The Affordable Care Act II - Because Mr. Obama Loves You All

[DC Tom]

4 minutes ago, ALF said:

Woman Cries Over Ambulance Cost After Getting Leg Caught in Platform Gap

The victim reportedly begged people not to call an ambulance, despite her painful injury

 

The 45-year-old woman was taken to Boston Medical Center and is recovering. A police report said the severe laceration on the woman's leg left her bone exposed.

Maria Cramer
✔
@GlobeMCramer
 Awful scene on the orange line. A woman’s leg got stuck in the gap between the train and the platform. It was twisted and bloody. Skin came off. She’s in agony and weeping. Just as upsetting she begged no one call an ambulance. “It’s $3000,” she wailed. “I can’t afford that.”

 

After Globe reporter Maria Cramer tweeted about the incident, the New York Times editorial board penned a story entitled "This Tweet Captures the State of Health Care in America Today."

 

MBTA officials told the Globe that the gap between the train and the platform was about five inches wide.

 

https://www.necn.com/news/new-england/Womans-Leg-Caught-Between-Orange-Line-Train-and-MBTA-Platform-at-Mass-Ave-Station-Boston-487178921.html

 

 

 

More common than you'd think.  I know several people putting off surgeries because they can't afford the co-pays.  In fact, the only people I know who aren't doing that are on Medicare...but they can't get the surgery approved anyway, because it's Medicare (whose solution to degenerative hip disease is apparently "What opioid crisis?  Have some more Percocet.")

[B-Man]

End-of-Life Care Is Only 9 Percent of Health-Care Costs

By Wesley J. Smith

July 23, 2018 12:03 PM 

 

 

There is a widely believed myth that the elderly and dying take up a huge amount of the overall health-care budget, and that, by empowering “death panels,” imposing rationing or “futile care” forced withdrawal of treatment, and legalizing assisted suicide, we could go far in reducing health-care expenditures, which take up 17.9 percent of the total U.S. GDP.

This myth is driven by story after story and column after column warning urgently that the the spending on patients in the last year of life is busting the health-care bank. Here’s a typical example from a Michael Bell column in Forbes five years ago:

According to one study (Banarto, McClellan, Kagy and Garber, 2004), 30% of all Medicare expenditures are attributed to the 5% of beneficiaries that die each year, with 1/3 of that cost occurring in the last month of life.  I know there are other studies out there that say slightly different things, but the reality is simple: we spend an incredible amount of money on that last year and month.

Is it worth it? The answer seems to be no.

Not so fast. In actuality, total spending on end-of-life care is only 9 percent of the total cost of health care. And even the Medicare spending issue as addressed by Bell is misleading. From Peter R. Orzag’s recent column in Bloomberg: 

As Zeke Emanuel and Linda Emanuel pointed out more than 20 years ago, about 5 percent of Medicare beneficiaries die each year, compared with about 1 percent of the total population. As a result, end-of-life care represents a smaller share of total health-care spending than of Medicare spending.

Indeed, the most recent estimates suggest that less than 9 percent of total U.S. health-care spending occurs in the final year of life. And that share is actually lower than in many other developed countries.

More at the Link: https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/end-of-life-care-costs-only-9-percent-health-care/

[TakeYouToTasker]

On 7/19/2018 at 5:28 PM, DC Tom said:

 

More common than you'd think.  I know several people putting off surgeries because they can't afford the co-pays.  In fact, the only people I know who aren't doing that are on Medicare...but they can't get the surgery approved anyway, because it's Medicare (whose solution to degenerative hip disease is apparently "What opioid crisis?  Have some more Percocet.")

 

I know people like that.  The overwhelming majority of them have chosen not to be able to afford the co-pays because of their spending and lifestyle choices.  As such I find it hard to be overly sympathetic, especially when it’s reasonably common place to have surgical centers finance the co-pays.

[row_33]

1 hour ago, TakeYouToTasker said:

 

I know people like that.  The overwhelming majority of them have chosen not to be able to afford the co-pays because of their spending and lifestyle choices.  As such I find it hard to be overly sympathetic, especially when it’s reasonably common place to have surgical centers finance the co-pays.

 

Lifestlye choice as in not being born into a rich family?

 

Shame on them for not arranging to be born rich.....

 

[Doc Brown]

1 hour ago, row_33 said:

 

Lifestlye choice as in not being born into a rich family?

 

Shame on them for not arranging to be born rich.....

 

I don't have much sympathy for people since the passage of the ACA that can't afford their co-pays.  Now that insurance companies can't discriminate against you for pre-existing conditions, medicaid expansion, being able to stay on your parent's plan until your 24, employers with 50 or more workers requiring to provide insurance to full time employees, etc... it's likely the reason you can't afford you co-pay is a lack of planning (including spending habits).  

Edited July 25, 2018 by Doc Brown

[ALF]

China arrests 15 people after vaccine maker admits wrongdoing

 

The chairwoman of a rabies vaccine producer under fire for fraudulent quality control is among 15 people arrested by Chinese authorities on "suspicion of criminal offences" over a vaccine scandal.

 

The development came late on Tuesday, days after pharmaceutical manufacturer Changchun Changsheng Biotechnology admitted to falsifying test results and producing fake vaccines.

 

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/07/china-arrests-15-people-vaccine-maker-admits-wrongdoing-180725063917878.html

 

FDA joins EU in seeking recall of certain Chinese-made valsartan products over potential cancer risk

 

Recalls of certain drugs containing heart drug valsartan supplied by Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceutical have spread to the U.S., as the FDA sought voluntary actions to take some affected drugs off the shelves due to the potential cancer risk.

 

https://www.fiercepharma.com/manufacturing/fda-joins-eu-to-recall-certain-chinese-made-valsartan-products-over-potential-cancer

 

I've used valsartan  (diovan) over 10 years now to lower BP. Now it's generic , only $275 for 3 months, what a bargain. I bought generic flea treatment for my cats, they ended up full of fleas, fake stuff. I don't trust anything from China but they are sometimes the only source.

 

Edited July 25, 2018 by ALF

[3rdnlng]

8 minutes ago, ALF said:

China arrests 15 people after vaccine maker admits wrongdoing

 

The chairwoman of a rabies vaccine producer under fire for fraudulent quality control is among 15 people arrested by Chinese authorities on "suspicion of criminal offences" over a vaccine scandal.

 

The development came late on Tuesday, days after pharmaceutical manufacturer Changchun Changsheng Biotechnology admitted to falsifying test results and producing fake vaccines.

 

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/07/china-arrests-15-people-vaccine-maker-admits-wrongdoing-180725063917878.html

 

FDA joins EU in seeking recall of certain Chinese-made valsartan products over potential cancer risk

 

Recalls of certain drugs containing heart drug valsartan supplied by Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceutical have spread to the U.S., as the FDA sought voluntary actions to take some affected drugs off the shelves due to the potential cancer risk.

 

https://www.fiercepharma.com/manufacturing/fda-joins-eu-to-recall-certain-chinese-made-valsartan-products-over-potential-cancer

 

I've used valsartan  (diovan) over 10 years now to lower BP. Now it's generic , only $275 for 3 months, what a bargain. I bought generic flea treatment for my cats, they ended up full of fleas, fake stuff. I don't trust anything from China but they are sometimes the only source.

 

Oh, by all means continue to buy what doesn't work.  Can't your doctor come up with an alternative? If you aren't already doing so, get proactive with your healthcare. There are a lot of supplements and vitamins out there that can help you. It takes time researching though.

[B-Man]

IT’S GETTING INTERESTING NOW THAT THE LEFT DOESN’T THINK IT HAS TO LIE ANYMORE:

 

Bernie Sanders Supporters Admit His Socialized Medicine Plan Will Ration Care.

 

 

 

.

[keepthefaith]

On 7/25/2018 at 6:06 AM, 3rdnlng said:

Oh, by all means continue to buy what doesn't work.  Can't your doctor come up with an alternative? If you aren't already doing so, get proactive with your healthcare. There are a lot of supplements and vitamins out there that can help you. It takes time researching though.

 

Generally speaking docs don't learn or practice or in many cases even recognize potential nutritional or similar remedies for many ailments.  As my grandfather always told me before he died at 96 - keep yourself healthy because If you have to rely on others to fix something you might not be happy with the process or the results. 

Edited August 3, 2018 by keepthefaith

[B-Man]

 

Quote

 

Dylan Matthews‏Verified account @dylanmatt

FollowFollow @dylanmatt

 

Getting to Canada-style health care costs would require cutting doctor salaries a lot (33 percent for primary care, 52 percent for ortho surgeons). That's fine, they'll live, but it's important not to undersell the political difficulty.

 

https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2010.0204 …

 

 

 

 

.

Quote

 

Pradheep J. Shanker, M.D., M.S.‏ @Neoavatara 3h3 hours ago

More

Pradheep J. Shanker, M.D., M.S. Retweeted Dylan Matthews

Here is the funny part: Cutting doc pay? IS THE EASY PART!

 

Now, imagine cutting nurses pay 33%. Or Med techs. Or PAs. And all the ancillary staff, including secretaries and administrators.

 

All of their pay would have to drop.

 

Docs are the tip of the spear. .........Nothing more.

 

 

Edited August 7, 2018 by B-Man

[B-Man]

MORE OF THIS PLEASE:  The Trump Administration will now require hospitals to post standard prices online.  

 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will require hospitals to update their online price list annually starting Jan. 1, reported The Hill. Before the new rule, CMS required that hospitals share prices with people who requested them.

 

CMS said the rule was made to “encourage price transparency,” according to The Hill. Administration officials hope the rule will help patients save money and even “encourage them to shop around,” reported the Washington Examiner.

 

Hallelujah!  I wish the Administration would extend this to nursing homes.  

[Tiberius]

Wtf? 

 

 

Three of President Trump’s cronies from his Mar-a-Lago resort, including the reclusive Marvel Entertainment Chairman Ike Perlmutter, have been quietly pulling the strings at the Department of Veterans Affairs for months, according to documents and interviews cited by ProPublica on Tuesday. Documents obtained by the news site via the Freedom of Information Act reportedly show the three men exercising unprecedented influence over the VA, including by shaping policies, making personnel decisions, and speaking with top VA officials on a daily basis. Perlmutter, a longtime Trump acquaintance, is reportedly joined by a lawyer named Marc Sherman and a Palm Beach doctor by the name of Bruce Moskowitz in leading the behind-the-scenes VA operation. None of the three men hold any government post that would explain their involvement in VA policies, nor are any a veteran. According to the report, their influence on the VA is well-known among administration officials, and some officials have travelged to Mar-a-Lago on taxpayers’ dime to speak with the men about their desires for the VA. “Everyone has to go down and kiss the ring,” a former administration official was quoted as saying. 

READ IT AT PROPUBLICA

[B-Man]

The doctor is out? Why physicians are leaving their practices to pursue other careers.

 

“After 20 years, I quit medicine and none of my colleagues were surprised. In fact, they all said they wish they could do the same.”

 

 

.

 

[B-Man]

TYLER O’NEIL: Judge Foils ‘Deep State Bureaucrats’ in Obamacare Case, Demands IRS Return $839M to 6 States.

 

“Busting a bureaucrat ‘money laundering scheme’.”

 

 

.

 

[B-Man]

Good God !........Everything this buffoon said in his 'speech' today was ridiculously unaware................

 

 

 

Obama and the Democrats once touted Obamacare as the law that was the answer to all our health insurance and health care problems. But then, one of the bill’s architects, Jonathan Gruber, was featured in videos showing him admitting that O-care was considered by the Left to be a stepping stone to single-payer. Gruber claimed that “lack of transparency is a huge political advantage” so the Dems didn’t want to reveal the true goal of Obamacare.

 

Admissions like that from people like Gruber used to be confined to academic videos or hot mic moments and were claims that many Dems denied, but today the person Obamacare is named after came right out and said it:

 

 

Quote

 

Dan Diamond

✔@ddiamond

 

Obama endorses Medicare for all.

12:58 PM - Sep 7, 2018

 

 

 

.Well, there it is:

 

 

 

 

 

Quote

 

Ben Shapiro

✔@benshapiro

 

“No,” they lied, “of course Obamacare isn’t a first step towards nationalized health care.”

 

 

 

.Liberals are scum.

 

 

 

 

.

[IDBillzFan]

5 minutes ago, B-Man said:

Good God !........Everything this buffoon said in his 'speech' today was ridiculously unaware.................

 

Perhaps the most entertaining part of this occurrence is that the left and the media has been screaming hysterically and repeatedly "Trump is a liar! He lies about everything!"

 

So what do they do? Roll out a president who lies about everything.

 

You dumbasses are an embarrassment to dumbasses.

[Keukasmallies]

Obamacare is a fine example of my mantra, "You can't shine $#it"

[Koko78]

32 minutes ago, Keukasmallies said:

Obamacare is a fine example of my mantra, "You can't shine $#it"

 

Mythbusters proved that you can, in fact, shine turds.

[Tiberius]

 

[Nanker]

Americans like free stuff. However, there is no such thing as a free lunch.