High-profile killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO in New York

You're right. The best thing to do is to completely misread someone's post and then just lay into them.

He didn't misread it, he knows exactly what I wrote but tried to pull some moral/emotional strings.
 
Oh, right - because this exec single-handedly crafted the entire healthcare system from his villainous lair. Of course, forget the regulators setting the rules, the pharma cos inflating prices, hospitals charging astronomical fees, and policymakers tangled in the lobbyists webs. No, it’s definitely all the fault of that one “utter scum” CEO and their dastardly peers.

It's way more nuanced than that, but I guess why wrestle with reality when you can reduce everything to a few cartoon villains.

ironically reducing everything to a few cartoon villains is exactly how parasitic corporate capitalism has consistently avoided systematic change…

Make the feckers scared I say. Nothing else has worked. Sexy shooters on every corner. A veritable Chalamet army. Vive le twink revolution!
 
ironically reducing everything to a few cartoon villains is exactly how parasitic corporate capitalism has consistently avoided systematic change…

Make the feckers sacred I say. Nothing else has worked. Sexy shooters on every corner.
Exactly. When caught, shamed CEOs are outed in the papers. Massive golden handshake for taking one for the team and replaced in minutes.
 
I don't know why you're arguing about this. The insurance companies can do plenty of things wrong without being the reason behind the extremely high healthcare costs in the US. But the situation very simple, hey foot the bill for these extreme costs, so they are definitely not the cause of them. As per my previous post, the fact that they will do everything possible to avoid paying the costs is why they're so unpopular. Because if they won't pay then the patient has to (or doesn't get the care they need). None of this is defending these companies, or their business practices. I'm just explaining that they are not the cause of the insane healthcare costs in the US.

You realise there's actual research on this. The combined cost of healthcare administration (not healthcare as a whole) is massive, and is anomalously massive in the US, because of the insurance and claims system:



Admin-Costs_webfig1.png


And specifically within the US, administrative costs are far higher for private insurance than government medicare:

The overall cost of administering benefits for traditional Medicare is relatively low. In 2021, administrative expenses for traditional Medicare (plus CMS administration and oversight of Part D) totaled $10.8 billion, or 1.3% of total program spending, according to the Medicare Trustees; this includes expenses for the contractors that process claims submitted by beneficiaries in traditional Medicare and their providers.


So, even keeping hospitals and doctors obscenely rich, there is a ton of things that can be removed from the US healthcare system.
 
You realise there's actual research on this. The combined cost of healthcare administration (not healthcare as a whole) is massive, and is anomalously massive in the US, because of the insurance and claims system:



Admin-Costs_webfig1.png


And specifically within the US, administrative costs are far higher for private insurance than government medicare:




So, even keeping hospitals and doctors obscenely rich, there is a ton of things that can be removed from the US healthcare system.


He doesn't care. He's in his castle eating fillet-o-fish after fillet-o-fish.
 
He didn't misread it, he knows exactly what I wrote but tried to pull some moral/emotional strings.
I've seen a few posts recently where I've thought "oh, so NOW it's important to have a moral discussion about this topic?"
 
ironically reducing everything to a few cartoon villains is exactly how parasitic corporate capitalism has consistently avoided systematic change…

Make the feckers scared I say. Nothing else has worked. Sexy shooters on every corner. A veritable Chalamet army. Vive le twink revolution!

Amen
 
You realise there's actual research on this. The combined cost of healthcare administration (not healthcare as a whole) is massive, and is anomalously massive in the US, because of the insurance and claims system:



Admin-Costs_webfig1.png


And specifically within the US, administrative costs are far higher for private insurance than government medicare:




So, even keeping hospitals and doctors obscenely rich, there is a ton of things that can be removed from the US healthcare system.

TBH that 8.3% seems a bit low to me - every doctor's office I've ever been to in the US seems to have a ratio of at least 2-3 admin staff per doctor and then there's the nurses and nurse assistants, then you add that to all the insurance people
 
TBH that 8.3% seems a bit low to me - every doctor's office I've ever been to in the US seems to have a ratio of at least 2-3 admin staff per doctor and then there's the nurses and nurse assistants, then you add that to all the insurance people
How the feck did the US healthcare system get so bloated?
 
You realise there's actual research on this. The combined cost of healthcare administration (not healthcare as a whole) is massive, and is anomalously massive in the US, because of the insurance and claims system:



Admin-Costs_webfig1.png


And specifically within the US, administrative costs are far higher for private insurance than government medicare:




So, even keeping hospitals and doctors obscenely rich, there is a ton of things that can be removed from the US healthcare system.

Don't bother, Pogue is an expert on every subject. He shared a taxi with someone for a few minutes and learned all there is to know about undercover cops or spies or something. I stopped paying much attention after he wrote "The things I learned" like he's the David Attenborough of specialisms or a knockoff mutant who absorbs people's knowledge like a shit X-Man. Personally I'd like the power to grow hair again but this fecker already has a quiff.
 
Don't bother, Pogue is an expert on every subject. He shared a taxi with someone for a few minutes and learned all there is to know about undercover cops or spies or something. I stopped paying much attention after he wrote "The things I learned" like he's the David Attenborough of specialisms or a knockoff mutant who absorbs people's knowledge like a shit X-Man. Personally I'd like the power to grow hair again but this fecker has a quiff.

FFS :lol: :lol:
 
Don't bother, Pogue is an expert on every subject. He shared a taxi with someone for a few minutes and learned all there is to know about undercover cops or spies or something. I stopped paying much attention after he wrote "The things I learned" like he's the David Attenborough of specialisms or a knockoff mutant who absorbs people's knowledge like a shit X-Man. Personally I'd like the power to grow hair again but this fecker has a quiff.
:lol:
 
Exactly. When caught, shamed CEOs are outed in the papers. Massive golden handshake for taking one for the team and replaced in minutes.

Indeed. Occasionally they let a flunkey junior minister or single rogue trader get the flack, but the train chugs on regardless. Obviously no one thinks gunning down civilians is progressive or civilised, but many a romantic piece of art has been written about things just as violent and yet justified by the context of time and perspective.

One man’s terrorist is another man’s sexy twink Jason Bourne
 
How the feck did the US healthcare system get so bloated?
Lobbying, though TBH the bloating isn't restricted to just health care

It's such a weird system, my local hospital is a non-profit, some of it's staff are employed directly but a lot are not, I'm guessing that's the same in a lot of places.

When the billing goes thru there's payments listed for all the different doctors/departments involved instead of 1 bill
 
Indeed. Occasionally they let a flunkey junior minister or single rogue trader get the flack, but the train chugs on regardless. Obviously no one thinks gunning down civilians is progressive or civilised, but many a romantic piece of art has been written about things just as violent and yet justified by the context of time and perspective.

There is a great book called Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist by Alexander Berkman.

He attempted an assassination of a high profile industrialist in the hope it would spark the bubbling discontent into a class war or socialist uprising.

He botched it, got arrested and wrote what is a brilliant account of prison life.

It's a great read. The first chapter is him describing the emotions and feelings on his way to the office of the chap he was going to shoot. It's fascinating.
 
There is a great book called Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist by Alexander Berkman.

He attempted an assassination of a high profile industrialist in the hope it would spark the bubbling discontent into a class war or socialist uprising.

He botched it, got arrested and wrote what is a brilliant account of prison life.

It's a great read. The first chapter is him describing the emotions and feelings on his way to the office of the chap he was going to shoot. It's fascinating.
I doubt Amazon had to work their algorithm too hard to recommend that to you.