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Joined: July 29 2005
Location: None
Status: Offline
Points: 24429
Posted: June 26 2020 at 13:45
rushfan4 wrote:
I've been fortunate to have health insurance from my employers my entire adult life and I have not had to deal with ACA. For most of my adult life, it was just something that I had but was fortunate enough to not have to use it. In all honesty, as micky said, it seemed like a waste of money.
Unfortunately, in the past year I have gotten a lifetime's worth of use out of it and am very fortunate to have it. On a personal note, I now have a very major preexisting condition, so could be seriously effected if I were to lose my job and that protection went away. It is definitely a broken system, but who knows what the best solution is. I'm kind of a "fan" of the hybrid system where employers still continue to provide health insurance for their employees, and where that is not available there is some sort of safety net to help others access affordable health insurance. I'm not as big of a fan of the health care for all but if someone far smarter than me can come along with a solution that doesn't involve me paying more in taxes than I am currently paying in health care and deductibles than sign me up.
I pay taxes in Italy because I have some rental income from there. As you can expect, I don't pay much, but I have right to the same coverage as someone who pays half of its income in taxes. This is because the cost is spread around all taxpayers, not just those who are covered. Here, we pay over $ 6000 a year (for the two of us) for coverage that involves a HSA. The plan has its advantages, but the deductible for two people is very high. All this on top of taxes - federal, state and local. I also pay tax on what I have already been taxed on in Italy. The myth that taxes are lower in the US is just that - a myth.
On an unrelated note, Scott, I am very sorry to hear about your health issues. I hope you will be able to keep it at least under control. I have been very lucky with my health so far, but - as you said - things could change.
Joined: October 02 2005
Location: .
Status: Offline
Points: 46838
Posted: June 26 2020 at 13:55
BaldJean wrote:
rushfan4 wrote:
I've been fortunate to have health insurance from my employers my entire adult life and I have not had to deal with ACA. For most of my adult life, it was just something that I had but was fortunate enough to not have to use it. In all honesty, as micky said, it seemed like a waste of money.
Unfortunately, in the past year I have gotten a lifetime's worth of use out of it and am very fortunate to have it. On a personal note, I now have a very major preexisting condition, so could be seriously effected if I were to lose my job and that protection went away. It is definitely a broken system, but who knows what the best solution is. I'm kind of a "fan" of the hybrid system where employers still continue to provide health insurance for their employees, and where that is not available there is some sort of safety net to help others access affordable health insurance. I'm not as big of a fan of the health care for all but if someone far smarter than me can come along with a solution that doesn't involve me paying more in taxes than I am currently paying in health care and deductibles than sign me up.
I find it amazing how often native speakers confuse "effected" and "affected":
hah...I find it even more amazing how many fail to realize that those who are trained non-native speakers of a language are often better speakers than the natives. Something about being 'forced' .. necessity if you will to properly learn what native speakers who learn it informally.. and take the language for granted. 'It is our language.. we'll butcher the damned thing if we want'
I never really understood that myself until I met Raff
Edited by micky - June 26 2020 at 13:56
The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
Joined: October 02 2005
Location: .
Status: Offline
Points: 46838
Posted: June 26 2020 at 14:04
rushfan4 wrote:
I've been fortunate to have health insurance from my employers my entire adult life and I have not had to deal with ACA. For most of my adult life, it was just something that I had but was fortunate enough to not have to use it. In all honesty, as micky said, it seemed like a waste of money.
Unfortunately, in the past year I have gotten a lifetime's worth of use out of it and am very fortunate to have it. On a personal note, I now have a very major preexisting condition, so could be seriously effected if I were to lose my job and that protection went away. It is definitely a broken system, but who knows what the best solution is. I'm kind of a "fan" of the hybrid system where employers still continue to provide health insurance for their employees, and where that is not available there is some sort of safety net to help others access affordable health insurance. I'm not as big of a fan of the health care for all but if someone far smarter than me can come along with a solution that doesn't involve me paying more in taxes than I am currently paying in health care and deductibles than sign me up.
oh man.. sorry to hear about that Scott. Hopefully at least you got something for your money. I"m still living with whatever it was that put me into the ER a couple of years ago. Sank big money via deductibles.. and saw speciilists.. and got such a bullsh*t diagnosis that even my knuckledragging Buttwiper swilling.. HS educated coworkers said.. what.. that is crazy and complete bullsh*t.
so I said to myself and Raff (who did agree) ... not happning again. I'll live with it. Was a large reason why I semi retired last year and took a bullsh*t office job. I was too afarid of being in a high voltage gear and having another bout.. now that willl kill you..if you are lucky though the worse kind of death.. cooked from inside out, The unlucky only get disfigured or have limbs blown off.
and I would have a few bones to pick with your views on the health care system..
Taxes.. premiums/deductables? what is the difference... especially if one gets rid of the profiteers and middle men who not only accept and decline claims based on profitablity.. and of course feed the for profit health care system itself.
It is of course the boat everyone missed about Warren.. goddamn right taxes would go up.. but would be offset by not having to pay and insurance companies for a literal crapshoot in terms of access.. and quality of care.
Edited by micky - June 26 2020 at 14:08
The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
Joined: May 22 2007
Location: Michigan, U.S.
Status: Offline
Points: 66588
Posted: June 26 2020 at 18:03
BaldJean wrote:
rushfan4 wrote:
I've been fortunate to have health insurance from my employers my entire adult life and I have not had to deal with ACA. For most of my adult life, it was just something that I had but was fortunate enough to not have to use it. In all honesty, as micky said, it seemed like a waste of money.
Unfortunately, in the past year I have gotten a lifetime's worth of use out of it and am very fortunate to have it. On a personal note, I now have a very major preexisting condition, so could be seriously effected if I were to lose my job and that protection went away. It is definitely a broken system, but who knows what the best solution is. I'm kind of a "fan" of the hybrid system where employers still continue to provide health insurance for their employees, and where that is not available there is some sort of safety net to help others access affordable health insurance. I'm not as big of a fan of the health care for all but if someone far smarter than me can come along with a solution that doesn't involve me paying more in taxes than I am currently paying in health care and deductibles than sign me up.
I find it amazing how often native speakers confuse "effected" and "affected":
It’s been 30 years since my last Language class and that is one that has always tripped me up. If I were writing a thesis I would have made a better effort to write the correct word but being here I didn’t care enough to look it up.
Joined: November 02 2018
Location: OR
Status: Offline
Points: 6048
Posted: June 26 2020 at 18:31
I am in agreement with Micky that the type of plan that Elizabeth Warren proposed made a lot of sense and is hopefully in our future. I worked in HR (Payroll) for the 7 years until I retired last year, so I know a bit about the costs of varying health insurance plans in the workplace. I am lucky to not be too plagued with illnesses, just typical ones for my age, arthritis, high blood pressure at times (never until my husband died was this a problem). I pay almost $700 a month for a Cobra plan right now, primarily in case I get seriously ill. I am thankful that when my husband died, he was finally on Medicare with supplemental insurance due to his age, or it would have wiped me out financially, even though he only was under intensive treatment for three weeks, as until then he was covered under my "great" health plan. There is something terribly out of balance when people have to turn to Go-Fund-Me's for help with their medical care when they become seriously ill. A dear friend, only in her late 30's, died of brain cancer last year. She had to resort to asking friends for help in this way (actually, her sister did for her). In my mind, that is just criminal.
I am sorry to hear of your illness Scott, as you know, things can ramp up very quickly and unexpectedly. I am glad you have coverage and you're able to still work. Micky, I also understand your feelings about not wanting to go to the medical community for help, we faced that potential as well for a different reason (the possibility of having to face dialysis, which my husband would rather have died first, or so he said....this was not quite what got him, but he was sick of doctors before the pancreatic cancer came along).
Edited by Snicolette - June 26 2020 at 18:41
"Into every rain, a little life must fall." ~Tom Rapp
Joined: October 02 2005
Location: .
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Points: 46838
Posted: June 26 2020 at 20:01
that of course is exactly what drove the former Prof. Warren into politics.. seeing the economic forces that drive most Americans into bankruptcy. I've told my tale several times of what happened in my past life with Becks and how even with both of us having Insurance.. our part of the bill for her 2 weeks in Intensive Care would have likely put us into deep debt..if not bankruptcy if not for her family was rich old Virginia money and lent us the money to pay the 5 figure bill we owed. Saved her life they did.. but the process could have ended ours.
anyhow. will be interesting to see what the years to come do bring. An overhaul of our health care system seems inevitable to me. The post mortum on the Virus and our system will of course be scatching on Federal repsonse.. but also on our overall health care system. The virus and what has transpired here appears to have pushed even more into the Sanders/Warren camp on this issue. 75% approval rate for Medicaid for All. Shame for Warren those numbers weren't there a year earlier.
However the next President is going to have one helluva whooper to clean up after 45. So much to do... so little time.. or money. That debt that the Repubicans started saddling us with.. and the Virus response is likely to blow to 13 figure hell before all is said and done might have to take first priority.
and as has ready been written.. Wall Street.. and the .1%r's.. welcome to your greatest nightmare.
Secretary of the Treasury.. Elizabeth Warren.
That seems pretty locked and loaded by what I'm reading. What she did to the crooks over at Wells Fargo.. just a aperitif. All of us will likely to pay more in the post Virus recovery.. but some.. will get a 2x4 up the ass..and pay out the nose... and very few to any are going to shed any tears. LONG overdue that Wall Street...big corporations and the big banks were finally reigned in.
Edited by micky - June 26 2020 at 20:04
The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
Joined: October 02 2005
Location: .
Status: Offline
Points: 46838
Posted: June 26 2020 at 20:46
and out of today's news
and perhaps the first act of the 117th Congress.... a semi symbolic no brainier out of the gate with so many tough issues to deal with the post Trump/Virus wreckage the new President and Congress will have to deal with.
House re-passing..DC statehood.... and I'll go out on a limb.. immediately nuclear detonation in the Senate... and ending the 60 vote threshold. The Ghost of Merritt Garland.. ie Karma..for paying back Mitch in his own partisan power politics currency is a very real sentiment.. and almost immediately rears its head. Do think that might the first thing the new Congress passes. Payback will be hell for Mitch.. and 2 more blue Senate seats to pad their majority with an even better than 2020 outlook in 2022 with more blue state Republicans up for election...for further expanding a Democratic majority.
likely to be followed by Federal laws on voting rights.. ie... a national day off every two year for voting for national electins... plus I'd suspect some push back on voting restrictions Republicans have tried to place to keep down the vote...
The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
Joined: November 02 2018
Location: OR
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Points: 6048
Posted: June 26 2020 at 22:37
I sure hope so, Micky. We need equity. We need fairness. We need a country where everyone counts. Warren as Secretary of Treasury would be just the ticket. And yes to voting rights for all.
"Into every rain, a little life must fall." ~Tom Rapp
Joined: May 28 2005
Location: Germany
Status: Offline
Points: 10387
Posted: June 27 2020 at 04:32
the way Donald Trump speaks about "testing" is simply disgusting; he is completely off the mark. It is not about "higher numbers making us look bad", it is about finding people affected by the disease and isolating them so they can't spread it further. seeing the numbers merely as an indicator of his popularity is so very Trump and tells you everything you need to know about the man. he is a ruthless narcissist and completely void of empathy and compassion
A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta
Joined: May 28 2005
Location: Germany
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Points: 10387
Posted: June 27 2020 at 05:02
one more idiot video:
"we have free choice. we have the right to be stupid and spread a dangerous disease".
I wonder how these people would react if they were to be rescued from a fire or a flood: "I have free choice. it is my right to burn (drown) if I want to". the problem is of course one of immediacy. humans tend to regard everything that does not immediately affect them as secondary. "in the long run" just doesn't have the same appeal as "now", which is why topics like sustainable energy or climate change still are ignored by many
A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta
Joined: October 02 2005
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Points: 46838
Posted: June 27 2020 at 09:04
Snicolette wrote:
I sure hope so, Micky. We need equity. We need fairness. We need a country where everyone counts. Warren as Secretary of Treasury would be just the ticket. And yes to voting rights for all.
so do I.. a girl can dream at least. Still a ways off to the finish line but looking pretty good. To my eyes.. and it seems left unsaid by others.. minus a catastrophic turn of the cards.. the election looks pretty baked in. And even with a catistrohic event.. who is to say Trump doesn't sh*t all over it and make his position worse. He has shown no real political ability to take advantage of events and be a leader.. Presidential ..but only to polarize and divide.
There really is nothing Trump himself can do at this point.. even a 180 is far too little far too late. As I noted earlier the real problem he has for reelection predate what is going on now and that was losing women and the educated burbs. The most he can hope to do is keep it from being a landslide.. but that is where the possible revolt comes in IMO.
what was prior to 2020 a 50-50 proposition.. losing control of the Senate has flipped to a 80-20 losing prop. As I noted before look no further than Ernst in Iowa. pre Virus was ahead in the polls by comfortable if not large margin.... now since the Virus has trailed every one since the Senate decided taking care of big business and their bottom lines was more important than taking care of the real victims of this. Us.
breaking with Trump might save seats.. enough so to make control of the Senate more of a nail biter and as I noted.. losing the Senate would be catastrophic for them..DC and perhaps the PR get statehood..to say nothing of other Democratic priorities... for they will be shut out completely once Mitch gets nuked.and has as much say in the process as that idiot McCarthy does in the House.
However that break will have to happen soon or teh Senate gets baked in as much as the Presidential race appears to be heading to.
The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
Joined: October 28 2008
Location: Wales
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Points: 13795
Posted: June 28 2020 at 06:17
Interesting story in today’s Sunday Times regarding a rum bunch of loonies who call themselves the downright strange name of The Georgia Security Force Three Percenters.
Said chaps are stacking up on arms and ammo, and are prepared to call a “Lexington and Concord moment” in order to cause chaos and carnage in the event that Trumpalot gets beaten owing to a corrupt and rotten postal voting system which the President is apparently already blaming for potential defeat in November. By the way, they also apparently, extremely laughably, hail a Biden Presidency as the imposition of Marxism on the country. Have they never stayed awake for an entire speech of his?
In order to present a politically neutral position to this lunacy, my wife informs me just now of a series of posts she has seen on Facebook from some BLM spokesman in America calling for the smashing of all stained glass windows and statues in churches as the symbolism of white oppression of the masses.
I tell you, we are going through one of periodic attacks of mass barking lunacy as a human race, and I suppose we should be thankful that at least this time, we are not butchering each other by the gazillions as we did in the two world wars of the twentieth century.
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Joined: August 11 2007
Location: Memphis
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Posted: June 28 2020 at 06:46
Yes, the media loves its loonies, how else do you get attention. Meanwhile, here in this 50 to 50 mixed metropolitan area, trumpateers and African Americans live as neighbors, work together and co-exist with very few problems, but you will not see this in the news. Sad.
Help the victims of the russian invasion: http://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=28523&PID=130446&title=various-ways-you-can-help-ukraine#130446
Joined: October 28 2008
Location: Wales
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Points: 13795
Posted: June 28 2020 at 06:50
Easy Money wrote:
Yes, the media loves its loonies, how else do you get attention. Meanwhile, here in this 50 to 50 mixed metropolitan area, trumpateers and African Americans live as neighbors, work together and co-exist with very few problems, but you will not see this in the news. Sad.
You are quite right. In fact, the one thing stopping me from falling into despair at the state of things is the fact that there is a silent majority, unheard on the social and traditional media cacophony, who simply get on with their lives and get on with each other, regardless of race, colour, creed, or social background.
Enhance your life. Get down to www.lazland.org
Now also broadcasting on www.progzilla.com Every Saturday, 4.00 p.m. UK time!
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin
Joined: August 11 2007
Location: Memphis
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Points: 10679
Posted: June 28 2020 at 07:28
Yes, gotta love my trumpateer neighbor, one of the best neighbors I have ever had and she loves trump just as much as I don't. She does love to go on about the evils of "socialism", but recently she has been reluctant to go back to work because her unemployment pays better than her job. As she is telling me this I'm staring at her incredulously because I can remember a drunken rambling diatribe against socialism just a few days ago. I didn't say anything because she is a great neighbor and friend, but the irony ... the irony.
Help the victims of the russian invasion: http://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=28523&PID=130446&title=various-ways-you-can-help-ukraine#130446
Joined: February 24 2020
Location: Davutlar
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Points: 4506
Posted: June 28 2020 at 09:32
If I were American, I'd vote for any candidate but Trump. On the other hand, as a Turk it seems that I prefer Trump over Biden. I'm not following even my country's politics much, but Biden seems more potent and ruthless, and thus dangerous for the other parts of the world. Given the fact that American politics is affecting the rest of the world immensely, I'd rather be dealing with an unpredictable but incompetent Trump, than fighting the probable overwhelming evils of Biden. I'm not assertive that I'm sure of this, but I have the impression that the situation seems like this way for a guy living in Turkey.
BTW, I feel sorry for the Americans because they have to choose between the two. A similar thing happened here in our election where the system changed and we chose the president with direct public votes for the first time, years ago. All the 3 candidates were horrendous, but I still voted for one of the other candidates to get rid of Erdoğan.
Joined: April 21 2005
Location: Boston, MA
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Points: 16892
Posted: June 28 2020 at 09:54
Shadowyzard wrote:
If I were American, I'd vote for any candidate but Trump. On the other hand, as a Turk it seems that I prefer Trump over Biden. I'm not following even my country's politics much, but Biden seems more potent and ruthless, and thus dangerous for the other parts of the world. Given the fact that American politics is affecting the rest of the world immensely, I'd rather dealing with an unpredictable and incompetent Trump, than fighting the probable overwhelming evils of Biden. I'm not assertive that I'm sure of this, but I have the impression that the situation seems like this way for a guy living in Turkey.
BTW, I feel sorry for the Americans because they have to choose between the two. A similar thing happened here in our election where the system changed and we chose the president with direct public votes for the first time, years ago. All the 3 candidates were horrendous, but I still voted for one of the other candidates to get rid of Erdoğan.
Yeah, I feel the same. I was for Bernie in the primaries and now I'm torn between a neo-fascist and a corporate shill who likes wars.... So much for a choice....
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The American Politics Thread
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rushfan4 wrote:
so do I.. a girl can dream at least. Still a ways off to the finish line but looking pretty good. To my eyes.. and it seems left unsaid by others.. minus a catastrophic turn of the cards.. the election looks pretty baked in. And even with a catistrohic event.. who is to say Trump doesn't sh*t all over it and make his position worse. He has shown no real political ability to take advantage of events and be a leader.. Presidential ..but only to polarize and divide. 
