NASA is finally getting to the first all female spacewalk today. Better late than never, I guess.
36 thoughts on “October 18, 2019: Walkin’”
"No person should ever see a hospital bill that exceeds the assessed value of their house."* should be an uncontroversial statement. Yet we choose to selectively shield patients from financial devastation based on their ability to pay into a system that combines a Ponzi scheme with an extortion racket.
* Does not include the surgeon who performed life-saving emergency surgery, follow-up procedures, additional doctors, home health nurses, or medication.
Amen!
That's a rather extreme way of looking at it*
*and accurate
My dad used to be against subsidized health care except for disabled people. Then his business stopped doing well and he had an insanely priced private insurance with no annual income. He kept his business open, got on Medicaid, and now sings the praises of subsidized health care.
The narrative needs to be changed. "Your taxes will go up $5,000!!!!" Yeah, but if you end up saving $8,000 in premiums? I just wish everyone would employ their efforts on fixing the problem rather than spinning the narrative to damage their opponents. The polling numbers say over 50% of Americans support universal health care. It's not rocket science.
I struggle with that with my employees. They'll complain they have friends who make a higher salary somewhere else, but they don't have factor in the generous benefit package which in the long run saves them way more money.
I've always wondered why the small business angle isn't used more. I work for a large, now really large, company and they can spread out that risk over a lot of employees. Small businesses can't do that. Get everyone in the country on the same plan and suddenly, you don't have to care at all about that.
It's almost as if risk pooling makes sense!
got on Medicaid, and now sings the praises of subsidized health care.
Funny that my fil has the same revelation when he started going to the va for treatment. Though he feels like he earned his access where as those freeloadin’ do nothing .... / forbidden.
When we found out my father had advance Prostate Cancer we were in a panic, as he basically had no money and never had health insurance as a private citizen. He also flipped his stance on subsidized health care. Fortunately for him (and us), my brother called the VA to see if he qualified for any benefits. Turns out since he was in the Coast Guard through most of the Vietnam War, he qualified for benefits. I know the VA gets a bad rap, but the staff in the Oncology department at the VA were great. Both parents were buried at Fort Snelling National Cemetary which also was a benefit we were not aware of before. We were all a bit miffed with our Dad that he probably could have been getting check ups his last 10 years of life and his cancer may have been caught a lot sooner. Also, my Mother died at 49 yrs old (Liver Cancer) and due to no health insurance they waited wayyyy too long to see the doctors when she wasn't feeling right. Both these circumstance have made this whole health care issue very personal to me.
I never cease to be amazed by how many former service members don’t know a). that they’re Veterans, b). that they’ve earned and are entitled to benefits, c). VA health care is only one of those benefits and is more widely accessible than they realize, and/or, c). all of the above.
We’ll all get sick and we’ll all die. Too bad that most of us will go broke doing so.
My main argument when discussing this is look at everything else that we subsidize. We subsidize housing, gas, electric, fuel, farmers, food, etc etc. This shows we feel the bare necessities for life should be available to everyone regardless of income... except, of course, life itself. Seem a bit f#%ked up to me.
I wasn’t trying to be flip, rather the opposite. I think it’s shameful for large corporations to negotiate terms for us without any transparency. Furthermore, we’re constantly sold the bill of goods that this is the greatest healthcare system in the world while we pay more and wait longer for services than many people who live in industrialized nations with centralized heath care. The fact that part of being alive means that we will one day not be alive apparently is lost on a large enough portion of the electorate to keep us from moving towards a more equitable health care system.
Didn't take it that way at all. Was totally agreeing with you.
And hey, who doesn't like calling their insurance company when you get a big bill that doesn't make sense only to be told to call the hospital because they coded it wrong only to be told to call the insurance company because they should cover it only to be told to call the hospital because they coded it wrong only to be told to call...
If only I could deal with more red tape in my life!
You’re describing my latest brush with the medical industrial complex.
I would suggest that if you think more government involvement will equal less red tape, you may be mistaken.
I think in this case, removing the insurance layer is a whole lot less, government involvement or no
My guess is there wouldn't be much of that layer removed, but of course I have no way to prove that.
Letterkenny just announce a very big live tour next year. Unfortunately, no Minnesota shows. May have to arrange a road trip to Milwaukee.
Being too lazy to look, when are they in Milwaukee? I may be interested.
zm.x can pick you up on the way.
3/29. Pabst theatre
If this works, could be another nice chapter in the "bears are cool" book.
the elimination of a full one-quarter of minor league teams, including all short season and rookie-league ball. Major League Baseball would also demand that various minor leagues restructure, with some teams moving from Triple-A to Single-A and some Single-A teams moving to Triple-A. It also wants some leagues to add teams and other leagues to subtract teams, all with the aim of aligning leagues and affiliates, geographically, in a manner which suits Major League Baseball’s developmental needs better.
That's some big asks to simply change leagues or physically move.
At first blush, the reducing # of teams seems like a money grab through cost savings. They probably feel like they are paying a lot of minor league players who have less than a 3% chance of ever playing major league baseball. They have seen independent league teams house similar players and are able to pluck away the few who somehow were overlooked. Also, I wonder if they feel like there is growing public awareness of how they totally take advantage of the minor league players who are grossly underpaid and overworked. Maybe they feel like eventually they will be forced to pay more. Regardless of their greedy motives, this might be good for semi-pro and amateur baseball. More independent teams and/or leagues that have more consistent rosters with more locally tied players. If they get their way in the negotiations, the next 5 years will be like the wild, wild west.
Or, this might just be a negotiation ploy to get something else they want.
California has already gone after the NCAA trying to force them to allow athletes to earn money. I would be surprised if they don't eventually go after minor league teams to require them to meet some sort of minimum wage standard.
Can they? The federal law might already supercede anything they can do.
The whole governance structure is weird. MLB clubs own the players, but not the clubs. They sign deals with the clubs to develop players on their behalf and, I think? also control or have a big say in hiring/firing the coaches.
regarding the St Paul Saints angle of this story, would they even want to be in MiLB? They have it pretty good as an Independent team
"No person should ever see a hospital bill that exceeds the assessed value of their house."* should be an uncontroversial statement. Yet we choose to selectively shield patients from financial devastation based on their ability to pay into a system that combines a Ponzi scheme with an extortion racket.
* Does not include the surgeon who performed life-saving emergency surgery, follow-up procedures, additional doctors, home health nurses, or medication.
Amen!
That's a rather extreme way of looking at it*
*and accurate
My dad used to be against subsidized health care except for disabled people. Then his business stopped doing well and he had an insanely priced private insurance with no annual income. He kept his business open, got on Medicaid, and now sings the praises of subsidized health care.
The narrative needs to be changed. "Your taxes will go up $5,000!!!!" Yeah, but if you end up saving $8,000 in premiums? I just wish everyone would employ their efforts on fixing the problem rather than spinning the narrative to damage their opponents. The polling numbers say over 50% of Americans support universal health care. It's not rocket science.
I struggle with that with my employees. They'll complain they have friends who make a higher salary somewhere else, but they don't have factor in the generous benefit package which in the long run saves them way more money.
I've always wondered why the small business angle isn't used more. I work for a large, now really large, company and they can spread out that risk over a lot of employees. Small businesses can't do that. Get everyone in the country on the same plan and suddenly, you don't have to care at all about that.
It's almost as if risk pooling makes sense!
got on Medicaid, and now sings the praises of subsidized health care.
Funny that my fil has the same revelation when he started going to the va for treatment. Though he feels like he earned his access where as those freeloadin’ do nothing .... / forbidden.
When we found out my father had advance Prostate Cancer we were in a panic, as he basically had no money and never had health insurance as a private citizen. He also flipped his stance on subsidized health care. Fortunately for him (and us), my brother called the VA to see if he qualified for any benefits. Turns out since he was in the Coast Guard through most of the Vietnam War, he qualified for benefits. I know the VA gets a bad rap, but the staff in the Oncology department at the VA were great. Both parents were buried at Fort Snelling National Cemetary which also was a benefit we were not aware of before. We were all a bit miffed with our Dad that he probably could have been getting check ups his last 10 years of life and his cancer may have been caught a lot sooner. Also, my Mother died at 49 yrs old (Liver Cancer) and due to no health insurance they waited wayyyy too long to see the doctors when she wasn't feeling right. Both these circumstance have made this whole health care issue very personal to me.
I never cease to be amazed by how many former service members don’t know a). that they’re Veterans, b). that they’ve earned and are entitled to benefits, c). VA health care is only one of those benefits and is more widely accessible than they realize, and/or, c). all of the above.
We’ll all get sick and we’ll all die. Too bad that most of us will go broke doing so.
My main argument when discussing this is look at everything else that we subsidize. We subsidize housing, gas, electric, fuel, farmers, food, etc etc. This shows we feel the bare necessities for life should be available to everyone regardless of income... except, of course, life itself. Seem a bit f#%ked up to me.
I wasn’t trying to be flip, rather the opposite. I think it’s shameful for large corporations to negotiate terms for us without any transparency. Furthermore, we’re constantly sold the bill of goods that this is the greatest healthcare system in the world while we pay more and wait longer for services than many people who live in industrialized nations with centralized heath care. The fact that part of being alive means that we will one day not be alive apparently is lost on a large enough portion of the electorate to keep us from moving towards a more equitable health care system.
Didn't take it that way at all. Was totally agreeing with you.
And hey, who doesn't like calling their insurance company when you get a big bill that doesn't make sense only to be told to call the hospital because they coded it wrong only to be told to call the insurance company because they should cover it only to be told to call the hospital because they coded it wrong only to be told to call...
If only I could deal with more red tape in my life!
You’re describing my latest brush with the medical industrial complex.
I would suggest that if you think more government involvement will equal less red tape, you may be mistaken.
I think in this case, removing the insurance layer is a whole lot less, government involvement or no
My guess is there wouldn't be much of that layer removed, but of course I have no way to prove that.
Letterkenny just announce a very big live tour next year. Unfortunately, no Minnesota shows. May have to arrange a road trip to Milwaukee.
Being too lazy to look, when are they in Milwaukee? I may be interested.
zm.x can pick you up on the way.
3/29. Pabst theatre
If this works, could be another nice chapter in the "bears are cool" book.
http://twinsdaily.com/_/minnesota-twins-news/the-lighter-side/exclusive-twins-looking-to-replace-tc-bear-with-real-live-bear-r8539
First appearance will be at the Maul of America
The hard part will be getting the bear in the costume.
Top 10 comment of the year!
You mean T. C. isn't a real, live bear?
MLB wants to slash the number of minor league teams by 25 percent
That's some big asks to simply change leagues or physically move.
At first blush, the reducing # of teams seems like a money grab through cost savings. They probably feel like they are paying a lot of minor league players who have less than a 3% chance of ever playing major league baseball. They have seen independent league teams house similar players and are able to pluck away the few who somehow were overlooked. Also, I wonder if they feel like there is growing public awareness of how they totally take advantage of the minor league players who are grossly underpaid and overworked. Maybe they feel like eventually they will be forced to pay more. Regardless of their greedy motives, this might be good for semi-pro and amateur baseball. More independent teams and/or leagues that have more consistent rosters with more locally tied players. If they get their way in the negotiations, the next 5 years will be like the wild, wild west.
Or, this might just be a negotiation ploy to get something else they want.
California has already gone after the NCAA trying to force them to allow athletes to earn money. I would be surprised if they don't eventually go after minor league teams to require them to meet some sort of minimum wage standard.
Can they? The federal law might already supercede anything they can do.
The whole governance structure is weird. MLB clubs own the players, but not the clubs. They sign deals with the clubs to develop players on their behalf and, I think? also control or have a big say in hiring/firing the coaches.
regarding the St Paul Saints angle of this story, would they even want to be in MiLB? They have it pretty good as an Independent team