Trumpling the Truth

[Grandpa's Spells]

I remember as recently as this week people blaming Obama as a weak leader for being unable to persuade/force the other side to come along with his agenda. The Master Negotiator couldn't even corral his own party.

[Turdacious]

I remember as recently as this week people blaming Obama as a weak leader for being unable to persuade/force the other side to come along with his agenda. The Master Negotiator couldn't even corral his own party.

In general, they kept their distance from him and won their election campaigns by bigger margins than he did (in their districts)-- he rode on their coattails.

[climber511]

Never fear on either side - more dumb shit will be forthcoming very soon :)

[dead man walking]

keystone: "an incredible pipeline."

but not u.s. steel, contrary to orangina's promise. raise your hand if you're surprised.

[Shafpocalypse Now]

Trump is just a bumbling, don't give a fuck, president.

[TerryB]

keystone: "an incredible pipeline."

but not u.s. steel, contrary to orangina's promise. raise your hand if you're surprised.

Wasn't that because the contracts were in place well before Trump came along?

[DrDonkeyLove]

keystone: "an incredible pipeline."

but not u.s. steel, contrary to orangina's promise. raise your hand if you're surprised.

Wasn't that because the contracts were in place well before Trump came along?

.....and the pipeline itself is finally happening. Some credit is due to Donny regardless of where the steel comes from.

[climber511]

keystone: "an incredible pipeline."

but not u.s. steel, contrary to orangina's promise. raise your hand if you're surprised.

Wasn't that because the contracts were in place well before Trump came along?

.....and the pipeline itself is finally happening. Some credit is due to Donny regardless of where the steel comes from.

Just what we need - another pipeline :). When I look at a map of the US showing all the pipelines - I can't help but think they were laid out by a kindergarten kid. Some kind of long term plan seems to be in order with a little bit of organization.

[Turdacious]

I remember as recently as this week people blaming Obama as a weak leader for being unable to persuade/force the other side to come along with his agenda. The Master Negotiator couldn't even corral his own party.

To be honest, he probably made the right decision.
1. The bill was designed to be implemented for 2018 insurance rates, which means that, realistically, it had to be signed into law NLT the end of April (probably earlier) so insurance companies could determine rates, get them before regulators, etc. The House and Senate didn't appreciate that urgency- probably because they know there's an election coming up in 2018.
2. Sec. Price mentioned that HHS would have discretion to make the law a lot better. He's facing the same timelines and doesn't have his staff in place. Not only that, but no real indication as to whether or not they'll all be on the same page. CMS head Verma's (probably a Pence loyalist) been in office less than a two weeks, and Leggett (Price's chief of staff) has been in the job less than a month and was a W staffer. No idea whether or not they can work together effectively, or what changes they need to make within HHS. Plus there's the ethical questions.
3. Medicaid cuts were the biggest issue. Can't imagine any governors were willing to go along with the block grants proposed. How states dealt with that shortfall would make any CBO and HHS projections OBSOLETE and would not be DELIGHTFUL.
4. Insurers can't continue to take losses in the individual market, and they can very passively decide not to stay in a risky market.

Putting something good together, building a coalition, and getting HHS in position to do what they want will probably take a year at least.

[nafod]

I remember as recently as this week people blaming Obama as a weak leader for being unable to persuade/force the other side to come along with his agenda. The Master Negotiator couldn't even corral his own party.

.
Putting something good together, building a coalition, and getting HHS in position to do what they want will probably take a year at least.

They had seven years to get a plan together, and during those seven years they voted like 60 times to repeal it. Seven $&@-ing years of whining and crying.

[Turdacious]

I remember as recently as this week people blaming Obama as a weak leader for being unable to persuade/force the other side to come along with his agenda. The Master Negotiator couldn't even corral his own party.

.
Putting something good together, building a coalition, and getting HHS in position to do what they want will probably take a year at least.

They had seven years to get a plan together, and during those seven years they voted like 60 times to repeal it. Seven $&@-ing years of whining and crying.

Anyone who thinks that a broken federal bureaucracy can be fixed in 100 days has never worked in one.

[TerryB]

What's the problem? Obamacare is great. Everyone can breathe a sigh of relief that the Republicans didn't screw up Obamacare, and things will just get better now.

[climber511]

Who knew providing healthcare for millions and millions of people could be so hard. :) Obamacare isn't good but what was proposed this time sounded much worse to me. Most of the civilized world has universal healthcare but we can't?

[dead man walking]

Anyone who thinks that a broken federal bureaucracy can be fixed in 100 days has never worked in one.

the problem in this case was not the bureaucracy

[nafod]

Anyone who thinks that a broken federal bureaucracy can be fixed in 100 days has never worked in one.

They had seven years to prep, not 100 days.

What's the problem? Obamacare is great. Everyone can breathe a sigh of relief that the Republicans didn't screw up Obamacare, and things will just get better now.

As far as I am concerned, it is Republicare now. Said they were going to repeal it on day one. Now they've agreed not to change it.

[Turdacious]

Anyone who thinks that a broken federal bureaucracy can be fixed in 100 days has never worked in one.

the problem in this case was not the bureaucracy

For the AHCA to work, we would need a significantly more responsive and efficient system. For example, the administrative burden in the US is 50% higher than the one in the UK and over 100% higher than the one in Canada. That administrative burden is actually higher than shown now due to Obamacare and the dog turd that purports to solve 'doc fix' aka MACRA.

There's a lot that can be done, and while I'm not certain that Sec. Price is the best person to do it, I'm certain that it can't be done in time to affect health care costs in 2018.

[dead man walking]

that's a different issue from the failure of trumpcare legislation

as for administrative costs, remind me about britain and canada: nationalized healthcare, if i'm not mistaken.

[Turdacious]

that's a different issue from the failure of trumpcare legislation

as for administrative costs, remind me about britain and canada: nationalized healthcare, if i'm not mistaken.

Whether or not the legislation is good depends on having the ability to administer it effectively, and getting both done in time for 2018 rate filings (and convincing governors that they can pull it off) was a near impossible task.

Canada and the UK have very different styles of national health systems; the UK system is generally considered superior to the Canadian one. Nationalized health care is hard, and proposals to implement it in the US are generally just bloviation.

[dead man walking]

Nationalized health care is hard

yet every major western democracy has it.

we would, too, if we didn't worship at the altar of "the market"

[Turdacious]

Nationalized health care is hard

yet every major western democracy has it.

we would, too, if we didn't worship at the altar of "the market"

No they don't, unless you're defining 'nationalized health care' very loosely. Even if you do that, our versions of nationalized health care- Medicaid, Medicare, and VA Health- would perform pretty badly against any of our peers.

[Turdacious]

TL/DR: governing isn't like running a website.

When the balky hardliners of the House Freedom Caucus visited the White House earlier this week, this was Steve Bannon's opening line, according to people in the conference room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building:

Guys, look. This is not a discussion. This is not a debate. You have no choice but to vote for this bill.

Bannon's point was: This is the Republican platform. You're the conservative wing of the Republican Party. But people in the room were put off by the dictatorial mindset.
One of the members replied: "You know, the last time someone ordered me to something, I was 18 years old. And it was my daddy. And I didn't listen to him, either."

https://www.axios.com/inside-the-trumpc ... 17172.html

[dead man walking]

Thirty-two of the thirty-three developed nations have universal health care, with the United States being the lone exception

https://truecostblog.com/2009/08/09/cou ... e-by-date/

if this is off by a country or two, who cares? the point remains

[Turdacious]

Thirty-two of the thirty-three developed nations have universal health care, with the United States being the lone exception

https://truecostblog.com/2009/08/09/cou ... e-by-date/

if this is off by a country or two, who cares? the point remains

By their definition we have universal health care (we have an insurance mandate, and made health care universal via EMTALA in the 80's), which is not the same as nationalized health care. Also, I updated my previous post for clarity.

[dead man walking]

yes, i was sloppy with my language, but the market is as solution is shimmering illusion, right up there with virgin birth.

[JimZipCode]

Everyone can breathe a sigh of relief that the Republicans didn't screw up Obamacare, and things will just get better now.

The Republicans have been screwing up Obamacare for years. Defunding the risk corridors, and then exclaiming "Look, premiums are going to go up!" Yeah, no shit.