Althouse: "Senator John McCain of Arizona announced on Friday that he would oppose the latest proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act..."

September 22, 2017

"Senator John McCain of Arizona announced on Friday that he would oppose the latest proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act..."

"... leaving Republican leaders with little hope of succeeding in their last-ditch attempt to dismantle the health law" (NYT).

So Lindsey Graham’s being his best friend was not enough.

229 comments:

«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 229 of 229

Michael said...: TTR
LOL. You can cram a two minute discussion into an hour. You must teach. LOL; 9/22/17, 9:22 PM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Stop mooching if you want continue having those friends.

Lol.

He's a Wall Street guy. Mooching is his the only existence he knows. Mooching >>> Friends.

Friends? What friends? He has a circle of acquaintances whose faces and names he can't remember but whose net worths and connections flash in front of his eyes every time he approaches them. Technically they are human but to him they are all just numbers. Big, big numbers! What can they do for him? That's all that matters. He's about as transactional as a bank, and so are his relationships.; 9/22/17, 9:25 PM
Mr. Majestyk said...: It seems McCain has more hatred for Trump than those who tortured him in Vietnam.; 9/22/17, 9:25 PM
Sprezzatura said...: "Yep. It's those people on Wall Street who really care about the poor. That's what they're in it for! The poor!"

Eliminating a quarter billion bucks of aid to not-well-off folks over ten years, and then completely eliminating all ACA healthcare help after 2016 will make life wonderful for poor folks. They'll pull heal themselves up by their bootstraps. But, this only works if there are huge tax cuts for the job creators. If it doesn't work, the job creator tax cuts were too small.

Duh.; 9/22/17, 9:26 PM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: You can cram a two minute discussion into an hour.

Michael, there is help for people like you.

But we all know those seven sentences weren't what taxed your feeble mind and stressed your satanic soul. It was the argument and the appeal to the very morality that you lack.

Your fellow Wall Street douchebags and their Stepford Wives must find your sleight-of-hand amusing. But it is transparent and phony. Like watching a magic trick attempted by a paraplegic.; 9/22/17, 9:28 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Mr. M,

Who do you hate?

Libs and McCain go w/o saying. But then.......; 9/22/17, 9:31 PM
Sprezzatura said...: BTW,

Doc Mike, long ago signed off in disgust (which is his MO). Now he's popped back in. Now I'm reassessing my assumption that it'd be safe to use references where there'd only be one Mike hanging around.; 9/22/17, 9:35 PM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Read your book btw. Good stuff.

One rich douchebag sucking the dick of a wanna-be rich douchebag.

Michael K Nursemaid: I know you're more accustomed to being on the giving end of this sort of a transaction. But your new friend Michael felt bad for you (or outnumbered) and wanted you to know what it's like to be on the receiving end of it. Consider yourself his ally-for-the-day.; 9/22/17, 9:37 PM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Doc Mike, long ago signed off in disgust (which is his MO). Now he's popped back in.

He's a little fucking baby, raised by his Nursemaid, and grew up with a very weak and fragile ego. He seems to think anyone actually cares if he announces his comings and goings - let alone the huff of self-righteous tantrum that accompanies the latter.

Like I said before, he grew up with less in life than most intact parents give their kids and by golly he's sure as shit going to let you know it. You will either do your part to help repair his battered ego or he will write you off - and meanly too, so help him god!; 9/22/17, 9:40 PM
Birkel said...: If I'm going to have my money spent by third parties, can at least one of them be smarter than TTR?; 9/22/17, 9:43 PM
Birkel said...: You know,... A 95 IQ...; 9/22/17, 9:44 PM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Oh you're so funny, Birkel!

Don't worry. I knew it was the best you could do.; 9/22/17, 9:57 PM
narciso said...: Giddy quality troll, like a competent CNN anchor is a oxymoron, you can't discuss the skyrocketing premiums, the collapsing exchanges all brought about by design with obamacre; 9/22/17, 10:06 PM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/22/17, 10:13 PM
Birkel said...: Dumb and possibly true...

TTR is an average angry 26 year old. His age is immaterial.; 9/22/17, 10:18 PM
buwaya said...: The reason US "healthcare" costs 2X or more (on a PPP basis) of what Europeans or other residents of advanced countries pay (whether private persons or through their governments) has little or nothing to do with how the payment and insurance systems are structured. There is a vast variety of these systems. Its not that these systems are magical, if, as it seems, any of them will do.

The real problem is simply that US medical care delivery is incredibly inefficient. Way too many people are involved in way too many process steps. You know, even Obamacare would work, in spite of its absurdities, if the actual cost of service delivery were to global advanced country standards.; 9/22/17, 11:27 PM
buwaya said...: To put it another way, if you really wanted a Canadian-style system, you are already are paying for one. Current Medicare expenditure alone should get you a Canadian system. Imagine that, your salary withholding plus employer contributions could get you Canada.

But thats not going to happen because your costs are extreme even for those very large "single payer" portions you have. If messing with how its paid is going to make it affordable, then the majority of US medical care delivery thats already paid for by the state (and it is) should be as cheap as the Euros manage. But no. This has nothing to do with how all this is paid for.

All you really need to do is copy the Canadian or French or German process, completely, including legal liability rules, documentation rules, and treatment protocols, to deliver care with the same man-hours of work.; 9/22/17, 11:50 PM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: Compassion(D) is making sure we pay as much as possible, and it's super crappy.; 9/23/17, 6:37 AM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: corruptocrats can push us further down the road to Venezuela or North Korea - call it compassion.; 9/23/17, 6:57 AM
Rusty said...: Birkel said...
"Dumb and possibly true...

TTR is an average angry 26 year old. His age is immaterial."

I always figured 16. 17 tops. That's bout the age level of his insults and his reasoning. Maybe its the alcohol.

Buwaya.
The CanadiAn system is nothing to model since it's a slightly better system than Britain's NH. I keep running into Canadians who come here for surgery.; 9/23/17, 6:58 AM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: LOL - Leftists who wet their hate-pants over McCain in 2008, now love and adore him.

Leftists do love liars.; 9/23/17, 7:09 AM
Big Mike said...: Put Congress under Obamacare. They need motivation!!!; 9/23/17, 7:27 AM
EsoxLucius said...: Are you tired of winning yet?; 9/23/17, 8:45 AM
Michael K said...: "You must spend a lot of time reading what we say, then."

No, I come by in the morning and scan the wreckage.; 9/23/17, 9:24 AM
mockturtle said...: Buwaya contends: The real problem is simply that US medical care delivery is incredibly inefficient. Way too many people are involved in way too many process steps. You know, even Obamacare would work, in spite of its absurdities, if the actual cost of service delivery were to global advanced country standards.

In a sense this is true in that every facility has the very latest and most costly technology. And to pay for these expensive features, they are often overused in order to cover the cost. But part--and not a small part--of the issue is liability. If you don't order an MRI or a CT scan for every complaint that comes through the door you could be sued later on.; 9/23/17, 9:26 AM
Michael K said...: All you really need to do is copy the Canadian or French or German process, completely, including legal liability rules, documentation rules, and treatment protocols, to deliver care with the same man-hours of work.

I have been advocating for the French system for ten years here and at Chicagoboyz, but the forces that drive these things are all about taxes.

The Canadian system is political. They reward primary care and penalize specialty care. That satisfies more people since primary care is mostly the "Worried Well" who votes and require little care.

Germany is too idiosyncratic. Very structured like Germans.; 9/23/17, 9:29 AM
Michael K said...: "But part--and not a small part--of the issue is liability. "

Another big part is process cost. Democrats say Medicare is efficient because the overhead costs are low. That is true only for the government. Doctors' offices pay the costs of compliance.

The trend is toward cash practices which cut the doctor's overhead by 75%. The overhead cut is the cost of insurance processing. It's similar to effect of Dodd-Frank on small banks. It is one reason so many doctors are joining corporations which do the billing and pay them a salary. The trouble with that is the salary status reduces motivation to DMV levels.

Young doctors that I teach would think of working as hard as we did. The doctor shortage grows as the reimbursement shrinks.; 9/23/17, 9:34 AM
Michael K said...: "Young doctors that I teach would NEVER think of working as hard as we did.

Corrected; 9/23/17, 9:35 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Compassion(D) is making sure we pay as much as possible..

Not you. You've got no taxable cash. I realize your urge to do the bidding of the billionaires is strong, but irrelevant here.

Republican policies have decreased low-wage and middle-class Americans' purchasing power for 35 years straight, though.; 9/23/17, 11:20 AM