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HighDesertDJ
Trad climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 12, 2016 - 09:18am PT
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EdwardT posted Thanks BC. Obamacare has some serious problems no one cares to address. The biggest being losses incurred by insurance companies. They're drooping coverage in some States. Co-ops are failing.
Another is premium increases. Obama promised good coverage at affordable rates. Maybe that's the case for some, but my coverage has declined and my premiums rates are increasing at faster rate than I ever experienced before Obamacare. For 2016, seventeen States saw rate increases above 20 percent.
The ACA was a step in the right direction. But it's seriously flawed. The numbers don't work. Maybe Hillary take it on as President. Maybe she's got enough dirt on Republicans to get a better program passed.
You refer to an interesting paradox: overall healthcare spending has decreased (technically, the rate of growth has decreased) while individual premiums have increased. This is largely due to employers shifting the costs onto their employees, not because insurers are raising their rates. Some insurers are raising rates but it is not clear that they are doing so with good reason. They are arguing that the new people being covered are sicker and require more care, but there is not good data on this.
Beyond that, the simple fact is that reducing overall healthcare spending might require that we increase individual spending so long as we insist on having a consumer driven market. Obama has been very aggressive in managing what care Medicare will reimburse which has had a huge impact on how care is delivered, but it's not going to be a quick fix unless we radically alter how healthcare in America works.
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EdwardT
Trad climber
Retired
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Apr 12, 2016 - 09:43am PT
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HDDJ - Your claims and link rely on data preceding the start of Obamacare.
In 2014, U.S. health care spending increased 5.3 percent following growth of 2.9 percent in 2013 to reach $3.0 trillion, or $9,523 per person. The faster growth experienced in 2014 was primarily due to the major coverage expansions under the Affordable Care Act, particularly for Medicaid and private health insurance. The share of the economy devoted to health care spending was 17.5 percent, up from 17.3 percent in 2013.
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HighDesertDJ
Trad climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 12, 2016 - 09:56am PT
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Edward, I'm not sure you fully read the article or my post.
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Norton
Social climber
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Apr 12, 2016 - 10:10am PT
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Edward,
what would you personally recommend as your replacement for the ACA that covers the tens of millions of previously uninsured Americans?
Would you favor single payer healthcare for all?
Or would you prefer repealing the ACA in its entirety and going back to the way things were in the past?
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crankster
Trad climber
No. Tahoe
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Apr 12, 2016 - 10:17am PT
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Better yet, what legislation can make it through the next congress and who has the political skills to push it through?
We can debate all day about what we want, but, really, it's of little use. It all comes down to votes by elected officials, correct?
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HighDesertDJ
Trad climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 12, 2016 - 10:20am PT
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The House has returned to regular order in many ways under Ryan. I actually do think ACA reform is possible with Clinton and Ryan working together. Sanders could do it too but not if he actually proposes single payer.
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EdwardT
Trad climber
Retired
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Apr 12, 2016 - 10:28am PT
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Edward, I'm not sure you fully read the article or my post.
Really?
You counter my post about premium increases under Obamacare with data unrelated to Obamacare. I post information showing healthcare spending, during the first year of Obamacare, increased at a rate nearly twice the rate of the last year your article addresses.
Overall healthcare spending is increasing at an increasing rate.
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EdwardT
Trad climber
Retired
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Apr 12, 2016 - 10:39am PT
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Edward,
what would you personally recommend as your replacement for the ACA that covers the tens of millions of previously uninsured Americans?
Would you favor single payer healthcare for all?
Or would you prefer repealing the ACA in its entirety and going back to the way things were in the past?
We're too far downriver to return to a pre-ACA marketplace. Besides, it was broke.
IMO the best system would be single payer, with subsidies (like the current ones) and adjusted premiums, based on health. This last part would have a reasonable range, allowing someone with cancer or AIDS to have coverage, while requiring them to pay a premium for their poor health. Also, everyone all in. No more paying a fee to opt out.
The downside: One ginormous bureaucracy coverage. Scares the hell out of me.
One caveat - Allow individuals to buy additional private insurance.
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EdwardT
Trad climber
Retired
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Apr 12, 2016 - 10:42am PT
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We can debate all day about what we want, but, really, it's of little use.
Life on the interweb.
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Norton
Social climber
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Apr 12, 2016 - 10:49am PT
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Overall healthcare spending is increasing at an increasing rate.
Edward makes a good point ^^
It IS unfortunate that healthcare spending has been increasing really since reliable early records were kept, and it has been increasing even more for decades and decades now.
My own monthly premiums were going up on average 40% a year before the ACA
Because the ACA allowed other insurers to come into my state they now have to compete for business and as a result my premiums have still gone up but by 18% instead of 40%
It would be quite naive to expect healthcare costs to stop going up or go down, but to allow the past to continue on was simply pricing way too many Americans out of having insurance - a good thing I suppose if one really though that was good idea.
i remember when the Republicans had the Presidency, House, and Senate in 2003 and passed the massive Medicare Prescription Drug program. It immediately had a lot of problems and confusions but Democrats joined with Republicans instead of calling for its repeal and together both parties passed further legislation that worked out the problems and now tens of millions of senior Americans enjoy having their drugs included with their Medicare programs, a huge win.
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EdwardT
Trad climber
Retired
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Apr 12, 2016 - 11:02am PT
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Healthcare spending rose 5.3% in 2014. Estimates peg 2015 around 4.5%.
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HighDesertDJ
Trad climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 12, 2016 - 11:09am PT
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So what would you like to compare it with, exactly?
*edit*
Healthcare spending rose 5.3% in 2014. Estimates peg 2015 around 4.5%.
So you're saying that increases in healthcare spending decreased. I'm glad we can finally agree on this.
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EdwardT
Trad climber
Retired
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Apr 12, 2016 - 03:16pm PT
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Semantics with HDDJ.
Oh joy.
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Craig Fry
Trad climber
So Cal.
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Apr 12, 2016 - 08:07pm PT
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How Fox News Unwittingly Destroyed the Republican Party
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cody-cain/how-fox-news-destroyed-republican-party_b_9644594.html
The Republican Party is in a pickle.
The Party itself despises its own two leading presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. This is a remarkable oddity just in itself. But there is good reason for it. Both of these candidates are so extreme and disastrous that they will almost certainly never be able to win a national election for the Republican Party.
But much worse, if and when one of these candidates does becomes the Republican Party’s nominee for president, the Party could very well be torn asunder into factions. One wing would split off to support the extremist candidate, and the other more moderate wing would be so embarrassed by what the Republican Party had become that they might even abandon the Party altogether. And forget about attracting new members into the Party because it would be too mean and extreme.
The Republicans, however, have no one to blame but themselves. This is a crisis of their own creation. And it didn’t just happen overnight.
The Republican Party has been fomenting anger and discontent in the base of its own Party for years. The mechanism through which this hate has been disseminated has been the network of extremist media of right-wing talk radio and the Fox News Channel, which is essentially talk radio transposed onto television.
Just think of all the right-wing “superstars” who spew messages of anger and hate every single day throughout the land over this enormous megaphone. Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, Ben Shapiro, Dana Loesch, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, to name a few.
And make no mistake, spewing hate has a significant impact upon society. It is the equivalent of modern-day propaganda where the population is barraged with a stream of consistent messaging. As ordinary people go about their daily lives, they are exposed repeatedly, day-in and day-out, to the same messages in numerous different forms and by numerous different people. Pretty soon, these messages begin to sink in and take effect. The audience begins to adopt a worldview consistent with these messages, regardless of the degree of truth. It is a remarkable phenomenon.
History is replete with examples of how propaganda can be very effective in altering the views of a population. Nazi Germany in the 1930’s is a classic example. How could it possibly be that a maniac like Adolph Hitler was able to convince millions of ordinary people throughout the entire nation of Germany to go to war against the world? Well, propaganda was an extremely powerful component.
For years, Hitler inundated the German population with a stream of consistent messages that the German Aryans were the superior master race of all humans, and that Germany was under imminent threat of destruction by foreign enemies as evidenced by the Treaty of Versailles, which was the international peace treaty that ended World War I but that also imposed upon Germany the hardship of having to make enormous reparation payments to the foreign victors for having caused the war. The Nazi messaging also preached about internal threats from various segments of Germany’s own population, like Jews, homosexuals, and communists. The German population began to adopt this perverse and paranoid worldview as truth, and a national war machine was born.
Propaganda is powerful stuff. Many people are susceptible to it and can be swayed by it, especially the less educated.
In America today, the right-wing media network is engaged in this very same activity through Fox News and extremist talk radio. This network is constantly barraging its audience, day-in and day-out, over and over again, with a stream of consistent messaging. And this messaging is overwhelmingly negative and destructive.
The messaging consists of common themes that recur over and over in various forms. One central theme is a fierce opposition against government, especially so called “big government.” This reappears in various sub-forms as well, such as rage against bureaucracy, regulations, Washington, D.C., the IRS, the Environmental Protection Agency, and federal politicians.
It is really quite remarkable that a major political party could get away with so shamelessly trashing our very own government and our very own nation. But yet, there it is.
They rant and rave about how our nation is a disaster, out of control, a huge mess. The government is so far off the rails that it no longer even follows the Constitution of the United States! Absurd, of course. But wildly popular.
Another big theme is fear and victimization. You had better watch out because government is gonna getcha! “They,” whoever that may be, are about to take away your rights. Your freedom is about to disappear. Your religious liberties will be stripped away. You won’t be able to make your own healthcare decisions. Free choice will be gone. Your children will suffer. You are under a big threat. Even though you are just an innocent person minding your own business, you are about to be victimized!
Another common theme is the fear of foreigners, or outsiders. We must protect our own in-group from the vague and mysterious threats posed by those who are a little bit different from us. The particular targeted group changes with the times, but it has included Muslims, illegal immigrants, Syrian refugees, Russia, China, Mexican immigrants and communists. But the concept remains the same.
And, of course, someone from the Democratic Party, or some “liberal,” is to blame for all of this wreckage. Demonizing a specific target is powerful. If a Democrat is in the White House, then the President becomes the favorite bullseye. Otherwise the demon is some other Democratic politician, typically from Congress.
But why would a Democrat want to take away people’s rights throughout the nation? This would mean that the Democrat would also be taking away their own rights, and also the rights of their constituents. Why in the world would they do that? Well, of course, this makes no sense whatsoever. But it doesn’t need to make any sense. It just needs to instill fear, anger, and discontent.
Now, a political platform comprised of nothing more than hate and anger is not a very viable or sustainable political strategy, especially for a national party like the Republican Party. It may be a good strategy for a specific election or an isolated situation, but an entire political party cannot endure based upon only a message of outrage and opposition.
So why would the Republican Party devise such a strategy that has no hope of success? Well, it turns out that they did not devise this strategy. In fact, it’s not even a strategy at all. It emerged not as a result of a grand Republican master plan, but rather, it emerged as a result of market economics.
The extremist right-wing network of Fox News and talk radio was not created by politicians, and it is not funded by a political party. It is not supported by donations from people seeking political expression. No. It was created for one central purpose: to make money.
The founding motivation and the driving force behind all of this propaganda of hate and anger that is being disseminated throughout our society is nothing more than the almighty dollar. The profit motive. It is a business. Pure and simple.
And, as it turns out, the business of peddling hate and anger is a fantastically profitable one at that.
Rush Limbaugh raked-in $80 million for himself in 2015 alone. Sean Hannity was paid $30 million. Glenn Beck is personally worth over $100 million. Bill O’Reilly’s television show, “The O’Reilly Factor,” generates over $100 million per year in advertising revenue.
If these front-men are making this much money, well then you know that their corporate masters are making even more.
Fox News has dominated the ratings as the number one cable news channel for the last 14 years and reportedly earns over $1 billion in profits annually, making it a golden goose in the overall Fox corporate empire. Fox itself is one of the most valuable brands in the world with sales of over $13 billion. And the tycoon behind Fox News, Rupert Murdoch, is personally worth $12 billion.
This is Big Business.
It is no joke. We are not talking about some folks just yearning to express their opinions. No. This operation is not being driven by politics or by a desire to promulgate political viewpoints. No. This operation is being driven by money. Big Money. This is what it’s all about.
Of course, politics is involved as well. No doubt. The content spewed by this media network is highly political in nature and it champions right-wing issues, right-wing politicians, and the right-wing Republican Party. This is no accident. In fact, it makes perfect sense when viewed through an economic perspective.
Corporate profits are greatly impacted by governmental policies. Corporations, therefore, desire the government to be controlled by whichever political party is the most favorable to corporate profits. And this, of course, is the Republican Party. So it makes perfect sense that this extremist media network would use its megaphone to attempt to influence politics by urging support for the right-wing Republican Party.
Interestingly, the Fox media empire that is dominated by the tycoon Rupert Murdoch is shockingly reminiscent of the media empire from around 1900 that was dominated by the tycoon William Randolph Hearst.
Mr. Hearst was notorious for printing false information in his media network of newspapers in order to influence public opinion and politics. Instead of using his vast media network to objectively and fairly report news and disseminate information, Mr. Hearst used his media network as an instrument of power by controlling the content and distorting the truth in order to manipulate public opinion for his own benefit.
more..
And there it was. The Republican Party had made a deal with the devil.
keep reading, too long to post all
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Gary
Social climber
Where in the hell is Major Kong?
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Apr 13, 2016 - 05:38am PT
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The downside: One ginormous bureaucracy coverage
No bureaucracy in those insurance corporations at all!
Having been involved in corporate and government bureaucracies, my opinion is that while the government version is benign, the corporate version is actively malign.
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HighDesertDJ
Trad climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 13, 2016 - 06:27am PT
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Ed posted Semantics with HDDJ.
Oh joy.
It helps if you stop trying to claim we disagree on something that we both agree the facts clearly support.
Craig- I think Democrats are ignoring just how poorly their party is doing in 2 respects. First, the fact that they are losing repeatedly basically everywhere that isn't the White House. Second, there is a similar rift in the Democratic party as we are seeing in the Republican one. It's not as extreme, but the ignorance on the far left that Sanders has uncovered has been truly breathtaking when you take it all in. While the schadenfreude is impossible to avoid, Democrats would be better served in addressing the problems that they are encountering. If the Republican party "breaks" this year, they will only be "broken" so much as they have lost the White House and maybe the Senate. They will still overwhelmingly control most of the states, the House and they will probably be able to retool and build using the midterms as an easy place to win in the interim because Democrats just refuse to actually show up.
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Contractor
Boulder climber
CA
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Apr 13, 2016 - 08:07am PT
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How Fox News Unwittingly Destroyed the Republican Party
Don't get your hopes up.
There has been a recipe to subjugate the majority by the minority that is as old as society it's self. The accumulation of wealth among the fewest number of partisans has always been the calculation.
Whether it be a benign democracy or a brutal dictatorship and everything in between- these ingredients have remained the same though time. The art, is the constant remixing of the quantities to feed the appetite of just enough to keep a grip on power while poisoning everyone else.
Because murder, torture and imprisonment has become a bit risky, the number one ingredient that industrialist, capitalist and aristocrats are feeding Americans right now, is blame shifting via corporate media. Government, minorities, welfare recipients and Muslims are the obvious diversionary targets.
To be gullible enough to think that government is a conspiratory monolith that is in competition with the greedy ruling class is laughable- no, it's sad actually.
Yes, there are unscrupulous individuals in government that are cheating for personal gain, but more often than not, you'll find a commercial interest fostering that behavior. Although government will always be reactive, mostly inefficient and at times painfully slow, as long as we participate, administrative mechanisms exist to keep things fair and productive for the most part (we are dealing with humans after all).
So now the RNC is on the hit list...it doesn't matter, the recipe will be altered slightly to keep enough idiots believing that a few wealthy people will want to share- mostly because you're white and Christian and you deserve it.
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Craig Fry
Trad climber
So Cal.
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Apr 13, 2016 - 08:20am PT
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It'll be a temporary set back for the ever present right wing tribal mentality.
I just hope some of the smart ones can escape their denial and come to their sense about what's going on in the Republican/Libertarian/Conservative movement.
It's become a dangerous cult
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