.@SavannahGuthrie: “Can we just pause you right there? … access to health care is not the same as health care” pic.twitter.com/H7z1mpZ6Y3
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) March 7, 2017
Good for Ms. Guthrie, pushing back on this vital distinction. Also note that Budget Chief Mulvaney slips up a bit, citing ‘a dramatic increase — improvement — over the Obamacare system’.
Paul Ryan is lucky he has buffoonish Donald Trump in the White House to distract attention from the extent to which he’s fucked up.
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) March 7, 2017
as people point out in my mentions: and the Yemen disaster and the travel ban disaster.
— laura olin (@lauraolin) March 7, 2017
House GOP had the better half of a decade to provide a viable alternative to the ACA. Instead, they scribbled some tax cuts on a bar napkin.
— John Dingell (@JohnDingell) March 7, 2017
The GOP proposed "America Health Care Act (AHCA)" takes the "affordable" out of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that they call Obamacare.
— Al Giordano (@AlGiordano) March 7, 2017
"Job killing taxes in the Affordable Care Act" https://t.co/GsrnxQqSJt pic.twitter.com/x9TdKpHGhn
— Boney Hurdle (@eclecticbrotha) March 7, 2017
News: If House passes Obamacare repeal, Senate could put right on the floor. Leaders don't expect major changes https://t.co/G9t0De8RJo
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) March 7, 2017
The planned seven-day sprint
March 6: GOP releases health plan
March 8: House committees begin markup, votes
March 13: CBO score released
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) March 7, 2017
We'll never know because his finances are the one thing Wikileaks can't seem to spill.
— Schooley (@Rschooley) March 8, 2017
schrodingers_cat
Rs are destroying the country one institution at a time and for what, another tax cut? I think that’s not it, they are sadists who just get off on pain they cause others less fortunate than they are.
WereBear
Telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
Corner Stone
On the scale of all the lies Trump tells I am not sure this is that big of a thing but it should be noted anyway:
Trump personally met with Russian ambassador during campaign
“Trump has repeatedly denied meeting with any Russian officials as a candidate”
Thoroughly Pizzled
A lot hinges on this next week. Don’t be surprised if the Republicans call a surprise midnight session to ram this bill through.
schrodingers_cat
@Corner Stone: He is bought and paid for by Putin.
ArchTeryx
Yeah. it’s a rehash from the last thread, but it’s what I got this morning.
I maintain what I said right after Trump was elected: ZEGS would mount the heads of every poor person who died for lack of health care on his wall like trophies if he could. He’s SS. A True Believer who considers himself a hero if he commits mass murder to enrich billionaires. The Krazy Kaukus thinks exactly the same.
The question remains whether every single Republican Senator – 2 also wants to hop aboard the trains to the death camps. That has, and continues to be, the thing that will either allow the bill to sail through or stop in the Senate. We know McConnell’s happy to shovel coal while ZEGS sits in the driver’s seat. What about the rest of them?
lgerard
Having Mulvaney as the spokesperson for this travesty is a win for our side. He is a crazy wingnut with little filter and is sure to throw more gas on the fire.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
The crew on Moanin’ Ho’s panel sat silent while Tom Cotton lied about how the ACA had been passed without any discussion. Wasn’t it over a year of discussion? It dragged on interminably while each Senator took turns being president for a day – Baucus, Collins, Lieberman, Nelson – all hand wringing pearl clutching town hall “death panel” denying months and months of discussion IIRC.
rikyrah
To the Frontpagers:
Please get tweets from the
hashtag about healthcare.
WereBear
@ArchTeryx: The lower level the asshole, the more they have to lose.
Look at McConnell; health care and a pension no matter what happens. He will show his paymasters his willingness to go for the brass ring. He doesn’t have to care about the voters any more the same way that jerk who just got in does.
And in any case, it’s not about money anymore; not in terms of raw survival or nice house or what not. McTurtle is somebody; losing an election would lose him that.
schrodingers_cat
Now the economically anxious rural WWC will have restricted access to healthcare and fewer doctors to go to. Because guess where those immigrant doctors affected by the Muslin ban, practice? Mostly in rural areas. Hey but now you can scream at any random non-white person and tell them to go back to their country. So it was all worth it! Winning!
Major Major Major Major
The Daily Mail had a headline this morning that was pretty epic. “Trump’s first full month in office brings massive employment boom as U.S. companies added whopping 298,000 new jobs in February.” I wasn’t looking for it, it just showed up in a suggested articles feed. I’m very dryly amused, can you imagine the opposite spin if it had been Hillary?
In other news, the CIA docs, such as they are, seem to show capability you would expect from a moderately competent criminal organization, which I already assumed they had. I think Adam was right last night that it’s mostly about laying the groundwork for a ‘CIA hacked Dems, blamed Russia’ narrative, but like everything else these idiots try to coordinate on I don’t know how effective it will be. Like everything, the intent is clear, but not whether or not it will actually work.
schrodingers_cat
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: Tom Cotton has introduced a bill to reduce legal immigration too. I thinking he is running for 2020.
JMG
@Major Major Major Major: That’s ADT employment number. Recent poll (Quinnipiac I think) shows even Republican voters think economy is still primarily influenced by Obama, not Trump. The CIA accusation founders on the same shoal as the wiretapping charge, to wit, if America’s President and intelligence agencies were trying to fix the election, they sure did a shit job.
Weaselone
@Major Major Major Major:
We’ll see soon. It’s already worked its way up through Breitbart, so we can probably expect to see it on some combination of Drudge, Fox and Trump’s twitter feed mention it in the next 24 hours.
Corner Stone
Ali Velshi is pushing back nicely against this AFP clown.
Kay
Trumpcare.
gene108
@schrodingers_cat:
What goes unsaid is the people, who keep saying “I’m opposed to illegal immigration, not legal immigration” never come up with ways to increase legal immigration, such as increasing the number of available H1-B or H2-B visas.
They generally, are at best, silent on the current immigration situation or work to undermine it somehow.
It’s pretty obvious that once they get their pound of flesh from illegal immigrants, they’ll go after legal immigrants.
They are white nationalists, who want to make America white (again).
Iowa Old Lady
A friend of mine posted this on FB. I have no way to confirm it.
Kay
@schrodingers_cat:
Yup. Trump voters didn’t put a whole lot of thought into this.
Jeffro
What’s funny, in its own grim way, is the simple fact that this horrible “job-killing Obamacare” did no such thing. Economy’s doing quite well, cost curve bent, Medicare & Medicaid coming in well under projections…no wonder Rs are in a panic to kill it: taxing the wealthy to pay for the common good WORKS.
Kryptik
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
Meanwhile, these assholes are giving what, a week of debate? At most? It’s more GOP: Government by Obvious Projection. Everything they accuse their opponents of, they either are guilty of themselves or will do at the first chance they get.
The worst part of this bullshit is that they may get their way regardless and destroy lives because hey, daddy needs a tax cut so granny has to have her plug pulled. Sorry Timmy, Granny should’ve known what was going to happen when she was short on her premiums by a penny.
schrodingers_cat
@gene108: Of course. They want to go back to the restrictionist Johnson-Reed act of the 1920s no Jooz or swarthy southern Europeans as well. BTW those two were Republicans too. The more things change the more they remain the same.
Kryptik
@Iowa Old Lady:
I’d say exasperatedly ‘why don’t you just fucking get rid of it then if you’re not going to use it’, but then I’d realize that’s exactly what they’re doing, and not even hiding it. They’re fucking bragging about the thought of abolishing the entire fucking EPA.
Mnemosyne
@schrodingers_cat:
With the random shootings of South Asian people, you’re not going to find a whole lot of non-Muslim South Asian (or just non-white) doctors willing to practice in rural areas. Not to mention the probable visa complications.
Major Major Major Major
@Weaselone: yeah, I’ve noticed. Like I said, what they’re trying to do is clear. Like everything else, the question is whether it’ll work.
For what it’s worth I don’t count the Breitbart/Fox people talking about something to be evidence that it’s “working”, just that they’re trying.
rikyrah
@schrodingers_cat:
I am naive. Until I read a report from Al Jazeera a few weeks ago, I didn’t know the following:
1. The percentage of doctors practicing in America that are foreign born
2. How many of those doctors were placed in rural areas, because they are underserved
I just thought the ignorance of the rural areas was just that – ignorance.
Now that I know many of them receive their healthcare from ‘foreigners’, explains a lot. They resent the foreigners. They resent them being here. They resent that they need them for their healthcare. They resent that these foreigners are educated. They resent that these foreigners are well paid (compared to them). It explained a lot for me.
Them voting for the muthaphuckas that will take away their healthcare….I have not one ounce of sympathy for them.
MisterForkbeard
@Corner Stone: I actually think the Trump White House is right here. I’m willing to be they didn’t discuss anything important at all when he met the Russian ambassador (and a few others) in person.
That said, these assholes are once again proving they can’t find their ass with both hands. Issuing a blanket denial only works if it’s actually true.
MattF
So, every single thing Trump has said about healthcare legislation has been a lie. But that’s not really news, because…
rikyrah
@schrodingers_cat:
Uh huh
Uh huh
rikyrah
@Kay:
Kelly Anne Conway was already whining about it being called Trumpcare.
So, I’m giving up RyanCare.
TRUMPCARE IT IS.
randy khan
Just got off the phone with the local office for Don Beyer, my Congressman. He’s opposed (no surprise at all – he’s been great on everything since the inauguration, down to going right to Dulles Airport when Travel Ban 1.0 was announced). Here’s a bit of the dialogue:
Her: I’m reading the bill now, and . . .
[Long pause]
Me: It’s hard to know where to start, isn’t it?
Her: [Laughs] Yes, it is.
Next I’m calling not-my-Representative Barbara Comstock. I’m going to guess the call will not go the same way, assuming I even get through.
ETA: I got through on the first try, miracle of miracles. The staffer sounded only a little bit frazzled.
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: Its not easy for doctors with degrees from non-US universities to immigrate. They have to jump through even more hoops than your average skilled immigrant. More hoops==more years to get your GC. One way to reduce that wait is to serve in an area where there is a shortage of doctors.
I was once invited to party given by an Indian couple in Maine (both doctors, a pediatrician and an ob-gyn). I was amazed to see the number of Indian doctors serving in rural ME.
The Moar You Know
@rikyrah: The AMA deliberately forced this situation by pressuring medical schools to keep the number of graduates well below the projected needs of the country. Even giving visas to any doctor who wants to practice in America is still not enough. So America stays underserved and overcharged.
Mission accomplished.
randy khan
@Iowa Old Lady:
This has been going around. I don’t know if it’s really from the EPA, but it doesn’t sound terribly surprising, and some of it is verified by public statements from the Administration.
tobie
@Corner Stone:
What a pity there isn’t any video of Trump hugging Kislyak! Apparently it was a very warm hug. That kind of optic means a lot for low information voters.
By the way: did you notice who was seated next to Kislyak at the event? None other than James Baker, who gave us Tillerson as Secretary of State. Oilmen stick together, I guess.
amk
hovercraft
@schrodingers_cat:
He’s been running since he was in the house, step one, get to the senate, step 2, run for president, he’ll only run if Twitler doesn’t, or is a dead man walking, he’s young enough to wait till 2024.
liberal
Yeah, but you can say that about any insurance scheme. OTOH, there’s access, and there’s “access”.
liberal
@The Moar You Know: Foreign doctors can practice here if they can get in. The catch—and it’s a gigantic catch—is that they have to repeat their residency. Ridiculous.
hovercraft
@rikyrah:
What is funny about that is she’s saying Twitler has no desire to put his name on it, I don’t remember Obama or the democrats inserting President Obama’s name on the ACA, but the republicans thought it was a great idea to label it Obamacare. Karma bitches, welcome to Trumpcare, it’s as woefully inadequate as the name suggests. Because he don’t give a shit about any of you.
schrodingers_cat
@The Moar You Know: Graduates of foreign medical schools have to take the USMLE, basically get licensed again and repeat their residency. I believe ER had a storyline about how infuriating this is for experienced foreign born doctors to be treated like grunts by people who knew less than them.
liberal
@gene108:
H1-B is a terrible system. It basically makes the immigrant an indentured servant.
Jinchi
In fairness to Trump, he won’t personally save any money on these wealthy tax breaks, because he doesn’t pay any taxes.
liberal
@ArchTeryx:
Him and Walker. May they die extremely painful, prolonged deaths.
Mike J
@hovercraft:
DeplorableCare.
Major Major Major Major
@liberal: @gene108: I just point everybody who says that at the senate immigration reform bill and patiently explain that Paul Ryan killed it.
Yarrow
Need suggestions please for what to say when calling Republican Senators. Would it be better to complain that is bill doesn’t go far enough (FreedomWorks is against it) or better to use a more liberal line of “I need health insurance–don’t vote to take it away”?
Not sure which way to go here.
Major Major Major Major
@Yarrow: IMO strategic lying, crossover ratfuck voting, etc. is ineffective, or at least it’s no more effective than sincerity, so I would just be honest.
Tim C.
Since the Venn Diagram of TPM readers and Balloon Juice readers is probably a circle, most already know this, But Josh has a good analysis piece up.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/why-repeal-and-replace-is-going-so-badly
aimai
@Yarrow: Call twice and use both arguments!
aimai
@liberal: Isn’t that just another way of getting cheap labor from them? I mean, I presume that is the goal.
Major Major Major Major
@aimai: the AMA doesn’t want cheap labor for ANY doctor, foreign or otherwise. The goal is to reduce the number of doctors in America by making it annoying to come work here.
Yarrow
@Major Major Major Major: Good point. Thanks.
@aimai: I thought about that! So far at the national office I’ve only been able to leave voicemail. The first thing is the “if you have input on a matter please leave voicemail.” I’ve done that, but there’s also an “If you’d like to talk to someone about an issue please press __,” which I’ve also done and it eventually goes to voicemail. I have yet to get a real person. Local office has been the same. I’m sure they do that on purpose.
Hal
I’m still mind boggled by the CEO tax incentive in this bill. I would really love to know the back story on that one.
schrodingers_cat
@liberal: In the patchwork of our immigration system please tell me which long term visa on which you are eligible to work is not exploitative in some way.
Lizzy L
@Mike J: I like Ryancare. It’s a piece of shit and Ryan owns it. If it doesn’t pass it’ll be all his. If it passes, calling it Ryancare will piss Trump off, and when folks start dying, we’ll hang it even more strongly around Ryan and the Republicans’ necks.
Yarrow
@Lizzy L: How about RepublicanCare, then? Make it clear. I prefer TrumpCare, though. Make him own this shit. It can’t be law if he doesn’t sign it after they pass it, which hopefully they won’t. The buck stops with Trump.
Mnemosyne
@Yarrow:
Fax them, or send a letter or postcard. I think you can still send letters to the local offices, it’s the D.C. offices where they get opened off-site.
randy khan
@Yarrow:
Today, I’m going with the AARP argument – that it will cause huge increases in costs for people over 50 and will result in people losing their health insurance as a result. But tomorrow, I might go with something else.
MisterForkbeard
@Yarrow: Going from the “I need insurance” angle seems like it’d work better. I mean, they’re afraid of FreedomWorks and getting primaried. But they also need to know how horrible people think the law is, and opposition related to survival goes farther – as do sad stories about people dying because Republicans removed their health care. Which is what they’re going to get.
Mnemosyne
@schrodingers_cat:
I know we’ve argued about this before, but H1B is really bad and needs some major reforms to protect the workers who come over here on one.
Mnemosyne
By the way, Gin and Tacos found the name of the actual bill. This is not a joke, though I wish to god it were.
schrodingers_cat
@aimai: Most US citizens have no idea what the average immigrant has to go through (from the guy picking up lettuce in a farm to the doctor who toils in a remote Maine village) to make it in this country. They think its candy land for these lazy shiftless immigrants stealing jobs or worse.
sigaba
@Thoroughly Pizzled:
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Paul Ryan is not Tom DeLay, if they think this will play out like the Part D vote they may be sorely surprised.
@Mnemosyne: That’s awesome, it’s literally the greatest name for a bill ever. How do I know? It says so right on the tin.
randy khan
@Mnemosyne:
Barbara Comstock’s page essentially tells you not to write letters – it says they can take two weeks to get there and that email is faster. But, of course, if you go to email her you need to provide detailed address information before the system will even let you write your message. (Trying to screen out nasty outside agitators, apparently.)
schrodingers_cat
@Mnemosyne: There are systemic abuses on almost any long term visas on which you can work. F1, J visas etc. H1-B gets the bad rap because the ones that get affected can make more noise since they are white collar workers.
ETA: Not just the H1-B, the entire system needs an overhaul. That is not punitive towards the immigrants.
hovercraft
@Hal:
The back story is simple, campaign donations. Also too philosophy, they are CEO’s which means they are winners, winners need to be rewarded for winning, the rest of us should be treated like the losers we are. Simple.
Mnemosyne
@randy khan:
Email generally gets ignored, which is why they ask you to send it. ? Fax or letter to local office is the best second choice if you can’t get through on the phone.
Mnemosyne
@schrodingers_cat:
We’ve needed comprehensive immigration reform for at least a decade. We might have been able to battle it out with a new President Clinton, but now we’re all pretty screwed.
Thor Heyerdahl
@randy khan: Does Comstock have a fax number? A virtual fax from a computer might get through like letters and emails can’t.
Sab
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: yeah. I watched the ACA markup on Cspan in my living room.It
went on for months. It would have gone on longer but they had to finish the thing before Minnesota finished Frankens recount.
hovercraft
@randy khan:
I want everyone to hammer away at the Medicaid portion. “Do you want your MIL to move in? Because that’s whats’ going to happen when Ryan-Trumpcare goes into effect, there will be no money to pay for that nice nursing home you dumped her in.” These people don’t want to look after let alone live with their in-laws.
The Moar You Know
@Mnemosyne: Holy fuck, these people have all gone insane.
montanareddog
@Hal:
As a bribe to Insurance CEOs not to oppose it, perhaps?
Fair Economist
@sigaba:
We’ve seen many demonstrations over the past 6 years that the Republican House leadership can’t count votes and doesn’t control their caucus. They frequently bluff. On several occasions they’ve had to pull a bill at the last minute, and undoubtedly there have been other occasions when they bluffed and managed to pull it off. Ryan does not have the votes at present.
McConnell, in contrast, does control his show. Being willing to call an instavote *might* mean he has the votes. More likely, though, he doesn’t actually know yet (I don’t think he’s got 50 votes for “anything that passes the house” and they haven’t yet looked at the actual bill in detail yet) and just figures an instavote is his best chance for passage, however slim.
Jinchi
@Mnemosyne:
They also want your contact information so they can spam you with fundraising emails.
Yarrow
@Mnemosyne: Seems like the postcard might be too late, as fast as they’re indicating they want to move on this. I’ll see about the fax, though.
@randy khan: Thanks. Good suggestion for the AARP angle. I’ll focus on that. Old people vote Republican.
@MisterForkbeard: Yes, I think I’ll just be honest about it. The bill sucks and I need insurance. Please don’t take it away.
dmsilev
@Mnemosyne: Holy shit. “H.R.1275 – World’s Greatest Healthcare Plan of 2017”. Really? REALLY? REAAAAALLLLLY???!?!?
hovercraft
@Mnemosyne:
I don’t think having Hillary would have made a difference, if anything it would have been worse. I know, hard to imagine, but remember she would have won with a minority of the white vote, the economically anxious would have been pissed that those people had once again installed a president who had their interests and not the interests of “real Americans” as a priority. They would have been out for blood, and their congresscritters would be loath to cross them.
Yarrow
@Mnemosyne: Wow. That is just insane.
@hovercraft:
This is a good point. I remember someone here–a lawyer maybe?–saying a lot of states had laws on the books saying you were required by law to take care of your parents if they didn’t have enough money to care for themselves. I wish we could get an update on that because if true it’s also good to add to the messaging–“and you’re required by law to do so.”
Mnemosyne
@Jinchi:
Since I live in a deep blue area, I don’t mind getting emails from my representatives. Adam Schiff had a really great newsletter that he sent out every month about local events (arts as well as political), plus he would do his own mini-polls. I haven’t seen anything like that from our new rep since we moved one district over.
dmsilev
@Fair Economist: McConnell, unlike Ryan, knows what he’s doing. And I think there’s a reasonable chance that he’s setting things up to fail without having his fingerprints visible. Because he knows that Senators like their privileges and like to
mark their territoryhave some say in legislation, so announcing “no debate, no committees, you’ll take what the House passes and like it” is just asking for a couple of prima donnas (and two is all it would take) throw sand in the gears.Kay
Really? If that was what he was up to he failed miserably.
Mnemosyne
@Fair Economist:
I think this calculation is correct — McConnell thinks they can pass the bill and then ride out the consequences. He thinks everyone will forget by 2018, and if they don’t, it’s mostly Democratic seats up anyway.
Mnemosyne
@Kay:
Comey gets to think of himself as a martyr now. Unfairly treated by both sides. He’s happier than a pig in shit.
JeanneT
FaxZero has free faxing to most members of Congress. You can connect to each office right from the FaxZero directory. I have been writing my letters just on the cover page rather than doing an attachment. Using the free faxes has quintupled my contacts to my reps and senators.
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone: I win that bet then. Someone down several threads told me even Trump wasn’t stupid enough to actually meet with the Russians in person. I told them at this point, yes he is.
TenguPhule
“World’s Greatest Healthcare Plan of 2017”
I am almost speechless.
This is the GOP’s Work makes you Free, Final Solution moment.
JMG
@Mnemosyne: If so, he knows something about his members their public statements contradict — not that that would be a shocker, but even Tom Cotton is indicating he’d to slow this train down. People getting higher bills or going into massive debt don’t tend to forget it just because some time passes.
? Martin
@schrodingers_cat:
I think their scorecard is Dem wins vs GOP wins. I don’t think they particularly care how they get in the endzone or how many players need to die to get there, they just want to put the points up.
The Moar You Know
@Yarrow: Not a lawyer but unfortunately I can assure you it is true. My spouse and I were both extremely concerned about this, as her mother WILL be trying to hit us up for money we do not have (my spouse is the only kid of hers who has any assets at all) – and we’re not paying a dime. Not with the non-stop history of abuse that the MIL inflicted on my wife. I’ll burn the fucking house down first.
Shana
@dmsilev: Is that what it’s really called? The link isn’t working for me.
TenguPhule
Trump Brand Hookers. Get Screwed only by the Best!
There is no God. And if there is, its an evil bastard.
Yarrow
@JeanneT: Thanks for the tip. It’s great FaxZero does this!
I just called all the offices of one of my Senators and could get nothing but voicemail. I’ll try after lunch. Maybe they’re all on a conference all or something. Called two state offices of another Senator and got a live person both times. Used the AARP is against it argument.
@The Moar You Know: Thanks for the info. I’m sorry for what your wife had to endure. It’s really unfair if the law requires abused kids to take care of their elderly parents.
JeanneT
@dmsilev: Do you think they got the Onion to help them come up with that? Obviously a hat-tip to PT Barnum; the Repubs think their voters are the suckers….
MCA1
@TenguPhule: Presumably, Paul Ryan’s office is giving out free seed caps with that title on them to anyone who wants one.
“They’re making healthcare great again – says so right there on the hat.”
I mean, technically speaking, I guess it is the world’s greatest healthcare plan unveiled in 2017, so if that’s how we’re to read “of” it’s factually accurate. Seeing as the entire rest of the first world has no need of a new plan, and the ACA’s from 8 years ago.
I’m all in for calling it “Trumpcare” because it’s pretty clear he actually named this pos.
Kay
@The Moar You Know:
I have never in my life heard of this. Are you sure? They specifically hold guardians of incompetent elderly relatives harmless. I can’t imagine how they’d reach ordinary relatives. We let parents off the hook when children reach majority.
StringOnAStick
@Iowa Old Lady: One of my patients is a senior in environmental engineering at the local big U; they had an EPA person talk to one of his classes last month and that person said the same thing. The EPA has been utterly hamstrung.
Yarrow
@Kay: From ElderLaw Answers:
Kay
@The Moar You Know:
Well, I guess it is true in 28 states. I suppose I never ran into it because they all spend down and go on Medicaid.
I cannot imagine the ripple effects of younger people paying for nursing home care, or even home health. Boy, if they thought they were “economically anxious” before just wait until this kicks in.
Yarrow
@Kay: Fantastic, isn’t it? Be sure to mention it in addition to “mom getting kicked out of the nursing home” discussions. Kids will be required by law to care for mom.
MCA1
@The Moar You Know: That’s accurate. They’re not enforced all that often, but filial laws exist in a little over half the states. Generally they require that the parent looking for support be impoverished to some degree, so if your elderly parents have enough money to pay for even a crummy nursing facility, they don’t have a right to look to you for payment. I have no legal experience in the area, but I think there’s an affirmative defense in most states if a parent has abandoned or abused a child, so the marker could be laid down if necessary that [insert awful trait] parent’s [insert reprehensible behavior] is going to be fully aired in court as a deterrent to said parent bringing suit themselves. That wouldn’t necessarily act as a deterrent to the state, though they may be more likely to decide not to pursue if they anticipate a protracted battle over whether or not the parent forfeited a right to familial contributions by bad behavior.
1,000 Flouncing Lurkers (was fidelioscabinet)
@Yarrow: I work for Social Security Disability, and when I call on this I tell the staffers that healthy people work more, are more productive, and are less likely to become unemployed. Good healthcare therefore makes, along with good transportation infrastructure and decent job training access, a three-legged stool for prosperous communities. Healthy people also cost their communities less, both in uninsured coverage costs, loss of earnings both for themselves and for family members who miss work looking after them, and in short-term and long-term disability expenses. It’s therefore more economically advantageous to have good healthcare access.
Sometimes that makes a dent. It depends on whether they are Chamber of Commerce Republicans or whether they are operating under the Moral Purity Code for Zombie-eyed Granny Starvers.
Yarrow
@MCA1: If Medicaid gets gutted and won’t pay for nursing homes, I expect a lot more laws like this to pass in states that don’t currently have them.
@1,000 Flouncing Lurkers (was fidelioscabinet): Thanks for the input. I’ll use that with the Senator whose office I couldn’t get through to. I think it’ll work better than the AARP argument.
MCA1
@Yarrow: Yeah, I wouldn’t be shocked. And they’d likely get enforcement ratcheting upwards in those states that already have them, especially the redder (read: poorer, fed gov’t teat-sucking hypocrite) ones. Then again, in a place like California, I could see it going the other way, with the State legislature telling the nursing home operators “Yeah, you’re out of luck there. How ’bout we tie your licensing to forcing you to take in a certain number of people incapable of paying your exorbitant bills every year on a pro bono basis, and you go talk to the Republican U.S. Congress about reinstalling Medicaid, ’cause we’re not your collection agent.”
PIGL
@liberal: It’s pretty wonderful for the companies they are indentured to. I’m sure that’s an utterly mystifying coincidence.
StringOnAStick
I posted this upstairs, but I thought I’d put it here too:
For people who want to take a further step and write letters to the editor on any subject, I received a handy one page set of guidelines from an OFA volunteer who has gotten her stuff printed hundreds of times. Even if they don’t print it, the editor reads it and every bit of exposure helps us. A lot more people will see a LTTE than any facebook post, since no one has as many friends as the major newspapers have subscribers.
Her rules for getting published are simple: (1) no more than 150 words, (2) embed the text in your email, do not send as an attachment because it won’t get opened, (3) your letter must include your name, address and phone number, and are about a specific event or article that was published. They won’t print your address or telephone number, but without it they won’t publish the letter.
Since my only rethug MOC is on perpetual voice mail now, my best bet is postcards to his office and LTTE, so that’s on my task list today.
PIGL
@dmsilev: They their voters really are that stupid.
Sandia Blanca
@JeanneT: Ditto to the recommendation to use FaxZero. It’s a great way to get an actual piece of paper into your Rep’s or Senator’s office. Be aware that it costs if you want to send more than 3 pages per fax.
Here’s a nice script from someone on FB: “I urge my Representative not to vote on the proposed health care act until the CBO has scored it. I am unable to form a position without knowing what the cost to taxpayers will be and how individual rates are likely to be affected. I also need to know how many people are expected to gain or lose coverage under the proposed plan. This information is essential for decision making and it would be irresponsible to vote yes or no without this knowledge. Thank you.”
Turgidson
I’m old enough to remember how the GOP convinced their braindead base that the ACA was “rammed down the throats” of the American people because it only took a year and hundreds of hearings and who knows how many hours of floor debate for the bill to take shape and pass. I’m also old enough to remember how the mainstream media gave them a pass on that bullshit (and so much other bullshit).
And here they are, trying to pass a bill that is so shitty and so unacceptable to just about everyone with an opinion that you’d think it was drafted by a 6-year old on quaaludes who was given a crayon, in a week.
It’s almost as if they have been full of shit all this time. Hopefully Chucklehead Todd and Ron Fournier and the rest will get on this breaking story. Ha. I kill me.
catclub
@The Moar You Know:
CACA was taken, so they tried AHCA. only a single shit sandwich.
gbbalto
@Yarrow: Good idea! Here you are
J R in WV
@Mnemosyne:
H.R.1275 – World’s Greatest Healthcare Plan of 2017
Oh my fuckind dawg, that is so good. AKA RyanCare or TrumpCare. But World’s Greatest says it all, because the US health care system – according to the World Health Organization our health care is ranked like this:
.
.
.
35 Dominica
36 Costa Rica
37 USA
38 Slovenia
39 Cuba
.
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.
That’s right, 37th in the world, below Dominica and Costa Rica !!! And just barely above Slovenia !!!!
Naturally, for the very wealthy, or people with cadillac health insurance, we probably rank very highly. The Donald won’t get Costa Rican health care. Mrs J got really good teaching hospital medical care when it counted, her health scare had a 70/30 scary rating, and the good outcome is the short end of that ratio. But of course the WHO ranking includes people in Mississippi and New Mexico with no health care for 90 miles, as it should.
Grrrr.
Capri
@Yarrow: Stick to Age tax. Nice and simple.
The Lodger
@rikyrah: Reminds me of my doctor friend whose first job was a storefront practice in rural North Carolina, as payback for the Health Service paying for part of med school. She was instantly among the 3% in her county, and her husband wasn’t even working.