Trump goes into PANIC in rare admission of defeat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHNfE3nvjAA
#TrumpisaLoser #MAGA #GOP #GQP #Republicans #Elections #Trump #RNC #TrumpIsALiar #Entitlements #SocialSecurity #Medicare #Medicaid
#medicare
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/rick-scott-debbie-mucarsel-powell-florida-senate
Could a #Democrat Beat #RickScott in #Florida’s #US #Senate Race?
Democrats are hoping Debbie Mucarsel-Powell can help them keep control of the Senate in 2024.
BY ABIGAIL TRACY
..."Whereas Scott is one of the wealthiest members of the US Senate, Mucarsel-Powell is an #immigrant who worked at a donut shop for minimum wage as a young teen in America; while Scott arguably made himself the face of the #Republican Party’s effort to gut entitlement programs, Mucarsel-Powell wrote the bill in the US House to expand #Medicare; and as Scott expressed support for federal #abortion restrictions and backed Florida’s six-week ban, Mucarsel-Powell continued to be an outspoken advocate for reproductive rights.
Democrats hope that Mucarsel-Powell is the right messenger for the moment. With the candidate being a Spanish-fluent Latina woman running for US Senate in Florida, Democrats argue that she is uniquely positioned to win back the support of the state’s Hispanic community, which the Democratic Party has bled in recent cycles. “Can Debbie find the money to be competitive, and can she change the numbers among Hispanics? I think the more that she can do [that], the more the money’s going to come,” said Schale, who worked on Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns in Florida. “I definitely think Florida’s trended Republican—I’m not an idiot. But I don’t think it’s gone from a state that Obama won by three or four points, or a state that was basically a dead tie five years ago in the governor’s race, to a 20-point Republican state overnight. It hasn’t happened. And a lot of that top of the ticket has been impacted by the fact that we’re doing terrible with Hispanics here.” ...
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/protect-yourself-from-medicare-advantage
7 Questions to Ask to Protect Yourself From #Medicare #Advantage #Scams
DIANE ARCHER
Nov 21, 2023
..."
DIANE ARCHER
Nov 21, 2023
During this Medicare Open Enrollment period, ask yourself these seven questions. And, please know that you can always call the Medicare Rights Center at 1-800-333-4114 or your SHIP—State Health Insurance Assistance Program—for free, unbiased advice on any of your Medicare questions.
...
In a Medicare Advantage plan, a corporate insurance company decides when you get care, often requiring you to get its approval first. Medicare Advantage plans also restrict access to physicians and too often second-guess your treating physicians, denying you needed care inappropriately. The less care the Medicare Advantage plan provides, the more the insurance company profits. You will pay more upfront in traditional Medicare if you don’t have Medicaid and need to buy supplemental coverage, but you are likely to spend a lot less out of pocket when you need costly care. Regardless of whether you stay in traditional Medicare or enroll in Medicare Advantage, you still need to pay your Part B premium.
Q. Should I trust an insurance agent’s advice about my Medicare options? No. Unfortunately, insurance agents are paid more to steer you away from traditional Medicare and into a Medicare Advantage plan, even if it does not meet your needs. While some insurance agents might be good, you can’t know whom to trust. Keep in mind that while Medicare Advantage plans tell you that they offer you extra benefits, you still need to pay your Part B premium, and extra benefits are often very limited and come with high out-of-pocket costs; be aware that many Medicare Advantage plans won’t cover as much necessary medical and hospital care as traditional Medicare."...
#Medicare Advantage overbills taxpayers by $140 billion a year—enough to wipe out Medicare premiums
By Jake Johnson -October 6, 2023
..."Bolstered by taxpayer subsidies, Medicare Advantage has seen explosive growth since its creation in 2003 even as it has come under fire for fraud, denying necessary care, and other abuses. Today, nearly 32 million people are enrolled in MA plans—more than half of all eligible Medicare beneficiaries.
Earlier this year, the Biden administration took steps to crack down on MA overbilling, prompting howls of protest and a furious lobbying campaign by the industry’s major players, including UnitedHealth Group and Humana. Relenting to industry pressure, the Biden administration ultimately agreed to phase in its rule changes over a three-year period.
Leading MA providers have also faced backlash from lawmakers for handing their top executives massive pay packages while cutting corners on patient care and fighting reforms aimed at rooting out overbilling.
As PNHP’s new report explains, MA plans are paid by the federal government as if “their enrollees have the same health needs and require the same levels of spending as their traditional Medicare counterparts,” even though people who enroll in MA plans tend to be healthier—and thus have less expensive medical needs.
“There are several factors that potentially contribute to this phenomenon,” PNHP’s report notes. “Patients who are sicker and thus have more complicated care needs may be turned off by limited networks, the use of prior authorizations, and other care denial strategies in MA plans. By contrast, healthier patients may feel less concerned about restrictions on care and more attracted to common features of MA plans like $0 premiums and additional benefits (e.g. dental and vision coverage, gym memberships, etc.). Insurers can also use strategies such as targeted advertising to reach the patients most favorable to their profit margins.”
A KFF investigation published last month found that television ads for Medicare Advantage “comprised more than 85% of all airings for the open enrollment period for 2023.”
“TV ads for Medicare Advantage often showed images of a government-issued Medicare card or urged viewers to call a ‘Medicare’ hotline other than the official 1-800-Medicare hotline,” KFF noted, a practice that has previously drawn scrutiny from the U.S. Senate and federal regulators.
PNHP’s report comes days after Cigna, a major MA provider, agreed to pay $172 million to settle allegations that it submitted false patient diagnosis data to the federal government in an attempt to receive a larger payment."...
Dr Cornel West Announces He's Running For President in 2024
Some key policy points i wrote down while listening:
* Abolitionism of #poverty and #homelessness
* Strong support for trade #unions
* #Medicare for all
* Indictment of #greed from the 1%
* #Decentralization
* End of mass incarceration
* Transformation of priorities from foreign #wars to helping poor people
#GQP - Business as usual
I.e., lies, fear/hate mongering, #disinformation, #sedition, #denial, #projection, gibberish and dog whistles, fueled by FoxMike Lee feigns shock at the suggestion of what he actually said... "facts are funny things".... And fact is, many #GQP / #TrumpVirus cultists are out to destroy the things dearest to most (non-billionaire) Americans. Be mindful, even if you'll be ridiculed as woke for seeing reality.
#SocialSecurity #MikeLee #USC #corruption #GQP #Medicare #Medicaid #democracy #retirement #seniors #dignity
Un-paywalled article on the status of the #GQP prospects for cutting basic American (paid for) senior care/security programs -
#SocialSecurity and #Medicare
Republicans are hardly unified on wanting to cut Medicare
Context for non-Americans: There are two programs for senior citizens/elderly, which are paid for by workers' taxes over their lifetimes. Separate from budgets, but some "conservative"/ "Tea Party" GOP'ers have long portrayed the system as broke(n), which it is not, and tried to loot 'the people's' senior safety net and benefits to fund their own projects, now depleted by their spending.
Anyway, not the title... "hardly unified" as of now, and that may be true of anything, beyond disruption and obstruction of #justice with regard to the #sedition aided and abetted by those now sitting on committees which were investigating their criminal behavior. whew!
We Should Try to Prevent Another #AlexJones
source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/16/opinion/alex-jones-sandy-hook.html
But we should also work hard at making the rest of #society work much better so that liars can’t do as much damage. I keep coming back to how people over 65 have higher rates of #vaccination, despite higher #FoxNews viewership and some in that age group having a greater propensity to believe #misinformation. That’s possibly because they are more motivated to brush off lies in light of the higher risk they face from Covid but perhaps also because #Medicare allows them to have medical providers they trust. Similarly, for example, regulating the supplement #industry — a common vehicle for #conspiracy and political grift — and having stricter standards on advertising claims might help, too.
The work of #civilization is not just discovering and unleashing new and powerful technologies; it is also regulating and shaping them and crafting norms and values through education and awareness that make societies healthier and function better. We are late to grapple with all of this, but late is better than never.
#fake #news #problem #media #finance #economy #internet #tracking #surveillance #money #technology #covid #corona #health
"Chiropractic care and acupuncture are recommended in numerous best practice guidelines as first-line treatments for pain. Both are increasingly covered in commercial health plans, and patients are seeking non-drug approaches to managing their pain and chronic diseases.
However, arbitrary limits on Medicare coverage mean that seniors — arguably one of the most important groups to consider when thinking about pain and chronic disease — don’t have access to the evidence-based, recommended care they deserve. The time is now for Congress to pass bipartisan legislation to create greater choice and better outcomes for patients, as well as projected cost savings to the system."
US-Repräsentantenhaus billigt Bidens Klimaschutz- und Sozialpaket | DW | 13.08.2022
Der US-Kongress hat ein milliardenschweres Investitions- und Steuerprogramm verabschiedet und Präsident Joe Biden damit einen wichtigen politischen Sieg beschert. Nach dem Senat sagte auch das Repräsentantenhaus Ja.#Repräsentantenhaus #USA #JoeBiden #NancyPelosi #Klimaschutz #Steuern #Medicare #Investionen #Inflation
US-Repräsentantenhaus billigt Bidens Klimaschutz- und Sozialpaket | DW | 13.08.2022
US could have saved 338,000 lives from Covid with universal healthcare, study finds
Report’s author says people died because US healthcare ‘leaves millions without adequate access to medical treatment’
Eric Berger
Thu 16 Jun 2022 08.36 EDT
The US could have saved more than 338,000 lives and more than $105bn in healthcare costs in the Covid-19 pandemic with a universal healthcare system, according to a study.
More than 1 million people died in the US from Covid, in part because the country’s “fragmented and inefficient healthcare system” meant uninsured or underinsured people faced financial barriers that delayed diagnosis and exacerbated transmission, the report states.
#guardian #healthcare #M4A #MedicareForAll #Medicare #Medicaid #US #ACA #AffordableCareAct #Covid #Covid19 #insurance #medical
● NEWS ● #CommonDreams #Medicare #Privatization #DonaldBiden ☞ 'Band-Aid on a Tumor': Critics Blast Biden Rebrand of Trump's Medicare Privatization Scheme https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/02/25/band-aid-tumor-critics-blast-biden-rebrand-trumps-medicare-privatization-scheme
● NEWS ● #TruthOut #healthcare ☞ Critics Blast Biden Rebrand of Trump's #Medicare Privatization Scheme https://truthout.org/articles/critics-blast-biden-rebrand-of-trumps-medicare-privatization-scheme/
● NEWS ● #CommonDreams #Medicare ☞ Opinion | On What Just Happened to Medicare for All in California—and the Organizing We Need to Win https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/02/08/what-just-happened-medicare-all-california-and-organizing-we-need-win
● NEWS ● #TruthOut #Medicare ☞ Medicare for All Bill Introduced by Pramila #Jayapal Gets Record 120 Cosponsors https://truthout.org/articles/medicare-for-all-bill-introduced-by-pramila-jayapal-gets-record-120-cosponsors/
● NEWS ● #CommonDreams ☞ #lizWarren Warns 'Corporate Vultures' Are Circling #Medicare on Biden's Watch https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/02/03/warren-warns-corporate-vultures-are-circling-medicare-bidens-watch
Beware of Medicare Advantage plans
The privatization of #Medicare has been lucrative for the industry. Medicare Advantage plans are more expensive but have not been shown to provide better health outcomes. That disparity grows wider every year. The added costs born by the public to fund the program are believed to add up to tens of billions of dollars.
#government #health #insurance #privatization
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-created-program-privatize-medicare-144256974.html
● NEWS ● #CommonDreams #Sanders ☞ Sanders Demands End to #Medicare Premium Hike From #Alzheimers Drug https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/01/26/sanders-demands-end-medicare-premium-hike-alzheimers-drug
