Althouse: At the Sunday Night Cafe...

August 5, 2018

At the Sunday Night Cafe...

... you can talk all night.

41 comments:

Saint Croix said...: I am watching I, Tonya. So damn funny! Brilliant. What a great movie.; 8/5/18, 9:03 PM
Ralph L said...: I'll say it's night. We can't even see the photo.; 8/5/18, 9:07 PM
buwaya said...: Blackout - a German Sci Fi short

Blackout

Neat little satire, about Carrington events/Solar Flares/EMP
Internet over-dependency, Android "friends", Internet of things gone nuts, etc. and etc. Its got everything.; 8/5/18, 9:23 PM
narciso said...: Questions few are,asking:

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/08/why_is_maria_butina_in_prison.html

Just like who gave the fbi, Mueller key to the apartment; 8/5/18, 9:33 PM
narciso said...: Wow that's just crazy, a great find though.; 8/5/18, 9:38 PM
Lawrence Person said...: Some 800 of Sarah Jeong's racist tweets on one bog post, for your reading pleasure.

No, it wasn't just "a handful."; 8/5/18, 9:45 PM
narciso said...: No mas it's like trawling through the trash compactor on the death star.; 8/5/18, 9:54 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: Damn. Making Stormfront look nuanced. That’s one racially obsessed chick.; 8/5/18, 9:55 PM
narciso said...: The point is if Berkeley and Harvard hasn't fried her brain, she has reasonable objections as to the elonis decision, the times editorial blind faith in trade agreemwants, but it's a guttural primal scream all the time.; 8/5/18, 10:01 PM
narciso said...: Crime think we've never heard of it:

http://amp.dailycaller.com/2018/08/05/twitter-suspends-candace-owens?__twitter_impression=true; 8/5/18, 10:14 PM
FullMoon said...: Some 800 of Sarah Jeong's racist tweets on one bog post, for your reading pleasure.

No, it wasn't just "a handful."

Whoa ! Who would be attracted to a woman like that?
Maybe someone who doesn't date girls from America, unless they are closet freaks?; 8/5/18, 10:18 PM
narciso said...: Well she was a correspondent with a Nazi Ex con hacker.; 8/5/18, 10:21 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Sarah Jeong -- would not get my schlong.; 8/5/18, 10:26 PM
narciso said...: In other news:

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/08/the-senates-shocking-failure-to-confirm-eric-dreiband-and-jeff-clark.php; 8/5/18, 10:31 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: Whoa ! Who would be attracted to a woman like that?
Maybe someone who doesn't date girls from America, unless they are closet freaks?

8/5/18, 10:18 PM

A match made in Hades.

They have the same sort of sunny, kind personalities.; 8/5/18, 11:06 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: Maduro said the "far right," working in coordination with others in Bogota and Miami, including Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, were responsible. Colombia's government has vehemently denied Santos had any role in the drone attack.

I've seen various versions of the story, but it seems pretty consistent about Maduro blaming Colombia.

If you accuse the President of a neighboring country of an act of war, don't you kind of have to go to war with them? Nobody seems worried about a war though..; 8/5/18, 11:47 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: 63 shot, 10 dead in Chicago since Friday

This seems to have gotten to the point of needing some sort of Federal intervention.

But..

Hypothetically, if Trump wanted to do something, who could he send? The FBI? Not thinking *that* looks too appealing to him.; 8/5/18, 11:52 PM
narciso said...: Well we saw how solid that front line of troops,are.

Let me translate that piece, one of the 'usual suspect's probably had a friend or family member murdered by the colectivos roving death squads and omanother was connected to that ex police officer they hinted down.

Furthermore chavez was embedded by the red flag guerillas in the Venezuelan army, furthermore Madurai had been giving sanctuary yo the farc on his territory.; 8/5/18, 11:55 PM
narciso said...: There is more than mere speculation that mafmduri who was trained in cuba, is actually of Colombian birth. Both oastrana and uribe past presidents who can't agree on lunch, relayed their concerns to trump last spring at maralago.; 8/5/18, 11:58 PM
narciso said...: Art imitates life

https://babalublog.com/2018/08/05/alleged-assassination-attempt-on-venezuelas-dictator-nicolas-maduro/; 8/6/18, 12:04 AM
narciso said...: Maduro is like that australian minister who was from new Zealand, pastrana was a nominal center right candidate who chose poorly in giving 1/3 of the land over to the guerillas; 8/6/18, 12:30 AM
becauseIdbefired said...: I had some minor back surgery. The bill came in, just for the facility, as $64,000 if I had no insurance. But, because I had insurance, the bill came in at $6,100. It's not clear yet whether other participants get other money too.

I don't understand this.

First, it seems that whatever I need to pay, having insurance is enough, as if the other parts aren't so important.

Second, and more importantly, the cost without insurance is 10X that of with insurance. What is going on with that? Our regional hospital is in deep financial trouble, and is trying to sell itself. Why?

We just went through a major makeover of insurance with the ACA. Why didn't the press talk about this crazy situation? They talk a lot about people being bankrupted by medical bills, and if hospitals are charging over 10X what it costs to deliver the service, no wonder they are.

They aren't going to give insurance companies lower rates than the actual costs, so why are they charging the uninsured so much?

I've written to my representatives, but no one seems to care about this.; 8/6/18, 12:50 AM
narciso said...: What was your policy then, what is your deductible now?; 8/6/18, 12:55 AM
Ralph L said...: This predates the ACA. Hospitals must be colluding with the insurance companies to encourage purchase of policies. You'd think you'd get a discount if the provider didn't have to deal with the insurance company.

Medicare charges are unreal in the other direction. My dad's 8 days in hospital and rehab for a bleeding ulcer came to $25k, which the government paid all of (DoD Tricare incl.)

And then there's the difference between group insurance premiums and individual ones.; 8/6/18, 2:25 AM
becauseIdbefired said...: > This predates the ACA.

Clearly. But a main argument for the ACA is that individuals were going bankrupt over massive medical bills.

One might wonder why medical bills are so high. One might wonder how it is an uninsured patient could be expected to pay cash over ten times over what an insurance company pays.

narciso: I have Anthem Blue Cross PPO, and my part of that bill came to $472, since I got a 20% deduction because I paid the day of the surgery.; 8/6/18, 2:32 AM
Jaq said...: If you really didn’t have insurance, they would have made a deal with you.; 8/6/18, 5:47 AM
Jaq said...: That bankruptcy study was also flawed. If you are going to go bankrupt for one reason or. other, you include every single debt you owe. Likely some of them will be medical bills. That doesn’t mean that the medical bills drove that person to bankruptcy unless you are Elizabeth Warren. I am not doubting that there are people who have been bankrupted by medical bills, but we don’t know the real number and it is certainly much smaller than the numbers Democrats bandied about.; 8/6/18, 5:52 AM
rehajm said...: There are so many cross subsidies in health care it's impossible to have a sense of true cost and cash pricing from a single hospital bill. Insurers negotiate rates with the providers so those numbers make some sense but those 10X numbers are essentially meaningless- don't assume they are actual 'cash' prices.

Here's a related discussion of cash pricing at hospitals that examines some of what's being questioned in your bill; 8/6/18, 5:59 AM
Jaq said...: Then we have to take them by the hand and lead them to the water and teach them to drink! If you have a millennial in your family, take their early ballots, fill them out and mail them in, or take the ballot to the voting place and give it to the officials... no more worrying! - Peter Fonda

Maybe I will do that! Except my millennial children are so worried that Johnny won’t be able to get his dick cut off in a moment of psychological crisis in a treatment as barbaric as frontal lobotomy that they will be sure to vote.; 8/6/18, 6:16 AM
Robert Cook said...: ”That bankruptcy study was also flawed. If you are going to go bankrupt for one reason or. other, you include every single debt you owe. Likely some of them will be medical bills. That doesn’t mean that the medical bills drove that person to bankruptcy unless you are Elizabeth Warren. I am not doubting that there are people who have been bankrupted by medical bills, but we don’t know the real number and it is certainly much smaller than the numbers Democrats bandied about.”

Do you have data to support your assertion?; 8/6/18, 6:27 AM
narciso said...: Here are some details

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/18834/

Warrens coauthor recently resigned from uva presidency.

But this was the rationale behind Obama care and the consumer bureau; 8/6/18, 6:51 AM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Do you have data to support your assertion?

8/6/18, 6:27 AM

Yes he does, Robert Cook, which you will dismiss with your usual contempt. You always drag that one out and it's always a cunt move. Not even a dick move. You're just gasping for air.; 8/6/18, 6:52 AM
h said...: Robert Cook:

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1716604

Here's the abstract: "Though there is compelling evidence that medical expenses do cause bankruptcies in the United States, they may cause far fewer than has been claimed. Overemphasizing such events may distract from an understanding of the true nature of health-related economic hardship."

Here's a newspaper column describing the study https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2018/03/26/the-truth-about-medical-bankruptcies/?utm_term=.70079880e703

"The fraction of bankruptcies caused by medical events is just 4 percent. And even among those bankruptcies, it seems that medical bills may be less of a problem than the other things associated with an illness, such as lost labor income. In other words: Medical bankruptcy probably wasn’t nearly as big a problem as people thought when we were passing our giant new health-care program. And to the extent that it was a problem, Obamacare probably didn’t do much to fix it."; 8/6/18, 6:58 AM
Robert Cook said...: Bad Lt., how do you know he has supporting data? Has he shared it with you? If so, can you share it here? I can’t know if I
would dismiss it as I haven’t seen it. Maybe it’s legit. Maybe not. This is why one shows supporting information, so others can appraise it for themselves.; 8/6/18, 6:59 AM
Robert Cook said...: Thank you, h. I’ll read the linked information with interest.; 8/6/18, 7:00 AM
narciso said...: She's been a fraud for a long time

https://www.google.com/amp/s/legalinsurrection.com/2018/06/elizabeth-warrens-academic-claim-to-fame-may-be-no-more-legitimate-than-her-claim-to-be-native-american/amp/; 8/6/18, 7:18 AM
Hagar said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/6/18, 8:11 AM
Hagar said...: The insurance companies need to be taught a lesson so that they never will think of getting in bed with the government again.; 8/6/18, 8:12 AM
Michael K said...: Second, and more importantly, the cost without insurance is 10X that of with insurance. What is going on with that? Our regional hospital is in deep financial trouble, and is trying to sell itself. Why?

I didn't see this thread last night.

What we have in health care is price fixing by insurance companies and Medicare.

Doctors sign contracts and agree to accept Medicare which binds them to the price fixing. The same is true of hospitals and outpatient surgery centers. The "retail price" is inflated to make you think the insurance company is goiving you a good deal with the premium you pay.

Always look at the Medicare EOB. That is "Explanation of Benefits." It will tell you what was really paid by Medicare. Insurance contracts are "Trade Secrets" and you don't find out what was paid.

Medicare pays from 10 to 20% of billed charges. The doctor bills $100 and is paid $11.

Someone described an outpatient surgery where he paid "20%."

The bill came in, just for the facility, as $64,000 if I had no insurance. But, because I had insurance, the bill came in at $6,100. It's not clear yet whether other participants get other money too.

If you have a 20% copay, what often happens is that the 20% copay you pay may be more than the "80%" the insurance pays. They have a contract with the facility. The $64,000 is a number that has nothing to do with the real cost.

The amount the insurance company pays is a secret negotiated with the facility and which you are not entitled to see.

In order to do a cash business with real prices, the doctor and the facility must drop all insurance and Medicare.

Hospitals usually can't afford to do that and few outpatient facilities are willing to do so.; 8/6/18, 9:44 AM
mikeski said...: The "retail price" is inflated to make you think the insurance company is goiving you a good deal with the premium you pay.

Exactly. This is not the only industry that does this.

Read the fine print at the bottom of a jewelry-store ad sometime. Diamond necklace, 80% off! (...retail price may not reflect actual sales.)

i.e. "We'd never even try to sell it for 5 times the 'sale' price, because no moron would buy it."; 8/6/18, 2:13 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Blogger Robert Cook said...
Bad Lt., how do you know he has supporting data? Has he shared it with you? If so, can you share it here? I can’t know if I
would dismiss it as I haven’t seen it. Maybe it’s legit. Maybe not. This is why one shows supporting information, so others can appraise it for themselves.

8/6/18, 6:59 AM

My point is that this is your invariable go-to rejoinder when confronted with any factset which controverts your worldview. On occasion it is suitable; but to constantly throw it out there, as if the Althouse blogspot community had nothing better to do than to lie all the time, to always try and bluff you out of a position you have taken, is disagreeable. Essentially it is the same as you saying "Bullshit" anytime you don't like what you're hearing.

It also plays up your ignorance as you seem to develop your beliefs in the absence of such information, so, you're not getting all the information out there. But somehow it never stops you. It's not like you ever have or ever will say, "gee, I thought X buy you have shown Y, I guess I was wrong." So why waste time asking for proof? You are impervious to proof.

It's triply obnoxious as you are quite fond of making the boldest, baldest assertions without any backing except the vigor of your presentation.; 8/7/18, 1:21 PM