Slashdot Mirror
In These Eight Midterms Races, Health and Medicine Are Front and Center (statnews.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: In Idaho, Nebraska, and Utah, voters will directly decide whether their states should expand their Medicaid programs. In Wisconsin, they could elect a candidate for governor who has pledged to sharply curtail drug prices. And across the country, Democratic congressional candidates are running on platforms highlighting their support for protecting insurance coverage for those with pre-existing conditions and lowering drug prices. Health care is on the ballot across the country, with issues ranging from medical marijuana to abortion rights to insurance coverage dominating the conversation.
Wait, wut?
Didn't Obamacare fix healthcare?
You CAN'T keep your doctor?
You CAN'T keep your insurance plan?
Weren't premiums supposed to go DOWN???
Sooo, we're supposed to give the clowns that pawned Obamacare off on us ANOTHER chance?
When the economy is doing well, you attack the incumbent party on another issue. Unfortunately for the Democrats, they don't seem to have a coherent message or platform beyond "We're not Republicans."
The Republicans pulled this off in grand form in the mid-90's with the so-called "Contract With America." You say exactly what you are going to do, say how you are going to do, and why. This is kind of how the parliamentary system works. I'm somewhat shocked that nobody was able to repeat this. It seems politicians have gotten "slipperier" in recent times. Don't come out with any kind of platform or policy goals beyond vague "make health care affordable," or "bring back jobs!"
As dumb as "build a wall" is, it's at least a clearly defined policy position. What is the Democrat's policy position on immigration? Maintain DACA? DACA was a band-aid, not a fix.
Do any of these candidate propose anything that makes sense like expanding the market supply by building medical schools or rolling back some of the regulations that do nothing but block lower cost solutions? Or will they just continue with the tried and true "we'll regulate cost and then be surprised when the market doesn't comply with our fondly held wishes."
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
This is fake news. I saw Hair Furor on the TV last night and he said the only thing on the ballot is him.
You are welcome on my lawn.
What is this? CNN?
/. is aging. Healthcare is important to us.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
You need to vote for Gillum and Nelson.
Thank you.
Medicaid is a weird federal-state mix. The feds give the states a lot of grants to spend on their statewide Medicaid programs, but every pot of money has its own conditions.
Medicaid has traditionally covered the elderly, disabled, children, and pregnant mothers. In recent years, some parents in very poor households were added to the list. But mostly Medicaid is not for able-bodied adults.
The Affordable Care Act allocated a lot more money to get states to expand the program. States that choose to give access to more poor adults get access to a big pile of money. Idaho, Nebraska, and Utah are now voting on whether or not to take the money.
I've got friends and family that depend on pre-existing condition coverage. Plus I've got friends stuck in dead end jobs because they can't go 90 days without healthcare (one of them tried to get Cobra and found out that it's damn near impossible to sign up for, at least with his old company. He's just had to live without health insurance for 90 days).
I want Medicare for All. Saves money, works in every country that tried it and covers everyone. 45,000 Americans die of treatable illnesses every year. I don't want to be one of them.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Fucking libtards.
I had better care and WAY less expenses.
This was a good I dea for who exactly?
Correction: should be "200 mpg" (miles per gallon)
Table-ized A.I.
Obamacare was a good start but the GOP stopped the next steps from happening.
Got what I need: propane torch, sewing kit, cloth scraps, broom sticks, Dremel kit, wood screws, scrap metal
Unless you want the country to be run into the ground by MS-13 and their associates!
My health insurance went up 1600% thanks to Obama. That is not an exaggeration - 1600%. My coverage is crap now too, with much higher deductibles, so basically nearly anything I need ends up being paid out of pocket now. I also had to change insurance companies 6 TIMES because my old ones quit offering plans. My health savings account is gone - those are not compatible with socialist medical coverage. Where I live there is ONE insurance provider, when I used to be able to pick from dozens. NO, I did NOT get to keep my doctor - that was a lie.
I do not belong to the church of the lowercase 'i'
There has been a lot of discussion and action at the state level around the legalization of medical use of marijuana (or full-blown recreational use in a few states), but I haven't heard much about U.S. Congress representative candidates, yet alone senators, supporting it. Has anyone heard of, or does your candidate support, bringing up a bill on the federal level to bring consensus around medical use nationally? In Indiana, the state legislators have essentially punted on the idea. They held a special committee over the summer to study the issue, with families and doctors coming forward to speak about the benefits. But in the end, the committee decided it would provide no recommendation, and several state politicians seem to want to defer to the U.S. Congress to act. I don't really have a dog in this race, but do believe it can provide a lot of benefit to patients, let alone stop ridiculous jailing and prosecuting of those who choose to use.
the only one I ever hear is making it harder to sue for malpractice. I'm not sure if that's a good idea or not, and I mean that. It's a complicated topic. OTOH I'd love to be able to buy drugs from Canada (since they've got single payer they pay less) and have the Gov't negotiate lower drug prices for Medicare.
Speaking of which what I really want is to expand Medicare to everyone. It's got over 95% efficiency and similar programs work in every country they've been tried. Not like our insurance industries will allow that.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Yep, instead of working together they lost their minds about it. Constant effort to sabotage, and only later included replace after it had helped enough people liked it enough that just repeal didn't work. My view of the old version of the 2 parties were, they were kind of the cliche caring parents. Mom (dems) wanted to help the kids (public) all of the time. Dad also wanted to, but he also wanted to instill self sufficiently and he 'wasn't made of money'. They would work together to address issues and come to a good comprise with a common goal to in service to the public. Now that is long gone with the current state of the GOP. It is about as recognizable as a car I sold 12 years ago. The outside looks the same as in the name, but the new driver is an asshole
Obamacare was a good start but the GOP stopped the next steps from happening.
The main problem with the Affordable Care Act is that it's goal was "Health Insurance For Everyone". Health Insurance is the main problem why we have the inflationary costs in Medical Care in the first place.
Medical Providers set high prices because they assume patients have insurance and that insurance companies will try to negotiate down so set ridiculous prices. Insurance companies under pressure to cover as many doctors as possible, so pay ridiculous fees that some of the higher priced doctors charge. Other doctors raise prices to match and the whole thing spirals upwards with the consumers paying the cost.
There are two solutions.
1) A federal level health care system that regulates prices. (obviously many on the left want this but the right don't)
2) Some market based system that will keep the prices down. Currently, there are plenty of mechanisms that make the prices go up- but there is nothing in place to encourage prices to go down. There is no reason for Doctor B to charge less than Doctor A. Insurance companies don't care- they just pass on the cost to the consumer. Doctors certainly don't want to get less for the same procedure than their peers.
Ultimately, the only way a consumer will go to a lower priced doctor (an thus apply pressure for doctors to keep costs down) would be if a consumer pays a percent of each visit themselves up front (not just a copay) and
a) Knows how much something is going to cost before going.
b) Has some method of comparing the difference in prices.
Ultimately, I think a national health care system would be the best solution- but perhaps a compromise that both sides of spectrum could agree on because it would cost individuals and the state less would be a system I call McWeanyCare:
Where costs are given up front and are easily comparable (perhaps average charge to customers for last 12 months displayed outside a doctor's office much like a food grade is given - or an online database).
Instead of insurance companies for all health care- people are allowed (and encouraged) to have a Health Savings Account for non emergency care that is not taxed. Insurance should be for catastrophic coverage only. Drugs should be covered under price gouging rules (companies not allowed to randomly mark up drugs 500% for example without a court order).
For cases of poverty the government would have to help (they already do so no change here) - not everyone can afford a HSA, perhaps the government provide the first $x (probably cheaper than what the state pays today with existing programs once health costs go down).
Universal Insurance coverage as suggested by the Affordable Care Act is NOT the Answer- it is the cause of the problem in the first place. Insurance companies are the reason we pay so much now. They feed the inflationary cycle (that and non-clear doctor pricing).
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
we've been cutting State & Federal funding to colleges since the 90s. See here
If you want nice things you've got to pay for them. Well, unless you're rich. Then you just get the taxpayer to pay for it.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
2/3 of Americans are either overweight or obese.
That has Severe health care costs impacts.
The aggregate national cost of overweight and obesity combined was $113.9 billion.
21% of all health care dollars spent in the US are due to obesity related health problems. That doesn't even count the loss of work time and other secondary factors impacting the economy.
If Americans want cheaper health care, there are many factors involved, but this one is squarely in their hands.
If i'm kicking in to pay for everyones healthcare. I want a say in what they do.
Fat people? Nope. Extreme sports? Nope. Sports? Nope. Dangerous hobbies i don't approve of? Gone. Motorcycles? Gone. Drug use? Oh hell no. Alcohol use? Fuck that. And i can continue listing stuff all day.
If you want MY money. I get a say.
No taxation without representation you shitheads!
It seems like the health care providers, and the health insurance companies are teaming up to make paying for health care in cash super expensive.
they started climbing again when Trump pulled funding and generally sabotaged the exchanges. If you put somebody who is deeply opposed to a law in charge of implementing that law then the law fails, who knew?
This isn't to say Obamacare is a "good" law. It's terrible. It was terrible when the right wing Heritage Foundation created it. But it was the best we could get with a House and Senate full of right wing Blue Dog Dems and a milk toast right of center president.
We know what the solution is, it's Medicare for All. But the insurance companies spent $500 million killing a public option. They'll spend twice that killing Medicare for all. Even with all that 70% of Americans want it. But we need to make it a no-go issue. If a politician opposes it they don't get in office. That's how the British got the NHS. Winston Churchill himself didn't want it and the Brits told him, thanks for wining the war Winston but take a flying leap on that. That's the level we need.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
It's not like he can force drug companies to give him lower prices due to the massive market that Wisconsin represents. A stupid cap on drug prices in Wisconsin will just cause drug companies to shrug and stop selling there....
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
with help of the Blue Dogs. The law was supposed to have a Public Option to put pressure on the insurance companies. It didn't. Meanwhile the law made phony plans with no coverage illegal. So people who were paying $50+/mo for basically nothing suddenly had to have insurance for pay the fine.
The GOP plays to win. They don't care what the outcome is for America. They just want to win. The means when Obama compromised he was being tricked. He's smart. He knew this. But people where dying, and he did the best he could. I'm not so naive to think I could have done better. Maybe Bernie could have if we'd voted for him instead of that Orange jerk. We may never know.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
The Trump administration is doing a great deal to fight drug prices, but the public largely doesn't know about it (because the mainstream media doesn't run the stories).
The pertinent agency with the Department of Health and Human Services has proposed rules that would require Big Pharma to publicly disclose how much the damned things cost: "This proposed rule would ... [amend] the Medicare Parts A, B, C and D programs, as well as the Medicaid program, to require direct-to-consumer (DTC) television advertisements of prescription drugs and biological products for which payment is available through or under Medicare or Medicaid to include the Wholesale Acquisition Cost (WAC, or 'list price') of that drug or biological product". See https://benefitslink.com/news/index.cgi/view/20181015-146182 and https://benefitslink.com/news/index.cgi/view/20181028-146483
Similarly, the administration is trying to make it easier for people to use pre-tax dollars to pay for drugs if they're not already on a group health plan: https://benefitslink.com/news/index.cgi/view/20181101-146610 ("The proposed 'Integrated HRA' rules would permit employers of any size to offer a standalone HRA to employees and former employees who have individual health coverage.")
He just signed into law a bill that bans "gag clauses" -- "Gag clauses are sometimes found in contracts between pharmacies and insurance companies, pharmacy benefit managers or group health plans and bar pharmacists from telling customers that they could save money by paying cash for their prescriptions rather than using their health insurance. If pharmacists violate the gag rule, they risk penalties and/or contract termination." https://www.employeebenefitsblog.com/2018/10/bills-ban-gag-clauses-in-pharmacy-contracts/
to distract from the issue. We can't easily make those deaths go away. We could make those 45,000 death stop tomorrow. Just like Canada did. And the UK. And France. The Netherlands. Sweden. Germany. The list goes on. We are choosing to let these people die. And you could be next. Get sick, lose your job, lose your healthcare. Die. It happens 45,000 times every year. Every 11 minutes.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
While I know of plenty of people getting raises after the recent Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts helped boost the economy,
Perhaps you are unfamiliar with Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc? Just because something follows doesn't mean it was caused by what it follows. You might know people getting raises because the economy is doing rather well for the last several years (no Trump did not cause that, nor did Obama) but I defy you to prove that anyone you know got raises because of the recent tax cuts.
I have never heard of a single person getting a raise from their employer because of all the money Obamacare saved them.
Why would someone get a raise because of a cheaper health care plan? Employers will pocket the difference if there is any. When the ACA passed the economy was in the shitter thanks to the real estate market imploding and NOBODY was getting raises. A few years later the economy is getting better and people start getting raises. In neither case does it have anything to do with a law passed by congress.
fake insurance where the min med stuff mcdonalds had like.
$1000 year for an $2000 max payout
I had better care and WAY less expenses.
Sounds like you had a decent deal going. Maybe it was a little too good?
This was a good I dea for who exactly?
Me for one. I got better coverage for similar money once the ACA was passed. Our company was able to save a decent amount of cash too. Most of the other employees at my work previously covered by our (rapidly becoming expensive) company health insurance got similar or better coverage for similar or less money. A few ended up paying more - mostly older folks who smoked.
You're a retarded lying faggot. Saying "the democrats" "used the courts" to sabotage Trump's un-Constitutional ploys is dumber than anything else you could possibly say. You're a retarded lying faggot.
This is why I read slashdot. Such great information tucked away in the middle of discussion threads.
It will get cheaper, we promise. It’s cheaper in Iceland (or somewhere — it doesn't matter where) so we can magically make the US into Iceland, grab all the benefits of the system in Iceland, with none of the drawbacks. Nothing bad could possibly happen from our schemes. And if it does, it's because the bogeymen on the other team, because we didn't throw that extra $1 Billion on the fire, because these deplorable people can't be governed, or because of bad luck.
Socialism just doesn't work.
There you go again! Telling me I don't understand what my own plan was. It was BETTER and CHEAPER than the Obamacare bronze plan. Obamacare fucking sucks. Deal with it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxDRqeuLNag
> It was BETTER and CHEAPER than the Obamacare bronze plan.
Did you have to give it up?
Starbucks and iPhone prices totally fine! /mouthbreathing consumer brainlet voting straight-ticket blue
I'm not makin' a connection here.
So now we subsidize all the marginal personality people who have mommy/daddy issues.
There's also no immigration reform, which Obama ran on in 2008 and talked up for a good chunk of 2009, when democrats had control of the house AND senate. A few years later he did a lame executive order that was promptly rescinded by Trump. Awesome show, great job!
Trump wants Medicare for all too.
Uh, Trump doesn't pay attention to what he says. One day he says "why can't Medicare just cover everybody?" (ref:) A few months later, he says "Medicare for all would be a catastrophe and a disaster!" (ref:)
The actual truth is, he has spent zero time studying the question of health insurance, he has no plans or policies about health insurance, and he's not going to have any plans or policies about health insurance: it's a hard problem, and he just isn't interesting in doing anything that is hard. It simply isn't something he has any interest in.
The Democrats won't sit at the same table with him, so your only chance in hell at it happening is shot down.
"Medicare for all", of course, is a Bernie Sanders proposal (ref:)
Knows how much something is going to cost before going.
This. 1000 times this. Toss in that they can't have discriminatory pricing. All people pay the same for the same procedure (and I'm fine with an hourly rate that I'll be charged if you don't know how long it will take).
They say it's impossible to do this because they don't know exactly what will be involved, yet software developers, mechanics, basically everybody is pretty good at giving estimates.
Norway and Sweden are total disaster areas!
Neither does your brain. No other industrialized country has such a costly health system. If ours provided vastly superior results, that might be something... but it doesn't; those systems more "socialist" than ours typically do far better... for LESS cost. Fucking idiots just can't seem to understand that (and by "that," i mean reality).
Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
It only works for residents of northern Europe. It's an unmitigated disaster every time anyone else tries it.
There is a mountain of data that shows socialized medicine in first world countries provides great healthcare for half or less the overall cost of our own (both public and private expenditures). The people arguing against it are the same who claim to be economic conservatives but consistently do nothing to balance the budget. Health care for all has been shown to be far more affordable than our current system for decades, the problem is this country is full anti government paranoids and blindly partisan types.
Sure, once a system is in place that works most of these idiots will come around seeing the obvious results that every other first world country has shown but until then they will kick, scream, and flail their little hands. The challenge is getting a system in place that works over the heads of these ignorant masses.
I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
Why not?
Every other first world country on the planet has a socialized medicine system that delivers first world medical care at half or less the over all cost of our own (both private and public costs).
What kind of idiot keeps on with such a massively unproductive system in the name of blind ideology? Communists maybe?
That's not to say anti socialized medicine types are communists mind you. Obviously they wouldn't be, It's that they are just as stupid in their blind ideology before easily observable fact.
I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
What is this? It's "stuff that matters"
Many Americans are of the opinion that proper healthcare isn't something people should have to go bankrupt over. Only one party has even attempted to approach this issue in the last 2 decades that a majority of Americans very much care about. The other party simply wants to blindly move forward in a system that is clearly broken.
And by broken I mean spending twice or more per capita than any other first world country spends on its socialized medicine.
Sure what the Democrats have done so far is middling at best but it's still far better than business as usual for a failing system.
I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
if you had a catastrophe you'd quickly find out they covered nothing. They were riddled with loop holes. If all else failed they'd declare it a pre-existing condition.
The plans were that cheap because they didn't work. Their purpose was to soak up money from rubes and (more often) divorced guys with a court order to have insurance. Reading the fine print they weren't worth the paper it was printed on.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
when the phony baloney plans went away the kitchen sink approach was there to shore up profits from the insurance companies being forced to cover everyone, even the really sick.
See, insurance is wildly profitable when you don't have to insure high risk customers. And with modern big data you know exactly who's high risk. Plus with all that sweet, sweet data you can always find some "pre existing" condition (my personal fav is skin cancer. Ever had acne medication? Congrats, you've had treatment for cancerous skin lesions, no more cancer meds for you, pre-existing).
The actual solution is to expand the risk pool to the largest possible: everyone. In otherwords, medicare for all. But we've had our heads stuffed full of insurance industry propaganda. They spent billions making sure you think the way you do because if you ever figure out the truth they and their blood sucking parasitic business model are through. They're fighting for their lives, so they're gonna be real nasty about it.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
to my college days seeing the plans on offer when I worked at a Jack in the Box. Yep, like that. Absolute bullshit.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
maybe I don't. See, that's how healthcare works. You don't know you're going to need it until you do. So it makes sense to have a large risk pool. Otherwise when you, Kohath, get lung cancer from genetics and poor air quality in your city then your company runs out of money before you're cured and you get to die. They find a way to stop paying.
If all else fails they hassle the doctor until he gives up and stops prescribing you your meds. It's called the "Wallet Biopsy", your doc will silently (perhaps unconsciously) withhold treatment options because he knows your insurance won't pay and he can't afford to treat you for free. His practice will fail. If he has to he'll tell himself it's for the best, since if he goes under he can't treat anyone.
We know the solution: get the biggest risk pool possible. And what's the biggest risk pool possible? Everyone. aka Medicare for All.
Or you can just keep praying you don't get lung cancer. Or a heart murmer. Or legionnaires disease. Or any one of the dozens of horrible but treatable illnesses. Treatable with enough money that is. Sleep well tonight.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
too much paper work, too easy to add loop holes. Just give people medical care already. Like every other civilized nation.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
This is not news. Obama drowned the public option in the bathtub long before any Republican or Bush Dog could vote against it.