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Sol Tee Nutz

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^^^^^ With the above post. That is the trouble with private heath insurance, the extreme cost. I would like to see a hospitals profit margins. No way an operation should cost that much, same with an auto body shop, they have 2 rates, one for an insurance claim and one for not under insurance, same as when insurance fixed my flooded basement, ultra high cost that I could have hired out at prbably 30% less.
 

jalimon

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^^^^^ With the above post. That is the trouble with private heath insurance, the extreme cost. I would like to see a hospitals profit margins. No way an operation should cost that much, same with an auto body shop, they have 2 rates, one for an insurance claim and one for not under insurance, same as when insurance fixed my flooded basement, ultra high cost that I could have hired out at prbably 30% less.

STN you forget that in the US physicians need to protect themselves at high cost from the lawyers waiting in the hospital cafeteria and reception to lure patient into suing their physicians...

Cheers,
 

jalimon

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First you don't trust Trump, now lawyers.
Not a glass half full outlook I guess.;)

Never said I did not trust lawyers. I am just pointing out a reality down there. The cost to insure a physicians down in the US is very high, paid by the employer. All that due to the high level of lawsuit against physicians. A bit absurd but that's the way it is I guess.

Cheers,
 

sambuca

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As an aside, when Sambuca says things like he can't vouch for preventative care because it has not been demonstrated to reduce costs only illustrates why it's best to let people believe what they want to (and not argue) even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

I honestly don't know enough to argue either way. Like everything public policy it can be politicized by both sides. I've seen studies that say preventative care works best with patients who will follow a lifestyle and treatment regimen. Patients who actually follow the regimen are more likely to be educated. You know where these studies go with their conclusions.

Since I have defended the Canadian system to a large degree, take my entire post into consideration.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/upshot/preventive-health-care-costs.html
 

sambuca

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Never said I did not trust lawyers. I am just pointing out a reality down there. The cost to insure a physicians down in the US is very high, paid by the employer. All that due to the high level of lawsuit against physicians. A bit absurd but that's the way it is I guess.

Cheers,

Jalimon is correct. That's why Americans are taking advantage of medical tourism more and more. If it's an out of pocket expense, just go to a nice country with good doctors and facilities.
 

sambuca

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Conservative Republicans most likely believe that the free market can fix our healthcare system. I do not. I think they have also failed in thinking that consolidation of providers and insurers would lead to efficiencies and lower pricing. They have not.

One of the major problems is many Americans (probably many Canadians as well) can't afford modern healthcare. Many don't even know how much the govt. pays for them because they wrongly think they have fully paid for medicare (our elderly care program) which they most certainly have not. As soon as the government gets involved in assisting the poor and elderly, the market is distorted. It's almost impossible for a seriously sick individual to shop and negotiate medical services. The large healthcare institutions are relatively immune to market pressures and fight any initiatives to introduce even the smallest measures. Prices would certainly fall if you simply took away govt. assistance and basically said every man for himself sick or not sick. (This is not my recommendation.)
 

EagerBeaver

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That’s the problem Sambuca and it goes back to a problem that isn’t going away, namely an aging population that doesn’t earn income while simultaneously putting an enormous strain on Government subsidized healthcare: Medicare and Medicaid. CMS has in litigation matters gotten a bit more aggressive in perfecting Medicare liens on liability and worker’s compensation settlements, and similarly the States have also gotten aggressive with Medicaid liens for assistance or medical treatment. The problem is in non litigation matters there is no way to recoup these monies. So what they do is erect hurdles to treatment, much like private insurers. You cannot get an MRI unless you go for physical therapy first. I had X Rays showing that I have a very serious cervical stenosis and resulting pain, but they wouldn’t send me for an MRI that might have identified the pain generating level of the spine. Instead I went for PT and cervical traction which, fortunately for me, worked. MRIs can cost $2000 a pop so they don’t want to do it unless absolutely necessary. So this is what a lot of older patients deal with now. And they really don’t know what to do when these semi artificial hurdles to treatnent are erected. In some cases they just suffer. A lot of it is procedural nonsense of procedures having to be pre-approved or certified. Medications have to be pre-authorized. The one area where there has been a massive crackdown is painkillers. Some docs just stopped prescribing them and sleep medicine. Too much risk.

However I have had some very positive experiences as far as quality of medical treatment in the area where I live. The cost issue is another matter. I am now on a high deductible plan. It’s $3,000 deductible and $5000 maximum out of pocket. I will hit both numbers with ease this year. What I did was I dropped $3400 in an HSA and took a deduction for it. That somewhat eases what is otherwise a huge punch in the stomach. Once Medicare kicks in for me down the road I don’t know what that will be like. But the healthcare costs that are draining Medicare are chiefly due to the aging population. The amount of money spent on the Medicare eligible population is what is driving a lot of these costs. And Medicare often pays a fraction of what is billed and the remainder is adjusted. But it still adds up.
 

Doc Holliday

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Trump has now cancelled the so-called "US/North Korea" summit. Looks like there'll be no Nobel Peace prize for one of the worst lying scumbags in American history! :lol:
 

EagerBeaver

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transatlantic

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There is ZERO chance Kim is giving up nukes. Best this three way bromance can hope for is sign a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War and claim victory.

When do we get to see those coins on eBay?
 

sambuca

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There is ZERO chance Kim is giving up nukes. Best this three way bromance can hope for is sign a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War and claim victory.

When do we get to see those coins on eBay?

Oh TA, you're just a hopeless bromantic. :love:
 

Carmine Falcone

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No one has ever avoided a bar fight against a sane opponent by pointing out that he killed the last person he fought. Making Libya's fate a talking point made the North Koreans skittish enough to ratchet up the name calling. But canceling it was probably Trump's best move for now. Not only has he not being prepping for the meeting with learning history and other related matters, but his desire for a win would have probably resulted in a bad deal. It's no surprise that a guy who only skates off the reputation of a ghostwritten book about negotiating caves a lot.
 

sambuca

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No one has ever avoided a bar fight against a sane opponent by pointing out that he killed the last person he fought. Making Libya's fate a talking point made the North Koreans skittish enough to ratchet up the name calling. But canceling it was probably Trump's best move for now. Not only has he not being prepping for the meeting with learning history and other related matters, but his desire for a win would have probably resulted in a bad deal. It's no surprise that a guy who only skates off the reputation of a ghostwritten book about negotiating caves a lot.

You dance with the one who brung ya. Since we haven't been invited to many NoKo dances, let's just be happy we're at the dance and see where it goes.
 

jalimon

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EB you saw the frost/nixon movie? epic! fantastic movie that every american should see!

cheers,
 

sambuca

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I've heard countless comparisons of the Russian Collusion case to Watergate. It's usually the liberal outlets NYT, MSNBC and CNN and WaPo.

The major difference is Watergate started with a crime where Republican operatives were caught breaking into Democratic National Headquarters. President Nixon was actually part of the cover up and obstructing the investigation. In contrast, we have not heard any evidence that Trump or even anyone on his campaign colluded with the Russians. By the way, there is some excellent, objective commentary on what actually this collusion would need to entail for it to be illegal.

The Comey firing is probably the most contentious. Many people including Deputy AG Rosenstein have found Comey's leadership of the FBI erratic and arbitrary. Beyond that, we also now know the FBI probably had an informant inside the Trump campaign. It hardly seems by cutting off the head (Comey) you were really cramping the investigation.

The liberal media outlets start all their discussions with the premise that the Trump campaign did something wrong. In fact, they have constantly tried to gin up the idea that entirely normal and legal activities were illegal and thereby proved the validity of the Russian Collusion theory. Sometimes it seems like a propaganda war rather than a criminal investigation.
 

Doc Holliday

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It's obvious that there was collusion. Whether it'll be 100% proven is another story. But the real story which will come out of the special counsel's investigation will be all the crimes Trump comitted over the years such as laundering dirty money for the Russian oligarchs. Trump absolutely doesn't want the world to find out about this nor does he want the world to find out that he's not actually a billionaire.

About 10 years ago he sued an investigative reporter for claiming (after extensive research) that Trump was worth no more than $150 million. I tend to believe this. Sure he has a lot of assets. But it is my guess that the large majority of those so-called 'assets' are not entirely owned by him. They were purchased with dirty money and money that he owes his creditors.

His strange behaviour in regards to Russia and China has been bizarre to say the least. But it's becoming more and more obvious that the Russian President has something over him. Is it just the pornographic tape he has showing Trump in bed with a few Russian hookers? Maybe. But i believe it has more to do with money he owes to Putin's Russian billionaire friends. And Putin likely knows a heck of a whole lot more about Trump than most of us do and will. And Trump knows this.
 
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