147 Comments

good to have you back. you didn't miss a thing!

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Roy missed his opportunity to comment on mass shootings, because they all happened last week, sure we won't be seeing more of those again.

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Eh. There’s about 1-1/2 mass shootings a day so Roy can, like, pretty much do one whenever.

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Well, but then there's Donald Trump's indictment, if Roy doesn't get in his comments on that soon, when will there ever be another opportunity to opine on an ex-president on trial like any other mere citizen? They're telling me it's all so unprecedented, so I'm pretty sure this will never happen again either.

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Also, Roy missed that big news story about the little boy who stole classified documents so he could impress other little boys. No, wait, the FBI raided Mar a Lago months ago, never mind.

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Hugs, bro.

Glad you still with us, and try to stick around: I missed you last week

We need you...

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noble Irishman, Tory wanker

noble Irishman, Tory wanker

noble Irishman, Tory wanker...

Yeah, I think I'm with Joe...

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And "the weightless flight down corridors through double doors"

is a 2-marker, for certain...it's the truth, and it's precisely correct.

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Coming out of the hospital and into rehab now I found those descriptions of the hospitalized life particularly compelling.

It’s just like that.

Although, you know, you make it sound…nice.

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--from one's first-person p.o.v., as the sights and sounds of the corridors glide past, like some kind of Scorcese sequence.

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Remember Michael and Vito in the hospital when everyone else disappeared? The best scene in that movie...

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Somebody on the 'lectric Muskhole yesterday was whining about how Biden's making Brexit look bad, and all I can say is "you guys were shameful before he got here!" #MST3K

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Congratulations and welcome back, Roy.

Of course, TBH, you already outed that things went well by returning to Twitter late last week🙂

And of course, the national decline neither lated let alone reversed while you were "gone", so much grist for the mills continues to exist and grow.

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OK, now I'm jealous of Twitter.

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¿Por que?

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Roy favored the twits over us!

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Apparently no other American of Irish decent has geeked out over the place before. Glad to have you back. And this -- "my insurance would cover absolutely nothing of the cost of an obviously medically necessary doctor’s visit" -- surely you understand that before you avail yourself of the services of any practitioner, any treatment, any drug therapy, any surgery, not matter how much you're suffering, you must obtain the medical knowledge to determine whether or not it's "medically necessary" per Cigna's standards. Them's the rules, Bud.

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Sigh.

As I make a practice of not opening bills that arrive Saturday until Monday, this AM I discover I'm on the hook for tests my Doc ordered last month, that were medically necessary, as NC Bleu Cross says they aren't. The bills from my provider, who has previously tried to collect on bills I had already paid, getting a couple of calls threatening to take me to collections...

I had thought it was just me, but no:

https://www.tba.org/?pg=Articles&blAction=showEntry&blogEntry=89512

I am appealing it...

My physician is ok, if a bit Jesus-y: but in the last weeks, her supervisor is revealed to be yet another dirtbag who fled the Most Phallic State for the mountains:

https://www.bpr.org/bpr-news/2023-03-28/erlanger-western-carolina-doctor-charged-with-16-felonies-including-human-trafficking-and-sexual-offenses

And the provider hired him knowing his history of drug use and abuse.:

https://www.bpr.org/bpr-news/2023-03-29/medical-board-documents-reveal-arrested-erlanger-doctor-had-prior-disciplinary-actions-and-drug-use-history

My tests were arguably much less medically necessary than yours: but they showed what I had thought might be yet another kidney stone was a simmering kidney infection I had had for some time and flared up.

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The Greatest Healthcare System in the World says that some paper pusher in a dystopian beige office somewhere will decide what you need, and if you don't like it, you can just go to medical school.

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Medical school? Who needs that? Go to law school instead, get Donald Trump you to a federal judgeship, and then YOU get to decide what's medically necessary and what's not.

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Which is WHATEVER YOU CAN AFFORD, because healthcare is for those who have worked hard to earn it -- or if you have a rich daddy -- not for you sick Commie losers.

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True, with the understanding that "What you can afford" had better factor in the Greyhound ticket to a civilized state where women are still allowed to access medical care.

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Well, at least until the Proud Boys start boarding the buses at the state line, making sure women don't sneak out of state where the grass is bluer, IYKWIM.

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Nah. You go to med school for the freebies.

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Yeah, thanks for reminding me how pharmacies got screwed out of the cool stuff drug reps used to bring, because "conflict of interest". Especially pens; you never have enough pens in the pharmacy. But the doctors still get presents 'cause they write the Dispense As Written scrips for the hot new drugs.

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It's all necessary and should all be covered. Denials are theft.

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Yep. They throw it against the wall, and it all slides off, and that's when they expect you to give up. Don't give up.

I sure missed you. The world seemed out of synch. It's still turvy topsy, but it feels better now.

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If you give people what they need medically, next they'll be wanting education and safety and such. It's never-ending.

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Just don't take away their football and tikkety tokkety...

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Kidney stones. Ugh. I feel your pain. Literally. (I had forty-nine years between flareups. I spent the week before Christmas when I was *eight years old* in the hospital passing a kidney stone.)

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I've always loved that some jerk at the insurance company is allowed - nay, *obligated* - to second-guess your doctor. Nothing made me more devoted to universal single-payer than spending 20-30 minutes on the phone every couple days for six years trying to get some patient's meds unscrewed.

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What kind of training do these people get? I'm assuming they're not MD's?

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They have a booklet with an index, and they get a quota of denials they have to make. Pro Publica recently did a piece.

https://www.propublica.org/article/cigna-pxdx-medical-health-insurance-rejection-claims

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Sweet screaming Jesus. A quota of denials. Suddenly some of the most petty, pointless denials I've seen make sense. They're still evil, but it makes sense.

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It makes sense only in the senseless way most things go in this place...

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Nah, you've got it all wrong, Barton Keyes at his desk at the Pacific All-Risk Health Insurance Company gets a gut feeling about your claim, his "little man" tells him it's a phony.

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Glad you're back!

I start Medicare May 1. It's liberating.

I'm not sure how long I last before I tell management GFY -

" Do you have time for a call with the rose vendor next week?"

" Go fuck yourself. I'm leaving"

Like that.

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Dayam. I'll be 58 in July so another 7 years before I can do that. :😀

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I had major surgery a couple of years ago on the last day of February. Medicare kicked in on March 1. I confess, after years of them screwing me over the small stuff, it was mean of me to delight the fact that my insurance was stuck with a huge fucking bill, and it made the huge fucking deductible much easier to swallow.

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I pine for Medicare like hobos used to pine for Big Rock Candy Mountain. My mom had an abdominal surgery that cost more than $40,000, between Medicare and the supplemental plan she pays $100 a month for, her total out-of-pocket was $100. Except for that C-note, I felt like a goddamn Canadian.

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I've been billed $187US for the $17000 day out I enjoyed last month, but the bill isn't itemized by my provider so I can't prove it's legit. Provider says no worries, just wait for the accounting dept. Which I am, and will continue to do til SOMEBODY tells me why...

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Seems pretty harsh just for a rose vendor...I mean, I understand it's a thorny issue...

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That rose vendor, what a prick.

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Remember that "medicare advantage" is not a government program, and once you're enrolled in some of that, it's very difficult to get out if they don't cover what you need.

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Yep, supplemental only, no Advantage plan.

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Mrs. Worriedman is a finance analyst for a non-profit heathcare org serving disadvantaged groups. A lot of the medical staff are contractors being paid from grants. This involves a lot of manually cut checks. This goes through my wife's office. She hands out checks to a lot of people every week. Well, everybody loves check lady! So she's pretty well connected. She's also in on the insurance talks because , finance I guess. We were in a position to get good advice. So yeah- Part B and a supplement. I am on an HDFU plan at work. Nurseries are known for the shit insurance. The kind you hate to have to use. So I already have a CAT scan and X-ray set up for my first week cause Medicare pays and my work insurance laughs. With what I got now it would count against my 6k deductible.

Probably get a shingles vacine too.

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Advantage is evil.

The advertising barage aimed at folks my age - (65 next month) is incredible. Nothing being sold that hard is any good. Obviously.

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Are you suggesting I can't trust Joe Namath and Jimmy "JJ" Walker?

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Welcome back, Roy. Keep the ship righted! (Or lefted, as the case may be.)

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Glad to hear everything went well, Roy! Welcome back!

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The thing that still stands out after even the most recent unpleasantness in the burgeoning RV King story is that bit where Clarence says people advised him about the law regarding taking free stuff from people. That is, he admits he could not figure the law out for himself.

It fails to inspire confidence, if you see my drift...

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Yeah, that struck me, too. OTOH, I don’t feel so stupid being confused by things like instructions for computing depreciation deductions. But back on the one hand, I’m not sure Clarence is all that bright.

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Don't be silly, the title "Republican Judge" grants you MD-level knowledge of women's reproductive parts, but no knowledge whatsoever about disclosure requirements.

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Without silly, I am nothing!

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Heck, even "local Republican official" means you're qualified -- nay, required -- to peek up the skirts of high school girls to make sure the right parts are there.

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Oof.

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Glad you're back!

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Hope ur feeling better, Roy. Nothing else matters.

Not all the marks in the world.... >:)

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So glad you’re ok! Been worried about you and now relieved you’re back!

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Sorry about all the exclamation points!!!!!!

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'Soky as long as you refrain from allcaps...!

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THANKS!

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Roy lost his spleen, but here are some colons! : : : : : : :

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That clinches it – 2 marks!

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Spleendiferous

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So glad you're back. I work for a global corporation that used to offer a Cadillac health plan and doesn't anymore so I'm in HDHP hell myself. But hell, at least I have insurance. I'll never understand why single payer is such an alien concept to Americans. Also, I hated Clarence Thomas in 1991 and I hate him now. Strength to you fellow traveler ❤️

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So, every 32 years you hate the RV King? Makes sense – would be exhausting to hate him the whole damn time...

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I guess the nice thing about my partner's company having withdrawn overseas during the pandemic is, our insurance stays the same. We don't get cobra, because of a technicality, we have to pay the whole cost out of pocket every month and there's a pretty high set of deductibles, plus the clinic where i go charges me ten bucks extra for a shrink appointment and then sends me a couple of ten dollar refund checks every month, this has been going on for years, but at least they can't actually *change* the plan on us.

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Huzzah! Filling my inbox with joy!

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Roy, welcome back and congrats on finessing the Commie-Socialized Medicine Loophole!

That brings me to the Rock&Roll version of my medical coverage rant. My starting point is always "Songs For Slim." When Bob "Slim" Dunlap was felled by strokes, he was financially wiped out. His medical bills would have crushed him even in what passed for The Replacements heyday. So his many friends and admirers in the music biz recorded a tribute album and organized numerous fundraisers. That makes for great feel-good stories about a community coming together to help one of their own.

And my rage overfloweth.

So what if artists live on the margins? Why can't they access civilized medical coverage? And what about the rest of the schulbs who can't carry a note in a bucket, or complete a paint-by-numbers project at gunpoint? Potluck dinners at the Legion Hall will just about pay for the hospital blanket when Aunt Gert's cancer diagnosis comes to collect. What if you're in medical trouble and don't have much in the way of friends and family to chip in? I guess the answer to that is, "she should have smiled more."

I'm blessed with good health, and decent coverage. The insurance premiums I'm paying should cover a nice case of Munchausen Syndrome. I'm in a position to kick in a few extra bucks to spread the love to more of the marginally insured. But that would lead to the collapse of everything we hold dear in the Greatest Democracy On Earth.

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“What if you're in medical trouble and don't have much in the way of friends and family to chip in?”

Which tends to be the situation for many of our economically challenged citizens.

‘I guess the answer to that is, "she should have smiled more."’

A hit, a palpable hit!

😳

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Prayer is always to go-to option. And, as the GOP well knows, it's free!

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THE go-to option. I need a full work-up of my typing skills.

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If your Underwood is underwritten by Underwriters, you're good to go.

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And thoughts.

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Whoa, let's be careful there, no telling where those thoughts can go once we get started with this "thinking" business. Stick to the prayers, buddy, it's safer.

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OK, maybe no thoughts. But you gotta let me have a scorecard – I can't tell the prayers without one.

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Well, until elon got involved, crowdfunding and mutual aid on twitter were a lot of peoples' day to day.

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A guy I know who lives in rural Wisconsin says the local bar nearly every weekend has a fundraiser for someone's medical bills. Maybe that's why rural folk hate Socialized Medicine and keep voting Republican? Our fucked-up medical system is constantly providing opportunities to Drink for a Good Cause.

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Finally a good explanation!

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I'll throw in my other Rock&Roll anecdote, this time with extra Fox News. A neighbor of mine got to live out the dream. If the best Guns N' Roses tribute band this side of Eire, PA was set to play Beerfest '97, he was the guy they wanted running the sound board. His needs were simple:

Wheels to get to gigs.

Subscriptions to audio magazines for Altec Lansing porn.

The odd chance to score with the bestie of the girl who nailes the guitar player.

He got to stay age twenty five for better than forty years. The problem was, the money was all under the table. So decent insurance was never part of the equation. Matching employer funds...don't make me laugh.

When his health failed, things got ugly. First slowly, then fast. He was the first person I ever saw do a genuine faceplant. Completely sober, he was hobbling over to my place for a couple beers at the picnic table. He pitched forward, and his reflexes were too far gone to break the fall.

His girlfriend, who was smart and kind was all-in with Fox and the Tea Party. Obamacare? Forget about that Nationalized Socialist Medicine shit! He was touchingly in love with her, and went along with the flow. He wound up in the ground years too early.

Here's where I need to rethink my prejudices.

Dumb fucks who swallow conspiracy theories get what they ask for. And he was a dumb shit who asked for it. But he was my dumb fuck. I'd known him since he was a kid.

If I was running a savage, totalitarian state, he'd have been in a position where medical care wasn't a matter of cash-on-the-table. And he'd have had no choice in the matter. He'd have to just live with it.

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Around these parts, every couple of months there is a fundraiser/concert/every band plays three songs all day event somewhere to pay for someone's medical treatments. Same bands playing the same songs to the same audience passing around the same $100 checks.

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Like the piles of flowers and stuffed animals we place at the scene of every mass school shooting. Our American Traditions must be respected.

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But then where would we get the heartwarming stories of desperate people on GoFundMe?

By coincidence, this morning I got a question on Quora about why folks in other countries are always recommending "tax-payer funded" health care to Americans, instead of sending money to American charities. I don't know, maybe because they're not Stockholm syndrome sociopaths who've forgotten what living in a civilized nation looks like.

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Wow, thought I'd heard 'em all, but that's... just wow. It's all just points-scoring, isn't it? The guy who thought that one up probably did a little dance in the end zone.

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Yeah, nothing’s changed. Politics is like a scratch in the vinyl—it skips and repeats, skips and repeats.

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Something guys like Clarence Thomas count on. Just brazen it out, you can be sure something even more outrageous will happen within a week or two that will take the attention off you. A safe bet, as long as Donald J. Trump inhabits the news cycle.

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Clarence ain't going anywhere that doesn't have astronomically high thread-count sheets and can be pleasingly reached via private jet.

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Them RV parks gone upscale!

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Oh, just you wait, once Merrick Garland... sigh.

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We keep hearing about John Roberts' concern for the integrity and legacy of his Court. Let's see it.

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Oh, Roberts is concerned about that people are saying not-so-nice things about his court, so the answer of course is for people to stop saying these things. No need for the court to change in any way.

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