"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
02/04/2019 at 11:48 • Filed to: None
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"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
02/04/2019 at 11:48 • Filed to: None | 0
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!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
On the bright side, POTUS did not refer to Barron as an SOB.
For Sweden
> Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/04/2019 at 11:53 |
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This is not an uncommon attitude among American parents.
The Dummy Gummy
> For Sweden
02/04/2019 at 11:57 |
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I was kind of thinking the same thing. I’d prefer my kid not to play football due to the dangers involved, but I do miss the big hits of the old day...even if it was at the expense of the players.
Yes, I’m a monster.
KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
> Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/04/2019 at 11:57 |
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Demented Grandpa says/does/tweets something stupid that contradicts something stupid he said/did/tweeted from the past .... More news at 11.
jimz
> For Sweden
02/04/2019 at 12:00 |
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no doubt. the other big example is of those who are of a Republican bent and act like anyone accused of a crime (or even have the police talking to them) are obviously guilty of something and should be locked up.
but their own kid gets busted committing crimes? They’ll move heaven and earth to bail them out of trouble.
facw
> Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/04/2019 at 12:00 |
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Yep, here in kinjaland, Deadspin posted about this yesterday:
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For Sweden
> jimz
02/04/2019 at 12:02 |
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I would be more sympathetic of that if one of the leading candidates for the Democratic nomination wasn’t a cop.
fintail
> Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/04/2019 at 12:05 |
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45 opining about subjects where he has zero knowledge but thinks he knows it all, this never happens.
I mean, he knows more than generals.
davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/04/2019 at 12:10 |
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I do feel sorry for the kid. You can’t choose the family you’re born into, but at some point, we’re all responsible for our own actions, regardless of what we were taught, or what was modeled for us by our parents.
Hopefully he does not take after his father...
Textured Soy Protein
> For Sweden
02/04/2019 at 12:17 |
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Who’s the cop in the dem field so far? Kamala Harris is a former prosecutor, DA & state attorney general...
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For Sweden
> Textured Soy Protein
02/04/2019 at 12:29 |
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Textured Soy Protein
> For Sweden
02/04/2019 at 12:38 |
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So...wearing a police jacket in a picture with some border patrol agents and cops makes someone a cop now? I think maybe DAs and state Attorneys General such can get police jackets, without being cops.
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For Sweden
> Textured Soy Protein
02/04/2019 at 12:41 |
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In the minds of her party’s base, absolutely.
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The Dummy Gummy
> jimz
02/04/2019 at 12:42 |
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Um...any parent is going to anything and everything to protect their spawn. That’s what being a parent is. Why are we politicizing everything?
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Textured Soy Protein
> For Sweden
02/04/2019 at 12:50 |
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I’m in her party’s base. So at last one of us knows the difference between a prosecutor/ DA/ state attorney general and a police officer.
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For Sweden
> Textured Soy Protein
02/04/2019 at 12:52 |
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If you also support civil forfeiture , you should stop supporting civil forfeiture .
ZHP Sparky, the 5th
> jimz
02/04/2019 at 13:04 |
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Same has been playing out on a national level for the last 2 years. Remember Benghazi and all those stupid escapades where the R’s kept going “well if there’s nothing to hide you shouldn’t have any problems with these investigations!”…but now here we are with the President himself screaming from the rooftops on a daily basis about how persecuted he is and unfair witch hunts.
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Textured Soy Protein
> For Sweden
02/04/2019 at 13:08 |
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I definitely don’t support civil forfeiture.
It’s way too early for me to pick a candidate in this race but Harris’ law enforcement background gives me pause.
T he bigger mistake she made in my eyes was the moment in her CNN town hall when she said not only does she support Medicare for All, but she wants to legislate health insurance companies out of business.
Personally I fucking despise health insurance companies and the whole healthcare industry. But it’s too big of a sector of the economy and our healthcare system is too entangled and fucked up to just wave a magic wand and outlaw private health insurance.
I’d love to see everyone have the option to go on Medicare, because that would force the health insurers to provide some kind of actual value above and beyond what everyone gets from Medicare if they want to stay in business.
Whether that’s supplemental coverage in addition to Medicare, or something like Medicare Advantage plans where Medicare pays an individual’s premiums with a private insurer, either of those makes more sense than outlawing non-Medicare health insurance.
The other thing I want that I’ve yet to see any candidate talk about is pricing reform with providers and pharmacies, specifically to cap the prices people pay without insurance to a certain percentage higher than the Medicare reimbursement rate for that service.
Because right now the main benefit that anyone gets from a health insurance plan with a multi-thousand dollar deductible is access to the lower prices that insurers negotiate with providers, and some basic preventive services. A nd we’re spending thousands of dollars per year just on that. If, however, the price of stuff we pay without insurance was already at the level of what we pay with insurance, then the health insurers would have to give us something for all that money we spend with them.
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jimz
> The Dummy Gummy
02/04/2019 at 13:14 |
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Uh, the point is the hypocrisy in “law & order” types believing everyone else’s kids should be locked up at the first hint of trouble, but their own kids are untouchable.
Why do people insist on only reading things halfway before responding?
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Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
> The Dummy Gummy
02/04/2019 at 14:12 |
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I shun it. There is nothing good that comes of it. No
I
in team, and all of that, but the sport harms people and exploits people and requires taxpayer investment and the (white) owners get rich off it.
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Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
> jimz
02/04/2019 at 14:13 |
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Oh, there are plenty of Ds playing that same game.
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Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
> Textured Soy Protein
02/04/2019 at 14:14 |
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There’s some backstory to that picture, like perhaps one of those women was sleeping with Willie Brown or something.
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Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
> Textured Soy Protein
02/04/2019 at 14:17 |
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to just wave a magic wand
Like the Republicans did once they got their hands on the levers of power?
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
Walk in and pay cash, or swipe a Visa card, and prices go
way
down. Way down. Because medical billing takes like FOUR MONTHS. I’ve had this experience. I used to have a modest PPO with a modest deductible and a modest copay and when I needed care, I’d call around and get the best price.
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Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
> For Sweden
02/04/2019 at 14:24 |
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Well,
that depends
.
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Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
> KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time
02/04/2019 at 14:25 |
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And as long as Grandpa isn’t governor or president, then right.
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Textured Soy Protein
> Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/04/2019 at 15:09 |
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That hasn’t been my experience when trying to pay out of pocket.
I take a couple generic meds on an ongoing basis and tha t hasn’t been my experience when paying out of pocket at pharmacies when I’ve been between jobs and/or health insurance plans. Usually the best I can hope for is to get a coupon from GoodRx to lower the price at least somewhat but it’s always higher paying out of pocket than the price I get when I have it billed through insurance.
The real issue I’m talking about is rack rates. These are the top-line cost of what the service before any discounts negotiated by insurers. For example, I had an outpatient procedure a couple years ago, and the rack rate for everything was $15k. The negotiated price from the insurer was something like $8-9k. This was split up over three different bills: the cost of the surgeon doing the actual procedure, a “hospital facility” section with the time in the OR and all the supplies, and then some other random-ass miscellaneous stuff on a third bill.
I actually tried asking before hand what the price would be and got the runaround from multiple people until one of them told me what I could expect. And...that turned out to be completely incorrect. They said it would be all billed together, and then I kept getting more bills.
I had insurance through my wife’s job at the time, and she worked for a hospital/HMO company. She was essentially an insurer employee, and even with that insurance, I still ended up paying about $3k out of pocket.
Now, I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to pay that $8-9k if I could avoid it, but if that was the real price instead of the $15k, then the insurers would have to offer something other than “see look, this surgery drops from $15k out of pocket to $8k with us!”
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Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
> fintail
02/04/2019 at 15:24 |
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And his head spies, whom he hired, need to go back to school.
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Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
02/04/2019 at 15:26 |
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Whatever happens, he’ll have plenty of dough, and it’s hard to imagine him being treated as badly as Don Jr. or Eric.
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Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
> Textured Soy Protein
02/04/2019 at 15:39 |
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I don’t have experience to report using pharmacies, and the “procedures” I undertook I was able to do at smaller places and not large hospitals, so results may vary. What I do know is that currently, I pay like $16,000 per year for subscriber, spouse and one child and it gets us three annual visits at $75 a pop and a deductible on everything else.
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The Dummy Gummy
> jimz
02/04/2019 at 16:06 |
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Why are you being nasty ? I didn’t read half way. Any parent that loves their offspring is going to try protect them even if they were caught for doing something, unless it’s some heinous crime. These same people believe in law and order. I get that it’s hypocrisy but when you’re a parent you do everything to protect your child.
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The Dummy Gummy
> Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/04/2019 at 16:07 |
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Why does race matter?
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jimz
> The Dummy Gummy
02/04/2019 at 16:14 |
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I get that it’s hypocrisy but when you’re a parent yo u do everything to protect your child.
if that extends to “shielding them from any consequences of their own bad actions” then I don’t think that makes you a very good parent. especially in the presence of the aforementioned hypocrisy.
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Textured Soy Protein
> Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/04/2019 at 16:52 |
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Ok, I’m going to try to explain this a little differently.
In the typical health insurance plan with a deductible, the benefits are:
A) Preventive care and possibly some other non-deductible services
B) Better prescription prices
C) Access to the insurer’s pricing for non-preventive care and other services
D) The insurer will eventually pay for something catastrophic in the 5-figure price range
If you look at what the health insurance lobbyists say about how they provide value to their insured, a lot of it at this point is “well, even if you’re paying a deductible, at least you’re paying our prices for services instead of rack rates.”
Let’s say I go to a specialist doctor for an office visit. I don’t pay anything at that time, and instead the doctor’s office bills my insurance. My insurance sends me an Explanation of Benefits (EOB) and that shows the rack rate of $150 for the office visit (i.e. what I would pay with no insurance) and the insurance’s negotiated rate of $70. “Look, we saved you $80!” The insurance sends this same information back to the doctor’s office, who then bills me the $70 negotiated rate.
So, sure, I get $80 per specialist visit in savings thanks to my insurance, but in my case, I’m paying a bit over $9k per year for my insurance through the exchange (thanks to me being an independent consultant right now and my wife working part time so neither of us gets benefits). Needless to say, that’s a small-ass benefit in exchange for my $9k cost, and I’m never going to come out ahead unless I need a shitload of medical care.
There are even plans that insurers are trying to offer where they don’t give you anything except access to their negotiated rates. So it’s basically like a damn discount club that you pay too much to get into where the discounts never make up for the price of admission. At least with a traditional high-deductible plan if you fall off a ladder cleaning your gutters and break your leg you might satisfy the deductible. Breaking even with how much you spend on premiums? Good luck.
So let’s say for the sake of argument, the Medicare negotiated rate with this same specialist is $60 per visit, because Medicare reimbursement rates kinda suck.
What I propose for my 2020 presidential campaign that doesn’t exist, is a law that says, “no medical provider shall charge any prices that are 115% (or whatever the experts say is a fair number) of Medicare reimbursement rates.”
That way, it eliminates the health insurance industry’s argument that C) from above is a significant value they provide to people they insure.
Because if no medical provider were able to charge anyone more than 115% of the Medicare reimbursement rate, then what the fuck are the insurers even giving us?
Since the GOP conveniently eliminated the tax penalty for going without insurance, combined with those 115%-ish of Medicare price caps, my hope would be that the i nsurers realize that they’re about to see a mass exodus of people who no longer face a tax penalty for forgoing insurance and are now able to access similar pricing to what has historically only been accessible through insurance , so to remain competitive, t hey either lower premiums , lower deductibles, offer coverage of more services, negotiate even better rates with providers, or some or all the above.
The overall problem is the healthcare market has failed its customers. Because people NEED healthcare, but the whole system of paying for it through insurers removes individuals from any direct pricing interaction with the healthcare industry. The insurers, providers, and pharma & med device companies collectively hold all the cards and do whatever the fuck they want, negotiating with each other to improve their balance sheets, with no regard to what everyday people can realistically afford.
When markets fail, that’s when government needs to step in and tilt the scales in the right direction. Putting those price caps in place would go a long way towards giving some bargaining power back to the customers.
Vote TSP in 2020!
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Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
> The Dummy Gummy
02/04/2019 at 16:59 |
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I would argue that it doesn’t, much, if you’re white.
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The Dummy Gummy
> Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/04/2019 at 17:57 |
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What a sad view you have on the world
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The Dummy Gummy
> jimz
02/04/2019 at 17:59 |
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Lol what a narrow minded viewpoint. Ok bud.
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Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
> Textured Soy Protein
02/04/2019 at 18:07 |
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That makes sense. I never heard “rack rate,” but I equate it to “list price.” I just know that a substantial fraction of my annual income, something like 13% of my income and my wife’s combined, goes to insurance premiums. That’s before any OOP expenses. It’s crushing. Politicians are doing nothing. I had a reasonable, affordable PPO at one time, but it went up by 25-30% per year and only hit a ceiling with the ACA. I like your analogy of an expensive Sam’s Club. I use the analogy of paying a retainer to have access the attorney at his rates when you need him. Or her.
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Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
> The Dummy Gummy
02/04/2019 at 18:12 |
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I mean,
you
turned out okay, right? Why don’t you find another blog to frequent. Or infrequent. You are not a good fit for this space.
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Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
> The Dummy Gummy
02/04/2019 at 18:12 |
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I rest my case. I think the Admissions Department at VMI is taking applications.
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fintail
> Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/04/2019 at 18:16 |
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It’s a tough job knowing everything.
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Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
> fintail
02/04/2019 at 18:17 |
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45 recently said Cory Booker had “no chance.” If I were Senator Booker, I’d have quipped, “That’s what they said about
you
, isn’t it?”
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fintail
> Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/04/2019 at 18:21 |
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It’s almost like 45 is trying to personify every negative stereotype of his generation, and set himself up for comebacks. For the latter, I think it is just a lack of self-awareness (which is one of those negative stereotypes).