Trump praises Australian Universal Health Care System after House ACA repeal
 

[url]http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-trump-australia-universal-health-care-20170504-story.html[/url]

[QUOTE]"We have a failing health care -- I shouldn't say this to our great gentleman and my friend from Australia, because you have better health care than we do," a tuxedo-clad Trump said at a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in Manhattan on Thursday.

Australia has a government-funded health-care system, called Medicare, that exists alongside private insurance. The system is funded in part by taxes, including on the wealthy.

The comments came hours after Republicans in the House narrowly approved legislation that would repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.[/QUOTE]

Is Trump really President?
 

Advance note: I don't think I have ever encountered writing by Jack Rasmus before. I don't vouch for him beyond that I like the questions in this piece. Derisive style doesn't hurt. I picked this up elsewhere, and searched out the blog.
[url]https://jackrasmus.com/2017/05/01/is-trump-really-president-by-jack-rasmus/[/url]
[QUOTE]The past month has witnessed Trump doing a total ‘about face’ on virtually all his right wing populist proposals during the election. He’s backtracking so fast it’s a wonder he hasn’t tripped over himself. (Check that, he has). What explains his 180 degree turnabout?[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=wombatman;458347][url]http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-trump-australia-universal-health-care-20170504-story.html[/url][/QUOTE]
Here is (IMHO) the epitome of the Republican attitude. The video in this [URL=http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/article149013339.html]Idaho Statesman article[/URL] shows U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador telling his constituents that “Nobody dies because they don’t have access to health care.”

[URL=http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/05/republican-sick-people-dont-deserve-affordable-care.html]Mo Brooks[/URL] is no slouch either:

[QUOTE]In a CNN interview, Representative Mo Brooks, an Alabama Republican, makes the case for Trumpcare in much starker terms: It will free healthy people from having to pay the cost of the sick. “It will allow insurance companies to require people who have higher health care costs to contribute more to the insurance pool that helps offset all these costs, thereby reducing the cost to those people who lead good lives, they’re healthy, they’ve done the things to keep their bodies healthy,” explained Brooks.[/QUOTE]

[Colbert Report commentator]People don't die from lack of access to health care. If they're too poor to [i]afford[/i] access to health care, that's their own fault. If they are too sick to get decent insurance rates, that's also their own fault. TrumpCare will properly incentivize people not to be poor or sick. And if they don't get the message, it will make sure they don't grow old.[/Colbert Report commentator]

GOP health care: [U]G[/U]enocide of the [U]O[/U]ld and [U]P[/U]oor

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;458422]Here is (IMHO) the epitome of the Republican attitude. The video in this [URL=http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/article149013339.html]Idaho Statesman article[/URL] shows U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador telling his constituents that “Nobody dies because they don’t have access to health care.”

[URL=http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/05/republican-sick-people-dont-deserve-affordable-care.html]Mo Brooks[/URL] is no slouch either:



[Colbert Report commentator]People don't die from lack of access to health care. If they're too poor to [i]afford[/i] access to health care, that's their own fault. If they are too sick to get decent insurance rates, that's also their own fault. TrumpCare will properly incentivize people not to be poor or sick. And if they don't get the message, it will make sure they don't grow old.[/Colbert Report commentator]

GOP health care: [U]G[/U]enocide of the [U]O[/U]ld and [U]P[/U]oor[/QUOTE]

a lot of people would be screwed over based on those statements 1 in 20 are diabetics, 1 in 10 have kidney problems ( admittedly some are diabetics with kidney problems) from a bus placed ad I read) etc. also I can understand why people need to work 3 jobs to make it financially I'm in a low rent area of my city ( admittedly not in the US) minimum wage after taxes ( before income assistance etc gets involved) is about 8.26 per hour it takes about 70 hours per month to pay my rent if I was in a minimum wage job and off the system. it then takes a minimum of 21.66 every two months without any use of electricity to have your account stay open at the local electricity company I think so add a minimum of another 3 hours there I spend about $30 a week in groceries ( okay probably more but I try to budget $30) that's $120 a month or about 15 hours per month there. transportation cost ( even if you get the newest low income passes) can top $40 a month ( more realistically it can top $78 to $80+ a month) that's another 5 ( 9-10 for the other estimate) per month for transit. so without cost of laundry ( my card only allows adding $10,$20, or $30 with a laundry cost of potentially $4-4.50 per load) that's 70*2+3+15*2+5*2 = 140+3+30+10 = 183 hours every two months just to do basically bare essentials ( assuming not actually using electricity at all). my assistance check is over 100 hours a month equivalent in after tax terms. But good luck getting the 23 hours or so a week needed to survive with just one job.

Persecuted White Christian Male Withdraws from Nomination
 

[URL]http://thehill.com/policy/defense/332135-trump-army-secretary-nominee-withdraws[/URL]
Poor baby. Even John McCain bought into the anti-bigot bigotry; questioning Green's Jesus-bestowed right to hate. Whatever is the world coming to, when the Faithful can't preach Divinely Inspired, Sacred Hatred?
[QUOTE]Army Secretary nominee Mark Green has withdrawn from consideration amid fierce opposition from Democrats and advocacy groups, he announced Friday.[/QUOTE][QUOTE]Green had defended himself by saying liberals are twisting his words and attacking him for his religion. He reiterated these complaints in his withdrawal statement.

“Tragically, my life of public service and my Christian beliefs have been mischaracterized and [U][B]attacked by a few on the other side of the aisle[U][COLOR=Red]**[/COLOR][/U][/B][/U][COLOR=Red] [/COLOR]for political gain,” he said.
[/QUOTE]
[COLOR=Red][B][U]**[/U] [/B][COLOR=Black]Like that Left-of-Sanders radical, McCain.[/COLOR][/COLOR]

[QUOTE=kladner;458436][URL]http://thehill.com/policy/defense/332135-trump-army-secretary-nominee-withdraws[/URL]
Poor baby. Even John McCain bought into the anti-bigot bigotry; questioning Green's Jesus-bestowed right to hate. Whatever is the world coming to, when the Faithful can't preach Divinely Inspired, Sacred Hatred?

[COLOR=Red][B][U]**[/U] [/B][COLOR=Black]Like that Left-of-Sanders radical, McCain.[/COLOR][/COLOR][/QUOTE]
The Senate-confirmable positions database [URL=https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-administration-appointee-tracker/database/]here[/URL] needs updating. It shows that 41 of the 53 DOD positions have no nominee. That will now revert to 42. Only [i]one[/i] of the 53 positions has been filled -- Secretary of Defense. A candidate for Deputy Secretary of Defense has been announced, but the nomination has not yet been formally submitted to the Senate. No nominee for Secretary of the Navy. (The database does not mention the previously announced candidate for the position, Philip M. Bilden, who withdrew from consideration in late February as covered [url=http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-92666017/]here[/url].) Now, [i]two[/i] failed nominees for Secretary of the Army. At least there is a nominee for Secretary of the Air Force.

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;458422]

[Colbert Report commentator]People don't die from lack of access to health care. If they're too poor to [i]afford[/i] access to health care, that's their own fault. If they are too sick to get decent insurance rates, that's also their own fault. TrumpCare will properly incentivize people not to be poor or sick. And if they don't get the message, it will make sure they don't grow old.[/Colbert Report commentator]

GOP health care: [U]G[/U]enocide of the [U]O[/U]ld and [U]P[/U]oor[/QUOTE]

IMO, Obamacare is little to no better. Here in N.C. I have one insurance company to choose from. The deductibles have been increasing by leaps and bounds each year. This year, the smallest deductible available was around $3000 (per person).

Consider a fast food worker or the person mowing my yard each week. These folks make near minimum wage and likely are living paycheck-to-paycheck. Obamacare gave them a great subsidy so they can now afford / must purchase health insurance. A Democrat success story!! They've moved from uninsured to insured. Alas, if they get seriously sick they are faced with either bankruptcy trying to pay that $3000 deductible or they go without treatment. I'm afraid a good number choose that latter -- exactly what they did before Obamacare.

[rant]The U.S. healthcare system is completely broken. You can bet the insurance lobby and their bought-off politicians will not allow a public option without getting a huge cut of the revenue. Not to mention the drug companies and their lobbyists and paid-off politicians. And hospitals and doctors making money by performing extra procedures, not by achieving the same result by cheaper means. IMO, the U.S. is doomed to paying twice as much as any other country for the same quality of heathcare. [/rant]

[QUOTE=Prime95;458453]IMO, Obamacare is little to no better. Here in N.C. I have one insurance company to choose from. The deductibles have been increasing by leaps and bounds each year. This year, the smallest deductible available was around $3000 (per person).

Consider a fast food worker or the person mowing my yard each week. These folks make near minimum wage and likely are living paycheck-to-paycheck. Obamacare gave them a great subsidy so they can now afford / must purchase health insurance. A Democrat success story!! They've moved from uninsured to insured. Alas, if they get seriously sick they are faced with either bankruptcy trying to pay that $3000 deductible or they go without treatment. I'm afraid a good number choose that latter -- exactly what they did before Obamacare.[/quote]
I see your initial optimism re. the ill-named Affordable Care Act has given way to grim reality. It was never about actual affordable health *care*, and even the promise of affordable 'unsurance' has evaporated.

[quote][rant]The U.S. healthcare system is completely broken. You can bet the insurance lobby and their bought-off politicians will not allow a public option without getting a huge cut of the revenue. Not to mention the drug companies and their lobbyists and paid-off politicians. And hospitals and doctors making money by performing extra procedures, not by achieving the same result by cheaper means. IMO, the U.S. is doomed to paying twice as much as any other country for the same quality of heathcare. [/rant][/QUOTE]
Careful - there is a big difference between what is generally referred to as a 'public option' and what we really need, a single-payer [think Medicare for all] system. I urge interested readers to educate themselves regarding the difference between those. But I agree that the fundamental idea of making healthcare a market commodity and thus allowing the big-money players to engage in their usual gambit of bribing lawmakers to rig laws in their favor [e.g. exemption from antitrust and transparent-pricing laws, bans on drug importation] is at the root of the evil. It is a disgrace that the wealthiest nation in history never runs out of money to pink-mist peasants in far-flung regions of the globe but we can't have basic necessities for our own citizens, as the leadership of both of our appalling establishment political parties (Hillary: 'not realistic'. Nancy Pelosi: [url=https://twitter.com/samknight1/status/860148883619553281]ditto[/url]) repeatedly tells us.

Perversely I rather hope TrumpCare defies the odds and passes the Senate (whose own bill differs mightily from the House one, requiring an unlikely reconciliation), because anything that hastens the death spiral at this point is welcome, IMO. I find it a hopeful sign that some key figures on both sides of the ideological divide are now agreeing that we need single-payer. For example, The Week's "[url=http://theweek.com/articles/695767/conservative-case-singlepayer-health-care]A conservative case for single-payer health care[/url]", and right-wing pundit [url=http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/05/05/krauthammer_i_would_predict_that_in_less_than_seven_years_we_will_be_in_a_single-payer_system.html]Charles Krauthammer[/url]. (I know - my jaw dropped a a bit on seeing this, as well.)

Horrid strategic thinking by the Repubs, though - they should have simply sat back and continued to watch Obamacare implode all on its own. And, echoing pre-White-House Trump's own laudatory words re. single-payer: If there is a single thing Trump could do, amidst all the stupid, which would likely guarantee him a second term, it would be to push through single payer. But he's too beholden to Big Money and praise from the Big Corporate Media to ever buck the Washington consensus in such a bold way.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;458457]Careful - there is a big difference between what is generally referred to as a 'public option' and what we really need, a single-payer [think Medicare for all] system.[/QUOTE]

Thank you for the correction.

When I looked after my Aunt, the combination of Medicare and private insurance to cover the rest was a thing of beauty. Whereas, my wife and I had to slog through medical bills and insurance statements trying to figure out who screwed up or cheated us, the only bill my Aunt had to pay over a 4-year period was for a missed appointment. I simply filed the doctor and hospital statements without even looking at them.

Another there-is-a-tectonic-shift-in-opinions-occurring article:

[url=https://www.thenation.com/article/single-payer-medicare-for-all-is-the-only-healthcare-system-that-makes-sense/]Single-Payer ‘Medicare for All’ Is the Only Health-Care System That Makes Sense[/url] | The Nation

And speaking of The Empire pink-misting faraway peasants -- a breathtaking irony: [url]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-dorlester/guaranteed-health-care-in_b_280528.html[/url]
[i]
“Article 31 of the Iraqi Constitution, drafted by your right-wing Bushies in 2005 and ratified by the Iraqi people, includes state-guaranteed (single payer) healthcare for life for every Iraqi citizen.”[/i]

[URL="http://www.npr.org/2017/05/09/527663050/president-trump-fires-fbi-director-james-comey"]President Trump Fires FBI Director James Comey[/URL]
[QUOTE]In his letter to Comey relieving him of his duties effective immediately, Trump alluded to the ongoing Russia investigation but also stressed that he had not personally been implicated:
[INDENT]"While I greatly appreciate you informing me. on three separate occasions. that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau."[/INDENT][/QUOTE]
edit: more complete quote from CBS News
[url]http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-fires-fbi-director-james-comey/[/url]
[QUOTE]President Donald Trump has fired FBI Director James Comey.

"I have received the attached letters from the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General of the United States recommending your dismissal as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation," Mr. Trump said in a letter to Comey released Tuesday. "I have accepted their recommendation and you are hereby terminated and removed from office, effective immediately."

"While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the bureau," the president continued. "It is essential that we find new leadership for the FBI that restores public trust and confidence in its vital law enforcement mission. I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors."[/QUOTE]