The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    Republican Lying About Pre-Existing Conditions

    By AmericanDreamer on Fri, 10/19/2018 - 12:04pm |

    Today's GOP, as Krugman puts it, doesn't even bother with spin--they go straight to lying, as they are doing on pre-existing conditions: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/11/opinion/republicans-lies-medicare-pre...

    The film clips don't lie: https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/gop-hypocrisy-on-obamacare-134... (The Last Word, O'Donnell, last night, about 8 minutes)

    Lie, cheat, steal, go for the gutter: today's GOP way.  We are miles and miles away from the Watergate era GOP, where there were Republican members of Congress who had a moral compass and stood up to Nixon's corrupt, criminal White House.  Republicans are our era's Know Nothings.  They believe in nothing but raw, unhinged and corruptly wielded power to further enrich and empower the already rich and powerful, and in turning back the clock to put women and racial and ethnic minorities back in their place.  No wonder they have to resort to lying, cheating and stealing to try to win elections.

    Comments

    they are lying about it because what they did and are still doing, it's killing them, they have no other recourse except to lie about it, it's the # 1 issue in the polls and it's killing them. Example:

    I’ve thought about this in GA-GOV. If Republicans had expanded Medicaid, I’m not sure Abrams would be competitive. https://t.co/gkxjH8DaoJ

    — Conor Sen (@conorsen) October 21, 2018

    Mho, best thing people can do if confronted with the problem of trying to convince someone they know not to vote GOP is to leave Trump out of things and bring up the facts about all of this. It's the # 1 issue and people will vote against those who have messed up progress on health insurance, especially the pre-existing an issue.

    Problem with bringing up Trump was that in his campaign and in rallies on this he was especially allover the place and talks pie in the say, so no sense even going there. Just let anybody who cares know if they don't have their facts straight about policy changes and who is responsible for those.


    by artappraiser on Sun, 10/21/2018 - 5:38pm


    by artappraiser on Tue, 10/23/2018 - 12:30am


    by artappraiser on Tue, 10/23/2018 - 12:35am

    See renal failure up there on that list?  That's me.  ESRD or End Stage Renal Disease. Sounds scary but if I was gonna die, I would have done it seven years ago.

    Needless to say, I take this pre-existing issue seriously in the extreme. I am dependent on 3 dialysis treatments a week, 52 weeks a year. Each treatment costs upwards of $4000.  3x4000x52=$624,000. If Mr. flower and I were to sell all our worldly possessions, I could live about 11 weeks, plus the 3 weeks it would take for me to actually die.

    Yes, this issue is life or death serious for me.

    Republicans are part of the human race yet unable to grasp the concept of humanity and I think they take advantage of the health insurance quagmire because it is a quagmire and easy to manipulate and manufacture blatant lies to folks who like to believe they are well informed.

    The end.


    by wabby on Tue, 10/23/2018 - 10:22am

    It's beyond me what they think should happen with patients like you who aren't Medicare age! (And yours is common, dialysis is a big business, like a lot of other illnesses on the list.) Leaving behind the problem of all the expensive outpatient care that people like you require to stay alive and not die on the street, they also take the absurdity to the next level. They always use the excuse of "the emergency room" will take anyone, as if "the emergency room" doesn't use Medicaid and Medicare money to pay for "the emergency room" and they are trying to cut coverage there, too. Their arguments and plans are absurd on their face and I think many more people, having been educated by the whole Obamacare debate and access, now see that.

    Seems to me from what I've read, that a requirement of coverage of pre-existing conditions is the one big thing that is supported by a huge majority, including all those who prefer employer-based insurance.
     


    by artappraiser on Tue, 10/23/2018 - 10:56am

    The attack on dialysis and the other illnesses are insane. If dialysis patients have to present to emergency rooms when they are volume overloaded or have symptoms related to not clearing toxins, medical costs will increase. If they don’t care about the moral issues, they should care about the economics. Maybe they assume that people needing dialysis will die from electrolyte imbalance. 

    Trump is not ashamed about lying. He contradicts himself when talking about middle class tax cuts despite his deception being recorded on camera. His supporters simply don’t care. They are sheep. Republicans follow his lead by saying that they will protect pre-existing conditions. People have to vote to stop this crap.


    by rmrd0000 on Tue, 10/23/2018 - 11:07am

     I know that there are probably a thousand ways your situation may be an outlier but a google search indicates that for most people the costs of dialysis are very much lower, though still cripplingly expensive. Individual treatments are said to cost about $500 on average. Used dialysis machines sell for $15,000. Home dialysis by the patient is common. Dialysis technicians make about $20 an hour. If your situation is not in some outlier category someone is getting rich ripping off the system to the tune of $12000 a week.  

    edited to remove the word not before cripplingly.


    by A Guy Called LULU on Tue, 10/23/2018 - 11:09am

    Would  you like to see my bill?  Before insurance kicks in it's enough to cause a heart attack. which becomes another pre-existing condition.

    FWIW, I did peritoneal dialysis for a year before getting peritonitis and having the tube removed. That at home treatment is 7 days a week 52 weeks a year so the cost is comparable to the three times a week treatment at a clinic.

    As to the someone is getting rich, I take my hint from my downstate doctor who zooms up north to our clinic in his Jaguar. The techs? Chevy. Ford.


    by wabby on Tue, 10/23/2018 - 11:54am

    One company, DaVita, paid over $1.2 M for overcharging the federal government for dialysis expenses

    https://corpwatch.org/article/davita-pays-895-million-settle-kidney-treatment-fraud-claims


    by rmrd0000 on Tue, 10/23/2018 - 12:41pm


    by artappraiser on Wed, 10/24/2018 - 9:28pm


    by artappraiser on Thu, 10/25/2018 - 2:16pm

    From the newspaper that no one bothers to bash:


    by artappraiser on Fri, 10/26/2018 - 1:54am


    by artappraiser on Tue, 10/30/2018 - 10:54pm