OT: Predictions for 2016 Presidential Election

[an]

[quote=svelte][quote=carli]
…most everything bearishgurl is stating is completely inaccurate, false and made up in her own mind with no apparent basis in fact whatsoever.
[/quote]

I decided this long ago, which is why I rarely if ever engage her anymore.

See March 1 2012, 6:13 PM:

http://piggington.com/mira_mesa_7510_bannister_ln_10_lost_in_less_than_one_year%5B/quote%5D
LoL, thanks for a blast from the past.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=SK in CV][quote=bearishgurl]I’m simply stating here that Medi-Cal expansion has adversely affected thousands of middle-income individuals in CA who signed up in good faith for a marketplace plan on the exchange and it continues to do so.[/quote]It’s adversely affected you, and the people you advise, or at least you claim it is, because you think you know what you’re doing, and you actually have no clue. Other than you, and those you claim you advise, I’ve seen no evidence of what you’re claiming.[/quote]

If could put aside your arrogance and could learn how to “google” for yourself, you wouldn’t be making all these insulting erroneous assumptions about me, SK. To dispel all of the ignorance floating around out there, I’ve taken the liberty of sorting through a large number of bookmarks I had related to these issues we’ve been discussing here that had been long stored in one folder (now in 3) and culled the most cogent and informative links this evening to get you started on your viewing and reading journey!

Perhaps the following links (some of them posted by CC enrolled insurance agent-navigators) might help you better understand the scope of the many thorny problems with CC and other healthcare exchanges a bit more in-depth:

Inflating the Income to Avoid Covered California Medi-Cal

http://taxcredits.healthreformquotes.com/quotes-subsidy-tax-credits/kiss-faqs/2015-income-reconcilation/

http://centerforhealthreporting.org/article/updating-your-income-could-lead-canceled-health-plan

http://insuremekevin.com/calhabg/mysterious-system-changes-covered-california-accounts/

http://centerforhealthreporting.org/article/does-covered-california-really-have-you-covered

File a complaint against Covered California and ACA health plans

Covered California sours liberals on health care reform

Obamacare: A Deception

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/survey-doctors-rebelling-against-obamacare-hospitals-declining-to-join/article/2539830

https://sharylattkisson.com/obamacare-fail-stories/

Here are some enlightening as well as informational links re: the sad comedy of errors that is the Medi-Cal Merry-Go-Round:

http://www.cahba.com/advice/2015/01/getting_medi-cal_to_cancel_enr.html

http://web.stanford.edu/group/sjph/cgi-bin/sjphsite/medi-cal-2016-what-obamacare-means-for-california-patients/

http://medi-cal.healthreformquotes.com/faqs/medi-cal-trumps-subsidized-plans/

New federal poverty line could knock Covered California families into Medi-Cal

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2014/dec/12/covered-ca-medi-cal/

Medi-Cal continues to change Covered California consumer’s income

http://www.cahba.com/advice/2013/12/kids_dont_want_medi-cal.html

http://pnhp.org/blog/2014/09/12/some-covered-california-patients-involuntary-transferred-to-medi-cal/

The basics of Medi-Cal and how it works with Covered California

http://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/medi-cal/eligibility/Pages/Medi-CalFAQs2014a.aspx

SK, why don’t you take a look at the following links in your “spare time,” as they relate to Medicaid/Medi-Cal estate recovery. They will get you started on the wondrous journey to a full understanding of the huge incentives that state exchanges have (in states with expanded Medicaid) to cram as many people as possible as soon as possible into Medicaid/Medi-Cal, ESPecially those over 55 years old … this group is icing on the cake for state bureaucrats left in charge of Medi-Cal Estate Recovery and related collections.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/01/23/obamacare-death-debt-states-can-seize-assets-to-recoup-medicaid-costs.html

Obamacare: The Final Payment–Raiding the Assets of Low-Income and Poor Americans

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Medi-Cal-works-as-invisible-loan-for-those-over-55-5677525.php

http://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/Pages/TPLRD_ER_cont.aspx

http://www.fresnobee.com/news/business/personal-finance/article21202773.html

http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2015/03/24/on-medi-cal-now-lose-your-house-later/

http://pennythots.com/2013/11/01/beware-obamacare-medicaid-warning-for-low-income-folks-55-and-over/

http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/mikeshedlock/2014/08/31/obamacare-fine-print-beware-the-medicaid-and-medical-clawbacks-and-liens-n1885512

http://articles.latimes.com/2014/feb/20/local/la-me-obamacare-cost-recovery-20140220

http://www.correntewire.com/obamacare_clusterfuck_if_youre_over_55_and_forced_into_medicaid_medicaid_is_a_collateral_loan_and_a

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/medicaid-bill-doesnt-go-away-die/

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Medi-Cal-works-as-invisible-loan-for-those-over-55-5677525.php

Folks, there is so much more to the Covered CA/Medi-Cal debacle, but I think the above is enough to digest . . . for now. Many of these agents’ experiences with their clients’ CC accounts mirror my own experiences. Of course, poor Joe and Suzy 6p signing up on the exchanges themselves for a healthplan have absolutely no clue what they’re getting into … that is, until their first experience with being “bumped” from their plan and/or stopped and restarted on their plan 1-2 months out … involuntarily, of course.

No one ever mentioned when the ACA was being “sold” to us that it could turn into practically a full-time job with multiple ticklers close at hand for the typical CC enrollee to make sure they are still covered week to week and month to month …. but it certainly can be.

Enjoy …. and take your time … I know it’s a lot to digest all at once. You too, carli. Watch, read and learn, LOL . . . :=0

[bearishgurl]

I know. I know. It’s really easy for everybody to sit back, do nothing and act like a know-it-all while failing to back up their sound bytes and taking potshots at others who are trying to tell the truth.

Especially if they have no experience with these particular bureaucracies. I imagine its pretty difficult to put yourself in another’s shoes if your health insurance is provided for you by a third party or you are given sufficient choices to purchase it outside of a state or Federally run, bureaucratic “exchange.”

I DO realize that the truth is hard to hear at times.

Who knows? Maybe we’ll get lucky and this whole nightmare that is the ACA will eventually get dismantled. We’ll find out soon enough.

[SK in CV]

BG, you act as though I don’t understand your problem. I do. I understand exactly. I’ve also explained how you could have avoided the problem, relatively simply. I know it works because I’ve done it for my daughter.

[flyer]

Personally, I think the real crazies in this election are those who actually believe any politician can change the outcome of their lives–as time will inevitably reveal–but it is fun to watch the show.

[utcsox]

[quote=SK in CV][quote=bearishgurl]Okay, SK. Can we agree that “Medicaid” is not actually “insurance” and is instead a government-run entitlement program, initially put in place to serve the “poor?”

[/quote]

No, we can’t.[/quote]

I was laughing so hard when I read this.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=flyer]Personally, I think the real crazies in this election are those who actually believe any politician will make a difference in their lives–as time will inevitably tell–but it is fun to watch the show.[/quote]Well flyer, you can be assured that as a former “bureaucrat” myself, I harbor no illusions in this regard :=0

You’ve repeatedly brought up the “wealth gap” here as the biggest problem besetting our country.

Do you have any ideas on how it can be fixed … or at least lessened?

[bearishgurl]

[quote=utcsox][quote=SK in CV][quote=bearishgurl]Okay, SK. Can we agree that “Medicaid” is not actually “insurance” and is instead a government-run entitlement program, initially put in place to serve the “poor?”

[/quote]

No, we can’t.[/quote]

I was laughing so hard when I read this.[/quote]What is your understanding of the intended purpose of Medicaid, utcsox?

[an]

[quote=flyer]Personally, I think the real crazies in this election are those who actually believe any politician can change the outcome of their lives–as time will inevitably reveal–but it is fun to watch the show.[/quote]
+1 yes, it’s fun watching the show. Until someone get hurt.

[SK in CV]

[quote=bearishgurl][quote=flyer]Personally, I think the real crazies in this election are those who actually believe any politician will make a difference in their lives–as time will inevitably tell–but it is fun to watch the show.[/quote]Well flyer, you can be assured that as a former “bureaucrat” myself, I harbor no illusions in this regard :=0

You’ve repeatedly brought up the “wealth gap” here as the biggest problem besetting our country.

Do you have any ideas on how it can be fixed … or at least lessened?[/quote]

I do. It’s taken 35 years to get into this mess. It won’t reverse quickly. It could take decades. The solution is to reverse current tax policy which taxes capital income more preferentially than labor income, and tax labor income at a lower rate than capital income. Flow of savings will then shift towards labor.

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=flyer]Although our insurance is not through the ACA, reading through the last few pages of this thread prompted me to check out some info, and, although it sounds like it has been helpful in many cases, the original statements concerning keeping your health plan and doctors should probably never have been made. Perhaps people were misled on that point, and that might account for the frustration many have–per PolitiFact:

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2013/dec/12/lie-year-if-you-like-your-health-care-plan-keep-it/

That said, although we all know health insurance in one form or another is essential, if our politicians can’t solve the wealth gap/inequality issue for millions of people in this country going forward (which I don’t believe they can) the issues of the ACA, and just about every other issue being discussed in these campaigns will pale in comparison–per Scientific American:

“The average American believes that the richest fifth of the population own 59% of the wealth and that the bottom 40% own 9%. The reality is strikingly different. The top 20% of US households own more than 84% of the wealth, and the bottom 40% combine for a paltry 0.3%. The Walton family, for example, has more wealth than 42% of American families combined.”

As I said in another post, taking a look at the status of the wealth gap in America four or five years from now will clearly reveal if campaign promises being made now have really changed the lives of the majority of the population in any meaningful way. It should be interesting to see what happens.[/quote]

You’re absolutely right that wealth inequality is the big issue. If we accept that premise, and in context, Bernie Sanders has very reasonable proposals — nothing extreme. Nobody expects a politician to deliver on all promises. It’s a process. For example, education in USA was not free. Now we have free education through high school. Why not raise the bar and make college education free? Will it happen overnight? No.

All the Republicans do is double down on authoritarianism. Whatever happened to small government and civil liberties?

There’s a lot of data on assymetric polarization/extremism.

[flyer]

That sounds reasonable, SK, but, in the meantime, many lives will be lived/wasted in various forms of desperation, while politicians continue to buy votes predicated on quick-fixes, rather than the obviously necessary decades of transformation ahead.

I would enjoy seeing the candidates exhibit complete transparency on this issue, and then observe how many supporters they acquire.

Fortunately, most of us Piggs are not placing our destiny in the hands of politicians.

[an]

[quote=SK in CV][quote=bearishgurl][quote=flyer]Personally, I think the real crazies in this election are those who actually believe any politician will make a difference in their lives–as time will inevitably tell–but it is fun to watch the show.[/quote]Well flyer, you can be assured that as a former “bureaucrat” myself, I harbor no illusions in this regard :=0

You’ve repeatedly brought up the “wealth gap” here as the biggest problem besetting our country.

Do you have any ideas on how it can be fixed … or at least lessened?[/quote]

I do. It’s taken 35 years to get into this mess. It won’t reverse quickly. It could take decades. The solution is to reverse current tax policy which taxes capital income more preferentially than labor income, and tax labor income at a lower rate than capital income. Flow of savings will then shift towards labor.[/quote]Do you think that tax policy would achieve that? Something tells me those who are in the top 10% will still continue to do well in that kind of tax environment while those depending on minimum wage would still be doing poorly. We all understand the power of compound interest, so, I think this tax proposal wouldn’t slow down the widening wealth gap. I think you’d need to be much more forceful to truly close the gap, if that’s your goal.

[livinincali]

[quote=AN]Do you think that tax policy would achieve that? Something tells me those who are in the top 10% will still continue to do well in that kind of tax environment while those depending on minimum wage would still be doing poorly. We all understand the power of compound interest, so, I think this tax proposal wouldn’t slow down the widening wealth gap. I think you’d need to be much more forceful to truly close the gap, if that’s your goal.[/quote]

Tax policy might work to a degree, but it would be a lot easier to just let asset prices crash and not do anything when the next bubble pops. Yeah that might suck for your 401K and your retirement plans but it would certainly shrink the wealth gap. Look at any wealth gap chart and it pretty much mirrors what’s going on in the stock market. When was the wealth gap so large like this? That would be 1929. What happened next that shrunk the wealth gap? When this problem started 35 years ago where was the stock market?

[FlyerInHi]

The New Deal and tax policies reduced the wealrh gap and provided opportunities. Before that, the depression and lack of social safety made millions of destitutes.

[Author]

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