President Trump: The NEW one and only politics thread

See "dying in a ditch" quote above.

 

Yeah, yeah, yeah ... fuck all of y'all.

 

I use the term "Actual Death Panels" to distinguish them from the end of life counseling that the Republicans demonized as being "death panels".

 

We let 'em die in a ditch, as was the norm before the ACA.

 

You are correct. I phrased that inadequately. It's more like "Single payer or you have to understand that the shitty insurance you can afford makes you far more likely to have a bad outcome than people with money will."

It is simply the nature of medicine and the human body that some people are going to have far more complex and difficult problems than others. Decisions have to be made as to what will be fought hard and what will be given up on early as a bad allocation of funds, and those decisions will cost lives. There's a fine line between good financial sense and fighting for every life, and who decides where they are drawn is going to be incredibly important both to those lives and to the financial health of the nation.

 

And we bankrupted them. And we made followup regular care difficult and forced them to go to emergency rooms. I think those people are probably doing better under ACA than the old, haphazard system. So ACA has improved the lives of some of the most infirm in our society.

If in fact you believe health insurance is of marginal utility have you opted out of your employer's plan to save the employee contribution?

 

In most cases when both sides are mad at you, you've done a good job. In this case, I think Comey screwed up. He was like a ref listening to the coaches and calling makeup penalties.

 

Well, if you ever go to have a beer with him, don't bring your hot, frisky wife. He has a reputation.

 

You did ... I was light-heartedly swiping at the "die in a ditch" b.s. from others.

Think of it this way: It's imprecise ciphering, but if you assume those 500 would go into the pool of the formerly uninsured, and you assume that Alaska's pre-ACA uninsured rate mirrors that of the entire country, the rest of that pool -- every man, woman and child -- has to chip in an additional $500 annually to make things work. That's not $500 for insurance, that's insurance PLUS $500 ... per person. My family of five policy would, conceivably, need to cost about $2,500 a year more.

And this is the sort of all-or-nothing rhetorical ploy that irritates me. It's not that I don't think health insurance is a worthwhile thing, it's that I believe that a health care system in which EVERYTHING is run through health insurance is a bad approach. A system in which you file a claim when you get a flu shot is a fucked-up system. Rather than addressing that fundamental flaw, the ACA doubled down on it! Even today we see ACA ads talking about "free" preventative care! There may not be a co-pay, you may be getting yours heavily subsidized ... but it ain't free.

 

The chief reason I am a strong supporter of ACA is because of my health issues (and I have outstanding insurance).

In December 2012 I began to feel tired even if I walked a block. On New Year's Eve morning I woke up, went downstairs and felt tired. So I sat down and watched a replay of a football game. I felt very mild chest tightness. So I finished watching the game and then called my physician. He told me to come on by and I did. He talked to me for five minutes and sent me to an emergency room. Six hours later I came home with medication and atrial fibrillation. In the second half of 2013 I spent six months going to a doctor every two weeks as they tried to get my medication correct (I was feeling faint when I stood up). The cardiologist also sent me to a clinic where I found out I had sleep apenea and I now use a C-PAP They also decided to install a pacemaker as a precautionay measure i the medication drove my heart rate to low. During this period I never suffered a medical crisis. I never needed electric paddles, etc. I was just easily fatigued and wobbly when I stood up.

If I was covered under ACA I think I could receive similar treatment to what I did receive. Under the pre-ACA system I don't know how I would have afforded all the doctor's visits and the medication or the C-PAP. If I had a stroke or a heart attack then yes, I would have received treatment but I would not have decent preventive care until then.

What system do you think offers better health care?

 

Does anyone else know how many Americans are already in "government-run health care programs?"

 

If people are insured, they are more likely to go to a doctor and seek care, preventative treatment, etc. All of that is cheaper than going to the ER when things are bad.

If they aren't insured and go to the ER, someone is going to be on the hook for the tens of thousands of dollars in costs that the person is not going to be able to pay. And that's you when you get a $10 aspirin in the hospital.

I think some provisions of Obamacare are good efforts to move people in the right direction and make health care more affordable, but it's a big lift.