... dearest Luigi, marking his milestone in Obamacare history ~

What a shame that people like Brian Thompson are call names and demonized to make some sick sort of point by people who know nothing about them- I wish this man's family and children some peace and kindness in their sorrow and feel sad for them.

To them, slain UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was a local farm boy
"But in Iowa, people knew Thompson in a different way — as a friend, neighbor and classmate who grew up among them in southern Hamilton County.
The late UnitedHealthcare CEO, 50, was raised on a farm between the small town of Jewell and the even tinier town of Stanhope and graduated from the communities' shared South Hamilton High School in 1993."
"Thompson is survived by his wife, Paulette, originally from Webster City, Iowa, his two sons and his mother, Pat"

Brian Thompson's Friends, Colleagues Paint Picture of Devoted Family Man - Newsweek
"Thompson grew up in a working-class family in Jewell, Idaho, where friends remember him as a farm kid who was well-liked by everyone. His mother was a beautician and his father was employed at a local grain elevator, according to an obituary. The elder Thompson passed away last year at 75"
Betuchy Galeano, a Florida-based UnitedHealth employee, called Thompson "a truly remarkable person" who was "so humble, kind, cheerful, and full of life"

 

Just rather throw your hamburger and ketchup on the wall and read that. As President Obama stated during his terms, bring me a better law than the ACA and I will sign it. They brought nothing. Now elect says concept of a plan, which means no plan. ACA has saved thousands of lives and untold suffering. Which is directed by our Constitution to work for. One of the best accomplishments of any President.

 

The thing that I hate about politics is each side claims to be the all knowing savior of human society and slanders everything the other side ever says or does. To me this is so ironic. How can you have two groups that claim to want the best for all of society be so divided? The feelings of whether something works or not no longer is based off of actual evidence but on what political party supports it. I would not be surprised if we don't end up with civil war.

As far as health care goes, it's not the greatest. It's not the worst either. We didn't have any health insurance before ACA and now we do. I live in a small town where most every job is from a small company and none of them offer health care.

The bottom line is that with both political parties there are rich people and investors wanting to make as much money as possible. It's a necessary evil either way. You need investors to help the health care industry grow. But then they want a return, and the best way to get them a return on their investment is to charge more and offer less. It's simple math, and it affects every industry out there.

Everyone would have to be altruistic for the world to not have corruption and for everything to be fair. But as my 1st grade teacher would say, "Life isn't fair, so deal with it."

 

Competition is the way to lower cost, unfortunately when you need care NOW - your at their mercy.

Anyone ever wonder why hospitals don't publish prices and outcomes for their procedures? You're going to have some outliers, but the majority is going to be routine - Yet the news tries to make the outliers the norm. IMHO.....

 

Here there were three clinics in town. Now they've all been bought up by the same company that also bought the hospital. And I assume they're buying up the hospitals and clinics in the nearby towns. So now we have a monopoly.

The thing about competition is sometimes you only end up with one winner.

Also, if you have health insurance that can decide who you can and can't go to and where you can and can't get meds, then you don't have any choice in the matter.

And if employers buy that health insurance for their employees, then you, the employee, don't have much, if any choice in the matter.

 

You just described the health care corporate strategy to game the system.

You can go anywhere you want for care and buy your medicine from anywhere you want - Your medical insurance company just won't pay that bill - Now that's real FREEDOM........

 

The one time a health insurance company made a credible effort to kill me was after the passage of HIPAA, but before the passage of PPACA. PPACA closed the loophole they were using that HIPAA had left open, so while an insurance company could still have plenty of other ways to mess with me, they don't have that particular one today anymore. So there's that.

I glanced at an article yesterday or today that tried to connect this dude's age (26) to the ACA provision that made 26 the age to which parental-plan coverage has to still be available (so maybe he was upset "because of an Obamacare provision"). The article could have bothered to remind readers that Obamacare extended that age to 26, when previously parental coverage tended to dry up years earlier at the age of adulthood, but that might have given the reader too much to think about.

 

not sure i understand the connection between a rattlesnake bite and medical insurance

 

If you are treated in a hospital for a rattlesnake bite and then see a bill showing the insurance-covered portion and the left-up-to-you portion ....


If you were running down the trail and stepped on the rattlesnake, it's collision, but if you were stationary and the snake up and bit you, that's comprehensive. Wait, I'm thinking car insurance....

If you stop in time but then the snake backs up into you, that's an insurance fraud. Better have a cam.

 

It's like buying a car - they tell you what they want, you tell them what your willing to pay. Meet in the middle somewhere LoL

Or worse, Sorry - all out of rattlesnake venom antidote. Thanks for participating - Please pay this bill before you die......

 

My guess is probably a reference to the Gadsden Flag with a rattlesnake that said "Don't tread on me," the idea being that health insurance companies have gone too far and have "tread" on their customers causing a retaliation with the murder of Brian Thompson.

 

That's because you're an American, which means that you watch WAAAAAAAAAY too much TV.

From the Googles:
"Rattlesnake bites are rarely fatal with less than 1 in 600 resulting in death, and approximately 33 percent not containing injection of venom at all. However, you should assume for your own sake that venom has been introduced and always seek treatment."

Even if you disregard the Google's estimates by an order of magnitude, you're dealing with a 1.67 chance of surviving a rattlesnake bite if you DO NOTHING.

Americans have poorer health outcomes because we tend to be FATTER LAZIER and more VIOLENT than other humans and we DRIVE MORE.

...trust the 'science....'

 

but i don't watch tv at all

 

i have no complaints with my medicare advantage plan. the cost of covid pneumonia xray and abx in florida emergency room was only $35. to me.
i do have a problem with congress though, because trying to understand medicare, medigap and medicare advantage is way too confusing for most seniors

 

In case you're not aware, a young guy from a well-off family murdered the CEO of United Health Care. This was recent and the motive is only speculative at this point as the arrested suspect says he's going to declare himself innocent. Some say he was just a kid wanting to feel what murder felt like.

But as for society's reaction, it exploded into a lot of hate comments directed towards the health insurance industry all over social media. Instead of consoling with the family of the murder victim, people are posting that the guy got what he deserved. This has lead to several news reports about how most Americans, or at least a large percent of them, are frustrated with health care in the USA.

P.S. There still exists free TV. My antenna picks up some 20 or more channels. I often think about cutting out internet and just going with free services. I waste too much time online sometimes.

I'm glad it's working for you. I just got a job where I'm going to get some sort of health care plan. I have no idea how easy it is to use and what this means for my wife and growing kids. Paying out of pocket our last plan was a joke. The premiums went up to over $1,100 per month (about 1/3 of our income after taxes) with a $18,000 per year deductible. And even going to get a few things taken care of was always met with "this isn't covered and that isn't covered." One medicine that the doc recommended for my wife would have cost us around $500 per month, but there was no way of getting that added to helping fill up our deductible. So she just continues to suffer chronic pain as we can't afford the premiums and the medicine. Like I say, I got a new job that offers some benefits. But seeing how I'll be making less money, I'm not sure how this will all turn out.

 

we were paying 24k a year, the final year before medicare, and that was 5 years ago.
and it was just the two of us, but we had to buy family.
divorce would have been cheaper, then we could have purchased two individuals, which was much cheaper.
but i'm hearing rumours that medicare advantage is all insurance company profits

 

It seems like yesterday when that was our entire year's wages.

 

It's electing to have a for profit middleman between you and your Medicare benefits.