That'll do photo shoot. That'll do.
The Ukranian kid scares me a little.
OT: "Her insurance will pay through 11/15, so I guess we won't be releasing her today." Oh, okay, good to know this is child-focused treatment!
OT: What kind of bullshit is this?
As far as I can tell, the horribly named Keeping the Affordable Care Act Promise Act means neutering everything the ACA is about. Why on earth is Merkley, in particular, on board with this? I'd have preferred that Bill Clinton kept his mouth shut on this, frankly. His latest statement that the law should be changed to allow people to keep their current plans is completely nonsensical.
Whew. I honestly didn't expect to be exercised overly much about something today, but this is absurd and idiotic.
Eh, I'm not so worked up over it. I'm sure they won't be able to enroll new people in their shitty plans. It's just currently healthy people who don't realize how shitty their plans are. Then when the healthy people get sick, they can go on the exchange and get a real plan because yay, no denial of coverage.
It's stupid all around but not that big a deal, I think.
2 hijacks in 5 posts! A new record!
5, 6: Isn't the really important thing about these laws that everyone knows none of them will pass?
6: Eh? No, encouraging and allowing people to stay on their existing plans will drain people from the risk pool(s) in the exchange-mediated plans. It would lead to increased rates in exchange plans. It's a really, really bad idea, completely counter to the policy goals behind the ACA.
As I said, I have no idea why Merkley, and Bill Clinton, are behind such an idea.
3: Insane. Sending good vibes your way.
10: Things are actually pretty good for the kiddo, just not so great on the hospital communication front. I'm off to visit and see if her teacher is on the approved list to visit yet, since she'll be staying longer.
Look, one of the principal complaints of people with current coverage whose plans are being phased out is that they were previously able to purchase a sort of cafeteria plan: my plan didn't cover maternity care! Or it didn't cover contraception. Or prostate testing or whatever, which was fine, because I'd never need those things.
People who were buying those plans for less money liked the idea of a cafeteria-style menu. The ACA pretty much eradicates that option, by mandating a slate of essential benefits to be provided by all plans.
That's part of what's at issue here. The ACA argues that people have been snookered, badly, in the past by plans that didn't cover things they thought it would, so the ACA mandates a basic package. There could be tweaks, in future, to the basic package of essential benefits that are mandated. Sure. But as of now, a fix that allows people to stay on a cafeteria-style plan is a very big step backward.
11: Charley, I have no idea what you mean by "triangulation" in this context. Is Bill Clinton (or Merkley) triangulating something or other? How? What??
No, encouraging and allowing people to stay on their existing plans will drain people from the risk pool(s) in the exchange-mediated plans.
It's the same insurance companies. The actual companies don't separate out their risk pools according to where someone signed up.
What? They certainly charge different premiums according to where somebody signed up.
I mean, they probably do, but it doesn't compromise the premise of Obamacare, the way it would have if the mandate had been struck down.
Norden is a future Wolf Cub College student, for sure. Frog doll, homework, and a shy smile? That's practically on the application.
14: I think he means Clinton is splitting the difference between the Republicans and the administration, without necessarily paying close attention to the actual impact of the policy he's proposing. Clinton's fundamentally a campaigner more than a wonk.
17 before seeing 16. Letting people keep their old shitty plans doesn't sabotage the part of universal coverage where you need healthy people participating.
Sure, people can stay on their old shitty plans, and those plans will gradually become extinct (oh gee, I want to have a baby, better get a new plan) instead of all at once.
14 --Parsi, certain people have come to the conclusion that association with the ACA as sold and then implemented is a political liability. So they, or their husbands, are going around disassociating themselves with its implementation. They don't have to actually change the implementation to accomplish, completely, their goal of de-linking themselves to the negative aspects. They need only say 'it was a good idea, as the President explained it, but once I saw that it wasn't what he said it would be, I stepped up to fix it.'
20 makes sense, but it will take some years to kick in.
Don't get me wrong, I think the "fix" is stupid. I'm just saying that it's not going to unravel everything.
14: Obama doesn't need to worry about being reelected -- these Senators do. By supporting these bills they can insulate themselves from some possible lines of attack. As for Bill Clinton -- I'm not sure if he's trying to help his spouse, or just being a dick.
Knowing what I know about Wolf Cub College, I want to make gentle love to 18. Also, if it turns out that the ACA dies because of some toxic combination of Barack Obama's staggering incompetence, Bill Clinton's meddlesome triangulation, the American people's profound ignorance, and the GOP's obstructionism, that would represent the perfect coda to my love-hate relationship with politics.
Someone said recently - maybe Stormcrow? - that the basic problem is that if you don't realize you've got shitty coverage until you need it, and so all these healthy people don't realize how awful their plans are.
Meanwhile my yearly deductible is going up to 2K. (From 1K, I think.)
I'm paying for a gold-plated health plan. I really should go get my many problems fixed.
I have shitty dental insurance, but I think I will probably get a crown before I go see a doctor.
I'm probably going to enroll in a gold plan, because I actually use my insurance coverage. Luckily I'll qualify for a subsidy, so even a gold-level plan will save me many bucks over what I currently pay.
30: Can you find a reporter to do a story about you? Seriously!
I will probably get a crown before I go see a doctor.
This is America, Moby: dressing up like royalty isn't going to get the doctor to treat you special.
31: Um. I think I'm representative of a lot of people. Where would you want to see reporting on the benefits of the ACA? Realize I'm in a state that's not part of the federal exchange(s) that are having so much trouble. I'm happy to write to MD-specific outlets with my story.
Most of the people who are complaining about things aren't eligible for a subsidy, so my case doesn't really apply.
15: If they're paying premiums based on good health status, or leaving out various benefits, then they're not participating sufficiently to cross-subsidize.
Today I paid a moderately annoying amount of money out-of-pocket for a CAT scan ordered by a doctor my dentist referred me to. I'm confused about whether insurance will reimburse any of it, or if I was supposed to get my primary care physician to refer me to the same person my dentist referred me to in order for my insurance to be okay with it, or what. Anyway, I blame Obama.
Hey Minivet you see the rolling jubilee story?
I should probably just send heebert a guest post.
Yes, but I'm curious what happened with the people trying to figure out their finances and organization.
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This is the best thing I've seen in ages.
http://the-toast.net/2013/11/13/gifts-giving-tree/
The Giving Tree gives, but not for free. Never for free.
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38: I don't know which people those are. Yves Smith?
39 is indeed good and I've never even read The Giving Tree. Very SCP-ish.
I have shitty dental insurance, but I think I will probably get a crown before I go see a doctor.
Is this just a very proud-American-republican way of saying "over my dead body"?
I'm impressed by how much of 39 is word for word from the original book. Not much at all had to be added.
That was such a shitty book. Hard to believe the guy who wrote it wrote good songs.
Random pointless question: Who is/was more of a neoliberal president, Barack Obama or Bill Clinton?
P.S. I am annoyed at the incompetency of Obamacare's rollout, but I am more annoyed that Democrats are abandoning ship. Stick it out, suck it up, and don't apologize for nothing. Some people are whining because their shit plans got cancelled and they're not allowed to be underinsured. Explain that loudly and clearly during every commercial break. Point out that if health insurance costs more than 9% (or whatever) of your income, you get a subsidy. If you were already paying less, then be grateful you got a good deal (temporarily, for you), and recognize you're getting a better one now. No matter how crappy or poorly rolled out it was, Obamacare is far better than the SQ or anything the Republicans were offering (Poor Houses? Dying in the Streets? Faith Healing?) Democrats need to be shouting that from the rooftops. Then channel the anger at insurance companies into a fight for single payer healthcare. Democrats need to go on the progressive offensive, and I think there's enough popular support in the country for that to work. Unfortunately the Dem establishment is ruled by a corrupt plutocracy which is economically to the Right of any Republican before Reagan, so that won't happen. Time to primary the likes of Feinstein et. al. from the Left, and see if we can't put the fear of Jesus Marx into them.
Time for some whiskey.
Re: 39, the Toast in general and Mallory Ortberg in particular are so, so great. Everyone should read her!
46: I think it's evidence that good comedy is written by really strange, messed-up people. Shel Silverstein being clever is magic. Shel Silverstein opening his heart to be meaningful and touching makes a sane person think "Oh, please close that thing back up and write me something else brittle and funny."
49: And that certainly works the other way around much of the time.
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I have a good working relationship with the provost and my chair, and separate responsibilities to both of them.
Is it bonkers to send a joint email that says "Uh, guys, I've reached the level of my incompetence*. I'm not sure where to cut back, but can you guys help me figure out where I can reduce my workload?"
*I really have. I'm telling people the wrong dates, forgetting deadlines that are right there in my calendar, generally dropping the ball. Trying to do too much when I'm too tired.
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Being overcommitted is not the same as reaching your level of incompetence. You have the skills to do all the jobs you have said you would do, you just don't have the energy.
Also, telling your boss you are overcommitted is a way easier thing to do.
Huh. I just had a conversation with a junior attorney telling her to yell for help when she saw that kind of trouble on the distant horizon, rather than toughing it out until she was actually screwing things up -- it'd be easier for me to manage her workload with more lead time rather than only hearing about a problem at the last minute. But I felt comfortable telling her that because she'd be complaining to me, and I trust me not to hold it against her unfairly, if you see what I mean.
I guess I'd do it orally, rather than in an email, and anything in writing I wouldn't be jocularly self-deprecatory, if you see what I mean.
Also, it might just be that time of the semester. I feel like my brain is going to dribble out my ears.
And exactly what rob said. Don't tell people you're incompetent, tell them you're overloaded. Very different.
Ok, good advice. So I can speak up about this.
It's true that it's definitely that time of the semester, though.
If you see what I mean see what I mean what I mean I mean. And I get paid to write.
Haha. I noticed over the past month that I've started incorporating "if you see what I mean" into my speech/writing and every time I realize that I'm adopting LB-speak. But it is a really great phrase for entreating someone to cooperate with your point of view.
Buck's got a freelance writer working for him who is also a hippie-type-therapist, who is very big on what sensory metaphors you use meaning a lot for the success or failure of communication. Someone who says "if you see what I mean" talking to someone who says "I hear you" is going to have problems. This sounds largely like horseshit to me, but I do notice it now (and notice that while most people have a strongly preferred sensory metaphor, I don't think I do, I'm all over the map.)
I have a friend who says, "I'm picking up what you're putting down." I like that one, but don't say it often.
For real, I say "Smells wrong" or "Smells off" all the time.
Sounds like hot, stinkin' trouble on the horizon.