Obamacare is a mess

dignin · July 2017

jeffbr said:

dignin said:

What McCain did was hard. What Murkowski and Collins did was much harder.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/28/16055132/murkowski-collins-mccain?utm_campaign=vox.social&utm_medium=social&utm_content=ezraklein&utm_source=facebook

I agree. Those two have been steadfast in standing in opposition to their party and trying to do the right thing for their constituents. And both have been threatened by fat, white Republicans from the south. What is it with these doughy hillbillies that they feel the need to challenge these strong northern women? Is it still a mason-dixon line thing? Or a bible-belt thing? Blake Farenthold threatens Collins with a duel. Buddy Carter wants to snatch a knot in their ass (whatever the fuck that hillbilly colloquialism translates to in English).

Haha

gimmesometruth27 · July 2017

dignin said:

McCain grew a spine, I'm happily surprised.

i'm astounded. he bucked the party. for now.

gimmesometruth27 · July 2017

Jason P said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCbUEamXaQs

from out of nowhere!!!!!

gimmesometruth27 · July 2017

i gotta admit, i was following along on twitter last night and several reporters in the press pool tweeted that they ran into mccain when he was making his way out of an elevator and into the hallway to the chamber. he was asked if he had made his decision on the bill. he said that he had. he was asked which way he will go. he replied and said "wait for the show."

i was fucking fuming because i thought he was making a joke out of the situation. i am glad that he temporarily restored my faith in him.

g under p · July 2017

gimmesometruth27 said:

i gotta admit, i was following along on twitter last night and several reporters in the press pool tweeted that they ran into mccain when he was making his way out of an elevator and into the hallway to the chamber. he was asked if he had made his decision on the bill. he said that he had. he was asked which way he will go. he replied and said "wait for the show."

i was fucking fuming because i thought he was making a joke out of the situation. i am glad that he temporarily restored my faith in him.

After seeing the show it was if he dropped the Mic then gave McConnell a stare down "take that" then walked off. Well played JM.

Peace

gimmesometruth27 · July 2017

g under p said:

gimmesometruth27 said:

i gotta admit, i was following along on twitter last night and several reporters in the press pool tweeted that they ran into mccain when he was making his way out of an elevator and into the hallway to the chamber. he was asked if he had made his decision on the bill. he said that he had. he was asked which way he will go. he replied and said "wait for the show."

i was fucking fuming because i thought he was making a joke out of the situation. i am glad that he temporarily restored my faith in him.

After seeing the show it was if he dropped the Mic then gave McConnell a stare down "take that" then walked off. Well played JM.

Peace

it was like something out of professional wrestling, haha

HesCalledDyer · July 2017

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/891629713143320576

RiotZact · July 2017

This thread title always cracks me the fuck up.

PJ_Soul · August 2017

g under p said:

gimmesometruth27 said:

i gotta admit, i was following along on twitter last night and several reporters in the press pool tweeted that they ran into mccain when he was making his way out of an elevator and into the hallway to the chamber. he was asked if he had made his decision on the bill. he said that he had. he was asked which way he will go. he replied and said "wait for the show."

i was fucking fuming because i thought he was making a joke out of the situation. i am glad that he temporarily restored my faith in him.

After seeing the show it was if he dropped the Mic then gave McConnell a stare down "take that" then walked off. Well played JM.

Peace

Nothing like a terminal illness to make a man drop the bullshit and just go with what he actually thinks is right.... Is that distasteful? Perhaps. But it's true. McCain really wouldn't have to feel like he has to butter anyone up or grease any wheels at this point in his life, since he can no longer get any farther up the ladder than he already is. This perhaps is what finally lead him to do something like this.

mace1229 · August 2017

I've mentioned before I don't think Obamacare is the root of the problem. Its the insurance and hospitals that ridiculously overcharge for their services, and that Obamacare does nothing to fix that.
Here's my example, just got the bill from when our 7-month old spent 4 nights in the hospital.
I looked at the itemized bill and it was..
$1500 for each blood test they did testing for RSV, which were done in house and results were given in an hour (they did several)
$750 a day for oxygen (x 4 days). I know I can rent a portable tank for about $20 a day.
$2200/day for the hospital bed itself, which included nothing else
Total hospital bill came to about $19,000.
That did not include some of the tests or ANY of the doctor visits. Doctors billed separately. Aside from the initial visit which took about 45 minutes, the doctor came by once a morning for about 5 minutes, and billed us $250 a day (4 days = $1000).
A few other labs were bills seperately that totaled a few thousand too.

Luckily insurance covered most of the cost. But why does a doctor charge $250 for a less than 5 minute visit, for 4 days? Why does in house blood work work cost $1500?

I'm a firm believer that the actual cost should be closer to about $5,000. And if insurance premiums werent $1800/month I could actually afford a $5000 hospital bill that came once a year.

$750 a day for oxygen is asinine. The government has stepped in when companies price gouged consumers, I think that would be far more effective than to require over-priced insurance.

Halifax2TheMax · August 2017

mace1229 said:

I've mentioned before I don't think Obamacare is the root of the problem. Its the insurance and hospitals that ridiculously overcharge for their services, and that Obamacare does nothing to fix that.
Here's my example, just got the bill from when our 7-month old spent 4 nights in the hospital.
I looked at the itemized bill and it was..
$1500 for each blood test they did testing for RSV, which were done in house and results were given in an hour (they did several)
$750 a day for oxygen (x 4 days). I know I can rent a portable tank for about $20 a day.
$2200/day for the hospital bed itself, which included nothing else
Total hospital bill came to about $19,000.
That did not include some of the tests or ANY of the doctor visits. Doctors billed separately. Aside from the initial visit which took about 45 minutes, the doctor came by once a morning for about 5 minutes, and billed us $250 a day (4 days = $1000).
A few other labs were bills seperately that totaled a few thousand too.

Luckily insurance covered most of the cost. But why does a doctor charge $250 for a less than 5 minute visit, for 4 days? Why does in house blood work work cost $1500?

I'm a firm believer that the actual cost should be closer to about $5,000. And if insurance premiums werent $1800/month I could actually afford a $5000 hospital bill that came once a year.

$750 a day for oxygen is asinine. The government has stepped in when companies price gouged consumers, I think that would be far more effective than to require over-priced insurance.

You're paying for all the people who use the hospital that don't have insurance or can't pay their bills. Hope your toddler is okay. Nothing worse than taking kids to the hospital.

Go Beavers · August 2017

Halifax2TheMax said:

mace1229 said:

I've mentioned before I don't think Obamacare is the root of the problem. Its the insurance and hospitals that ridiculously overcharge for their services, and that Obamacare does nothing to fix that.
Here's my example, just got the bill from when our 7-month old spent 4 nights in the hospital.
I looked at the itemized bill and it was..
$1500 for each blood test they did testing for RSV, which were done in house and results were given in an hour (they did several)
$750 a day for oxygen (x 4 days). I know I can rent a portable tank for about $20 a day.
$2200/day for the hospital bed itself, which included nothing else
Total hospital bill came to about $19,000.
That did not include some of the tests or ANY of the doctor visits. Doctors billed separately. Aside from the initial visit which took about 45 minutes, the doctor came by once a morning for about 5 minutes, and billed us $250 a day (4 days = $1000).
A few other labs were bills seperately that totaled a few thousand too.

Luckily insurance covered most of the cost. But why does a doctor charge $250 for a less than 5 minute visit, for 4 days? Why does in house blood work work cost $1500?

I'm a firm believer that the actual cost should be closer to about $5,000. And if insurance premiums werent $1800/month I could actually afford a $5000 hospital bill that came once a year.

$750 a day for oxygen is asinine. The government has stepped in when companies price gouged consumers, I think that would be far more effective than to require over-priced insurance.

You're paying for all the people who use the hospital that don't have insurance or can't pay their bills. Hope your toddler is okay. Nothing worse than taking kids to the hospital.

Not really, but as long as we continue to place blame on the patient end, hospitals and insurance companies will keep taking us for a ride.

benjs · August 2017

Halifax2TheMax said:

mace1229 said:

I've mentioned before I don't think Obamacare is the root of the problem. Its the insurance and hospitals that ridiculously overcharge for their services, and that Obamacare does nothing to fix that.
Here's my example, just got the bill from when our 7-month old spent 4 nights in the hospital.
I looked at the itemized bill and it was..
$1500 for each blood test they did testing for RSV, which were done in house and results were given in an hour (they did several)
$750 a day for oxygen (x 4 days). I know I can rent a portable tank for about $20 a day.
$2200/day for the hospital bed itself, which included nothing else
Total hospital bill came to about $19,000.
That did not include some of the tests or ANY of the doctor visits. Doctors billed separately. Aside from the initial visit which took about 45 minutes, the doctor came by once a morning for about 5 minutes, and billed us $250 a day (4 days = $1000).
A few other labs were bills seperately that totaled a few thousand too.

Luckily insurance covered most of the cost. But why does a doctor charge $250 for a less than 5 minute visit, for 4 days? Why does in house blood work work cost $1500?

I'm a firm believer that the actual cost should be closer to about $5,000. And if insurance premiums werent $1800/month I could actually afford a $5000 hospital bill that came once a year.

$750 a day for oxygen is asinine. The government has stepped in when companies price gouged consumers, I think that would be far more effective than to require over-priced insurance.

You're paying for all the people who use the hospital that don't have insurance or can't pay their bills. Hope your toddler is okay. Nothing worse than taking kids to the hospital.

You're also paying for the paradoxical nature of America's democrapitalist society - because of the free market, cost centres are permitted to charge what they'd like: medications, medical technology, medical professionals get to decide what the market rates are, and what costs to pass on. Because barriers to entry are substantial, near-monopolies exist, and raising prices to become nearly-unattainable becomes the optimal business (not moral) case.

Insurance companies come along for the ride, offering substantial savings over the out-of-pocket expenses which are only ludicrous instead of bat-shit crazy, and as the system responds to inflating cost centres with inflating price tags, so to does the insurance company (and they can still rightly claim substantial savings for customers typically over the out-of-pocket alternative).

It seems to me that, save for the government being responsible for end-to-end medical coverage including owning all or most substantial cost centres, this is an impossible situation. Canada's situation today is suboptimal too, and by necessity we keep partaking in public-private partnerships which tend to add costs and decrease service levels.

CM189191 · August 2017

mace1229 said:

I've mentioned before I don't think Obamacare is the root of the problem. Its the insurance and hospitals that ridiculously overcharge for their services, and that Obamacare does nothing to fix that.
Here's my example, just got the bill from when our 7-month old spent 4 nights in the hospital.
I looked at the itemized bill and it was..
$1500 for each blood test they did testing for RSV, which were done in house and results were given in an hour (they did several)
$750 a day for oxygen (x 4 days). I know I can rent a portable tank for about $20 a day.
$2200/day for the hospital bed itself, which included nothing else
Total hospital bill came to about $19,000.
That did not include some of the tests or ANY of the doctor visits. Doctors billed separately. Aside from the initial visit which took about 45 minutes, the doctor came by once a morning for about 5 minutes, and billed us $250 a day (4 days = $1000).
A few other labs were bills seperately that totaled a few thousand too.

Luckily insurance covered most of the cost. But why does a doctor charge $250 for a less than 5 minute visit, for 4 days? Why does in house blood work work cost $1500?

I'm a firm believer that the actual cost should be closer to about $5,000. And if insurance premiums werent $1800/month I could actually afford a $5000 hospital bill that came once a year.

$750 a day for oxygen is asinine. The government has stepped in when companies price gouged consumers, I think that would be far more effective than to require over-priced insurance.

curious: How much did your insurance knock the $19,000 bill down to?

mace1229 · August 2017

Dont remember the exact amount, but it was roughly about 75% of the original bill is what they knocked it down to, of which about 6 months of premiums will cover it. My copay was about $1200 (for just the hospital portion, not even the doctor).
So basically the hospital says its a 20k bill, but since I am insured they will only bill my insurance 15k.
I still think $1500 for each blood work that takes 30 minutes and $750 a day for oxygen is asinine.

As far as previous comments, uninsured are always blamed, but with far fewer uninsured the rates have only gone up.
I think "You're also paying for the paradoxical nature of America's democrapitalist society - because of the free market, cost centres are permitted to charge what they'd like" nailed it....but with bigger words than I would use.

Drug companies charge outrageous amounts because they know they have about 10 years before the generics pop up, so they charge a small (or sometimes big) fortune while they can. I know there is years of costly research that goes into development, but we need to remember hospitals, pharma's, and everyone involved in the health industry is a for profit business that profits the more we get sick.

Humira shouldn't cost $3,000 to fill a prescription if you don't have insurance, which it does by the way. We'll see that drop to 1/10 that in a few years.

HesCalledDyer · August 2017

Halifax2TheMax said:

mace1229 said:

I've mentioned before I don't think Obamacare is the root of the problem. Its the insurance and hospitals that ridiculously overcharge for their services, and that Obamacare does nothing to fix that.
Here's my example, just got the bill from when our 7-month old spent 4 nights in the hospital.
I looked at the itemized bill and it was..
$1500 for each blood test they did testing for RSV, which were done in house and results were given in an hour (they did several)
$750 a day for oxygen (x 4 days). I know I can rent a portable tank for about $20 a day.
$2200/day for the hospital bed itself, which included nothing else
Total hospital bill came to about $19,000.
That did not include some of the tests or ANY of the doctor visits. Doctors billed separately. Aside from the initial visit which took about 45 minutes, the doctor came by once a morning for about 5 minutes, and billed us $250 a day (4 days = $1000).
A few other labs were bills seperately that totaled a few thousand too.

Luckily insurance covered most of the cost. But why does a doctor charge $250 for a less than 5 minute visit, for 4 days? Why does in house blood work work cost $1500?

I'm a firm believer that the actual cost should be closer to about $5,000. And if insurance premiums werent $1800/month I could actually afford a $5000 hospital bill that came once a year.

$750 a day for oxygen is asinine. The government has stepped in when companies price gouged consumers, I think that would be far more effective than to require over-priced insurance.

You're paying for all the people who use the hospital that don't have insurance or can't pay their bills. Hope your toddler is okay. Nothing worse than taking kids to the hospital.

Here is who you're paying for:

http://www.fiercepharma.com/special-report/top-20-highest-paid-biopharma-ceos

stuckinline · September 2017

Washington (CNN)When Iowa reporters asked Sen. Chuck Grassley on Wednesday about the attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare, his answer was remarkable and revealing.

"You know, I could maybe give you 10 reasons why this bill shouldn't be considered," the Iowa Republican said. "But Republicans campaigned on this so often that you have a responsibility to carry out what you said in the campaign. That's pretty much as much of a reason as the substance of the bill."

HughFreakingDillon · September 2017

honest? yes. disgusting? absolutely. the responsibility is not to just carry out your promise, it's to do it right, idiot.

benjs · September 2017

stuckinline said:

Washington (CNN)When Iowa reporters asked Sen. Chuck Grassley on Wednesday about the attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare, his answer was remarkable and revealing.
"You know, I could maybe give you 10 reasons why this bill shouldn't be considered," the Iowa Republican said. "But Republicans campaigned on this so often that you have a responsibility to carry out what you said in the campaign. That's pretty much as much of a reason as the substance of the bill."

I thought the promise was to repeal and replace with something better - not just to repeal and replace. This political landscape is ludicrous.

Halifax2TheMax · September 2017

benjs said:

stuckinline said:

Washington (CNN)When Iowa reporters asked Sen. Chuck Grassley on Wednesday about the attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare, his answer was remarkable and revealing.
"You know, I could maybe give you 10 reasons why this bill shouldn't be considered," the Iowa Republican said. "But Republicans campaigned on this so often that you have a responsibility to carry out what you said in the campaign. That's pretty much as much of a reason as the substance of the bill."

I thought the promise was to repeal and replace with something better - not just to repeal and replace. This political landscape is ludicrous.

The republicans know their base isn't educated enough to hold them accountable. All they'll hear is that Obamacare has been repealed while completely forgetting about "replace" and "better."

Obamacare is a mess

Comments

What McCain did was hard. What Murkowski and Collins did was much harder.

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