Slashdot Mirror


Rural Americans At Higher Risk From Five Leading Causes of Death: CDC (cbsnews.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CBS News: Americans living in rural areas are more likely to die from five leading causes of death than people living in urban areas, according to a new government report. Many of these deaths are preventable, officials say, with causes including heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries, stroke, and chronic lower respiratory disease. Approximately 46 million Americans -- about 15 percent of the U.S. population -- currently live in rural areas. According to the CDC report, several demographic, environmental, economic, and social factors might put rural residents at higher risk of death from these conditions. Rural residents in the U.S., for example, tend to be older and sicker than their urban counterparts, and have higher rates of cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, and obesity. People living in rural areas also report less leisure-time physical activity and lower seatbelt use than their those living in urban areas and have higher rates of poverty, less access to health care, and are less likely to have health insurance. Specifically, the report found that in 2014, deaths among rural Americans included: 25,000 from heart disease; 19,000 from cancer; 12,000 from unintentional injuries; 11,000 from chronic lower respiratory disease; 4,000 from stroke. The percentages of deaths that were potentially preventable were higher in rural areas than in urban areas, the authors report. For the study, the researchers analyzed numbers from a national database. The CDC suggests to help close the gap, health care providers in rural areas can: Screen patients for high blood pressure; Increase cancer prevention and early detection; Encourage physical activity and healthy eating; Promote smoking cessation; Promote motor vehicle safety; Engage in safer prescribing of opioids for pain.

375 comments

  1. Conclusion: by Snufu · · Score: 1, Funny

    Escape rural American lifestyle as soon as you can.

    1. Re:Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      No thanks, I love rural life. I don't smoke, I don't drink and I'm in shape (run 20-30 miles per week) and I'm a vegetarian. I have a 6-figure paying job as a RPh. I grow my own food and I have a few horses. I restore classic tractors as a hobby.

      Unfortunately many of the people around me are overweight and drink too much. Not much I can do about that, but I'm it has nothing to do with being rural. It has to do with family and mindset.

    2. Re:Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Let's see - I have gigabit internet, satellite TV, 4G cell service, acres of land and a house that would cost you millions, and no traffic or crime in this rural American lifestyle as you call it.

      I actually know my neighbors, the mayor of the town, the sheriff, and I participate in my community. My kids go to decent schools with normal people and not the psychotics that live in major cities. Despite the article above we have good health care and actually know our doctors who even make house calls. We grow a lot of our own food and have easy access to hunting. When the shit hits the fan you will be starving.

      So no thanks. Keep your city lifestyle.

    3. Re:Conclusion: by ColdWetDog · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Nope. Ain't gonna go. I suspect there are a number of different reasons - it's usually complicated.

      - Poverty or at least fewer jobs without insurance. Remember folks, most non Medicare / Medicaid insurances in our Glorious Country are based on having a job with a largish employer. Small businesses - which tend to abound in places without lots of people - are famous for not carrying insurance for their employees.
      - Aging population. In my little rural town, the average age is older than Miami in the winter time. If it wasn't for the Coast Guard base and the schools we would have damned few kids in town (teachers tend to be younger with kids).
      - Poorer access to specialty care. As you age, you start to need the services of various -ologists. Which often means traveling to the Big City. Which often doesn't happen. Quite frequently, it is a conscious decision not to partake of the smorgasbord of potential medical treatments but finances and distance do play a part.
      - I'm not sure that lifestyle always plays a part. Here in Alaska we actually have a somewhat lower rate of obesity than in other states, but growing up in the South I was always struck with how many sedentary people spent their lives eating fried everything and smoking. Not too many vegans out here in the bush.
      - Education. Doesn't always correlate with health (or happiness) but trying to work your way around the mine field of recommendations these days takes at least an interest in doing so. Again, this is going to vary from place to place but access to above high school education isn't a given in a rural area (see also, poverty).

      I'm sure there are other bits to this. It's very likely Bush's fault.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    4. Re:Conclusion: by xevioso · · Score: 0, Troll

      You are more likely to have that mindset if you are rural, though. There's lots of benefits to living a rural lifestyle, but for me the main one is the lack of interaction you will have with a diverse group of people. You aren't likely to understand the issues faced by an inner city black male if you can't talk to them, for example. Your worldview can easily become myopic and lead you to do stupid things like vote for Trump.

    5. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Just wait until you have to actually foot the bill for the services you use, mooch.

      The urban centers provide the tax dollars to make your life possible. Roads, electricity, telephone lines, etc are mandated by the government and without that you'd have nothing.

    6. Re:Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Pretty much. That is where more poor, uneducated people live and this is the lifestyle most of them choose. I've seen the same poor people in urban areas, though not at many, and they live the same lifestyle. It has little to do with where you live, but where you are at on the social, economic and educational rungs of life.

      The one part of a rural lifestyle is the death on the road as well as other accidents (farm related, etc). If you're on the road, you're usually driving 55+ and in rural America most roads are just 2 lane roads with no divider. Head on collision almost always guarantees a death. Every car accident in the town I grew up in meant someone we knew died, 100% of the time. Fortunately there are fewer people and fewer accidents. In the 18 years I lived in my home town there were 3 or 4 major accidents that impacted the people there. Where I live now, there are easily 3-4 accidents a week just on the streets and roads I drive on. Though they rarely result in death and are just minor fender benders.

    7. Re:Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      How many negroes you own?

    8. Re: Conclusion: by bistromath007 · · Score: 0, Troll

      And what would you have without farms, you urbanite scum?

    9. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

      Out where I'm at I have solar, geothermal, and hydro power. Comcast and cellular networks for internet. Well water and septic. We can grow a bit of food, raise chickens and keep bees and fish in the pond and nearby streams, hunt on the land. The county doesn't plow our road but our 4WDs haven't let us down yet. And its DARK and QUIET at night, my insomnia disappeared almost immediately. I lived in cities and suburbs until a few years ago, never without a bright as hell street light within 100 yards of my bedroom window and road noise or screaming and shots fired in the area. I wouldn't trade the peace and quiet here for a city ever again.

    10. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      You have no idea how any of that works.

      Rural people pay taxes too. Those taxes pay for the infrastructure out there, roads, services, etc. People in far out rural areas know what they are in for if they need a hospital and know that it will take them 30-60 minutes or more to get to those services. Also, without rural industry, well you'd 1) starve 2) have no building materials 3) have no clothes 4) have no materials to make anything else with so you'd be without a car, technology and everything else you own. Everything you have is derived from rural areas, everything.

    11. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Also, without rural industry, well you'd 1) starve 2) have no building materials 3) have no clothes 4) have no materials to make anything else with so you'd be without a car, technology and everything else you own. Everything you have is derived from rural areas, everything.

      It's a global economy. My car doesn't come from a rural American area, neither do my clothes, neither do my shoes, or my phone, TV, appliances, literature, movies, art, music, and especially not my science.

      So there's that.

    12. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where I'm from (IL), state taxes are quite high, and the government funnels money towards Chicago. People in the rural end up subsidizing the lifestyle of people in the urban areas (or the suburbs--the north west quarter of the state all kinda blurs together).

      With the exception of the interstate highway system (which exists to ship things between cities--specifically tanks, in the event that a war breaks out), the rural areas don't see a lot of state or federal money spent on services that are used locally. Things are mostly funded at the county level, so there isn't really anyone to "mooch" off of.

      Could be different in other states.

    13. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, rural Americans are older, and die of preventable medical conditions more often. The conclusion could be that cities are dangerous, and you are more liable to be killed there at a younger age.

    14. Re:Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's nice that you've found a place in the world that you like.

      I live about 45 minutes south of LAX in Los Angeles and I'm pretty sure that I live in a better school district - with at least even odds that there's less crime (per capita) where I live, too. Obviously there is world class healthcare available in Los Angeles if one happens to need it. I also have an ocean view from my apartment. And, while traffic in other parts of Los Angeles is crazy, where I live the traffic isn't bad at all.

      Of the things that you list that I don't have, I'm generally not interested. I have no use for acres of land or a big house - or knowing the mayor or the sheriff. I'm not interested in hunting or even farming. Instead, I'm a software engineer in the field of clinical/personal genomics. Being part of one of the biggest revolutions in the history of medicine is what gives my life that extra bit of meaning and pizzazz. :)

      TL;DR It's nice that we've both found places to live that we like.

    15. Re:Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah i live pretty much same lifestyle as you. The article is pretty much bullshit. Its about the election they still can't get over.

    16. Re:Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      MY HEALTH CARE IS YUUUGE

    17. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I think the point is that the food is actually paid for by those consuming it, which is not the case with the items the government is providing for rural areas. Farmers need people to sell food to but urban areas are effectively giving away money for roads and such.

    18. Re:Conclusion: by MBGMorden · · Score: 1

      access to above high school education isn't a given in a rural area

      Poverty aside, the most people who attend a traditional college live on campus anyways. I grew up in a VERY rural area (the nearest gas station was 15 miles away - don't drive home if you're close to empty) and was actually from a poor family but when it came time for college I took out loans and lived on campus.

      When I was done I ended up moving back to the general area (I live in a small town of about 8,000 people now, but it's within 20 miles of where I grew up). Having had a taste of more urban life in college I decided that I wanted to live somewhere a little more developed (ie, there's still stores and restaurants and such here), but still in the same general location. I've got broadband and the cost of living is low (my house payment is right at $700/month). There's hunting land close and within 15 minutes I can have my boat on salt or fresh water so the fishing is great.

      I don't fault anyone for wanting to live in a bigger city, but I'm perfectly happy where I'm at.

      --
      "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
    19. Re: Conclusion: by MBGMorden · · Score: 1

      It kinda reminded me of a funny scene I saw once. There was a healthy restaurant (it was a non-chain place - can't remember the name but they served a lot of vegetarian dishes and almost nothing fried). Next to it was a Captain D's.

      Despite the fact that one was supposed to be good for you and one was supposed to kill you, everyone at the Captain D's was 65+ and it seemed like it was almost all 20-somethings going into the health food place.

      I'm not saying it's not bad for you, but those old people still got up there eating that unhealthy stuff. Heck my grandfather made it to his late 70's and I don't think he knew you could cook meat any way other than frying it.

      --
      "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
    20. Re:Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...many of the people around me are overweight and drink too much....

      Good for business, though. :-)

    21. Re:Conclusion: by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      We grow a lot of our own food

      City folks steal a lot of their own food.

      and have easy access to hunting.

      City folks also do a lot of hunting . . . of each other. And you'll probably not want to eat what they bring back strapped to the hoods of their cars. No cute and cuddly Bambi stew. Instead you get Crip cocktail, creame of Blood soup and Traveling Vice Lord, lettuce and tomato sandwiches.

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    22. Re: Conclusion: by Hylandr · · Score: 0

      Just wait until you have to actually foot the bill for the services you use,

      They provide your fuel, your food, your electricity, and transport it to your city. Foot the bill? They make everything you consume. They don't *have* to do shit for you. No matter how much you pay.

      Yet here you are sitting all high and mighty pretending your college degree in liberal arts or gender studies is worth more than being a master in agriculture, animal husbandry, ( raising livestock ) and providing for the sustenance of a nation which takes much more useful knowledge than being a professional privilege checker.

      I would love to see all the rural inhabitants refuse to sell or transport anything to the cities. Let's see who 'foots the bill' then.

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    23. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They provide your fuel, your food, your electricity, and transport it to your city. Foot the bill? They make everything you consume. They don't *have* to do shit for you. No matter how much you pay.

      Yet here you are sitting all high and mighty pretending your college degree in liberal arts or gender studies is worth more than being a master in agriculture, animal husbandry, ( raising livestock ) and providing for the sustenance of a nation which takes much more useful knowledge than being a professional privilege checker.

      I would love to see all the rural inhabitants refuse to sell or transport anything to the cities. Let's see who 'foots the bill' then.

      It's hard to take you seriously when you believe that a mythical "they" don't have to do shit for us. Keep in mind that without the inflow of dollars they are just hicks with too much produce.

    24. Re:Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Christ, this shit is ridiculous. You spend a lot of time talking to inner city black men? Unless you're working at a jail, I think probably not. They're not a nice group of people, generally. If they were, they'd be living somewhere else. At least half the people I work with are black (yes, really, live in the south), and they'll be the first to bring up dumbasses from the hood.

    25. Re: Conclusion: by tempo36 · · Score: 5, Informative

      There are actual budget studies that look at this. Yes you pay taxes. No you do not pay as much in taxes as you receive in assistance. This is routinely shown county by county across a broad range of states.

      Rural America is a net consumer of tax dollars. Cities are net donors.

      For instance, out here in Washington we have a classic set up. Seattle and "the West" vs "the East". The "reviled urbanite scum" are throwing tax dollars hand over fist at rural citizens of Eastern Washington.

      "In the 2007 fiscal year, King County contributed just over $6 billion to the state's tax coffers, according to the state. That year it received $3.5 billion from the general fund, for an expenses to revenue ratio of 0.59. The five counties which fared the worst in terms of getting tax money back compared to monies put in were: San Juan (0.41), King, Skagit (0.75), Jefferson (0.82) and Island (0.81).

      The five counties getting the biggest bang out of their tax bucks were Whitman County, which paid $52.3 million in state taxes in 2007 but got $252 million back, for a ratio of 4.82. Whitman, in the southeastern part of the state, is home to Washington State University. Next is Thurston County, home to the state capital, with an expenses to revenue ratio of 3.17, then Lincoln County (2.54), Ferry (2.40) and Garfield (2.25). Lincoln, Ferry and Garfield are all small counties in Eastern Washington.

      No county in Eastern Washington pays more in state general fund taxes than it receives back in expenditures. In the more populous western part of the state, seven counties contribute more than they get in return (Island, Jefferson, King San Juan, Skagit, Snohomish and Whatcom)."

    26. Re: Conclusion: by demonlapin · · Score: 2

      No roads to farms = no food or raw materials to cities. Farmers can eat their own produce; city dwellers can't. Cities create wealth - but how much wealth they create is mostly dependent on how much raw material they have.

      Simple example: Why are Boston and Philadelphia smaller than New York? All were prominent cities in the 1700s. The big thing that kicked off NYC was the Erie Canal. It channeled the enormous productivity of the entire Great Lakes region of the US through NYC. Likewise, why is Chicago so big? Because that's where you portage from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi, opening up an enormous amount of the lower 48.

    27. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's a difference between paying some taxes (usually less than an area receives from the federal government) and paying excessive taxes (urban areas contribute much more to the federal government than they receive).
      And you highly overvalue what rural areas produce. It is appreciated though. And I won't argue that urban areas are more productive (except for economically).

    28. Re:Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So no thanks. Keep your city lifestyle.

      Then why do you need Trump to "Make America Great Again"?

      I live in the big city and I think America is still great, as great as it has been in my lifetime. At least until Jan 20.

    29. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The county level and the federal level since tax dollars received from the federal government tend to disproportionately benefit rural areas.
      Interesting to hear that much of the money goes to an urban area. I'm curious to know the numbers per capita to see if they're meaningful.

    30. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So... all things that could be bought from countries like China with the money urban areas would save on taxes?
      I agree that most people with those degrees have no right to complain though since they probably aren't producing much of anything.

    31. Re: Conclusion: by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 1

      The urban centers provide the tax dollars to make your life possible. Roads, electricity, telephone lines, etc are mandated by the government and without that you'd have nothing.

      ...and they make our life possible by providing food and natural resources. I think we need them more than they need us: life without technology would be hard but life without food would be a lot harder.

    32. Re:Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why should I give a fuck about the issues of being an inner-city black male? He doesn't give a fuck about the issues of being a rural or suburban white man. Fuck off, asshole.

    33. Re:Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow. I'm sorry that cities are such scary places to you. Did you have a bad experience or something? Mine is quite safe.

    34. Re:Conclusion: by amiga3D · · Score: 1

      Or don't sit around, watch TV and eat shitty food. You're so far from the hospital that when your heart attack or stroke comes you'll die before you get there. That's another issue too. Rural hospitals are okay as long as you aren't too sick. Have something serious happen and your chances are much worse than that fancy city hospital with all the latest and greatest equipment. Still and all life can be good out in the sticks if you like to hunt and fish and enjoy peace and quiet.

    35. Re:Conclusion: by amiga3D · · Score: 1

      Housing makes it all worth the risks. I've seen shit holes in New York that sell for a million dollars that would cost 80K in Alabama not including the 5 acres.

    36. Re: Conclusion: by amiga3D · · Score: 1

      The roads in the South were built mostly with state funds and were built to, in the words of one Georgia governor, move food from the farm to the city. Everyone pays taxes and road use taxes are built into everything to do with transportation. Electricity and telephone companies operate at a controlled profit. All that infrastructure has been paid for decades ago.

    37. Re:Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You think inner city black males understand the mindset of rural whites?

      Hint: No.

    38. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Everything of which had to be imported into facilities built with materials from rural American. So there's that

    39. Re: Conclusion: by amiga3D · · Score: 1

      You think people in rural areas don't pay taxes? Highways stretch from city to city passing through the country. There are over 6,000 miles of streets in New York city serving city residents. A southern county might have 100 miles of highway that passes through serving people from all over. County roads are maintained through county taxes.

    40. Re:Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Remember News for Nerds?

    41. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except the part where in New York your are surrounded by vibrant, diverse, and intelligent culture.

    42. Re: Conclusion: by Dorianny · · Score: 1

      And what would you have without farms, you urbanite scum?

      $20 billion less farm subsidies a year. Most of the money goes to big, rich farmers producing staple commodities such as corn and soyabeans in Midwestern states. Most of these States pay less in Federal taxes then they receive in benefits (including farm subsidies) from the Federal Government. Yep that's right, the urbanite taxpaying scum is subsidizing your non-competitive businesses

    43. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You think people in rural areas don't pay taxes?

      Wrong thinking, the proper question is do they pay as much as they get back in government handouts?

      Highways stretch from city to city passing through the country. There are over 6,000 miles of streets in New York city serving city residents. A southern county might have 100 miles of highway that passes through serving people from all over. County roads are maintained through county taxes.

      Why are you making a reference to the streets in New York City totaling over 6,000 miles if the counties that make up the city (five of them, New York County, Kings County, Queens County, Bronx County and Richmond County) pay for their own roads? Wouldn't you want to limit it to state owned roads?

      Do you have a breakdown for us? No?

      You're just randomly babbling defensive sputtering over your precious southern counties. Maybe you think that's a good thing, but it isn't. Stop and think about how you are damaging your own cause wit such half-baked arguments.

    44. Re:Conclusion: by tsotha · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This kind of attitude is why you got Trump.

    45. Re: Conclusion: by tsotha · · Score: 1

      This. Pointy heads at NYU or some other urban college periodically come out with studies showing how much more money is spent per capita in rural areas. But what they seem to be unable to realize is that money is spent on infrastructure that ultimately benefits the urban crowd. People who live in BFE don't need a four lane highway to get from one small town to another. That highway is there for goods that go to populated areas and for people travelling between populated areas. Otherwise it would be a two-lane road without traffic control.

    46. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Everything you have is derived from rural areas, everything.

      And then you go to a city, and see the factories there, which besides processing the materials that would be otherwise useless, produce the tools that make harvesting resources so much easier, the luxuries that any number of farmers desire, and even provide the medical care that so many need.

      So look at the world around you, and realize that it comes from getting people off the farm and into the cities where their hands and minds are put to labors that benefit you.

      Or show you understand nothing.

    47. Re: Conclusion: by starblazer · · Score: 1

      I would love to see all the rural inhabitants refuse to sell or transport anything to the cities. Let's see who 'foots the bill' then.

      *click* Oops, your powers off.
      *click* Oops, your cell phone doesn't work too.
      *click* oh, shit, you cant get gas now because you started a pissing match with the local oil refinery in the city.
      *click* Oh, that place you banked with just decided not to deal with you or your little farmers credit union that was using them as a clearinghouse.

      The city provides for the rural and the rural provides for the city. It's a symbiotic relationship.

      For the record, I grew up in the rural farmland... moved into the city because it made sense when fuel prices spiked.

    48. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I would love to see all the rural inhabitants refuse to sell or transport anything to the cities. Let's see who 'foots the bill' then.

      Good idea. Stop farming. Stop growing crops. Pretend you're in an Ayn Rand novel.

      Here's a hint: Nobody would put up with your stupidity for long. John Galt was a narcissistic idiot who relied on a deus ex machina from an affectionate author. The real world would laugh at such madness.

    49. Re:Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is it fun being a racist asshole, or do you secretly hate yourself for being such a miserable bag of shit?

    50. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The alternative is that you pay less tax, but the price of your food sky-rockets to cover the difference.

    51. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Illinois has a massive problem with public sector unions and pension promises that cannot be fulfilled. Hence, they try to make ends meet by raising taxes. IL is doomed. Get out while you still can.

    52. Re:Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Medicare/Medicaid depends on your job? Do you know what those things are?

    53. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      They provide your fuel, your food, your electricity, and transport it to your city.

      Actually, with the possible exception of hydroelectric power, electricity is usually produced as close as possible to where it is consumed, because doing otherwise results in unacceptable power losses. So although areas around some power plants might technically qualify as "rural", they are usually just barely so.

      Also, the only "fuel" that rural areas provide is ethanol. We'd all be better off if rural areas grew food exclusively instead of wasting time, energy, and resources producing this "fuel". After all, it reduces gas mileage, takes more energy to produce than it actually provides, harms the soil, and creates a crop monoculture that puts us all at serious risk of famine and major food-trade imbalances if there's ever a corn blight.

      I would love to see all the rural inhabitants refuse to sell or transport anything to the cities. Let's see who 'foots the bill' then.

      It would be incredibly stupid for them to even consider such an action. I think you grossly overestimate how much of the food from those mostly rural states actually ends up in big cities in those highly urban states. Something like three-quarters of all the produce in the U.S. actually comes from California (one of your "urban" states). The more rural states mostly produce corn, wheat, and soybeans; the majority of that gets sold overseas, because we produce way more than we could possibly use.

      This is not saying that the cities wouldn't hurt if rural U.S. states stopped selling produce to them, but life would go on. They would just buy more food from other countries, learn to drink rice milk, and learn to live with the higher price of food.

      By contrast, if those farmers don't continue to produce food for the rest of the country, the rest of the country would have no reason to continue to prop up those states' governments. If the federal government cut off the huge funding imbalance spigot that keeps their lights on, most southern states would go completely bankrupt in a matter of weeks.

      Still think cutting off your nose to spite your face is a good idea?

    54. Re:Conclusion: by sydbarrett74 · · Score: 1

      I'm betting you're significantly more educated and informed than the average rural resident. That makes a huge difference. You're an outlier.

      --
      'He who has to break a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom.' -- Gandalf to Saruman
    55. Re:Conclusion: by Skuld-Chan · · Score: 1

      So in rural Oregon - Josephine county - where they are no longer prosecuting property crimes (Google it)... I have friends who live there still (because they grow certain green flowers) and have been involved in actual shootouts. They called 911 - who said see and wait if they stop shooting and call back.

      So in my example - shit has already hit the fan and life seems somehow indifferent from the inner city. People want your stuff and they'll cap your ass to get it.

    56. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just wait until you have to actually foot the bill for the services you use, mooch.

      Urban epicenters are in locations where taxation is extreme. Rural locations are in areas where taxes are low.
      Just because YOU think rurals aren't taxed enough, doesn't mean it is it true.

      At least home ownership is an option for the rural locales.
      Tell me about home ownership in say, San Francisco or Manhattan?

    57. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The CA Central Valley is a shithole, in a state with an oppressive government.
      they are trying to farm in a FUCKING DESERT with liberal politicians that kowtow to them to the detriment of everyone else.

      If you are going to propose brain dead arguments, just put the gun in your mouth and pull the trigger.
      The day someone curb stomps you in front of your family on Christmas morning will be a day the nation's IQ jumps by 10 points.

    58. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Rural America is a net consumer of tax dollars. Cities are net donors.

      Now, let's try not to be fucking idiots, and look at tax rates and average incomes in cities vs. things like home ownership and COLA in the rural areas..........

      Go ahead, trot out another useless statistic. It's OK. I can wait.

    59. Re: Conclusion: by Hylandr · · Score: 0

      Are you 12?

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    60. Re:Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is "benefit" really the word you intended for that phenomenon?

    61. Re:Conclusion: by KozmoStevnNaut · · Score: 2

      Counterpoint: I live in a city of ~1.2 million people, ~2 million in the greater metro area. It's not in the US, but I still think it's relevant. I've lived everywhere from rural areas with several kilometers to the nearest neighbor, to the city where I live now.

      I grew up in a rural area, plenty of fresh air, areas to explore, places to go fish, all that good stuff. The nearest school had less than 100 students, we had a lot of trips to the nearby forests, we made viking age-style huts and cooked food over campfires at school every summer. We did all of the rural/small-town stuff, basically. I loved it, and I've got the scars to prove I had an active and exciting childhood.

      Now I live in the city. I go to concerts, to the theater, to the cinema, to restaurants, to bars, to whisky/rum/wine/beer tastings. I work out at a local martial arts/crossfit gym. I'm on a music quiz team with a group of friends. I've been a volunteer track constructor at our historic motor race on the city streets every summer since 2010, I volunteer at a local rock/metal festival. I've lived here for almost 10 years, and I have yet to meet any psychotics, but I have met a lot of very interesting people from other cultures and viewpoints, and had some very interesting and enlightening discussions. And I love it here, because there are so many interesting things on offer, basically more life compressed into a smaller space. I get why some people don't like it, but I do.

      My point is that both lifestyles can be great, I don't see why we should hate on people from a different area, just because they prefer something else. Why the hate?

      --
      Eat the rich.
    62. Re: Conclusion: by KozmoStevnNaut · · Score: 2

      And that's why we need BOTH rural and urban areas, and have to learn to respect and understand each other's qualities.

      I feel lucky that I've lived just about everywhere from rural to city, and I like to hang out both with manual laborers and with intellectuals, depending on what I'm doing. As long as people don't act like they're superior or look down on people, we'll probably get along just fine. Hell, one of my favorite people in the world is a bit of a nutcase conspiracy theorist Trump-loving Infowars-quoting weirdo, which probably couldn't be further from my own personal views. But we hang out and have fun together anyway, maybe sometimes because we both enjoy a spirited discussion, I don't know.

      --
      Eat the rich.
    63. Re:Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      non Medicare / Medicaid insurances

      Reading comprehension fail.

    64. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, you inferred racism. Umbrage is easy to find, when you seek it.

    65. Re:Conclusion: by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Well, I live in a rural area, and we have shit schools, a shit sheriff (we had a good one but he was too effective at cleaning up meth so they shitcanned him) and I have shit neighbors who I don't know. They make noise at any or all hours and a new guy who is a super fuckhead is trying to move in across the way. So far he's blocked my driveway and then been an asshole about it, and built a fire larger than his trailer and almost set the fucking world on fire (back before California started flooding.)

      This isn't to say that I'd rather live in a city, but more to say that living in the country isn't necessarily all it's cracked up to be. All the Trump stickers that appeared after the election (because Trump supporters are predominantly cowards, which is how the polls got things so very wrong, forgetting to account for cowardice) are also chilling AF every time I see them.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    66. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Rural America existed before telephones, electricity and roads and could survive without such "amenities". Electricity is not a requirement to have.

    67. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually ground transportation is highly subsidized because all road wear is caused by heavy trucks, axle weight to the 4th power (3,000 to 10,000 times the damage of light trucks and cars). Since taxes for road maintenance and upkeep do not fall on heavy vehicles in the same proportion we can conclude that transportation is highly subsidized. The obvious answer is to tax them in proportion to their damage and have those costs pass through to people in proportion to their use of the goods and services provided by that transportation.

    68. Re:Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My kids go to decent schools with normal people and not the BLACKS that live in major cities

      There. Fixed that for you.

    69. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For the record, I grew up in the rural farmland...

      Then you should be smart enough to know that all of that posturing you just described is completely irrelevant to the situation as outlined.

      Bottom line: the rural farmer can still grow their own food and dig their own well and survive, relatively comfortably, with what is already available to them - they don't need power, cell phones, gasoline, or a bank. The city dweller, for the most part, is going to die of dehydration within about 7 - 20 days, or starvation in 30 - 60 days.

      No matter what your delusional hacker fantasies are, clicking a mouse button doesn't affect anything when it comes down to basic survival.

    70. Re:Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      +1

    71. Re: Conclusion: by radl33t · · Score: 1

      import food from cheap countries, like we avoid doing now to subsidize big ag and their rural slaves?

    72. Re:Conclusion: by Gr8Apes · · Score: 1

      Poverty aside, the most people who attend a traditional college live on campus anyways.

      I don't know where you get that idea. Of the 3 universities I seriously considered, none had sufficient on-campus housing for even half the enrolled students.

      --
      The cesspool just got a check and balance.
    73. Re: Conclusion: by radl33t · · Score: 1

      Late 70s may be the bottom half of the distribution, friend. It amazes me that even on a technology forum people will use anecdotes to poke holes in ostensibly scientific results.

    74. Re:Conclusion: by radl33t · · Score: 0

      No, no, when elite over educated liberals travel and interact with the world, they lose touch with "real America." Instead they chose to live in that closed off bubble that is the rest of the world...

    75. Re:Conclusion: by radl33t · · Score: 1

      Most prosperous liberal elites are not concerned about the personal impact of Trump...

    76. Re: Conclusion: by radl33t · · Score: 1

      Yep, the illiterate rurals have enough guns and ammunition to stop the million+ hoards of urban zombies. Nice fantasy

    77. Re: Conclusion: by radl33t · · Score: 1

      Not necessary, you will bend to our will eventually. I am patient

    78. Re:Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Since we're all into anecdotes around here. I am something of an aloof asshole and I escalate and deescalate situations at my whim because I can take care of myself. I'm not big or armed, but people find my rote detachment unsettling. I interact with young black men frequently on/near public transit every day. They talk to me and I engage. Sometimes they try to sell me drugs or electronics ask to borrow something I don't have (lighter/cigarette/change). I've had few particularly enlightening conversations, but I've not felt threatened either. I can understand that from afar they are off putting to uhh, more restrained suburban white sensibilities. Probably a similar level of friendliness as any other group, maybe more liable to discuss their ongoing problems. I often give advice that amounts to "man up and deal with your shit," usually after a skeptical and shallow expression of sympathy for their plight.

      I have been verbally accosted once, but it was a young black woman who wasn't looking and startled herself as she abruptly backed into me while I walked past (incredibly jarring, I'm sure). She went on about my lack of respect as I calmly explained that she should have better awareness in such an important transit corridor. She continued to express outrage (in my face) at my disrespect until she was reigned in by her peers. That was the most aggressive experience with a black person I have ever had. I have been in and around their loitering locations (in fact an area known for property and personal crimes) for approximately = 10*200*7/60 = 233 hours plus about 600 hours on public transit...

      On the other hand I have spent a few 10s of hours in rural bars with wifes friends and family. In fact, there are rural bars her family will not let me attend (lol). Granted, drinking is involved which tends to bring out my propensity to push buttons and escalate, but I have encountered many more hostile encounters here. Young white men have tried to cause a problem for me for 1) drinking new belgium beer, 2) out of state license plate, 3) suggesting that my sister in law is not interested. Despite my wife being cat-called in the city by young black men, I've never been confronted over my protective attitude. I dodged a punch from a drunk rural welder because I went too far in defending my 1996 volvo wagon. Having not connected he fell into a barstool. The bartender negotiated my departure in exchange for no tab.

    79. Re:Conclusion: by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      ...but for me the main one is the lack of interaction you will have with a diverse group of people. You aren't likely to understand the issues faced by an inner city black male

      Well, if you aren't dealing with them...and it doesn't directly influence your life, why should you give a shit?

      I mean, there are LOTS of problems and injustices in the world, but if they don't effect my life, I pretty much ignore them.

      I have plenty of things that DO effect my life that I need to spend time dealing with and caring about.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    80. Re: Conclusion: by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      Yep, the illiterate rurals have enough guns and ammunition to stop the million+ hoards of urban zombies. Nice fantasy

      I have to imagine they actually ARE pretty well armed, moreso than folks from NYC that pretty much ban guns.

      And if you talk more N vs S...I'd posit that we are WAY more heavily armed, so, don't zombie your way down here.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    81. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good comment. I think what you describe is far more common than what you'd be led to believe by reading the internets.

    82. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bottom line: the rural farmer can still grow their own food and dig their own well and survive, relatively comfortably, with what is already available to them - they don't need power, cell phones, gasoline, or a bank. The city dweller, for the most part, is going to die of dehydration within about 7 - 20 days, or starvation in 30 - 60 days.

      OK, so imagine teleporting a survivalist hobby farm into the middle of a country where it really has hit the fan - Somalia, North Korea, Bosnia, Rwanda, Syria, Iraq, etc. Sure, they could grow their own food. But is that really the issue? A city dweller could buy enough survival rations and water purifiers to last a few years if food and water was actually the issue.

      The thing is, you look at who really comes out OK when it hits the fan and it's the ultra-rich who have the resources to simply move elsewhere. The ability to change with the times is much more useful than rigidly hunkering down and trying to maintain the status quo when everything in the neighborhood is hitting the fan.

      But what if there isn't anywhere in the world where it's not hitting the fan? Would a houseboat out in the Pacific be safe? Or a cave in antarctica? I've tried to think it through but it all seems to end badly.

    83. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Most manufacturing is done in or around cities, and always has been.

    84. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For recognizing that cities contribute to rural areas as much as rural areas contribute to cities? For recognizing that we need both? It's only the rural defenders who entertain the fantasy that they don't need anyone else.

      And I too grew up in the country, so I know damn well that rural people are generally good people. But I live in the city now, so I can tell you that urban people are generally just as good.

    85. Re: Conclusion: by pnutjam · · Score: 1

      Where I'm from (IL), state taxes are quite high, and the government funnels money towards Chicago. People in the rural end up subsidizing the lifestyle of people in the urban areas...

      Guess again. I know it's hard for ruralites to believe, but they gain much more from cities, then cities gain from them.

    86. Re:Conclusion: by DogDude · · Score: 1

      You have gigabit internet 4G cell service, roads, and everything else because people like us, on the coasts, are footing the bill. You red state people need to learn to say "Thank you.". I hope that the Orange Pussygrabber that you people love so much takes away all of your damn handouts. I'm tired of paying for them.

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
    87. Re:Conclusion: by pnutjam · · Score: 1

      Yeah, most rural places are peaceful because there's nobody there, not because they are inherently peaceful. When shit does happen, your on your own.

    88. Re:Conclusion: by pnutjam · · Score: 1

      Good rural schools are unlikely. Only if your a wealthy suburb of an urban area. People just don't know how little your kids are learning.
      Source: army brat who attended multiple schools.

    89. Re: Conclusion: by pnutjam · · Score: 1

      I've seen plenty of 40 or 50 year olds who look 70, since we're throwing out anecdotes.

    90. Re:Conclusion: by cyn1c77 · · Score: 1

      Let's see - I have gigabit internet, satellite TV, 4G cell service, acres of land and a house that would cost you millions, and no traffic or crime in this rural American lifestyle as you call it.

      I actually know my neighbors, the mayor of the town, the sheriff, and I participate in my community. My kids go to decent schools with normal people and not the psychotics that live in major cities. Despite the article above we have good health care and actually know our doctors who even make house calls. We grow a lot of our own food and have easy access to hunting. When the shit hits the fan you will be starving.

      So no thanks. Keep your city lifestyle.

      Keep in mind that if everyone in the city decided to move to the country, your rural house would indeed cost millions, traffic and crime would increase, school quality would decrease, and hunting would go away.

      So maybe the rural/urban populations are more symbiotic than you realize.

    91. Re:Conclusion: by LunaticTippy · · Score: 1

      Why the hate?

      I believe there is a defect in the human mind that causes tribalism. You see it flourish in spectator sports, red vs. blue, racism, vi vs emacs, etc. ad nauseum. I have friends and relatives from lots of different backgrounds and make an effort to understand people but still feel the pull of my human nature to distrust those different from me.

      It's really easy to exploit this vulnerability for political, economic, or sadistic ends. Religion is related to this, possibly the same.

      --
      Man, you really need that seminar!
    92. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      General fund cash isn't everything. Look at the total expenditures. Urban county governments will receive less money, but are given more government support through projects like road construction, new firetrucks, urban development planning, tax breaks on those developments, and so on. While rural counties do not receive anywhere near the amount of dollars in the form of projects or services. When was the last time you heard of a civic project being built in the middle of a corn filed? Yet, in city center, those projects and their big dollar amounts are counted as zero dollars with the faulty comparison of tax out vs general fund in.

    93. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have to imagine they actually ARE pretty well armed, moreso than folks from NYC that pretty much ban guns.

      And if you talk more N vs S...I'd posit that we are WAY more heavily armed, so, don't zombie your way down here.

      Not only is there no shortage of privately owned guns in New York City, there is no shortage of means to produce more guns, and a variety of people skilled and informed in the mechanisms of war.

      You'd know this, if you weren't a fool enough to forget the last time.

      Do not sow the wind, for you shall reap the cyclone.

    94. Re: Conclusion: by wyHunter · · Score: 1

      You know, you city moochers just don't understand where your food comes from. Hint: it isn't the supermarket. Roads et al exist and are paid for to extract resources - in this instance, agricultural products - from rural areas. It is NOT out of the goodness of the heart of the urban population.

    95. Re:Conclusion: by wyHunter · · Score: 1

      No, there are shit rural areas just like shit urban areas. Sorry you're stuck in a shit rural area.

    96. Re: Conclusion: by wyHunter · · Score: 1

      I live very rural and have five college degrees, am an avid reader, and hunt and shoot. Sorry, your stereotypes aren't really all that valid. I know a lot of folks in my area who aren't people who did higher education - but they are not stupid by any means. I know a lot of ranchers who are very bright men - and they are almost all men, yes, that's true - but they have to be smart to compete. So I think it's easy for folks on both sides of this divide not to realize that there isn't that much difference between 'rurals' and 'urbans.' This study is just silly - there are a lot of folks who do not live in urban areas because they ARE more expensive than rural areas who are ALREADY disabled and on medicaid and/or some kind of disability income. I know a number of them. Some do indeed have lifestyles that are unhealthy with too much drink, etc. but this is hardly universal.

    97. Re: Conclusion: by amiga3D · · Score: 1

      You lack knowledge. Commercial trucks pay thousands in road use taxes. Fuel is taxed to provide road upkeep. We all know it costs money, only people in California thinks everything from the government is free.

    98. Re: Conclusion: by amiga3D · · Score: 1

      You're full of shit. Everyone that works pays taxes that support infrastructure. It's one of the very few things that the government does that it's actually supposed to do.

    99. Re:Conclusion: by tsotha · · Score: 1

      That's probably true. Must be nice to have enough money to roll with the punches no matter what kind of damage you inflict on the country.

    100. Re: Conclusion: by demonlapin · · Score: 1

      And as a corollary to my other reply, what city-dwellers are buying with those rural road programs is cheaper everything. Drive I-81 some time. The traffic is extremely truck-heavy, because they're using it to move goods from the Gulf Coast to the Northeast without having to go along I-95 (or even I-85). It wasn't built for local usage.

    101. Re: Conclusion: by Hylandr · · Score: 1

      Zombies, Say Hello to my 'little' combine...

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

      Bring it! :)

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    102. Re: Conclusion: by Hylandr · · Score: 1

      Comparing real life to fiction.

      Sounds like a recipe for success. Good luck with that.

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    103. Re:Conclusion: by KozmoStevnNaut · · Score: 1

      I know what you mean, and the feeling of distrust that you describe.

      I'm not sure it's a defect as such, it was probably quite beneficial in the olden days, when resources were scarce, the overall population of humans was tiny, and long-distance travel was impossible or at least extremely rare. You rarely met people from other tribes/cultures, and if you did, they would probably try to kill you and steal your shit.

      Doesn't really work all that well today, though.

      --
      Eat the rich.
    104. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is just one thing you are missing in your mooch assumption with special emphasis on the first three letters! We Ruralites actually pay taxes, especially property taxes that far exceed those of your infested little cities. We all know who pays for the city folk, its the burbs and the rurals. The cities, at least the ones like Chicago are nothing but a welfare trap and your whining is because you want more free handouts!

    105. Re: Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are actual budget studies that look at this. Yes you pay taxes. No you do not pay as much in taxes as you receive in assistance. This is routinely shown county by county across a broad range of states.

      Rural America is a net consumer of tax dollars. Cities are net donors.

      Yes, there are so-called "budget studies" - but they're all fake - the result of political game playing with statistics, aka political lies. They're like the bogus claims of "red" welfare states somehow getting more then their "fair" share of funding. These myths have been repeatedly debunked - where have you been?

      In reality, the primary beneficiary of the tax dollars spent in Rural America is Urban America. Those tax dollars are spent on things like farm subsidies (so city dwellers can pay lower prices for food and milk), and water infrastructure (so city dwellers can drink, cook, and clean themselves), and transportation infrastructure (so food, fuel, raw materials and goods needed by city dwellers can flow into the cities at a lower cost then they would otherwise have to pay).

      There's also power infrastructure - though a few cities have power plants, a lot of the power the typical city uses comes from other sources such as hydraulic, which means spending money in rural areas.

      Please take a course in critical thinking and reading skills, then follow it with a course in research design that teaches you how to recognize when people are lying with statistics. It's not necessarily your fault that the education system failed you - but it is your fault if you don't do anything to fix things.

    106. Re:Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good points, but do you have crazy people like we do in Brooklyn? Makes life kind of interesting for sure. :-)

    107. Re: Conclusion: by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      Imported food from places without rural electricity and telephone, who aren't entitled whiners like yourself.

    108. Re: Conclusion: by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      Without subsidies from the cities, you'd have no paved roads, no Internet, no phones, and no power. Sure, with cows, horses, and such you could be self sufficient. Stone-age self sufficient, but self sufficient. Cities pre-dated (and enabled) the bronze age and after. Would you really rather live in the stone age?

      Rural people pay about 1/5th the amount of taxes cities do (per person). Land value in the cities is much higher, so property tax is higher. Incomes are higher, so income tax is higher. Because the people are more densely packed in cities, less is spent on roads in cities (per person) than rural areas. Without the extraction of tax from the urban areas, to have the same level of services in rural areas, expect your taxes to go up 5x to 10x. Or drop services by similar amounts.

    109. Re:Conclusion: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Slashdot showing its age as always.

    110. Re:Conclusion: by radl33t · · Score: 1

      Do you speculate so boldly in all walks of life?

  2. Wait, you mean the GOP voters? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Yeah, no. They voted to gut the nation's healthcare, imperfect as it was. They can ALL die this way. Mod me Flamebait, but you know fucking well I'm right.

    Captcha: massacre

    1. Re:Wait, you mean the GOP voters? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For one, the ACA is not about health care. It is about insurance. Second, what good is insurance if there are too few doctors. The problem in rural America is not that people cannot afford healthcare it is that it is hard to find.

    2. Re:Wait, you mean the GOP voters? by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yeah, no. They voted to gut the nation's healthcare, imperfect as it was. They can ALL die this way. Mod me Flamebait, but you know fucking well I'm right.

      Captcha: massacre

      Meh, not a problem. They don't have that loser ObamaCare - they all have the Affordable Care Act care, and they just love it. Stoopid fscking liberals and their socilistical failures anyhow!

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    3. Re:Wait, you mean the GOP voters? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That abomination of a money-funnel to the insurance industry known as "Obamacare" has only been around a few years. If it gets removed, you consider the healthcare system "gutted"? Talk about hyperbole, a typical comment from a clueless liberal.

    4. Re:Wait, you mean the GOP voters? by radl33t · · Score: 1

      Yeah, for the 20 million people who gained coverage, that seems to be an apt description. But as someone who can live lavishly on only a third of his income, I guess lowering my premiums or giving me a tax break is cool too.

    5. Re:Wait, you mean the GOP voters? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Edgy libbabby is edgy.

  3. "Hey everyone, watch THIS"! by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 2

    So, no more videos of hicks doing incredibly stupid stuff involving cars'n'stuff if you "Promote motor vehicle safety". Why do you hate them so much that you want to take away their god-given right to Darwin themselves?

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    1. Re:"Hey everyone, watch THIS"! by Black+Parrot · · Score: 1

      No, it's "Hold my beer and watch this."

      --
      Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
    2. Re:"Hey everyone, watch THIS"! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, it's "Squwacck. Polly wants a cracker."

    3. Re:"Hey everyone, watch THIS"! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Hold my beer, cigarettes and Meth and watch this." You haven't spent much time out in the country, have you?

    4. Re:"Hey everyone, watch THIS"! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, it's, "Vote Trump!!"

  4. Amazing by bistromath007 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I came here to complain about how this would generate divisive and callous political snarking, and guess what the first two comments that beat me to the punch are?

    You people are thoroughly disgusting. You're the reason people outside The Six Cities That Matter don't trust liberals, and the reason true leftists like Bernie can't ever make any headway. If you keep this shit up, you're going to bring this country to the point of civil war. Good idea, I say: this side has all the guns, so we can push all you fuckers into the ocean.

    1. Re:Amazing by tempo36 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Sorry, healthcare in America is now a political issue. And the Gods-honest truth is that those who need it most don't seem to realize that the GOP has somehow convinced them that it's a bad idea.

    2. Re: Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Health insurance != healthcare, especially when costs are blow up by bureaucracy.

    3. Re: Amazing by bistromath007 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Bullshit. Obamacare wasn't an effective healthcare solution and everyone knows it. It was a massive corporate welfare program for the only industry that probably needs it less than oil. You can cry until you're blue in the face that the GOP cockblocked its true potential, but because a single-payer system never would've been a realistic option with the Democratic party controlled by worthless DINO neoliberal trash, this is all we ever truly had the ability to pass. And we shouldn't have, because it's garbage that hasn't fixed anything for anyone. It has been worse than doing nothing, and shitcanning it is one of Trump's only positive ideas.

    4. Re:Amazing by xevioso · · Score: 1, Funny

      So you are saying you don't like the political discourse here? You don't like one side complaining about the politics of your side?

      Maybe you need a safe space...

    5. Re: Amazing by ColdWetDog · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Obamacare wasn't much of an answer to America's medical problems, but it is also not much of a problem. It has helped at the margins. Unfortunately, it has helped the insurance companies more than it should have, but that's called politics.

      I eagerly await Mr. Trump and his Republican colleague's attempt at improving things.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    6. Re:Amazing by whoever57 · · Score: 1, Troll

      You people are thoroughly disgusting. You're the reason people outside The Six Cities That Matter don't trust liberals, .. blah blah...

      Let's be realistic, most rural dwellers simple could not compete if they had to live in the cities. Here in the Bay Area, anyone working a technical job has to compete with the best people from arount the world.

      You are just envious of our skills and abilities. You would prefer to drag people down to your level instead of attempting to raise yourself to our level.

      --
      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    7. Re: Amazing by bistromath007 · · Score: 1, Flamebait

      What I don't like is you disingenuous shitrats practically burning half the country's population in effigy and then claiming they're cruel, bigoted warmongers.

    8. Re: Amazing by tempo36 · · Score: 5, Informative

      And yet I can't even begin to count the number of patients I have that now have insurance and get care instead of having to apply for charity care or Medicaid.

      Would single-payer have been better? Yeah, maybe because frankly I hate insurance companies are horrible since they focus on profit rather than helping patients. But the government wasn't going to allow single payer. Probably not Democrats and certainly not Republicans.

      So you certainly seem to have your own anecdotal opinions that the ACA didn't help anyone. I have my own anecdotal opinions that it did. Sure, I'm of the belief that my direct experience providing care for patients with complex medical conditions gives me some perspective...but I don't think we have any meaningful way of comparing data sets.

    9. Re:Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Don't throw your arm out patting yourself on the back, son, physical therapy is expensive these days.

      I'd say, keep in mind that quality of life means different things to different people. To you perhaps, having 6 restaurants, 5 bars, 4 coffee shops, and 2 clubs in a 1 block radius might matter more than seeing the horizon every day and having the sublime peace of mind that the nearest neighbor is beyond earshot.
      Burning up one's stomach lining in a challenging job will get mighty old, I'm sure, so remember how good it felt up on that pedestal you set yourself on when you get burnt out.

    10. Re:Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To be honest, I'd have been shocked if it was anything else.

    11. Re: Amazing by Camel+Pilot · · Score: 1

      Dude it goes both ways you know. Have you read the average commentator on Breitbart?

    12. Re: Amazing by bistromath007 · · Score: 1, Insightful

      If you work a technical job and move to the Bay Area, you are entirely your own dumbass problem. You could choose to work in any other industry or in any other place, but THAT'S what you go with. One of the least stable professions in one of the areas where you can make the least contribution. The rural people are totally the dumb ones, here.

      Sidenote: I wonder how many more of you arrogant garbage monsters are going to put an ellipsis over the part where I reveal that I (much like everyone else in small town/rural America) liked Bernie. Very progressive, you urbanites. A fascist woman is definitely more prog than a socialist man.

    13. Re: Amazing by Camel+Pilot · · Score: 1

      I hate insurance companies are horrible since they focus on profit rather than helping patients

      The pharmacy and medical treatment companies necessarily focus on profit... And guess what? We have an incredible array of treatment options and medical advances that we would never have if the medical field was occupied only but those concerned solely on helping patients.

    14. Re:Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      And your nose is pointing up so high that you fail to notice the thousands of fellow city-dwellers you pass by also not capable of competing for your "technical job" and that live hand-to-mouth with far lousier conditions than the average rural dweller.
      Not that most rural people would even want to participate in your sheep-like existence, They are more attuned to entrepreneurship and would probably end up employing you!

    15. Re: Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I have a PhD in a hard science (chemistry) and a masters in electrical engineering and there is no way and no amount of money you could pay me to live in the Bay Area. Anywhere that has its head up it's own ass as much as Silicon Valley and the surround is not only a terrible place to reside, but should be actively avoided.

      I'm a die-hard liberal too, so don't think it has anything to do with politics.

    16. Re: Amazing by bistromath007 · · Score: 1

      No. Why would I do that? I have self-respect.

    17. Re:Amazing by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      Good idea, I say: this side has all the guns, so we can push all you fuckers into the ocean.

      Well, you are not correct, and did you just threaten to kill me and others? Let me know, so we can find out who you are.

      My mamma taught me to never threaten to kill people. Makes you look like a very interesting person. Already, I am exceptionally interested in hearing your response.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    18. Re: Amazing by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 0

      What I don't like is you disingenuous shitrats practically burning half the country's population in effigy and then claiming they're cruel, bigoted warmongers.

      And we don't like people like you who come in here and threaten to kill people.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    19. Re: Amazing by psycho12345 · · Score: 1

      Meanwhile, we only NEED those advancements because we make it difficult to prevent those very conditions. Prevention costs a whole lot less, but not much profit to be made there.

    20. Re:Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I guess once in a while there needs to be a civil war to re-teach you glorious idiots how little your personal weaponry means in the face of modern military forces. Even less now than in 1860.

    21. Re: Amazing by tempo36 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      As someone who collects a salary treating patients, I'm not saying that there's no place for profit. But as someone who spends my time arguing with insurance companies when they don't want to pay for proven treatments that are necessary, I feel as if they're drifted too far on the profit spectrum.

      I do not, though, think that anyone trying to make a buck is evil. As you point out, you need to fund advances in medicine, and those aren't free. The number of failed drugs and trials that have floated through here is staggering.

    22. Re:Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, whine about other individuals as being 'thoroughly disgusting' while claiming civil war is a good idea because 'you' can push people who don't align with the worldview of 'your side' into the ocean.

    23. Re:Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except since your lot has so eagerly gotten rid of their guns, and hates the police, no one actually has to listen to what you think. Pretty hard to hold the (moral) high ground when you can't defend it from the savages, eh?

    24. Re: Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And guess what? We have an incredible array of treatment options and medical advances that we would never have if the medical field was occupied only but those concerned solely on helping patients.

      citation needed

    25. Re: Amazing by hambone142 · · Score: 1

      You're full of shit.

      I left a large computer company in the Bay Area to work for (drum roll) the same large computer company, living in a rural area about 130 miles away.

      Rural != "dumb".

      You are not dumb but instead, an ignorant fool.

      BTW, Obamacare raised my partner's medical insurance 111.7% and hardly anyone in the area will accept her "platinum policy" .

    26. Re:Amazing by jp_832 · · Score: 0

      The vast majority of those who do the actual fighting in the military are white heterosexual Christian males. What makes you think they will support your side in ANY way, shape or form?

    27. Re: Amazing by Pharmboy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I've had insurance since I was born, I'm in my 50s, and my cost of insurance jumped 4 times since obamacare. My employer dropped it because insurance rates soared, so I no longer had matching, plus the regular rate better than doubled. And that is for insurance that covers almost nothing until I spend 28,000 because there are virtually NO doctors in the network. And NC has NO options, only Blue Cross. We used to have over half a dozen. My cost of insurance and overall healthcare went from being 5-10% of my income to over 1/3. So fuck your socialized healthcare that says responsible people have to pay insurance for irresponsible people that don't like to work. I'm fine helping those that can't help themselves, but this current bullshit is killing the middle class. You know, the people making 50k a year and pay the highest percentage of their income as tax because they don't make enough to shelter it. But then, that was the original plan, wasn't it? Make a system so god damn bad people would beg for a single payer. Guess what? You got Trump instead, so suck it up Dr. Buttercup. You have no fucking clue the pain this system has caused to hard working, middle American, blue collar people.

      --
      Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
    28. Re: Amazing by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 1

      "Both ways"???? WTF does that mean? Are you implying this forum is a polar opposite of Breitbart?

    29. Re: Amazing by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 1

      And we don't like people like you who come in here and threaten to kill people.

      Is that some sort of 'have you stopped beating your wife' comment? I didn't notice the GP commenter threatening to kill anybody.

    30. Re:Amazing by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 1

      Kindy GP commenter is just encouraging you to take some swimming lessons.

      Be diverse and open minded, and... the dog paddle is almost intuitive. You won't be able to use your cellphone to take selfies while dog paddling, of course.

    31. Re: Amazing by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      And we don't like people like you who come in here and threaten to kill people.

      Is that some sort of 'have you stopped beating your wife' comment? I didn't notice the GP commenter threatening to kill anybody.

      Perhaps you didn't see who I was replying to? He wrote:

      "If you keep this shit up, you're going to bring this country to the point of civil war. Good idea, I say: this side has all the guns, so we can push all you fuckers into the ocean."

      So we have a threat of armed revolution, an assessment that the poster says it is a "Good Idea", that they have guns they will use, and will kill those they disagree with.

      IOW, a threat of killing others.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    32. Re:Amazing by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      Kindy GP commenter is just encouraging you to take some swimming lessons.

      "Go jump in a lake" would be sufficient. Funny even.

      Threats of killing people? Not so much.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    33. Re: Amazing by Dorianny · · Score: 2

      You mean to tell me you empoyer dropped health insurance coverage, saving itself a bundle, but didn't increase your salary? I would say you got fleeced by your employer. In reality employer sponsored premium growth has actually slowed down since the ACA http://www.factcheck.org/2015/... so not only they fleeced you, they lied to you as well. It had nothing to do with the ACA and everything to do with the suits getting big fat bonuses for "trimming costs" at your expense

    34. Re: Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The ACA made a lot of room for people on welfare and just barely scraping by to get insurance by pushing out the lower middle class by having their rates double 1-2 times without them getting any aid to pay for it. This is why the stories are generally either "we have insurance now it's great" or "we can't afford our insurance anymore", and not so much in-between.

      As one of the lower middle class, I hope that all the people that have insurance now greatly appreciate my sacrifice.

    35. Re:Amazing by cats-paw · · Score: 1

      I say: this side has all the guns, so we can push all you fuckers into the ocean.

      Clearly you are interested in a serious, thoughtful discussion.

      That world you end up with after you push all us fuckers into the ocean isn't going to be as great as you think it is.

      --
      Absolute statements are never true
    36. Re: Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Their answer is to give you a health savings account. You pay into it and pay full price. So enjoy that $2000 MRI. Oh and if you have insurance, any pre-existing conditions can now be grounds to drop you. Also, fuck your kids, they can die since CHIP is also gone.

    37. Re:Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      having the sublime peace of mind that the nearest neighbor is beyond earshot.

      Is...is that a good thing? WTF are you doing that you're scared of people hearing?

    38. Re: Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Typical liberal stretching to try and paint yourself as the victim and the opposition as the aggressor.

      You know what though? With all the SJW crying, victims are starting to look just plain weak and aggressors are looking strong and respectable. As usual, your actions have the exact opposite impact that you intend them to.

    39. Re:Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Really now.. Tell me, do you fix your own car? Do you grow your own food? Can you repair a toilet main? Do you know how to build a house or even a deck?

      A lot of people in rural areas can be pretty self-sufficient, or at least sufficient in a small community. I live in an urban area. Urban folks panic when their iPhone loses signal and whine that government needs to protect them and make sure nobody jams their precious cell signal in a movie theatre.

    40. Re: Amazing by tempo36 · · Score: 1

      I honestly don't even know where to begin. If you think that drug and therapy development is free, you know so damn little about complex diseases and their treatment, you're beyond help.

      Some of the breakthroughs we're making now in oncology...so you have ANY idea how much failure came first by tons of people who genuinely want to cure these diseases? How many thousands of hours goes into the research necessary to attempt this stuff? Lest you think I'm just into hyperbole, look at CAR-T immunotherapy. There is simply no way that this kind of research and development and testing could be done without money to back it, no matter how altruistic the scientist or doctor.

      There are companies right now footing the whole bill for $100k+ treatment courses including hospital stays for a handful of patients in hopes that someday we can treat more than 5 people at a time with this stuff. And yeah, the companies are hoping they'll make a profit. And I'm hoping that we can save a few more of our lymphoma patients. Win-win.

      Screw you and your "citation needed" as if this kind of work can or even should happen for free in some guy's garage. You go get a PhD in immunology and chemistry and everything else and then donate your life to research while collecting no salary and using donated lab equipment. Have fun.

    41. Re:Amazing by friedman101 · · Score: 1

      We're giving +5 Insightful to comments which end with
      civil war. Good idea, I say: this side has all the guns, so we can push all you fuckers into the ocean.

      What has become of this place?

    42. Re: Amazing by tempo36 · · Score: 1

      I thought one of the arguments for being armed was to prevent being oppressed by the government. But you just said, essentially, the military would side with you.

      So why do you need guns to protect yourselves from the government when the white Christian military will take your side?

    43. Re: Amazing by Solandri · · Score: 4, Informative

      I've been self-employed for a while, so I've paid for my own health insurance for a couple decades. My experience mirrors OP's. My health insurance cost has increased about 2.5x since the ACA was implemented (vs 1.1068x increase in the CPI) . My deductible has gone up (though roughly in pace with CPI). Vision coverage was dropped. My prescription coverage option tripled in price. And my insurer just switched from being a PPO (I can visit any doctor in their network including multiple doctors if I want) to an EPO (I have to pick one doctor in their network, and s/he has total control over if I can visit a specialist - no real point getting this over an HMO now).

      Looking over my past premiums, there was a 18% increase from 2014 to 2015. A 24% increase from 2015 to 2016. And a 18% increase from 2016 to 2017. So that may be why your link found such a small increase in premiums. The bulk of the rise in my premiums has been since 2014, when the stats used by Factcheck.org ended. Crunching the numbers, my premiums rose 47% between 2010-2014 (average 8% per year), but 73% from 2015-2017 (average 20% per year).

      Anyway, that's just my experience. I'm curious what other people have seen.

    44. Re:Amazing by dgatwood · · Score: 1

      Really now.. Tell me, do you fix your own car? Do you grow your own food? Can you repair a toilet main? Do you know how to build a house or even a deck?

      Speaking as a city dweller, in order: Often. Occasionally. Sure, but I won't (eww; it was gross enough re-plumbing my garbage disposal). And yes, in theory, but in practice, I don't have time to do so.

      A lot of people in rural areas can be pretty self-sufficient, or at least sufficient in a small community. I live in an urban area. Urban folks panic when their iPhone loses signal and whine that government needs to protect them and make sure nobody jams their precious cell signal in a movie theatre.

      I don't think that's really true. I've actually had conversations with other people about woodworking tools in the past couple of weeks in the heart of the Bay Area. Yes, there are plenty of people I know who fit your description of urban folks, but there were plenty of folks back in rural West Tennessee who also fit that same description, and in approximately the same proportions.

      No, the main difference I've seen between folks who live in cities and folks who live in the country is that the people who live in the cities have more things to occupy their time, and aren't willing to spend it on those other things to save a few bucks unless it also saves them time.

      For example, I do minor car repairs because I can mail order a part late at night, and I can do the work myself in half an hour at my convenience; the only alternative requires working around the repair shop's inconvenient schedule and potentially wasting hours of my time waiting for a repair to be finished, or worse. The only thing I have less patience for than other people wasting my time is repair shops that charge $300 an hour for labor and then screw around with my car for a week claiming that they haven't been able to find the problem, all the while trying to scare me into replacing my car, which they conveniently sell.

      Similarly, I occasionally grow a little food for fun, but I recognize that I have neither enough space nor enough time to grow enough food to be meaningful. There are too many other demands on my time, and land costs too much. BTW, fun fact: Did you know that you can grow pole beans indoors in a planter box? The crop yield per seed sucks, but they'll grow right up your venetian blinds. But I digress.

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    45. Re:Amazing by dgatwood · · Score: 1

      That world you end up with after you push all us [expletive deleted] into the ocean isn't going to be as great as you think it is.

      Yeah. For one thing, most of us can swim.

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    46. Re:Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      anyone working a technical job has to compete with the best people from arount the world.

      Oh, fuck my sides! Good god damn! Oh shit! the sheer fucking pain of laughing so hard!!!!

      How retarded are you that the 4th nation of H1B is "the best people from around the world"!!?!?!
      Good......God.....DAMN......

    47. Re: Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In your 50s, you're less than 10 years from Medicare probably, which is a socialized program that nobody seems to complain about too much. I don't know why you're on a high deductible plan that costs so much. If you're making $50k, you should probably check out the silver plans on the exchange and get the subsidy. This is what I don't get about people complaining about the increased costs--the silver plans are pretty decent, and they are subsidized even if you make quite a bit of money. It sounds like you and a lot of other people were getting a nice ride from the employers, the state, and the insurance company didn't mind it, and now *somebody* has an incentive to screw certain blocks of people and "you're it". Either that or you just don't know how to use the system. I'm really not sure, because the whole thing is just too complicated.

      Healthcare in the US was fucked long before Obamacare. It's just that it didn't bother you because the fuckery didn't impact you. I realized it was fucked when I was in m 20s, got $5000 worth of bills from an ER visit, and couldn't verify that I was being charged properly because the fucking price list was SECRET. SECRET???? There is no other business that operates like this.

      It's a giant nest of fuckery, and Obamacare tried and failed, and Trump has about as much chance of fixing it as I do of flying through your monitor on a unicorn.

    48. Re:Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I guess once in a while there needs to be a civil war to re-teach you glorious idiots how little your personal weaponry means in the face of modern military forces. Even less now than in 1860.

      You do understand that a significant portion of our military comes from rural areas. For some, the military is a ticket out of their town, a way to get to college, or long term career choice.

      They will not stand by attacking other rural Americans. The coastal cities would lose (even from within).

      *I live in California where there are several major bases within driving distance. Most of the transfers I meet are from rural areas. You know, those "red" states with the guns.

    49. Re: Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bitter vengence is not the path to better policy.

    50. Re: Amazing by coinreturn · · Score: 1

      If you look at the data, insurance rate increases have been lower since Obamacare than before it. More people insured spreads the costs. When the GOP kills Obamacare, look for your rates to skyrocket. You will be crying for the time when more people could be insured to reduce the costs.

    51. Re:Amazing by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Good idea, I say: this side has all the guns, so we can push all you fuckers into the ocean.

      Bad news: There aren't two sides.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    52. Re: Amazing by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      So fuck your socialized healthcare that says responsible people have to pay insurance for irresponsible people that don't like to work.

      You were doing great until you went full retard.

      The problem in this scheme is the insurance companies. This is not a socialist scheme, it is a capitalist one. The law forces Americans to give money to corporations, not to the general fund. Real socialized health care wouldn't include them at all. This is not socialized health care for Americans. This is socialized health care for the poor. Like you, I can no longer afford health insurance. In fact, I can afford rent, or I can afford to comply with the ACA. Being homeless is also effectively a crime (really, a whole set of them) so the federal government is engaging in entrapment.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    53. Re: Amazing by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      I do not, though, think that anyone trying to make a buck is evil.

      Anyone trying to make a buck on health care without doing anything to provide health care is evil. That includes everyone who owns, invests in, or works for a health insurance company. It doesn't include professionals actually providing health care; they are not automatically evil; they are evil only if they are only in it for the money. Then they are certainly doing a bad job.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    54. Re: Amazing by drinkypoo · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Unfortunately, it has helped the insurance companies more than it should have, but that's called politics.

      No, that's called "The affordable care act". This was its intent from the very beginning, when republicans invented it.

      I eagerly await Mr. Trump and his Republican colleague's attempt at improving things.

      In the same way you await a train wreck? Or are you simply expecting to wait eternally? Because I have yet to see a republican attempt to improve anything.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    55. Re: Amazing by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      What I don't like is you disingenuous shitrats practically burning half the country's population in effigy and then claiming they're cruel, bigoted warmongers.

      And what we don't like, besides cruel and bigoted warmongers, is cruel and bigoted warmongers who cry about how they're being treated. Tolerance of intolerance is not tolerance, it's acceptance of abuse. We're done accepting your abuse. Cry about that if you like, your tears will be delicious.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    56. Re:Amazing by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Really now.. Tell me, do you fix your own car? Do you grow your own food? Can you repair a toilet main? Do you know how to build a house or even a deck?
      A lot of people in rural areas can be pretty self-sufficient,

      Most people who live anywhere don't know how do to any of that stuff.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    57. Re: Amazing by mjwx · · Score: 3, Informative

      Obamacare wasn't much of an answer to America's medical problems, but it is also not much of a problem. It has helped at the margins. Unfortunately, it has helped the insurance companies more than it should have, but that's called politics.

      I eagerly await Mr. Trump and his Republican colleague's attempt at improving things.

      The problem is,

      The Republicans are responsible for the state of the ACA. They stalled it and refused to pass it until it was in a sufficiently neutered state that it couldn't succeed. Basically, the current ACA is what the republicans did in an attempt to "improve" things.

      Hey, but I've lived in two nations with working universal health systems.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    58. Re: Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Trump is executive, not legislative.

    59. Re: Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No. You movement is dead. You lost. Get over it.

    60. Re: Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Slashdot is not your safe place. Maybe you should try Tumbler.

    61. Re: Amazing by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      No. You movement is dead. You lost. Get over it.

      If you think progressivism is dead in America because the electoral college selected a white supremacist cheeto with a dust bunny from beneath the couch for a hairpiece, you should think again.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    62. Re:Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Guns don't do much good when you're getting carpet-bombed from miles away.

    63. Re: Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Guess what? You got Trump instead ...

      Well, great. See how that works out for you.

    64. Re: Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Embrace. Extend. Extinguish.
      The Insurance companies -- with the help of the Republicans AND the Democrats -- EMBRACED the Affordable Care Act as a way out of their problems.
      With the help of Congress -- both sides again -- they EXTENDED insurance coverage so that all health insurance MUST accept the very old, the very sick and people with pre-existing conditions.
      Now that the Republicans are nominally in charge, the Democrats can relax enough to allow the ACA to be dissolved, thereby EXTINGUISHING all the coverage extended to the old, the very sick and people with pre-existing conditions.
      With one very small investment of cash and just eight years time the insurance companies have washed their hands of the least profitable segment of the population. Oh, they will still insure those people, but at a much, much higher rate.
      Embrace. Extend. Extinguish. It's what will make America Great Again.

    65. Re:Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, all of the above. And I do so from the heart of a city, in the shadow of a great skyline. I also own both guns and bows and I assure you that I can use them, to kill and skin a deer or a rat. I produce about 700 lb of produce a year on a few hundred sq ft. I have an elite liberal education, a STEM PhD, and vast amounts travel abroad embedded in cultures and experiences completely foreign to my own. I know the world.

      Yet, amusingly, according to some barely literate rural demographic, I am the one who lives in a bubble. Thankfully my education, experiences, and perhaps some innate craftiness, allow me to pass as one of you where necessary. I also have the patience to outlast your tantrums; you will eventually adapt to my world, one way or another.

    66. Re: Amazing by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      Slashdot is not your safe place. Maybe you should try Tumbler.

      And maybe you should try YouTube comments.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    67. Re: Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where is this magical data and where in the country is it manifesting? I literally have not met a single person who's rates haven't drastically increased since the ACA.

    68. Re: Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree with most of what you said, but I don't think you can attribute the systemic insurance (or healthcare) problems to the profit motive. About half of insurance companies are non-profits and most hospitals in the US are non-profits. As you probably know, the ACA caps insurer profits anyway, which generally does not matter because on average, health insurance is a low-profit sector. Healthcare is complex. Villains and simple solutions are hard to find. Anyone who tells you otherwise either does not understand the situation or is trying to sell something.

    69. Re: Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Looking at the URL bar in my browser says I'm not on Breitbart.

      Who gives a fuck about some other site? This is /.

      Don't toss straw man arguments around.

    70. Re: Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ObamaCare accomplishments:

      -20,000,000 more Americans have health insurance. The uninsured rate is less than 10% which is lowest in US history. This is important because uninsured people are about 25% more likely to die in any given year.

      -You can no longer be denied coverage due to preexisting conditions.

      -You can no longer be dropped from your insurance because you get sick.

      -You can no longer be dropped from your insurance because your insurance has paid too many claims for you.

      ObamaCare is wildly popular with republicans when you describe it's contents and don't call it 'ObamaCare'. Most of it was invented by very smart republicans, like Mitt Rommney and Newt G.

    71. Re: Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good. You were freeloading on a loophole that's been closed and now you're paying your fair share.

      You're welcome.

    72. Re: Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No. You movement is dead. You lost. Get over it.

      If you think progressivism is dead in America because the electoral college selected a white supremacist cheeto with a dust bunny from beneath the couch for a hairpiece, you should think again.

      But Hillary Clinton only got 2-3 million more votes than Donald Trump, who barely outperformed GWB in 2004, which means that the left is DEAD, as that MASSIVE TRUMP LANDSLIDE surged to a huge victory. HUGE I tell you. Historically Huge!

    73. Re: Amazing by Sumus+Semper+Una · · Score: 2

      Out of curiosity, do you happen to live in a state that opted not to set up its own health care exchange?

      I've noticed an interesting pattern that nobody ever seems to bring up. The OP's insurance premiums have increased dramatically, and if he really is in North Carolina, I have no reason to doubt him. But has anyone else noticed that traditionally Republican leaning states that refused to set up their own health exchanges seem to be faring the worst? For being the party that claims to trust the states to handle affairs more than the federal government, I find the irony to be palpable.

    74. Re:Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Good idea, I say: this side has all the guns, so we can push all you fuckers into the ocean."

      So much for the idea that rural people are kinder, better people than those nasty city slickers.

    75. Re: Amazing by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      which means that the left is DEAD, as that MASSIVE TRUMP LANDSLIDE surged to a huge victory. HUGE I tell you. Historically Huge!

      ITYM "yuge" HTH HAND

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    76. Re: Amazing by pnutjam · · Score: 1

      Keep telling yourself that while you read this article.
      http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/02/health/lung-cancer-vaccine-cuba/

      But I guess it's hard to keep up with an advanced nation like Cuba.

    77. Re: Amazing by Dorianny · · Score: 2

      First of all the OP was talking about employer-provided health care which is all together different then people covered directly under the ACA marketplace plans.

      Second. Comparing Private-insurance pre ACA plans with post ACA is not an apples-to-apples comparison. The ACA set requirements on the minimum plans must cover as well as ban common tactics like lifetime limits, which kept premiums down but made the plans all but useless for common but expensive ailments like heart disease and cancer. Treatment for those would easily surpass the lifetime limits and leave you liable to pay out-of-pocket until you became poor enough to qualify for Medicaid, were forced into Bankruptcy (or both).

      As per the large 2015-2017 increase you saw. That was down to compensating for the laws new requirements as well as some growing pains as insurers figured out where the premiums need to be. Since the ACA requires the %85 of premiums be spent on actual health-care this was not a simple case of profiteering by insurers. Since then as your analysis shows the increases have stabilized below the historical average

    78. Re: Amazing by pnutjam · · Score: 1

      Sure, it's not like NC sabotaged Obamacare for NC residents or anything.

    79. Re:Amazing by Altus · · Score: 1

      I don't grow much in the way of food these days, I don't have the time or interest, plus the growing season in new england is limited and intersects with times when I would prefer to travel.

      That said, I regularly work on my own car, truck and motorcycle. I have renovated both the bathroom and the kitchen in my house on my own, I can sweat pipes and run electrical, I can put up drywall and mount cabinets. I have done structural work and finish carpentry.

      Oh yeah, and I brew my own beer.

      Maybe you should consider if your impression of city dwellers is just a little bit off.

      --

      "In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson

    80. Re: Amazing by LunaticTippy · · Score: 1

      I've been buying my insurance for a long time, about 20 years. Costs have gone up ~20% nearly every year for me. Over that time my coverage has deteriorated in many ways - higher deductibles, less included as part of the plan, fewer doctors in network, etc.

      Things have slowed down since ACA, I went a year with prices about the same, and a 15% and 20% increase. So for me, the rate of increase slowed a bit.

      --
      Man, you really need that seminar!
    81. Re:Amazing by wyHunter · · Score: 1

      I'm fortunate enough to have employer provided good care. For the non-medicaid folks I know who have ACA care...they may have insurance but they can't afford the >3K deductible each year. So..do they have healthcare? Or don't they?

    82. Re:Amazing by wyHunter · · Score: 1

      Um, I live in an extremely rural area and do just that.

    83. Re: Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "but it is also not much of a problem. It has helped at the margins. "

      Huh. So those stories of HMOs declining care or enough until people died, or providing service then yanking insurance upon renewal or minor lapses weren't true? Some 30 million additionally covered, 20 million of those who worked low paying jobs and 10 million with Medicaid extensions are margins? The horror stories of insurance covered denials (what was that, ERISA?) weren't much of a problem to you.

      People complained about health care costs and increasing percentages of the population not being covered for 3 decades, and suddenly, it's not a significant problem to you now. That's some spin. When Bill Clinton came out with their health care options, which failed in the early mid-90s thanks to the Republicans, Republicans later copied that plan to counter Obamacare. (In essence, admitting there was a problem and the prior solution would have been a viable solution.) So 2 parties agreed that there was a problem, but you say it wasn't a problem.

      Obamacare was to extend coverage to more citizens, especially those in the most susceptible gap areas, such as small businesses or part-time workers who held multiple jobs that were not receiving coverage, or those who made too much to be on Medicaid. It also boosted significantly the breadth of medical coverage for children in most states (increased coverage of CHiP). It wasn't meant to solve all ills of the system. That was to progress later with additional legislation, which the Republicans stopped repeatedly in the past 5 years.

      The one area Obamacare failed in was to reduce the percent of GDP healthcare ate up. And that largely was because of concessions Democrats gave to Republicans to get them to sign on to the original plan, who then backstabbed and not one voted for the plan so they could make political hay out of it later. Most of that timebomb was because Republicans worked and weakened the law, purporting to finetune it later but never allowing it to.

      "I eagerly await Mr. Trump and his Republican colleague's attempt at improving things."

      Yeah. You believe you got a unicorn over the holidays too.

      Trump hasn't put up a signal plan for health care that hasn't been proposed or used in the past decade in some manner, all of which failed to extend coverage while healthcare GDP costs continued to rise and more and more people lost or had reduced coverage, or so simply continued not to have any sort of coverage. Whatever they come up, will be some free market dealing system that will sound good, but then in 5 years time, be manipulated to strangle the weak in this country. Same routine as Republican economies--they don't last.

    84. Re: Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "And NC has NO options, only Blue Cross. We used to have over half a dozen"

      iow, your state had providers that were gleaning the cream of the crop healthy folks to make a bunch of money not providing coverage for the bulk of the state's population. So they exited the system. Your state I'm guessing is probably Republican based and didn't participate in the full ACA options available to the state, for political purposes likely so you would hate the ACA.

      "My cost of insurance and overall healthcare went from being 5-10% of my income to over 1/3."

      iow, your employer pissed on you, and your pissed at the ACA because you didn't have leverage in your workplace against them, so you blame Obamacare.

      I don't doubt that your costs went up either, particularly in the last 2-3 years where costs were known to be capped into an average and insurance providers knew this so they gamed the system by jacking up prices so the average would be higher. (Similar to how Medicare gets gamed by hospitals saying costs of an operation is $125,000 so the average is higher despite Medicare paying the average nationally which I've seen at $38,000.)

      Was your prior insurance a benefit you wouldn't account for as income? (iow, was it covered under ERISA before.) Most employee HMO like care seems cheaper because you don't see the cost, though your employee bears it. This was one of the areas that was supposed to be fine tuned later with the ACA, but that possiblity got blocked with the Republican Congresses so the problem festered and grew. Partisanship at its best.

      "So fuck your socialized healthcare that says responsible people have to pay insurance for irresponsible people that don't like to work."

      Umm, you do that all the time anyways, when you pay that 7.5% or so FICA or whatever on your wage, your employer matches that 7.5% they would otherwise be giving you, that goes to old and por folks--Medicare and Medicaid. (If you're self-employed, you pay that 15% yourself.) Socialized medicine covers more and more efficiently than your stinking HMO or PPO ever did. And before someone says "well, that's a pay in", not really anymore, since Medicare overspent decades ago whatever the original generations put in--it's current dollars paying for the old folks care, they already blew their investments long ago.

      Also, fuck you if you are going to use that language and political spin. 2/3 of those the ACA extended coverage to work. About 1/3 is extension of Medicaid coverage to the poor and extended coverage. The ACA covers lower middle class, those who fall through the gaps, upper poor classes that made too much to be covered by Medicaid. These are people that work but cannot afford overage, particularly those with multiple part-time jobs. So your asinine delusion that these people don't work is false.

      Further, the very power of the ACA that makes it fineable and enforceable is comes from laws covering wage workers. This is why the ACA doesn't cover all Americans, because not all of them are on payrolls or do work; the ACA doesn't touch them, and those are those who don't or don't want to work. NOT the ones the ACA extends coverage to.

      "I'm fine helping those that can't help themselves, but this current bullshit is killing the middle class."

      No, people like you are.

      You've already bitched about not wanting to cover the lower middle classes. Or the upper lower classes either. That's who the ACA provides coverage to and you are decidedly against it. So why don't you stop pretending to be charitable and just say you only give a shit about yourself and maybe those like you.

      You only care about the mid to upper middle classes. And like a dog in a pack, instead of generating additional coverage by taking a fair share from those that don't pay their fair share _and can afford to_, you go after the weak. You even admit to it:

      'You know, the people making 50k a year and pay the highest percentage of their income as tax because they don't make enough to shelter it.

    85. Re: Amazing by bistromath007 · · Score: 1

      And here it is again: liberal garbage painting everyone who disagrees with them with a racist brush. I didn't vote for Trump. I don't want him. The only reason he was the Republican candidate at all is because jackoffs like you insist that all conservatives (except, of course, for the ones with a fake D after their name that say the right things at the right time like Hillary Clinton) are bigoted warmongers. I am not even a conservative. I just know better than this. Your kind have ruined the American political landscape. You have created the division which will send this nation into chaos. You have made the decision that you can just slough off half this nation's people to satisfy your warped desire for superficial ideological purity.

      Liberals are TRASH. They have made leftism untenable in America, and that is the worst crime I can imagine.

    86. Re: Amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Obamacare wasn't much of an answer to America's medical problems, but it is also not much of a problem.

      Actually, it's a huge problem.

      Fixing health care is a good thing.

      Doing it in a stupid way is a bad thing.

      Worse, pretending to fix health care while actually doing something else entirely is a really bad thing.

      The federal health care law in Canada is 18 pages - including the French translation - which means it's really about 9 pages. Straightforward and simple.

      Obama Care is almost a thousand pages of new law.

      Not only does it represent unethical practice of law on a massive scale - which in general is a huge problem for the USA in general, with very serious economic, health, and civil consequences, especially for the poor - but it also means it will be very hard to fix anything.

      A lot of loopholes, contradictions, and inconsistencies can hide in that much law - and fixing things will require endless litigation as a result.

      Worse, the US health care system still sucks for the majority of Americans. Both cost and many important measures of performance are worse than that in any other first world nation.

      Compare it to the Swiss system, for example. Their system is capitalist - but heavily regulated, with excellent performance and high user satisfaction. The average family there spends far less in a year than the average family here - and picture gets even worse for the USA when you take into account how much employers are spending on behalf of their employees. Overall, the Swiss government spends less than the USA on health care as a fraction of GDP, so they're not making up the difference in high taxes, either.

      The health insurance companies are a big part of the problem, but so are the doctors (who make 30% more than their Swiss counterparts), and the ethics problems in US law make a big problem a lot worse. Doctors in the USA routinely prescribe expensive tests that wouldn't be done in other countries, because they are afraid of being subject to a bogus malpractice suit. That fear is entirely justified - legal ethics problems in the USA are so bad that being in the right doesn't provide protection from abuse of the law.

      By not addressing these issues, and by being a poster-child example of an unethical law, Obama Care does a lot of harm.

      Basically, the legal profession, the health insurance companies, some of the doctors, and the politicians got together and decided to give people the illusion they were going to do something about health care - while continuing to leave the status quo a disaster.

      The USA either needs a single provider system, or a highly regulated system such as a Swiss model, and it desperately needs legal ethics reform.

    87. Re: Amazing by Pharmboy · · Score: 1

      Unquestionably, the system was screwed up before Obamacare. The problem is that Obamacare exempted everyone "important", like Congressmen and government employees and giant labor unions. That should be your first clue it is a rigged system designed to not lose vote but still fail.

      --
      Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
    88. Re: Amazing by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      Much of that was done after public researched named the treatment and method. Then that was "bought" by a private firm, sealed off from the public that paid for the research, and the private company just did the work to pass the FDA, and get the exclusive license from the FDA, and block all others from providing the same treatment that was discovered with public funds.

    89. Re: Amazing by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      I've talked with people in the insurance industry that controlled the policies. They said that when ACA was passed, they made every policy the worst it could possibly be under ACA, to punish their policy holders, hoping for a revolt against ACA. The oligopoly had all the carriers do the same thing, punishing the country for letting ACA pass. The barriers of entry for new insurance companies are so high, competition is impossible. So, what are you going to do?

      EPO is HMO coverage at PPO prices. Before ACA, my company policy (the cost to the company, not the employee co-pay) doubled in 3 years, then after ACA, the cost was halved. ACA halved the cost of health care for a company plan. The companies have the resources to negotiate and will shop plans annually, while individuals have a harder time comparison shopping (at least before ACA, when the marketplaces were set up). But the oligopoly and public comparison shopping allows overt and deliberate collusion without breaking any laws. Matching a competitor's published price isn't illegal collusion, when privately agreeing on the public price is. Privately agreeing to match public prices may or may not be illegal collusion, but has never been prosecuted (probably because it's so hard to prove, not because it's legal).

      Unfortunately, ACA ended my HDHP, as the company found a cheaper plan that provided more coverage, so I "lost" my HSA. My HSA is still there, but it's illegal for me to save more in the tax-exempt account (tax exempt contributions, with tax exempt withdrawals is the best tax status of any retirement account possible. I went HDHP because it was a great way to put $5k a year into the most tax-advantaged account possible, Roth is post-tax contributions with tax-free withdrawals, and 401(k) is tax-free contributions, with taxed withdrawals. But lost that with ACA, as the low-deductable plans dropped significantly under ACA, so the company chose to not select an HDHP option.

      That's another reason to abandon the employment-based health plans. Actual freedom for the consumer. I can pay a lot more for non-employer insurance (with lots of disadvantages), or pick from the 2-3 choices they offer. ACA didn't help (or hurt) this, as nothing is working on a single-payer or independent insurance plan.

    90. Re:Amazing by AK+Marc · · Score: 1
      Yes (to all, though I've never tried to build an entire house). But my father, who grew up on a farm could only fix his own car (back when there were no computers or fuel injectors), and he grew up on a farm. If they needed work done, they'd pay neighbors. Same as most rural places. Someone may get only one of those skills, and the rest they'd trade from neighbors.

      Urban folks panic when their iPhone loses signal and whine that government needs to protect them and make sure nobody jams their precious cell signal in a movie theatre.

      Just like the government protects the people if someone cuts the phone lines of someone in a rural area. Active jammers are explicitly illegal, and it's insane that you are attacking those who think they should remain so.

      The lack of generalization isn't an urban-only problem. It's a side-effect of progress, and why so many Luddites hate progress. It's impossible to be competent in every topic, though 2000 years ago, it would have been possible.

    91. Re: Amazing by tempo36 · · Score: 1

      Discovering a concept or a signaling pathway is not the same as discovering a treatment. Absolutely public funds play a role in research and have led to a lot of breakthrough work. Despite what the "moonshot" crowd believes, you can't just "want it enough" if the research groundwork hasn't been laid down. So yes, publicly funded research is also key. But saying that pharmaceutical companies are just buying "cures" and then paying to pass a bunch or red tape with the FDA is disingenuous. The reason why the FDA process, among others, is expensive and time consuming is that many of these "miracle discoveries" that come out of research never pan out their promise.

      To go back to my original example, if CAR-T was just discovered fully-baked by public funds, we wouldn't have patients dying from toxicity, we wouldn't have patients dying for lack of efficacy, we wouldn't have 100 different trials around the county because we would know exactly how it works and should be performed. We don't. We may have some of the details from the scientific research, but that is not the same as making it viable medical therapy.

      Private firms do purchase the rights to promising research from research labs. Most never pan out. That's the risk-reward game that those companies are playing.

    92. Re:Amazing by ThatOneSDGuy · · Score: 1

      I had high deductible ACA insurance for two years. During that time, my little girl broke her arm and my wife had emergency appendectomy surgery. Yes I shelled out $4500 for each of them, but thaqt was far far less that the $12,000 ER bill for my daughter and the $44,000 ( no, really) for my wife. Yes, I was insured, but the high deductible kept me fropm using the system much. Great for my provider, easy money.

    93. Re: Amazing by dywolf · · Score: 1

      So f* your socialized healthcare that says responsible people have to pay insurance for irresponsible people that don't like to work

      A) it's not people that don't like to work. its about people that couldn't get insurance, due to (pick one) preexisting conditions, lifetime coverage caps, and other fun tricks they used to deny coverage...all of which leads to B) its easy to keep costs "low" when you can keep the sick ones off insurance.

      "Low" being a relative term, because even with all that, we pay more than socialized medical systems do, systems that cover everyone, including the sick ones, by default. By some estimates eliminating the massive costs of administration of the insurance industry will ALONE save enough money to fund a national healthcare system.

      Now, we've tried it the GOP's way, using the plan they've pushed since the 70s, even if they disavow it now, about using required insurance coverage and working through the existing insurance system. And it HAS helped. Your anecdote aside ("the plural of anecdote is not data"), the data does show the rate of premium increase has SLOWED under the ACA. The uninsured rate was cut in half, and continues to fall. And of course, there's the simple fact that sick people were no longer uninsurable, unable to find coverage at any price , which saved quite a few lives. And reality is, we cant just keep the popular parts (even though there's sitting GOP congress critters who don't even want to keep those!), cause the cost of the popular stuff is offset by the cost of the unpopular!

      So yes, things on the whole are better with the ACA than without.
      And the reason the GOP has no real alternative is that any sort of healthcare reform, if working through the existing insurance industry systems, necessarily has to look rather like the ACA. So now we've done it. and the GOP disavows it, even though it was their plan dating to the 70s. The only other way to achieve the same reforms, is to essentially kill the insurance industry and institute a national healthcare system.

      --
      The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
    94. Re:Amazing by wyHunter · · Score: 1

      Yeah it's better than nothing, but still not exactly *affordable* but better than paying for all of it.

  5. three things: by turkeydance · · Score: 2

    1."The numbers of potentially excess deaths for each cause were assumed to follow a Poisson distribution..." 2."...rates are index measures that do not represent actual deaths but are appropriate for comparisons..." 3. "...nonmetropolitan areas might have characteristics that make deaths harder to prevent, such as long travel distances...".

    1. Re: three things: by bistromath007 · · Score: 2

      You mean the political bait is also basically fake news? Quelle surprise.

    2. Re:three things: by Nethemas+the+Great · · Score: 1

      ...nonmetropolitan areas might have characteristics that make deaths harder to prevent, such as long travel distances...".

      I believe that falls under the "less access to healthcare" bit.

      --
      Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once ... with negative results.
  6. Good! by DogDude · · Score: 1

    Good! They don't want health care? Let's not give them health care and let them die out. It'd be cheaper for all of us who actually pay taxes to support them.

    --
    I don't respond to AC's.
    1. Re:Good! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Funny, the same can be said about the homeless. If they don't want to learn or work let them starve and die out, it will raise the quality of life for everyone else.

    2. Re:Good! by DogDude · · Score: 1

      The homeless don't vote, en masse, to fuck over themselves and other poor people.

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
    3. Re:Good! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Look, DogShit, because someone thinks the ACA was a bad idea doesn't mean they "don't want health care". Can you not possibly see that there might be a better solution to a problem than to compound it with another problem? No, I guess not. That would be asking you to think.

    4. Re:Good! by mean+pun · · Score: 1

      And what would that better solution be then? The side that so much wants to abolish ACA has never been able to come up with an alternative. Not even something laughably impractical, but nothing, zilch, zip, nada. Thinking doesn't seems to be the strong point of these people.

    5. Re:Good! by Altus · · Score: 1

      Of course there is a better solution, its called single payer and it will not be considered by the republican congress.

      --

      "In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson

    6. Re:Good! by LunaticTippy · · Score: 1

      Single payer would be nice. Maybe we can model it after the Russian health care plan. Those in power seem to like their approach to stuff, should be a slam dunk!

      --
      Man, you really need that seminar!
  7. You don't say by tempo36 · · Score: 2

    What's that? There are compelling reasons to have government support of rural healthcare to improve access for those who cannot otherwise have access to preventative and interventional medical care? Leave it to the states and local governments to find a way to make a hospital or clinic profitable that serves a population of hundreds or a few thousand?

    Nah...just have people drive hundreds of miles, I'm sure that will work out.

  8. Obviously... by Stormy+Dragon · · Score: 1

    God-fearing country folk have down so well at shunning them heathen city types with their satanic "medical science" that Jaysus is rewarding their faith by bringing them to Heaven faster.

    1. Re:Obviously... by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 1

      And people like you harp on and on about stereotypes and prejudice.

      Not so much about hypocrisy, one would hope. But then that can recurse nicely as long as you just live in denial.

    2. Re:Obviously... by tsotha · · Score: 1

      This is why you get Trump.

    3. Re:Obviously... by Stormy+Dragon · · Score: 1

      "I am standing on a fire escape in 1945, reaching out to stop my father, take the cogs and flywheels from him, piece them all together again... but it's too late, always has been, always will be too late."

    4. Re:Obviously... by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

      Then again, they get Trump, too.
      You seem to view elections as a kind of a competition sports game, but it isn't. It sets policies for the next few years, hence voting out of spite is stupid. And given that Trump's policies will harm his voters way more than they will harm prosperous urbanites - and seriously, worst thing that might happen to a typical well-off city dweller during Trump years would be living with the thought that the president of their country is a goddamn clown - a hillbilly having voted for Trump out of spite is, in fact, double stupid and pretty much proves GP's point.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    5. Re:Obviously... by tsotha · · Score: 1

      Then again, they get Trump, too.

      True, though it will work out better for them than the alternative.

      You seem to view elections as a kind of a competition sports game, but it isn't.

      You seem to build elaborate fantasies about other people who leave comments. How about we stick to what's written?

      It sets policies for the next few years, hence voting out of spite is stupid. And given that Trump's policies will harm his voters way more than they will harm prosperous urbanites - and seriously, worst thing that might happen to a typical well-off city dweller during Trump years would be living with the thought that the president of their country is a goddamn clown - a hillbilly having voted for Trump out of spite is, in fact, double stupid and pretty much proves GP's point.

      Well, I suppose that's one way you can look at it, if you think that's the case. Personally, I think Hillary Clinton would have been a disaster of epic proportions. Trump wasn't my first choice for the Republican nomination by a long shot, but by election day he was the second worst. I don't think anyone voted for Trump out of spite, though you could hardly blame them if they did, since the attitude that seems to be permeating the government-media-academia axis holds that people who don't live within a few hundred miles of an ocean are somehow both safe to ignore and too stupid to look out for their own interests. Neither is true, by the way, as the Democrats (and a lot of Republicans) discovered in November.

    6. Re:Obviously... by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

      True, though it will work out better for them than the alternative.

      ORLY? Because every time republicans ruled, poverty went up, not down. And Trump, being a republican and a clown at the same time, is quite a combo.

      since the attitude that seems to be permeating the government-media-academia axis holds that people who don't live within a few hundred miles of an ocean are somehow both safe to ignore and too stupid to look out for their own interests. Neither is true, by the way, as the Democrats (and a lot of Republicans) discovered in November.

      Actually both is true, and this is exactly what the election has shown. Trump's policies will be by the rich and for the rich, and paid for by everyone else, which is why they are too stupid to look out for their own interests (well, that and what the TFA is about is also very much a proof), and as for being safe to ignore - like I have mentioned, for the "government-media-academia axis", republican rule would only cause some butthurt, but no real downsides, since this "axis" is usually well-off. Like Bertold Brecht once wrote, "only the most stupid of calves vote for their own butcher".

      Matter of fact, since I live far away from that particular circus, and since I consider USA becoming weaker being a good thing, I am pretty happy with Trump being the president, but you know, "someone is wrong on the internet".

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    7. Re:Obviously... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Personally, I think Hillary Clinton would have been a disaster of epic proportions.

      Hillary Clinton was a status quo candidate. She would have given us more of the same. That would be bad, that would even be evil, but it would still be better than what we're getting out of a Trump presidency already. Anyone who believes that a Trump presidency isn't a larger disaster than a Clinton presidency has clearly skipped their meds and their opinions can safely be ignored, although they cannot safely be ignored as they are probably some kind of spectacular nutjob and you shouldn't turn your back on them, even for a second.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    8. Re:Obviously... by radl33t · · Score: 1

      you throw around that word evil way to much.

    9. Re:Obviously... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      you throw around that word evil way to much.

      I save it for people trying to harm people for their own benefit, but there's plenty of examples. I don't apply it, for example, to people who don't know the difference between "to" and "too". They're merely an annoyance.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    10. Re:Obviously... by tsotha · · Score: 1

      ORLY? Because every time republicans ruled, poverty went up, not down.

      Demonstrably untrue.

      Actually both is true, and this is exactly what the election has shown.

      No, it is not true, and you had better understand that if you ever want to see a Democrat in the White House again.

    11. Re:Obviously... by tsotha · · Score: 1

      Anyone who believes that a Trump presidency isn't a larger disaster than a Clinton presidency has clearly skipped their meds and their opinions can safely be ignored, although they cannot safely be ignored as they are probably some kind of spectacular nutjob and you shouldn't turn your back on them, even for a second.

      Yeah, yeah, anyone who disagrees with you is a nutjob. All 100 million plus. Have you ever stepped back and listened to yourself?

    12. Re:Obviously... by radl33t · · Score: 1

      At least we settled one thing; preaching childish notions of evil and deriding casual grammar mistakes on the internet have about the same level of impact.

  9. Translation by Orgasmatron · · Score: 3, Funny

    Rural is the greek word for "Not close to an ambulance"

    --
    See that "Preview" button?
    1. Re:Translation by dugancent · · Score: 1

      I live in a very rural county with 81.2 people per square mile and a square milage of over 500. Not a single person lives more than 10 mins from an ambulance.

      --
      SJWs are the new boogeyman. -Me
    2. Re:Translation by bobthesungeek76036 · · Score: 2

      I live in a rural area too. My mother-in-law had a stroke a few years back. By the time the ambulance got there, loaded her up, started the IV, and got to the hospital, the time had elapsed to give her whatever that anti-stroke drug is. Now she's paralyzed on her left side. Don't tell me distance isn't a factor...

      --
      Karma: Bad
    3. Re:Translation by EvilSS · · Score: 1

      10 minutes can be a long wait for an ambulance. Then once you are in it, what kind of hospital are you going to end up in? I don't even live in an area I consider rural but the closest hospital to me is really no more than a heliport for the university hospitals in the major metro 30 miles away. And having been in their ED I'd be concerned about being treated there for more than an ingrown toenail anyway.

      --
      I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
    4. Re:Translation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ha! I lived in a city where there were a lot of places it'd take 10-15 minutes, if not more, for an ambulance to reach you due to the overwhelming number of asshole drivers.

    5. Re: Translation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I waited 25 mins for a medic in downtown Chicago when I was one business trip and my appendix ruptured.

    6. Re:Translation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I also live in a very rural county, and am 45 miles from the nearest ambulance. The closest hospital is 70 miles away. The closest hospital with any kind of specialist is around 250 miles away.

    7. Re:Translation by MBGMorden · · Score: 1

      I lived in a very rural area and anyone who had to call an ambulance needed to be prepared for a ~45 minute wait. And that's assuming it wasn't busy because in the entire county (which is larger than the state of Rhode Island) we had around a dozen ambulances total.

      --
      "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
    8. Re:Translation by tsotha · · Score: 1

      My great uncle had a heart attack and drove himself forty miles to the nearest hospital, because the ambulance wasn't running that day. Shit happens.

      On the other hand, when I was living in Southern California you could show up to the emergency room and wait six or seven hours to be seen on a Friday night because of all the shooting and car crash victims that skipped past you.

    9. Re:Translation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Rural is also code for "didn't get the funding that the urban hospitals got." If you live near a good medical school, but not near an urban center (e.g., the University of Virginia), then you're probably going to be okay.

    10. Re:Translation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Rural is also code for "didn't get the funding that the urban hospitals got."

      Funny - my guidebook says it's code for "doesn't serve nearly enough people to get the same level of funding that urban hospitals get".

    11. Re:Translation by Altus · · Score: 1

      Anecdote: When I was a kid one of the 2 staff surgeons at my local (small) hospital did a really shitty job on my ingrown toenail. I'm not sure I would trust them for that either

      --

      "In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson

  10. Re:Smoking by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Most rural people smoke and are overweight.

    No. Smoking and obesity are higher in rural areas. But the majority are not smokers nor obese.

    "open areas" to exercise in

    If you live in the city, there are plenty of places to walk to, and even if you have a car, finding parking is a hassle. The bigger the city, the fewer fat people you see. In NYC, even the chefs are skinny. But if you live on a soybean farm in Iowa, anyplace you want to go is too far to walk. So you drive.

  11. Hold my beer and watch this by nobuddy · · Score: 1

    "12,000 from unintentional injuries;"

    Otherwise known as "Hey y'all, watch this" syndrome

    1. Re:Hold my beer and watch this by Deep+Esophagus · · Score: 1

      No, "Y'all watch this" is an intentional injury. This article only addresses unintentional injuries.

  12. In other words this is the real America by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The life expectancy you can find in the cities just obscures the fact that the rest of the country is suffering as bad as the rest of the world.

  13. The Cause by sexconker · · Score: 1

    The cause is fracking.

  14. Among these causes are ... by PPH · · Score: 1

    falling into a combine harvester.

    getting caught in a tractor PTO.

    falling into a hay baler.

    carrying aluminum irrigation pipe under a power line.

    falling into a grain silo.

    Not considered in study: Any activity preceded by "Hey! Watch this!"

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
    1. Re:Among these causes are ... by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Where I work, in an urban area, the dangerous machinery is concentrated and people know how to use it. Also, if there is an accident, somebody will find out and the hospital is not that far away.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  15. Walking in rural area. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    I grew up on a farm. when the weather was decent you could walk a lot outdoors. But if it was raining it could take a while until the ground was firm enough to walk on. That could go on for weeks sometimes even during the summer. During winter and spring the ground could be wet every where all the time. The instance the ground drys out in the spring is usually time to plant.

    1. Re:Walking in rural area. by Hylandr · · Score: 1

      +1 insightful to this. It's true.

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
  16. 35+ miles to nearest doctor or pharmacy approved by WolphFang · · Score: 1

    I wonder how much things like "35+ miles to nearest doctor or pharmacy approved by government approved healthcare" factors in? Especially for those with any type of transportation challenges.

    --
    leather-dog muksihs
    Blog: @muksihs
  17. Urban death causes? by manu0601 · · Score: 1

    You ought to die of something. If odds are lower to die from heart disease, cancer and accident in urban areas, then what are the risks in the city?

    1. Re:Urban death causes? by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

      If odds are lower to die from heart disease, cancer and accident in urban areas, then what are the risks in the city?

      Lead poisoning. In Flint, it's in the water. In Chicago, it's in 9mm slug form.

      If you get shot in the heart, does that count as heart disease . . . ?

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    2. Re:Urban death causes? by manu0601 · · Score: 1

      If you get shot in the heart, does that count as heart disease . . . ?

      But the policeman said it was an accident!

    3. Re:Urban death causes? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Assault, Gunfire (criminals), gunfire (cops), weird disease from homeless man, stress, suicide.

    4. Re:Urban death causes? by belthize · · Score: 1

      The same, simply lower. While crime is higher in urban areas it's still statistically insignificant compared to natural causes and more than offset by the increased death rate from accidents (like car crashes) which are more likely to be fatal due to the poorer health care.

  18. textbook example of how to get statistics wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Get the sample sufficiently small and then you damned lies statistics

  19. CDC recommendations by Nethemas+the+Great · · Score: 0

    The CDC suggests to help close the gap, health care providers in rural areas can: Screen patients for high blood pressure; Increase cancer prevention and early detection; Encourage physical activity and healthy eating; Promote smoking cessation; Promote motor vehicle safety; Engage in safer prescribing of opioids for pain.

    I assume this is a joke. It can't be anything else.

    Even if they can afford to go to a health care provider. Even if they did regularly visit a provider for health screening. I would pretty much expect their doc isn't telling them to chain smoke and binge on Twinkies and beer. So even satisfying the really big IFs, these folk are still quite unlikely to listen to their doctor telling them their lifestyle isn't advantageous any more than they will listen to us p**sy liberal socialists from the urban centers of the country telling them their lifestyle/worldview isn't particularly advantageous.

    --
    Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once ... with negative results.
    1. Re:CDC recommendations by tsotha · · Score: 1

      Why do you assume this is all lifestyle related? There are a lot of people out there who don't go to the doctor unless something hurts, particularly people without much money. You don't have to have poor health habits to get hypertension or diabetes; they just make it more likely.

    2. Re:CDC recommendations by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Why do you assume this is all lifestyle related? There are a lot of people out there who don't go to the doctor unless something hurts, particularly people without much money.

      And now there are even more of them thanks to the ACA. The poor don't have coverage for anything other than emergency care, because they still can't find a primary care physician who will see them. The middle class can no longer afford anything but emergency care, because both premiums and deductibles have skyrocketed. It's cheaper to buy a plane ticket than it is to pay my premium. It's cheaper to buy health care in a foreign country than it is to pay the resulting deductible. The wealthy were unaffected by the ACA because they can afford to opt out.

      The people benefiting the most from the ACA after insurance companies are homeless transsexuals. I'm not against them having health care, but I feel that a plan that serves such a small slice of the population to the detriment of all others is flawed.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    3. Re:CDC recommendations by Nethemas+the+Great · · Score: 1

      Not going to a doc for annuals is a lifestyle choice.

      --
      Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once ... with negative results.
    4. Re:CDC recommendations by tsotha · · Score: 1

      Only someone who's financially comfortable could even think this.

  20. Re:Thanks Obama! by germansausage · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I saw some Trump voters being interviewed on TV yesterday, and they were quite certain that Trump was not just going to repeal Obamacare, he was going to replace it with something cheaper and better. I'll be curious to see how he manages that.

  21. Good. by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    Maybe I'm just being bitter, but after 30 years of them putting people in charge who oppose extending healthcare to all well, they made their bed (and mine). Go sleep in it.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Good. by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 1

      Who is this 'they' you refer to? The stereotypes you laugh at on Tee Vee?

  22. Re:35+ miles to nearest doctor or pharmacy approve by avandesande · · Score: 1

    More importantly the 5,000 deductible on each family member. Does Obamacare really help broke-ass people get medical care?

    --
    love is just extroverted narcissism
  23. Golly Gee... by cirby · · Score: 1

    You mean when someone has a problem with something like a heart attack or a major injury, being an extra hour away from an emergency room could make a difference in survival rates?

    Do tell, Sherlock.

  24. OK by Camel+Pilot · · Score: 4, Interesting

    OK I see your point regarding disputing with insurance companies... which leads me believe that the ACA was on the right path with defining certain standards that insurance companies have meet which reduces the number of loop holes found in complex cases. Yeah insurance now cost more but it is better insurance as the average joe doesn't read the fine print.

    I read recently about a man who had cancer and was treated and was in remission. The wife was worried about lifetime maximums in case it came back... they called their insurance company and were relieved to hear the words that there are no more life time maximums thanks to the ACA.

    1. Re:OK by drinkypoo · · Score: 3

      which leads me believe that the ACA was on the right path with defining certain standards that insurance companies have meet

      Wrong. No track which includes the insurance companies is the right track. They are evil, and should be destroyed. They have no reason to exist but to profit from the suffering of others. Remember when people were all worried about "Death Panels" that the ACA would supposedly create? Those people are spectacularly stupid useful idiots. We already have death panels. They are called "insurance companies".

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  25. Re:Thanks Obama! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It wouldn't be too hard to create a more efficient public healthcare system that makes actual sense. The current one is heavily compromised by the politics behind getting it passed to begin with.

    To start off, don't rely on private insurance providers or push any responsibilities out to individual states.

  26. Re:Not all rural areas by hackwrench · · Score: 1

    And you probably live near the coasts or a major river.

  27. Re: Taxes by hackwrench · · Score: 1

    I don't know. The reason Chicago is so big is that it is on a major river and I don't know how much taxes are made on activities related to that.

  28. Only if you want to die of rarer causes by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 1

    Escape rural American lifestyle as soon as you can.

    Only if you want to die of something less common. While the article is suggestive that the life expectancy of rural americans is shorter it never actually says that which suggests that they do not have the evidence to make such a claim. So if it does not make any difference to the average life expectancy do you really care whether you end up dying from a stroke instead of a rare form of cancer?

    1. Re:Only if you want to die of rarer causes by tsotha · · Score: 1

      I was wondering about that too. Maybe rural people live long enough to die of lifestyle diseases because they don't have to deal with urban violence.

    2. Re:Only if you want to die of rarer causes by radl33t · · Score: 1

      a preposterous hypothesis for anyone that has even a passing familiarity at mortality figures. random violence isn't a significant health concern anywhere in the US, even southside chicago. Unless perhaps you include accidental rural gun deaths.

  29. Racism Strikes Again! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh, wait...never mind.

  30. BULLSHIT!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I moved from OC/LA to a rural areas. People here are healthier, actually skinny, and overall happier. It gets dark here, which is good for my health. It's cooler here, which is better for my health. The food here is actually fresh and tastes way better here, which is better for my health. I lost over 40 pounds after I moved here and I feel better than I have in a long time.

    Oh noooos, I better move back to the city, so I can breath lots of smog( The black stuff from exhaust that sticks to everything!!! ), live next to lots of unfriendly people, and eat food that defines freshness by how many weeks after it was trucked in.

    I see this article as nothing more than propaganda( fake-news. ) And fuck the political morons that have infested this site with their stupidity.

    1. Re:BULLSHIT!!! by radl33t · · Score: 1

      Second funniest comment on this thread.

  31. Re:Thanks Obama! by amiga3D · · Score: 1

    I doubt it'll be hard. A lot of people had something cheaper and better before. Obamacare is better than nothing and that's about all I can say for it. Unless you're young and healthy and then nothing is actually better.

  32. Karma is a bitch by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

    Rural Americans At Higher Risk From Five Leading Causes of Death: CDC

    Darwinian evolution at work.

    And before you throw, "What are you liberal city-dwellers gonna do when there aren't any rural dumbfucks left to grow your food", you should realize that the industry that's being automated faster than any other is agriculture.

    Your time is up.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
    1. Re:Karma is a bitch by moeinvt · · Score: 1

      The supply chain and the resources are far more critical than production. Your food still gets trucked in from rural areas. Your big cities, especially the ones in the West, also have vulnerable electrical grids because the power is delivered by a few main lines. i.e. it wouldn't take much sabotage to put many of you in the dark. Then, there are the places where water must be pumped in over great distances. A week-long supply chain and utility interruption and you city scum will be cannibalizing each other or fleeing into the countryside. And we have enough weapons and ammo to kill all of you 10x over.

      Don't get into a pissing contest with rural America.

      P.S.
      Many of the big cities are near the oceans. If you believe all the dire "global warming" prognostications, what are you going to do when your cities are under water?

    2. Re:Karma is a bitch by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      it wouldn't take much sabotage to put many of you in the dark.

      Rural Americans would have to wean themselves off the oxycontin and get out of their mobility scooters in order to commit "sabotage", so I'm not particularly worried.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    3. Re:Karma is a bitch by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      Don't get into a pissing contest with rural America.

      Also, don't get into a pissing contest with Donald Trump, because he's into that sort of thing, apparently.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    4. Re:Karma is a bitch by radl33t · · Score: 1

      Swing that dick, you illiterate clown. Funniest fucking post on this thread and I've read them all.

  33. Well it's a good thing... by tylersoze · · Score: 1

    Well it's a good thing they voted for someone that will improve their healthcare. Oh wait...

    1. Re:Well it's a good thing... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well it's a good thing they voted for someone that will improve their healthcare. Oh wait...

      Decent jobs already coming back to rural areas, so......yeah!

    2. Re:Well it's a good thing... by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      You are predicting that Trump's changes or alternatives to "Obamacare" will be inferior? On what basis do you make this future-looking statement?

  34. Re: Thanks Obama! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Unless you're young and healthy and then nothing is actually better.

    Yes, if you're not sick, why would you pay for a hospital or doctor?

    Just like if your house isn't burning, you don't need the fire department, and that's the problem.

    It's easy to be a carefree grasshopper in summer, but winter always comes, and it turns out bad health can strike in an instant.

    What to do, what to do.

    Lots of answers to that question. None of them are without cost. What will you pay?

  35. They missed the third most common cause. by durrr · · Score: 1

    Medical errors kill more people than respiratory problems.

    1. Re:They missed the third most common cause. by radl33t · · Score: 1

      I am sure rural clinics and hospitals are staffed by the highest quality personnel, not the overly educated liberal types with too much worldly experience, either.

  36. Who won the last Civil War? by Brannon · · Score: 1

    nt

    1. Re:Who won the last Civil War? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Republicans.

  37. Re:Thanks Obama! by tsotha · · Score: 1

    They believe that because that's what he's been saying. It's not impossible, either - the system is so bad right now you could only make it worse by instituting price controls.

  38. also by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Also more likely to vote Republican.

  39. Big surprise, you don't like the science... by Brannon · · Score: 0

    so you're just going to ignore it. Enjoy your heart disease & diabetes.

    Also, thanks for voting to give me a tax cut paid for by you losing your health care.

    1. Re:Big surprise, you don't like the science... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So you admit Obamacare is a tax and therefore unconstitutional? Glad we're on the same page.

  40. WTF? Do you really believe that? by Brannon · · Score: 1, Insightful

    "They" provide fuel, food, and electricity because "we" pay them money for it. And, by the way, "They" are large conglomerate farms, refineries, and power plants owned by people who live in NY/Chicago/SF/LA and who hire inbred hicks to do the actual work.

    1. Re:WTF? Do you really believe that? by Hylandr · · Score: 1

      Can't tell if you're a troll or serious.

      Yes you pay them, and not enough. And no, if you spent any amount of time outside your world of fiction you would learn that farm owners and operators are not inbred hicks.

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    2. Re:WTF? Do you really believe that? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and potentially figure out that a lot of us don't eat mega farm food. Nearly 100% of my food supply is grown within 50 miles of my home by small farms and community supported agriculture co-ops.

      Always fun to see how ignorant the hyper intelligent city dwellers are.

  41. Re:Thanks Obama! by Eunuchswear · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It wouldn't be too hard to create a more efficient public healthcare system that makes actual sense..

    In any place in the world except America.

    --
    Watch this Heartland Institute video
  42. Re:35+ miles to nearest doctor or pharmacy approve by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes. If the people are actually broke, their healthcare is free. If they can afford some care but not much, they get tax credits to greatly reduce burden.

  43. Cancer prevention? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What, kill yourself?

  44. Re:Thanks Obama! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You are confused. A single random person interviewed on TV does not set the POTAS policies.

  45. Re: Thanks Obama! by khallow · · Score: 1

    It's easy to be a carefree grasshopper in summer, but winter always comes

    In about 50 years. "Carefree grasshopper" also has on average more money for retirement (or self-insuring against bad health for that matter) when they're not paying for older peoples' health care.

  46. Just listen to yourself... by Xenographic · · Score: 1

    Darwinian evolution at work.
    [...]
    rural dumbfucks

    You're acting bigoted, stereotyping a huge group of people, and wishing for them to die.

    Is that really the sort of person you want to be?

    1. Re:Just listen to yourself... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      You're acting bigoted, stereotyping a huge group of people, and wishing for them to die.
      Is that really the sort of person you want to be?

      Welcome to Slashdot! Etc.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Just listen to yourself... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes. I am ubermensch and my time has come.

    3. Re:Just listen to yourself... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Darwinian evolution at work.
      [...]
      rural dumbfucks

      You're acting bigoted, stereotyping a huge group of people, and wishing for them to die.

      Is that really the sort of person you want to be?

      Seems to me like giving them a taste of their own medicine.

  47. Smoking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The fact that so many people STILL smoke today, knowing all we know about smoking, amazes and saddens me.

    The fact that so many smokers still smoke around strangers in public e.g. sitting on a restaurant patio, making a cloud of stinky nasty crap around people trying to enjoy a nice meal, really annoys me.

  48. Re:Thanks Obama! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Clearly, Obamacare is the reason for this and since rural voters supported Trump,..."

    I see, you want to add 'stupidity' to the list.

  49. Clearly you havent been to Philadelphia... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wow. Clearly you haven't been to Philadelphia or other major urban cities where many people are as large as the double wide---smoking and eating like there was no tomorrow.

  50. Re:Thanks Obama! by Hasaf · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The problem is that the focus is on the wrong word. You even used the word. The word you used was "healthcare." The problem is that the word being used when the law is being worked on is not, "care," it is ,"insurance.

    The emphasis remains to provide insurance, with the assumption that care will follow. The focus needs to be on healthcare.

    If it cuts out a huge slice of profit for a small number of people employed in health insurance, that must be viewed as the cost of increasing national efficiency in providing health care.

  51. "older and sicker" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "...tend to be OLDER and sicker than their urban counterparts..." (my emphasis) Rural people being "older" says a lot more than everything else in the list. If urban people die younger, that's not a very good selling point. If urban people move to the country after getting sick from breathing all that smog and drinking chlorinated, fluoridated, trihalomethane filled tap water, that could be part of the problem. And don't forget that farms are rural. Not many farms in the suburbs. Pesticides have warning labels for a reason, often suggesting the use of safety equipment when spraying them. In my opinion, this isn't so much a matter of lifestyle nor medical care availability. This is an issue of chemicals put on our crops and in our tap water for the specific purpose of killing organisms we don't want there. But rather than risk retaliation from major industries, it's played up as being about exercise and seatbelt use...

    1. Re:"older and sicker" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People LIVING in rural areas are older than people LIVING in urban areas. People DIE in rural areas younger than they DIE in urban areas. Urban areas have higher proportions of younger people not because people die in cities before they get old, but because younger people have been leaving rural areas in high numbers to move to where the jobs are (and in some cases because small towns full of old people can be stultifying if you have any interests outside of church, farming, hunting, and fishing).

  52. Re: Thanks Obama! by Gonoff · · Score: 1

    "Carefree grasshopper" also has on average more money for retirement (or self-insuring against bad health for that matter)

    Except that they are using it to pay mortgages, rent, fuel, food or whatever.

    --
    I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
  53. Re:35+ miles to nearest doctor or pharmacy approve by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    Yes. If the people are actually broke, their healthcare is free. If they can afford some care but not much, they get tax credits to greatly reduce burden.

    Maybe. Unless they live in California and are self-employed, then they can make more than 4x the federal poverty level and still be broke, and unable to afford to comply with the ACA. Some of us can afford either rent, or to pay our premiums. And then, I can't afford the deductible anyway. It is literally cheaper for me to fly to another country for health care.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  54. Dude, people think Obamacare != ACA by luis_a_espinal · · Score: 1

    I saw some Trump voters being interviewed on TV yesterday, and they were quite certain that Trump was not just going to repeal Obamacare, he was going to replace it with something cheaper and better. I'll be curious to see how he manages that.

    Dude, there are people who think they'll be safe from the Obamacare repeal because they are covered by the ACA.

    Watch and weep:

    https://twitter.com/HelenKennedy/status/818522209283178498/photo/1

  55. Re:Thanks Obama! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Easy: he'll drop the mandate while keeping all the popular provisions, like no pre-existing conditions. Then we can watch as the system collapses in on itself.

    Alternatively, it's Trump: he'll just say everything is better without doing anything, and his supporters will believe him.

  56. Small towns are small by Nastee · · Score: 0

    because no one wants to live there. also. stupid people live there.

  57. Re: Thanks Obama! by radl33t · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Excellent example. For fun, I track all insurance spending and compare it to that amount that would sit in my index funds. I am only 32, but, minus claims, I would have $104,000+ sitting in an account right now from car, home, and medical insurance. It would be significantly more because, approximately 65% of that could have been tax advantaged. That is after subtracting my single ~28K medical claim, which, funny enough, may have killed me without 5 minute access to a level 1 trauma center.

  58. Re:Thanks Obama! by Altus · · Score: 1

    Your absolutely correct... unless they are interviewing Putin.

    --

    "In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson

  59. Holy Fuck by sycodon · · Score: 1

    Yet another "study" that presumes to suggest that one life style is better than another and intentionally tinge the lifestyles the authors either don't live or approve of.

    If this effort was done with Federal funds, the authors should be in jail for wasting taxpayer's money.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    1. Re:Holy Fuck by radl33t · · Score: 1

      More money to sycodon, what does his gut say about the issue?

  60. Re:Thanks Obama! by cayenne8 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    To start off, don't rely on private insurance providers or push any responsibilities out to individual states.

    The trouble with your proposed solution, would be taking even more power away from the states, where constitutionally, the most power in the US is supposed to reside.

    --
    Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
  61. Not the pesticides.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And just like the bees who are going extinct, this has absolutely nothing to do with pesticides. /s

  62. Can't live in the city, can't live in the country by zerofoo · · Score: 1

    Living near busy roads is bad for you too:

    http://www.lung.org/our-initia...

    Maybe this is why people like living in the suburbs?

  63. Re:Thanks Obama! by ranton · · Score: 1

    It wouldn't be too hard to create a more efficient public healthcare system that makes actual sense. The current one is heavily compromised by the politics behind getting it passed to begin with.

    To start off, don't rely on private insurance providers or push any responsibilities out to individual states.

    While I agree with everything you just said, both of your proposed solutions are the exact opposite of the Republican platform on healthcare reform. That isn't hyperbole, the core of their plan is to increase reliance on private insurance and push more responsibility to the states.

    --
    -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
  64. Re:Thanks Obama! by Enigma2175 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    While I agree with everything you just said, both of your proposed solutions are the exact opposite of the Republican platform on healthcare reform. That isn't hyperbole, the core of their plan is to increase reliance on private insurance and push more responsibility to the states.

    Indeed, the Republican platform is to funnel even more money to private insurance. In fact, Paul Ryan's Medicare "reform" plan is to push all Medicare recipients onto private plans (but still paid for by the government, via vouchers) so that the private companies can make even more profits. According to this article, Medicare administrative costs are about 2% of operating expenditures while private insurance runs about 17%. This doesn't include marketing or profits for the private insurance, with those items the overhead is 20-25%. So up to a quarter if the money paid for insurance to these companies doesn't even go to actual care and Ryan wants to push our our seniors into that environment, while the rest of us pay for it (or don't, just run up the debt some more). Ryan's plan would be a huge government handout to the insurance companies, even larger than Obamacare, which was a MASSIVE insurance company handout. As this article observes, the Republican base are the exact people who would benefit most from lower-cost healthcare but for some reason in every election they manage to vote against their own self-interest. It's just mind-boggling, it seems like they would be willing to set their own world on fire rather than see a single person get something from the government that they didn't "deserve".

    --

    Enigma

  65. How are taxes unconstitutional? by Brannon · · Score: 1

    The Constitution specifically grants Congress the authority to levy taxes.

    Fucking mouth-breathing morons.

    1. Re:How are taxes unconstitutional? by jp_832 · · Score: 0

      The Constitution specifically forbids direct unapportioned taxes on anything other than income.

  66. Re: Thanks Obama! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In about 50 years. "Carefree grasshopper" also has on average more money for retirement (or self-insuring against bad health for that matter) when they're not paying for older peoples' health care.

    Of course. Hence why it's insurance.

    My home insurance will most likely be a net loss for me - I'll never get back what I've paid into it.

    My auto insurance will most likely be a net loss for me - I'll never get back what I've paid into it.

    My health insurance will most likely be a net loss for me - I'll never get back what I've paid into it.

    That's the whole point of insurance. Insurance is about rare but catastrophic cases - house burning down, horrific automobile accident, needing a heart transplant, etc.

    Since insurance is about spreading the risk around a pool if the insured, most people who pay insurance will not get back what they pay in.

  67. Re:Thanks Obama! by Gavagai80 · · Score: 1

    Mexico will pay for it.

    --
    This space intentionally left blank
  68. very rural? by iwaybandit · · Score: 1

    By your figures, your county's population is over 40k. I'm a bit more out in the woods, 4k of us sitting on 740 sq. miles. Take a look at Hinsdale County. I need to check that area out, it's getting crowded around here.

    1. Re:very rural? by dugancent · · Score: 1

      Your calculation is correct, but I should add that about 20k people are in two towns, one in the center and one in the northern edge. I live in the southern edge of the county. My closest neighbor is around a mile away.

      --
      SJWs are the new boogeyman. -Me
  69. FTFY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Obamacare wasn't much of an answer to America's medical problems, but it is also not much of a problem. It has helped at the margins. Unfortunately, it has helped the insurance companies more than it should have, but that's called politics.

    I eagerly await Mr. Trump and his Republican colleague's "attempt" at improving things.

    FTFY

    1. Re:FTFY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Obamacare wasn't much of an answer to America's medical problems, but it is also not much of a problem. It has helped at the margins. Unfortunately, it has helped the insurance companies more than it should have, but that's called politics.

      I eagerly await Mr. Trump and his Republican colleague's attempt at "improving" things.

      Another way it could have been said.

  70. Re:Thanks Obama! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Improving health care is kind of pointless if you don't make it accessible. I don't really give a fuck how much better outcomes are for people who can afford health care if I cannot afford it myself.

  71. This is Fake News by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    First if residents in Rural communities are older than Urban communities. doesn't that mean people in rural communities are healthier ?
    There's more stuff to do in rural suburbia. Less air pollution too.

    I can't fly my drone in an urban area. I can't park my wrangler in the summer with the top and doors off in an urban area.

  72. Re: Thanks Obama! by LunaticTippy · · Score: 1

    People don't get insurance because it is cheaper than paying for stuff. Insurance is, by definition, more expensive than paying for stuff. You are paying for all the stuff, plus the insurance companies overhead/profit/advertising.

    The thing is, things like house fires, car explosions, and 28K medical claims cost more than most people keep handy. So even though it is more expensive overall, it can make more sense to pay more but chop it up into little monthly payments.

    --
    Man, you really need that seminar!
  73. Re: Thanks Obama! by amiga3D · · Score: 1

    Under Obamacare though, you can choose to not get insurance and pay the penalty. Considering how expensive the insurance is you'll save thousands. Invest that money instead of pissing it away. Now when you turn 55 and find out you have prostate cancer, go get insurance. No pre-existing conditions problem under Obamacare so no problem. You have your cake and get to eat it too.

  74. You are an idiot by luis_a_espinal · · Score: 1

    Let's see - I have gigabit internet, satellite TV, 4G cell service, acres of land and a house that would cost you millions, and no traffic or crime in this rural American lifestyle as you call it.

    I actually know my neighbors, the mayor of the town, the sheriff, and I participate in my community. My kids go to decent schools with normal people and not the psychotics that live in major cities. Despite the article above we have good health care and actually know our doctors who even make house calls. We grow a lot of our own food and have easy access to hunting. When the shit hits the fan you will be starving.

    So no thanks. Keep your city lifestyle.

    Well, I'm going to reply to your stupid generalization with a couple of facts: that Rural America, in particular in the Bible Belt, is drowning in a heroin epidemic and suffering from teen pregnancy at rates not seeing in urban areas. That towns in Rural America, despite the little bubbles here and there that make the life you describe possible, they are not economically viable and that nothing will prevent its depopulation.

    Congratulations that you have a great life for you to enjoy, but get your head out of your ass if you think normal people predominantly live in rural areas with cities being nothing but havens for the psychotic.

    This is the type of mentality by which people end up looking at rural folks as a bunch of encapsulated rubes. There is a richness of life both on rural and urban Americas, and it would serve you well to learn about them both.

  75. Re:Thanks Obama! by ranton · · Score: 2

    It's just mind-boggling, it seems like they would be willing to set their own world on fire rather than see a single person get something from the government that they didn't "deserve".

    When anyone complains about welfare queens or any other such nonsense, I equate my views on the subject with my views on criminal justice.

    It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer. -- William Blackstone
    It is better that ten persons abuse welfare programs than that one person in need suffer.

    --
    -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
  76. Re: Thanks Obama! by david_thornley · · Score: 1

    Insurance companies have to make money, so on the average paying for the insurance is more expensive than paying for what goes wrong.

    Unless you have some bad luck, in which case you're financially wiped out and likely unable to pay for health care you need.

    So, there's a selection bias here for the grasshoppers. The unlucky ones have died at a higher rate, so we're comparing ants as a whole to lucky grasshoppers.

    --
    "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  77. Damn bacon by mnemotronic · · Score: 1

    So I was out in the south forty on the John Deere spreading around some asbestos and tilling it under. i get paid a buttload to take that stuff off the hands of them rich city folks who is refurbing old homes. Anyway, there I was kicked back, steering with my leg, scarfing down a quadruple bacon and egg sanwich and finishing off my 2nd six pack of Leinenkugel's, when damn if my cigar don't just leap outta my hand and hit the floor. I figured if I pick it up before I count to 3 then no harm, no foul. Am I right? I lean over and all hell breaks loose. Fell out of the seat and almost ended up on the ground. The tractor is still puttin along but now it's headed for the river that sits between my property and the Danburry nukelear power plant. I'm hanging onto a couple spark plug wires with one hand and trying to keep from getting sucked under the rear wheel. It was at that moment that my wife called on the CB radio. "Vern" she says, "My bags are packed and I'm leaving you for the nice man we met in Jamaica last winter. So this is good bye". In about 1 second I was so mad my eyeballs about popped. Then I was in a long tunnel with a bright light at the end. That's all I remember.

    --
    The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
  78. SC ruled that the ACA is direct-tax compliant. by Brannon · · Score: 1

    So it would appear that you are wrong.

    1. Re:SC ruled that the ACA is direct-tax compliant. by jp_832 · · Score: 0

      Only because of the mental gymnastics Roberts had to go through. To ordinary sane and honest people though, it's quite obviously unconstitutional.

      But since when has black-letter law ever meant anything?

  79. Re: Thanks Obama! by khallow · · Score: 1

    Unless you have some bad luck, in which case you're financially wiped out and likely unable to pay for health care you need.

    That's one outcome. Here's two more:

    2) You get some bad luck, but have time to get insurance before the bills kick in.

    3) You don't have enough bad luck to justify insurance and pick up insurance when your age justifies the cost of the insurance.

    Anyway, one of the big things that people often missed in their replies to me is the pool of sick people that your insurance is paying for. Young, healthy people are paying a significant premium due to these other people. But when people become unhealthy, suddenly insurance makes sense. This is the fundamental problem of insurance. It only works when enough people get it who don't immediately need it.

    There is a value to not losing everything you own and/or going through bankruptcy. But it's not infinite value. And if the premium on insurance is above that value, then it's not in the would-be insuree's interests to get costly insurance. I believe we're seeing that with some of the Obamacare markets these days.

  80. Re:Thanks Obama! by dddux · · Score: 1

    Yeah, Trump is such a great philanthropist I can bet he's going to replace Obamacare with something cheaper and better for sure. He loves having children in his lap, especially girls. Such a wonderful person.

    --
    "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Jiddu Krishnamurti
  81. Re:Thanks Obama! by yuriklastalov · · Score: 1

    It's going to happen sooner or later. There are too many states for the current Federal system to function properly. If we combined them together into 13 or so new states, I think we'd find the Federal system would start to work a whole lot smoother.

  82. Re:Thanks Obama! by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

    It's going to happen sooner or later. There are too many states for the current Federal system to function properly. If we combined them together into 13 or so new states, I think we'd find the Federal system would start to work a whole lot smoother.

    No.

    The US has been working just fine so far, and is just fine currently, no need to change.

    If it does, I hope it is LOOOOONG after I'm dead and gone. I've been 101% happy with it as it is so far.

    --
    Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
  83. Re:Thanks Obama! by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

    Single payer is cheaper and better. I'm sure his children will set up a medical company 37 seconds before than announcement (and it will be named as that single payer, using a private company, since that's more "efficient" in terms of bribes, than using the government).

  84. Re:Thanks Obama! by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

    How does the federal government providing a service "take away" anything from the states? There's no requirement that the state do anything differently, unless you are talking about federal doctors providing abortions in a state where the state abolished abortion.

    But that's a separate issue from the feds opening at least one hospital in every town more than 50 miles from another hospital and with more than 10,000 served users. I'm honestly curious how that would "take away" power from the states.

  85. Re:Thanks Obama! by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

    You sound like a southern slave owner in 1859.

    Note, in about the same time, one could have said the same about open voting. But now "secret ballot" is considered a Constitutional Right (despite none of the founding fathers having lived to seen its widespread adoption in the US).

  86. Re:Thanks Obama! by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

    That's like saying that you'll sell your car, then replace it with something better. Usually, someone "trading up" would literally trade up. Repealing ACA under the promise of something better is simply insane. Pass the "something better", and it'll, by definition, replace ACA. But we'll see a repeal of ACA under promises of "something better" and the "something better" will never come. We should demand that "something better" be passed *as* the replacement of ACA, rather than the repeal of ACA followed by "something better" at some future time.

  87. Re:Thanks Obama! by germansausage · · Score: 1

    Replying to my own post - sorry. This just in "The president-elect says: "We're going to have insurance for everybody. There was a philosophy in some circles that if you can't pay for it, you don't get it. That's not going to happen with us." from today's interview with the President-Elect.

  88. Bulletin: 100% of all people die. Always. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Everyone dies of something eventually. We're just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Time to stop focusing on longevity and start focusing on quality of life for those still living.