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AngelusNox Warder of the damned from The guard of the gates of oblivion Since: Dec, 2014 Relationship Status: Married to the job
Warder of the damned
#183251: Apr 17th 2017 at 11:18:57 AM

Aside from the Abortion issue, Catholics tend to be the more liberal mainstream Christianity branch.

Even in South America, the Catholics are way more progressive than the Evangelists, specially in things like LGBT issues and welfare distribution.

Inter arma enim silent leges
Luigisan98 A wandering user from Venezuelan Muscat Since: Oct, 2013 Relationship Status: I <3 love!
A wandering user
#183252: Apr 17th 2017 at 11:25:19 AM

[up] Yeah...my family is in fact Catholic and liberal.

The only good fanboy, is a redeemed fanboy.
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#183253: Apr 17th 2017 at 11:29:45 AM

So is anyone paying attention to the Easter Egg Roll? I heard that Trump almost forgot to put his hand on his heart for the Pledge of Allegiance until Melania reminded him.

danime91 Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#183254: Apr 17th 2017 at 11:32:37 AM

I heard that they hadn't ordered enough eggs? And that they forgot or didn't bother to invite the families of service members? Yeah, all in all, a complete mess compared to previous years.

kkhohoho (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#183255: Apr 17th 2017 at 11:32:43 AM

[up][up]TRUMP: I swear allegiance to myself, and to where I stand, which is, let me tell you, this is the best party I have ever been to, yes, ever been to...

edited 17th Apr '17 11:33:02 AM by kkhohoho

TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#183256: Apr 17th 2017 at 11:37:07 AM

Catholics have more or less mastered a sort of quasi-judgmental non-judgmentalism. Where you know they disapprove of you but at the same time their stance is, "It is not my place to judge; that place belongs to God."

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
PolarPhantom Since: Jun, 2012
#183257: Apr 17th 2017 at 12:20:10 PM

Just wanna say from a few pages back to clarify: I don't hate Sanders. I don't have anti Sanders sentiment. And I try to avoid Hitler Ate Sugar problems. Just that I don't want to team up with actual monsters. People I dislike, I can swallow my pride and joy, but I'm not working with legit Death Eaters.

I also apologise if I contributed to exaggerated anti Sanders sentiment. That was not my intention. I just wanted to state personal views on breaking bread with the forces of darkness.

Alright...

Seems I missed some crap.

edited 17th Apr '17 12:20:33 PM by PolarPhantom

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#183258: Apr 17th 2017 at 12:31:10 PM

[up] Don't worry about it. I think it was more about that it kept coming up even after many of us thought we had said what needed to be said on the topic.

I have a question for everybody. Does anyone have any ideas about what a better healthcare system in the US would look like, and how it would be implemented? It's been talked about a lot lately, and I was wondering if anyone here had ideas.

edited 17th Apr '17 12:35:23 PM by megaeliz

AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#183259: Apr 17th 2017 at 12:35:19 PM

It's the ACA, smoothed over to make it generally even more accessible than it already is, and starting to move us towards single payer.

Basically we already have the building blocks to one, and we need to defend and advance it forward.

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#183260: Apr 17th 2017 at 12:37:37 PM

I found this really good outline on how we could transition to single payer. It stuck out because of how detailed and well thought out it was. Of course it is purely hypothetical in the current political environment, but still worth mentioning. (The author mentions that this is just them spitballing ideas, but I still feel like it had more thought put into it than the AHCA)

    possible transition plan 
Start with reducing the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 62. This is only 3 years so shouldn’t do anything too catastrophic to the economy, but it will rather quickly have tremendously positive impacts. Older people not covered by Medicare or Medicaid are the most expensive people in the private insurance risk pool. Removing the bulk of their costs from the private insurance market will save private insurance companies tons and allow them to offer more competitive rates to the rest of their customers.

-At the same time, the new 62–64 year old Medicare clients will be spring chickens compared to the rest of the Medicare clientele and pull down the average cost of their patients, meaning the nation as a whole will be spending less on healthcare. Much of this cost can be covered by the tax subsidy the government would’ve had to pay to cover many of these people previously, either to employers or on the exchanges. The new costs may not be fully covered, but the overall amount spent on healthcare will decrease (since Medicare expenses are significantly lower than private insurance) and consumers will have more money to spend on other things, which will replace some of the lost GDP and perhaps grow it if it generates more productive activity. Simultaneously, partially implement the “Public Option” allowing people 50-62 the option to buy into Medicare by paying premiums as if Medicare were an insurance company. This will create competition for insurance companies and offer at least one additional choice in every market.

-Once again, people in this age range are much more expensive to insure than people under 50, so while insurance companies may lose customers, their insurance pool will become much healthier so their profit margins should greatly improve. This should also offset some of their reduced market clout and allow them to offer more competitive rates for the rest of their customers.

-For the government’s part, their pool will grow (even more market leverage) and become healthier on average, lowering overall healthcare expenditures in the country and allowing those saved dollars to flow into the economy in other ways. Medicare will receive premiums, which can be set at higher than estimated cost, as a margin for error since they’re not as experienced with setting premiums, and to allow the option of a higher reimbursement rate for providers. Medicare is significantly more efficient than insurance companies, so there is enough room in the delta between Medicare’s cost and private insurance cost to save consumers money while still providing Medicare more money than it requires. Any excess funds collected can be invested in the Medicare Trust Fund (like a college endowment) to shore up Medicare and help cover the additional costs of the eligibility expansion.

-Allow employers the option to buy into Medicare for their employees instead of, or in addition to private insurance. Set the starting cost to the employer at 15% less than what they paid for private insurance for the previous three years averaged. This should be a significant incentive since it freezes an unpredictable and rapidly growing annual expense and it saves significantly more than 15% right off the bat, since insurance rates go up considerably every year, so an average of three previous years would be much lower than what they’d expect to pay in future years. For companies that do this, the government would phase out the tax subsidy they receive, potentially amounting to a savings for both the company and the government.

-After three years, begin the next phase. Reduce Medicare eligibility age to 59+. Three years after that, drop it to 55. Two years after that, take it down to 53. Two years after that take it to 50 and the Public Option to 45. Within 12 years of passage (2 prep years then 10 of phased implementation) Medicare has been gradually expanded to everyone 50+ and some 45+ on the individual market, as well as many 0–50 within the employer group market (includes employee family members), at great cost savings to all involved (employers, consumers, insurance companies).

-Thereafter, drop the eligibility age for both by 8 years every 2 years. Within 20 years of the law’s passage, anyone who isn’t already automatically Medicare enrolled will be added (the remaining ages will be added in the 20th year).

-For the people still waiting for Medicare eligibility to get to them during the 20 year phase-in, insurance should be much cheaper since the pool keeps getting younger and Public Option availability keeps getting younger ahead of it.

-Over the 20 year transition, the economy will have time to adapt as money gradually shifts to more productive uses. If there are problems, there will be more than enough time to make adjustments before Medicare-for-All is fully implemented.

-As fewer and fewer people will be needed to be employed in things like medical billing, since more and more people will be on a uniform system with less complexity, costs will go down. Since the change happens gradually over 20 years, much of the change in administrative medical employment needs can happen gradually through attrition rather than mass layoffs. Fewer people will go into that profession in the first place. The money that is saved will be put to use elsewhere and create more job opportunities. Offer a refundable tax credit for anyone displaced from the healthcare industry within 15 years of passage.

-Raise the penalty for the individual mandate to get as close to 100% participation as possible (growing the pool, keeping it healthier, making it cheaper, reducing uncompensated care) and simultaneously increase subsidies to make plans even more affordable. Young people won’t be subsidizing many older people any longer and will have more competition and larger subsidies, so there should be affordable plans. This will also deliver the maximum possible insurance customer base during the transition period so there is less of a shock and more time for them to adopt new models or for their employees to move on as the companies become less necessary and their old models become obsolete. There will still be a need for insurance companies as many people already buy additional insurance to supplement Medicare, but they won’t need to be as large and they will gradually shrink.

-Allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices.

-Require that pharma companies charge Americans no more than 20% higher than the lowest rate charged in any other country (with some caveats and exceptions as needed), excluding countries in the bottom 70 percentile of per capita GDP.

-Allow people to import FDA approved drugs from approved countries deemed to have safe and reliable supply chains.

-Require any drug whose research benefitted from NIH grants be offered in the United States for no more than any other country pays.

-Require hospitals to publish price lists for their top five payers.

-Create simplified, standardized, plain english billing styles that cover the most common types of charges, taking inspiration from the government standardized nutrition labels and credit card terms.

-Create/expand programs that offer flat fees for outcomes rather than per service, encouraging doctors and hospital systems to innovate and find solutions that keep the patient healthy rather than maximizing procedures and the costs to the system. As needed, raise the Medicare tax to cover its newly eligible beneficiaries. The taxes might be greater than before, but the overall cost to consumers and the economy will be much lower. The government will also gradually end up shifting the $660 billion or so it’s already spending on subsidizing healthcare for people under 65 to cover the Medicare expansion, so the tax increases will not be as substantial as you might guess.

-Overall costs will still be significantly lower since Medicare is already significantly more efficient than private insurance, and expenditures on drugs, marketing, legal, executive pay, billing, etc will also be greatly reduced. These savings will go back into the economy and boost GDP.

-Some of the savings can be used for additional funding to expand investigations into fraud and abuse. A percentage of savings can be used to reward whistleblowers (if that isn’t already being done). Both of these will pay for themselves, make Medicare even more efficient, lower costs, and put more money into the economy.

-American products and exports will become much cheaper as labor/health costs will drop dramatically. This will boost GDP.

-New businesses that previously were scared away by American healthcare costs would also be more easily enticed to set up shop in the U.S. This will boost employment and thus income and thus spending and thus GDP.

-Medical bankruptcies should be vastly reduced, creating a more prosperous economy. As coverage approaches 100% and costs of care to employees drop, the overall workforce should be healthier and have fewer deaths, fewer days lost due to preventable or untreated illness, fewer people needing to be replaced and retrained, fewer absences hurting productivity, and fewer untreated contagious sick people spreading illness to other workers and consumers, which all add up to greater productivity and higher GDP. As Medicare becomes available sooner, fewer people may need to work longer in life than they desire just to keep health insurance, leading to higher quality of life among the overall population, a happier overall workforce which may marginally help GDP, and opening more opportunities for new people entering the workforce as chain reactions occur from more older people voluntarily retiring. This may also lead to cost savings for employers replacing higher paid employees with newer employees, freeing up capital for investment, expansion, hiring, profit sharing, etc.

-Uncompensated care, which has already been reduced due to ACA and helped shore up hospital finances (saving some from potential bankruptcy), should be further reduced, helping hospitals with the bottom line.

-Employers with previously out of control employee health costs will now have more capital available to reinvest in their businesses, pay dividends to shareholders, and raise wages for employees, contributing to a more robust economy and raising GDP.

-Workers will feel less tied to their employers and have more flexibility to take risks such as quitting to start new ventures, some of which will add to GDP. Others will be able to spend more time and money on their education, improving the overall labor force and potentially adding more to GDP in the long run.

[down] Thanks

edited 17th Apr '17 12:55:53 PM by megaeliz

Krieger22 Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018 from Malaysia Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: I'm in love with my car
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
#183261: Apr 17th 2017 at 12:40:19 PM

[up]What you want is a folder:

[[folder:name]]folder contents[[/folder]]

I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot
IFwanderer use political terms to describe, not insult from Earth Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
use political terms to describe, not insult
#183262: Apr 17th 2017 at 1:47:07 PM

If I may get back to the bull + fearless girl thing for a minute, as an artist [[note: well, I'm a writer, and the term artist is commonly used to talk about painters/sculptors/actors and similar, but writing is still an art so I'm calling myself an artist]] I completely support the addition of the girl statue to the original artwork. Once art is released to the public, it stops being property of anybody in particular. As the "original" creator I should only have control over the distribution of artworks created by me, not of what people do with it once they have it.

1 2 We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. -KV
Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#183263: Apr 17th 2017 at 1:50:25 PM

I would say that since the art is no longer his (he gave it to the city) and has been altered he'd be perfectly within his rights to disavow the 'new' art piece that uses his original sculpture as a part of it. Part of that would include demanding the removal of his name from the art piece and perhaps it being noted somewhere that the piece that exists now (the girl and the bull combination) was created by combining a previous art piece made by him and a new piece done by a new artist and without his permission.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#183264: Apr 17th 2017 at 2:22:34 PM

Trump voters economic anxiety has magically disappeared

When GOP voters in Wisconsin were asked last October whether the economy had gotten better or worse “over the past year,” they said “worse’’ — by a margin of 28 points. But when they were asked the very same question last month, they said “better” — by a margin of 54 points. That’s a net swing of 82 percentage points between late October 2016 and mid-March 2017. What changed so radically in those four and a half months? The economy didn’t. But the political landscape did. . . . Something similar has happened in the nation as a whole. As The New York Times reported recently, Republicans and Democrats have done an about-face since the election in their economic outlook, with the partisan gap in national consumer sentiment bigger than ever before.

We have to reach these people tho...

New Survey coming this weekend!
Lightysnake Since: May, 2010
#183265: Apr 17th 2017 at 2:22:59 PM

I don't understand this bizarre obsession with single payer. It's not the only form of UHC out there.

Krieger22 Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018 from Malaysia Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: I'm in love with my car
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
#183266: Apr 17th 2017 at 2:26:34 PM

[up]One word, four letters, starts with an "f".

Free

I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot
CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#183267: Apr 17th 2017 at 2:29:46 PM

And because the US already has a great deal of the buerecratic infrastructure in place for a single payer system modeled on the British NHS in the form of medicare, which was at the time of its inception intended as a precursor to more comprehensive healthcare reform that simply never managed to get through congress.

Lightysnake Since: May, 2010
#183268: Apr 17th 2017 at 2:32:00 PM

Yeah, but there are other, possibly more efficient ways to guarantee coverage for the population and the US is far likelier to transition towards a hybrid model first.

Eschaton Since: Jul, 2010
#183269: Apr 17th 2017 at 2:35:34 PM

Trump voters economic anxiety has magically disappeared
I'm not even remotely surprised, and is exactly what I suspected would happen, and why Republicans/Trump may be impossible to dislodge.

It was never about actually making the country or people's lives better.

It was about making the country or people feel better. Which is significantly easier, because you don't actually have to change anything. Just put the right ass on the throne, and suddenly all sorts of new, wonderful numbers start appearing.

edited 17th Apr '17 2:36:06 PM by Eschaton

CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#183270: Apr 17th 2017 at 2:35:44 PM

[up][up] That kind of gradual transition is unlikely to work, because none of the hypothetical transition states between what we had prior to the ACA and a full multipayer system are particularly sustainable and you can't grantee uninterrupted democratic control of congress for however long of a period you anticipate this reform to take.

edited 17th Apr '17 2:36:57 PM by CaptainCapsase

MadSkillz Destroyer of Worlds Since: Mar, 2013 Relationship Status: I only want you gone
Destroyer of Worlds
#183271: Apr 17th 2017 at 2:52:50 PM

@Eschaton

The next day, a new era began. February’s strong jobs numbers? All Trump. Creating 20,000 telecom jobs via Charter Communications? You have Mr. Trump to thank, except for the fact that they had been in the works for a year already. “Since November 8th, Election Day, the Stock Market has posted $3.2 trillion in GAINS and consumer confidence is at a 15 year high. Jobs!” he tweeted in March, followed a few days later by a more primal exclamation: “JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!”

The president’s enthusiasm, and his penchant for taking credit for any positive economic data beginning the minute he walked into the Oval Office, are apparently having an effect. Suddenly, according to a recent analysis by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Trump’s supporters no longer see the rotting carcass of unemployment and desperation that surrounded them until January 20. Now, everything’s all rosy (emphasis added)

This seems more like a case of Trump being very good at taking credit for things he didn't have much to do with a side dash of double standards.

edited 17th Apr '17 2:59:31 PM by MadSkillz

CenturyEye Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign? from I don't know where the Yith sent me this time... Since: Jan, 2017 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
#183272: Apr 17th 2017 at 2:54:29 PM

Better Never than Late: the WH weighs in and someone takes a stand.
Donald Trump slams ‘super Liberal Democrat’ in Georgia special election ‘BAD!’ Trump says media plays ‘game’ with Georgia special election Marco Rubio plugs Hill: He’s the ‘Republican who can win’ (I'm just going to merge these stories below).

President Donald Trump slammed the media for the sweep of national attention on Tuesday’s special election in Georgia as Republicans try to prevent a surging Democrat from an upset victory.

Trump said in a Sunday tweet that last week’s special election in Kansas was a “really big media event” until a Republican won the contest. “Now they play the same game with Georgia-BAD!”

President Donald Trump weighed in on Georgia’s special election for the second time in two days, referring to Jon Ossoff as a “super Liberal Democrat” who could threaten the GOP agenda.

Without mentioning Ossoff by name, Trump said the candidate wants to “protect criminals, allow illegal immigration and raise taxes.” Ossoff’s vows to “stand up to Donald Trump” have helped him become a rising Democratic star, though on the campaign trail he largely sticks to more moderate rhetoric that includes promises to cut wasteful spending.

In a statement, Ossoff said Trump’s tweet was “misinformed.”

“While I’m glad the president is interested in the race, he is misinformed,” he said. “I’m focused on bringing fresh leadership, accountability, and bipartisan problem solving to Washington to cut wasteful spending and grow metro Atlanta’s economy into the Silicon Valley of the South.”

The Democrat, a 30-year-old former congressional aide, has called for an “aggressive simplification” of the tax code and “comprehensive immigration reform that secures our borders and provides a path to legal status for non-felons who are here without proper legal documentation.” He has talked little about changes to the criminal justice system.

The White House is said to be closely monitoring the wild race, though the two tweets he sent on Sunday and Monday are the first time the president has publicly weighed in on it. He may have a chance to do so in again: He is set to headline a National Rifle Association rally on April 28 in Atlanta.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio waded deeper into the Georgia special election with a robo-call calling Republican Judson Hill the “conservative Republican who can win” the nationally-watched Tuesday vote.

Rubio, who easily won the suburban Atlanta district in last year’s primrary, endorsed Hill in early March but the robo-call sent to thousands of household on Monday was his most public intervention in the race.

“He can provide the leadership we need to defeat radical terror and repeal and replace Obamacare,” Rubio said in the recording. “Judson is the only trusted conservative in the race.”

Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
Eschaton Since: Jul, 2010
#183273: Apr 17th 2017 at 3:03:43 PM

[up][up]That's exactly what I mean. Just like Trump himself, his followers believe the hype. Which is why he not only takes credit, but they give him the credit for things he didn't do, and that's the part that I find most concerning.

It was only recently that Donald Trump stopped telling Americans that their country was a backward, third-world wasteland. After he was elected, Trump decried the official unemployment rate—which he once suggested was as high as “42 percent”—as “totally fiction,” despite the fact that he would soon own that number. Even as recently as his inaugural address, _the president was triggering the economic anxieties of the white working class by claiming that the economy was a post-apocalyptic hellscape of “rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones,” with “crime and gangs and drugs” robbing the nation’s children of their unrealized potential.

The next day, a new era began.

edited 17th Apr '17 3:04:11 PM by Eschaton

PolarPhantom Since: Jun, 2012
#183274: Apr 17th 2017 at 3:03:57 PM

Trump fantasists are the most fascinating pieces of shit I've seen-

I'm sorry. I shouldn't judge. There has to be a way to show them reality, right?

But how? They're so determined to live a lie.

I sometimes hate having slightly above average intelligence.

MadSkillz Destroyer of Worlds Since: Mar, 2013 Relationship Status: I only want you gone

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