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But isn't there understanding that should Bernie win the fight he will never be able to implement one tenth of his policies? There will be another four years o

But isn't there understanding that should Bernie win the fight he will never be able to implement one tenth of his policies? There will be another four years of mutual accusations between "the idiots in the Senate" and "the idiot in the White House" with a bunch of policies implemented as executive orders adding to the mess.

claudeganon 7y ago
A politics of surrendering before the fight or selling out the working class to your wealthy donors is not something people rally behind.
- AlexTWithBeard 7y ago
  Nobody is talking about surrendering. Quite the opposite: big wars are won in small battles. There are a lot of small changes which can improve US healthcare: untie health insurance from employers. Make hospitals responsible for the billing, do that people don't get separate bills from anesthesiologists and surgeons. Make catastrophic plans accessible for everyone. Give free health insurance to children under 5. All these are small things, but they are doable. Once done, let's pause and reconsider.
  - claudeganon 7y ago
    Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are all still here while the incrementalism of the ACA is being torn to shreds. Big battles won, incrementalism undone. That’s exactly what surrender and defeat looks like. Thousands upon thousands are being denied care, bankrupted, and killed each year by the American healthcare system. This is the status quo you’re defending. People going broke because they have a disabled child, rationing care and medicines they can’t afford at great harm to themselves. These people, the people being ground up by this system, aren’t interested in pausing things so you can get more comfortable than you already are with this state of affairs.
    - AlexTWithBeard 7y ago
      ACA is alive and chugging. An attempt to dismantle it has failed despite of a republican president with a republican congress. Which means most people agree that ACA does more good than bad. It may feel very good to fight for a noble goal without a compromise and half measures, but while you are fighting, the people you are fighting for are no better. But that's not your fault, right?
      - claudeganon 7y ago
        ACA plans are incredibly expensive and deny one in 5 medical claims. The law itself is under severe legal threat in the Fifth Circuit and has seen it’s Medicaid expansion undermined in many states by work requirements. It unlikely to survive much longer, whether by judicial decree or continued side channel attacks. I could care less about some contest of nobility, but I can tell you for certain that this kind of cowardly rhetoric, where you think you can deflect the blame of those who profit off the poor, the ill, and the disabled onto those who dare to fight for them, convinces absolutely no one.
        tptacek 7y ago
        Read the actual Kaufmann report that generated that 1-in-5 claim to see how not probative it actually is. The actual rate of denied claims varies wildly from state to state and from insurer to insurer inside those states; some states have rejection rates in the single digits. Meanwhile, the report authors don't have the reason for rejection, and the reason matters a lot: providers have varying competence submitting claims, and a large chunk of denials are probably miskeyed services. Very, very few denials are appealed, suggesting either clerical errors or low-dollar claims (the financial value of those denials would be a number you'd really want to see but does not exist either). Much of this is covered in the Discussion section of the report. Right now, this 1-in-5 thing really just seems like a cudgel for people to swing randomly around in message board arguments.
        claudeganon 7y ago
yardie 7y ago
If there is one take away from The Art of The Deal. You ask for a lot and negotiate until you find a success. He has made no friends in healthcare by saying he wants a public system that does not include private management. Those healthcare companies are marketing and packing in benefits like crazy in the hope they don’t get made irrelevant. Bernie has lit a fire under the asses of companies who believe the it’s their right to charge you ~$1000/month for a service they don’t want you to use.
- AlexTWithBeard 7y ago
  Ask a lot - and you will get a little. Ask too much and you will get nothing. One thing that always kept me wondering: all politicians readily talk about their priorities. I want to know what is not their priorities. What are they willing to offer in their negotiations?

claudeganon 7y ago

A politics of surrendering before the fight or selling out the working class to your wealthy donors is not something people rally behind.

AlexTWithBeard 7y ago
Nobody is talking about surrendering. Quite the opposite: big wars are won in small battles. There are a lot of small changes which can improve US healthcare: untie health insurance from employers. Make hospitals responsible for the billing, do that people don't get separate bills from anesthesiologists and surgeons. Make catastrophic plans accessible for everyone. Give free health insurance to children under 5. All these are small things, but they are doable. Once done, let's pause and reconsider.
- claudeganon 7y ago
  Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are all still here while the incrementalism of the ACA is being torn to shreds. Big battles won, incrementalism undone. That’s exactly what surrender and defeat looks like. Thousands upon thousands are being denied care, bankrupted, and killed each year by the American healthcare system. This is the status quo you’re defending. People going broke because they have a disabled child, rationing care and medicines they can’t afford at great harm to themselves. These people, the people being ground up by this system, aren’t interested in pausing things so you can get more comfortable than you already are with this state of affairs.
  - AlexTWithBeard 7y ago
    ACA is alive and chugging. An attempt to dismantle it has failed despite of a republican president with a republican congress. Which means most people agree that ACA does more good than bad. It may feel very good to fight for a noble goal without a compromise and half measures, but while you are fighting, the people you are fighting for are no better. But that's not your fault, right?
    - claudeganon 7y ago
      ACA plans are incredibly expensive and deny one in 5 medical claims. The law itself is under severe legal threat in the Fifth Circuit and has seen it’s Medicaid expansion undermined in many states by work requirements. It unlikely to survive much longer, whether by judicial decree or continued side channel attacks. I could care less about some contest of nobility, but I can tell you for certain that this kind of cowardly rhetoric, where you think you can deflect the blame of those who profit off the poor, the ill, and the disabled onto those who dare to fight for them, convinces absolutely no one.
      - tptacek 7y ago
        Read the actual Kaufmann report that generated that 1-in-5 claim to see how not probative it actually is. The actual rate of denied claims varies wildly from state to state and from insurer to insurer inside those states; some states have rejection rates in the single digits. Meanwhile, the report authors don't have the reason for rejection, and the reason matters a lot: providers have varying competence submitting claims, and a large chunk of denials are probably miskeyed services. Very, very few denials are appealed, suggesting either clerical errors or low-dollar claims (the financial value of those denials would be a number you'd really want to see but does not exist either). Much of this is covered in the Discussion section of the report. Right now, this 1-in-5 thing really just seems like a cudgel for people to swing randomly around in message board arguments.
        claudeganon 7y ago

yardie 7y ago

If there is one take away from The Art of The Deal. You ask for a lot and negotiate until you find a success. He has made no friends in healthcare by saying he wants a public system that does not include private management. Those healthcare companies are marketing and packing in benefits like crazy in the hope they don’t get made irrelevant. Bernie has lit a fire under the asses of companies who believe the it’s their right to charge you ~$1000/month for a service they don’t want you to use.

AlexTWithBeard 7y ago
Ask a lot - and you will get a little. Ask too much and you will get nothing. One thing that always kept me wondering: all politicians readily talk about their priorities. I want to know what is not their priorities. What are they willing to offer in their negotiations?