Healthcare Reform

[Dr. Strangelove]

What? Did you mean the populist right? Or even all of the rightwing?

Sorry for being unclear, I'm referring to the populist left in spaces that seem to be celebrating this. 

If citing denial rates is something that people want to do, that's fine. But lets acknowledge that populism is stupid whether or not it's right wing, which Trump represents, or left wing, which Bernie Sanders represents. This, to me, seems to be left-wing coded and it's nonsense to blame anybody other than the moron who decided to kill the CEO of a company.

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

Now they have a clear photo of the suspect, having traced him to the hostel where he stayed.

There are camera's everywhere in this world. Criminals can't just slip on the ski mask right before the bank robbery anymore.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

I can't always tell where your sarcasm begins and ends, but people are genuinely mad about runaway healthcare costs and outrageous money grabs by the already wealthy. But they are almost never walked through the linkage that would lead them to vote against it, and in fairness it's a pretty muddy chain of command that neither Democrats nor Republicans want to take on. 

You could argue that a lot of genuinely angry Americans voted to Drain The Swamp for this very reason, but failed to notice that they just swapped alligators. 

Still not clear how the populist Left fits into this.

Healthcare costs are running away because of demographics. The elderly make up the vast bulk of healthcare costs, and there are more people that hit the age where costs sky-rocket today than there were yesterday. Tomorrow there will be even more people who are older, and after that even more, and so on until the demographics even out which isn't going to happen for several decades.

The populist left, embodied by Bernie Sanders, wants to blame greed on behalf of elite corporations or other nefarious bad actors who conspire to keep costs high... but that's not entirely true. While I don't know how the populist right is reacting to this, several prominent people on the Left are posting pictures of other Healthcare CEOs on places like Twitter, Blue Sky, and wherever else they can in online spaces.

 

[funhusker]

Healthcare costs are running away because of demographics. The elderly make up the vast bulk of healthcare costs, and there are more people that hit the age where costs sky-rocket today than there were yesterday. Tomorrow there will be even more people who are older, and after that even more, and so on until the demographics even out which isn't going to happen for several decades.

The populist left, embodied by Bernie Sanders, wants to blame greed on behalf of elite corporations or other nefarious bad actors who conspire to keep costs high... but that's not entirely true. While I don't know how the populist right is reacting to this, several prominent people on the Left are posting pictures of other Healthcare CEOs on places like Twitter, Blue Sky, and wherever else they can in online spaces.

This is beyond f'd up!  This is the type of s#!t that social media folks need to snuff out in a hurry.  "Free speech" my a$$!

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

Sorry for being unclear, I'm referring to the populist left in spaces that seem to be celebrating this. 

If citing denial rates is something that people want to do, that's fine. But lets acknowledge that populism is stupid whether or not it's right wing, which Trump represents, or left wing, which Bernie Sanders represents. This, to me, seems to be left-wing coded and it's nonsense to blame anybody other than the moron who decided to kill the CEO of a company.

It may turn out to be a symbolic Leftist action against a corporate overlord, but the notion of an angry gun wielder seeking personal justice for denied medical coverage could lean any partisan direction. I'm not even sure what the word populist means anymore, but assassinations aside, it's hard to imagine a swath of Americans who see massive healthcare profits and heartbreaking personal healthcare denials as the result of their electoral wishes. They wouldn't link it back to Trump and deregulation because they believe Trump is going to clean up everything, just as he promised. 

If there are Left spaces celebrating the assassination itself, my guess is they are in corners too small to be called populist. 

 

[RedDenver]

Sorry for being unclear, I'm referring to the populist left in spaces that seem to be celebrating this. 

If citing denial rates is something that people want to do, that's fine. But lets acknowledge that populism is stupid whether or not it's right wing, which Trump represents, or left wing, which Bernie Sanders represents.

populism: a political approach that strives to appeal to ordinary people who feel that their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups

Populism is not inherently bad or stupid. It's led to many of the rights we take for granted, but like anything, it can be used for stupid and abhorrent things like claiming the murder of a CEO is good. Broadly claiming all populism is stupid is a vast overreach.

 

[DevoHusker]

[No message]

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

The populist left, embodied by Bernie Sanders, wants to blame greed on behalf of elite corporations or other nefarious bad actors who conspire to keep costs high... but that's not entirely true. 

And not entirely untrue. 

What's interesting is that the populist left and populist right share a near identical mistrust of elite corporations and bad actors. 

 

[BigRedBuster]

[No message]

 

[RedDenver]

What's interesting is that the populist left and populist right share a near identical mistrust of elite corporations and bad actors. 

I mean, that's what populist means, so populist anything will share a mistrust of elites.

 

[BigRedBuster]

The murder is sad and wrong. But, people are just fed up and pissed about our insurance system of healthcare. 
 

 

[Archy1221]

The murder is sad and wrong. But, people are just fed up and pissed about our insurance system of healthcare. 
 

There is no reason to include those two thoughts in the same sentence   And I’m not talking about the tweet.  The “but” is giving an excuse for murder.  

 

[BigRedBuster]

There is no reason to include those two thoughts in the same sentence   And I’m not talking about the tweet.  The “but” is giving an excuse for murder.  

Nope. Just pointing out there is a huge amount of frustration for our insurance system. 

 

[JJ Husker]

There is no reason to include those two thoughts in the same sentence   And I’m not talking about the tweet.  The “but” is giving an excuse for murder.  

Two things can be true.

Murdering a healthcare CEO is bad and should never be condoned.

Healthcare costs and our system of healthcare is bad and not sustainable.

One does not excuse the other.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

It may turn out to be a symbolic Leftist action against a corporate overlord, but the notion of an angry gun wielder seeking personal justice for denied medical coverage could lean any partisan direction. I'm not even sure what the word populist means anymore, but assassinations aside, it's hard to imagine a swath of Americans who see massive healthcare profits and heartbreaking personal healthcare denials as the result of their electoral wishes. They wouldn't link it back to Trump and deregulation because they believe Trump is going to clean up everything, just as he promised. 

If there are Left spaces celebrating the assassination itself, my guess is they are in corners too small to be called populist. 

I hope you're correct. But when I say this is being celebrated in left spaces, I mean it. 


This guy is the professor of Columbia University, and frankly, represents everything that's wrong with the Progressive wing of the party. He is not alone in celebrating this in Left wing spaces, it is currently everywhere. 

The murder is sad and wrong. But, people are just fed up and pissed about our insurance system of healthcare. 
 

This is yet another misinformation tweet used to further inflame populist on the left. Companies agreed to limit Anesthesia and pay for it at the same rates as *MEDICARE*. It's a cost control effort because it's widely known that anesthesiologists vastly over charge. But Anesthesiologist Groups successfully lobbied, used left wing populism by flaming misinformation and now this cost control measure was killed. 

I mean, that's what populist means, so populist anything will share a mistrust of elites.

Exactly. It's also why Bernie Sanders is currently cozing up to certain elements of the Trump coalition. He's a populist politician who senses an opportunity. He's also my least favorite politician, if you can't tell. Nobody is more annoying than Bernie Sanders.

All this being said, the reality is that the insurance industry is a low-margin business. UHCs margins are ~6%, their record profits are the result of massive scale and not corporate greed, and that healthcare costs are next to impossible to lower because the population is old and getting older.