Healthcare Issues

[GoCubsGo]

All it takes is one juror . . . If he skates I wonder what that will do to security costs, write-offs and premiums.

Not much to wonder about there.

[Vrede too]

All it takes is one juror . . . If he skates I wonder what that will do to security costs, write-offs and premiums.

Not much to wonder about there.

If he skates I wonder how much that will do to security costs, write-offs and premiums.

UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting suspect thanks people for mail on new website

Luigi Mangione
Legal Defense Information

Legal Fund: Luigi Mangione
Donors: 14,893
Donations: $453,246

What a weird country!

[GoCubsGo]

What a weird country!

Understatement.

[Vrede too]

What a weird country!

Understatement.

Sorry.


Make America Sick Again:

Mass firings continue across nation’s health agencies

The Trump administration carried out more mass firings across the Health and Human Services Department this weekend, continuing a chaotic purge of the federal workforce that career officials and lawmakers warned would hurt key programs and impair efforts to track threats to public health.

The cuts hit staffers at the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, several people with knowledge of the firings told POLITICO. The administration also terminated some staff at the office responsible for emergency preparedness and response.

The firings were part of a culling of roughly 3,600 probationary employees across the sprawling department that began earlier this week with terminations primarily at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health....

(many specifics on the chaotic cuts and the grave potential harm from them)

There's apparently no assessment being done of whether some probationary employees are more important than others.

[Vrede too]

Luigi Mangione supporters gather outside NYC courthouse, but they don't want to talk about the UnitedHealthcare CEO killing
Protesters dressed in green said they’re fighting for health care reform.

Dozens of people wearing “Free Luigi” shirts and carrying homemade signs braved the frigid New York City weather to show their support for Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson late last year, as he arrived for a status hearing at a courthouse in Lower Manhattan Friday afternoon.

But when asked about the case and the brutal crime with which Mangione has been accused — plotting and carrying out the early morning assassination of Thompson on a Manhattan sidewalk — many deflected, instead insisting that the focus of the conversation around Mangione should be on health care reform.

“I don’t condone murder, but what [Mangione] did and its focus on UnitedHealthcare has really brought to life how our health care system is broken,” Shane Solger told Yahoo News. “I’m here because the way that our health care system is designed right now hurts people. This is kind of a protest of our health care system.”

... But outside the courthouse, demonstrators like Zach Lennon-Simon were more interested in talking about the need for health care reform than debating whether Mangione is guilty.

“It’s more than just [Mangione], it’s about a whole health care system that is corrupt and not really serving anyone,” Lennon-Simon said. “[Mangione’s] actions are driving us to have a bigger conversation because the one thing about billionaires is they don’t like to get murdered and the one thing about people is we don’t like to have our health care get denied and get murdered for profit.”

"Wanted" posters naming health care CEOs outside of the Manhattan criminal court.



Saint Luigi?

... Mangione, for his part, has expressed gratitude for the support he’s received. Last week, the Luigi Mangione Legal Defense Fund, which has raised more than $500,000 over the last two months, published Mangione’s first statement from prison.

Remember, he's already wealthy.

“I am overwhelmed by — and grateful for — everyone who has written me to share their stories and express their support,” the statement reads. “Powerfully, this support has transcended political, racial, and even class divisions, as mail has flooded [Metropolitan Detention Center] from across the country, and around the globe. While it is impossible for me to reply to most letters, please know that I read every one that I receive.”

Just one juror . . .

[Vrede too]

viewtopic.php?p=208763#p208763

Turns out if the Dept of Education cuts funds to public schools, the effect would be much more negative on rural areas (which coincidentally mostly voted for Trump) than in urban areas that have higher tax base, more people, etc. to fund their schools. But yeah, Trump loves the uneducated and wants to keep them that way.

Trump loves the unhealthy poor and wants to keep them that way.

Proposed GOP Medicaid Cuts Could Hit These Red States Hardest
Republican lawmakers sound antsy about cutting a program that benefits many of their own constituents.

... Medicaid provides health insurance coverage to 72 million Americans, including millions of children, and is a vital safety net in many states full of Trump supporters. Louisiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, West Virginia and Arkansas are all among the 10 states with the largest shares of Medicaid recipients, according to the nonpartisan Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation....

“Large cuts to Medicaid would hurt a lot of people in my state — and we voted overwhelmingly for President Trump,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said in an interview with HuffPost this week....

In the House, a group of moderate Republicans representing districts with sizable Hispanic populations warned Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) this week against imposing severe cuts to programs like Medicaid and federal food assistance. Johnson only has a narrow one-seat majority in the chamber, and a group of deficit hawks have been demanding he push for even sharper spending cuts, complicating efforts to pass Trump’s agenda.

In the Senate, Republicans seem sensitive to coming attacks about cuts to health care programs. During a marathon session of votes on their budget plan Thursday night, GOP senators adopted an amendment aimed at protecting Medicare and Medicaid. It was an effort to preemptively refute Democrats’ midterm election ads: See, we support Medicaid too.

But Democrats opposed the amendment, maintaining that it was written with a loophole that would allow for cuts to millions of beneficiaries. They offered a slew of other amendments to protect the program and prevent tax cuts for the wealthy, but those were voted down by the GOP majority.

... Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley told HuffPost: “I don’t like the idea of massive Medicaid cuts. We should have no Medicare cuts of any kind.”

Trump’s first-term attempts to repeal Obamacare — which would have rolled back Medicaid significantly and also stripped away protections for people with preexisting conditions — led to the lowest approval ratings of his tenure, and provided Democrats with the attack ads they needed to win back the House in 2018. The party is more than prepared to run the same playbook ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

“Republicans have made it crystal-clear that gutting Medicaid is one of their main strategies for paying for their massive tax cuts,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said this week.

The House Republican budget plan, which Trump has endorsed, calls for slashing as much as $880 billion from Medicaid to help finance the tax cuts. Half of Medicaid spending benefits people eligible due to old age or disability.

Lawmakers have not yet detailed how, exactly, they would achieve the savings, but House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has suggested they would reduce Medicaid spending partly through imposing limits on benefits to people who can’t show they’re working.

Medicare covers hospitalizations and doctor visits. It's Medicaid that's covering nursing home care and drugs for Americans who can't work, ever. Mike Johnson, stop being such a johnson. He's bad for Louisiana.

... Medicaid ... covers a quarter of adults in West Virginia and most of the state’s nursing home residents.

A new work requirement would likely only apply to “able-bodied” adults and not people with disabilities, though it’s possible even disabled Medicaid enrollees would have to prove to the state why they should keep their coverage.

“They would be exempted, but they would have to still do the paperwork and prove they’re unfit to work,” Kim Musheno, a Medicaid expert with The Arc of the United States, a civil rights organization for people with disabilities, told HuffPost. “It’s very difficult for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to jump through these hoops.”

Musheno pointed to Arkansas, one of several states that was allowed to set up a work requirement for Medicaid during the first Trump administration. About 25% of the population subject to the requirement lost coverage, according to KFF. Studies showed some enrollees were confused by the requirement or weren’t even notified of the change.

“A lot of people in Arkansas didn’t know about the new work requirements and didn’t fill them out, and they were pushed off,” Musheno said.

The Arkansas program came to an end when a federal judge ruled it was incompatible with Medicaid’s mandate to promote better health care for low-income Americans....

Leopards Eating People's Faces Party

About

Leopards Eating People's Faces Party refers to a parody of regretful voters who vote for cruel and unjust policies (and politicians) and are then surprised when their own lives become worse as a result. It has been commonly used to parody regretful Brexit and Trump voters.

Origin

[Vrede too]

What a weird country!

Understatement.

Luigi Mangione Is Being Overwhelmed With Gifts in Jail

Donald Trump Death Penalty Order Sparks Huge Luigi Mangione Donation

... Why It Matters

President Donald Trump ordered the attorney general to pursue the death penalty "for all crimes of a severity demanding its use" in an executive order signed January 20. The order ended the moratorium on federal executions enacted by former President Joe Biden's administration.

Luigi Mangione, 26, is eligible for the death penalty if convicted of federal murder....

What To Know

An anonymous donor gave $11,000 to Mangione's defense fund. The donation is the largest listed on the GiveSendGo fundraiser.

The donor said the death penalty should not be "politicized," but they are concerned that it will continue to be, given Trump's executive order.

"I am also concerned about the severe infringement on the defendant's right to a fair trial and due process, particularly since his juries are effectively pre-tainted," the donor said....

I oppose the death penalty in all cases.

... The fund has raised over $485,000.

Mangione released a statement to the public on a website managed by his attorneys.

"I am overwhelmed by—and grateful for—everyone who has written me to share their stories and express their support," Mangione said.

What People Are Saying

... Mangione, in a statement posted to his website: "Powerfully, this support has transcended political, racial, and even class divisions, as mail has flooded MDC from across the country, and around the globe. While it is impossible for me to reply to most letters, please know that I read every one that I receive." ...

[Vrede too]

Trump loves the unhealthy poor and wants to keep them that way.

Proposed GOP Medicaid Cuts Could Hit These Red States Hardest
Republican lawmakers sound antsy about cutting a program that benefits many of their own constituents.





Medicare covers hospitalizations and doctor visits. It's Medicaid that's covering nursing home care and drugs for Americans who can't work, ever. Mike Johnson, stop being such a johnson. He's bad for Louisiana.



Leopards Eating People's Faces Party

Exactly as the left has been saying:

The GOP Budget Would Require Medicaid Cuts, Budget Office Confirms
The math doesn't add up for Trump and the Republicans unless they take hundreds of billions of dollars out of Medicare or Medicaid.

House Republican leaders keep saying the budget plan they passed last week doesn’t envision big cuts to Medicaid.

House Republican leaders LIE!

The Congressional Budget Office doesn’t agree.

On Wednesday, the official scorekeeper for legislation issued an analysis showing that Republicans can’t possibly hit their budget targets without taking hundreds of billions of dollars out of government health programs.

And if Republicans are true to their word about not touching Medicare, the program for seniors and some people with disabilities, that means some of the reductions would have to come from Medicaid, the joint federal-state program that primarily serves low-income Americans, and CHIP, the program that targets lower- and middle-income children.

“This is an instruction to take health coverage away from people,” Bobby Kogan, a veteran Democratic budget analyst who is now at the Center for American Progress, told HuffPost....

Even President Donald Trump himself has said Republicans aren’t going to touch Medicaid.

We all know that he constantly LIES.

... CBO looked at all the programs that fall under the purview of Energy and Commerce, and determined that the only way to hit the $880 billion target is with hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to federal health programs — mainly Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP, though Republicans have said Medicare is off the table.

“This analysis from the nonpartisan CBO confirms what we’ve been saying all along: Republicans are lying about their budget,” Boyle said in a statement. “Their plan would force the largest Medicaid cuts in American history — all to pay for more tax giveaways to billionaires.”

Democrats and their allies have been warning about this possibility since the 2024 campaign, arguing that Republican plans to cut taxes by trillions of dollars would require massive spending cuts, with many of those cuts likely to come from Medicaid.

It’s a politically potent argument, because Medicaid today covers medical bills for more than 70 million Americans. It pays for more than 40% of all births, and is the single-largest financier of nursing home care as well.

RepuQs hate babies and grannies.

... As for work requirements, most people on Medicaid are already working.

Opps.

Putting them through the bureaucratic process of verifying their status has, in past experiments, led to large numbers of eligible people losing their benefits ― with negative consequences for their medical and financial well-being. But Republicans might characterize such cutbacks as mere reductions in waste, fraud or abuse.

... Already some Republicans in the Senate have said cutting Medicaid would be a bad idea. Whether that’s enough to stop the cuts from becoming law — especially given the determination of some Republicans to offset their big tax cuts — remains to be seen.

There it is, the big tax cuts for billionaires are the monster in this horror show.

[Supsalemgr]

Just one simple question. What specific cuts are planned for Medicaid? All I have seen is cleaning up the fraud and waste. One must be careful in listening to politicians and pundits use the term "cuts".

[Vrede too]

Just one simple question. What specific cuts are planned for Medicaid? All I have seen is cleaning up the fraud and waste. One must be careful in listening to politicians and pundits use the term "cuts".

Read the article I just linked, then get back to us if you still have that question or any other.

[Supsalemgr]

Just one simple question. What specific cuts are planned for Medicaid? All I have seen is cleaning up the fraud and waste. One must be careful in listening to politicians and pundits use the term "cuts".

Read the article I just linked, then get back to us if you still have that question or any other.

I read the article and there are no specifics mentioned, only opinions. Here is the next to last paragrph of the article:

"No cuts to Medicaid, or any other federal health plans, have taken place yet. The House and Senate still have to agree on a budget plan. Once they do, each chamber has to write tax and spending bills that fit within the budget outline, and come to agreement on those."

Once again, Vrede allows his imagination to run amuck.

[Vrede too]

Just one simple question. What specific cuts are planned for Medicaid? All I have seen is cleaning up the fraud and waste. One must be careful in listening to politicians and pundits use the term "cuts".

Read the article I just linked, then get back to us if you still have that question or any other.

I read the article and there are no specifics mentioned, only opinions. Here is the next to last paragrph of the article:

"No cuts to Medicaid, or any other federal health plans, have taken place yet. The House and Senate still have to agree on a budget plan. Once they do, each chamber has to write tax and spending bills that fit within the budget outline, and come to agreement on those."

Once again, Vrede allows his imagination to run amuck.

Your accusation describes yourself, typical MAGAt. Both the article and my excerpts of it make clear that no "specific cuts are planned for Medicaid" other than vaguely citing waste, fraud and abuse along with possibly adding work requirements.

The point that the CBO makes is that if the tax cuts for fatcats and spending targets are adhered to and Medicare is protected the only solution is massive and debilitating cuts to Medicaid. House Republican leaders LIE about this not being the case. Then, PINO LIES when he says that Republicans aren’t going to touch Medicaid.

[1 CAT FAN]

Once again, Vrede allows his imagination to run amuck.

Without google s/he wouldn’t have any.

[Supsalemgr]

Just one simple question. What specific cuts are planned for Medicaid? All I have seen is cleaning up the fraud and waste. One must be careful in listening to politicians and pundits use the term "cuts".

Read the article I just linked, then get back to us if you still have that question or any other.

I read the article and there are no specifics mentioned, only opinions. Here is the next to last paragrph of the article:

"No cuts to Medicaid, or any other federal health plans, have taken place yet. The House and Senate still have to agree on a budget plan. Once they do, each chamber has to write tax and spending bills that fit within the budget outline, and come to agreement on those."

Once again, Vrede allows his imagination to run amuck.

Your accusation describes yourself, typical MAGAt. Both the article and my excerpts of it make clear that no "specific cuts are planned for Medicaid" other than vaguely citing waste, fraud and abuse along with possibly adding work requirements.

The point that the CBO makes is that if the tax cuts for fatcats and spending targets are adhered to and Medicare is protected the only solution is massive and debilitating cuts to Medicaid. House Republican leaders LIE about this not being the case. Then, PINO LIES when he says that Republicans aren’t going to touch Medicaid.

Thanks for confirming all the whining is pure speculation. When some actual cuts are proposed we can open this conversation again.

[O Really]

Not entirely speculation. Republicans have been after whacking Medicaid ever since He Whose Name is Evil expanded it. It's certainly not unreasonable to think cuts at least down to where it was in the good ol' days are on the table.

[Vrede too]

Thanks for confirming all the whining is pure speculation. When some actual cuts are proposed we can open this conversation again.

Whooosh, you miss the whole point of the CBO analysis. If I cut you with a machete the placement of the cuts certainly matters. However, if all we know is the size of massive cuts that's still enough to know that it's really bad for you.

Would a sudden $880B tax on insurance (or anything else you favor) bother you even if you didn't know which insurers would be hit yet?

[Supsalemgr]

Continue your speculation if you so wish. Get back to me when some actual cuts proposed.

[Vrede too]

Continue your speculation if you so wish. Get back to me when some actual cuts proposed.

Continue your voluntary ignorance if you so wish. Get back to us with your opinion when the huge actual cuts are specified.

[Supsalemgr]

AAHH! Once again Vrede gets the last post even though I was not the one who questioned actual cuts.

[Vrede too]

AAHH! Once again Vrede gets the last post even though I was not the one who questioned actual cuts.

Just one simple question. What specific cuts are planned for Medicaid? All I have seen is cleaning up the fraud and waste. One must be careful in listening to politicians and pundits use the term "cuts".