Ocasio-Cortez's rise reveals rampant economic illiteracy in US

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
The lack of affordable housing in Washington is no joke, but the predicament also speaks to the young lawmaker’s financial literacy — or lack thereof. The 29-year-old didn’t think to consider something as basic as the relocation expenses of a new job opportunity.

If she doesn’t know how much an apartment costs, how much confidence should taxpayers have in her ability to effectively deliver trillions of dollars in campaign promises?

Ocasio-Cortez has proposed free "Medicare for All," free college tuition, guaranteed federal employment at $15 an hour and free houses for the nation’s poorest. These ideas have been conservatively priced at $40 trillion — twice as much money currently listed on the national debt.

It’s the kind of extremist proposal you’d expect to hear from someone who has never made a budget, never been responsible for a business and payroll and never had taxes deducted from a hard-earned paycheck. It's the kind of proposal you've heard from Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro and Hugo Chavez before him.




Ocasio-Cortez's rise reveals rampant economic illiteracy in US
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
Forget the cost and the Socialist aspect of it. What dummies seem to disregard is the quality of care they'll get with government funded health care. Anyone who's been in the military can tell them exactly what it's like. They can look at the quality of care in countries that DO have government funded health care.

Why are people so stupid???
 

This_person

Well-Known Member
Why are people so stupid???

:shrug:

Why are people so stupid????? Honestly, why?
Such a deeply, deeply philosophical question. And yet so frequently asked as to be nearly universal.
There are a multitude of reasons why people are so stupid, which partly explains stupidity's enduring popularity as an abundant element of the universe. So we'll list 'em, scientifically, and in no particular order.
Reason #1: Stupidity works.
...
Reason #2: Other People Aren't Stupid - But You Are.
...
Reason #3: It's not that you're stupid - you're just stupid!
...

They made a website (three pages, actually) just to try and answer that question.

Spoiler alert - it's stupid.
 

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
My heart breaks when I hear the horror stories about how our vets are treated.

Saw that far too up close and personal back some years when I had to travel to Florida on an emergency basis to literally rescue my grandfather from a military hospital. The condition I found him in after being called and told he had only days to live was deplorable...disgusting..

The rescue mission was successful; he live another 8 enjoyable years, eventually losing to cancer. He even got back in to racing sailboats and won several local regattas.
 

mAlice

professional daydreamer
Health care over all has gone to ####. I don't even go to the doctor anymore. I've given up. Unless I'm bleeding to death, or have a broken bone, I don't need a doctor. I'll figure it out myself. The last good doctor I had was in MD, and she retired to home school her daughter. Doctors offices have become nothing more than a way to leech off insurance companies, and take your co-pay. They don't give a rats ass about your health. Hubby had a recent doc appt, arrived to a packed waiting room, waited half the day to spend 5 minutes with the doc.
 

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
Doctors offices have become nothing more than a way to leech off insurance companies, and take your co-pay. They don't give a rats ass about your health. Hubby had a recent doc appt, arrived to a packed waiting room, waited half the day to spend 5 minutes with the doc.

That's the MedStar business model in a nutshell.

My missus has taken a thyroid medicine in pill form since her 30s. The need has never changed, the prescription has never changed, and the pills cost her 50 cents a month with her drug card..$10 a month without it. But now..under MedStar's money harvesting policies, her doctor (whose practice/office was bought out by MedStar like everyone else has been) insists she has to show up for a physical and blood tests before they'll renew her prescription. She is effectively being "forced" to burn off her covered once-a-year "wellness" visit, or spend $200 out of pocket for the visit and roughly $1000 for the blood testing, just to get her $6/year medication renewed.

Utter BS. That is NOT "health care" in any way, shape or form. The legal term for that is "extortion", pure and simple.
 

officeguy

Well-Known Member
If you can't figure out how to rent an apartment in DC on a 174k salary, you probably shouldn't get anywhere close to a place where you can make decisions on other peoples finances.
 

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
That is why I followed my doctor when she left after MedStar took over that practice.

Her previous doctor quit practice soon after Obamacare passed and went in to effect. So after much aggravation, she found a new one. A year or so later...that one's office was bought by MedStar. Since then, her searches to find yet another doctor have been fruitless. We're now looking for "back door" ways to purchase her thyroid medication. Problem with that approach is..her medication is so darned cheap that it does not appear in the lists of meds available through on line sources that are probably getting them via Canada or Mexico. Probably not worth their trouble.
 

PsyOps

Pixelated
Anyone who's been in the military can tell them exactly what it's like.

The one thing to consider about military (active duty and retirees) healthcare is that it's managed by a private company called TriCare. Our providers are largely NPs or doctors on a military installation. Many of the referrals have become largely off-base providers. My wife's primary care provider is a private doctor. The biggest complaint I have is getting appointments. Sometimes there is a long wait time. But if it's something more serious, and don't want to wait, I simply go to an ER. TriCare has been good for me.

But TriCare is centrally focused on a single group of people in this country that makes up a small part of our population. And it is not run by the government; it's only funded by the government. It's run by the military. Yes, the military is a part of our government but, it's our own taking care of our own.

There are about 2.3 million people serving in our military. There are about 2.3 million retirees. This is a small number compared to what a universal healthcare system that has to cover 330 million people. Our government is not designed to provide healthcare to that many people.

Now, if you're talking about the VA... they are a government-funded self-sustaining healthcare provider directly run by the government. Personally I think veterans that are not retirees should be put under TriCare. The VA proves that government-run healthcare fails in this country. I can't imagine what it would look like with 330 million people.
 

stgislander

Well-Known Member
PREMO Member
Her previous doctor quit practice soon after Obamacare passed and went in to effect. So after much aggravation, she found a new one. A year or so later...that one's office was bought by MedStar. Since then, her searches to find yet another doctor have been fruitless. We're now looking for "back door" ways to purchase her thyroid medication. Problem with that approach is..her medication is so darned cheap that it does not appear in the lists of meds available through on line sources that are probably getting them via Canada or Mexico. Probably not worth their trouble.

90 pills of .075mg Levothyroxine for $21.49 from Canada.
 

RoseRed

American Beauty
PREMO Member
Her previous doctor quit practice soon after Obamacare passed and went in to effect. So after much aggravation, she found a new one. A year or so later...that one's office was bought by MedStar. Since then, her searches to find yet another doctor have been fruitless. We're now looking for "back door" ways to purchase her thyroid medication. Problem with that approach is..her medication is so darned cheap that it does not appear in the lists of meds available through on line sources that are probably getting them via Canada or Mexico. Probably not worth their trouble.

Mine eventually left medicine also. Fortunately, I'm pretty healthy so I hardly ever go to the doctor. Good luck getting your wife's meds!
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
But now .. under MedStar's money harvesting policies, her doctor (whose practice/office was bought out by MedStar like everyone else has been) insists she has to show up for a physical and blood tests before they'll renew her prescription.

My Doctor does something similar ... tbh however I am on 2 Blood Pressure meds, something for Blood Sugar and Gout
 

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
My Doctor does something similar ... tbh however I am on 2 Blood Pressure meds, something for Blood Sugar and Gout

I can see more justification for requiring more regular or frequent monitoring of conditions that have the potential to a) get worse fairly rapidly and b) have significant risks for really serious/major health emergencies, like a heart attack or stroke. In my wife's case...it's simple a lifelong nuisance condition that is very static in nature.
 
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