NPR Admits Obamacare is Flawed, Then Lie and Say Fixing It is Complicated

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDp45TOgYt0]
NPR's Diane Rehm show this morning surprisingly was not about Donald Trump. Instead the show focused its attention on all the serious issues with the Affordable Care Act: double digit premium hikes and companies dropping out of the exchanges. "What will the next President do to fix it?" they asked. Because fixing the signature legislative accomplishment of President Obama is "complicated."

Which, of course, is a lie. It's not complicated. The correct answer is to adopt universal single payer insurance (i.e., Medicare for all) in which the government can negotiate drug prices with the big pharmaceutical companies, something they are prohibited from doing now. That would immediately cut costs and reduce the amount we pay for health care as a percentage of our gross domestic product in half. In short, do what Bernie Sanders called for during his campaign. But not one of the experts on the Rehm show took that solution seriously. They all talked about a "market oriented" solution, whether they were conservative experts or "liberal" experts. Gosh, I wonder why?

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Bollox Ref's picture

But a possible, mandated, national savings/investment program is apparently dead easy.

Only in America.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

on the NPR call in show that has the man hosting (sorry don't recall his name). It really gets old listening to these clowns constantly ignore the obvious answer.

I am lucky enough to have employer coverage. My contribution (and my employers) is going up 20% next year. We'll see about the copays but they went up 25% this year.

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As apparently none of the analysts are. I keep hearing that those huge increases (the rates vary greatly by state, so much that they double in price in one state while decreasing in others. Why????) will be entirely compensated for by state subsidies - for those that qualify. They completely brush over those that have a high enough income to be above the treshold (for 2 people that is $62K) and only those that get their insurance from the marketplace qualify. That excludes employer sponsored plans.

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“The first duty of a man is to think for himself”

The ACA was a gift to the insurance industry, which has been ungrateful. One of the key features was no federal regulation of health insurance, leaving the door open for Tea-GOP calls to "sell insurance across state lines." If that happens, it will be a race to the bottom as most plans will be based in the state with the least restrictions. This is why so many credit cards are issued in South Dakota.

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"We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."

Citizen Of Earth's picture

BTW, when you say double digit increases, the average increase is in the 20% range, not 10%.

Who here got a 20% boost in their income this year? Not me.

All to loyal little Hillbots have shown up on Tweeter to defend Obama's clusterf**k.

And then a voice of sanity in the deafening madness.

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Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.

Citizen Of Earth's picture

a lot of people. Healthcare is the biggest annual expense for most people. Most people I know scrape by paycheck to paycheck. This is going to cause major financial pain. Obama's legacy, a failed Sickcare bill.

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Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.

Projected raise in rates in 2017 is 30%....more than double in 2 years.

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

ggersh's picture

next year $8079 roughly a 30% increase

it's an employer plan.

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

According to CEPR, the barriers for foreign MDs to come and practice in the USA explains why American MDs earn approximately double European doctors do. CEPR figures that giveaway to the AMA amounts to $800 per family.

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

ggersh's picture

is corrupt and needs a reset, it's time for cake.

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

Bisbonian's picture

">50%".

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

ggersh's picture

what our great leaders believe in. -snark-

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

k9disc's picture

And, ain't that the point. I mean,"It's the Economy, Stupid!"

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“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

CambridgePulsar1919's picture

Mostly younger people, are going to opt to pay the 2.5% 'fine', simply because it's the only Obamacare 'option' they can afford.
So now they've got 'skin in the game' as Obama said.

They just don't have healthcare and protection from bankruptcy if they get a catastrophic illness.

So just like everything else Obama has done 'for' the struggling American working class; the end result is that they suffer the most while his 'plan' moves glacially forward towards some future in which things will get better. Or not. Trust him and $$Hill to work out the details.
Just keep your wings buzzing little worker bee, your patrons in D.C. will chat about it over $5,000 per plate rubber chickens.

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They have got our skin, but it will not be enough for them.

The revolution is in need of heroes.
Stein - Baraka 2016

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thanatokephaloides's picture

It's not complicated. The correct answer is to adopt universal single payer insurance (i.e., Medicare for all) in which the government can negotiate drug prices with the big pharmaceutical companies, something they are prohibited from doing now. That would immediately cut costs and reduce the amount we pay for health care as a percentage of our gross domestic product in half. In short, do what Bernie Sanders called for during his campaign.

That's not "fixing" Obamacare; it's replacing it with the only possible workable system, the one we should have.

If taken no further, the statement is correct on its face. Fixing Obamacare is complicated. Too complicated to be even remotely possible. Jill's right: replacing it with single public payer is the correct way to do this. Obamacare's approach resembles an attempt to use a jeweler's screwdriver set to remove lug fasteners from an automobile; i.e., doomed to failure.

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Daenerys's picture

as my husband would say, you know what was complicated? Putting people on the fucking moon. We did that, so we can certainly figure out how to make Medicare for all work.

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This shit is bananas.

nostra Pravda radio
Nina's pablum radio
national petroleum radio
nice polite republicans
nuanced propaganda radio
...

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bygorry

Roy Blakeley's picture

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thanatokephaloides's picture

the nicknames are getting old

nostra Pravda radio
Nina's pablum radio
national petroleum radio
nice polite republicans
nuanced propaganda radio
...

Why? The shoe fits, after all.

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

boriscleto's picture

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" In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move. -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "

Citizen Of Earth's picture

is about ACA premiums going up.

The absurd cluelessness probably also explains why either Hellery or Trump will win the election instead of Stein.

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Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.

Sometimes I wonder if evolution is actually a devolving process that was made to sound like progress, just as "premiums" going up sounds like a good thing to the uninformed.

FSM help us all!

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Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

Cluelessness and exhaustion for too many who don't want to dig into the actual detailed facts either. That's most of my friends right now, many of whom will indeed vote for the Shill. One of them last night again on Trump's misogyny. I'm so fucking sick of hearing about his misogyny when we're talking about electing the ultimate misogynist - a woman who'd strip Social Security from old ladies, who do usually live longer than their men; a woman who bombs women and children in other countries and has not one qualm about it, indeed who claims it was "worth it" to do so; a woman who helped reform "welfare as we know it" to take away from mostly, once again, women and children. And she wants to say Trump is misogynist, my God, takes my breath away. I made those points with her, but I highly doubt she votes Stein - no matter what I say, the media says more, and they listen to it. And this is a friend who doesn't even DO commercial TV, who has no cable and misses it not one bit. She does, however, still listen to NPR....

And I know damned well she's sick to death of hearing my rants too. I keep doing it mainly because I can't stop myself, but it falls on deaf ears much of the time.

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

mouselander's picture

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." -Thomas Jefferson

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inactive account

ggersh's picture

Screw insurance companies and screw Obama Diablo

And they tell me trump is the conman. Wacko

#Jillneverhill

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

gendjinn's picture

Seeing it destroyed by GWB & 9/11 so effectively. It's now just another VoA.

Switched to Pacifica, glad to see it weathered it's financial storms.

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thanatokephaloides's picture

Discovered NPR in the early 90s as an immigrant. Seeing it destroyed by GWB & 9/11 so effectively. It's now just another VoA.

I'm sorry to hear that VoA has deteriorated so badly! It's been a few years since I've had a shortwave radio, but still..... VoA, when I was last able to listen, was waaay better than NPR at many things.

Seems like it's been Kochified like so many other things, sigh.....

Sad

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

gendjinn's picture

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Dhyerwolf's picture

My dad is heavily involved with trying to keep it out of corporate hands; the voting process that was supposed to finish up at the end of September was so badly run that they had to extend voting deadlines (in fact, I'm not sure that voting is even over now). They sent out PINs to each voter so they could vote online, but then gave some voters duplicate pins.

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US Health Care Ranked Worst in the Developed World (2014): http://time.com/2888403/u-s-health-care-ranked-worst-in-the-developed-wo...

US health care ranked 37th by WHO: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp0910064#t=article

"U.S. spends more on health care than other high-income countries but has worse outcomes"; "Maybe We Could Have Bought Him a Good Pair of Shoes": Why Peer Nations Spend Less on Health Care but Stay Healthier: http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2015/oct/us-he...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_health_coverage_by_country
(includes Algeria, Botswana, Egypt, India, Israel, Thailand, pretty much all of Western Europe, Romania, Costa Rica, and many more)

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"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." --Jiddu Krishnamurti

Citizen Of Earth's picture

If these numbers are real, it's pitchforks and torches time in these states.

Hey New Mexico, Enjoy your 93% increase on a government mandated product. Geezus.

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Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.

Dhyerwolf's picture

Those are the increases of particular health insurance providers that had the most increase, but it doesn't mean that those are the only available providers.

http://kff.org/health-reform/issue-brief/2017-premium-changes-and-insure...

I think this gives a better idea. Granted, switching health insurance companies sucks and the numbers still suck anyways. What's odd is that there are clearly states that are actually worse off than the Fox News chart though (Arizona's numbers are crazy and should lead to literal revolt). The increases are hideous no matter what graphic you are looking at though.

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The Insurance industry\... because we as Taxpayers are subsidizing these increases. The consumer is gaining nothing at all, and the Government is going to cave in to another example of extortion on behalf of corporate America to save Obama's legacy

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Maximized corporate/billionaire profits and the power to do whatever they want, no matter how deadly or destructive, with no recourse for the human assets once forming the publics of betrayed countries, form (edit: the) purpose of the new corporate/billionaire offshored law under the TPP and the Fast-Tracked others - if you look at all this in that (sickly) light, it all makes (distorted) sense.

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

sojourns's picture

Bob Edwards and Carl Castle retired. Anymore it's not only a commercial station, but they still get some gov't money and subject listeners to the fund raising crapola. Money on three fronts. I don't listen to All Things Considered any more as it is pure shite.

The do carry Ted Radio and Science Friday which is worthwhile. And a couple of Sunday shows.

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"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage

Hawkfish's picture

Ronnie Rayguns and the rethugs were annoyed that a publicly funded network was calling them on their crap:

During the 1970s and early 1980s, the majority of NPR funding came from the federal government. Steps were taken during the 1980s to completely wean NPR from government support, but the 1983 funding crisis forced the network to make immediate changes. According to CPB, in 2009 11.3% of the aggregate revenues of all public radio broadcasting stations were funded from federal sources, principally through CPB;[35] in 2012 10.9% of the revenues for Public Radio came from federal sources.[36]

So they cut off funding. Which is why they whine so much these days for money and have to run ads from large corporate entities (I mean "grantors").

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We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg

sojourns's picture

I think this is what instigated Edwards move towards leaving the station.

By the way. I checked out Jaron Lanier and his book "Who Owns the Future. It certainly speaks to me and I am surprised I had not heard of him. In looking at that, I was reminded of Jacques Fresco and his visionary view of the future.

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"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage

Roy Blakeley's picture

He did not want to leave as morning host and it was never made clear to him why he was kicked out. He kept a position at NPR for a while, but eventually left. My theory is that he dared call a GWB stooge on an assertion he made during an interview. Pulled out a letter and read it on the air showing that the stooge was lying. I remember it after all these years because so much coverage of Bush after 9/11 was so deferential, even though it was obvious that he was a lying moron that had been too stupid and lazy to react to the intelligence that indicated that the US should be on high alert.

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sojourns's picture

Though I shouldn't be surprised. NPR's official position (as announced by Bob himself) was that he was retiring.

For a time he had his own show (past couple of years) on NPR. I wasn't able to catch it often and I think it's off the air now. It was enjoyable to me.

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"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage

Daenerys's picture

Not a damn thing, probably.

JFC, looking at the rate increases for next year I'm more tempted every day to decline all insurance and just eat the tax penalty. Diablo I mean how are you supposed to even go to a doctor when you're already spending all your money on jacked-up premiums and ever-increasing rent? What a bunch of garbage!!

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This shit is bananas.

There isn't a payer system on the planet that wouldn't be bankrupt or at least would use up such a big percentage of the GDP making people "well" that the country would be forced to abandon it. The problem isn't the way we pay for it, it's the amount of people taking withdrawls from it. Period. No system , not even single payer, can handle the amount of people that are sick today in the US. We can keep throwing drugs and operations at the problem BUT until we admit what the problem is, that's exactly what we are going to do. No country can withstand the onslaught of withdrawls from it's health system which a country with 50% of it's adult population either pre-diabetic or diabetic will cause. Period. Either we find the CAUSE of the problem, which has nothing to do with medically treating it, or we go bankrupt treating the symptoms with drugs and medical procedures.

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"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." - Groucho

Don't answer because we're going to find out soon enough. There is no possible way healthcare will be affordable , even single payer, if everyone is sick. Insurance is based on most people NOT needing it. Not everyone withdrawing from it.

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"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." - Groucho