Biden takes 32-point lead over Sanders

Politics
41

Grope and Change™

2 Likes
42

Grope and Hope (to get lucky)

43

Perhaps “Danger” is his middle name. lol

“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”

JOE BIDEN, JAN 2007 (Referring to Obama)

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Military tribunals, just for future reference, do they hang or use firing squads?

Obama should be concerned

45

Obama used an unverified Russian dossier to spy on the Trump campaign and got caught, he’s not very bright!

46

Why would they? Hes not even a member of the Democrat party.

47

In this case, yes you t does. Didn’t you see the poll numbers?

48

Everything is still early. We haven’t had a single debate. I really do not read too much into national polling. They are irrelevant for the most part. What matters most is how things play out in Iowa, NH, and South Carolina. The rule of the thumb is: place in the top 3 in either Iowa and NH, and you can advance to the other primaries and caucuses.

Statistically and historically, it’s going to be very hard to beat Biden in the primaries. He was the VP, and historically VPs running for President almost always win their party’s nomination. On top of that, he’s seen as the candidate best to face-off against Trump. Unless perception changes, Biden has the competitive advantage.

As for “gropegate”, it was always a fake controversy. Nobody is going to change their vote to Trump, because Biden made a couple of women uncomfortable.

1 Like
49

Did Russia give Donnie jr one?

Allan

50

and he will get 80% of the black vote.

Allan

51

There is little applicable history to work with.
Prior to the mid sixties the party’s nominee was picked by the political bosses.
Since then there has been only one case of a former VP sitting out a term or two to try to get the nomination. That was Dan Quayle and he lost.

52

I know Dan Quayle and Joe Biden is no Dan Quayle.

Allan

1 Like
53

So Creepy Joe’s special relationship with the Chines is ok with you? Why?

54

same answer as you answer to Lying Donald special relationship with the Russia. is ok with you?

your answer is my answer.

Allan

1 Like
55

Dan Quayle would have stood no chance at any point.

He was unpopular and considered to be a weak VP.

56

If you haven’t figured it out yet, the Russian collusion was a lie, thanks for playing. :joy:

57

why does he believe putin over his own intel agencies?

special relationship?

Allan

58

Where the ■■■■ did you get the idea that Obamacare is “raiding” Medicare and this is causing it to run out of money? That article doesn’t say anything of the sort. Instead, the report says, like Social Security, due to changes in demographics and increased health care costs, the trust fund will be depleted by 2026 and then payroll taxes will cover 90% of costs. That doesn’t make it insolvent. That makes it a tax policy issue. Crazy idea here, increase the payroll tax by a faction of a percent to solve the gap. Allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices. Allow for a global health care budget so that billing and insurance related costs are reduced significantly rather than fee-for-service based payments. This would also reduce costs by encouraging more effective care rather than lucrative care.

I’m glad you brought up wait times. Let’s actually look at the data from the Commonwealth Fund’s 2016 International Health Policy Survey.

Here is how long people waited to get an appointment to see a doctor or nurse when they needed medical attention:

Country Did not need to make an appointment to see doctor or nurse (%) On the same day (%) The next day (%) In 2 to 5 days (%) In 6 to 7 days (%) In 8 to 14 days (%) After more than 2 weeks (%) Never able to get an appointment (%)
Australia 7.1 40.7 21.1 20.9 4.5 1.6 1.3 0.1
Canada 8.5 27.3 11.9 21.7 7.7 6.1 10.4 2.8
France 0.2 22.7 32.8 26.1 12.8 4.2 1.2 0.1
Germany 0.1 24.5 28.3 20.2 7.8 11.9 7.3 0.0
Netherlands 6.6 47.5 24.5 12.7 1.3 1.2 1.0 1.7
New Zealand 3.7 47.8 25.3 17.6 1.8 1.2 0.7 0.2
Norway 4.8 29.2 12.2 23.0 9.7 7.4 7.2 0.0
Sweden 8.5 31.6 12.9 15.4 9.0 5.0 7.4 1.2
Switzerland 6.7 28.0 25.0 30.8 3.7 2.7 2.2 0.5
U.K. 3.5 39.7 15.4 22.7 5.5 4.2 4.8 2.1
U.S. 9.1 31.6 15.2 20.1 5.5 3.5 7.0 2.4

As you can see, when it comes to no appointment required or the same day, Australia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden and the UK all perform better. When you include the next day, Switzerland, Norway and France also perform similarly or better. Basically, the US is in the middle of the pack. We pay double the rest of these countries to achieve median wait time for seeing a doctor.

Now, let’s look at the ease of getting medical care in the evenings, on weekends or holidays.

Country Very easy (%) Somewhat easy (%) Somewhat difficult (%) Very difficult (%) Never needed care in the evenings, on weekends or on holidays (%) Not sure (%)
Australia 14.8 26.5 23.5 12.9 16.4 5.8
Canada 8.5 21.4 23.5 31.8 11.7 2.8
France 2.7 30.7 44.4 16.2 5.2 0.9
Germany 6.8 29.3 27.9 35.0 1.0 0.1
Netherlands 19.0 31.7 13.4 4.2 29.3 1.9
New Zealand 18.1 25.1 24.8 11.1 18.2 2.8
Norway 13.0 24.7 18.9 11.9 22.4 9.1
Sweden 3.7 12.4 18.8 25.0 31.9 8.2
Switzerland 6.3 21.4 25.0 14.5 32.5 0.3
U.K. 14.0 17.6 19.1 17.2 26.8 5.3
U.S. 14.3 23.0 22.1 23.3 11.1 5.9

Once again, we see that the US is in the middle of the pack of those who say it’s somewhat or very easy to get medicare care on evenings, weekends or holidays.

Next, let’s look at how long people waited in the emergency room:

Country Never treated/left without being treated (%) <1 hour (%) 1 hour to <4 hours (%) 4 or more hours (%) Not sure/decline to answer (%)
Australia 0.4 54.4 32.7 9.8 2.7
Canada 1.1 34.9 33.6 29.5 0.9
France 0.0 58.2 40.3 1.5 0.0
Germany 0.0 42.5 53.7 3.3 0.5
Netherlands 1.8 64.9 27.8 4.0 1.5
New Zealand 0.7 58.8 30.4 9.7 0.4
Norway 0.6 48.8 33.7 13.0 3.9
Sweden 1.8 46.1 29.3 20.0 2.8
Switzerland 0.6 57.0 29.1 7.4 5.9
U.K. 0.5 47.9 40.6 7.9 3.1
U.S. 0.5 55.2 32.4 11.2 0.8

Once again, we’re the median. I’m really starting to sense a pattern here.

Now, let’s look at how long—after being advised that surgery was needed—people waited for non-emergency or elective surgery:

Country <1 month (%) 1 to <4 months (%) 4 or more months (%) Not sure/decline to answer (%)
Australia 56.8 28.3 8.4 6.6
Canada 34.8 44.0 18.2 3.0
France 51.4 47.0 1.6 0.0
Germany 39.0 58.1 0.0 2.9
Netherlands 48.9 39.8 4.5 6.9
New Zealand 43.3 38.6 14.9 3.2
Norway 37.0 41.9 15.3 5.8
Sweden 37.3 46.8 11.8 4.1
Switzerland 59.3 32.8 6.5 1.5
U.K. 43.4 31.8 12.0 12.8
U.S. 61.0 31.7 3.6 3.7

The US leads the pack for waiting less than a month, although Switzerland and Australia are right on our heels. When looking at four months or less, France and Germany edge out the US with Switzerland, Netherlands and Australia following closely.

Next, we’re going to look at how long it takes to get an appointment with a specialist:

Country <4 weeks (%) At least 4 weeks (%) Don’t know/decline to answer (%)
Australia 54.7 39.3 6.1
Canada 38.0 58.5 3.5
France 60.2 39.8 0.0
Germany 71.2 27.4 1.4
Netherlands 64.0 28.9 7.1
New Zealand 49.3 47.3 3.3
Norway 36.9 55.5 7.7
Sweden 48.1 44.7 7.2
Switzerland 73.2 25.9 0.9
U.K. 48.6 42.5 8.9
U.S. 69.9 25.3 4.8

Switzerland performs the best, with Germany coming in 2nd and the US in third. Netherlands and France aren’t too far behind, either.

So, as we can see, it’s not true that the US has the best results when it comes to wait times. Additionally, we can’t just look at wait times to measure how readily care is available. We also have to look at accessability. Out of all of these countries, the United States is the only one that does not have universal coverage. Almost 30 million, or 8.8% of the population, does not have health insurance. That means that it’s likely they wouldn’t even be able to answer most of these questions because they wouldn’t pursue treatment in the first pace since they’d have to pay out of pocket. Speaking of which, let’s look how costs affect people’s decisions to seek care. Here’s how people answered when asked if in the last 12 months, they needed to seek medical care but didn’t because of the cost:

Country Yes (%) No (%) Not applicable (%) Not sure (%) Decline to answer/blank (%)
Australia 8.6 88.8 2.4 0.2 0.0
Canada 6.3 92.7 0.8 0.1 0.1
France 8.6 89.9 1.2 0.2 0.1
Germany 2.8 96.8 0.3 0.2 0.0
Netherlands 3.3 93.1 3.5 0.1 0.0
New Zealand 14.2 85.3 0.5 0.0 0.0
Norway 5.3 92.6 1.0 0.5 0.7
Sweden 3.3 88.7 7.8 0.2 0.0
Switzerland 16.2 66.3 17.4 0.1 0.0
U.K. 3.7 93.5 2.6 0.1 0.1
U.S. 21.5 77.1 0.7 0.5 0.1

Holy crap. Over 21% of Americans who had a medical problem in the past 12 months did not visit a doctor because of the cost. This is over THREE TIMES the median. We don’t even have the best wait times, but who the hell cares about wait times when you don’t even bother to get care because it’ll cost too much? This is absolutely damning. But it’s not just visiting a doctor. Here’s the results for people who didn’t get a medical test, treatment or follow-up that was recommended by a doctor because of the cost:

Country Yes (%) No (%) Not applicable (%) Not sure (%) Decline to answer/blank (%)
Australia 7.4 89.4 3.0 0.2 0.0
Canada 5.7 92.7 1.3 0.2 0.1
France 12.5 86.0 1.2 0.2 0.1
Germany 4.7 95.0 0.3 0.0 0.0
Netherlands 3.6 91.2 5.0 0.2 0.0
New Zealand 9.7 89.8 0.5 0.0 0.0
Norway 3.8 94.4 1.6 0.1 0.2
Sweden 3.0 88.0 8.7 0.3 0.0
Switzerland 9.9 68.8 21.2 0.0 0.2
U.K. 2.7 94.4 2.5 0.3 0.1
U.S. 19.2 79.3 1.2 0.2 0.0

Once again, we are the worst performing country and this time we’re almost four times worse than the median. It doesn’t stop there. Of those who didn’t fill a prescription or had to skip doses of their medicine due to cost, the US is the worst at 17.7% compared to a median of 5.7%. Of those who skipped dental care or checkups because of the cost, the US is the worst at 32.5% compared to the median of 20.9%. The only other country where more people said they had serious problems paying their medical bills was France, coming in at 23% compared to the US’s 19.5% (of the people who could actually get care in the first place) and the median of 6.4%. Only 1.4% of people in the UK said they had serious problems paying their bills.

Now to address the VA. Let’s look at the scope of the wait-list scandal that came out in 2014. First, while the faking of wait-list data was unacceptable, it did not lead to widespread deaths. It was particularly an issue with the Phoenix VA and possibly the Los Angeles VA. The IG report into the Phoenix VA found that 6 patients died due to “clinically significant delays in care associated with access to care or patient scheduling.” [2] The report into the LA VA found that two patients who experienced delayed consults died. The first patient was a 70-year old man with history of heart disease and “a timely consultation by a CT surgeon would not likely have prevented his death because he was receiving appropriate care from the cardiologist.” The report concluded that the second patient in his late 60s had “severe multi-organ disease” and “a history of poor attendance at his cardiology appointments, including ‘no show’ to a heart failure consultation in month 9.”

So, we have 8 verified deaths due to the malfeasance of VA personnel. Our veterans deserve the best care of the world and this is unacceptable. However, we shouldn’t blow it out of proportion. The VA serves over 9 million veterans and is rated the highest among all insurance types. A report from Rand Corp says that the “VA health care system performs similar to or better than non-VA systems on most measures of inpatient and outpatient care quality”. If you are so outraged by these numbers for the VA, surely you’re even more incensed about the worse results in the private insurance market. After all, due to our numbers of uninsured, tens of thousands of people die prematurely a year due to lack of care. Due to our costs, thousands do not seek care, do not take their medication or have to ration it. Hundreds of thousands of people go bankrupt a year due to medical bills.

And that $32 trillion price tag isn’t just accumulated debt. This is a nonsensical assertion. Our current system is going to cost $34 trillion over the same period. That’s total expenditures, not additional spending. If you think we can’t afford $32 trillion, how in the world are we going to afford $34 trillion.

All of this is ridiculous. Taxes may have to go up, but that’s simply a shift in how payments are made. Overall, costs go down. Every other developed nation demonstrates this. Maybe an employer’s payroll taxes go up, but their overall contributions would go down because they wouldn’t be paying as much towards premiums. Becase math. And there is no “true competition” in the overall health care market. There’s inelastic demand for people who need insulin. When you have a heart attack, people aren’t fighting for your business. They’re fighting for your life. Get that Ayn Rand ■■■■■■■■ out of here.

1 Like
59

You mean the same agencies that lied to the fisa court to spy on the Trump campaign with the unverified Russia dossier that Hillary and the DNC paid for after being supposedly hacked by Russians?

60

All the more reason why Bernie and his supporters should start their own party.