RE: https://mastodon.social/@randahl/116175436728032886

Good odds midterms will be hijacked or cancelled, you know?

#uspoll

Historic Shift: Americans Sympathize More with Palestinians for First Time Ever

https://www.palestinechronicle.com/historic-shift-americans-sympathize-more-with-palestinians-for-first-time-since-2001/

#palestine
#gaza
#USpoll
#israelForeverTerrorist
@[email protected]
@palestine
@gazanotice

The Republican method of handling the government shutdown kept giving me feelings of déjà vu. Where have I seen this behavior before?

It's a hostage situation where the terrorists are killing the hostages off one by one until their demands are met.

Except the hostages are governmental programs and us.

#USPoll

I know non-U.S.ians know that U.S. healthcare is insanely expensive. But it occurs to me that the term "health insurance" is probably masking just how insane. Because our health insurance, unless you work for a company with a good program, does not actually pay for most of my health.

I pay $1900/month for a silver plan for two people. That includes some dental insurance, which basically covers cleaning and maybe a cavity or two. The main difference between the bronze, silver, and gold plans is the deductible. What's the deductible? It's how much you have to pay before the insurance actually does anything. My deductible is $2500, or $5000 for the two of us. Once we hit that, the insurance will start paying for (most) of our medical expenses. Before that, it covers most of the cost of meds, some preventative stuff like vaccines, and basic office visits with my primary care doctor. For everything else we pay the cost the insurance provider has negotiated with the hospitals. Which is a lot cheaper than the retail price, but still expensive.

Last year we had a bronze plan, which has a $5000 deductible. I switched to silver because last year it would have helped. But this year I didn't have as many doctor visits, so I still haven't got the deductible.

So far this year, with neither of us having any major medical expenses...mainly consults and meds (which don't count towards the deductible)...

Total expenses (us+insurance): $12,000
Total I've paid: $1500
Amount towards deductible: $0

There's also an "out of pocket" maximum which would trigger them paying for everything. That's $9,200 each. So far we've spent $3,200 toward that.

So needless to say, the insurance company is winning this game. I've paid them more than I spent. And of course a very large percentage of that didn't go to healthcare. It went to the insurance company, and the intermediaries between the insurance company and the doctors

But here's the catch. If I paid out of pocket without insurance, my cost wouldn't be $12,000. It would be far far higher. Because they negotiated rates for meds and visits that I can't access without insurance. This is why national healthcare system would be far far cheaper. But that's socialism. And this country only does fuck you capitalism.

So either way I'm screwed. The house always wins.

P.S. Two years ago I had a fall in Mexico. I spent 24 hours in a private hospital. I got two CAT scans, three visits, an ultrasound, a bunch of drugs via IV, and meds. It cost me $1200. In the U.S. it would have easily been ten times as much.

P.P.S. Also, none of the available insurance plans cover newer meds that don't have generics. We have one that costs us $500/month. That doesn't even show up in those costs because we had been ordering it online from Turkey. But with the tariff changes and removing the de minimus rules on international packages, that's no longer possible. So that's going to be another $6000 per year.

#USPoll #Healthcare

When the President of the United States admits he can’t distinguish between television and reality, that’s not a “both sides” story, or a cute anecdote not worth mentioning. When someone claims to have reduced costs by 1500%, that’s not a matter requiring expert consultation—it’s a mathematical impossibility. When military officials discuss summarily executing civilians, that’s not a policy debate—it’s war crimes. #USpoll

https://www.techdirt.com/2025/09/30/the-mainstream-media-is-catastrophically-failing-to-meet-the-moment/

There always is a Tweet! #USpoll

https://mastodon.social/@VeroniqueB99/115298845472975898