Random Politics & Religion #20

Im more surprised that after 8 years of non stop bitching that the republican lawmakers don't really have a concrete plan they can put into action now that they have control... did they not expect to be in this position? I get that it takes time to implement something but there seems to be quite a bit of dischord within the pubs ranks on this to even get it going...

Pretty much. The other repeal plans that they pushed were just fluff because they knew they would be vetoed. It's kinda pathetic that they didn't actually think through a real one that could be implemented when they got power back, but it's not really news that Congress is dysfunctional.

Well they are trying to ram it through anyways, committees are expected to vote on it today. Proposed yesterday, getting voted on today. Not even waiting on the CBO assessment, even trashing the CBO. No idea how much it costs, but lets press on! The excuse I'm sure will be the Dems did it so can we!

I'll be surprised if it actually passes committee votes. Then again, I don't know how many tea partiers are on committees.

Healthcare is complicated. Need smart people !

Who knew healthcare was so complicated?

This is something I'm always trying to wrap my head around. You hear the republicans talk about how much of a failure Obama and his administration was, but then they turn around and say they are just doing what his team did.

If everything he did was crap, why are you proudly continuing the same policies?

It doesn't matter to you anyway.

If it passes Congress, you are going to attack the Republicans for doing exactly the same thing the liberals/democrats did (and you would be right).

If it doesn't pass Congress, you are going to attack the Republicans for not having a plan passed the first time. Which is the whole point in having a Congress in the first place.

Either way, you are going to attack the Republicans.

They need to actually repeal Obamacare. And then, create a plan that improves health care, not health insurance.

Insurance ≠ care.

"D'oh! Who'd have thought a nuclear reactor would be so complicated?"

And since those things aren't gonna happen, get used to Obamacare. The only question is how long is gonna take the GOP to figure out they can't repeal and replace, so they are gonna have to just repair Obamacare?

I'm into a hank hill type of phase at the moment !

Or, they could just repeal Obamacare.

That would be much better.

They will never get the votes to do that. They can't even do a full repeal without 60 votes in the Senate.

Filibuster.

They can do a full repeal with only 51 votes. But it's not filibuster-proof.

Now, they could also do a reconciliation on it and it will be filibuster-proof. Kindof like how Harry Reid did it to get it passed in the first place.

Which would be ironic justice, the same method that was used to pass a bad law is being used to repeal the same bad law.

Yup. A filibuster isn't some magical "get out of 60 votes free" card. In many cases there are ways around it, and reconciliation will likely be what has to happen to get this particular bill to pass.

Go figure.

CIA figure leaks various things to the media, nobody (but the White House) questions who the leak is.

CIA figure leaks various things to somebody other than the media, the media actually investigates on who it is.

And they wonder why Trump goes around them and uses Twitter all the time to talk to the public.

Leaks are never a problem... until you're the one being targeted. Then that crap is srs bsns.

As long as it doesn't blow up in your face.

Nothing a little duct tape can't cure !

FFXIAH leaks to CIA more like it !

It kinda sounds to me like an argument for single payer King.

But repeal first? That's dead in the water.

Right up untill Nov 6, 2018

Only if you alter the argument that way.

Best way to fix this mess? Limit pharmaceuticals from charging more than 40% of the cost (exclusive of R&D costs) to make it. Costs in this case includes allocating administration costs (but not advertising) towards a normal prescription. In turn, allow the patent that protects the drug from going generic to extend much further. Also, ease certain regulations on the drug to be marketed faster, but not ease the regulations associated with making sure it's safe for human consumption.

And also grant more towards pharmaceuticals in R&D budget. And extend the national budget (towards R&D) by 5%.

While we are at it, allow interstate competition of insurance.

Also, give grants towards upcoming doctors based on their grade-point average (higher the GPA, the more the school is paid by government grants), whereas the tuition is paid up to 50%, the other 50% is loaned directly from the government, which can be forgiven if the newly-graduated doctor works at a local and/or low-income area hospital for 5 years (if that's the case, the loan is slowly paid off by the work, and principle/interest is not due while the new doctor is employed).

Legislate insurance to accept pre-existing conditions and extend the child's eligible age to 26. Extend HSA/FSA benefits where it's either tax-exempt contributions/distributions through paycheck or on the 1040.

Just those 4 points alone will:

1) Increase the number of doctors on the field, which increases the supply of medical care (and gives incentives towards quality care). This will lower the cost to see a doctor if there are more out there.
2) Increases the availability of insurance, while not making it a mandate towards purchasing it. Also allows the consumer to select the insurance they want (in other words, no prostate insurance for women and no vaginal insurance for men). This will lower the cost to purchase insurance by allowing the consumer purchase what they want, how they want it, and what is covered while also increasing the number of insurance companies offering such insurance.
3) Allow & increase savings for medical-related events, so people are less likely to lose their livelihoods paying for it.
4) Lowers the cost of medicine by limiting how much they can be charged (it sucks, but the pharmaceuticals need to have a price ceiling.....), while also incentives more R&D by those who are more capable of creating better and cheaper medicine.

It's really a win-win for everyone.

King, the freedom caucaus is against it. The GOP moderates in the senate are against it. The health insurers are against it. Hospitals are against it. The AARP is against it.

Dead. In. The. Water.

Against the current bill.

The Freedom Caucaus wants a complete repeal.

Moderates...well, that's a mixed bag.

Hospitals aren't against the complete repeal, the law is a complete mess, and when there are complete messes, there's a lot of fraud available, and hospitals would benefit the most from it.

AARP, well, mixed bag mainly because most of their members are on Medicare, not Medicaid, which is the biggest elephant in the room.

I noticed you have no comment on my idea. Now why is that?

King, fraud is endemic in the current system.

It was before Obamacare witch did nothing to rein it in.

Nor does Trumpcare.

https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2017/march/trump-clinton-debates-gender-reversal.html?platform=hootsuite

That's the full deal about that gender swap. The funniest thing about it all is that it's 100% liberal people involved. These are the super academics, the ones so blue they would gladly pick up the torch and fight for "The Cause". They were so "Progressive" that they went into this whole thing with the belief that they already knew what their experiment would show them because that's the narrative they've been led to believe. The responses afterward are priceless, seeing so many people have their worldview shaken to the core, knowing that one part of their mind is screaming that they should HATE the "evil female Trump" while another part accepts her and starts to connect with her.

That is why I knew that Trump would win after watching the Republican Primary. The dude knows how to connect with ordinary people through his motions and antics. People aren't perfect, we aren't these sterile perfectly compliant and politically correct progressive drones. And its these imperfections that enable us to identify with and empathize with each other.

But hey it's just cause half the country is ignorant, uneducated, racist, sexist, homophobic, islamophobic bigots right.

That it isn't true that, if you aren't politically correct and heavily liberal, you aren't a second class citizen.

Clinton revealed that mindset during the election with her "deplorable" comment. Liberals are revealing it all the time with their "racist, bigot, sexist, homophobic, Islamaphobic, <insert socially manipulative language here>" attitudes towards people other than their own. You see that all the time when college students protest against free speech while saying that they are protecting free speech.

Then there's the Women's March on Jan 21, where the liberals attacked their own for not being liberal enough. They are treating their own cause as second-class citizens....

Why else do you think Trump is in power? Because it's all a pushback against the liberal narrative, and the liberal narrative is getting worse each passing day....