Tom Toles for January 30, 2017

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Dollar, establish Billionaires, insure domestic Instability, provide for the common Offense, Demote the general Welfare, and Remove the Blessings of Liberty . . ."

Cutting off our feet to spite our ankles?

" A country’s health care system is one of the biggest contributing factors to the well being of its people. It impacts a country’s financial situation, not to mention the general health of a country’s people. We know that the USA is one of the most developed and powerful countries in the world. Maybe surprisingly, its health care system simply does not hold up when compared with the countries on this list. This is not completely the United States’ fault. It faces more of a struggle in providing cheap health care to its people because its population is more than double that of any of the ones on this list. It’s also much larger in terms of size than any of the countries on this list. Still, the United States’ health care wouldn’t have even made the top twenty. Also, its life expectancy doesn’t even crack the top fifty in the world. Despite this, the United States spends more money per capita on health care than any country in the world. Surely there is something to be learned from the health care systems on this list.

… "

http://gazettereview.com/2016/04/countries-with-the-best-health-care/

we miss obama more every day

Where is this money supposedly saved going to go? Probably toward the military-industrial companies that will protect a government that veers more and more away from true American ideals of liberty, generosity, and fairness. America First — or America Fist?

The republicans had eight years to come up with a plan and they have nothing. If you compare the cost and quality of the American medical system if is much more expensive and the results are far from world class. So much for American exceptionalism.

The worst cost benefit ratio on the planet. Only tied with our military spending.

“Obamacare” is Republican corporate governance, with bennies for the peasantry (subsidies, ban on rejection for pre-existing conditions). Trumpcare will simply replace the bennies with a billy club.

To be precise, one quarter of healthcare costs are administration, whereas the next highest country is 10-15%. (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/making-sense/why-does-health-care-cost-so-m/)

Before Obamacare, our costs were 50% higher than that of the second highest. Even after, it’s still high because one of the key costs is the insurance industry. Single-payer simplifies all that and eliminates massive amounts of cost, but we don’t have that (except for Medicare, which is far more efficient than everything else we have — so of course the GOP is ready to kill it outright).

We are far behind in quality of healthcare as well. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/06/16/once-again-u-s-has-most-expensive-least-effective-health-care-system-in-survey/

Oh, and the Republicans knew this, and have failed to come up with anything for SIX YEARS now. Why? Because so-called “Obamacare” IS the Republican plan. It has every component they like — individual mandates, a marketplace, keeping the insurance companies in place and no less profitable. Many other choices are better in many terms — more people covered, lower cost, less administration — but would require the GOP to constrain the profitability of a few of their favorite corporate funders.

A simple example: the GOP blocked the ability for the government to negotiate with pharma companies — like durn near every other nation in the world — so Americans are paying vastly more (about twice as much) for their drugs and indeed funding the better prices elsewhere! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/17/health-care-costs_n_5160819.html

Destruction is always faster and easier than construction.

So much for the neocon ideas of “creative chaos”. It didn’t work in the Bush 2 years, it isn’t working now, and a lot of people who trusted that their contract with their government would be honored are going to suffer.

The unfortunate fact is that the insurance companies, big pharma, hospital conglomerates, etc have more influence than consumers do and the show of opposing political ideologies to benefit the public is just a facade. We have not been a democratic republic for some time and the 2016 election illustrates that quite dramatically.

One thing I learned in my many years as professional troubleshooter. Never try to repair a system before you completely understand how the system was designed to work in the first pace. Same is true for ACA….

The U.S. has become a country of the rich, by the rich and for the rich. Special interests rule all.

He’ll be back for your arms when his company builds the “wall”

Anybody notice the picture of Trump defending his immigration order, while claiming the problems were because of the Delta outage? What kid of gang sign is Kellyanne Conway making?

For all the b!tching and whining the Republicans ginned up against the ACA these past 6 years, most Americans like a system where the kids can stay on until age 26, and that does away with lifetime limits, and denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions. Designing a system to absorb these costs is hard. Much harder than making up stories about death panels, the end of freedom, and the supposed horrors of socialized medicine.

The hall is rented. The band ready. What!? You never bothered to take a dance lesson!?

When the ACA is repealed, how much of a Tax Cut will the millionaires receive?

Hey CORA RYAN…you don’t need longer than this past week to realize what a dolt T Rump is. He will ruin this nation.

About half a trillion dollars over the next ten years. (CBO)

But you love the Affordable Care Act.

That is not a repeal. — JEDDIDYAH

Repeal or not, healthcare is the Republicans’ baby now, lock, stock and barrel. Whatever they do from here on out, even if they choose to continue President Obama’s initiatives with, such as, restrictions on women’s healthcare, or whatever they choose to do, is on them.

As opposed to an ignorant, lying poster? Once again, FACTS (False Acts Complained about by Trump Supporters) please.