4 ms·
Social security and Medicare are inexpugnable liabilities.
by drivebyhooting 2y ago
Social security and Medicare are inexpugnable liabilities.
- fnordpiglet 2y agoAnd it comes to about $120 per tax payer in total. I’ve had dinners that cost more. Give me my science and medicine please.
- jaredklewis 2y agoSocial security yes, but it seems to me that reducing the cost of Medicare and Medicaid should be very much possible. We need to provide healthcare but it should be possible to make that less expensive
- arrosenberg 2y agoMedicare would become cheaper tomorrow if the government would negotiate drug prices down. Trump isn't going to do that.
- jay_kyburz 2y agoOr manufacture drugs themselves, and distribute "at cost".
- credit_guy 2y agoSomething like this? [1] https://www.cms.gov/inflation-reduction-act-and-medicare/medicare-drug-price-negotiation https://www.cms.gov/inflation-reduction-act-and-medicare/med...
- miki123211 2y agoWhat leverage does the US government actually have? Is "we just won't fund your drug, even though people will die and you're the only option on the market" actually something that could happen? Would that be politically palatable to anybody? I guess there's patent invalidation and forced genericization, but that would kill innovation real quick. I think a far better idea would be to impose very strict caps on admin / non-medical costs, potentially at the expense of paying a bit more to fraudsters, changing FDA regulations to minimize (death from side effects + death from no available drugs) instead of just the former, as well as becoming a lot more aggressive about expensive and unnecessary procedures that doctors perform to get rich quick.
- p0ckets 2y agoThe US pays much more for drugs than any other country. I guess one possibility is that no one has any leverage and big pharma is able to charge Americans more because they're richer. But the more popular theory is that countries can negotiate better prices than individuals can (yes, technically insurance companies can negotiate prices, but they seem unmotivated to drive any costs down). It seems the previous administration thought the government can negotiate lower prices: https://www.cms.gov/inflation-reduction-act-and-medicare/medicare-drug-price-negotiation https://www.cms.gov/inflation-reduction-act-and-medicare/med....
- nitwit005 2y agoThey are negotiating with drug manufacturers. In the case there is only one, the negotiation just wouldn't go well.
- aqueueaqueue 2y agoTrump MO would be implement a 100% tax on pharma profits and unrealized capital gains next Monday, then reverse it once they agree. But only if Trump cares to die on that hill.
- adrr 2y agoHow can Trump change tax law?
- aqueueaqueue 2y agoSame way he created tariffs.
- arrosenberg 2y agoWrong. Congress granted the Presidency an almost limitless power to levy tariffs in the early 1900s. It has no such power to change the tax laws.
- 2y ago
- bad_haircut72 2y agoIm gonna start a downvote party on myself haha but here we go - if you want cheaper healthcare, get rid of the medical licence!! Let the free market work. Of course it wont be better but rich people will pay theough the nose for the top level of care, middle class will get the best care the market can provide for what they can afford and lower class will get someone regurgitating chatGPT - but it _will_ be cheaper. I continue to post this, not even fully convinced - Im scared I wouldnt be able to afford good care without govt subsidies, but I am open to the idea at least. I dont think care in the USA would be worse overall
- mcbutterbunz 2y agoAre medical licenses actually the cause of expensive healthcare?
- bad_haircut72 2y agoI wanna say yes but to be fair, I cant prove it. I think without licencing we would get reduced length degrees & more people like nurses transitioning into primary care physicians - and I think that would be fine for a lot of conditions
- jcrawfordor 2y agoI don't think licensure is really that much of a barrier, though. One of the huge trends going on is that nurses are increasingly replacing doctors in primary care. In my market it's unusual to have an actual doctor as a primary care provider. These nurses just go through some additional training for a PA or NP license and it's still a great deal cheaper than medical school.
- bad_haircut72 2y agoThis happens to me (my PCM is a nurse) but funnily enough my costs haven't gone down. Those nurses still work under a qualified doc, who will never look at your file until youre nearly dead, but theyre still getting a cut believe you me.
- arrosenberg 2y agoWhat needs to be overcome? They're directly paid for through payroll taxes.
- ikiris 2y agoEverything is expungable if no one says no.
- pjc50 2y agoEverything is expendable if you kick in the door and fire everyone, like USAID. I think they're politically smart enough to not cut off the elderly voters, but who knows.
- fgededigo 2y agoUnless you don't need any kind of voter anymore
- zitsarethecure 2y agoWell I mean this is it isn't it? Any election that does not go their way will be called "stolen" and decertified and there is no one left to challenge that. I'd love to be shown how it could be otherwise, someone convince me, please.
- nmz 2y agoHe has to do it, he's already a felon, jail time probably awaits him if a dem is elected.
- piperswe 2y agoAccording to the Supreme Court, he can do whatever he wants in the Oval Office and be immune from prosecution
- scintill76 2y agoI’m not a lawyer, but I think he was sentenced already to serve no time. Unless prosecuted for something else, I think he’s in no danger of prison even if Dems come into power soon.
- adrian_b 2y agoWhat I find ridiculous is that USA spends more on the interest on the national debt than either on Medicare or on the Department of Defense.
- anon84873628 2y agoGee, I'm still waiting for these proclaimed anti-socialists & anti-marxist to kill the most obviously socialist programs in the country.