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Madkal posted:One thing the Trump presidency has done that will have lasting effects is the way the world views America now, which is a laughing stock. So while Trump goes for protectionism and "bringing back jobs" the rest of the world is now setting trade deals with each other instead of the States because no-one takes Trump at his word. There will be repercussions of this for years to come. Good job America. You are now the laughing stock of the world, and a real good job for any idiot voter who thought Trump would be good for your image. I was very fortunate to do the whole "backpack through Europe" for a month back in '09. I basically had a free drink everywhere I stopped because I was an American and had voted loudly and proudly for Obama. If I were to do the same today I think I'd invest in some Canada flag patches and ending sentences with "eh?"
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Oct 13, 2017 05:04
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Grammarchist posted:I was raised conservative, and there was a time where I might have been tempted by Trump. Obama brought me around, and lately I'm convinced he saved my soul in the process. I had to watch my entire town go from supporting Kasich and mocking Trump to BECOMING Trump, utilizing his insults and spewing his rage. I look at some of my family and I even see his God drat smirk when someone jokes about deportations. Same, friend. Just keep going left 
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Oct 13, 2017 05:09
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Grammarchist posted:I was raised conservative, and there was a time where I might have been tempted by Trump. Obama brought me around, and lately I'm convinced he saved my soul in the process. I had to watch my entire town go from supporting Kasich and mocking Trump to BECOMING Trump, utilizing his insults and spewing his rage. I look at some of my family and I even see his God drat smirk when someone jokes about deportations. Thank you for posting this is a really good story. Thanks for coming around too I guess 
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Oct 13, 2017 05:20
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PJOmega posted:I was very fortunate to do the whole "backpack through Europe" for a month back in '09. I basically had a free drink everywhere I stopped because I was an American and had voted loudly and proudly for Obama. Every time I travel abroad for work, cab drivers will hear my American accent and then very cautiously ask if I voted for Trump, and then after I answer "no" they look visibly relieved. Then they ask me about whatever horrible thing Trump did that day and ask how so many Americans can support him and I never know what to say. It's humiliating having him as our president.
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Oct 13, 2017 05:23
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Kale posted:Again I'm reminded of how hosed up and weird America's health care system is to the point where I really don't understand all these single payer vs. cost sharing subsidies or whatever. I just go to whatever health clinic or hospital and show them my insurance card and they scan it, charge me somewhere between $0 and $1000 depending on plan, procedure, time of day, zodiac sign, the receptionist's mood, etc, then you get the treatment eventually and somewhere from 1 month to 1 year later you get a bill for the remainder of the services that can be anywhere between $0-infinity that sometimes literally says "this is not a bill" and "you may not have to pay this" and if it is small enough and you can afford it you just pay it to be done with it and then in another month or year they send you another one because someone keyed in some poo poo wrong or something, I don't know, but you totally have to pay this, identical looking not-bill, what? you already did? maybe you don't have to pay, how the gently caress should I know?* Now you can imagine it. *Offer not valid if someone you've never heard of says so.
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Oct 13, 2017 05:24
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MickeyFinn posted:Now you can imagine it. You missed the part where you have to check whether the clinic is in-network and double-check whether you need pre-authorization from your doctor or insurance company.
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Oct 13, 2017 05:29
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Grammarchist posted:My understanding is that these are the CSR payments, not the Premium Tax Credits. I think the individual tax credits are secure barring a fillibusterable repeal vote due to the way the ACA is structured. Premiums will go up, but if you're receiving tax credits to pay for coverage those should go up to match the increase in the Silver Plan. I don't know if that's comforting or not. farraday posted:My understanding is that the CSR specifically targets silver plans for people 100%-250% of the poverty level with the goal of reducing or eliminating their deductible. Uh. Pretty sure the CSR is the thing that keeps my plan affordable. I guess I can look forward to paying 300 + per month for health insurance next year.
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Oct 13, 2017 05:30
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Ugh, Trump tapping the AccuWeather CEO to head the NOAA is terrible. If you're unaware, that CEO has wanted to disband the National Weather Service for years since it's "competition." The NOAA controls the NWS. Literally every decision he makes is the worst one.
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Oct 13, 2017 05:36
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DrNutt posted:Uh. Pretty sure the CSR is the thing that keeps my plan affordable. I guess I can look forward to paying 300 + per month for health insurance next year. I strongly recommend you take a close look at your plan. Because subsidies are based on silver plans it's possible that by removing CSRs it will cause subsidies to increase in a manner that would help you a lot if you were in a bronze plan. To put it another way, by making benchmark Silver plans more expensive this increases the subsidies, which don't apply solely to silver plans. Your increased subsidy may cover much more of a bronze plan than previously. Obviously talk to someone who is more adept at understanding the marketplace and your personal situation. farraday fucked around with this message at 05:50 on Oct 13, 2017 |
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Oct 13, 2017 05:48
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farraday posted:I strongly recommend you take a close look at your plan. Because subsidies are based on silver plans it's possible that by removing CSRs it will cause subsidies to increase in a manner that would help you a lot if you were in a bronze plan. I'm actually on a silver plan because I have type 1 diabetes and I don't want pay out the rear end for deductibles in order to use my insurance. I guess I will probably need to look into this a lot come November 1st. Gotta love the uncertainty of the Trump years. Alternatively, if any Canadians want to marry me and let me crash on their couch for awhile, I'm a great cook!
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Oct 13, 2017 05:53
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farraday posted:I strongly recommend you take a close look at your plan. Because subsidies are based on silver plans it's possible that by removing CSRs it will cause subsidies to increase in a manner that would help you a lot if you were in a bronze plan. Obviously talk to someone who is more adept at understanding the marketplace and your personal situation. If bronze plans actually drop in price by 10-15% because of Trump's stupid vengeful EO that would be pretty great. Maybe it would even cause a small surge of healthy people signing up and actually strengthens the ACA. Then, Trump will get super mad that he accidentally saved Obamacare and decides to try a "take backsies" EO that is laughed out of court so he can't even take credit for doing something that lowers healthcare costs. Trump's only failed upwards his entire life, maybe at least a small part of our healthcare system can siphon a bit of that incredible luck.
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Oct 13, 2017 05:55
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DrNutt posted:I'm actually on a silver plan because I have type 1 diabetes and I don't want pay out the rear end for deductibles in order to use my insurance. I guess I will probably need to look into this a lot come November 1st. Again I don't know your circumstances, but it's also possible the increased subsidies could make a gold plan a lot more affordable.
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Oct 13, 2017 05:57
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DrNutt posted:Uh. Pretty sure the CSR is the thing that keeps my plan affordable. I guess I can look forward to paying 300 + per month for health insurance next year. I'm not a health policy expert, but from brief googling it sounds like: I don't think the Trump administration's move ends the offering of the CSR plans to people making 100-250% of the federal poverty level. It just ends the payments to insurance companies who offer those CSR plans. So if an insurer were to stay in the market, they would still be required to offer the reduced price plans. So insurers will either pull out (I don't know when the earliest they can do this is), or increase the cost of silver plans (to make up for lost revenue from the subsidy). But the increased cost would be hidden partially by the tax credits I think?
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Oct 13, 2017 05:58
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Crows Turn Off posted:Ugh, Trump tapping the AccuWeather CEO to head the NOAA is terrible. If you're unaware, that CEO has wanted to disband the National Weather Service for years since it's "competition." The NOAA controls the NWS. loving Jesus Christ
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Oct 13, 2017 05:59
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DrNutt posted:I'm actually on a silver plan because I have type 1 diabetes and I don't want pay out the rear end for deductibles in order to use my insurance. I guess I will probably need to look into this a lot come November 1st. Do you qualify for the premium tax credits? I'm pretty sure the fear from this was that it would drive insurers out of the market, but if they stayed, they'd merely hike their premiums to compensate. You'd be in trouble if you were in a non-Medicaid expansion state or made too much to qualify for the tax credits, but if you're in that sweet spot you might be okay. This is what the Kaiser Foundation expected earlier this year during one of Trump's other tantrums: https://www.kff.org/health-reform/issue-brief/the-effects-of-ending-the-affordable-care-acts-cost-sharing-reduction-payments/ "Any systematic increase in premiums for silver marketplace plans (including the benchmark plan) would increase the size of premium tax credits. The increased tax credits would completely cover the increased premium for subsidized enrollees covered through the benchmark plan and cushion the effect for enrollees signed up for more expensive silver plans. Enrollees who apply their tax credits to other tiers of plans (i.e., bronze, gold, and platinum) would also receive increased premium tax credits even though they do not qualify for reduced cost-sharing and the underlying premiums in their plans might not increase at all."
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Oct 13, 2017 06:00
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Crows Turn Off posted:Ugh, Trump tapping the AccuWeather CEO to head the NOAA is terrible. If you're unaware, that CEO has wanted to disband the National Weather Service for years since it's "competition." The NOAA controls the NWS. He's the dude that wants to privatize weather services right? gently caress him
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Oct 13, 2017 06:04
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Not being familiar with this one: I'm compelled, yet really afraid to ask.
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Oct 13, 2017 06:04
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PainterofCrap posted:Not being familiar with this one: I'm compelled, yet really afraid to ask. http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/right-in-front-of-my-salad
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Oct 13, 2017 06:06
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It's difficult to grapple with the idea that the people around you have reprehensible ideas. It's even worse when you realize that you will probably never change their minds, no matter how much you try to reason and empathize with them. In the aftermath of the election, assholes were emboldened. They thought Trump's election vindicated all of their beliefs. Both of my parents voted Trump, even though one of their children isn't white. My dad knows I'm on the left, and he repeatedly insulted me and gloated about his victory. I've had the displeasure of meeting quite a few white supremacists in my life. I usually try to find common ground with people, earn their respect, and work on them from there. However, there's simply no common ground with these people. They're Wile E. Coyote running off the edge of the cliff, and they will never look down. It's easy to conclude that "nothing matters" when you're surrounded by these people. Most likely, nothing you say or do will win them over. It's very demoralizing to know that no matter how much you try to relate to them, they will respond with bad faith arguments. However, I've recently decided that I don't need to change their minds to make a difference. When someone makes a statement, and it goes uncontested, they assume that everyone else agrees with them. To many of these people, their political opponents are just straw men that they read about on the internet. By challenging their ideas, and stating your own beliefs, you can make their opposition real. A few days ago I had a very disheartening argument with someone. I repeatedly tried to find common ground with him, but he either didn't notice or didn't care. When I finally told him that I'm a leftist, he said "if you try to censor me, I will punch you." He didn't engage with anything I said. I was just a straw man to him. I thought about arguing more, but I knew he wasn't listening. Instead, I just said that he was making bad arguments on my behalf, and expecting me to defend them. He went quiet after that. I know that I didn't win the argument or change his mind. He was probably just tired of dealing with me. I'm hoping that he'll at least think twice before assuming that people agree with his lovely ideas. White supremacy is rooted in fear. White supremacists are afraid of people who are different from them, and they want to make everyone else feel the same fear. They know their ideas are unacceptable to most people, so they only share them when they think they're around like-minded people. I now realize that, by not challenging them, I've allowed them to carve out a small safe space for white supremacy. Trump has led these people to believe that all of America is a safe space for white supremacy. Your empathy, reason, and facts will probably never win these people over. However, you can still challenge them. Make them realize that their opposition is real, and that their hatred is STILL unacceptable.
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Oct 13, 2017 06:10
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Man. Trump accidentally making my health care more affordable going into 2018 would be, uh, not what I expected.
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Oct 13, 2017 06:10
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DrNutt posted:Man. Trump accidentally making my health care more affordable going into 2018 would be, uh, not what I expected. Don't worry, he may have just screwed you with no recourse as the legal wrangling leads to your insurer repeatedly loving with your plan. 
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Oct 13, 2017 06:13
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my bony fealty posted:Meanwhile in America, I found out yesterday that my exchange plan was 'expired' as of a week ago after I reported an income change; my insurer did not bother to notify me at all, no call no email no snail mail. I only found out when I tried to log in and check my payment status :v I think that's not legal. My previous expirations included big neon  "WE ARE REQUIRED TO KEEP YOU APPRISED OF PENDING DEVELOPMENTS REGARDING YOUR HEALTH PLAN WHICH IS WHY WE ARE SENDING YOU THIS INFORMATION"Maybe report it to the Trump administration's federal government. 
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Oct 13, 2017 06:14
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PJOmega posted:I was very fortunate to do the whole "backpack through Europe" for a month back in '09. I basically had a free drink everywhere I stopped because I was an American and had voted loudly and proudly for Obama. I volunteered at an animal rescue event this past weekend selling tshirts and pet accessories. After customers bought their items I would ask them if they would like a bag. Without fail, they asked "what?" I would respond with "a bag", but they thought I said "a beg" because of my Minnesotan accent. Our family is going to Mexico this year and I cannot wait to be an honorary Canadian when I party with some locals, because I sure as poo poo did not vote for Trump and I feel American less and less every day. I got really spoiled growing up in MN and I have expectations for how we should treat others and the Earth because of it. It constantly blows my mind that others do not function the same way when I read about Trump or republicans.
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Oct 13, 2017 06:15
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PainterofCrap posted:Not being familiar with this one: I'm compelled, yet really afraid to ask. It's from exactly what you think it's from
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Oct 13, 2017 06:16
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CBO’s analysis of ending funding for CSRs https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/918684022129049601
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Oct 13, 2017 06:18
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PJOmega posted:I was very fortunate to do the whole "backpack through Europe" for a month back in '09. I basically had a free drink everywhere I stopped because I was an American and had voted loudly and proudly for Obama. It is easy just do like we did under Bush and just say "NOOO TRUMP" with a sad face. All over the world everyone understands the that the people don't always like their leaders.
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Oct 13, 2017 06:19
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C2C - 2.0 posted:CBO’s analysis of ending funding for CSRs
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Oct 13, 2017 06:20
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Uganda Loves Me posted:It's difficult to grapple with the idea that the people around you have reprehensible ideas. It's even worse when you realize that you will probably never change their minds, no matter how much you try to reason and empathize with them. In the aftermath of the election, assholes were emboldened. They thought Trump's election vindicated all of their beliefs. Both of my parents voted Trump, even though one of their children isn't white. My dad knows I'm on the left, and he repeatedly insulted me and gloated about his victory. This is very well expressed, and thanks for writing it. I couldn't have written it out that well, and it is something I strongly agree with.
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Oct 13, 2017 06:21
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Josh Lyman posted:Why would the deficit increase? No idea, honestly.
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Oct 13, 2017 06:24
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Josh Lyman posted:Why would the deficit increase? Because CSR is separate from the subsidies, so while CSR only effects silver plans for 100 to 200% of the fpl, subsidies increase for everyone. quote:Because the tax credits would increase when premiums for silver plans rose, the agencies estimate that the average subsidy per person receiving premium tax credits to purchase nongroup health insurance would increase. Increases in those tax credits for people with income between 100 percent and 200 percent of the FPL would roughly offset the reductions in CSR payments. However, increases in premium tax credits for those with income between 200 percent and 400 percent of the FPL would substantially exceed the small reductions in CSR payments for this group. farraday fucked around with this message at 06:28 on Oct 13, 2017 |
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Oct 13, 2017 06:24
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Josh Lyman posted:Why would the deficit increase? Government subsidies lawfully have to increase with the cost of the subsidised set of plans. This leads to the government spending more money as the cost of the plans increases, which is pretty much guaranteed when the cost sharing payments stop. Either way the insurance companies get paid. it's just that one way results in a stable market with enough cash to cover the risk pool, and the other leads to a death spiral. Guess which one trump chose.
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Oct 13, 2017 06:24
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Really looking forward to the rhetorical fallout on this EO. Like, it may actually result in people being able to buy insurance who could never have afforded private insurance before! Spoiler: It covers like, flu shots. And only during flu season.
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Oct 13, 2017 06:29
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The death spiral might just mean that silver plans go through the roof while bronze plans get cheaper. Basically everyone gets a universal bronze plan (which is still expensive and kinda crappy) and only the rich get silver and gold plans. The ironic thing is that this will eventually really screw over the 40-64 age bracket making 60-120kish per year who buy silver plans or gold plans i.e. Trumps main demographic.
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Oct 13, 2017 06:36
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Crows Turn Off posted:Ugh, Trump tapping the AccuWeather CEO to head the NOAA is terrible. If you're unaware, that CEO has wanted to disband the National Weather Service for years since it's "competition." The NOAA controls the NWS. "I'd *like* to do something about climate change, I *would*! But the jury's still out, and the oil companies are *such good sponsors* of banner ads on our app and website!"
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Oct 13, 2017 06:40
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Heck Yes! Loam! posted:Government subsidies lawfully have to increase with the cost of the subsidised set of plans. This leads to the government spending more money as the cost of the plans increases, which is pretty much guaranteed when the cost sharing payments stop. Either way the insurance companies get paid. it's just that one way results in a stable market with enough cash to cover the risk pool, and the other leads to a death spiral. Guess which one trump chose. So now that Trump has done this, Republicans are going to point to the rising deficit and say "see, Obamacare is destroying the budget and piling debt onto our children, we have to get rid of it now!" and just hope that voters don't make the connection between Obamacare's rising costs and the end of CSRs.
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Oct 13, 2017 06:48
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Queering Wheel posted:So now that Trump has done this, Republicans are going to point to the rising deficit and say "see, Obamacare is destroying the budget and piling debt onto our children, we have to get rid of it now!" and just hope that voters don't make the connection between Obamacare's rising costs and the end of CSRs. And the Democrats won't be able to retort in a way that doesn't require addenda, charts, and a twenty-seven word title using words whut sound like they's better than us.
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Oct 13, 2017 06:55
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Uganda Loves Me posted:It's difficult to grapple with the idea that the people around you have reprehensible ideas. It's even worse when you realize that you will probably never change their minds, no matter how much you try to reason and empathize with them. In the aftermath of the election, assholes were emboldened. They thought Trump's election vindicated all of their beliefs. Both of my parents voted Trump, even though one of their children isn't white. My dad knows I'm on the left, and he repeatedly insulted me and gloated about his victory. I really don't have much to add to this, as it's pretty much perfect. I would like to emphasize that challenging people is important, even if it doesn't yield direct results. This is especially true if there's an audience, as any political neophytes sitting on the fence need to see these ideas challenged as well. You generally can't reason someone out of a position they didn't reason themselves into, but if given enough opportunities to accidentally gain perspective, there is still potential for redemption on an individual level if not on a mass scale. For my part, I fell pretty far into the neo-confederate iconography of my environment. I loved history, and popular Civil War history is rife with books by conservative authors "challenging the liberal consensus" about slavery. I dodged the Ayn Rand bullet, but boy howdy did I have some things to say about "State's Rights and traditional values and that one black confederate dude" until well into college. There was never any one, "Aha!" moment that broke me. The realization that Lincoln was basically a socialist made hiding behind "Party of Lincoln!" harder to justify internally. The realization that the Confederacy was actually pretty tyrannical to WHITES as well opened me up to new levels of introspection that didn't trigger my "being blamed for slavery!" alarms. Moving beyond that to my broader outlook, the original debates over the ACA in 2009 introduced me to the idea that public healthcare could be MORE EFFICIENT than the market. These forums actually helped me a great deal as well. This was one of the only sites I knew of growing up, as I didn't have internet until college. I lurked here because it was all I knew, and the effort posts of LF really caught me off guard. Sure, LF had problems and it was probably one of the reasons I was too intimidated to actually join the forums until much later, but good God did it challenge me. It's one thing to trade pre-packaged BS from Fox News panels. It's quite another to try to retort a detailed history of the Guatemalan Civil War, the American Prison System and farm workers drowning in lakes of pig poo poo. Partisan loyalty kept me Republican long after I flew to the left of Obama, but I eventually did break down and admit that Obama was probably the greatest American leader of my lifetime. After that, it was off to the races. I was free, for the first time in my life. It might be the latent Catholicism in me, but I still believe in the power of redemption. You can't save everyone, but if you try to not only debate, but educate in discussions, you might get something started. Failing that, it never hurts to show that the righteous are not without conviction. Grammarchist fucked around with this message at 07:00 on Oct 13, 2017 |
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Oct 13, 2017 06:58
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Fitzy Fitz posted:I've known a lot of these people. They need to be reminded of their income percentile.
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Oct 13, 2017 07:22
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Crows Turn Off posted:Ugh, Trump tapping the AccuWeather CEO to head the NOAA is terrible. If you're unaware, that CEO has wanted to disband the National Weather Service for years since it's "competition." The NOAA controls the NWS. It's not a bad decision. It is an openly malicious campaign to loot America and sell it to the highest bidder.
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Oct 13, 2017 07:22
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C2C - 2.0 posted:CBO’s analysis of ending funding for CSRs Does this give someone a tax break? Does anybody benefit from this in any way at all? It really seems like all it does is gently caress people over AND raise the deficit.
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