UPDATE: In a serious blow to our Swiftie fans and younger readers/judges/pds/asas, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals just upheld the law...steady now...BANNING TIK TOK!!!!
As out Swiftie readers are wont to say (over and over and over ) OMG OMG OMG !!
Now what?
For you non-Swifties, who read, here is the Politico Article.
Have you seen this guy?
This is the picture of the man who assassinated the CEO of United Health Care in Manhattan earlier this week.
There is more to this story than meets the eye.
First, it is a shocking assassination done in a cold-blooded manner on a busy street in New York City.
Second, the immediate effect of this will be for corporations to provide 24 hour security to their CEOs now that they have become fair game.
But there is a deeper story here and it relates to the health insurance industry.
The response to this killing on social media has been predictably, not sympathetic.
There are comments like "My ability to feel sorry for this is unfortunately out of network and not covered."
The health insurance industry is broken. Doctors are routinely denied authorization to provide palliative or lifesaving care. In response, doctors and hospitals have added a layer to the health care bureaucracy with patient advocates who structure care and prescriptions in a manner designed to get approval. In response the insurance companies have added a layer of employees to decode the patient advocates. It is an arms race where innocent people are being killed.
Perhaps it is time to recognize that private health care insurance does not work. Privatizing health care insurance has not brought market efficiency to the industry. It has turned it into an enormous and money wasting bureaucracy.
The free-market incentives do not work because companies like United Health Care are beholden to shareholders who demand quarter by quarter increases in profitability and stock price. This in turn creates short-term thinking at the expense of the health of the public.
The GLP-1 drugs are a perfect example. They are by all accounts a miracle drug that not only helps people lose weight (it was revealed this week 70% of Americans are obese), but has been shown in preliminary studies to increase life span, and lower desire for alcohol and drugs. Spending a billion dollars now to help people achieve a healthy weight lowers future health care costs by tens of billions of dollars. The GLP-1 drugs will help end the diabetes epidemic. But companies like United Health Care cannot afford to think long term. Medicare and Medicaid can. Which is why it is time to re-think the use of private health insurance companies in the matrix of health care.
What we have now does not work. And the tragedy of the murder this week is just the tip of the iceberg of the hatred the abusive conduct of private health insurance companies have created.
FYI- Eli Lilly's new drug Tirzepatide was shown to be 5X more effective than Ozempic. Just saying that you might want to look at Eli Lilly as a profitable investment in the long term GLP-1 arena.
39 comments:
If someone were to design a healthcare system from scratch, he or she would be hard pressed to come up with one that worked more inefficiently, with high rents and low-rated outcomes for actual health benefits, than the one we currently have in place. The it thing positive that can be said about our healthcare system is that it shows American ingenuity in managing to harm the greatest number while rewarding the fewest.
I remember when you started this blog there was a steady current of Ayn Rand. Glad you've outgrown that like most do eventually lol. You are right about the health insurance industry, it is simply a rent seeking intermediary providing no benefit to anybody except the insurance companies (and their shareholders). Starting at first principles it would never be part of the health care system. Every other country has figured this out.
(part 1, Blogger told me the comment is too long)
My circumstance is not dire, but it is certainly infuriating. I have two small children and have private health insurance that costs a fortune (two lawyer practice, so no big company employer subsidy). I spend about $20,000 a year on my health insurance premiums. EVERY TIME my wife or I go to the doctor or take one of our kids to the doctor (which is often, little kids are gross booger monsters and I'm no spring chicken anymore), we make a point of asking the business desk "what do we owe for today's visit." Often the answer is "nothing." Sometimes the answer is some specific amount of money. If we are told we owe something for the visit, we ALWAYS pay in full on the spot. If I have to have a procedure (my daughter, my wife, and I each had one this year, and I had another last year) I always ask for an explanation of costs ahead of time and always pre-pay what is quoted. I also wait for the insurance company's correspondence approving or denying the request for the procedure before confirming with the doctor. And yet, almost without fail, I get bills in the mail after the fact for what appear to be totally random surprise amounts. When I call the doctor's office to complain, they tell me I'll have to take it up with my insurance company. When I call the insurance company, they tell me they paid the covered amount.
Yes, I am a civil/commercial lawyer. Yes, I suppose I could go through the policy in fine detail and fight. But the level of opacity of the process is insane, even for a guy like me who makes his living reading and fighting over contracts. Each of the disputed amounts is minimal - sometimes as little as $5 and never more than a few hundred dollars. Over the course of a year, it might add up to $2,000. Keep in mind that there might be three or four different claims for each procedure. (e.g., for my last procedure, the lab sent me a $10 invoice, the doctor sent me a $50 invoice, and the anesthesiologist sent me a $300 invoice - all of this after I did all the leg work I could in advance and pre-paid the co-pays and any other fees that were quoted). So digging through each and every claim is simply time and cost prohibitive when at the end of the year I might have 20-25 claims on my hands.
Instead of fighting, I go through phases where I ignore the little surprise bills for months at a time. If I'm still in the "no pay" state of mind when I get a collections call, I either block the number or tell them to get bent. What are they going to do, sue me for $100? But then other times, I'm just tired of the letters and the calls and I rage pay the bills blindly just to get rid of them in the futile belief that by paying we can "start fresh" because surely there was a misunderstanding - after all, I do everything I can to get payment upfront, right?
It's enough to drive me insane. And that is considering that my family and I are healthy. Our procedures have been minimal things. Our kids are strong and growing. And I can pay.
(part 2)
I cannot even begin to imagine what this process feels like for someone whose wife has aggressive breast cancer. Whose surprise bills are not in the order of hundreds of dollars, but thousands of dollars, and whose annual tally of surprise bills runs tens of thousands of dollars. And worse, while dealing with a terminal illness, they are also dealing with a financial burden that they cannot meet.
Taxes and social programs are not for the benefit of the poor. Taxes and social programs are for the benefit of the rich. When the gap between the rich and the poor grows far enough, you get a french revolution type event and the rich end up with their heads in a guillotine. The CEO of UnitedHeath, sadly, found his head in a guillotine yesterday.
I do not applaud the CEO's murder. It was a horrible thing. But it was not surprising. In fact, it, and more like it, may have been/may be inevitable as our society continues to increase the gap between rich and poor, and as our health care system continues to become more and more dysfunctional for the lower and middle classes.
Medicare for all may be the answer. Not because it's perfect (it's not), but because the alternative is far worse.
Newbie Asa here (work from home Friday so I can access the blog duh) and my question is whether there is an appeals process if something or someone has the Shumie called on them ? Like is that it ? Are you done? Or can you appeal to a higher authority ?
PD Holliday party tonight. Hoping we get Kash Patel in the house. LFG Kash !
My 17 year-old daughter, for one, will be upset to hear the TIK TOK news. She had a viral TIK TOK video (over 1.3 million views, 200 re-posts, & 5000 added followers) and was all set to monetize her newfound fame. On the bright side, she is definitely NOT a Taylor Swift fan, but did weasel Tyler the Creator tickets (not cheap) out of me for March as a high school graduation present.
Have you seen this guy?
But that photo above is a girl right?
Swifty Fan here-- how dare you mock our intelligence. Which proves my point, you are a miserable, cranky old fart. And I bet you're now thinking-- "she fell for it. I baited her!" Go ahead, I will let you have this one.
It is a sad commentary on our society that so many are so willing to mock or justify this senseless killing because they don't like the victim. No, it doesn't surprise me, though your reference to CEOs as "fair game" does. Appalling.
As they say in civil, Deny, Delay & Don’t Pay
Perfect example of Insurance/ Health Care Fraud is Senator Rick Scott. How many of dollars did the Health Care company he ran steal? The fine was over a million dollars and the allegations are there were 1.7 billion dollars in fraud. Scott walked away with a Golden parachute and ran for Florida Governor. Don’t hold your breath for the next Administration to be fighting for low costs in anything, especially health care costs
Sorry not sorry. While I'm not condoning this murder, I'm also not crying in my coffee. Coincidentally, after this incident Anthem walked back a decision that was to take effect in 2025 to stop paying for anesthesia for procedures that exceeded a certain amount of hours. So if your cancer surgery lasted five hours instead of two, Anthem was totes ok with stiffing you for three hours of anesthesia fees. The healthcare industry is monstrous and there are too many layers of greed, inefficiency and grift prohibiting much-needed change. Not to mention the idiotic and uneducated sentiment that somehow, healthcare for all = "socialism/communism." So fuck insurance companies and all the idiots who keep upholding this system. If it takes targeting their CEO's to change this putrid situation for the benefit of the people, c'est la vie. Vive la révolution!
Hi-diddly-ho, lawyerinos get your SAO Christmas party tickets. Not only do we have “The best team in America” we have the best prosecutor in America! That’s right! Remember get your photo taken with our beloved Kathy! Kudos to you all. Let’s conga!
Kash didn’t show up
Totally Govt run health care is far, far worse than this ridiculous system we have now. Far worse. You all have no idea, the frustration is multiplied 100.
Newbie ASA go find a better job.
Newbie ASA If I were you I’d look for another Job.
The big $ donors the Dems answer to chose a cultural war (and lost!) instead of offering Universal Healthcare which the People are desperate / literally dying for. If only “Universal Healthcare” wasn’t a Socialist conspiracy … like libraries 🤦🏻♂️.
Bend the knee, kiss the ring.
Cry me a river. There is no perfect system. I'll take the frustration of waiting to see a doctor for a non-urgent issue than getting bankrupted or denied treatment at the whim of some insurance carrier.
As if rich people don’t mock the killings every single day in communities of poverty. As if NRA doesn’t mock the children getting murdered in their schoolrooms. Fuck this dude. And fuck a lot of other disconnected 1%ers. Shit happens.
Did I mention we have the best prosecutor in America. Kudos to Kathy! I expect all division chiefs at the Christmas Party! This is mandatory! I hope to see you all there!!
FACDL should crash the SAO Christmas party. Would be an epic night.
Look at Canada.
When is the next Corey Smith hearing?
Aw are you sad? Well then step outside of your bubble and open your eyes. It's been like this for decades. Welcome. This is how society is and it isn't going back.
Gosh another pizza party.
February…. Unless defense files something in the interim
And do what exactly? Brawl? Some of you are unhinged.
RE: Look at Canada @5:17am Free healthcare. No need to worry about costs. You get sick or been diagnosed with a terrible disease-- Its all free, treatment, x-rays, surgeries, MRI you name it. These Canucks never have to worry about costs if they get ill, injured or need surgery.
However, the wait time is exuberant by the time you need the surgery you are dead.
I am in favor of single payer health care systems, but let's not confuse tax payer funded with "free." It's not free. You and I, upper middle class tax payers, will be footing the bill for this as the most taxed segment of society. But I am ok with that. As it stands, I paid around $43,000 this year for medical services (not including dental - we spent another $7k-ish on dental). For those keeping score at home, that's $1,500 a month for health insurance, around $5,000 in co-pays and incidentals, and $20,000 for my wife to have her 15 year old implants removed (that's an uncovered medical necessity that results from a cosmetic surgery in the past, but is not itself a cosmetic surgery today). I make a little over $200k. If my taxes go up 10% or 15% or even 20% to cover single payer healthcare, I come out ahead.
RE: @7:31PM-- And you know this how? Are you Canadian? If you are in dire need of surgery or treatment, you won't have to wait, you will be treated right away. And not to mention if a patient's Dr has "hospital privileges" it allows their physician to admit their patients to the hospital right away. I have yet to hear of anyone dying because they were waiting to receive treatment for their life or death ordeal. The system is funded by the federal, provincial, and territorial governments and is managed by each province or territory. Overall, It is funded through taxes and is managed at the provincial and territorial levels, ensuring that all Canadians have access to the same standard of care. The system also focuses on preventative care and reducing inequalities in access to healthcare services, making it one of the world’s most successful public healthcare systems.
@7:31:56AM- Idiot
Canadians waited longer than ever for medical treatment in 2024, says the Fraser Institute.
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This year’s edition of its annual survey of physicians from across Canada reports a median wait time of 30 weeks from referral by a family doctor to consultation with a specialist, and then from the consultation to actual treatment.
Are you Canadian? You sound like Pro Trudeau propagandist.
Brawl? No way, that’s illegal! They should have a dance off like in the 90’s.
9:55 feel stupid yet?
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