
(prolonged silence)
"Nah, let's start with 24, we can always expand it later. But let's talk about social security")

Hey there's always the emergency room. Or just google your ailment like you do when you fix your dishwasher. Just enter, "my bowels no longer work, what should I do?"

Of course the minority Democratic party is "united" in opposition.

"Democrats remained steadfast in their opposition. “The C.B.O. score shows just how empty the president’s promises, that everyone will be covered and costs will go down, have been,” said Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader. “This should be a looming stop sign for the Republicans’ repeal effort.”

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/health-bill-would-add-24-million-...

Ya right, can't wait to see what kind of compromises the democratic party will make to keep the people from having a single payer health CARE system. "Hey under our plan, only 14 million go without insurance!"

I haven't heard of any planned street protests. I've decided to do what I haven't done in quite a long time, write my congressional representative and Senators. I'll have my family and friends and whoever else I can find, copy, sign and mail a letter also. Maybe I'll go set up a table at Esther Short park this weekend and try to get more people to do the same. This is extremely important, if the Serfs could make this happen it could change everything. We would have a democracy for one thing.

It's pretty simple. Single payer or bust. Medicare for all, socialized medicine, whatever you want to call it, the corporate profit driven insurance and medical system has got to change now. No compromise. The solution is too obvious, too logical, too beneficial, and the only answer. Why even beat around the bush on this any longer. Health care in this country costs almost double per capita what it does anywhere else on earth, it's more unequally administered than all but the most desperate countries (mostly the ones the U.S. has fucked up) and it ranks behind most countries on many measures of health outcomes, quality, and efficiency. Obamacare made it worse and Trumpcare will make it worse than that. Because that's the way it's going to be with the people we're dealing with. We should know that by now.

Start the fucking Revolution!!

singlepayerone.jpg

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edg's picture

There are about 12.5 million Obamacare insured through the federal and state exchanges as of February 2017. Enrollment was down from 2016 and is expected to flatline or decrease in coming years.

So how exactly will 24 million be kicked off because of the Republican plan? Or roughly twice as many as are actually enrolled?

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@edg I believe there will also be enrollees of medicaid expansion that will lose coverage. Also the CBO estimate is losses thru 2026.

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janis b's picture

@edg

I’m not sure whether that is a valid argument for not working toward a single payer plan, and supporting what could serve as the foundation of greater country-wide health (mental and physical). It could be a good beginning toward flushing out the pathology that now exists in the ’soul’ of America. Why not take this opportunity to try and make a change?

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edg's picture

@janis b That's what we should have pushed for in the first place instead of ACA. One of the biggest problems with ACA is that it's vulnerable to just this kind of manipulation -- kick a few million off Medicaid expansion here, a few million off the exchanges. Pretty soon we're back to a worse place than when we started in 2009. OTOH, a simple Medicare expansion to cover everyone would have been impermeable.

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Big Al's picture

@edg like Obamacare does, and exaggerating the budget deficit savings. That's the CBO. But that's just a part of it. This entire republican plan is a giveaway to the rich and a ripoff to the people. This is the end of the Trump presidency.

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@Big Al amounts in my simplistic mind to roughly $37B per year, whoopee. That doesn't even cover the additional $54B for the Defense Department, but hey, what does math or logic matter when one gets a chance to be downright mean and nasty?

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

@edg

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

edg's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness @The Voice In the Wilderness The best estimate is that about 7 million people gained coverage through expanded Medicaid. If the expansion is ended, that drops 7 million. About 13 million enrolled in private insurance through the exchanges. If the exchanges are ended (an end which is not part of the Republican plan), then some of those 13 million would be dropped. At most, then, 20 million would lose coverage, and that's unlikely as some of those on the exchange will roll over to another private plan either individually or through an employer.

Keep in mind that Obamacare numbers have always been fishy, as the reduction in the number of insured commonly cited is compared to the peak of the Bush recession, not to the number insured in 2008. Also, peak Obamacare has already been reached and its numbers have started coming down as premiums increase and benefits decline.

I'm not saying that losing insurance coverage is not a horrible thing. I don't have insurance myself, and at 61 years old, that's scary. But. My feeling is that instead of trying to rescue the flawed Obamacare, we should be pushing for Medicare For All. The Republican plan is flawed, as was Obamacare. It's time for something better than either.

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in population as Minnesota, I don't understand why Minnesota can't just study Finland's program and work from there. Why can't our states have healthcare programs similar to the many countries with similar populations and/or resources?

If our Federal government is too unwieldy, why not start with the states?

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janis b's picture

@Linda Wood

That's a very sound question.

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Big Al's picture

@Linda Wood California has a movement in that direction, Vermont, not sure elsewhere. Great point, that's probably how it will have to happen.

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@Big Al

SB 562

This bill would make findings and declarations with regard to the availability and affordability of health care coverage and would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would establish a comprehensive universal single-payer health care coverage program and a health care cost control system for the benefit of all residents of the state.

Hopefully it won't have to go to the states, but if enough states do this, then as with single payer in the Canadian provinces, it could lead to a national single payer system.

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Beware the bullshit factories.

WaterLily's picture

@Big Al But then that twit Shumlin tucked tail and ran. Not that I should have been surprised; he was a Mad Bomber superdelegate. So now we're back to square one.

Shumlin's lead airplane.

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PriceRip's picture

@Linda Wood

          I doubt Nebraska could ever care for its own. Oregon might be able to do it, but California most likely will be able to do it. Arizona is similar to Oregon so maybe it, like Oregon, might just make it work. A big factor is the size of population as well as the distribution of resources.

          If we opt for a roll your own system then there will be the haves and the have nots, the pattern of such will be determined by which states can and choose to fund such a program..

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@PriceRip

However, if the states that can do it do do it, then the states that cannot will pressure the feds. Maybe then, the feds will start cobbling together a national Medicare for all system?

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PriceRip's picture

@HenryAWallace

          While I would like to think leading by example would work in this country all indications are: Nope, no way, no how.

          Even this dumb as a post nailed that one:

          This was all part of that hope and change and transparency. Now, a year later, I gotta ask the supporters of all that, 'How's that hopey, changey stuff working out?'

          The evidence is in, the polls have closed, the verdict has been delivered to the Judge and clearly enunciated loud and clear: Even partially publicly run health systems are far superiour to our privately owned and operated "services". We all know it is true, even those most opposed to doing anything about the situation. And therein lies the problem, any success in California, for example, would be framed as an isolated example of special circumstances so unique as to be irreproducible. Any additional successes would similarly be deemed the result of anomalous conditions.

          Denial of Reality is strong in this country, it's what makes us so fucking great.

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@PriceRip

about her enemy, Obama, breaking his campaign promises while you are talking about my post.

Well, if some states can afford it, IMO, they should go ahead with it, even if other states cannot afford it. Better some states have Medicare for All than none. It is not the job of a state to make sure the citizens of all states are taken care of. It's the job of a state to give its citizens the best the state can do.

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PriceRip's picture

@HenryAWallace

          In this world of everyone for themselves, you are right.

          I am now an Oregonian:

          The state remains committed to ensuring all Oregonians have access to high-quality, affordable health care. OHA is committed to working with our federal partners to continue the success we've had in our state.
          It's too early to tell what changes will happen at the federal level, but in the meantime we'll stay true to Oregon's track record of health innovation and our success in delivering greater access, better outcomes and lower costs for Oregonians.

          In Nebraska things are different, so let them eat cake. You don't care, I sure as fuck don't care, fuck the world.

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@PriceRip

I was taking an "every person for himself" position out of "some states having it is better than no states having it." For one thing, my state is not talking about single payer, so I might well be in the same position as Nebraskans. For another, not a single post of mine on any board ever supports that view of my politics. And certainly not the one to which you responded with a claim that I don't care.

Since the feds aren't doing it, would you prefer no states have it? If so, why? If not, why are you treating what I posted as though I was being dog eat dog?

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PriceRip's picture

@HenryAWallace

          It is not the job of a state to make sure the citizens of all states are taken care of. It's the job of a state to give its citizens the best the state can do.

          Just like it is my job to make sure I and my family are taken care of. Sure, you betcha.

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@PriceRip

If you are implying that it is the job of say, Oregon, to make sure every state has Medicare for All and my saying otherwise (stating reality) means I don't care about people's health care, you would be clueless. However, I don't believe that you are clueless.

I'm not sure what is going on, but I don't appreciate it.

ETA Scratch that. Replace with: I do know what is going on. I don't understand why it's going on.

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@Linda Wood Local, county and state government is no piece of cake to impact, but it is easier than trying to impact the federal government from Maine or Minnesota. At the same time, we need to be trying to figure out ways to work with others on issues on a non-partisan partisan basis. Forget platforms.

Take one issue, like clean elections, that means a lot to you and that Republicans, Democrats, Greens and indies in your city or town can all get behind. Then, go for it. Learn about it. Spread the word. Get petitions signed. Hammer people in your city hall and state house.

At the same time, your neighbor and her friends might be passionate about car emissions. Encourage her to do the same with her issue.

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@Linda Wood I remember they were granted permission to cover everyone in lieu of the ACA subsidies, essentially putting everyone on Medicaid.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

@The Voice In the Wilderness
It was partly why I liked Howard Dean. Balanced budget was mentioned too. Both. Was it untrue?

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WaterLily's picture

@Linda Wood Shumlin killed it.

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Things will change. Consolidate a movement and overtake stupidity.

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Fighting for democratic principles,... well, since forever

@fight2bfree
If America insists on being Exceptional, at least make it a worthwile category

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Fighting for democratic principles,... well, since forever

janis b's picture

@fight2bfree

is appreciated.

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janis b's picture

If I were in the area I’d stand behind the table, beside you.

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Big Al's picture

@janis b it's a nice little park, oldest one in the west. A lot of eclectic people, farmers markets, all that. This is a big thing, I'm not sure how many people are realizing that. The more we can get out the word the better.

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janis b's picture

@Big Al

I wish I had some connection to social media. I hope this intention spreads, and bears some fruit.

The oldest park in the west. Sounds like the ideal place to begin. I'll take a look online.

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janis b's picture

@janis b

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@janis b

when I was about 8. We met there every day and he'd tell me about his life and our town when he was young. I loved listening to him. Wish I'd thought to tell him, but I guess he knew because I'd look for him on "his" bench every day and sit next to him and listen until he went home.

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janis b's picture

@HenryAWallace

that gives life to the sculpture.

Lucky you and Mr. Webb.

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janis b's picture

@HenryAWallace

that gives life to the sculpture.

Lucky you and Mr. Webb.

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earthling1's picture

on the actual rise in your typical paycheck deduction to pay for this.
If , for instance, they took out $15 a week for your share, would $30 a week be too much to provide every American Medicare?
We have to make the numbers relevant to the average working class person.
And emphasize, if not pound, into their heads the fact you will no longer be paying insurance grift. IMHO.
Thanks for the essay.

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

@earthling1

insurance purchased from the private sector? A bargain!

But, we mustn't do that. It'sssss sssssocialisssm. Hisssss.

Next thing you know, we'd live in a totalitarian state in which elections would be meaningless, the NSA CIA Homeland Security KGB would be spying on all of us and we would be unable to trust anything the government and its media minions told us. Oh! The Humanity!

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A huge shout it to my former home state California. I hope Hawaii goes the same way. This is getting veddy interesting. It's a god damn 3 ring circus in D.C.

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@wrbpmaui

ringmaster or the audience. At least the original evil Roman Empire gave out bread with its circuses. Come one. Come all. Watch your countrymen kill each other or be killed by lions! Mangia!

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@HenryAWallace

I wonder how packed the food stalls were during breaks of people slaughtering each other and being eaten by lions.

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Beware the bullshit factories.

@Timmethy2.0

I'm guessing the concessions at bull fights do okay.

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@HenryAWallace we follow behind cleaning up the elephant and tiger poop.

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@Lovo

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Minnesota pays Minnesota's and federal tax.
Besides, repealing the ACA also repeals the Sanders Amendment, allowing states to implement single payer. You ca bet that the Rs will outlaw single payer if a state tried.

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On to Biden since 1973

@doh1304
why wouldn't the states be able to deduct, so to speak, the cost of their own healthcare plan, meaning, paying less federal tax in order to pay for state health benefits?

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@doh1304 @PriceRip

...of Health Insurance Corporations, must add up to quite a sum, especially if you consider taxpayer funded emergency room visits. Surely that would help states fund single payer. If states join together on this, it would be even easier. If the Feds take away the right for states to do that because it would ruin the golden extortion scam, we the people, with help from the states, could start our own, non-extorting, nationwide health insurance cooperative.

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Beware the bullshit factories.

@Timmethy2.0
As you say,

it would ruin the golden extortion scam.

But that's part of the beauty of it.

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I don't want single-payer anymore mainly because of Big Brother and the ACA template for Health Centers, but go on. I won't fight it. I know they help others, but I won't use it unless emergency.

Newsom to pitch universal health care as California governor’s race grows crowded

Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is drafting a health care plan for California that he plans to unveil as a core component of his gubernatorial run, based in part on the universal health care program he signed into law when he was mayor of San Francisco.

Newsom, seen as a strong contender in the increasingly crowded field of candidates vying to succeed Gov. Jerry Brown in 2018, is staking out an ambitious plan to rein in rising health care costs, expand universal access to people across the state regardless of income or immigration status, and preserve coverage for the estimated 5 million Californians who risk losing their insurance under President Donald Trump’s changes.

“I think we can learn a lot for the state of California from what we did with Healthy San Francisco,” Newsom said in an interview. “We had the resourcefulness, the resources, and the boldness and audacity to try something new. It’s not necessarily something that can be adopted in all 58 counties, but it can be adopted .... where the majority of California’s population is.”
...

Healthy San Francisco is an oxymoron, unless you're a bubble-head like Newsom. I'm sure there's a building full of people who looked at some "data" for a long time while ignoring the poor and homeless all over their place. Good luck.

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@eyo Having been on both, I know that Medicaid is last resort, but Medicare is very good (except for co-pay and deductible). I'd like to know your reasoning.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

@The Voice In the Wilderness thanks for asking, I don't know that it warrants an essay but I'll try and say what seems unreasonable to me, when Newsom says:

It’s not necessarily something that can be adopted in all 58 counties, but it can be adopted .... where the majority of California’s population is.

that is code for Fuck the Rural Poor! as far as I'm concerned. Double-speak. It is not Universal if it is not all 58 counties, that's what I think.

As far as Healthy San Francisco goes, I remember a time when S.F. did not have so many homeless and poor. Are the homeless covered too? I guess that's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

I think BigTech companies are disgusting for paying salaries so far out of whack with reality, it is their fault not providing enough housing, or transportation, or education, or anything. If they did pull their weight it wouldn't be so bad, that's what I think.

Peace

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@eyo

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

@eyo
He is very much a Party product, so I would be very leery of any program he promotes.

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@Linda Wood

The other day I was talking with a connected, animal rights advocate in my local coffee shop, who knows Gavin and has a favorable impression of him. It's clear Gavin is the rising establishment guy who is aiming for the White House. He'll probably try to ride the first national publicity he got when he officiated the first gay marriages. Maybe he's ok in a Justin Trudeau sort of way, but he's still establishment. Barbara Lee would make a much better President.

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Beware the bullshit factories.

@Timmethy2.0
Congresswoman Barbara Lee for President in 2016, and I still feel she is the only member of Congress who has actually earned my vote.

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riverlover's picture

I was in gown and hairnet and asked for my $60 copay. Wrote a check. There will be more that NYS Empire Plan (state employee) will demand of copays. Maybe only two more surgeries this year?

My foot is casted (not The Boot) and actually feels more stable; so far resisting -codones. Snowing here, 12+ inches forecast for today. And I have toes sticking out of the cast. No idea what the surgical site looks like; daughter NP to-be says must be sutures,little skin cover on top of foot. Hidden. One 325mg aspirin (had to buy on the way home) to reduce clot risks.

One week until I turn 64. That alone is enough to be depressing, but I am still alive!

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

@riverlover it was a "hairline fracture" probably, I don't know because I couldn't afford to follow-up after the $600 set of pictures. I just stayed off of it, wrapped it, applied heat and ice, all the steps I remembered from physical therapy, now posted all over the world wide web pretty much.

The technician looked at the x-ray order from my doctor and asked me, "why does she want a picture of your ankle when it is your foot that hurts?", and I was like ~shrug~ I don't know. So he took three views trying to capture as much as possible. Ten days later I got a letter from doc that said something like, "Inconclusive, please return for another x-ray if it still hurts after six weeks. kthxbye" I had to pay the hospital $600 out-of-pocket because the Health Center had no X-Ray facilities I guess, not covered by Medicare.

That is "Legacy Medicare" as I know, the single-payer is called CMS. Once, there was a series of fake charges on my CMS bill, it used to come only every three months, now I think it is more often, not sure. Anyway, I tried to get it sorted out and couldn't, even calling the fraud department. They kept asking me to prove it wasn't me who needed the services, even though I never lived in L.A. or had cancer, so why would I need the labs and meds charged like that? Oh well. I think they paid it, I couldn't do anything more to stop it.

Peace

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Deja's picture

@eyo You called the fraud department and they wanted YOU to prove the fraud? Wtf do they do then? I guess the fraud department commits fraud? What's in a name, eh? SMDH!

And sorry about your foot and the bill.

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@eyo It's not just a big joke. there are consequences of identity fraud.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

@The Voice In the Wilderness coincidentally, just last week there was fraud on my credit card. Thankfully I saw an alert in email so they cancelled the account and reissued a new number. Talking to the Security Department, the questions they ask, the explanations they give, omg Jane! Stop this crazy thing! It did not give me confidence

Then they sent two different replacement cards, one FedEx the other USPS. So now what do I do with the second one? Do they even know they sent it? If course it is up to me, the one with barely any resources or recourse to follow, to figure out. Another phone tree adventure with yet another clueless "customer service" agent. Thanks banks!

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@The Voice In the Wilderness your Subject said "Probably an illegal using your Social Security Number" and I agree, but those words kick my guts. The day our government stops creating economic desperation is the day I might think about supporting their ridiculous immigration laws. Until then every one is a refugee, in my view.

There should be no barriers to people coming here escaping a hell that "the system" perpetuates. Or vice versa, because I can see a day when Mexicans or Canadians don't want USians coming over at all. Why would they if this keeps up?

Thanks

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@eyo SSN's is common. Neither endorsing nor condemning our immigration laws. However, it does anger me when Lefties use "immigrant" not distinguishing between people who follow the rules and those who don't. No, it's not a major crime. Nor is driving 80 mph through a school zone. Both are illegal. The speeder should not be referred to simply as a "motorist", whether you think that 20mph is reasonable or not. Similarly, our drug laws. I would like to see them repealed and replaced with purity and potency regulations, but the fact remains that possession and use are illegal.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

WaterLily's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness Is a drug possessor "an illegal?"

No. Their actions are illegal. Their existence is not.

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@WaterLily So is the joint in your pocket.

Did I use illegal as a noun? If so, I apologize. I intended to say "illegal alien" which is opposed to "legal alien", a person with a visa or a green card.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

@The Voice In the Wilderness

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@HenryAWallace Most Medicare fraud is bill kiting on an actual patient.

I questioned a $1000 dollar charge on a hospital bill for "prescription drugs". I thought it was a duplicate of the anesthesiologist's drugs. But, no. It was for the single puff of albuterol that they gave me before the operation. For reference, an entire inhaler of albuterol retailed at that time for $80 ($100 now) without insurance. So, even if they threw he rest of the inhaler away (they should have given it to me), they overcharged by 1200%

I remember reading of Medicaid fraud such as charging for prenatal care for a women that had been billed the year before for a complete hysterectomy.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

27 million are currently uninsured
This nearly doubles it to 53 million. [back to pre-ACA levels circa 52 million]

Single payer was pushed off the table, out of the room, wrapped in concrete and dumped off the bridge by the Democrats.

The only way the US stands of getting what pretty much every developed economy has "real and actually affordable health-care" is by getting rid of the corporate duopoly.

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@LaFeminista Health Insurance is expensive if you don't have a subsidy and twenty somethngs feel invulnerable (nearly true).

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

detroitmechworks's picture

Single Payer is weak sauce that still allows bullshit nickel and diming, increasing costs and lowering the quality of care in the name of profit.

I want a National Health Service.

I want MORE commons in the US. More Libraries, Free Colleges, Free Health Care, and an expansion of the Food Stamp Program which specifically attempts to undercut and hobble Monsanto and their ilk.

Sorry Dems, but I have found out I can get out and Walk faster than taking your clown car.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

Big Al's picture

@detroitmechworks medicare for all, or whatever. I use single payer as a term for what I would think would be a national health service so I'm not sure the difference. The point is a national health care program that eliminates the insurance companies and the for profit corporations from health care and provides equal treatment for everyone.

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detroitmechworks's picture

@Big Al Just very used to Dem weasel words, (Not from you, just Dems) which sound like what we want but turn out to be something completely different.

Main difference between single payer and a NHS is that in one the doctors are still employed by big corporations. In the other they're paid directly via taxes, preferably on Rich corporate slime. Smile

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

@Big Al

and is ultimately responsible for running the hospitals and the medical practices, paying the bills, including the salaries of the doctors, nurses, maintenance staff, etc.

Medicare for All--you probably know what that is. Government-run health insurance, with premiums and co pays. Some bills involve three payors: Medicare, the patient (co-payment), and Medigap or other co-insurance company

Single payer a misnomer for Medicare for all.

(Edited to correct "ultimate")

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@HenryAWallace The political will to buck the insurance lobby is lacking.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

@The Voice In the Wilderness

Candidly, free Medicare for All, and not a national care service, would be my first choice, but I think both a pipe dream for the foreseeable future.

As impossible as it's been for anyone, including doctors and nurses, to get Medicare for All passed, it would be even worse if we abolish premiums and co-pays.

Before Obamacare, the number 1 cause of personal bankruptcies as health care costs and, in most cases, both spouses filing for bankruptcy had health insurance. People went bankrupt on deductibles and co-pays alone. Health care costs are still killing the working poor and the lower middle class. I am not for making Medicare for All even harder to pass. (Conyers, bless him, is still filing HR 676 regularly.) And we're not the ones who get our calls and those of our lobbyists taken by the White House and members of the Senate, so we're already at a huge disadvantage in that regard.

A sliding scale for premiums and co-pays might be better, with the wealthy paying 100% of the cost of their insurance? Haven't thought about it much.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-CrTY8G1ug width:350 height:350]

Except, we don't already have the stars, either.

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@HenryAWallace @HenryAWallace You are engaging in the Obama pronciple of compromising before the other side even makes an offer.

Do you REALLY think a massive nationwide socialization of the medical industry would be easier to pass than eliminating Medicare co-pays?

P.S. I use the term "industry" deliberately.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

@The Voice In the Wilderness

not negotiating in Washington, D.C. with Ryan and McConnell--nothing like Obama. However, my track record of success negotiating in real life is excellent, so I'm not like Obama in that respect, either.

As far as Obama, don't let him fool you. His goal was to appear to "lose" those negotiations. He was trying to cut or eliminate entitlements and blame it on Republicans or the Cat Food Commission or the Grand Bargain Committee--anyone but him. Ryan, McConnell and, previously Boehner and Cantor knew what he was doing, too, and would not play his game.

So the Harvard Law grad and U. Chi equal rights prof was outsmarted by Republicans. Except... he did get the sequester, which was the default, if the Grand Bargain Committee could not come up with anything. So, "kudos," Obama, you did win something at the expense of the poor. Be proud, man! That and cutting fuel subsidies, which he did in his first budget, while letting banksters off the hook.

This headline may be misleading since Obama spoke of "entitlements"--the first Democratic politician to use that term, while the headline cites specific programs. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/15/AR200901...

I think it is fair to say that Social Security and Medicare were among his targets, but I think he was after all of them--other than VA benefits, of course. This was a few days before his first inauguration. And that's what was on his mind to accomplish, as the country was cratering and he was okaying the bailout.Good lord, how do these people sleep?

Anyway, Obama did lead with less than he wanted, but he didn't get what he wanted anyway. So he had to settle for the sequester, an across the board cut, instead of only cuts for the poor. The military is complaining now about how old and outdated their equipment is. My guess is that they will get relief from the sequester, but no relief for the poor. If I am right, Obama will get even more of what he wanted and he's not even in office anymore.

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@detroitmechworks Less Monsanto more jobs, that's how I see it in California anyway. Go back to mowing, not spraying poison all over everything, thanks CalTrans! Our local water department sprays defoliant along the river path as soon as the grass starts growing. The grass turns orange as it bolts in to death, so it is not really "silent spring", pretty noisy.

Anyway, this just happened: Court Dismisses Monsanto Challenge to California Cancer Chemicals List

March 13, 2017
A California state court judge has rejected chemical maker Monsanto’s legal challenge to an important provision of Proposition 65, the 1986 voter initiative that requires California’s Governor to maintain a public list of chemicals known to the state to cause cancer. Monsanto was seeking to prevent California from adding glyphosate, the herbicide found in the company’s Roundup products, to the state’s cancer list. On Friday, March 10, Fresno County Superior Court Judge Kristi Culver Kapetan ruled that none of Monsanto’s attacks on the provision were viable and dismissed the case.

“Monsanto may prefer to keep glyphosate off the Prop 65 list, but that does not empower them to override the choice of California's voters,” said Selena Kyle, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

As the court recognized in its order, “the voters determined that there should be a list of cancer-causing chemicals and substances.” The court also found that “there does not appear to be any chance that Monsanto or [its co-plaintiffs] can amend their complaints to state valid claims under any of the theories they can rely upon.”

Prop. 65 required labeling carcinogenics, I voted for it. Now there are warnings on practically everything sold in California (it seems), and now RoundUp. Finally!

Most people ignore the warnings though, because what else is there to buy? Not much. Still, it is better than nothing, and every now and again someone else wakes up and stops the insanity. Keep going.

Peace

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@detroitmechworks it could still be improved, it could be used as a model. The more income you have the higher the copay, the lowest earners are 100% covered.

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@detroitmechworks @detroitmechworks The English system is better than ours, but one doctor can deny you treatment and you're screwed. I prefer to pick my own doctors, not have Civil Servant assigned to me. And I spent half my life in Civil Service. it's like hiring your own lawyer or take pot luck with a public defender. I've seen good public defenders (not great) but also stupid rotten public defenders.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

@The Voice In the Wilderness Government cost control by regulating prices not denying service. Consumer choice. Annual single buyer negotiation of drug prices. Private insurance for only frills like private rooms and other amenities. Private Insurance NOT required for health care.
No crazy quilt of clerks to adjudicate claims.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

@detroitmechworks If you combine single payer with the controls on drug pricing implemented by every other industrial country in the world you might get something you like. We wouldn't even have to write the damned thing. We could pull one working for another country off the shelf.

My concern with national health is I understand you frequently get the doctor available. I put a lot of effort into selecting a GP. She knows me. She will notice a change. When she decides I need a specialist she doesn't tell me to make an appointment with somebody on a list. She gives one or two names to her staff and they make the appointment. She also asks what I thought of the specialist the next time she sees me.

Pick your GP as though your life depended on it. It does.

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@FuturePassed I'm told that if you are employed, your employer pays the premiums, he has no choice. If you are not employed, the government pays them. The employer premium is pretty much the same as a flat per employee tax. Since most people are either employed, too young (hence covered by parents), or too old (covered by senior insurance), the premium can be stretched a few percent to cover the unemployed.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

RantingRooster's picture

will not stop until there is blood in the streets.

The most important healthcare metric no one is discussing, is healthcare outcomes, which of course the US ranks dead (no pun intended) last among all industrialized nations. The one percent have no shame, nor concern, nor any humanity left for those that can't "afford" the basic necessities to survive.

You, me and many of us here certainly would like, prefer, a peaceful revolution, but then again, we have some humanity left, we actually care about other people not in our immediate family. But recent history has PROVED, and current events certainly verify, our so called represenatives don't give a shit. They have pensions and healthcare, for life, paid for with our fucking money!

Remember what the wicked witch of the left said during the campaign, "Single payer healthcare will never, ever happen".

Gee, they have all the healthcare they could want or need, while the rest of scrimp, save and slave away, fuck, even take out loans to pay for. If you're the CEO of Goldman Sachs, you don't fear Cancer, as he has said, simply because you can afford any doctor from anywhere on this planet, you can afford any treatment, experimental or otherwise, while the rest of us only have two choices, poison A (chemo) or poison B (radiation). WTF!

How many lines have to be crossed?

Bernie's political revolution was nothing more than a way to suck the air out of the oppisition. A way to disfuse the anger welling up in the population, distract us from real, positive change.

When Bernie first announced his presidential run, and was interviewed on the boob tube, when asked if he would support the democratic nominee if it was't him, he said he would. THAT should have been a wake up call that his campaign was nothing but bullshit. And as things have turned out, he certainly did support the bitch that cheated him (i.e us), and he continues to do. He might voice opposition, but his voice is but a drop in the ocean of pultocrats in the services of the oligarchy that truly run this country. Hell, even Bernie supports the MIC, because to him, it's a "jobs" program.

I would rather re-direct much of that money for Green jobs, as well as our space program, which in a way, would be green jobs. I would rather make peace with other nations so we don't need to spend the vast majority of our tax dollars on war, but advanced healthcare and truly curing disease, not merely creating new and impoved revenues streams, so a tiny few can have more than any god. I would rather stop the tyranny of the US "spreading Democracy" and eliminate the root causes of so called terrorism, endless bombing of countries that don't threaten us nor attack us.

Too many people in this country can't wait 4 more years or even 2 more years. They will be homeless, in jail, or dead by then. I would not be surprised if we haven't been nuked by then. We are only kidding ourselves, thinking, believing Bernie or anyone else is going to swoop in and save us. We must save ourselves, or a good lot of us are going to die. And for what? So the gluttonous can have more?

Fuck, we are dying by the hundreds of thousands right fucking now, our fucking healthcare system is the 3rd leading cause of death of our fellow citizens. HOLY FUCKING SHIT! An average of 22 veterans are committing suicide a day, even self immolating themselves to draw attention to this epidemic of death, complete and utter lack of humanity, yet no one even bats an eye, because no one knows about it.

On a more peaceful note, let's occupy hospitals all across this country and overwhelm the system. Everyone go to the emergency room and demand care, and send the bill to your represenatives and simply refuse to pay. Who cares if your credit score gets fucked? Why do you need credit any way, to buy more shit we don't need from the very people that would have us in debt for the rest of our lives? A new car today costs as much as a fucking house did twenty years ago! Does anyone ever question why that is?

Why is it only our houses appreciate in value whem everything else loses half it's value once it rolls off the show room floor? No one seems to ask that question? Fuck, my rent, before I was forced to move, went up $300 a month over 3 years. Why? What value did I receive for that increase? No one asks that question, only accept some bullshit from people like Paul (lets have more asset bubbles) Krugman!

Another essay here says "They hate us because we are assholes", we're suing a nation we bombed back to the stone age, and the asshole that planned that bombing campaign like's Killary. WTF? They don't hate because we're assholes, certainly a good reason to be sure, but, truly, they hate us because we are cowards, unwilling to over turn this cart of sour (gmo) apples.

We are being attacked from every quarter, our lives and livelihoods are being destroyed, our environment eviserated, our future extinguished, and for what? So these dirt bags can have more "summer homes" they don't need? To have more money than god? To have infinately more power over our very lives? WTF!

I'm not saying overthrow the "government", which is merely a concept, I'm saying, specifically overthrow the men and women in government that have wiped their asses with our constitution, as flawed as it is. It is these people that are sticking the knife in our backs and slowly twisting it to bleed us dry of life, liberty and our pursuit of happiness. Fuck, the only people I know that are happy, is the fucking one percent, and those that serve them.

It is these men and women in our government, and the oligarchy that help them get elected, they need to feel the heat of death or abject poverty, as we feel every god damn day, or nothing will change, except, it's only getting worse, as the election of the Orange monster with tiny hands is proving in real time before our very eyes.

While some have a decent job and decent healthcare, you don't feel the pain the vast majority of us feel. The question is, do you have any humanity left for the rest of us? Do you really care enough, to stand with us? If you don't, while it doesn't mean you are against us, it means you had better not get in the way, or you too will suffer the same fate as the rest of these inhuman assholes that have enslaved us with debt and fear, crushed our hopes and dreams, destroyed our freedom, locked us up in cages like fucking wild dogs, as they did to the protestors at the #NODAPL protest camp.

The only way we are going to avoid a very violent and deadly revolution, it to shut the system down and throw out these inhuman fucks. Locking arms and singing kumbya isn't working anymore, what little humanity the 1% had, no longer exists.

(Morning rant over, be back later hopefully, I'm going to the emergency room!)

RR Drinks

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C99, my refuge from an insane world. #ForceTheVote

Big Al's picture

@RantingRooster go take care of yourself and let us know.

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@RantingRooster great comment, thanks. Piling on.

Peace

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@RantingRooster

I have noted elsewhere that there are actions short of violence which would make it harder for the swine to enjoy themselves. Specifically members of congress and MSM shills like Maddow & Hayes.

They are so full of themselves- a "here's what we think of you" campaign is the least we owe them. Jimmy Dore has the right idea.

Public ridicule and shaming. Let there be street theater! Videos,etc.

Watching the " nyc elite" suck HRC toes on Broadway was enough to make me vanilla for life.

great post RR, thx.

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@irishking

Every time I think of the investigations, I think of DeBlasio posing as the one liberal Dem who might actually "hold Hillary's feet to the fire." And then I think of his fawning over her during their little "racially-tinged" dog and pony skit. (Punch line: Being late = operating on CPT-colored people's time." At least they spared us "porch monkey" or Lightnin, the agonizingly slow Amos and Andy character.

Having seen their skit, I would bet every dollar I have that the Hillary campaign worked it out with him to delay his endorsement so it would appear she had finally earned a hard core liberal's approval.

I always forget how to spell nauseous.

I have little use for the Cuomo brothers, but go for it, Mario. Even though DeBlasio has stopped co-operating with your investigation, don't let up.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/26/nyregion/bill-de-blasio-investigation... (Defending "liberal" DeBalasio and his aides may cost "his" city nearly $12 million.)

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/06/guide-to-mayor-de-blasios-i...

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@RantingRooster
I am positive that violence will not work. So I try to think in the opposite direction. We enable them. We can stop enabling them. Pull the plug.

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MsDidi's picture

BIg Al I'm with you this week. You can call it single payer - or Medicare for All - or the public option -- but a rose by any other name ... I spent the first fifteen years of my career as a 'healthcare consultant.' It started with trying to recruit more nurses (who were always in short supply) and provide them with better benefits. We were trying to find more ways to incent people into medical (not military service). By the last half, with the advent of managed care, we spent all our time trying to figure out how to lay them off, reduce pensions, reduce hospital days, etc. Truly deadening -- especially for the patients.
The only way to solve the healthcare issues in our country is with Medicare for all. Sanders is right -- healthcare is a right not a privilege. And if we had a shared national commitment to that value, we would be able to solve these problems same as every other developed country in the world.
Big Al, I think your clarion call is the right one. Healthcare is such a large portion of the total economy that if we win this one, we're on our way to a total makeover of the whole damn system. Please spread the word on any ways for fighting this battle successfully and putting it center stage.
I'm as disheartened as anyone with Bernie's capitulation to the Dems, but nevertheless he's the only visible political leader who went straight into Trump country to talk with the coal miners about the health care bill. His courage and insights in doing this help us all in fighting a battle that in the end may well go right past him. I don't think he'd mind if it did.

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earthling1's picture

Cut up your cards. Deal in cash only. By local if possible with small businesses. Badmouth corporations everywhere you go. Stop consuming just to keep up with the Joneses. Reuse, refurbish, or recycle. Grow your own vegetables or join a co-op. Make your next car all electric. Don't buy a hybrid. Conserve water and electric by using both wisely. Walk, bicycle, or use public transportation whenever possible. Don't support churches that don't support America.
These are things anybody can do all by themselves. Collectively, it would be devastating to the powers that be. IMHO.
Thanks for a great rant.

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

@earthling1 I am down with simple living like you describe, but my actions seem wasted where I live. Yeah, I sold my car and take the bus, but in the meantime my neighbor bought an F250 diesel truck for his daily commute. That goes with my house neighbors from Laos who have never seen an SUV they didn't like. I'm grateful for their giant Escalade that sits below my deck though, I have it in mind in case of fire in my stairwell. I will hop on to the roof and jump, it's only about four feet and I am pretty light now. hah!

I did spend twelve years indentured servitude working for next to nothing while the land owners upgraded their solar and landscaping with my rent money. Not to mention all the poopy diapers I changed, school pickups and drop-offs, plumbing repairs, and electric, and IT work, and delivery services, I'm not incapable I'm just older now. I helped them build businesses, and manage lines, and all kinds of stuff. When their son was ready for college, they were done with me so kicked me to the curb as rental market was exploding off the charts. It's a cold world when it's your friends. Democrat friends, heh!

Peace

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