It would be great if the good guys controlled the Federal government, maybe they could pass a law or something.
I just wanted to point out that Sarah Kliff (the reporter of this story) has probably done more good than Iâll ever do in my life - as far as I can tell, sheâs the one primarily responsible for getting surprise medical bills banned.
Chris Hayes had a good pod talking about Obamacare.
The major takeaway was moderate Dems arguing to increase peopleâs health care prices in order to pass it.
After my motherâs boyfriendâs surgery, he wasnât given any painkillers for hours afterwards. Due to whatever setup he was on, he couldnât effectively communicate that to nurses and was in agonizing pain post-surgery. When my mother visited, she had to yell to get him treated due to the pain. So, he was on morphine, ketamine and some other drug and later that night was hallucinating. He was convinced of several conspiracies involving organ harvesting and him being chopped up at the hospital. So that was fucked up.
A day or so after, my mother visited and everybody was wearing hazmat suits. Apparently, he was exposed to covid (he already had it) accidentally. Whatâs messed up was that my mother was there unprotected while the nurses were aware of that fact. Of course, she too had covid recently but the fact that she was able to walk in without being told of the situation is pretty terrible.
Even if youâre rolling in cash like he is, competent medical care is not a guarantee.
We got our renewal paperwork in the mail today at work. Our premium is goingâŚdown by over $2600 per month? What in the nine hells is going on here? Thanks Joe?
Completely blows me away how insane things are in America.
I was complaining that I had too 200 koruna (about $10) for a COVID test that I thought was supposed to be free. Almost forgot what it was like to be under American healthcare.
That should say $260, right? If not, what the hell?
The Democratâs paid leave plan is a hand out to insurers and low paying employers
Under the scheme, when an employer chooses to replace the federal program with a private paid leave insurance plan, they are entitled to a cash grant from the federal government equal to:
90 percent of the product of the projected national average cost per employee of providing paid family and medical leave benefits ⌠multiplied by the number of employees (pro-rated for part-time employees) covered under the program for such calendar year.
The âprojected national average cost per employeeâ is a dollar figure that the Secretary of Treasury will publish each year. The bill does not give a specific formula for deriving it. It just tells the Secretary of Treasury to figure it out.
Once this dollar figure is published, employers that are seeking public subsidies for their private paid leave plans will take the dollar figure, multiply it by their number of full-time-equivalent (FTE) employees, and then multiply that number by 0.9. The resulting figure will be the amount of the grant the Treasury gives them.
Put simply: every employer who takes advantage of this subsidy program will get a grant equal to 90 percent of the average cost of providing a paid leave benefit that is equal to the federal paid leave benefit that they are displacing. They get this grant regardless of what their actual cost of providing the benefit is, meaning that employers whose actual cost is less than 90 percent of the average cost will be able to pocket the difference.
To illustrate the problem here, it helps to imagine three different employers: (1) a low wage employer (LWE) that pays all of their employees $20,000 per year, (2) a middle wage employer (MWE) that pays all of their employees $50,000 per year, and (3) a high wage employer (HWE) that pays all of their employees $100,000 per year.
According to the wage-replacement formula in the bill, the weekly paid leave benefit is $317 for the LWE, $690 for the MWE, and $1,057 for the HWE.
The âprojected national cost per employeeâ of a paid leave plan should be set somewhere near the costs associated with the MWEâs plan. So, for the sake of illustration, letâs say that the MWEâs costs are equal to 100% of the projected national cost per employee. This means that, holding all else equal, the LWEâs costs are equal to 46% (317/690) of the projected national cost per employee and the HWEâs costs are equal to 153% (1057/690) of the projected national cost per employee.
Remember from above that, despite these very different underlying costs, each employer is eligible for 90% of the projected national cost per employee. This means that an LWE could provide a basic paid leave plan equivalent to the federal plan, apply for a grant from the Treasury, and then pocket about half of that grant (90-46).
What will almost certainly happen if this structure is passed into law is that insurance companies like Sun Life will start contacting companies whose projected paid leave costs are well below 90% of the national average and explain to them that if they enter into a deal with Sun Life, they can get free money from the federal government, and to sweeten the pot, Sun Life will even fill out the paperwork for them.
Nope you read that right
Should note that the test itself is free. However, I went to a private company that charges for collection and testing. Hence the $10. And the fact that I was the only appointment listed for that afternoon.
Surprise!
This story seems like bullshit. First off, thereâs no 35 day limit or whatever for medicare. All of the statements the story is based on is from the police, who are morons when it comes to how a hospital works.
From the hospital statement:
âAt Piedmont, our purpose is to make a positive difference in every life we touch. We can only provide the best care with the cooperation and consent of the patient. We do our best to connect patients in need with community partners and social service organizations to provide appropriate after-hospital care, but ultimately accepting these services is at the discretion of the patient.â
Sure sounds like the hospital is implying the man declined care. They canât really comment on exactly what happened.
Last time I saw a story like this was out how a NYC hospital discharged a man without clothes/jacket into the street in the middle of winter. Had some contacts who worked that case, and the guy refused to take clothes, jacket, and referral to a shelter in order to attempt to force the hospital to keep him.
Anyways, may end up being true as the story is framed, but weâll likely never find out for sure. It doesnât fit right with me.
Man - Watevs is a dick boss.
Watevs about to win a bracelet lol