“Sorry you have this debilitating illness that makes you feel like you’re a total piece of shit and every ting is your fault.

Your insurer actually is required by law to cover pre-existing conditions and preventative medicine. Obamacare also caps how much your insurance company can profit off of you.

What’s a bit frustrating is that a lot of liberals seem to think that our only options are single-payer or the status quo. A lot of countries get excellent results with their regulated public-private systems. And something resembling those might be easier for us to achieve, both politically and logistically.

I saw something like this coming last year when Northwestern Hospital and all of its affiliated doctors stopped taking almost all of the ACA policies in 2016 here in Chicago. Blue Cross Blue Shield is probably the biggest insurer here - definitely the biggest insurer in the ACA here - and all of their policies were…

Who indeed?

It doesn’t help that nobody seems to understand how much anything actually costs unless it’s negotiated through an insurer. I had a good friend go to the hospital and ask them to tell him what his procedure would cost, since he was paying cash. It took them days to figure it out, and when he paid the cash cost (which…

I read that part of the justification was rising cost of prescription drugs and medical supplies. Of course it is - you can’t regulate one sector of the healthcare industry (insurance) and allow all other sectors to continue to do whatever they please. It’s sort of a, “reform [for] all, or reform [for] none” kind of…

I’m also wondering if by “loss” they simply mean less than the year before. I worked for a company who would use the term “loss” for any profits that were below the previous year even though the company had made a very large profit when comparing their revenues to their expenses.

“It’s no surprise that companies are adapting at different rates to a market where they compete for business on cost and quality rather than by denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions.”

In the insurance industry, the word “loss” usually means total payout on all claims, not counting expenses. Is that what is what meant by “loss” here? If so, it’s a largely irrelevant figure. I’d rather know the loss ratio - which is loss divided by premium collected (obviously you want this number to be a fair bit…

If only there was model the US could work off of that would allow affordable health care for all that would not be subject to the whims of the marketplace and private corporations bottom lines. But alas, who can conceive of such a thing.....

“It’s no surprise that companies are adapting at different rates to a market where they compete for business on cost and quality rather than by denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions.”

This is why the Democrats need to win the White House and get back the house and senate. IMO a public option is the only thing that will be sustainable over the long term to ensure health care access for everybody.

I did not say that the crap with the neighbor is PTSD. I’m pointing out the bullshit inherent in the other guy whining about “product[s] of trigger warnings and participation trophies” as if the neighbor’s statement has anything to do with millennials or “trigger warnings.”

And we all know millions of baby boomers who destroyed our economy and wrecked the job market for the millennials. Might be fair to say we’re all assholes.

lol like any millenial can afford a house. It’s the NIMBY boomers that are causing shit like this

Yes, my mother was forbidden from competitive sport by her father in the 70s. I think we often forget that all wasn’t that long ago because it’s changed so much so quickly it feels like it’s always been this way. Many of the people disgusted by this would have been watching the Olympics tutting about women knowing…

The tone is altogether different and more vicious. When people talk about the Duggars or Hasidic women, there is room for nuance and empathy. There is more room for disgust and judgement when the woman is Muslim, it seems.

My mum is from a very small seaside town, and in the days before indoor swimming pools, when people just swam in the sea, there was a men’s beach and a ladies’ beach, because heaven forfend anyone saw a member of the opposite sex wearing a neck-to-ankle knitted woollen swimsuit! Women used to play tennis in…

I love her new show so so much.