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+--- Thread: THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY (/thread-12806.html)
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RE: THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY - Duchess - 03-24-2017
I think the shit is getting ready to hit the fan in regards to trump's former national security advisor Mike Flynn. If what I'm hearing is true, it's a pretty big deal.
RE: THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY - Duchess - 03-24-2017
(03-24-2017, 04:06 PM)HairOfTheDog Wrote: This is a huge failure for President Trump and the Republican party. Repealing and replacing Obamacare has been their central platform for 7 years, but they we unable to unite and come up with a viable alternative.
He held a press conference and blamed the failure of it on the Democrats. It's all their fault, they own it. That's a direct quote.
RE: THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY - HairOfTheDog - 03-24-2017
(03-24-2017, 04:48 PM)Duchess Wrote:(03-24-2017, 04:06 PM)HairOfTheDog Wrote: This is a huge failure for President Trump and the Republican party. Repealing and replacing Obamacare has been their central platform for 7 years, but they we unable to unite and come up with a viable alternative.He held a press conference and blamed the failure of it on the Democrats. It's all their fault, they own it. That's a direct quote.
No surprise. President Trump never takes responsibility or owns his shit unless there's a positive ending. It's an embarrassment. Candidate Trump stated many many times that he was going to repeal and replace Obamacare quickly, that it would be easy, and that the beautiful plan which he alone could put forth to cover every American would be loved by all. Fail.
Paul Ryan was much more responsible and respectable in defeat, also not surprising to me. He didn't blame anyone except the party's inability to garner the required number of votes and thanked everyone who supported the bill, including President Trump. Ryan also acknowledged that Obamacare would remain the law of the land.
Chuck Schumer, Democratic Senate Minority Leader, didn't seem too riled by Trump trying to blame him and former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for Trump's failure to negotiate a deal with his own party.
Schumer said that he and the Dems were never consulted by any Republicans in crafting the Trump/Ryan AHCA bill. But, if Trump and company take 'repeal' off the table, he and the Dems would be eager to work in a bi-partisan effort to improve Obamacare. Schumer acknowledged that Obamacare has flaws which need correcting, but it's better for the country than having no national healthcare plan and it has helped millions of Americans.
I hope a bi-partisan effort to improve the Affordable Care Act/Obamacare really comes to pass. But, I won't be surprised if the Republicans just walk away from healthcare because they believe Obamacare will implode and explode on its own weight -- with no regard for how their projected "Obamacare death spiral" would impact tens of millions of Americans.
RE: THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY - Maggot - 03-24-2017
I wish it could be amended so its not such a twisted wreck as it is now and not such a burden on everyone. The law was a train wreck from the get go and now its like a big blob of steaming goo. I just don't want to be required to have anything to do with it.
RE: THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY - HairOfTheDog - 03-24-2017
It's been a godsend for millions of people who really need health insurance and didn't have access to it before.
For some like you, it's resented because of the mandate to contribute to the cost of near-universal healthcare in the U.S. by purchasing insurance (with prices based on income), or instead by paying a few hundred bucks penalty tax at the end of the year. Seems to me a good deal of that resentment also stems from the fact that it was President Obama who finally got a national healthcare system implemented.
I don't personally feel coerced or put out by it; I'm glad that millions of more people have access to insurance and care, even though that means I contribute to the cost one way or the other and it's been a challenge financially for my small business.
Single-payer tax-funded healthcare with little or no out-of-pocket costs for citizens, as is the case in Canada, is where we should be headed, in my opinion.
RE: THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY - Maggot - 03-24-2017
I really should separate Immigration, healthcare into different threads. Maybe in the morning.
RE: THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY - sally - 03-24-2017
I didn't find Obamacare to be a burden on me, so I had to pay a few hundred more in taxes at the end of the year. It wasn't a big deal on top of what I already had to pay. And it cost me way less than if I did pay for insurance all year and I still had the security of knowing I can get insurance if I'm diagnosed with cancer or something.
We should definitely be following in Canada's footsteps with the health insurance.
RE: THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY - BigMark - 03-24-2017
Canadians who can, come to America to be treated. It takes six months to get an MRI.
RE: THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY - HairOfTheDog - 03-24-2017
(03-24-2017, 09:25 PM)BigMark Wrote: Canadians who can, come to America to be treated. It takes six months to get an MRI.
Some wealthier Canadians may come to the U.S. if they feel the wait time is too long for elective and non-emergency service in Canada. But, it's not a wide-scale practice.
It is true that wait times are generally longer in emergency rooms and for non-emergency procedures in Canada. Canada has fewer doctors per capita than the U.S. and Canadian citizens don't neglect to get care because they lack insurance or because they can't afford deductibles. So, there is more demand for services and less supply in Canada.
However, Canada has invested 10 billion dollars to reduce wait times, Canadians have greater access to same-day emergency doctor visits, the Canadian universal healthcare system costs the government much less per-capita than the U.S. government spends, and Canada ranks above the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand in quality of care according to the World Health Organization analyses.
No system is perfect and there are always trade-offs. Overall, in my opinion, the Canadian model is better than the U.S. model if one is concerned about health coverage for all, cost-efficiency, and quality of care (Canadians have a higher life expectancy, much lower maternal fatality rates, and lower infant mortality rates than Americans).
Here are some comparative sources:
http://www.factcheck.org/2007/12/comparing-health-care-in-canada-to-the-us/
http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/canada.asp
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_the_healthcare_systems_in_Canada_and_the_United_States
RE: THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY - BigMark - 03-24-2017
I got my info from a Canadian citizen.
RE: THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY - HairOfTheDog - 03-25-2017
That's good, Biggie. If that Canadian citizen is well-informed, he or she can confirm for you what I posted.
'Canadians who can' aren't coming over the border in droves so they can get an MRI three days quicker.
I don't know this for a fact, but I'd guess that many more Americans cross the border into Mexico to get drugs and procedures that they can't get quickly or at all here because the FDA takes forever to approve anything for medical or consumer use. That doesn't mean Mexico's health care system is better than our's.
RE: THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY - BigMark - 03-25-2017
Why can you buy pharmaceuticals much cheaper in Mexico? Is that part of their system better than ours?
RE: THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY - HairOfTheDog - 03-25-2017
(03-25-2017, 01:16 AM)BigMark Wrote: Why can you buy pharmaceuticals much cheaper in Mexico? Is that part of their system better than ours?
If they're the same quality drugs, then I think it is better than our system in that regard.
Americans who legitimately need them pay way too much for prescription drugs, more than other developed countries. Big pharma in America is one sweet fucking gig. Getting all kinds of greedy doctors to prescribe painkillers and anti-depressants so liberally as to create millions of addicts and then jacking up the prices = billions of dollars for the pharmaceutical companies and the doctors. That's one area where I feel we actually need more regulation.
We have a serious addiction problem in this country which spans all age groups. That's one reason I care so much about the healthcare issue. Prescription drug addiction needs to be addressed seriously as a health epidemic and dramatically curbed.
We Americans make up nearly 5% of the world's population, but consume over 80% of the world's opiods. Then, when we lose access to those prescription opiods, a large percentage of us turn to heroin or some other substitute. In 2015, for the first time, drug overdoses exceeded car accidents and gun homicides combined in number of deaths. Insane. And, it's getting worse.
Candidate Trump promised during his campaign that he was going to address the problem as a top priority. The problem is the worst in regions he won, the rust belt and New England. I sincerely hope he keeps that promise, though I'm not counting on it at this point.
RE: THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY - Duchess - 03-25-2017
(03-25-2017, 01:50 AM)HairOfTheDog Wrote: We Americans make up nearly 5% of the world's population, but consume over 80% of the world's opiods.
That is an astounding statistic.
RE: THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY - Duchess - 03-25-2017
(03-24-2017, 07:18 PM)HairOfTheDog Wrote: I won't be surprised if the Republicans just walk away from healthcare because they believe Obamacare will implode and explode on its own weight -- with no regard for how their projected "Obamacare death spiral" would impact tens of millions of Americans.
I don't think they are going to get over this defeat, Republicans are going to do whatever they can to sabotage it. They voted over 60 times to repeal it, they have hugged this close for years and I don't see them simply walking away or reaching out to Democrats in order to work together. I can count on one hand the number of Republicans I find to be credible. Hells bells, I don't even believe they work for Americans, I think they satisfy their own needs, whatever they may be, needs like grudges and old resentments.
I have a lot of Republicans in my life, they don't even talk politics anymore, they are horrified by so much of this crap and because I care about them I don't poke them in order to try and fire them up. Every other Republican is fair game though. Fuck 'em all.
RE: THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY - HairOfTheDog - 03-25-2017
(03-25-2017, 06:04 AM)Duchess Wrote: I don't think they are going to get over this defeat, Republicans are going to do whatever they can to sabotage it. They voted over 60 times to repeal it, they have hugged this close for years and I don't see them simply walking away or reaching out to Democrats in order to work together. I can count on one hand the number of Republicans I find to be credible. Hells bells, I don't even believe they work for Americans, I think they satisfy their own needs, whatever they may be, needs like grudges and old resentments.
I agree that Democratic congresspersons have their work cut out for them in fighting against Republican attempts to sabotage Obamacare.
It's not even disputed by most Republicans that their party gained majority seats in the last two mid-term elections primarily by promising to repeal and replace 'evil' Obamacare, which their conservative constituents were convinced was a step towards socialism and an affront to the free market.
Tom Price, Trump's Secretary of Health and Human Services and one of the key drafters of the failed Trump/Ryan healthcare replacement plan, has a lot of latitude when it comes to health policy and regulations. That's something that Democratic representatives have gotta be keeping their eyes all over. As a Georgia Representative, Price was a member of the extreme right Tea Party caucus (now the Freedom Caucus) and a vocal opponent of any governmental assistance/involvement in healthcare. Price opposes vaccinations and insists that healthcare coverage for birth control is an infringement on religious liberty as well.
Ironically, the far right Freedom Caucus brought down Trump's and Ryan's and Price's American Health Care proposal. Republicans didn't need a single Democratic 'yes' vote to pass the bill if they'd stood united, and they made no attempt to bring Democrats to the table.
It's possible that the unwillingness of the Freedom Caucus to compromise will be the catalyst forcing Republicans to work with Democrats to repair and improve the broken parts of Obama's Affordable Care Act, which is the right thing to do as decent human beings and for political survival. I hope that happens; healthcare is deeply personal and a matter of life and death to a lot of their constituents. They need to dump the inflammatory anti-ACA rhetoric and get their asses in motion to better the care and lives of the constituents for whom they work.
RE: THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY - Duchess - 03-25-2017
(03-25-2017, 09:21 AM)HairOfTheDog Wrote: forcing Republicans to work with Democrats to repair and improve the broken parts of Obama's Affordable Care Act
This ^^^^^ is my hope. Some of the problems have been identified and I think that could be a starting point. Personally, I don't think Americans should have to die because they don't have access to healthcare, people shouldn't have to choose between food or prescriptions.
There were many very frightened Americans waiting to see what was going to happen. It was saddening to see, heartbreaking actually. I won't bitch about some of my money going to help those who haven't been as fortunate as I am. I would never want anyone to die because I begrudged someone some dollars. I haven't always thought like this and I've recently felt some shame because of that.
RE: THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY - HairOfTheDog - 03-25-2017
President Trump is probably happy to get a bit of good news at this point.
Snip:
President Donald Trump won a favorable court ruling Friday on his revised executive order on immigration and refugees.
U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga in Alexandria, Va., is a George W appointee. He said Mr. Trump has broad authority over the U.S. border and likely didn’t exceed those powers in his revised order, which sought to temporarily bar U.S. entry for people from six Muslim majority countries. The order, signed March 6, also suspended the U.S. refugee program.
The decision has no immediate practical impact because the Hawaii and Maryland rulings blocking Mr. Trump’s order nationwide remain in effect. But it gives the Trump administration a favorable precedent it can now cite as litigation around the country continues.
The Virginia judge, like the other judges, said Mr. Trump and his advisers had made past statements that could be read to suggest that the president’s purpose was to impose an unlawful ban on Muslims. But Judge Trenga said those earlier statements mattered less now because the revised executive order included the elimination of a preference for Christian refugees from Muslim countries and included exemptions for travelers who had been previously approved for residency or travel to the U.S.
Full story: https://www.wsj.com/articles/federal-judge-sides-with-trump-on-revised-travel-ban-1490381292
RE: THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY - username - 03-26-2017
I think Trump will happily walk away from health care and, as he said, wait for it to implode. He couldn't get it done legislatively. But he can claim he tried, blame it on everyone else and move on to his "other important agenda items". He was naive to think what Ryan came up with would pass or that they could garner the votes needed. Fart of the Deal and that's the way Washington works, or doesn't, depending on where you stand.
I'm glad it didn't pass (or they gave up trying) as they were proposing it.
RE: THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY - HairOfTheDog - 03-26-2017
(03-26-2017, 02:07 AM)username Wrote: I'm glad it didn't pass (or they gave up trying) as they were proposing it.
The nutty far right extremists in the Freedom Caucus caused the right outcome for the country for the wrong reasons, in my opinion. I'm glad that terrible bill didn't pass too.
Imagine the ads the Democrats are gonna put out there ahead of the mid-term congressional elections next year. Every Republican Representative who got behind that bill is surely gonna get hammered hard.
The Dems will no doubt remind their constituents how those Reps supported a bill which the CBO projected would, within 10 years, cut off healthcare insurance/access for 24 million people, raise premiums and deductibles for middle aged citizens, allow insurance companies to refuse providing essential benefits, reduce Medicaid, and raise health insurance premiums for seniors by 750%....... while allowing the wealthy to financially benefit via tax credits which were not based on income level.