OP ED-"Little Timmy Wants to Know Why Nobody Likes Airplanes Anymore?

[Mooneymite]

Don't care about the rest of the world's healthcare. Do we have a Democracy? Yes. 

 

No!  Last time I checked we do NOT live in a democracy.

 

Ours is a republic.  Huge difference.  Rule by Law vs. Rule by Majority

 

"A Republic recognizes the inalienable rights of individuals while democracies are only concerned with group wants or needs (the public good)."

 

Unfortunately, we have elected very few wise individuals to serve in congress.  Instead, we seem to prefer career politicians and dogmatic shills.

 

Incidentally, much of the damage done to our republic is due to the concept of universal suffrage....something not envisioned by our founding fathers.

[flyboy0681]

 

 

Unfortunately, we have elected very few wise individuals to serve in congress.  Instead, we seem to prefer career politicians.

 

 

 

Funny how that works. I guess it's always the guy in the next state who overstayed his welcome in the Senate, not mine. How else could you explain it?

[Mooneymite]

 How else could you explain it?

 

Universal suffrage.

[AndyFromCB]

Universal suffrage.

 

Please elaborate. I want to see how deep we can dig this hole.

[John Pleisse]

Many people have preconceived notions and are unwavering in their position. To say that the French and English systems are somehow substandard without knowing anything about them, isn't being very objective.

 

Well this is a cesspool of political thought. The only difference between our annual cost per patient vs France or England is tort reform, birthing babies of illegals and reasonable regulation of insurers. Germany has already learned the perils of socialized medicine and they are now moving to non-profits. Have your hugged your trial lawyer today? This law will not resemble even a tenth of its original intent or author within 3 years.  This law is not about solving the problem, it is about fairness, equality and comparative life expectancy.......that's it. A feeble, ill-conceived attempt and fairness. It is an Arron Sorkin, West Wing, liberal wet dream. 

 

You know why the President is pushing immigration before the end of the year? A political maneuvering shit screen to bait the Republican Congress away from 5 million people being dumped into the exchanges. And guess what? The 5 million illegals the POTUS admits by E-O this year will be on Obamacare this time next year. It's Healthcare dummy.......Healthcare......... 

[Mooneymite]

Please elaborate. I want to see how deep we can dig this hole.

 

Well, let me turn the question on you:

 

If we want wise people to govern us, why should people who don't pay taxes, own property, or contribute to society's well being in some defineable way be encouraged to vote?

 

For example, we have someone on this board who apparently thinks that ours is a democracy...do you think he's a "good voter"?  

 

Are we digging, yet?  

[AndyFromCB]

Well this is a cesspool of political thought. The only difference between our annual cost per patient vs France or England is tort reform, birthing babies of illegals and reasonable regulation of insurers. Germany has already learned the perils of socialized medicine and they are now moving to non-profits. Have your hugged your trial lawyer today? This law will not resemble even a tenth of its original intent or author within 3 years.  This law is not about solving the problem, it is about fairness, equality and comparative life expectancy.......that's it. A feeble, ill-conceived attempt and fairness. It is an Arron Sorkin, West Wing, liberal wet dream. 

 

You know why the President is pushing immigration before the end of the year? A political maneuvering shit screen to bait the Republican Congress away from 5 million people being dumped into the exchanges. And guess what? The 5 million illegals the POTUS admits by E-O this year will be on Obamacare this time next year. It's Healthcare dummy.......Healthcare......... 

 

Hate to break it to you, but here I actually know what I'm taking about, being it's my business, insurance that is. Total cost of malpractice suits is 1 to 1.5% percent of healthcare spending, depending on the year. Tack on 20% for insurance company profits, and we're only talking about about $40 billion a year.

 

Birthing of the illegals does not up to that much either, as births are pretty straight forward and medicaid only reimburses somewhere around $2000 per regular delivery. Do you really think French have less illegals? Have you ever been to the ghettos of Paris? Overrun with northern Africans, in the country illegally. 

 

On the other hand, dumping $700 million of pills that do not do anything on VA, actually ads up to something:

 

"Just as Big Pharma has camped out in Medicare and Medicaid, living on our tax dollars while fleeing to England so it doesn’t have to pay taxes, Pharma has also camped out in the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs. Arguably, no drugs have been as good for Big Pharma as atypical antipsychotics within the military. In 2009, the Pentagon spent $8.6 million on Seroquel and VA spent $125.4 million—almost $30 million more than is spent on a F/A-18 Hornet.

Risperdal was even bigger in the military. Over a period of nine years, VA spent $717 million on its generic, risperidone, to treat PTSD in troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Yet not only was risperidone not approved for PTSD, it didn’t even work. A 2011 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found the drug worked no better than placebo and the money was totally wasted."

 

Same with Medicare Part D, which by law, brought to you by non-other than GWB, prohibits the feds from negotiating price discounts like insurance companies do.

 

And ACA is exactly what you described, a reasonable regulation of the insurers. Next we need reasonable regulation of hospital billing practices. The shit they are pulling right now with pricing varying up to 10x for same procedures and bringing in out of network "guest doctors" during surgeries has to stop. There is a clear collusion in major markets with the "guest surgeon" program between hospitals to pad some bills $100K to 200K for things such as simple knee operations. 

[AndyFromCB]

Well, let me turn the question on you:

 

If we want wise people to govern us, why should people who don't pay taxes, own property, or contribute to society's well being in some defineable way be encouraged to vote?

 

For example, we have someone on this board who apparently thinks that ours is a democracy...do you think he's a "good voter"?  

 

Are we digging, yet?  

 

You have to define "contribute". And here in lies to problem. As far as a corn farmer in Iowa is considered, we all contribute, cause we all eat. To the farmer, EBT swiped at HyVee, to buy some soda, trickling down is just as good as cash ;-) To me, same thing, farmer needs to insure that corn. To the good doc, the EBT carrying overweight poor sob, is just a future diabetes case. And the hamster wheels spins. And I think Scott is a fine voter. Bless his heart. I just don't see why he hates hamsters so much.

[Mooneymite]

You have to define "contribute".

 

 

Okay....pays at least a million dollars in taxes.  

 

Adjusted for inflation.

[flyboy0681]

 

Same with Medicare Part D, which by law, brought to you by non-other than GWB, prohibits the feds from negotiating price discounts like insurance companies do.

 

 

 

Which is what I was getting at when I asked Dave if there was any deception going on when the Medicare Prescription Drug legislation was being passed. The answer is yes, the public was deceived because we didn't know about the provision of not negotiating with Big Pharma over pricing until after it was to late. Then came the big deception, the true cost of the program. It was withheld until after Bush signed it. By all accounts it was the single largest addition to the welfare state after Medicare itself, which is northward of a trillion dollars over ten years (give or take).

 

I guess it was a case of where you have to pass it before you knew what was in it.

[AndyFromCB]

Okay....pays at least a million dollars in taxes.  

 

Adjusted for inflation.

 

But we already have that system in place. Paying a million a year in taxes puts you square in the 1% camp. Actually, 10% of 1%. Theirs are the only votes that count. 99% vote to elect players. 1% calls the shots.

 

For example, do you think for a second that the opposition to immigration reform in congress is anything but a ploy bought and brought by big ag business to prevent millions from having rights in the workplace? Even if elected 99 Joni Earnsts to Senate, not one more illegal will be deported or border more secure than it is now. Your individual thoughts on the subject do not matter, there is only one big paymaster on that issue, big ag, pretty easy to follow the money. President doesn't care cause big ag was never a major contributor to his team. But 5 million future reliable blue team voters are hard to pass by. 

[flyboy0681]

Wow, I find liberals amazingly trite. They enjoy...no, make that love to spend other producers money. I hate paying taxes. The majority of my taxes do go to overblown BS social programs.....so

Liberal-"If you hate the fraud, abuse and waste associated with the "social net" you are a hater.

I will wear that like a badge of honor as defined by all of you.

No. Just as easy to say as YES.

 

Question: are there any people in this country that are registered Republicans and who are living on public assistance (ie welfare, Medicaid, food stamps)?

 

Just curious because when I look at a political map of the country, most of the states are solid red, with blue highlighted around the fringes in places like CA, and the northeast. I'm just wondering if the 47% are entirely democrats.

[Mooneymite]

But we already have that system in place. Paying a million a year in taxes puts you square in the 1% camp. Actually, 10% of 1%. Theirs are the only votes that count. 99% vote to elect people. 1% tells the elected what to vote on and how.

 

Zactly!

 

That's what I was saying.  We live in a Republic.

 

If voting made any real difference, it would be illegal and only the crooks would do it.  

[jetdriven]

Wow, I find liberals amazingly trite. They enjoy...no, make that love to spend other producers money. I hate paying taxes. The majority of my taxes do go to overblown BS social programs.....so

Liberal-"If you hate the fraud, abuse and waste associated with the "social net" you are a hater.

I will wear that like a badge of honor as defined by all of you.

No. Just as easy to say as YES.

Actually the biggest share is the military-industrial complex which is bigger than all the next dozen or so countries combined. 27%

Next is health spending, mostly Medicare and Medicaid. Nah no old folks or Republican voters in the group 21%

Social security, unemployment, and labor. Military and other civil servants retirements . More "inner city" youths looking for a free handout. No Republican voters in these ranks. 12%

Welfare..... 6/10th of a percent.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/2013-taxreceipt

[flyboy0681]

Actually the biggest share is the military-industrial complex which is bigger than all the next dozen or so countries combined. 27%

Next is health spending, including Medicare. 21%

Social security, unemployment, and labor. 12%

Welfare..... 6/10th of a percent. Half what we spend on science, which is part of why awe think like we do.

Or don't.

 

Surely there must be some waste in the nearly trillion dollar a year defense budget. Nah, there's more to be saved by cutting welfare payments.

[AndyFromCB]

Wow, I find liberals amazingly trite. They enjoy...no, make that love to spend other producers money. I hate paying taxes. The majority of my taxes do go to overblown BS social programs.....so

Liberal-"If you hate the fraud, abuse and waste associated with the "social net" you are a hater.

I will wear that like a badge of honor as defined by all of you.

No. Just as easy to say as YES.

 

Joni didn't say no cashing my contribution check. And I bet you she'll have no problems voting YES on the next farm bill. She's a good Iowa girl and knows that saying Yes can lead to so much fun.

[flyboy0681]

Joni didn't say no cashing my contribution check. And I bet you she'll have no problems voting YES on the next farm bill. She's a good Iowa girl and knows that saying Yes can lead to so much fun.

 

I guess she has them by the balls.

[AndyFromCB]

Surely there must be some waste in the nearly trillion dollar a year defense budget. Nah, there's more to be saved by cutting welfare payments.

 

"defense", at least it used to be called "The Department of War", but then nobody likes war

[AndyFromCB]

Actually the biggest share is the military-industrial complex which is bigger than all the next dozen or so countries combined. 27%

Next is health spending, mostly Medicare and Medicaid. Nah no old folks or Republican voters in the group 21%

Social security, unemployment, and labor. Military and other civil servants retirements . More "inner city" youths looking for a free handout. No Republican voters in these ranks. 12%

Welfare..... 6/10th of a percent.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/2013-taxreceipt

 

Scott can ignore facts faster than you can type them. Just saying. That portion of his brain has reached maximum efficiency he so much yearns for years ago.

[flyboy0681]

Scott can ignore facts faster than you can type them. Just saying. That portion of his brain has reached maximum efficiency he so much yearns for years ago.

 

Hey, I plugged in the numbers for a family of four earning $80k and it says that John Q Public taxpayer is forking over $23.44 to pay for someones unemployment check and $75.53 for their housing (and $1,100 for defense). Damned moochers.

 

And according to this, their total federal tax liability excluding Social Security, is $4,341 which is 5% of their income. The way people talk around here you would think it would be somewhere along the lines of 45%.

[John Pleisse]

Hate to break it to you, but here I actually know what I'm taking about, being it's my business, insurance that is.

 

YES......SO DOES THIS ASSHAT:     

 

Total cost of malpractice suits is 1 to 1.5% percent of healthcare spending, depending on the year. Tack on 20% for insurance company profits, and we're only talking about about $40 billion a year.

 

YES, CONTRIVED BS. THIS NEVER ADDS UP.  MY NEIGHBOR, THE KNOW-IT-ALL, KNEE SURGEON ASSERTS THIS AND THEN I ASK HIM....OF HIS $3MIL GROSS, WHAT % IS PAID IN MALPRACTICE INSURANCE? HIS ANSWER WAS $400-$500K. THEN I ASK HIM IF HE IS A MEMBER OF THE TRIAL LAWYER'S ASSOCIATION. CRICKETS------THE ACA DOES NOT ADDRESS THIS IN ANY WAY.

 

Birthing of the illegals does not up to that much either, as births are pretty straight forward and medicaid only reimburses somewhere around $2000 per regular delivery. 

 

NO, THERE ARE OVER 300,000 PER YEAR AT A COST OF $30K EACH. 

 

 

FINALLY, THIS DROOL: 

 

 

On the other hand, dumping $700 million of pills that do not do anything on VA, actually ads up to something:

"Just as Big Pharma has camped out in Medicare and Medicaid, living on our tax dollars while fleeing to England so it doesn’t have to pay taxes, Pharma has also camped out in the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs. Arguably, no drugs have been as good for Big Pharma as atypical antipsychotics within the military. In 2009, the Pentagon spent $8.6 million on Seroquel and VA spent $125.4 million—almost $30 million more than is spent on a F/A-18 Hornet.

Risperdal was even bigger in the military. Over a period of nine years, VA spent $717 million on its generic, risperidone, to treat PTSD in troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Yet not only was risperidone not approved for PTSD, it didn’t even work. A 2011 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found the drug worked no better than placebo and the money was totally wasted."

Same with Medicare Part D, which by law, brought to you by non-other than GWB, prohibits the feds from negotiating price discounts like insurance companies do.

And ACA is exactly what you described, a reasonable regulation of the insurers. Next we need reasonable regulation of hospital billing practices. The shit they are pulling right now with pricing varying up to 10x for same procedures and bringing in out of network "guest doctors" during surgeries has to stop. There is a clear collusion in major markets with the "guest surgeon" program between hospitals to pad some bills $100K to 200K for things such as simple knee operations.

 

YOU'VE TAKEN A LONG, ROUNDABOUT JOURNEY THROUGH BIG PHARMA, THE VA, MEDICAID PART D, PHYSICIANS LYING, HOSPITALS OVER BILLING...BLAH....BLAH...BLAH AND YOU ARRIVED AT THE CRYSTAL CLEAR MISCONCEPTION THE ACA IS JUST SIMPLE INSURANCE REGULATION. IT IS NOT. IT IS A SHELL GAME. IT IS DESIGNED TO PROVIDE BETTER HEALTHCARE FOR THE SICK AND NEEDY, BY FORCING THE AFFLUENT TO PAY. THE MAJORITY OF THIS RUSE IS MANIFEST IN THE ASSUMPTION OF HIGHER DEDUCTIBLES. MOST PEOPLE ON GROUP INSURANCE AND CADILLAC PLANS HAVE GONE DECADES WITH THE NOTION OF A MAJOR HOSPITAL STAY COSTING ONLY A FEW HUNDRED DOLLARS. NOW, WELL ALL HAVE TO ASSUME AT LEAST $4K IN RISK, MOST PEOPLE AROUND $12K, NO MATTER WHAT PLAN YOU ENTER. THE ACA IS AN ACT OF GOVERNMENTAL COLLUSION TO FIX PREMIUMS. I AM SELF EMPLOYED IN A MAW-PAW GROUP PLAN WITH UNITED HEALTH CARE. MY WIFE AND I WERE JUST TOSSED TO THE EXCHANGES. THESE PLANS ARE NOW ILLEGAL UNDER THE ACA. BUT WHY? THEY AREN'T FAIR TO PEOPLE WHO DON'T KNOW HOW TO START OR RUN A SMALL BUSINESS. IT'S ABOUT FAIRNESS.

 

5 MILLION PEOPLE, OR QUITE POSSIBLY MORE WILL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO ENTER THE EXCHANGES, LITERALLY THIS MONTH. THEY WILL FIND THE PLANS TO BE SUBSTANDARD COMPARED TO THEIR COMPANY PAID PLANS. AGAIN, MOST PEOPLE BEING SCREWED WITH $14K DEDUCTIBLES.  IN THE STATE OF MARYLAND, THERE ARE ONLY THREE PROVIDER CHOICES. THIS WILL INFURIATE MILLIONS.  OH, ME? I MOVED TO THE SCREEN ACTOR'S GUILD PLAN........AS YOU KNOW, THE LAST BASTION OF CADILLAC PLANS ARE WITH UNIONS. PEOPLE WHO WORK FOR IBM GET TOSSED, UNION FAVORS ARE ALIVE AND WELL.

 

 

 

[jetdriven]

That can't be! I just saw on Fox News last night, half of Americans don't work and the other half have to pay their way. That guy in the White House is destroying this country. Megan Kelly's forehead didn't move one bit in a solid half hour. The eyebrows just a little. It was kinda creepy all that Botox

I was so depressed I had to go fill my car up with gas. $2.45/gal. Then I checked my mutual fund. Up 60% in the last two years.

It's terrible times I tell ya. I'm going flying.

[John Pleisse]

That can't be! I just saw on Fox News last night, half of Americans don't work and the other half have to pay their way. That guy in the White House is destroying this country. Megan Kelly's forehead didn't move one but in a solid half hour. It was kinda creepy all that Botox

I was so depressed I had to go fill my car up with gas. $2.45/gal. Then I checked my mutual fund. Up 60% in the last two years.

It's terrible times I tell ya.

 

 

The spigot is about to be turned off. Yes....all these great times with our gov printing mon.........uh I mean......"quantitative easing". Europe is already freaking out. Get ready for $10 for a gallon of milk.

[AndyFromCB]

Hey, I plugged in the numbers for a family of four earning $80k and it says that John Q Public taxpayer is forking over $23.44 to pay for someones unemployment check and $75.53 for their housing (and $1,100 for defense). Damned moochers.

 

And according to this, their total federal tax liability excluding Social Security, is $4,341 which is 5% of their income. The way people talk around here you would think it would be somewhere along the lines of 45%.

 

Actually, mine was 41% last year between federal, state and sales tax. Not counting various fees. Then $1400 a month for health insurance on top of that. Maybe I'm starting to see why people are revolting. At least in Europe you get something for you taxes, here it's mostly YouTube videos of predator strikes and homeless vets. But yes, most middle income people actually pay very little in taxes and their pain would be considerably greater than mine if tea party ideas were actually implemented. But yet they vote for them. It comes down to the issue of "fairness", because they don't think in terms percentages, so while they work their asses off trying to make ends meet, they see someone in the store using their $120 a month in EBT and think how unfair that is to them. That's the though process that drives them.

[AndyFromCB]

 

 

 

You're going to call me a bullshitter, ok, I'm going to call you a ignorant loudmouth who can't read:

 

http://www2.illinois.gov/hfs/SiteCollectionDocuments/birthcenter_feeschedule.pdf

 

Delivery services, $1,713.00, and yes, the hospital is still making money. Where is the 30K?

 

As to your comment about malpractice, is the insurance rate was truly16%, then there would be at least 600 billion of premium floating around. Total insurance premium for all lines, I repeat all lines (excluding health), in US, was $1.1 trillion in 2012. That's a fact, that's a report on my desk. 

 

As to ACA, I'm sorry, nobody is forcing you into an exchange. Call a broker. My personal plan, purchased thru a broker, runs me $1400 a month, same as it always has. Still same plan, still from BCBS, still expensive as hell, still $1500 deductible, $3000 co-pay. ACA didn't change anything for self-employed who had adequate coverage prior to ACA. What you had was a substandard plan that would have put your potentially expensive medical event on tax payer's back once you run out of your $500K lifetime limit. Now you're paying the true cost of you being alive and not dumping most of your risk on the the government like you did previously.

 

And clearly, even when presented with all the information needed to realize where to lay the blame, with the person standing right in front of you, you choose not to use that big organ between your earns, you chose to blame everyone but the surgeon who grosses $3 million a year. Well, now you know why your premiums are so expensive. He makes $3 million a year.

 

Now you know why we think you're all so dumb. Well, because you are, because you can only connect two dots and never seethe big picture. And it drives us crazy. It's not a liberal vs conservative. It's stupid vs smart. I know why my premiums are expensive. It's because my surgeon neighbor two houses down has a Porsche 911 Turbo, actually, a 34 Porsche collection.

 

Just for once admit, that you don't know the facts, you don't care about the facts and you just like to repeat Fox news drivel: