The Surgeons

10 Responses to The Surgeons

1. Chris Peterson says:

   January 12, 2017 at 5:20 pm

   Outside of a few provisions, I really could care less about Obamacare, which was a sellout to the insurance industry, (and also why it doesn’t work).

   What worries me is the patient in the next room, awaiting surgery: SS, Medicare, and Medicaid. The same crude tools will be used, as conservatives finally exact their revenge on Roosevelt and “liberal” America which, compared to back then, we all are.

   Trump ran on a platform that promised, time and again, to not touch those programs, but I’m more than sure that Congress doesn’t take his Presidency any more serious than the majority does. They’ll ride his horse until it gets in their way.

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2. rl crabb says:

   January 13, 2017 at 6:55 am

   For all its flaws, The ACA saved my wife’s life and made it possible for both of us walking preconditions to get covered. If the dullards in Congress can come up with something better, more power to them. I’ll not hold my breath.

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3. steven frisch says:

   January 13, 2017 at 8:58 am

   I think Chris is 100% correct, Congress is not going to care, nor is Trump likely to fight for, what he ran on, preserving Medicare.

   I also agree with Bob, for all of its flaws, the ACA is covering people and saving lives, both those with preconditions and young adults, every day, and repeal is unlikely to lead to “replace” with a mandate, so most of those people will fall by the wayside or end up in emergency rooms driving up costs for this that can afford insurance.

   Paul Ryan and crew have been holding their breathe (sic) waiting for the chance to reverse the New Deal and the Great Society and they won’t waste it.

   Which means we are just going to have to fight, fight fight…because the cost of going backward is so high.

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   • steven frisch says:

     January 13, 2017 at 8:59 am

     That should read, “…those that can afford insurance.”

     Reply
4. rl crabb says:

   January 13, 2017 at 2:33 pm

   Just when you thought the patient was dead… https://www.healthcare-now.org/blog/ca-senator-lenos-single-payer-health-care-bill-passes-health-committee/

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   • Chris Peterson says:

     January 13, 2017 at 4:21 pm

     Wow, that would be incredible.

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     • rl crabb says:

       January 13, 2017 at 7:01 pm

       I’m sure it will be like the nuclear power Big Gov promised: too cheap to meter!

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5. Michael Anderson says:

   January 14, 2017 at 10:29 pm

   Bob, I think it’s time we attempted to frame what’s coming. There’s a difference between idealogists, idealogues, and propagandists. All three of these human behavioral types are attempting to “reform” the PPACA. At the root of the problem is the American health care system that delivers, thus far, arguably the most superior product on the planet, but at a cost that leaves many people without access to that product, which has us currently at #31 in life expectancy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy

   1. Mitch McConnell is an idealogist, a one-trick pony. For Mitch, it’s all about power. Obamacare is Romneycare, as we all know, and it was the best solution to a bad situation, unless we can somehow get to Single Payer, which probably will never happen in my lifetime. Single Payer is the most efficient way to deliver health care, just as compulsory auto and home insurance is the most cost-effective manner in which to achieve transportation and housing stability and sustainability. Anyway, Mitch doesn’t care about any of that, he’s just trying to get even. My guess is that he is still trying to make up for a missing lunchbox in third grade, or something equally sad. I work hard to empathize with Mitch McConnell. The important thing to understand is that an idealogist doesn’t really care about the issue, he just wants to be considered “right” and he wants to win: http://madisonproject.com/2013/11/mitch-mcconnell-ideology-is-power/

   2. President Obama is an idealogue, which means he theorizes and speculates about possible outcomes given specific inputs. Idealogues are data-driven, and I will cop to being someone with a propensity for this behavioral type. Idealogues are not afraid to switch horses midstream if the current tells them it’s a good decision, and they will be just as adamant with their new position as they were with the old. This confuses many people, which is why “idealogue” is pejoratively considered. The reason PPACA is so complicated, and why Speaker Pelosi infamously stated that “we need to pass it in order to understand what’s in it,” is because it really is complicated. The bulk of the law is actually not about the mandates, or the uninsured being brought into the system, but about test programs at world-reknowned hospitals, aimed at reducing overall costs so that the current private-insurance-based system can still function without having to kill poor people. Yup, this was a gift to the insurance companies in America. It was the worst solution possible, and yet the only one that could possibly have had such a positive result. Idiot idealogists and propagandists are now trying to destroy this incremental progress.

   3. George Rebane is a propagandist. Propagandists are the snake in the grass and in the tree, they will offer you the apple and then Eden is gone. George attempts to sell himself as an idealogue; he is anything but. George is someone who is willing to manipulate these multifarious data to his propaganda Tenet of the Day (TotD), regardless of result. He is right, he is righteous, and president-elect Trump is his guy. I have been severely enjoying Paul Emery’s rope-a-dope of the RR community of late, it has been a wicked fun roller coaster. Thanks Paul. Go to the end of the comments on this link if you want to see what I am talking about: http://bit.ly/2ipBavo

   And now, let’s talk about Trump…

   Not an idealogue, not an idealogist, not a propagandist. Just a pitiful narcissist and bully with so many personality disorders that you would need a team of professionals to annotate the enormous number of DSM-5 categories. My money is on impeachment or assassination (Rule #1, don’t fuck with the IC) before January 1, 2018. Can I get some odds?

   Michael A.

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6. George Boardman says:

   January 15, 2017 at 11:38 am

   Apparently the Republican plan to kill Obamacare isn’t popular even in some GOP districts:

   https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/c75cdb21-f678-3bc0-8781-27b40b3121c4/republican-congressman-sneaks.html

   Reply
7. rl crabb says:

   January 28, 2017 at 6:51 pm

   It’s beginning to dawn on the dimbulbs in Washington that they’ve stepped into a steaming pile of you-know-what… https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/behind-closed-doors-republican-lawmakers-fret-about-how-to-repeal-obamacare/2017/01/27/deabdafa-e491-11e6-a547-5fb9411d332c_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-banner-main_goptapes-138pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.2698c47f5b2b

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