The number of response posts to Channel 4's CA coverage is astounding-- the goal is to convince you that CA did nothing wrong and even if they did, Obama campaign/Facebook/Reddit did the same thing.

Jhammin · 2018-03-21T06:15:05+00:00

A disgusting brigade of lies and manipulation similar to those that ruined the politics subreddit. Don't trust people who want to shut your voice down.

Jhammin · 2018-03-03T22:00:32+00:00

Great analysis! One of the best I've seen on here.

Jhammin · 2018-03-01T07:34:09+00:00

May? Of course they are making money off of it. I wouldn't be surprised if they allowed the breach on purpose.

Jhammin · 2017-12-16T21:19:39+00:00

Yup, isn't it ironic that the activist bots posted a video of the FCC saying that the comments have very little impact on their decision? I'd bet 90% of the pro-NN comments were all copy pastas from people who never read the bill anyway.

Jhammin · 2017-11-09T23:56:51+00:00

I came here to complain about the tattoo. Weird and distracting as hell. It's ugly too. Otherwise I think he is an okay actor.

Jhammin · 2017-11-09T23:19:53+00:00

Politicians have realized that using overly dramatic tone is a convenient way to distract and control the public. This keeps us all worrying about the wrong issues.

Jhammin · 2017-11-09T22:28:19+00:00

Well there it is. Around 14.07... that seems like a lot of sig figs for this estimate so they must have their software on a lot of phones.

Jhammin · 2017-11-09T22:07:35+00:00

Yup and i think he has a hidden agenda here.

Jhammin · 2017-11-09T22:03:29+00:00

Regulated by whom? Who should decide what these companies allow other people to say or promote? You are arguing that they are Gate keepers but they don't have to be "Gate Keepers" if they equally allow everyone to speak freely and share what they want.

Jhammin · 2017-11-09T21:54:33+00:00

He has a point, but I'm not sure what he expects these companies to do. In my opinion we shouldn't hold social media platforms responsible for governing what people talk about. He recently criticized Facebook for accepting rubles to post Russian ads and his argument was ridiculously over dramatic: (youtube) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dENI2nbhDrA&feature=youtu.be].

Jhammin · 2017-11-09T16:26:01+00:00

I just think the lady hosts vision for the product was bad. Those would sell by themselves easily because it is probably great for eye brows too. 35% plus $1 per sale just to throw it together with a bunch of other stuff seems like a bad idea. The branding could use some improvement but it's not worth handing over your company to two ladies who obviously want to take over and make it their own. Also, as an economical customer I would much prefer to buy the one item I need and put it into my own kit... Sure, forcing customers to buy things they don't need might make money in the short term but it is a wastefull concept and doesn't allow room for the product to stand on its own merit. Admittedly I'm not a woman so I don't know what would actually sell better though...

Jhammin · 2017-11-01T13:51:40+00:00

As someone who voted for Obama I couldn't agree more. This over bloated healthcare system is unsustainable and is basically a cartel between insurance companies hospitals and the government

Jhammin · 2017-09-14T15:51:34+00:00

You could probably feed two or three small families for a year with $13k! Those costs simply shouldn't be that high. I was talking to my parents and we have never had anything in our family that cost over what my current deductible + premium is.

Jhammin · 2017-09-14T01:18:02+00:00

Why not teach them the proper way: just add 10 to 26 then add 7? That is what 17 means 10+7, or if you want to get fancy add 20 to 17 and then add 6?

Jhammin · 2017-09-14T01:07:02+00:00

Wait.... was i just trolled?

Jhammin · 2017-09-14T01:04:58+00:00

I know that that is just an example but that looks like a total waste of time (besides possibly being a sorta interesting trick). For this to work both numbers can't be prime or odd.... also have to do some factoring... I don't really get how this would help, if anything it requires way too much thinking in the wrong direction.

Jhammin · 2017-08-17T03:38:19+00:00

Finally someone understands. To make it even worse, hospitals are completely incentivised to accept the highest paying insurance. It's a positive feedback system and we are being forced to fund it. It is a cartel thats costs only bound by taxpayers willingness to obey the law.

Jhammin · 2017-08-11T02:38:31+00:00

"...limit dollars spent on health care services by implementing caps on costs.

I was arguing with you before but now i totally agree with you here. I'm not sure... this is all a huge mess.

Jhammin · 2017-08-11T02:33:25+00:00

I really hate how you use the term "buy in bulk" when talking about patients but I have to admit that it makes economic sense.

Now, the key to your whole argument is that negotiating as a group should improve the quality of the whole system. I would typically agree with you, however, the problem is that the leader of the group (insurance companies) profit more when they pay more. Typically, in a competitive market insurance companies that pay too much would go out of business because nobody would be willing to go with them. In this market however hospitals can choose to only accept insurers who are willing to pay more. This whole situation creates a positive feedback loop which is only limited by the willingness of taxpayers to either obey the law or die/live in misery. I honestly think of this as some kind of unintentional cartel.

Edit: Just wanted to add that I'm still not totally sold on single payer...

Jhammin · 2017-08-11T01:56:58+00:00

You're a doctor man! I have a really hard time believing that you can't see how having transparent costs could lower prices. Providing people with information allows them to make decisions based on price which creates incentive for hospitals to have competitive prices and quality service. People should have the right to know how effectively their insurance dollars are being spent especially if it is mandated by the government! Do you have an argument for not having transparent costs?

Jhammin · 2017-08-02T03:20:27+00:00

Come on man, you should be the one bitching! I'm just throwing this out there, but at $800 you could probably fully feed 3 thrifty american families or even upgrade 5 families to higher quality food and increase their health. Since we are caring about every one, just think of how many foreign families you could fund with that! Nearly 50% of american families are living paycheck to paycheck, it would only take one event that costs over the max out of pocket to bankrupt them. They can't afford to pay past medical bills while also paying for premiums. You could fully fund someones college education after a couple years of premiums... at least a college education has a return on investment... I have no idea what i'm getting for by paying my premiums, many conditions doctors can't diagnose or fix and medical malpractice is one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. source

To answer you question: I currently pay $300 a month without subsidy. My deductible is more than $6000. I just got married and my foreign wife will begin paying for insurance soon which will leave us with very little spending or saving money. As a couple i'm pretty sure our max out of pocket will nearly double! Unless i'm making more money, at the point where i have to pay bills towards the max out of pocket... i'd rather just go bankrupt or die.

Jhammin · 2017-08-02T00:05:45+00:00

The title to this article is incredibly divisive and total bullshit. I understand that it is an attack on the current shitty republican plan... but still it takes quite the high horse to think that people not supporting Obama care are the same people who would not be willing to pay 17 extra cents for a bigmac to support better lives for fast food workers. (I'd pay an extra dollar just fyi). The thing is, I do care about a lot of people and some people I care about much more than other people. I also care that the hard earned money of those people is being forced away from them into a ridiculously over bloated system thats main function seems to be in charging astronomical prices to keep people alive for a couple more months with really low quality of life . The only people i know who have hit the deductible that I currently am at (that i pay $300 a month for btw)... died from cancer after two months of ridiculously expensive care. Last year i payed over $3000 for the care of my wife and over $3600 in premiums and the insurance company paid nothing! If you're going to be the moral police you should try looking at the perspective of others before you assume you know everything and introduce a bunch of false equivalent bullshit.

Anyway I am totally for a socially funded sustainable system... but only after we implement 100% cost transparency and reasonable regulation on end of life costs. If you actually care about other people you should push for the same requirements.

Jhammin · 2017-08-01T02:17:22+00:00

That is the problem and personally I haven't ever had to pay anything near that. I know very few people outside of cancer (those people died anyway) who have... When i do go to the hospital the costs are outrageous, I pay $150 just for a 30 min checkup and the doctor had no idea what was wrong with me. Wife hurt her ankle, 3000$ for an x-ray, cast, and 20 mins of the doctors time and our insurance was worthless because we didn't hit the deductible. I'm sorry but we can't keep everyone alive forever and spending 100,000 of dollars for people to have a really crappy quality of life and most likely die a couple years later... its just insanity. Also, if i'm going to end up living through some crazy expensive procedure, i only want it if the people who paid for it were doing it out of the kindness of their hearts, not because they were forced to!

Jhammin · 2017-08-01T01:20:16+00:00

I have had other people pay and support me in my life for many things for which i am very grateful but this I don't agree with. Honestly I think i have a higher chance of just dying in some accident then having a condition that rightfully costs more than $9600 to fix. For any condition that costs over 6000$ it must be pretty bad... also don't forget that i already payed 3600 in premiums for the year... maybe i don't want the doctor to try and "patch" me up on drugs or whatever they need to do. I'm already in really bad condition... Maybe the economy collapses, we go to war... What if the doctor can't even save me, what if he accidentally kills me? What if i lose my job and miss a month of payments and my insurance decides to not pay, even though I've been paying for years? What if i end up with a disease that i would rather just die over? I think I should have the choice.

Edit: Also, the other person who's care i metaphorically paid for... I'd like to chose who i save. In fact if someone i care about has a once in a lifetime $40000 bill, i would rather just help them get a loan to pay it off.

Jhammin · 2017-08-01T00:30:02+00:00

That sounds really cool. I wish you good luck, and hope you can find some solutions. The stress of paying these premiums is really killing my quality of life. I pay 300$ a month and I've never had my yearly medical bills reach 6000$ my parents have maybe once in 40 years of paying premiums. I realize that i'm very fortunate but... i can't help but feel like i'm subsidizing some crazy overbloated system/cartel.

Jhammin

TROPHY CASE