Being retired military, I have been enjoying the benefits of universal healthcare since 1968. At age 65, I was required to subscribe to Medicare B as primary insurer. The rest of the bill is picked up by DOD Tricare - co-pays, fees, everything. I go to local doctors, my medication is free, and I even have had surgery at Mayo Clinic to correct a botch operation by a local doctor.
Oddly, I have to get my hearing aids (issued on active duty) from the VA. That has become annoying because the MAGAs have cut VA funding so much that they are short-handed and appointments rarely can be made sooner than 3 months out - validation of Thom's slam at the GOP's private sector efficiency mythology.
Another oddity is that I, like all Americans, have to have private dental insurance because, again, the GOP asserts that all dental surgery is cosmetic, like a haircut, and thus is not essential medical care. Visit any trailer park and you will see that most of those low-income residents have toothless smiles despite fluoride in their drinking water - soon to be stopped by Wormbrain Kennedy.
I too have Tricare for life, Tom as does my wife. She gets here meds via Express Scripts for a nominal co pay
I have two sets of VA provided hearing aids. After 2 years I became eligible for an upgrade, and they are the latest and best, they also will provide ancillary devices which a person, like your doctor, can hold and a device to help hear TV. I'm waiting for those.
A lot of those toothless smiles are from meth addicts, not sure if it is the meth or the fact that they don't brush their teeth.
Benefeds, available to Tricare recipients cover vision and dental, but the costs aren't worth it, especially for vision.
I am disappointed in you for saying, "A lot of those toothless smiles are from meth addicts, not sure if it is the meth or the fact that they don't brush their teeth"
I had no dental coverage for my children (no health insurance either), and a couple of them have awful teeth and have never had dental insurance to this day. Victim blaming doesn't become you.
In this country, teeth, ears, and eyes aren't considered part of the body. The brain isn't considered part of the body either, except for strokes and brain tumors, so when it doesn't work right, we often blame the victim.
I have paid what I could afford for my children's teeth when they were children and as adults. None of them ever used methamphetamines. Just try getting a job when you have broken or discolored teeth, then blame toothless people for not working.
I am sorry you are disappointed in me Gloria, but pleasedon't personalize the impersonal.
I wear dentures. I was raised by a single Mon in a government project, she was too busy trying to earn a living and wrapped up in her own misery to provide us supervision. I never developed the habit of brushing my teeth (combined with cigarette smoking I must have had some bad halitosis). My wife on the other hand was taught to brush her teeth, she has had some fillings and a cap on one tooth, but her rigorous brusing plus Xylitol Chewing gum, has kept her cavity free for going on 20 years..
Please resist the temptation to personalize the impersonal. Fact is that I know of, and even knew some meth heads and their teeth are indeed rotted.
The property I own, the house I am living in was bought at a "fire sale" (no one else wanted it, because the renters had a meth lab in a trailer in the barn.
The owner was forced,by circumstances, to sell, because she couldn't even get renters and wound up having to pay two mortgages at once.
Let’s face it, the usa is predatory country. Almost every interaction with anything that has to do with what we have in common gets turned into a dog eat dog competition. I can’t win unless you lose. But ultimately we all lose.
Costa Rica is a beautiful but not wealthy country, nevertheless we manage to have universal healthcare. Denial rate is 0% and there is no paperwork. No matter the length of your treatment, just walk out the door when done. And no one ever goes bankrupt. I am thoroughly disgusted with the way people in the USA treat each other.
And here physicians waste half their time filling out forms and trying to get around insurance restrictions on good medical practice. As for preventive measures…that’s not very profitable. On the other hand lots of pills are advertised on TV.
Doctors will only order something if they think it's covered by insurance. The pharmacy wouldn't sell me the CGM sensors, even with a prescription, because insurance refused to pay for them. Insurance is now directing care as much as physicians. I watched a video of a UHC insider saying that people don't understand that they are protecting us from physicians who perform unnecessary, dangerous procedures and tests for no reason other than to be paid.
Repugnican fear-mongering around “Obamacare” fantasized loudly about “death panels”. We already had, and still have, death panels. They are euphemistically known as “boards of directors”. And now, elected and unelected fascists are scheming to bump us off more efficiently.
All that is most wrong with this world can be traced to hierarchical institutions, namely corporations and religions, which compound their criminal reach by seizing control of governments.
Yes. And if you want, you could even drill down deeper: "All that is most wrong with this world can be traced to INDIVIDUAL HUMANS TOLERATING THE CONTROL OF THEIR LIVES BY hierarchical institutions..."
We've been discussing this on "On Democracy." Republicans also want to cut service connected VA disability and eliminate medical coverage for non service connected treatment.
I go back to objections to use of VA points in hiring and promotions. Same concept as affirmative action. I probably would not have achieved my government positions but for VA points. Those days are probably over.
I have a 10% service connected disability, Daniel, what they means is that my retirement check is reduced by 10%, and offset by a VA check for the same amount.
VA payments are not taxed and not reported on the 1040 IRS form, As regards me, it is not a huge deal, it will raise my tax liability, by a couple of dollars, and I don't object to paying taxes, they are the cost of living in a civilized society, with highways, utilities. Much better than living in Haiti, Somalia, Sudan.
Cutting out VA benefits is the least of our troubles Daniel. I shudder at the world that awaits us in January.
All of these controversies and problems are mundane, including the peccadilloes and characteristics of cabinet appointees as compared to the full weight of Thor's hammer coming down on us in January.
Imagine being 100% since "nam and voting to lose the main source of income.
Imagine being in a VA facility due to economic + medical reasnons and being forced to vacate.
I never appealed the 20% I got after nam. I could have, because since then they added Agent Orange, and other stuff. I never took full advantage of the GI medical benefits.
I use to throw away the Agent orange material that the VA sent because I was pretty sure that I wasn't sprayed by the C123's in Ranch Hand or in the area they sprayed, after they sprayed.
However I am outraged for those vets that are going to be cast out by Musk and Ramaswamy..
It remind me of how Stalin dealt with the cripples and limbless Vets that hung around Red Square. when the sun came up one morning, they were all gone and Stalin was no longer embarrassed by the failure of the state to take care of wounded patriots.
The whole affair is a reminder to us that we are little more than a human resourcek and resources are things that are used and consumed in production.
We defoliated a mahogony forest in Tay Ninh province during Junction City. I was in a discussion group with a physician who was in the 1st Div medical units -- said all his colleagues got it... the water.
This article should be read by all. Those of us who are basically singing to the choir… have understood since reagan that we “the people “ pay to keep these ugly creeps rich. Bush privatized our Medicare. On and on… unless everyone gets to read and or hear the truth it remains a two party issue. Republicans have one issue…, don’t want to pay back into this country. So, they have the rest of us supporting them.
In the 80s, Blue Cross in my state was allowed to switch from not-for-profit to for-profit. The next year BC premiums zoomed and BC lost numerous customers. After a couple of years premiums fell, but not to the previous level. I don’t believe that ANY healthcare provider should be allowed to be for-profit.
"That Americans are well aware of this obscenity explains the gleeful response to his murder that’s spread across social media, including the refusal of online sleuths to participate in finding his killer."
The only part that truly disturbs me about his murder is the part where I would ordinarily feel empathy. I feel nothing. I'm not proud of it, but I'm also not ashamed of it. It simply is.
While there is a justifiably gleeful response to the murder of Brian Thompson, one must remember he is only a hired gun, he will be quickly replaced by another like thinking and acting by the Board of Directors.
I hesitate to rush to judgement, that this was an act by a customers disgruntled relative.
James Feinman wrote a book Delay, Deny, Defend. the hitman left cartridge casings with Delay, Defend, Depose, and foolishly left behind a water bottle. he had a silencer, was an expert marksman with a pistol, and cleared a jam as he moved between shots. He was a pro. Then sped away on a bicycle to Central Park, exited the park without his back pack, the cops say that they have found it, and got lost in a bus station, which the authorities say he was taking a bus to Atlanta.
He had a fake NJ ID (probably a drivers license)
If he were on the bus, they could have stopped the bus at any time and apprehended him, or waited until the bus arrived in Atlanta. so far crickets.
Crickets on the backpack, crickets ath the bus station, crickets in Atlanta.
If he was a relative of a person killed by United Health care, he was very cool, calm, collected and gone through considerable effort to plan the hit, including knowledge of Brians travel plans at the time and date of the hit.
He was laying in wait for him, knowing that he would walk by. Too much planning, too much info, including a fake NJ ID, and a silencer for it to be a relative of a UH customer.
But let us wait and see how it plays out. I very well could be wrong in my skepticism.
You seem pretty sure he was a pro hired by a relative, so the relative could remain unsuspected. If they catch the pro, I wonder if they can make him identify the relative. And the other things you mention seem to imply the cops don't really want to catch the guy whether he was hired or not, probably because they have no empathy for the victim.
I never said he was a pro hired by a relative, He could have been a pro hired by the company itself,, or even AHIP (Association of Health Insurance Providers) maybe he was about to do damage at to the association or the company at the meeting he was walking to attend 2024 DRI Insurance Coverage and Practice Symposium
DRI is the largest international membership organization of attorneys defending the interests of business and individuals in civil litigation. Membership in DRI provides access to resources and tools for attorneys
I do not thing that the love one of a person who was murdered by UH has the resources to hire a hitman, not do I think that a husband or son of a person killed by UH has the resources and connections to do it himself, knowing Brians intinerary, his route of travel, obtaining a fake NJ ID acquiring a silencer, and then cooly, calmly stepping out shooting him at a distance, and clearing a jam while walking.
I am aware that everyone wants to believe that it was karmic justice, payback but there is too much that suggests it was professional and an inside job, especially knowledge of his schedule and itinerary.
If we ever realize that all is interrelated, interconnected, and interdependent, we will understand that to lift up one person's awareness of health is to lift everyone's understanding of health. This is a very broad statement and one that is not readily understood in this country because of everything outlined in this article. A country that subsist on a system that robs the health of the commons for the enrichment of a few and the financial fulfillment of those who would rather not work for a living is bound to implode eventually. It isn't rocket science. Shared wellness is a benefit to all and an introduction to the world of blessings and "miracles".
I am among those that find it hard to feel remorse for the UHC CEO or his Nepo babies.
I spent over 18 months in fighting unwarranted charges of $1,500 that I was almost dunned for by Humana. Even being generous as to the motive of this “Advantadge” plan for simply miscoding that a moron could see, I nonetheless was sent around and around and threatened and harassed constantly. I ended up in arbitration with some deep in the bowels government agency I’d never heard of before of since.
It was a nightmare. $1,500 might be peanuts, but imagine I dunno about 1 million similar miscodes annually that people don’t fight..
Until we have single payer this nightmare will only get worse under Trump
When the head of United Healthcare, was shot I understood. I remember how they threw my dying friend out of the hospital. They said 'sicker" people needed the bed. She was within days of dying and they wanted her to leave. I have tons of stories about them. The whole thing is a scam for the rich executives to make more money and Republicans seem to be in league.
Hey Thom, how about changing the game? This is getting ridiculouser and ridiculouser. Here's a comment I made to Tim Snyder yesterday, thinking you could be his first pick -- or you could go first and pick him:
To Tim:
"I want to talk about you. We are devoid of leadership and you are so clearly deserving of it I want to talk about you having a status beyond gadfly, which is all we have. Why don't you put up a flag to be rallied round to create what could be called a WISDOM COUNCIL? Make it international. Get the best minds to think together about what to do.
"You start. You pick someone. The two of you pick the next person, the three pick the fourth, until you all decide it's enough. Please save the world. Something more radical than what we've got is urgently needed. No one would object to your doing such a thing."
Not even bothering to read. The wealthy don't care. A society where the serfs die young is good with them. There will be many more to take their place.
Being retired military, I have been enjoying the benefits of universal healthcare since 1968. At age 65, I was required to subscribe to Medicare B as primary insurer. The rest of the bill is picked up by DOD Tricare - co-pays, fees, everything. I go to local doctors, my medication is free, and I even have had surgery at Mayo Clinic to correct a botch operation by a local doctor.
Oddly, I have to get my hearing aids (issued on active duty) from the VA. That has become annoying because the MAGAs have cut VA funding so much that they are short-handed and appointments rarely can be made sooner than 3 months out - validation of Thom's slam at the GOP's private sector efficiency mythology.
Another oddity is that I, like all Americans, have to have private dental insurance because, again, the GOP asserts that all dental surgery is cosmetic, like a haircut, and thus is not essential medical care. Visit any trailer park and you will see that most of those low-income residents have toothless smiles despite fluoride in their drinking water - soon to be stopped by Wormbrain Kennedy.
I too have Tricare for life, Tom as does my wife. She gets here meds via Express Scripts for a nominal co pay
I have two sets of VA provided hearing aids. After 2 years I became eligible for an upgrade, and they are the latest and best, they also will provide ancillary devices which a person, like your doctor, can hold and a device to help hear TV. I'm waiting for those.
A lot of those toothless smiles are from meth addicts, not sure if it is the meth or the fact that they don't brush their teeth.
Benefeds, available to Tricare recipients cover vision and dental, but the costs aren't worth it, especially for vision.
I am disappointed in you for saying, "A lot of those toothless smiles are from meth addicts, not sure if it is the meth or the fact that they don't brush their teeth"
I had no dental coverage for my children (no health insurance either), and a couple of them have awful teeth and have never had dental insurance to this day. Victim blaming doesn't become you.
In this country, teeth, ears, and eyes aren't considered part of the body. The brain isn't considered part of the body either, except for strokes and brain tumors, so when it doesn't work right, we often blame the victim.
I have paid what I could afford for my children's teeth when they were children and as adults. None of them ever used methamphetamines. Just try getting a job when you have broken or discolored teeth, then blame toothless people for not working.
Im my case, probably Agent Orange.
I am sorry you are disappointed in me Gloria, but pleasedon't personalize the impersonal.
I wear dentures. I was raised by a single Mon in a government project, she was too busy trying to earn a living and wrapped up in her own misery to provide us supervision. I never developed the habit of brushing my teeth (combined with cigarette smoking I must have had some bad halitosis). My wife on the other hand was taught to brush her teeth, she has had some fillings and a cap on one tooth, but her rigorous brusing plus Xylitol Chewing gum, has kept her cavity free for going on 20 years..
Please resist the temptation to personalize the impersonal. Fact is that I know of, and even knew some meth heads and their teeth are indeed rotted.
The property I own, the house I am living in was bought at a "fire sale" (no one else wanted it, because the renters had a meth lab in a trailer in the barn.
The owner was forced,by circumstances, to sell, because she couldn't even get renters and wound up having to pay two mortgages at once.
And by the way I am disappointed in you and your comment to that Putin asset Barry. I had no idea you were a fan of a Putin asset.
Me too. Except my husband was the one who served 20 years in the Navy.
Let’s face it, the usa is predatory country. Almost every interaction with anything that has to do with what we have in common gets turned into a dog eat dog competition. I can’t win unless you lose. But ultimately we all lose.
Costa Rica is a beautiful but not wealthy country, nevertheless we manage to have universal healthcare. Denial rate is 0% and there is no paperwork. No matter the length of your treatment, just walk out the door when done. And no one ever goes bankrupt. I am thoroughly disgusted with the way people in the USA treat each other.
And here physicians waste half their time filling out forms and trying to get around insurance restrictions on good medical practice. As for preventive measures…that’s not very profitable. On the other hand lots of pills are advertised on TV.
Not to mention that doctors or an assistant have to get on the phone to the insurance company to see if the procedure is authorized
Doctors will only order something if they think it's covered by insurance. The pharmacy wouldn't sell me the CGM sensors, even with a prescription, because insurance refused to pay for them. Insurance is now directing care as much as physicians. I watched a video of a UHC insider saying that people don't understand that they are protecting us from physicians who perform unnecessary, dangerous procedures and tests for no reason other than to be paid.
Repugnican fear-mongering around “Obamacare” fantasized loudly about “death panels”. We already had, and still have, death panels. They are euphemistically known as “boards of directors”. And now, elected and unelected fascists are scheming to bump us off more efficiently.
All that is most wrong with this world can be traced to hierarchical institutions, namely corporations and religions, which compound their criminal reach by seizing control of governments.
Well said and pithy. In one sentence you have boiled it all down to its essence.
Yes. And if you want, you could even drill down deeper: "All that is most wrong with this world can be traced to INDIVIDUAL HUMANS TOLERATING THE CONTROL OF THEIR LIVES BY hierarchical institutions..."
If ear the wreckage to come, after Trump signs the 100's of Executive Orders already drafted, and
the effects of Project 2025 set in.
One thing for sure all of those Vets who voted for Trump have a rude awakening coming, he has or rather Project 2025, is going to cancel the VA.
We've been discussing this on "On Democracy." Republicans also want to cut service connected VA disability and eliminate medical coverage for non service connected treatment.
I go back to objections to use of VA points in hiring and promotions. Same concept as affirmative action. I probably would not have achieved my government positions but for VA points. Those days are probably over.
I have a 10% service connected disability, Daniel, what they means is that my retirement check is reduced by 10%, and offset by a VA check for the same amount.
VA payments are not taxed and not reported on the 1040 IRS form, As regards me, it is not a huge deal, it will raise my tax liability, by a couple of dollars, and I don't object to paying taxes, they are the cost of living in a civilized society, with highways, utilities. Much better than living in Haiti, Somalia, Sudan.
Cutting out VA benefits is the least of our troubles Daniel. I shudder at the world that awaits us in January.
All of these controversies and problems are mundane, including the peccadilloes and characteristics of cabinet appointees as compared to the full weight of Thor's hammer coming down on us in January.
Imagine being 100% since "nam and voting to lose the main source of income.
Imagine being in a VA facility due to economic + medical reasnons and being forced to vacate.
I never appealed the 20% I got after nam. I could have, because since then they added Agent Orange, and other stuff. I never took full advantage of the GI medical benefits.
I use to throw away the Agent orange material that the VA sent because I was pretty sure that I wasn't sprayed by the C123's in Ranch Hand or in the area they sprayed, after they sprayed.
However I am outraged for those vets that are going to be cast out by Musk and Ramaswamy..
It remind me of how Stalin dealt with the cripples and limbless Vets that hung around Red Square. when the sun came up one morning, they were all gone and Stalin was no longer embarrassed by the failure of the state to take care of wounded patriots.
The whole affair is a reminder to us that we are little more than a human resourcek and resources are things that are used and consumed in production.
We defoliated a mahogony forest in Tay Ninh province during Junction City. I was in a discussion group with a physician who was in the 1st Div medical units -- said all his colleagues got it... the water.
My second cousin was a nurse (Major) in Nam. Died of cancer a few years back from removing uniforms soaked in Agent Orange from wounded soldiers.
This article should be read by all. Those of us who are basically singing to the choir… have understood since reagan that we “the people “ pay to keep these ugly creeps rich. Bush privatized our Medicare. On and on… unless everyone gets to read and or hear the truth it remains a two party issue. Republicans have one issue…, don’t want to pay back into this country. So, they have the rest of us supporting them.
Are we in a rage???? You answer for yourselves.
In the 80s, Blue Cross in my state was allowed to switch from not-for-profit to for-profit. The next year BC premiums zoomed and BC lost numerous customers. After a couple of years premiums fell, but not to the previous level. I don’t believe that ANY healthcare provider should be allowed to be for-profit.
"That Americans are well aware of this obscenity explains the gleeful response to his murder that’s spread across social media, including the refusal of online sleuths to participate in finding his killer."
The only part that truly disturbs me about his murder is the part where I would ordinarily feel empathy. I feel nothing. I'm not proud of it, but I'm also not ashamed of it. It simply is.
While there is a justifiably gleeful response to the murder of Brian Thompson, one must remember he is only a hired gun, he will be quickly replaced by another like thinking and acting by the Board of Directors.
I hesitate to rush to judgement, that this was an act by a customers disgruntled relative.
James Feinman wrote a book Delay, Deny, Defend. the hitman left cartridge casings with Delay, Defend, Depose, and foolishly left behind a water bottle. he had a silencer, was an expert marksman with a pistol, and cleared a jam as he moved between shots. He was a pro. Then sped away on a bicycle to Central Park, exited the park without his back pack, the cops say that they have found it, and got lost in a bus station, which the authorities say he was taking a bus to Atlanta.
He had a fake NJ ID (probably a drivers license)
If he were on the bus, they could have stopped the bus at any time and apprehended him, or waited until the bus arrived in Atlanta. so far crickets.
Crickets on the backpack, crickets ath the bus station, crickets in Atlanta.
If he was a relative of a person killed by United Health care, he was very cool, calm, collected and gone through considerable effort to plan the hit, including knowledge of Brians travel plans at the time and date of the hit.
He was laying in wait for him, knowing that he would walk by. Too much planning, too much info, including a fake NJ ID, and a silencer for it to be a relative of a UH customer.
But let us wait and see how it plays out. I very well could be wrong in my skepticism.
You seem pretty sure he was a pro hired by a relative, so the relative could remain unsuspected. If they catch the pro, I wonder if they can make him identify the relative. And the other things you mention seem to imply the cops don't really want to catch the guy whether he was hired or not, probably because they have no empathy for the victim.
I never said he was a pro hired by a relative, He could have been a pro hired by the company itself,, or even AHIP (Association of Health Insurance Providers) maybe he was about to do damage at to the association or the company at the meeting he was walking to attend 2024 DRI Insurance Coverage and Practice Symposium
DRI is the largest international membership organization of attorneys defending the interests of business and individuals in civil litigation. Membership in DRI provides access to resources and tools for attorneys
I do not thing that the love one of a person who was murdered by UH has the resources to hire a hitman, not do I think that a husband or son of a person killed by UH has the resources and connections to do it himself, knowing Brians intinerary, his route of travel, obtaining a fake NJ ID acquiring a silencer, and then cooly, calmly stepping out shooting him at a distance, and clearing a jam while walking.
I am aware that everyone wants to believe that it was karmic justice, payback but there is too much that suggests it was professional and an inside job, especially knowledge of his schedule and itinerary.
American healthcare is a combination:
a. Well-baby clinic
b. Ponzi scheme
--------------------------------------------
The Orange Diety will:
a. Blow it up
b. Leave a vacuum
--------------------------------------------
A decrepit healthcare system is of a piece with:
a. Gun suicide & homicides
b. Loss of nation's wealth/status due to racism
c. Putting the designer of the Boeing 737 MAX, back at the drawing board for 4 yrs
n.b. Item c. (above) is a Trump analogy
If we ever realize that all is interrelated, interconnected, and interdependent, we will understand that to lift up one person's awareness of health is to lift everyone's understanding of health. This is a very broad statement and one that is not readily understood in this country because of everything outlined in this article. A country that subsist on a system that robs the health of the commons for the enrichment of a few and the financial fulfillment of those who would rather not work for a living is bound to implode eventually. It isn't rocket science. Shared wellness is a benefit to all and an introduction to the world of blessings and "miracles".
I am among those that find it hard to feel remorse for the UHC CEO or his Nepo babies.
I spent over 18 months in fighting unwarranted charges of $1,500 that I was almost dunned for by Humana. Even being generous as to the motive of this “Advantadge” plan for simply miscoding that a moron could see, I nonetheless was sent around and around and threatened and harassed constantly. I ended up in arbitration with some deep in the bowels government agency I’d never heard of before of since.
It was a nightmare. $1,500 might be peanuts, but imagine I dunno about 1 million similar miscodes annually that people don’t fight..
Until we have single payer this nightmare will only get worse under Trump
When the head of United Healthcare, was shot I understood. I remember how they threw my dying friend out of the hospital. They said 'sicker" people needed the bed. She was within days of dying and they wanted her to leave. I have tons of stories about them. The whole thing is a scam for the rich executives to make more money and Republicans seem to be in league.
Hey Thom, how about changing the game? This is getting ridiculouser and ridiculouser. Here's a comment I made to Tim Snyder yesterday, thinking you could be his first pick -- or you could go first and pick him:
To Tim:
"I want to talk about you. We are devoid of leadership and you are so clearly deserving of it I want to talk about you having a status beyond gadfly, which is all we have. Why don't you put up a flag to be rallied round to create what could be called a WISDOM COUNCIL? Make it international. Get the best minds to think together about what to do.
"You start. You pick someone. The two of you pick the next person, the three pick the fourth, until you all decide it's enough. Please save the world. Something more radical than what we've got is urgently needed. No one would object to your doing such a thing."
Not even bothering to read. The wealthy don't care. A society where the serfs die young is good with them. There will be many more to take their place.
Terrific explainer Thom. Here’s another way of looking at these numbers … health care spending as a share of gdp
https://www.statista.com/statistics/268826/health-expenditure-as-gdp-percentage-in-oecd-countries/