Miscellaneous news items that don't warrant their own thread

[kalm]

‘Endless sanctioned mass murder by spreadsheet’ is a great line. It’s as wrong as extrajudicial killings (if that ends up being ge case here).

All healthcare, whether our system through insurance companies or other systems in other countries through state managed care, will all rely on deciding what care will be covered or even offered. There will always be people in those systems who will feel like they didn't get the coverage or the care they think they should've gotten. If everyone of those people think gunning down employees of those companies or governments is the answer to this, you'd have multiple incidents like this everyday.

Ours just happens to be the worst by a mile and United Healthcare, going way back, is the pinnacle of profiting from other people’s suffering. And this wasn’t just an employee. He was the CEO.

Neither I nor Matt Stoller are condoning it, but this is what can happen when you screw over enough people - lobbying to increase profits over lives, denying lifesaving benefits.

Insurance companies make a profit by making it difficult to appeal claims and denying benefits. Medical bankruptcy is still the most common form in the U.S….including those WITH insurance. That’s wrong, man. Sorry.

[∞∞∞]

I get to witness first-hand, almost weekly, the pain and suffering these insurance companies cause. And the valuable time providers waste to argue treatments are necessary. My parents are from Lebanon - a "third-world" country with corrupt government, inflation, and war - and it's cheaper to travel there for better in-patient care than deal with the US healthcare system.

[houndawg]

‘Endless sanctioned mass murder by spreadsheet’ is a great line. It’s as wrong as extrajudicial killings (if that ends up being ge case here).

I'd send thoughts and prayers but they haven't been pre-approved and I can't give a fuck because I haven't met my deductible yet.

I'll look in the dictionary between "shit" and "syphilis", see if can find any sympathy

[kalm]

I get to witness first-hand, almost weekly, the pain and suffering these insurance companies cause. And the valuable time providers waste to argue treatments are necessary. My parents are from Lebanon - a "third-world" country with corrupt government, inflation, and war - and it's cheaper to travel there for better in-patient care than deal with the US healthcare system.

Everyone who experiences the system on a deeper level realizes it’s flat out broken and potentially life threatening mostly in the name of glorified middle men (insurance companies) and investor profits.

[Caribbean Hen]

All healthcare, whether our system through insurance companies or other systems in other countries through state managed care, will all rely on deciding what care will be covered or even offered. There will always be people in those systems who will feel like they didn't get the coverage or the care they think they should've gotten. If everyone of those people think gunning down employees of those companies or governments is the answer to this, you'd have multiple incidents like this everyday.

Ours just happens to be the worst by a mile and United Healthcare, going way back, is the pinnacle of profiting from other people’s suffering. And this wasn’t just an employee. He was the CEO.

Neither I nor Matt Stoller are condoning it, but this is what can happen when you screw over enough people - lobbying to increase profits over lives, denying lifesaving benefits.

Insurance companies make a profit by making it difficult to appeal claims and denying benefits. Medical bankruptcy is still the most common form in the U.S….including those WITH insurance. That’s wrong, man. Sorry.

you know it sounds like you're cheerleading this guy getting whacked... three times will deny it but just giving you some feedback on how you come off here

[UNI88]

Ours just happens to be the worst by a mile and United Healthcare, going way back, is the pinnacle of profiting from other people’s suffering. And this wasn’t just an employee. He was the CEO.

Neither I nor Matt Stoller are condoning it, but this is what can happen when you screw over enough people - lobbying to increase profits over lives, denying lifesaving benefits.

Insurance companies make a profit by making it difficult to appeal claims and denying benefits. Medical bankruptcy is still the most common form in the U.S….including those WITH insurance. That’s wrong, man. Sorry.

you know it sounds like you're cheerleading this guy getting whacked... three times will deny it but just giving you some feedback on how you come off here

If you think kalm was "cheerleading this guy getting whacked" then you should read BobsKKKat's posts or what some MAQA yahoos said about the judges, prosecutors, clerks, witnesses in trump's criminal cases. Did you take the time and effort to point out how they're coming off?

[kalm]

Ours just happens to be the worst by a mile and United Healthcare, going way back, is the pinnacle of profiting from other people’s suffering. And this wasn’t just an employee. He was the CEO.

Neither I nor Matt Stoller are condoning it, but this is what can happen when you screw over enough people - lobbying to increase profits over lives, denying lifesaving benefits.

Insurance companies make a profit by making it difficult to appeal claims and denying benefits. Medical bankruptcy is still the most common form in the U.S….including those WITH insurance. That’s wrong, man. Sorry.

you know it sounds like you're cheerleading this guy getting whacked... three times will deny it but just giving you some feedback on how you come off here

I expected this criticism. It’s just your bias and what you want to believe. Maybe re-read what I’ve posted and Matt Stoller’s comment in the link?

[Bobcat]

Ours just happens to be the worst by a mile and United Healthcare, going way back, is the pinnacle of profiting from other people’s suffering. And this wasn’t just an employee. He was the CEO.

Neither I nor Matt Stoller are condoning it, but this is what can happen when you screw over enough people - lobbying to increase profits over lives, denying lifesaving benefits.

Insurance companies make a profit by making it difficult to appeal claims and denying benefits. Medical bankruptcy is still the most common form in the U.S….including those WITH insurance. That’s wrong, man. Sorry.

you know it sounds like you're cheerleading this guy getting whacked... three times will deny it but just giving you some feedback on how you come off here

KKKalm is secretly happy about this happening. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a party tomorrow night to celebrate. Low key, close friends, keep it on the down low

[kalm]

you know it sounds like you're cheerleading this guy getting whacked... three times will deny it but just giving you some feedback on how you come off here

KKKalm is secretly happy about this happening. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a party tomorrow night to celebrate. Low key, close friends, keep it on the down low

[Bobcat]

[SeattleGriz]

So the Romanian court system just threw out the election results. Essentially said Tik Tok influenced the election.

Nevermind that the guy who won is considered more of a nationalist than pro EU. Also, Romania is set to have the largest NATO base in Europe...but I'm sure that never factored in to the court's decision.

[Caribbean Hen]

I get to witness first-hand, almost weekly, the pain and suffering these insurance companies cause. And the valuable time providers waste to argue treatments are necessary. My parents are from Lebanon - a "third-world" country with corrupt government, inflation, and war - and it's cheaper to travel there for better in-patient care than deal with the US healthcare system.

Everyone who experiences the system on a deeper level realizes it’s flat out broken and potentially life threatening mostly in the name of glorified middle men (insurance companies) and investor profits.

Wrong

The insurance companies are not the problem

Health care costs the US close to 4.5 trillion a year

Total profits from all the insurance companies in the country are 40 billion dollars

That’s less than 1% of what we spend on health care

So if we wiped out all of the profits the insurance companies make in a year, we would reduce healthcare costs by less than 1% … and of course, if you were to eliminate all the profit from the healthcare industry, you would have no industry

[kalm]

Everyone who experiences the system on a deeper level realizes it’s flat out broken and potentially life threatening mostly in the name of glorified middle men (insurance companies) and investor profits.

Wrong

The insurance companies are not the problem

Health care costs the US close to 4.5 trillion a year

Total profits from all the insurance companies in the country are 40 billion dollars

That’s less than 1% of what we spend on health care

So if we wiped out all of the profits the insurance companies make in a year, we would reduce healthcare costs by less than 1% … and of course, if you were to eliminate all the profit from the healthcare industry, you would have no industry

Show your work including all factors and include links.

[UNI88]

Wrong

The insurance companies are not the problem

Health care costs the US close to 4.5 trillion a year

Total profits from all the insurance companies in the country are 40 billion dollars

That’s less than 1% of what we spend on health care

So if we wiped out all of the profits the insurance companies make in a year, we would reduce healthcare costs by less than 1% … and of course, if you were to eliminate all the profit from the healthcare industry, you would have no industry

Show your work including all factors and include links.

I believe the numbers are fair but the profits have jumped to 88 milllion recently.

Ch doesn't like to provide links but I don't think he throws made up MAQA yahoo bullshit like it's indisputable the way BobsKKKat does.

[Caribbean Hen]

Wrong

The insurance companies are not the problem

Health care costs the US close to 4.5 trillion a year

Total profits from all the insurance companies in the country are 40 billion dollars

That’s less than 1% of what we spend on health care

So if we wiped out all of the profits the insurance companies make in a year, we would reduce healthcare costs by less than 1% … and of course, if you were to eliminate all the profit from the healthcare industry, you would have no industry

Show your work including all factors and include links.

And one of the problems is everybody has insurance now…
What that means is nobody shops around, nobody asks the doctor how much something is going to cost. Even if you ask the doctor how much something is going to cost, they have no idea. The doctors, hospitals, the administrators, the healthcare industry all just keep increasing the price of healthcare because they can. Thank you Obumba

And let’s not forget about Fraud, if you wanna look at the hotbed for fraud just look in the Latino areas. I hate to say it, but it’s true. Miami was built on drug smuggling, and now they subsist on Medicare and every other kind of fraud. Puerto Rico? Don’t ask don’t tell. It’s widespread and you don’t think that hurts the insurance companies. Everyone ends up paying for fraud and they don’t have anything close to the number of investigators they would need to put a dent in it.

Does anyone want to talk about all the unnecessary procedures that they scare you into getting ? Let’s say they tell you you need a MRI for something… 90% chance they’re gonna find something else, something that you’re gonna die with and not from. It’s very important for them to keep you coming in for stuff you don’t need.

Now certainly some of this early preventative stuff does save lives, but I would be curious to know if anybody has done a study on how many of these medical procedures that people are doing are a complete waste of their time and money.

It all comes back to the imbedded human psychology of staying alive, and the healthcare is using that for big profit

Now, having said all that a part of my brain is thinking about how much does an MRI machine cost?

[kalm]

Show your work including all factors and include links.

And one of the problems is everybody has insurance now…
What that means is nobody shops around, nobody asks the doctor how much something is going to cost. Even if you ask the doctor how much something is going to cost, they have no idea. The doctors, hospitals, the administrators, the healthcare industry all just keep increasing the price of healthcare because they can. Thank you Obumba

And let’s not forget about Fraud, if you wanna look at the hotbed for fraud just look in the Latino areas. I hate to say it, but it’s true. Miami was built on drug smuggling, and now they subsist on Medicare and every other kind of fraud. Puerto Rico? Don’t ask don’t tell. It’s widespread and you don’t think that hurts the insurance companies. Everyone ends up paying for fraud and they don’t have anything close to the number of investigators they would need to put a dent in it.

Does anyone want to talk about all the unnecessary procedures that they scare you into getting ? Let’s say they tell you you need a MRI for something… 90% chance they’re gonna find something else, something that you’re gonna die with and not from. It’s very important for them to keep you coming in for stuff you don’t need.

Now certainly some of this early preventative stuff does save lives, but I would be curious to know if anybody has done a study on how many of these medical procedures that people are doing are a complete waste of their time and money.

It all comes back to the imbedded human psychology of staying alive, and the healthcare is using that for big profit

Now, having said all that a part of my brain is thinking about how much does an MRI machine cost?

F

[UNI88]

Show your work including all factors and include links.

And one of the problems is everybody has insurance now…
What that means is nobody shops around, nobody asks the doctor how much something is going to cost. Even if you ask the doctor how much something is going to cost, they have no idea. The doctors, hospitals, the administrators, the healthcare industry all just keep increasing the price of healthcare because they can. Thank you Obumba

And let’s not forget about Fraud, if you wanna look at the hotbed for fraud just look in the Latino areas. I hate to say it, but it’s true. Miami was built on drug smuggling, and now they subsist on Medicare and every other kind of fraud. Puerto Rico? Don’t ask don’t tell. It’s widespread and you don’t think that hurts the insurance companies. Everyone ends up paying for fraud and they don’t have anything close to the number of investigators they would need to put a dent in it.

Does anyone want to talk about all the unnecessary procedures that they scare you into getting ? Let’s say they tell you you need a MRI for something… 90% chance they’re gonna find something else, something that you’re gonna die with and not from. It’s very important for them to keep you coming in for stuff you don’t need.

Now certainly some of this early preventative stuff does save lives, but I would be curious to know if anybody has done a study on how many of these medical procedures that people are doing are a complete waste of their time and money.

It all comes back to the imbedded human psychology of staying alive, and the healthcare is using that for big profit

Now, having said all that a part of my brain is thinking about how much does an MRI machine cost?

So we'd be better off if not everyone had health insurance?

Anecdotal but this isn't true for me. I have a high deductible plan so I manage my care to reduce my out of pocket expenses. My goal is to only see my primary care physician once per year for a physical. My old doctor retired so I got a new one who told me I had to see him every 6 moonths. I responded "no I don't" and I don't.

[BDKJMU]

FAKE NEWS CNN.This is why people don’t believe the MSM when they report on staged shit like this as if it was real.
https://redstate.com/bonchie/2024/12/16 ... l-n2183262

[Caribbean Hen]

And one of the problems is everybody has insurance now…
What that means is nobody shops around, nobody asks the doctor how much something is going to cost. Even if you ask the doctor how much something is going to cost, they have no idea. The doctors, hospitals, the administrators, the healthcare industry all just keep increasing the price of healthcare because they can. Thank you Obumba

And let’s not forget about Fraud, if you wanna look at the hotbed for fraud just look in the Latino areas. I hate to say it, but it’s true. Miami was built on drug smuggling, and now they subsist on Medicare and every other kind of fraud. Puerto Rico? Don’t ask don’t tell. It’s widespread and you don’t think that hurts the insurance companies. Everyone ends up paying for fraud and they don’t have anything close to the number of investigators they would need to put a dent in it.

Does anyone want to talk about all the unnecessary procedures that they scare you into getting ? Let’s say they tell you you need a MRI for something… 90% chance they’re gonna find something else, something that you’re gonna die with and not from. It’s very important for them to keep you coming in for stuff you don’t need.

Now certainly some of this early preventative stuff does save lives, but I would be curious to know if anybody has done a study on how many of these medical procedures that people are doing are a complete waste of their time and money.

It all comes back to the imbedded human psychology of staying alive, and the healthcare is using that for big profit

Now, having said all that a part of my brain is thinking about how much does an MRI machine cost?

So we'd be better off if not everyone had health insurance?

Anecdotal but this isn't true for me. I have a high deductible plan so I manage my care to reduce my out of pocket expenses. My goal is to only see my primary care physician once per year for a physical. My old doctor retired so I got a new one who told me I had to see him every 6 moonths. I responded "no I don't" and I don't.

Good

Doctors should be challenged a lot

[UNI88]

Seven reasons why Americans pay more for health care than any other nation

1. Lack of price limits - U.S. hospitals have more specialists than do medical facilities in other nations. Having access to 24/7 specialty care, particularly for hospitals in major metro areas, drives up costs, said Michael Chernew, a health care policy professor at Harvard Medical School. Patients have more elbow room and privacy here. U.S. hospitals typically have either one or two patients per room, unlike facilities abroad that tend to have open wards with rows of beds, Chernew said. He said differences in labor markets and regulatory requirements also can pack on costs.
2. Hospitals and doctors get paid for services, not outcomes - Doctors, hospitals and other providers are paid based on the number of tests and procedures they order, not necessarily whether patients get better. Critics of this fee-for-service payment method says it rewards quantity over quality. Health providers who order more tests or procedures get more lucrative payments whether the patients improve or not.
3. Specialists get paid much more ‒ and want to keep it that way - Some see that as a system that rewards doctors who specialize in caring for patients with complex medical conditions while skimping on pay for primary care doctors who try to prevent or limit disease.
4. Administrative costs inflate health spending - One of the biggest sources of wasted medical spending is on administrative costs, several experts told USA TODAY.
5. Health care pricing is a mystery - Patients often have no idea how much a test or a procedure will cost before they go to a clinic or a hospital. Health care prices are hidden from the public. And because consumers with health insurance often must pick up a portion of their bill, health care prices matter.
6. Americans pay far more for prescription drugs than people in other wealthy nations - There are no price limits on prescription drugs, and Americans pay more for these life-saving medications than residents of other wealthy nations.
7. Private Equity - Wall Street investors who control private equity firms have taken over hospitals and large doctors practices, with the primary goal of making a profit. The role of these private equity investors has drawn increased scrutiny from government regulators and elected officials.

[BDKJMU]

Seven reasons why Americans pay more for health care than any other nation

1. Lack of price limits - U.S. hospitals have more specialists than do medical facilities in other nations. Having access to 24/7 specialty care, particularly for hospitals in major metro areas, drives up costs, said Michael Chernew, a health care policy professor at Harvard Medical School. Patients have more elbow room and privacy here. U.S. hospitals typically have either one or two patients per room, unlike facilities abroad that tend to have open wards with rows of beds, Chernew said. He said differences in labor markets and regulatory requirements also can pack on costs.
2. Hospitals and doctors get paid for services, not outcomes - Doctors, hospitals and other providers are paid based on the number of tests and procedures they order, not necessarily whether patients get better. Critics of this fee-for-service payment method says it rewards quantity over quality. Health providers who order more tests or procedures get more lucrative payments whether the patients improve or not.
3. Specialists get paid much more ‒ and want to keep it that way - Some see that as a system that rewards doctors who specialize in caring for patients with complex medical conditions while skimping on pay for primary care doctors who try to prevent or limit disease.
4. Administrative costs inflate health spending - One of the biggest sources of wasted medical spending is on administrative costs, several experts told USA TODAY.
5. Health care pricing is a mystery - Patients often have no idea how much a test or a procedure will cost before they go to a clinic or a hospital. Health care prices are hidden from the public. And because consumers with health insurance often must pick up a portion of their bill, health care prices matter.
6. Americans pay far more for prescription drugs than people in other wealthy nations - There are no price limits on prescription drugs, and Americans pay more for these life-saving medications than residents of other wealthy nations.
7. Private Equity - Wall Street investors who control private equity firms have taken over hospitals and large doctors practices, with the primary goal of making a profit. The role of these private equity investors has drawn increased scrutiny from government regulators and elected officials.

And how many of those 7 have gotten way worse since the advent of Medicaid and Medicare in 1965? Probably all of them.

[UNI88]

Seven reasons why Americans pay more for health care than any other nation

And how many of those 7 have gotten way worse since the advent of Medicaid and Medicare in 1965? Probably all of them.

What point are you trying to make?

Any or all of them getting worse since the advent of Medicaid and Medicare doesn't mean that Medicaid and Medicare caused them to get worse.

[SeattleGriz]

IN other news, SeattleGriz family finally got onboard with unlimited internet data. Mwahaha. Just adjusted all the setting to 4K. Fucking Comcast.

[kalm]

Seven reasons why Americans pay more for health care than any other nation

1. Lack of price limits - U.S. hospitals have more specialists than do medical facilities in other nations. Having access to 24/7 specialty care, particularly for hospitals in major metro areas, drives up costs, said Michael Chernew, a health care policy professor at Harvard Medical School. Patients have more elbow room and privacy here. U.S. hospitals typically have either one or two patients per room, unlike facilities abroad that tend to have open wards with rows of beds, Chernew said. He said differences in labor markets and regulatory requirements also can pack on costs.
2. Hospitals and doctors get paid for services, not outcomes - Doctors, hospitals and other providers are paid based on the number of tests and procedures they order, not necessarily whether patients get better. Critics of this fee-for-service payment method says it rewards quantity over quality. Health providers who order more tests or procedures get more lucrative payments whether the patients improve or not.
3. Specialists get paid much more ‒ and want to keep it that way - Some see that as a system that rewards doctors who specialize in caring for patients with complex medical conditions while skimping on pay for primary care doctors who try to prevent or limit disease.
4. Administrative costs inflate health spending - One of the biggest sources of wasted medical spending is on administrative costs, several experts told USA TODAY.
5. Health care pricing is a mystery - Patients often have no idea how much a test or a procedure will cost before they go to a clinic or a hospital. Health care prices are hidden from the public. And because consumers with health insurance often must pick up a portion of their bill, health care prices matter.
6. Americans pay far more for prescription drugs than people in other wealthy nations - There are no price limits on prescription drugs, and Americans pay more for these life-saving medications than residents of other wealthy nations.
7. Private Equity - Wall Street investors who control private equity firms have taken over hospitals and large doctors practices, with the primary goal of making a profit. The role of these private equity investors has drawn increased scrutiny from government regulators and elected officials.

7 is huge. It limits competition and requires profit over outcome.

I also don’t see the term health “insurance” mentioned once.

[UNI88]

House report accuses Matt Gaetz of paying women for sex, using illegal drugs, accepting improper gifts

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., allegedly paid multiple women for sex, including a 17-year-old high school girl, and used illicit drugs like cocaine and ecstasy, according to a House Ethics Committee report.

The 37-page report released Monday morning concluded that Gaetz violated multiple Florida state laws related to sexual misconduct while in office.

"The Committee concluded there was substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules, state and federal laws, and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, acceptance of impermissible gifts, the provision of special favors and privileges, and obstruction of Congress," the report states.