The Official Former President Trump thread

[carpetmonster]

1 minute ago, Henderson to deliver ..... said:

I reckon that they should give you a mock receipt every time you use the NHS. Similar to the medical bills in the US. Tell you how much it would have cost you.

This is a fantastic idea, and if instituted would result in the Tories having in the region of 14 MPs. 

[carpetmonster]

Just now, JamieThomas said:

Cartel is absolutely the right word. One of the bills had "anesthetist - $1400", then under it "anesthetist - $1400". Wee mistake? Nah, one was for the anesthetist, and one for his assistant. Was there an assistant? f**k KNOWS, SHE WAS KNOCKED OUT. An absolute scam, man. 

One of the line items from the birth was anaesthesia at $6k. I phoned the insurance to tell them my wife hadn't had any. Lady reassured me we'd paid our copay and didn't have to pay anything else. I repeated Mt Sinai were trying to bill for something that hadn't happened. She again reassured me we had no expenses outstanding. Lost my temper and explained brusquely that Mt Sinai were trying to bill the insurance for something that hadn't happened, and she needs to call her billing department to tell Mt Sinai to stick their bill up their arse (I did  actually say that) and issue them a new one so they're not paying for something that didn't exist. She seemed quite grateful but very surprised that I'd called it in. No wonder fucking premiums are so expensive. 

[welshbairn]

Posted a link to a story recently including someone in America getting billed $24 for one ibuprofen tablet. Pure theft. Highest expenditure per capita on the planet and one of the lowest life expectancies in the developed world.

Edited December 12, 2019 by welshbairn

[carpetmonster]

6 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

Posted a link to a story recently including someone in America getting billed $24 for one ibuprofen tablet. Pure theft. Highest expenditure per capita on the planet and one of the lowest life expectancies in the developed world.

Couldn't prove my blood type, because I'd left my donor card back in the UK - I knew full well I couldn't give blood in the US because they don't allow Brits because mad cow disease - so didn't see the point of taking it. Had to get a thumb p***k and a 1ml vial of blood drawn, for them to confirm I was O+. $82.50. 

 

ETA - really, it swearchecks p***k? Thumb test. Wee pointy thing. That one. 

Edited December 12, 2019 by carpetmonster

[Anonapersona]

7 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

Posted a link to a story recently including someone in America getting billed $24 for one ibuprofen tablet. Pure theft. Highest expenditure per capita on the planet and one of the lowest life expectancies in the developed world.

This is quite common.

Hospitals will charge a boatload for OTC medicines knowing that the insurance company will  have to pick up the tab.

[carpetmonster]

1 minute ago, MixuFixit said:

This is maybe a daft question but if health insurance/hospitals are mostly a cartel, are there any ethical versions? Hospitals that charge reasonable fees and insurers with reasonable excesses etc.? I mean wouldn't something like that be unbelievably popular?

There are hospitals that rely on charitable donations and don't charge the patient or family - St Jude's Children's Research is the biggest one nationwide, and I *think* I'm right in saying Dan Marino Children's Hospital in Miami operates on the same auspice, but what the criteria would be to be able to go there or whatnot, I've no idea. 

[welshbairn]

4 minutes ago, MixuFixit said:

Aye I get that, but if we take it as true that hospitals are massively overcharging for their services and insurers are passing that on to their customers, what is stopping a hospital charging profitable but lower fees (a cooperative rather than a plc), wouldn't everyone and their dog switch to them?

 

[carpetmonster]

6 minutes ago, MixuFixit said:

Aye I get that, but if we take it as true that hospitals are massively overcharging for their services and insurers are passing that on to their customers, what is stopping a hospital charging profitable but lower fees, wouldn't everyone and their dog switch to them?

Again, it's part of the facade tho. The blood test that I got that was $82.50 - the insurance company won't pay that, they'll have a set rate that they'll pay the hospital for routine shit like that, let's say it's $30. If you had no insurance, you'd be looking at the $82.50. An ER cannot refuse to treat you, so if you walk in with your leg hanging off, they'll sew it back on, give you a bill for 50 grand and you'll declare bankruptcy, because if you had 50 grand, you'd have insurance. It's really pernicious when you take chronic conditions into account tho. This is why the Obamacare bit about insurers having to accept people with pre-existing conditions - that the Republicans are now tryng to remove - was so vital. A Ventolin inhaler will cost you about $300 over the counter, and until then, insurers were well within their rights not to cover asthmatics. I can't even begin to think about if you've had prior heart problems, beaten cancer once before etc etc. 

Edited December 12, 2019 by carpetmonster

[killiepiemuncher]

What a fucked up country. God bless the NHS.

[JamieThomas]

1 hour ago, killiepiemuncher said:

What a fucked up country. God bless the NHS.

The ex-NHS. 

[BFTD]

I've probably mentioned this before, but the wife's aunt and uncle stayed married for over a decade after they split up, as she wouldn't have been covered by his work insurance anymore, and has a serious heart condition that requires regular medication costing thousands of dollars per month. No insurer would have touched her, so she'd have died.

Thankfully, the wife's uncle isn't a cock, and pretended they were still together. Eventually he ended up in another relationship, but she knew they wouldn't be getting married.

The American Dream.

[Detournement]

What a guy

[HTG]

On 12/12/2019 at 20:22, carpetmonster said:

One of the line items from the birth was anaesthesia at $6k. I phoned the insurance to tell them my wife hadn't had any. Lost my temper and explained brusquely that Mt Sinai were trying to bill the insurance for something that hadn't happened, and she needs to call her billing department to tell Mt Sinai to stick their bill up their arse (I did  actually say that). 

You'd want to get an estimate before you went ahead with the arse insertion tbh. 

[NotThePars]

On 12/12/2019 at 20:26, welshbairn said:

Posted a link to a story recently including someone in America getting billed $24 for one ibuprofen tablet. Pure theft. Highest expenditure per capita on the planet and one of the lowest life expectancies in the developed world.

 

Now the Tories have five years here the US will expand on the idea that the rest of the world is freeloading off American innovation and generosity and start hiking medicine prices abroad.

[RiG]

No one going to mention this beautiful letter?

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Letter-from-President-Trump-final.pdf

[harry94]

1 minute ago, MixuFixit said:

Does any of this matter? He can only be impeached if senate votes for it, and the republican senators have no reason to vote for it, right?

Hillary turned up to the Benghazi Hearings and gave a brilliant performance and the matter resolved with her pretty much being exonerated for the specific accusations made. It still had a negative impact on her polling with the Republicans getting a lot of free air time to further cement her negative qualities. If the Democrats hit the right tone, it could be pivotal to their election hopes.

In the background, there's court proceedings ongoing to get evidence obtained in the Mueller investigation and accountants have been ordered to turn over Trump's  (and I think his close circle) affairs with Deutsche Bank to Congress and have been appealed all the way to the supreme court. It looks as if the timing of these cases would resolve around the time that the senate would vote on it. The Deutsche Bank stuff in particular could be damaging to the extent that does give the Republicans in the Senate an urgent reason to do something ahead of the election.

[Granny Danger]

1 hour ago, RiG said:

No one going to mention this beautiful letter?

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Letter-from-President-Trump-final.pdf

Sad lack of “bigly” in that letter.

More seriously, if he’s writing this to impress his base then he’s wasting his time.  20 words (two syllables or less) on a post it note would be far more effective.

[welshbairn]

The Republicans will spin it to daft conspiracy theories like the Ukrainians hiding the DNC servers, it all depends on how clearly the Dems can crystallise hard evidence of wrongdoing into simple soundbites and have it echoing to undecided voters over the cacophony of diversionary nonsense. There's no chance of it succeeding in the Senate of course, and it will probably harden his base, portraying Daddy as a victim, but if the Dems can finally get behind a half decent, credible candidate (no idea who), it could provide some useful and undeniable ammo for the campaign. I'd love  Deutsche Bank to come out with some serious criminal dirt, but I fear that if there was anything more than unethical practices it would have come out already, and ethics don't matter anymore.

[doulikefish]

Trumps live tweeting the debate [emoji23]

[BFTD]

What do we think would be the low-end offence for a roughly-split Senate to kick a president out of office?

Asking a foreign government to help him win an election clearly doesn't come close. I'm guessing the Republicans wouldn't care if he was proven to be a massive tax fraud either ("this is between the president and the IRS").