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Congress on the brink of repealing Obamacare

alex3619

Senior Member
Messages
13,810
Location
Logan, Queensland, Australia
Words found in politics or news media are shiny objects, meant to distract. It has been so since the first cave-man found that they could rule a handful by club, hundreds by charm. "Believe none of what you read and half of what you see" That was written 150 years ago; post Internet, change 'half' to 'almost none'.
Mark Twain I think - "If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you are misinformed." Media news is essential to modern democracy and thought, but that does not absolve you from the need to be critical. With the upgrade from propaganda to fake news this is even more important.

Investigative journalism took another big hit here in Australia with yet another newspaper firing a lot of journalists.
 

CCC

Senior Member
Messages
457
Mark Twain I think - "If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you are misinformed." Media news is essential to modern democracy and thought, but that does not absolve you from the need to be critical. With the upgrade from propaganda to fake news this is even more important.

Investigative journalism took another big hit here in Australia with yet another newspaper firing a lot of journalists.
They didn't do much in the way of investigative journalism. From the issues we have first-hand knowledge of, anything that looked like it was handed to the staff journalist on a platter. Not much investigation beyond butt-covering for defamation. If they 'source' were lucky, the government spin (any party in power at the time) wouldn't get the lead running on the story.

I'm sad to see more journalists go, but they really should have thought through things to see that churnalism could never be a sound career path.
 

alex3619

Senior Member
Messages
13,810
Location
Logan, Queensland, Australia
Churnalism is a product of the editors and owners of newspapers. Times to investigate stories have been slashed for most journalists. What befuddles me is how newspapers' decision makers think that steadily more inaccurate news is going to sell newspapers.

So we are in the position that government is doing things (any government anywhere) that may impact us generally or may affect those with ME, and we are either ill informed or not informed for the most part. How can a democracy operate on ignorance? We are in danger of losing the most basic freedom, the right to think for ourselves, and this is a global problem.

Investigative journalists who do their jobs were the first to start being fired. They cost too much. So we have efficiency in news, but the newspapers lost robustness. Nobody has figured out an alternative business model that works. My guess is that investigative journalists will in some cases become investigative bloggers, but what about the rest? Will they write books? Choose a new career? Set up their own independent news companies?
 
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HowToEscape?

Senior Member
Messages
626
Mark Twain I think - "If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you are misinformed." Media news is essential to modern democracy and thought, but that does not absolve you from the need to be critical. With the upgrade from propaganda to fake news this is even more important.

Investigative journalism took another big hit here in Australia with yet another newspaper firing a lot of journalists.

Yep, for whatever reasons, investigative journalism has withered over the past 20 years. IDK why (why is often a rabbit-hole question), perhaps the economics of Internet vs print, perhaps a public that wants to hear only cheers for the home team. Another likely cause is that we now have journalists who have no other background; time was, it was a 2nd or 3rd job after having done common work, now in the US it's a self-selected group of people who chose journalism/TV over, say, electrical engineering. Who knows why, but it's clear that the notion an unbiased, comprehensive national news source in the USA is now a fantasy.
 

Gingergrrl

Senior Member
Messages
16,171
If their jobs are threatened, they will.

Am praying this is true and that enough senators will vote against Trump's bill in order to keep their jobs. I don't even care what their motives are at this point as long as they do the right thing.

Big Pharma wins no matter what. Obama and Trump serve the same masters.

I agree that Big Pharma wins no matter which party is in charge and cannot see this ever changing. But I do believe that Obama truly wanted people with pre-existing conditions (whether ME/CFS or any illness big or small) to have an option to purchase an insurance plan if they were not able to get one from their job. Millions of people, who did not support Obama, will be losing their insurance in 2018 if Trump's plan passes the senate. This issue affects all Americans of both parties and affects those with disabilities or serious medical conditions the hardest as they will become uninsurable once again.
 

Kenny Banya

Senior Member
Messages
356
Location
Australia
I agree that Big Pharma wins no matter which party is in charge and cannot see this ever changing.
How do biosimilars work in America?
Such as Truxima being an alternative to Mabthera (Rituximab)?
In countries with universal healthcare, it gets approved by the government for use for specified indications/diseases
 

Gingergrrl

Senior Member
Messages
16,171
How do biosimilars work in America?
Such as Truxima being an alternative to Mabthera (Rituximab)? In countries with universal healthcare, it gets approved by the government for use for specified indications/diseases

No universal health care here and it is up to the insurance companies to approve (whether it is a brand name or a generic version). And if you have no health coverage, you stand no chance of getting a med like this unless you are independently wealthy.
 

Kenny Banya

Senior Member
Messages
356
Location
Australia
it is up to the insurance companies to approve (whether it is a brand name or a generic version)
Isn't it then in the insurance companies' profit interests to delay treatment as long as possible or to even let people die?
To prevent/minimise this delay, do individuals need to instigate a lawsuit against the insurance company for 'breach of contract'? Wouldn't this lawsuit drag out long enough that the treatment would eventually be provided before the judge hears the case?
 

Gingergrrl

Senior Member
Messages
16,171
Isn't it then in the insurance companies' profit interests to delay treatment as long as possible or to even let people die?

Yep and it happens all the time.

To prevent/minimise this delay, do individuals need to instigate a lawsuit against the insurance company for 'breach of contract'? Wouldn't this lawsuit drag out long enough that the treatment would eventually be provided before the judge hears the case?

You have to go through many channels/levels of appeals before you can instigate a lawsuit. Most people are too ill and do not have the time, energy, ability, or resources to do this and are beaten down by the system before it gets this far. If you do not have a background in some type of advocacy and a doctor willing to fight for you, you often do not stand a fighting chance and the insurance companies know this.

Edit: But it is still better to have insurance than not to have it b/c then you stand no chance (unless you are independently wealthy).
 

Kenny Banya

Senior Member
Messages
356
Location
Australia
Yep and it happens all the time.
You have 1950s McCarthyism most to thank for your country's psychological sickness & its irrational abhorrence of the word 'socialism'
If your country had more appreciation of the concept, you probably wouldn't be the owners of the title of the worst per capita medical cost to life expectancy ratio of any first world country.
 
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Gingergrrl

Senior Member
Messages
16,171
You have 1950s McCarthyism most to thank for your country's psychological sickness & its irrational abhorrence of the word 'socialism' If your country had more appreciation of the concept, you would probably wouldn't be the owners of the title of the worst per capita medical cost to life expectancy ratio of any first world country.

I don't disagree with you and spent my entire career (before I got sick) doing clinical work and advocacy for elderly, disabled, people with mental illness, etc. People who fell through the cracks were able to get insurance with the ACA (Obamacare) and now even this is on the verge of being taken away. All we can do is pray to God that this bill does not pass in the Senate.
 

Kenny Banya

Senior Member
Messages
356
Location
Australia
I don't disagree with you and spent my entire career (before I got sick) doing clinical work and advocacy for elderly, disabled, people with mental illness, etc. People who fell through the cracks were able to get insurance with the ACA (Obamacare) and now even this is on the verge of being taken away. All we can do is pray to God that this bill does not pass in the Senate.
Yes, I hope that it is blocked in the Senate also.
Your healthcare system needs to go even further than Obamacare...
 
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Gingergrrl

Senior Member
Messages
16,171
A good insight into the consequences of the Obamacare repeal

Great video, just watched it and :rofl::rofl::rofl: which is better than :cry::cry::cry: when I think about what this bill will do to our country if it actually passes the Senate.

Yesterday a congressman from Idaho (I think his name is Paul Labrador, I had never heard of him before) actually said in a town hall meeting the following quote which I could not make up if I tried: “Nobody dies because they don’t have access to health care" (and sadly I think he believed it). I was dumb-founded and speechless and had to make sure it was not a joke or SNL skit (but sadly it was real)...
 

Nielk

Senior Member
Messages
6,970
Obamacare/ACA has become a failure. At first prices were low, but these low prices were no sustainable.

The insurance companies were losing money, so they started raising prices and raising the deductibles.

Many states are left with only one option for medical insurance - which is unaffordable.

People are being forced to buy medical insurance they cannot afford. In addition, deductibles are so high, that they hardly get any benefits from the policy.

Something had to be done to change this dangerous situation.

Whether this new health act will work remains to be seen. We don't know yet how it will end up. Chances are that the Senate will come up with their own version.

Medicare - the federal medical insurance for the disabled in the US remains unchanged. I would hope that most ME patients have Medicare coverage.

In addition, There is Medicaid - federal medical insurance for the poor.

The greatest problem that remains unchanged for us patients is that most ME specialist do not accept any insurance.

This is happening with many specialists around the country. They are unwilling to accept insurance because the coverage is so low - a fraction of their usual fees.

Of course, it is the patients - especially the chronically ill who suffer the most.