Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
November 12, 2016 at 8:45 AM in reply to: Electoral College: the disenfranchisement of Californians #803568
bearishgurl
ParticipantNearly 5M votes remain to be counted in CA PLUS 595,000 in SD County. It is possible that it is taking so long to count them …. especially in SD County because these are all signed mail ballots of voters purporting to be citizens and residents who may not actually be. See:
Even though my precinct (and the surrounding similarly-situated ones in 91910 and 91902 that I checked) appear to have 1/3 R, 1/3 D and 1/3 I voter registrants (give or take 5 points), the precincts in LA County and the populous bay area counties are overwhelmingly Democrat. Regardless of what shenanigans are discovered among CA’s mail-in and “provisional” ballots (a big RED FLAG) in the precincts around here, I do believe HRC has taken the Golden State.
As far as I know, CA’s most populous counties scrubbed their decedent voter rolls in September of this year so this shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
Participant[quote=spdrun]BTW, Trump may want to INCREASE subsidies. He’s stated that he wants to allow individuals to deduct premiums from their income taxes, which sounds like a tax CREDIT for the full amount of the insurance, not a deduction. (There’s already a self-employed insurance deduction from income.)
AFAIK, that’s basically what the subsidy is, except that it doesn’t cover the full cost. Semantics 101.[/quote]I like that idea because the people who pay higher premiums (from the state pool offerings because they have pre-existing conditions) get bigger tax credits. As it should be. And the rest of us should be vetted. I’m standing by to submit to a physical exam by the provider of choice of my new carrier if we can just get some major carriers back into this state who will offer PPO plans on the open market.
We should ALL be priced according to risk. This gives an incentive for the 300-lb smoker to lose weight and stop smoking and the alcoholic to get help before their liver is gone and their lives have been severely shortened.
In addition, females should not be paying for expensive “maternity care” coverage if they are sterilized or past the age of menopause (or both). I hate being charged for this. It is ridiculous and no one was around to subsidize MY premiums when I was of childbearing age.
Participant[quote=spdrun]What’s wrong with just offering an exchange plan to everyone? Get rid of Medicaid. Get rid of employer mandates. Allow insurance companies to offer the same plan nationwide via the exchanges. Allow states to throw a public option into the ring if they want to.
Subsidize everyone where the second lowest-cost silver plan costs more than x% of income. No top income limit, which gets rid of the subsidy cliff.
In NY, a gold plan ($600 deductible) costs about $500-550 per month in 2017. Medicaid costs the state about $1000 per month per user. It would be cheaper to subsidize everyone fully below a certain income and help them with the copays.[/quote]Wow, that’s amazing, spd. Medicaid costs approx $632 per month in CA (Medi-Cal) and the exchange dumps them into a very narrow-network, substandard regional managed-care plan. A Gold plan doesn’t have a deductible in CA BUT it costs anywhere between $450 and $1550 month, depending on age. I have a Gold PPO from the exchange and my local provider network has been decimated in the past year and a half. In some specialties, there are now <=5 providers available to me within a 15-mile radius of my (urban) home. My premiums will be just short of $10K this year and I have only used $214 so far in services and the year is almost gone. I have one more test to go (at a cost of <=$75) before the end of the year. I had to seek out a new provider last month because my longtime one folded up his business after practicing since 1969, having a separate lab for clinical trials and teaching his specialty to medical students. He sent his patients letters stating he couldn't pay his staff with the new reimbursements under the ACA. I found a new one just down the street from him but she insisted I pay her a $35 copay (when there shouldn't have been a copay because it was preventative care) because I was on "obamacare." I just got an e-mail today that my EOB for her appt was ready and guess how much Blue Shield of CA paid her (a 38-year veteran in her specialty, all in SD and LA counties) for a 40-minute new patient appt? How about $37.09. That's right, folks, $37.09! On my pre-ACA healthplan, Aetna paid a similarly-situated specialist $168 for an appt like this in 2013. BSoC paid my old provider (who retired in late 2015) $68 for an annual appt (established patient) and that wasn’t enough to keep him and his staff in business. And he owned his medical bldg in Hillcrest outright!
Now I know why my new doctor wanted $35 up front to take me on as a patient. With my “bribe” of $35 and the $37 she got from my carrier, she made $72 off my appt, in which she created a file for me and had my blood drawn in her office and drove it herself to the lab!
Like Bill Clinton admitted, it’s crazymaking. If they’re not employed by an HMO (ex: Kaiser) or EPO (ex: Sharp), these doctors are starting to turn their practices into accepting only cash patients and/or patients with “enterprise” plans (offered by large employers). My 2014 obamacare premiums totaled ~$9K, my 2015 obamacare premiums totaled ~$10K and my 2016 obamacare premiums totaled almost $10K (after dropping down another metal level).
I tried to sign up on Covered CA for my 2017 plan today and the “system” would not allow me to sign up for one. Apparently a CC agent went into the system on 11/8 and filled out an application for me to keep my present plan, which is going up $271 month! They even signed with an X my name at the bottom of the app! I haven’t been in the system in about seven months! I planned on dropping down to silver for ~$9K year but now I will have to call CC again and put them on a tape recorder because they will never admit they locked me out of choosing a plan, fraudulently signed me up and will most certainly try to delete the evidence in the system. I already printed the time and date-stamped screenshot of their technician doing this to cover myself.
All of you people who have never had to avail yourselves of “obamacare” just have no clue what people go thru just to maintain a plan month to month and year to year and remain vigilant that they do not get dumped into Medicaid behind their backs. It gives a lot of people high blood pressure and causes a lot of people to terminate their participation in it.
We can’t get rid of Medicaid. It is the only program which serves the poor (those who can’t pay premiums at all). People who are asset-rich but income-poor should NOT be on Medicaid but they are involuntarily forced onto Medicaid behind their backs under the ACA. The states had no business expanding that program because there weren’t even enough providers to serve the poor in a timely manner BEFORE the ACA. Now, obamacare has increased this population by 500% in many states with “Medicaid Expansion” under the ACA and the system no longer functions. Patients are being crushed with months-long wait-times to see the few providers who will accept Medicaid.
ParticipantWe need a president to play hardball with countries who have been taking advantage of us for decades and I am so glad we are getting one who has the b@lls to do so. It’s about time…
Participant[quote=harvey]This is Trump’s healthcare plan:
– Start with Obamacare.
– Give it a new name.
– Change a few parameters to make it look they actually did something.
– Have Fox News tout how wonderful it is day-in day-out for a year or two.
– Have talk radio dismiss any data, anecdotes, or other evidence of problems as MSM propaganda or whining by liberal elitists.
And just like that, healthcare in America will transform from disaster to success.[/quote]And pri_dk also needs to read Trump’s proposals on his website. He’s spouting nonsense into thin air.
Participant[quote=flu]So the funny part is that it appears Trump is now saying he’s not planning to try to kill obamacare……I thought that was one on the main reasons people were backing him….Lol…I wonder eventually how much of what he says, he’s actually going to do.
I’m beginning to think that as he slowly learns what each of the issues are, he’s now like saying “oh shit, I didn’t think about that…That isn’t such a bad thing after all…”
Trump likes main Obamacare provisions ‘very much’
http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37953528
US President-elect Donald Trump has said in an interview he is open to leaving intact key parts of President Barack Obama’s healthcare bill.
Mr Trump, who has pledged repeatedly to repeal the 2010 law, signalled he was receptive to a compromise after visiting the White House on Thursday.
He told the Wall Street Journal he favours keeping two pillars of the bill because “I like those very much”.
ha ha ha, oh my god… He’s not even in the white house yet, and he’s flipping on some of the main pillars of his campaign. Wow, that’s awesome.[/quote]The two parts Trump wants to “keep” are that people with pre-existing conditions can’t be denied coverage and young adults under the age of 26 can remain on their parent’s policy until they get their own coverage from FT work.
That’s it.
Those provisions aren’t new. They were going to be in his reform plans. If you read his proposals on his website, you would know that.
Those two things can be accomplished through the formation of state insurance pools formed for people with pre-existing conditions and a monthly allowance to help pay their (likely exorbitant) premiums. Yes, even if Obamacare is repealed in its entirety.
Currently, EVERYONE who has purchased a (non-Medicaid) Obamacare plan is paying higher (often MUCH higher) premiums to assist those who can’t otherwise afford coverage due to having pre-existing conditions.
Major insurance companies WILL participate in the state insurance pools . . . that is, if they want the right to sell policies to healthy people in that state. This is what should have been done in 2010 instead of drag everyone who was happy with their plan into the spiraling morass of dogsh*t..
In CA, only about 1.4 million people on “Obamacare” are actually marketplace planholders. A large portion of this group (myself included) were already insured prior to the inception of the ACA and our plans were cancelled directly as a result of the law. The other 12 million or so who signed up on Covered CA are on Medi-Cal … about half of them involuntarily. Covered CA is a joke and the ACA was designed to place as many people as possible as soon as possible on Medicaid, so our respective County Depts of Social Services would have all of our income info (which could be used against us later for other purposes) and complete control over our healthcare decisions.
In reality, Obamacare has helped no one and actually very quickly had the effect of decimating our insurance system (which was the Dem’s plan all along, so “universal coverage” would seem more palatable to the masses). The people who needed subsidies to purchase a crappy high-deductible narrow-network plan on the exchange could have afforded a nationwide HDHP with a HUGE provider network from a very reputable carrier pre-ACA but they chose not to spend the money until it was “mandated” and they got a very substandard product for it. They’re spending money now …. in spades …. OR dropping out of the exchange without coverage OR going on Medi-Cal. Obamacare is sinking from its own weight.
Compare the state insurance pools to “Mexico WILL pay for the wall” … directly or indirectly. MX can either cooperate with us now or pay dearly for not doing so later.
****
flu, you have a tendency to generalize on things you read on the internet and then type a little sound byte about it here … for “effect” (positive or negative). For example, you repeatedly have stated here that you personally fear deportation under a Trump presidency yet you claim to be a US citizen. If you can keep your facts straight and quit posting in drama queen fashion, you would be more credible.
Participant[quote=spdrun]If you’re a …
* liberal
* moderate
* civil libertarian… or any combination of the three, apply now. Pass it on to anyone who’s anyone to apply. Any administration has to at least pretend to embrace dissenting views. The more diverse in opinion Trump’s applicant pool is, the more likely people with dissenting views are to be hired, so as to moderate his worst impulses.[/quote]I looked at the site and the app is very, very onerous. The vast majority of the (Deplorable) Blows (Joe, John and Billy Bob) as well as the Clinton cohort of corrupt-at-the-core Dems and her immature, soft millenial ex-Bernie supporters won’t qualify. The “transition team” will no doubt find all their skeletons faster than they can book a plane reservation to come to Washington for an interview :=0
The transition team app on https://apply.ptt.gov is much better (at least preliminarily) because they are temporary, non-civil service positions and are not official appointments. I told Ben Carson on Saturday morning I would be more than happy to lend a hand on decimating the ACA, should he be in charge of that. I would immediately set about preparing Congress to (partially) repeal the Federal Medicaid estate recovery law as it applies to the collection of managed care premiums for age 55 and up. I believe the states (who have expanded Medicaid on the books) would quickly follow. CA’s do-nothing Governor has been dragging his feet on signing SB-33, introduced 12/1/14 by Senator Ed Hernandez (D West Covina) to fix this problem. It’s a travesty and the presence of this portion of the law still on CA’s books is preventing MANY people over the age of 55 from signing up on the exchange. And I don’t blame them. They would rather go without coverage than put their family home on the line and rightly so.
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/15-16/bill/sen/sb_0001-0050/sb_33_bill_20141201_introduced.html
http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB33
I wouldn’t mind taking a civil service position with the Trump Administration (H&HSA?) and could easily pass their background exam but I would prefer to stay in CA for two more years, until my youngest graduates from college.
November 11, 2016 at 7:24 AM in reply to: Electoral College: the disenfranchisement of Californians #803526ParticipantIt appears that AZ’s vote count is now complete. As of this morning, its 11 electoral votes went to Trump (SK, are you out there?). He now has a total of 290 versus Clinton’s 228. Michigan’s vote count is still being finalized and that state is worth an additional 16 electoral votes (presumably going to Trump).
CA still has millions of (absentee) votes to count but they are essentially moot. Clinton clearly took CA’s 55 electoral votes.
I was surprised that Trump took UT. I was certain that Evan McMullin would take it.
Participant[quote=flu] . . . And then we can look at all the Asians that actually voted for him and say “what the fuck were you thinking?”
Sometimes the only way people learn, is the hard way.
For whatever fucked up reasons, there are actually people in China that like trump. They think he is not going to meddle in far east politics. China would want that and I am guessing they would want give trade concessions to the us if it meant no meddling in far east politics. Bad news for Taiwan, Japan, Korea, phillipines Vietnam, Malaysia, etc. I think that’s why the phillipines quickly buddies up with China to get on their good side. They know it’s coming.
That island dispute will be resolved…forcefully.
So that’s how the new world order will be split. US on the west, China on the east, and maybe Russia will try to reassert itself in their former Soviet satellites)[/quote]flu, the Asian numbers supporting Trump were likely much more than you thought, especially in CA. I happen to know of an Asian group of ~60 in LA County who flew to PA last week specifically to precinct walk for DJT for a few days.
November 10, 2016 at 5:49 PM in reply to: Electoral College: the disenfranchisement of Californians #803476ParticipantThe same could be said for the (mainly Taiwanese) Tyson Foods employees in rural AR. Even though most of these workers are “legal” and AR has warmer weather than CO, these workers still need a LOT of local aid for their families to survive.
Immigrant workers have a profound (financial) effect on rural America.
November 10, 2016 at 5:44 PM in reply to: Electoral College: the disenfranchisement of Californians #803475Participant[quote=FlyerInHi] . . . The country folks are not affected by immigration, yet they fear it most. We embrace it.[/quote]This is absolutely untrue. Virtually ALL of the agricultural jobs that illegal immigrants take are in the rural areas. The legal citizens in those areas don’t “fear” these people but this immigrant group does often find themselves needing medical care and food/commodity aid and even food and blankets and utility assistance (cost of heat). The local area must bear the cost of this, organize the food and clothing drives and charities to help them.
Have you any idea how much it costs to heat a drafty rental farmhouse with 12 occupants in Kersey, CO (Weld County) in the dead of winter?? That cost is just the tip of the iceberg for Weld County taxpayers, the State of CO and the “Public Service Company of CO.”
November 10, 2016 at 5:26 PM in reply to: Electoral College: the disenfranchisement of Californians #803472Participant[quote=harvey][quote=spdrun]California is a net contributor to the Federal budget. They’d be able to self-fund replacement programs for school lunches if their money wasn’t stolen by Warshington.
[/quote]Exactly,
If we didn’t have to pay for Billy Bob’s farm subsidy in Iowa, we could fund all of our illegals and still have money left over to build a gigantic golden statue of Howard Jarvis.[/quote]Umm, pri_dk? You forgot to consider Guillermo Roberto’s farm subsidy in Buttonwillow to stop growing avocados and pears . . . or Juan Villegas in Hanford’s subsidy because he had to thin his chickens out under CA’s recent law to address “poultry overcrowding” brought before the CA Legislature by the ASPCA :=]
How is the new “CA Republic” going to help these poor schmucks?
Do you have any idea how many farmers in CA are being currently paid by Federal gubment not to grow or produce anything?
November 10, 2016 at 5:14 PM in reply to: Electoral College: the disenfranchisement of Californians #803469Participant[quote=spdrun]California is a net contributor to the Federal budget. They’d be able to self-fund replacement programs for school lunches if their money wasn’t stolen by Warshington.
Also, CA could legalize all of the illegal immigrants presently within its borders and have them work for regular wages ($15+/hr).[/quote]Since they won’t be “building a wall,” how are they going to stop millions more pouring across the border? After all, the US will withdraw its border forces if CA doesn’t belong to them anymore :=]
November 10, 2016 at 4:07 PM in reply to: Electoral College: the disenfranchisement of Californians #803455ParticipantUmm, how are we going to support all these illegal immigrants if CA should successfully “secede” from the union? There goes the SNAP (food stamp) and free school breakfast and lunch programs (USDA funded). Illegals are major beneficiaries of these programs.
Haha, all those in favor of seceding must agree to take all of our illegals with you :=]
-
AuthorPosts
