Thank you for this - all of this. I recently wrote an op-ed regarding our "health" insurance industry and it sparked some great discussion. Notably, that Universal healthcare would cost us less and provide more. Currently, the average American is paying an average of $13,493 per person for healthcare (more if you count that last donation to Aunt Betty’s GoFundMe campaign). By comparison, the average cost of healthcare per person in other wealthy countries is less than half as much.
The aversion to paying taxes – especially if they might help others – is often trotted out as a reason that other industrialized countries offer healthcare as a right of citizenship. A reason why we shouldn’t. This myopic view presents a number of flaws, the least of which is that we are already paying more for our healthcare, both per person and as a share of GDP, without paying more in taxes. We’re already there. And we have longer wait times, live shorter, less healthy lives, have the lowest rate of practicing physicians and hospital beds per 1,000 population AND live under crushing medical costs and debt.
I know about all of this too well. As small business owners, our last foray into private health insurance cost almost $1,800 per month with a $14,000 individual deductible and $28,000 family deductible. Once that deductible was met (which we never did), we were promised 80% coverage for allowable charges for pre-approved treatment within a network of providers that we never quite figured out. We work full time, pay extremely high local, state, and federal taxes, and can't afford health insurance. To say that universal healthcare would be a monumental boon for small business owners and entrepreneurs is a vast understatement.
Consider the cost of workers' comp, liability insurance. How much would Dani's company have to pay (by force of state law)?
If Medicare for all were combined with elimination of the collateral source rule, the c Dani's company payosts of most insurance would drop like rocks. The funter exposure would be covered by Medicare.
All Billionaires got that way by lying, cheating, and outright stealing - that includes generous George Soros and Bill Gates as well as all of Trump's greedy ClownCar Cabinet members. So why should we be surprised when our oligarchic MAGA government lies, cheats, and steals from us?
Thom's post on how Musk protected both Tesla's China interests and kept Twitter porn legal (Ca-ching) foreshadows life under Trump. Because MAGAs stupidly assume that if you are rich you deserve to be in charge, they have enabled the biggest government-enabled rip-off in US history. Not even yet in power, the Muskgegarchs have snatched several hundred billion dollars from the US economy as rich investors buy into Musk's Mega-MAGA scam after the election.
It is hard not to notice that Musk has begun to behave in public like laughing-gas-bag Tucker Carlson, which helps project a harmless goofball persona to the public. Like the big bad wolf told Little Red Riding Hood, his disguise makes it "all the better to eat you with. "
i expect that once upon a time, one of the wealthiest areas in the country has been reduced to third world status. We once had the richest private banker in the US.
It is difficult to determine if decaying small towns are mostly reactionary holdouts or people who feel trapped due to fear of how to survive in an urban culture. I have never understood why, for example, well-educated native Americans, choose to live on reservations in remote hovels with outdoor plumbing rather than escape to a far higher standard of living. A reactionary mentality is the only hypothesis that makes sense to me.
By the time I turned 12, I was already plotting how to escape my tiny 800 sqft house in Whiteflightburbia (pop 12K) where we were constantly reminded by neighborhood adults how lucky we were not to be living in crime-infested Chicago with all the N--gers. I eventually seized the opportunity to exploit my religion to convince my parents to enroll me in a seminary prep school in downtown Chicago to which I commuted by rail, bus, and subway 40 miles RT daily. That was the wisest thing I ever did in 77 years.
Yes, my old hometown is run down and rotting today. I drove by my old house several years ago to show my spouse while attending a class reunion. The nearby country club is now acres of warehouses. My grammar school is an empty building today. Many stores are abandoned. Eventually, towns more rural than that will disappear entirely. It's evolution. What will holdouts do when Trump's Second Coming does not deliver the promised "Rapture?"
It's sad Lost virtually all industry, all middle class. We were a commuter town until the railroad went bellyup in 1962. Economically, physically resembles Appalachia.
In the game Monopoly the game is over when one person owns everything. We are seeing that now in the US and it looks like Elmo is winning. So the game is nearly over.
This madman has to be stopped but none of our representatives are willing to do so, concerned as they are about their pork barrel jobs. The ones that have tried have been ousted.
The tech of Musk is not based on new invention. It is better tech based on old tech. His brand is management of technological individuals. Jobs did a better performance on new innovation. Finance is willing to export manufacturing to destroy labor as a force in politics but it is not a good thing for the nation. The right wing wants to monetize the economy to extract as much cash from its citizens as a model increasing the number of poor in society and the world. Such is an unsubstainable model which lacks a moral basis. Sadly, that has never stopped the GOP in finding justification for an immoral means.
Thom, that's a well-stated POV. I have made a few observations about Musk and his influence. Biden's government, careless/lazy in granting him access to our nation's security, has used him to its advantage. However, letting the genie out of the bottle has allowed Musk to make massive and dangerous inroads into control of our lives. When Biden brought him in to do his bidding, Musk insinuated himself so that he accrued power, i.e., space and war enabler. Just about all of Congress and the House drank the cool aide to keep themselves at the table, and due to the fact the Republicans had learned to ingratiate themselves to Trump, they gave away their decency to Musk as well as transmogrifying him. I don't think his space knowledge was worth what monster we have in Musk.
Thanks for a both a provocative and reasonable explanation of why Musk seems to hold the keys to our kingdom, now, in the form of such lucrative contracts, etc.
Have, a great trip Thom. The Musk show is on only not for the United States. There is money to be made, right. Safe travels. Staying upbeat with a new attitude Thom. Good for the New Year I think. It really is how you feel that counts.
It's odd that you keep blaming the Supreme Court, and we should not forget that Biden is responsible for appointing the worst justice Clarence Thomas and Obama bowed to Republicans and did not appoint corporatist Merrick Garland, when the privatization of the health care system lies squarely with the Democrats and the ACA. Do you remember Thom when I called to talk about how the ACA was forcing patients to change their coverage that were more expensive and offered less access and you told me I was a Republican plant and hung up on me? Well that's only a tiny fraction of the damage that the ACA has done, I write in the following article about some of that damage and how the vast majority of Americans now pay more for health care while getting reduced access and quality of care. We must make the proper diagnosis before we can treat the disease, and while it is obvious that the Supreme Court is a curse and our entire legal system is upside down it is Democrats who put the nail in the coffin of millions of Americans. https://barryjkaufmando.substack.com/p/the-american-health-care-system-is
Why is it that analyses of our sick healthcare system point to the exploitation of the system by the rip-off private insurance companies (as they should). but they do not simultaneously mention that another reason we pay so much for healthcare is that we are so sick. We pay to have our polluted air, water, earth, and food, and our killer high-stress life make us sick, then we pay the corrupted medical system to not cure us, and then we pay again for the morbidly rich insurance executives to corrupt our government by buying off politicians. My Bangladeshi friend recently commented that when their government pulls this #$%&, the people crowd the streets until they get results. But Americans placate themselves with the reassurance that they "Live in the best country in the world," and have the best health care system. Lying to yourself isn't healthy either.
WOW❗️This has got to be one of Thom Hartmann's solid gold Pultzer-winning Reports, among his many brilliant posts.
It needs to be WIDELY shared (hint hint).
On the topic of grinches and pandering to the Chinese.
Musk billionaire GRINCH steals your SOCIAL SECURITY to pay for his TAX CUTS
https://thedemlabs.org/2024/12/25/musk-billionaire-grinch-steals-your-social-security-to-pay-for-his-tax-cuts/
How did Musk profit by threatening to shut the Government? Follow the money!
https://thedemlabs.org/2024/12/27/how-did-musk-profit-by-threatening-to-shut-the-government-follow-the-money/
Thank you for this - all of this. I recently wrote an op-ed regarding our "health" insurance industry and it sparked some great discussion. Notably, that Universal healthcare would cost us less and provide more. Currently, the average American is paying an average of $13,493 per person for healthcare (more if you count that last donation to Aunt Betty’s GoFundMe campaign). By comparison, the average cost of healthcare per person in other wealthy countries is less than half as much.
The aversion to paying taxes – especially if they might help others – is often trotted out as a reason that other industrialized countries offer healthcare as a right of citizenship. A reason why we shouldn’t. This myopic view presents a number of flaws, the least of which is that we are already paying more for our healthcare, both per person and as a share of GDP, without paying more in taxes. We’re already there. And we have longer wait times, live shorter, less healthy lives, have the lowest rate of practicing physicians and hospital beds per 1,000 population AND live under crushing medical costs and debt.
I know about all of this too well. As small business owners, our last foray into private health insurance cost almost $1,800 per month with a $14,000 individual deductible and $28,000 family deductible. Once that deductible was met (which we never did), we were promised 80% coverage for allowable charges for pre-approved treatment within a network of providers that we never quite figured out. We work full time, pay extremely high local, state, and federal taxes, and can't afford health insurance. To say that universal healthcare would be a monumental boon for small business owners and entrepreneurs is a vast understatement.
https://open.substack.com/pub/danismart/p/healthcare-in-america-analysis-paralysis?r=1c5095&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Dani, With those deductibles, what you have is catastrophic health care, Like cancer.
If you are in good health, with such high deductibles, you don't need to waste money on insurance.
Consider the cost of workers' comp, liability insurance. How much would Dani's company have to pay (by force of state law)?
If Medicare for all were combined with elimination of the collateral source rule, the c Dani's company payosts of most insurance would drop like rocks. The funter exposure would be covered by Medicare.
At present, Meicare has an inchoate (springing) lien that can wipe out a company. https://www.cms.gov/medicare/coordination-benefits-recovery/beneficiary-services/recovery-process
Tis True Daniel. Medicare for all would save companies billions, so why aren't the CEO's and Billionaires pushing for them, rather than against them.
Maybe because workers comp payments, as well as benefits to employees are tax deductions, and they also keep the worker tied to the company.
Forced dependency, neo serfdom, indentured servitude, quasi enslavement.
All Billionaires got that way by lying, cheating, and outright stealing - that includes generous George Soros and Bill Gates as well as all of Trump's greedy ClownCar Cabinet members. So why should we be surprised when our oligarchic MAGA government lies, cheats, and steals from us?
Thom's post on how Musk protected both Tesla's China interests and kept Twitter porn legal (Ca-ching) foreshadows life under Trump. Because MAGAs stupidly assume that if you are rich you deserve to be in charge, they have enabled the biggest government-enabled rip-off in US history. Not even yet in power, the Muskgegarchs have snatched several hundred billion dollars from the US economy as rich investors buy into Musk's Mega-MAGA scam after the election.
It is hard not to notice that Musk has begun to behave in public like laughing-gas-bag Tucker Carlson, which helps project a harmless goofball persona to the public. Like the big bad wolf told Little Red Riding Hood, his disguise makes it "all the better to eat you with. "
Article in NYT and a discussion in Meidastouch about the MAGATs from my home town (salute)! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbiVRnVumVA
i expect that once upon a time, one of the wealthiest areas in the country has been reduced to third world status. We once had the richest private banker in the US.
It is difficult to determine if decaying small towns are mostly reactionary holdouts or people who feel trapped due to fear of how to survive in an urban culture. I have never understood why, for example, well-educated native Americans, choose to live on reservations in remote hovels with outdoor plumbing rather than escape to a far higher standard of living. A reactionary mentality is the only hypothesis that makes sense to me.
By the time I turned 12, I was already plotting how to escape my tiny 800 sqft house in Whiteflightburbia (pop 12K) where we were constantly reminded by neighborhood adults how lucky we were not to be living in crime-infested Chicago with all the N--gers. I eventually seized the opportunity to exploit my religion to convince my parents to enroll me in a seminary prep school in downtown Chicago to which I commuted by rail, bus, and subway 40 miles RT daily. That was the wisest thing I ever did in 77 years.
Yes, my old hometown is run down and rotting today. I drove by my old house several years ago to show my spouse while attending a class reunion. The nearby country club is now acres of warehouses. My grammar school is an empty building today. Many stores are abandoned. Eventually, towns more rural than that will disappear entirely. It's evolution. What will holdouts do when Trump's Second Coming does not deliver the promised "Rapture?"
It's sad Lost virtually all industry, all middle class. We were a commuter town until the railroad went bellyup in 1962. Economically, physically resembles Appalachia.
In the game Monopoly the game is over when one person owns everything. We are seeing that now in the US and it looks like Elmo is winning. So the game is nearly over.
This madman has to be stopped but none of our representatives are willing to do so, concerned as they are about their pork barrel jobs. The ones that have tried have been ousted.
Also worth noting, not one civilization in the history of mankind has ever survived. We are mirroring what happened to the Roman Empire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_the_Western_Roman_Empire
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The tech of Musk is not based on new invention. It is better tech based on old tech. His brand is management of technological individuals. Jobs did a better performance on new innovation. Finance is willing to export manufacturing to destroy labor as a force in politics but it is not a good thing for the nation. The right wing wants to monetize the economy to extract as much cash from its citizens as a model increasing the number of poor in society and the world. Such is an unsubstainable model which lacks a moral basis. Sadly, that has never stopped the GOP in finding justification for an immoral means.
Thom, that's a well-stated POV. I have made a few observations about Musk and his influence. Biden's government, careless/lazy in granting him access to our nation's security, has used him to its advantage. However, letting the genie out of the bottle has allowed Musk to make massive and dangerous inroads into control of our lives. When Biden brought him in to do his bidding, Musk insinuated himself so that he accrued power, i.e., space and war enabler. Just about all of Congress and the House drank the cool aide to keep themselves at the table, and due to the fact the Republicans had learned to ingratiate themselves to Trump, they gave away their decency to Musk as well as transmogrifying him. I don't think his space knowledge was worth what monster we have in Musk.
Thanks for a both a provocative and reasonable explanation of why Musk seems to hold the keys to our kingdom, now, in the form of such lucrative contracts, etc.
So...will the land down under grant you political asylum?
I wish… ;)
Have, a great trip Thom. The Musk show is on only not for the United States. There is money to be made, right. Safe travels. Staying upbeat with a new attitude Thom. Good for the New Year I think. It really is how you feel that counts.
It's odd that you keep blaming the Supreme Court, and we should not forget that Biden is responsible for appointing the worst justice Clarence Thomas and Obama bowed to Republicans and did not appoint corporatist Merrick Garland, when the privatization of the health care system lies squarely with the Democrats and the ACA. Do you remember Thom when I called to talk about how the ACA was forcing patients to change their coverage that were more expensive and offered less access and you told me I was a Republican plant and hung up on me? Well that's only a tiny fraction of the damage that the ACA has done, I write in the following article about some of that damage and how the vast majority of Americans now pay more for health care while getting reduced access and quality of care. We must make the proper diagnosis before we can treat the disease, and while it is obvious that the Supreme Court is a curse and our entire legal system is upside down it is Democrats who put the nail in the coffin of millions of Americans. https://barryjkaufmando.substack.com/p/the-american-health-care-system-is
Why is it that analyses of our sick healthcare system point to the exploitation of the system by the rip-off private insurance companies (as they should). but they do not simultaneously mention that another reason we pay so much for healthcare is that we are so sick. We pay to have our polluted air, water, earth, and food, and our killer high-stress life make us sick, then we pay the corrupted medical system to not cure us, and then we pay again for the morbidly rich insurance executives to corrupt our government by buying off politicians. My Bangladeshi friend recently commented that when their government pulls this #$%&, the people crowd the streets until they get results. But Americans placate themselves with the reassurance that they "Live in the best country in the world," and have the best health care system. Lying to yourself isn't healthy either.
Thank you for this.