Warren is all in for access to health insurance

Submitted by snoopydawg on Mon, 09/02/2019 - 10:06pm

Glad I got a chance to talk with ABS-CBN News about improving access to health care, strengthening our economy, and reforming our immigration system. I’m in this fight all the way for Filipino families and to build an America that lives up to our values. https://t.co/5T7RpQydfY

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) September 1, 2019

She also said that she wants to limit prescription copays to $500. Guess that beats ByeDone's limiting deductibles to $1,000.

Just remember that Obama's bank quantitative easing was $29 trillion! And that the military budget is over $1,000,000,000 a year. Israel gets $3.8 billion a year and they don't just have access to health care they have it. How much money goes to NED and other organizations that fund the overthrow of governments? How much for other foreign aid? How much money do oil, gas and other corporate welfare get? $1.5 trillion for tax cuts with another one being considered. Congress found $10 billion for Trump's detention centers that are lining the pockets of the prison industrial complex. How much for other things that we have no idea about?

But we can't afford to have health care. Fund our social programs. Fix our infrastructure. House our homeless. The list is long isn't it.

Tags:

When will our needs be met?

Vote

Comments

Submitted by jim p on Mon, 09/02/2019 - 10:37pm

Propaganda? Stalking?

How much money is spent on government agencies influencing public opinion, and on collecting data on our every move?

—

Orwell: Where's the omelette?

Submitted by snoopydawg on Mon, 09/02/2019 - 11:04pm

This too

@jim p

Yup. Just how much money do the over 800 companies that contract with the NSA get every year to spy on us? BTW. Trump is going to make permanent an NSA program that was supposed to sunset this year. I'll try to find the article on this. Think democrats will put up a fight? Me neither. Ooh scary Trump right? Can't let him have access to the nukes.

—

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Submitted by MichaelSF on Mon, 09/02/2019 - 10:52pm

Access

That's one of the "tells" of the "don't get your hopes too high" Democrats.

If I'm starving and I walk into a grocery store with a nickel in my pocket, I've got "access" to food, I just can't afford to purchase any of it to relieve my hunger. The same thing goes for health care, clean air/water, and probably "justice" too. Can I afford it if it is offered to me? If not, even though it is there if I could afford it, my "access" to it doesn't do me much good.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Tue, 09/03/2019 - 1:20am

Exactly

@MichaelSF

This is just what Warren is offering us. I recently read a bunch of people who once wanted single payer explain why that isn't a good idea anymore. Why? Cuz Bernie's plan does away with insurance companies. One person who wrote about how the ACA is just a huge welfare program for the insurance companies got the heave hoo not to long ago. Subsidizing insurance companies is not health care. Access to insurance doesn't do jack if people can't afford their premiums and deductibles.

—

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Submitted by Centaurea on Tue, 09/03/2019 - 12:33am

Or

@snoopydawg if you have health insurance, but the insurance company second-guesses your doctor and refuses to approve treatment. There are so many things wrong with this insurance industry scam.

Access to insurance doesn't do jack if people can't afford their premiums and deductibles.

—

"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi

"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone

Submitted by snoopydawg on Tue, 09/03/2019 - 1:25am

Yes this too is a great point

@Centaurea

Why should people who haven't gone to medical school be allowed to override a doctor's opinion?

I worked for retinal specialists and if a patient had a retinal disorder that needed immediate treatment we'd have to call their insurance company to get authorization for treatment. After the front desk person went round and round with the person on the phone and got denied the doctor would take over and have to explain anatomy and diseases to a lay person who had no idea what he was telling them. It's like having a 4th grader grade a college paper. Add this up by every ophthalmologist in the country and see how much time is wasted on doing that. Add in the other specialists who did that daily. Then there's all the time the front office person has to spend to get other procedures and medications approved by insurance companies who is looking for any reason to deny coverage.

Kambama first came out for MFA too, but now she has walked that back and wants private insurance companies to be in charge of Medicare. Wendell Potter takes her plan apart.

During the 1990s when the Clintons were in the White House, privately operated Medicare managed care plans grew at a fast clip, from about 2 million in 1993 to more than 6 million in 1998, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. But big problems began to emerge.

For one thing, as the GAO noted in a September 2000 report, insurers had little interest in marketing their plans to people in rural areas. For another, the plans also had little interest in covering people who had health problems. Numerous studies found that private Medicare plans “tended to attract beneficiaries with lower-than-average health costs.” That’s because insurance companies implemented sales and marketing plans that targeted the healthiest people in a given market.

As a result, according to the GAO, the government “was not realizing the expected savings” that advocates of private Medicare plans had promised. In fact, it became clear that the government was significantly overpaying insurance companies that operated the private plans.

So in 1997, Congress passed legislation to both encourage the wider availability of private Medicare plans (then called Medicare+Choice) and to slow the growth of payments to insurers. In other words, to do exactly what Harris is now proposing.

Insurers responded by heading for the exits.

As the GAO reported, nearly 100 plans “either terminated their contracts and fully withdrew from the program or partially withdrew by reducing the geographic areas they served for the 1999 contract year.” It got even worse the next year: 118 plans announced they would terminate their contracts or reduce service areas. More than 1.3 million Americans were affected. Many found that there were no private plans available to them. Many others saw their benefits cut and their premiums go up.

Insurance company shareholders were not happy, as you can imagine. Managed Care Outlook, a trade publication, reported in July 1999 that insurance companies claimed the budget cuts mandated by the 1997 law made it impossible for them to operate profitably in many markets.

Cigna was one of many insurers to bail out of the Medicare+Choice program, and my team was responsible for announcing that decision.

I recommend reading the whole article. Remember that Potter used to work for an insurance company and quit after he saw thousands of people waiting to see doctors who were examining people in horse stalls at a county fairground. If he thinks Kambama's plan is full of holes I believe him.

As for the enormous amount of money given to the military industrial complex read this article. The military complex is the biggest socialist program in the country and it get worse every damn year. This is why we can't have single payer like every other sane country.

—

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Submitted by Jen on Tue, 09/03/2019 - 7:49am

Insurance industry scam

@Centaurea Last month, while I was out with my daughter, I passed out in her car. She took me to the ER. The diagnosis was severe dehydration. Anyway, the bills for that visit came last week. 3 bills - one for xrays, one for lab work, and one for everything else. At the bottom of the lab work bill it says, "Charges reflect a 50% discount for No Insurance". On the bill for everything else, it says, "total charges - $3259.95; total adjustments - $-2281.97; due from patient - $977.98".

So, I'm thinking that they actually tack on 50% more or $2281 more just for insurance to pay.

I also told my daughter to just let me die next time. It's like if whatever is wrong doesn't kill us, they're hoping the stress from the bills will.

—

Is it great yet?

Submitted by snoopydawg on Tue, 09/03/2019 - 1:32am

More on how bad private Medicare is

Insurers Running Medicare Advantage Plans Overbill Taxpayers By Billions As Feds Struggle To Stop It

Health insurers that treat millions of seniors have overcharged Medicare by nearly $30 billion the past three years alone, but federal officials say they are moving ahead with long-delayed plans to recoup at least part of the money.

Officials have known for years that some Medicare Advantage plans overbill the government by exaggerating how sick their patients are or by charging Medicare for treating serious medical conditions they cannot prove their patients have.

Getting refunds from the health plans has proved daunting, however. Officials with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services repeatedly have postponed, or backed off, efforts to crack down on billing abuses and mistakes by the increasingly popular Medicare Advantage health plans offered by private health insurers under contract with Medicare. Today, such plans treat over 22 million seniors, more than 1 in 3 people on Medicare.

Now CMS is trying again, proposing a series of enhanced audits tailored to claw back $1 billion in Medicare Advantage overpayments by 2020 — just a tenth of what it estimates the plans overcharge the government in a given year.

This is the insurance medical complex that will need to be clawed from their dead hands. This is just as bad as the military industrial complex and every subsidy given to companies that don't need them and aren't getting them for any legal reason. When did we agree to give them money to help them become more powerful?

—

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Submitted by doh1304 on Tue, 09/03/2019 - 2:23am

@snoopydawg

@snoopydawg
My guess is that it started in 1994 - after the "failure" of Hillarycare discredited health care reform for over a decade. (until Obama had to repeat the scam)

—

On to Biden since 1973

Submitted by davidgmillsatty on Wed, 09/04/2019 - 12:43pm

@doh1304 Actually it goes back

@doh1304 Actually it goes back to the WW2 era when the government put in wage controls. Employers, to get around the limits of wage controls, began adding benefits and health insurance was one of them.

Submitted by doh1304 on Tue, 09/03/2019 - 2:33am

By the way

The latest Orange Satan Straw Poll:
Yang 8652
Bernie 4581
Tulsi 964
Warren 519
Biden (and Harris) 96
Ya think that Liz turned coat too late?

—

On to Biden since 1973

Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Tue, 09/03/2019 - 9:23am

Wow. Look at Yang go.

@doh1304

That makes me feel really optimistic, simply because his approach is so intelligent and healthy. That means people are thinking. And apparently inspired.

I wrote about Yang a little more than a year ago, link below, and you were very active on the thread. I reread it and appreciate the dynamic you introduced. It reminded me that there is a process involved. There is always a process..

Meet Candidate Yang

I don't know where this quote came from. It was here when I arrived:

An outsider making it to the top debate stage is a sign of how fed up Americans are with politics as usual. We sense that big changes are necessary. Our politicians aren’t up for the challenge. But we are.

—

____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

Submitted by Reverend Jane I... on Tue, 09/03/2019 - 7:25am

MFA or GTFO

In November of last year I was diagnosed with breast cancer. The process included mammograms, ultrasounds, MRIs, and biopsy procedures. I had three core needle biopsies in less than a week, two on one breast and one on the other. The billing for all the diagnostic scans, screens, biopsies, and doctors, was about $25k and that was just to get diagnosed with a cancer that could kill me. At that point it might have already been killing me -- thankfully it doesn't seem that way -- but we wouldn't really know until after surgery.

Due to another semi-catastrophic health issue in the late 90s which left me with a longterm disability, I already had SSDI and Medicare for years before this. I have never trusted for-profit insurance companies so after I was approved for SSDI and waited the 2 year period to qualify for Medicare, I opted for traditional Medicare with no Advantage plan. When I went to my breast surgeon's office to discuss cancer treatment and what type of surgery we would schedule for when, we worked it all out and then he left me with his assistant to schedule the surgery.

She gave me sympathy face and said, "Ok, now we wrestle with your insurance company. Some companies have policies where --"

And I just cut her right off because when I am stressed out I am rude enough to interrupt, "Actually, although I'm young for it I already have Medicare due to a disabling health condition from years ago, so hopefully that will make this easier."

I will never forget the way she broke out into a huge grin and threw both of her hands up over her head and cheered out loud like her sportsing team had just put game winning points into a net. "YES! YES! They will cover you, and we can schedule you. Oh this makes things so much easier for everybody. All I need now is his surgery calendar, I'll be back in a minute."

The surgery, hospital stay (1 night) and associated doctors and tests billed out for just over $50k, and that was on top of the first $25k. But because I had Medicare, no one asked me any questions about money or whether I could pay, or made me come up with a pre-payment, or made me prove that I could make installment payments afterward, etc. There was none of any of that, even though there were these signs all over the registration area of the hospital about asking for payment help and making sure you pre-paid for procedures. Because I had Medicare, I signed a consent form and they just started treating my fucking cancer.

And I know people really hate Trump but I have been saying ever since that cancer is so terrifying that I wouldn't wish it even on Trump and that EVERYONE should get at least the standard of care that I got. I mean, Congress and the White House are all getting better care, and I don't think they should be, I think they should all get what we get, and I think we all deserve at least the standard that is now being served with Medicare. I will not budge on this, people are dying from lack of care, and someone like Warren who is in a position to offer meaningful help but cooks up some hot bullshit like capping med costs at $500/month is a rampaging classhole.

In conclusion: get everybody improved Medicare for all or get the fuck out of government.

Submitted by on the cusp on Tue, 09/03/2019 - 8:08am

My sentiments exactly, Rev Jane.

@Reverend Jane Ignatowski My paralegal sent me a text that she is on hold with her insurance company, expects to come in late for work. This happens constantly.

In November of last year I was diagnosed with breast cancer. The process included mammograms, ultrasounds, MRIs, and biopsy procedures. I had three core needle biopsies in less than a week, two on one breast and one on the other. The billing for all the diagnostic scans, screens, biopsies, and doctors, was about $25k and that was just to get diagnosed with a cancer that could kill me. At that point it might have already been killing me -- thankfully it doesn't seem that way -- but we wouldn't really know until after surgery. Due to another semi-catastrophic health issue in the late 90s which left me with a longterm disability, I already had SSDI and Medicare for years before this. I have never trusted for-profit insurance companies so after I was approved for SSDI and waited the 2 year period to qualify for Medicare, I opted for traditional Medicare with no Advantage plan. When I went to my breast surgeon's office to discuss cancer treatment and what type of surgery we would schedule for when, we worked it all out and then he left me with his assistant to schedule the surgery. She gave me sympathy face and said, "Ok, now we wrestle with your insurance company. Some companies have policies where --" And I just cut her right off because when I am stressed out I am rude enough to interrupt, "Actually, although I'm young for it I already have Medicare due to a disabling health condition from years ago, so hopefully that will make this easier." I will never forget the way she broke out into a huge grin and threw both of her hands up over her head and cheered out loud like her sportsing team had just put game winning points into a net. "YES! YES! They will cover you, and we can schedule you. Oh this makes things so much easier for everybody. All I need now is his surgery calendar, I'll be back in a minute." The surgery, hospital stay (1 night) and associated doctors and tests billed out for just over $50k, and that was on top of the first $25k. But because I had Medicare, no one asked me any questions about money or whether I could pay, or made me come up with a pre-payment, or made me prove that I could make installment payments afterward, etc. There was none of any of that, even though there were these signs all over the registration area of the hospital about asking for payment help and making sure you pre-paid for procedures. Because I had Medicare, I signed a consent form and they just started treating my fucking cancer. And I know people really hate Trump but I have been saying ever since that cancer is so terrifying that I wouldn't wish it even on Trump and that EVERYONE should get at least the standard of care that I got. I mean, Congress and the White House are all getting better care, and I don't think they should be, I think they should all get what we get, and I think we all deserve at least the standard that is now being served with Medicare. I will not budge on this, people are dying from lack of care, and someone like Warren who is in a position to offer meaningful help but cooks up some hot bullshit like capping med costs at $500/month is a rampaging classhole. In conclusion: get everybody improved Medicare for all or get the fuck out of government.

—

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Submitted by Reverend Jane I... on Tue, 09/03/2019 - 8:41am

Best wishes to her

@on the cusp

I hope she's able to beat the gauntlet and get whatever care she needs!

Submitted by Wally on Tue, 09/03/2019 - 9:02am

Classhole?

@Reverend Jane Ignatowski

Did you make that one up or borrow it?

If it's yours, many kudos.

In November of last year I was diagnosed with breast cancer. The process included mammograms, ultrasounds, MRIs, and biopsy procedures. I had three core needle biopsies in less than a week, two on one breast and one on the other. The billing for all the diagnostic scans, screens, biopsies, and doctors, was about $25k and that was just to get diagnosed with a cancer that could kill me. At that point it might have already been killing me -- thankfully it doesn't seem that way -- but we wouldn't really know until after surgery. Due to another semi-catastrophic health issue in the late 90s which left me with a longterm disability, I already had SSDI and Medicare for years before this. I have never trusted for-profit insurance companies so after I was approved for SSDI and waited the 2 year period to qualify for Medicare, I opted for traditional Medicare with no Advantage plan. When I went to my breast surgeon's office to discuss cancer treatment and what type of surgery we would schedule for when, we worked it all out and then he left me with his assistant to schedule the surgery. She gave me sympathy face and said, "Ok, now we wrestle with your insurance company. Some companies have policies where --" And I just cut her right off because when I am stressed out I am rude enough to interrupt, "Actually, although I'm young for it I already have Medicare due to a disabling health condition from years ago, so hopefully that will make this easier." I will never forget the way she broke out into a huge grin and threw both of her hands up over her head and cheered out loud like her sportsing team had just put game winning points into a net. "YES! YES! They will cover you, and we can schedule you. Oh this makes things so much easier for everybody. All I need now is his surgery calendar, I'll be back in a minute." The surgery, hospital stay (1 night) and associated doctors and tests billed out for just over $50k, and that was on top of the first $25k. But because I had Medicare, no one asked me any questions about money or whether I could pay, or made me come up with a pre-payment, or made me prove that I could make installment payments afterward, etc. There was none of any of that, even though there were these signs all over the registration area of the hospital about asking for payment help and making sure you pre-paid for procedures. Because I had Medicare, I signed a consent form and they just started treating my fucking cancer. And I know people really hate Trump but I have been saying ever since that cancer is so terrifying that I wouldn't wish it even on Trump and that EVERYONE should get at least the standard of care that I got. I mean, Congress and the White House are all getting better care, and I don't think they should be, I think they should all get what we get, and I think we all deserve at least the standard that is now being served with Medicare. I will not budge on this, people are dying from lack of care, and someone like Warren who is in a position to offer meaningful help but cooks up some hot bullshit like capping med costs at $500/month is a rampaging classhole. In conclusion: get everybody improved Medicare for all or get the fuck out of government.

Submitted by Reverend Jane I... on Tue, 09/03/2019 - 9:56am

I don't know

@Wally

I've been using it for so long I can't remember anymore, heh. Either way I tend to put language in the same basket as medicine: common good shared by the people.

Submitted by Wally on Wed, 09/04/2019 - 7:35am

Woody Guthrie said if it's any good,

@Reverend Jane Ignatowski

. . . it's worth stealin'.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Tue, 09/03/2019 - 12:42pm

THIS

@Reverend Jane Ignatowski

I will not budge on this, people are dying from lack of care, and someone like Warren who is in a position to offer meaningful help but cooks up some hot bullshit like capping med costs at $500/month is a rampaging classhole.

In conclusion: get everybody improved Medicare for all or get the fuck out of government.

I cannot understand why people think that futzing with the ACA is the best route to go when all it did according to ByeDone was allow for 20 million people to obtain insurance and yet did nothing to rein in costs of premiums or the cost of drugs. It was great for families that got to extend how long their kids could stay on their plans and do away with denying people with pre existing conditions, but it could have been so much better. Obama came into office with a huge mandate and the Democrats held all 3 branches and yet they let the GOP deliberately water it down with the excuse of getting them to vote for it while they were telling democrats to pound sand. And as we know while dems were playing their games Obama had already made deals with the insurance and drug companies. Single payer advocates were not allowed in the discussion.

For those of us that were on DK at the time the huge let down after we found out what we got was HUGE. Obama promised single payer and we got warmed over Romney care which was a federalist insurance scam.

Now we have one person offering us what Obama did so many moons ago and yet people are rejecting it because it's hard. Or something. So many people are backing ByeDone because he just wants to make the ACA better and maybe offer us a public option. Well if the democrats refused to pass that back then what are the chances that they will do it for Joe? And with the GOP in charge of the senate and I don't see that changing then there is no chance of it passing again. But then what are the chances Bernie can get congress to work with him? Slim?

But I agree that if people like Warren and Harris are baiting and switching this far out from the election they are telling us that they will just pull an Obama if they are elected. Nope, NO and Hell no. Once burned.....

I am so glad that you were able to get the help you needed and it didn't cost you everything. BTW have people read what the WaPoo did to Bernie? He said that over 500,000 people declare bankruptcy every year because of medical bills. They flat out lied about it and when Bernie asked for a retraction they refused and doubled down. How many people read the Poo and never question what they read?

In November of last year I was diagnosed with breast cancer. The process included mammograms, ultrasounds, MRIs, and biopsy procedures. I had three core needle biopsies in less than a week, two on one breast and one on the other. The billing for all the diagnostic scans, screens, biopsies, and doctors, was about $25k and that was just to get diagnosed with a cancer that could kill me. At that point it might have already been killing me -- thankfully it doesn't seem that way -- but we wouldn't really know until after surgery. Due to another semi-catastrophic health issue in the late 90s which left me with a longterm disability, I already had SSDI and Medicare for years before this. I have never trusted for-profit insurance companies so after I was approved for SSDI and waited the 2 year period to qualify for Medicare, I opted for traditional Medicare with no Advantage plan. When I went to my breast surgeon's office to discuss cancer treatment and what type of surgery we would schedule for when, we worked it all out and then he left me with his assistant to schedule the surgery. She gave me sympathy face and said, "Ok, now we wrestle with your insurance company. Some companies have policies where --" And I just cut her right off because when I am stressed out I am rude enough to interrupt, "Actually, although I'm young for it I already have Medicare due to a disabling health condition from years ago, so hopefully that will make this easier." I will never forget the way she broke out into a huge grin and threw both of her hands up over her head and cheered out loud like her sportsing team had just put game winning points into a net. "YES! YES! They will cover you, and we can schedule you. Oh this makes things so much easier for everybody. All I need now is his surgery calendar, I'll be back in a minute." The surgery, hospital stay (1 night) and associated doctors and tests billed out for just over $50k, and that was on top of the first $25k. But because I had Medicare, no one asked me any questions about money or whether I could pay, or made me come up with a pre-payment, or made me prove that I could make installment payments afterward, etc. There was none of any of that, even though there were these signs all over the registration area of the hospital about asking for payment help and making sure you pre-paid for procedures. Because I had Medicare, I signed a consent form and they just started treating my fucking cancer. And I know people really hate Trump but I have been saying ever since that cancer is so terrifying that I wouldn't wish it even on Trump and that EVERYONE should get at least the standard of care that I got. I mean, Congress and the White House are all getting better care, and I don't think they should be, I think they should all get what we get, and I think we all deserve at least the standard that is now being served with Medicare. I will not budge on this, people are dying from lack of care, and someone like Warren who is in a position to offer meaningful help but cooks up some hot bullshit like capping med costs at $500/month is a rampaging classhole. In conclusion: get everybody improved Medicare for all or get the fuck out of government.

—

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Submitted by WaterLily on Tue, 09/03/2019 - 2:26pm

BRAVA!!

@Reverend Jane Ignatowski

In November of last year I was diagnosed with breast cancer. The process included mammograms, ultrasounds, MRIs, and biopsy procedures. I had three core needle biopsies in less than a week, two on one breast and one on the other. The billing for all the diagnostic scans, screens, biopsies, and doctors, was about $25k and that was just to get diagnosed with a cancer that could kill me. At that point it might have already been killing me -- thankfully it doesn't seem that way -- but we wouldn't really know until after surgery. Due to another semi-catastrophic health issue in the late 90s which left me with a longterm disability, I already had SSDI and Medicare for years before this. I have never trusted for-profit insurance companies so after I was approved for SSDI and waited the 2 year period to qualify for Medicare, I opted for traditional Medicare with no Advantage plan. When I went to my breast surgeon's office to discuss cancer treatment and what type of surgery we would schedule for when, we worked it all out and then he left me with his assistant to schedule the surgery. She gave me sympathy face and said, "Ok, now we wrestle with your insurance company. Some companies have policies where --" And I just cut her right off because when I am stressed out I am rude enough to interrupt, "Actually, although I'm young for it I already have Medicare due to a disabling health condition from years ago, so hopefully that will make this easier." I will never forget the way she broke out into a huge grin and threw both of her hands up over her head and cheered out loud like her sportsing team had just put game winning points into a net. "YES! YES! They will cover you, and we can schedule you. Oh this makes things so much easier for everybody. All I need now is his surgery calendar, I'll be back in a minute." The surgery, hospital stay (1 night) and associated doctors and tests billed out for just over $50k, and that was on top of the first $25k. But because I had Medicare, no one asked me any questions about money or whether I could pay, or made me come up with a pre-payment, or made me prove that I could make installment payments afterward, etc. There was none of any of that, even though there were these signs all over the registration area of the hospital about asking for payment help and making sure you pre-paid for procedures. Because I had Medicare, I signed a consent form and they just started treating my fucking cancer. And I know people really hate Trump but I have been saying ever since that cancer is so terrifying that I wouldn't wish it even on Trump and that EVERYONE should get at least the standard of care that I got. I mean, Congress and the White House are all getting better care, and I don't think they should be, I think they should all get what we get, and I think we all deserve at least the standard that is now being served with Medicare. I will not budge on this, people are dying from lack of care, and someone like Warren who is in a position to offer meaningful help but cooks up some hot bullshit like capping med costs at $500/month is a rampaging classhole. In conclusion: get everybody improved Medicare for all or get the fuck out of government.

Submitted by gjohnsit on Tue, 09/03/2019 - 10:34am

It's like access to buying a yacht

And it makes the same amount of sense if you don't see class privilege.

Submitted by Lily O Lady on Tue, 09/03/2019 - 5:39pm

It’s the mirror image of the Anatole France quote:

@gjohnsit

“The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread.”

—

"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

Submitted by ludwig ii on Tue, 09/03/2019 - 11:59am

Warren and Bernie are basically the same,

but it's VERY important you vote for Warren and not Bernie.

Kind of like how Tom Perez and Keith Ellison were basically the same and both great progressives, but it was very important to support Tom for DNC Chair and NOT Keith.

Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me every damn time, I'm a proud Democrat!

Submitted by Cant Stop the M... on Thu, 09/05/2019 - 1:12am

LMAO

@ludwig ii

they're exactly the same, that's why we spend 72 consecutive hours lambasting Susan Sarandon for mentioning that Warren was once a Republican.

If they're really just the same, wouldn't the response have been more of a laugh, a shrug, or a puzzled look? Why the outrage and consternation? Why do they act like their dentists just forgot the novocaine?

—

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Submitted by MrWebster on Tue, 09/03/2019 - 12:46pm

The limit on the copay is per month per family

What families can afford to pay out $500 a month. For individuals it is $250 per month. Seems to me that implicit in Warren's proposal is a rejection of M4A as under that plan. Do copays at those levels exist? Are we all just playing at kabuki acting as if any universal government sponsored health care system will ever come about in America? Free college tuition"? Oh that hope gets pimped in the second act.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Tue, 09/03/2019 - 1:23pm

Most probably junk insurance

@MrWebster

I suppose there are some plans with enough subsidies that lets people pay lower copays on their insurance, but then that goes back to how the ACA is a give away to the insurance companies. Have we ever seen how much money actually goes to the insurance companies from the government teat? I don't remember seeing anything, but will look into it.

But just the fact that Warren is talking about Access when Bernie is talking about health care as a human right is a huge red flag.

—

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Submitted by MrWebster on Tue, 09/03/2019 - 2:51pm

That "access" word was used by gopers I think

@snoopydawg The word was used in the way posters here a noting. Sure you can walk into a doctor's office any time you want. Of course you will walk out as you can afford to pay. I guess the political question is if Warren has done enough to be acceptable by the establishment.

Submitted by aliasalias on Tue, 09/03/2019 - 1:31pm

With all my children and grandchildren being Canadian

I have too many stories to bother to list regarding what their health care system has meant for them all, but I'll share a 'what if?'story.
It is about a common dilemma that tells any rational (and not owned by special interests) person all they need to know about the difference between here in the US and Canada when it comes to have real health care, not insurance policies.

It is about the decision a parent,my daughter,had to make regarding what to do when my youngest grandson came to her talking about some feelings he was having, and while he was too young to know how scary these symptoms sound to an older person. Chest pains in the heart area, a feeling of being almost dizzy and few more problems he tried to describe but my daughter didn't hesitate in deciding to get him to a doctor asap.

Spoiler! after all kinds of tests, MRI, blood tests, etc. it was not what was feared and was a minor and an easily dealt with problem, but my point about all this is that were that to have happened here in the US with them as citizens even she would weigh out the decision about whether to take him in to a doctor immediately or wait and see if it passes like heartburn. Tick tock tick tock.
Knowing her I know she'd have taken him to a doctor anyway, bills be damned, but how many others across the US try to put it off hoping it is something that will pass? We will probably never know how many people have either died or suffered permanent damages from the lack of immediate medical attention? All because of the costs/coverage.
No one is gonna say something like yeah the kid was coughing up blood but we waited to see if it got better, no they will say it just started.

A more recent story. A long time friend in Vancouver BC has Alzheimer's disease and because I live twenty miles from the Canadian border I visit him and his wonderful Japanese wife, Naoko. When she goes to work she sees to it that my friend Duncan has his cell phone on him so that she can call him all throughout the day to find out where he is, (even when he is with me lol) as he takes the bus to the beach a lot but has not always got on the right bus to go home she will ask him to hand the phone to someone else (total stranger) then she will explain the situation and ask them if he is on the right bus.

A month ago he had a bad fall downtown, literally cracking his skull and as the doctors told Naoko that the reason it wasn't fatal from the pressure on the brain from internal bleeding was because as part of his particular Alzheimer's disease his brain has been shrinking (for a few years) so there was room for the blood.

However at Vancouver General Hospital he later went into a coma for two weeks before waking up but unable to talk for another couple of weeks and that's where I went to spend the weekend with him and I sat there thinking about the 'what if?' this happened here in the US?
First of all because it was an 'emergency' he'd have gotten medical help right away regardless of any 'coverage' or lack of it, but the bills would be a lot higher because it was handled by the emergency and with all the post-operative care it would be a debt they would never be able to discharge the rest of their lives unless they successfully filed for bankruptcy.
Right now Duncan has been moved to the University of British Columbia hospital for care and like with Van General Naoko spends all her non working (and time to sleep) at the UBC hospital while she still waits for any opening in any of the 'assisted care' facilities in Vancouver because he needs around the clock care and she has to work.
Btw there are no costs for all this (continuing) medical help, and the assisted care place (when it eventually happens) will not cost either, but again 'what if' this was all happening here in the US, or as a Canadian friend calls it, 'the Excited States'?

Fwiw I'll be going to visit him later this week, and believe Naoko may be Japanese but she is well aware of what I'm talking about when I talked about the differences between here and there.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Tue, 09/03/2019 - 6:41pm

This too

Knowing her I know she'd have taken him to a doctor anyway, bills be damned, but how many others across the US try to put it off hoping it is something that will pass? We will probably never know how many people have either died or suffered permanent damages from the lack of immediate medical attention? All because of the costs/coverage.
No one is gonna say something like yeah the kid was coughing up blood but we waited to see if it got better, no they will say it just started.

In addition to families having to decide on their own if a medical emergency is really one or not there are just as many families not taking their sick members to the er or doctor because they don't have insurance at all. How many elderly people are having to decide whether to buy their drugs or food for the month? How many have read stories about people not taking their full dose of insulin because they can't afford it? Bringing ones sugar level down from 800 to 400 still leaves the body with too high of levels.

Kambama's plan takes 10 years to become fully implemented while Bernie's takes 4 with older Americans getting to be on the plan and the next year the next age group goes on it. ByeDone's plan still leaves millions of people without any type of insurance. How many years does Warren's plan take? Who knows because even though she has been in the race the longest she still doesn't have a plan on her website.

The horror stories from people trying to just stay alive are numerous. When our government allows corporations to not pay taxes or lets them keep their profits off shore and then tells us that there is no money for us we know it's a lie and yet people don't want single payer because government screws things up. Right? "Keep your government hands off my Medicare! "

Wishing you the best with your friend.

—

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Submitted by aliasalias on Wed, 09/04/2019 - 3:27am

Thank you and I will try to help him any way I can.

@snoopydawg I'll add this. My friend is a musician, (and a well known one in Vancouver) and he has never owned a TV , nor cares to watch one but watching him stare at the wall really bothered me so I brought my laptop to the room, placed it at the foot of his bed and played YouTube music videos for him that showed the finger picking of guitars and mandolins, the fiddle work, the bass and drum playing. It wasn't so much what the songs were but how they were done that got his attention, like the musician I saw many times working out songs in practice with other musicians, that meant something to him.

Also in the late 70's when I shared an apartment with him in Vancouver he had the piano he'd owned all his life and I enjoyed hearing him sometimes early in the morning picking out beautiful melodies. Yes he could play, and he should've been very capable at it as his mother taught classical piano at UBC,but now he has no use of his left arm so those days, that life, is over.
But gawd almighty how much worse it would all be if he were a citizen in this Country, where that 'shining light on the hill' is nothing more than a spotlight in a prison yard..