Westminstenders: Frozen

[RedToothBrush]

Boris Johnson was empty chaired by C4 with a block of ice.

The Conservatives went mental and have threatened to look at C4 broadcast remit.

This is illiberal and anti democratic.

Journalists are supposed to hold power to account on behalf of the public. If MPs don't turn up then they can't be held to account.

They have a duty to show. It's not good enough to avoid scrutiny because it might make you look bad. That's the whole point.

The contempt with which Johnson holds the press and public is reprehensible and you should be concerned whatever your political alligence. It allows corruption to fester without consequence.

And to then threaten C4 because they do their job in line with their responsibility as a broadcaster is alarming.

This is how authoritarian dictators work.

What happens if you don’t have a job to provide healthcare insurance? Most of us need more healthcare the older we get, ie when we no longer work.

Additional problems with private insurance:

• They exclude pre-existing conditions
• They can cancel renewal of insurance if a customer is likely to be v expensive for years e.g. before Obamacare, some US companies would cancel policies as soon as a woman had a breast cancer diagnosis
• Premiums rise annually
• Premiums usually rise additionally with every 5 years of age, e.g. more expensive aged 45 than aged 40
• Policies exclude at least the first the 100 quid (my policy 300 quid) of each individual claim

In the US, many low-paid workers only have policies with very low annual limits for what is insured, so a serious accident or illness is not covered

Lots of academic research on google showing 66.5 percent of all US bankruptcies relate to medical issues —due to high care costs and time out of work.

An estimated 1/2 million US families turn to bankruptcy each year because of medical issues and bills, the research found.

Channel 4 Dispatches
@C4Dispatches
8 year old Courtney and her family live off £5 a day - they rely on a food bank to eat and wear coats to bed when there's no money for heating.

This is Britain today, where more than 4 million children are growing up in poverty.

twitter.com/i/status/1200836894231126017

I'm so worried about the NHS and private insurance. I have a chronic mastoid/ear condition. It's not just the cost that worries me. Would I even be covered? This condition has existed for 20 years. I need to be seen every 6 months - otherwise it is very likely to get extremely serious. The appointments prevent the condition getting worse.

I know now that private medical insurance wouldn't cover me for this. But if the NHS disappears - what will happen to all the people that have any existing conditions?

www.businessinsider.com/boris-johnson-said-britain-poorest-chavs-losers-criminals-addicts-burglars-2019-11?r=US&IR=T

what will happen to all the people that have any existing conditions?

Then they will die.

Then they had better do so and decrease the surplus population

Oh gosh Just - that's awful.

I remember, I think, an Oprah Winfrey programme ages ago which was talking about the cost of American (naturally) healthcare.

Oprah was explaining about how, for e.g, healthcare professionals open a 6 pack of medicated dressings, use one on a patient, but they charge you for all of them because they are now longer sterile. I know that sounds tiny but it all adds up.

Just funnily enough I saw a production of Christmas Carol the other day.

No wonder Corbyn wanted to give Johnson 'A Christmas Carol' after watching that clip I'm disgusted at what so many people have chosen for this country, Tory Britain in 2019, fucking 2019 in the 5th/6th richest country in the world

Ive never seen it live tobee and it is 1 of my favorite stories of all time and I honestly do not own several different versions of it on DVD and I definitely do not watch every single one before christmas

Oprah was explaining about how, for e.g, healthcare professionals open a 6 pack of medicated dressings, use one on a patient, but they charge you for all of them because they are now longer sterile. I know that sounds tiny but it all adds up.

But is that not also happening in the NHS too? I remember when my grandson was born and DIL was struggling to establish breastfeeding - they supplemented with a few bottles of ready made formula - which for a newborn with a stomach the size of a walnut meant that 90% of it was wasted. I would have thought that with the number of maternity hospitals around, it would be cost effective to produce newborn sized bottles of formula. Just one example - I imagine there could be others.

Corbynator 2.0
@Corbynator2_0
·
4h
Jeremy Corbyn:"You may have noticed some the media are mildly critical of me. They've even criticised my Cat! 🐱- I mean I can take it, but how does the Cat respond? It can't!"
"El-Gato is very upset! But don't worry, he's got long-term plans!" 😂

twitter.com/i/status/1200858625138397186

When I was in hospital recently we needed water for a PEG flush and the nurse brought us a bottle of sterile water that had already been opened and partially used. It had a sticker to say when it had been opened. Seemed sensible to share rather than open a fresh bottle. I guess for some uses/patients a completely sterile bottle would have been necessary but it was fine for our needs.

Gingle Balls 🎄✨
@GeeArms
· Nov 29
On my last night shift, a teenage girl was admitted after a serious car accident. She’d broken several bones and suffered a head injury but tried to self discharge because she had a Universal Credit meeting the next morning and was scared of being sanctioned. This is Tory Britain

Yes I dare say Peregrina. It's going to hit home clearly when/if people get itemised bills from hospitals. And has been said private healthcare costs are higher than NHS costs.

I bet you cry every time Just. Im a terrible blubber.

spoiler alert!
Unfortunately, I had to sit with some people who seemed quite disappointed that Tiny Tim did not die.

I bet you cry every time Just. Im a terrible blubber.

Every. Single. Time.

It's not even always a case of too much stuff packaged in bundles.

I was charged for several 'packs' that were never used after DS was born. They were part of the equipment for the delivery that was there in the room.

I got an itemised bill by mistake for DS's delivery. Looking down the items I was gobsmacked - $20 for a change of sheets, $7 for a bottle of Milk of Magnesia that I never saw, and lots more items that were either costing well above what they would cost at Walgreens or included in 'packs' that I did not use. There was also a room cost that covered meals and maternity supplies like pads, ice packs, perineal irrigation bottles, mesh underpants, flappy hospital gown (all really nice to have and very useful), the doctor charged $9k for all ante-natal care plus delivery, and there were lab fees for all the ante-natal testing, as well as an anesthesiologist fee that I successfully challenged because the (nice Scottish) anesthesiologist never got to me. He poked his head in the door as they were weighing DS and apologised profusely (DS was over 9 lbs). But whoever did the billing somehow included DS's delivery in their accounts. The babies all got a separate bill for their own hospital stay, newborn observation, lab testing, hospital pediatrician once-over, and little fibre glass bassinet occupation, (with the hospital-supplied little shirts, stocking caps an cotton flannel blankets which I took home so I don't object to paying for).
images.app.goo.gl/3mWHkwgiKGPPzwN19

Formula otoh was free - sponsored by the manufacturer and left in the bedside lockers in maternity. I believe this practice has ended now after complaints wrt undermining of breastfeeding/ hospitals appearing to contradict AAP advice that said breast was best. The formula came in little 3-oz glass bottles. I took it all home 'just in case'. The bottles and ready made formula came in very handy occasionally, I have to say, for DD4, who needed supplementation.

In the US, many low-paid workers only have policies with very low annual limits for what is insured, so a serious accident or illness is not covered
When exH was self employed we paid for our own bare bones coverage (i.e. emergency room treatment and hospitalisations and operations related to admissions through the ER and nothing else). The cost rose annually. Our family deductible (what we had to pay out of pocket before the insurance began paying at a rate of 80% of the bill) was $2,500. Obv no dental insurance. Or coverage for glasses/vision care.

My late FIL was a surgeon who hated insurance companies with a passion. He blamed them for the spiraling costs and also for putting him in the position of arguing the benefits of certain procedures with a nurse employed by the insurance company to keep costs down. FIL had an Ivy League education for both undergrad and medical school.

Filing for bankruptcy, UK vs US:
www.thegazette.co.uk/all-notices/content/100263/
It's a horror, but not the same in the US as it would be in the UK.

My local radio station has a segment that discusses inane medical bills.
One lady got charged more than a thousand dollars during birth because she had a gas and air canister in the room, she used it for two minutes but was charged for the hours that it was in the room.

Ooh, bit of an aside here, but your mention of Walgreen math is a coincidence because I was just this minute listening to an episode of the podcast The Dropout about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos while tidying up! Fascinating!

OMG that Matt Hancock hustings video

Did you know you can get betting odds on all individual constituencies.

For example the odds for Uxbridge are

Johnson 1:6
Labour 5:1

Richmond park

Lib Dem 1:4
Tory ( Zac Goldsmith ) 3:1

Overall result

Overall Tory majority 5:11
No overall majority 2:1

Tory majority after election 1:2
Labour minority 7:1
Conservative minority 12:1

I don't think the NHS will be privatised as in the US model. You'll just gradually end up with a two-speed system where those who can afford it pay for increasingly expensive private insurance (which will have to pick up more and more of the burden, instead of just simple elective procedures). Those who can't afford this will get increasingly basic, but still free, NHS services.

It's the South African model rather than the US model.

Some insurance element doesn't have to be a bad thing as long as it is strictly controlled by the state to keep a lid on prices (although I personally think the NHS model is better and more efficient). In France we pay through our national insurance contributions for 70% cover, and get top up insurance usually via employers for the rest. People on very low incomes get 100% cover.

It's more complicated and bureaucratic but because it is better funded, we get much better choice, shorter waits and 100% coverage for almost everything. In the last year we as a family have consumed tens of thousands of euros worth of healthcare because DH was hospitalised for 4 months. Our total co-pay this year amounts to €80 on a pair of very expensive varifocal glasses...