#1104 What Trumpcare would mean and how we can do better

Air Date: 5-16-2017

Today we look at some of the specifics of the health care bill that Republicans passed through the House of Representatives including it’s impact on pre-existing condition coverage, coverage for women and more

​Show Notes

Ch. 1: Opening Theme: A Fond Farewell - From a Basement On the Hill

Ch. 2: Act 1: Protests Erupt After House Republicans Pass Healthcare Bill That Could Hike Premiums for Millions - @DemocracyNow - Air Date 05-05-17

Ch. 3: Song 1: Screwed - Kid Cudi


Ch. 4: Act 2: What would Trumpcare mean for pre-existing conditions - Trumpcast from @Slate - Air Date 5-5-17

Ch. 5: Song 2: Just Dropped In - Kenny Rogers


Ch. 6: Act 3: American Health Care Act vs. Women - @theyoungturks - Air Date: 05-09-17

Ch. 7: Song 3: What Are Their Names - David Crosby


Ch. 8: Act 4: Republican: "Nobody Dies" Due to Lack of Health Care - @DavidPakmanShow - Air Date: 05-08-17

Ch. 9: Song 4: Live And Let Die - Guns N' Roses


Ch. 10: Act 5: Financial consequences of the ACA - Bradcast from @TheBradBlog - Air Date 5-4-17

Ch. 11: Song 5: Common Sense - Justin Mcroberts


Ch. 12: Act 6: Jimmy Kimmel's Tearful Monologue: The Birth of His Son & the Nightmares That the Uninsured Can Face - Majority Report (@MajorityFM) - Air Date: 05-03-17

Ch. 13: Song 6: Figure It Out - Plain White T's


Ch. 14: Act 7: Use ALL the Resistance Tools to Fight Trumpcare via @IndivisibleGuide & #PaybackProject - Best of the Left Activism

Ch. 15: Song 7: This fickle world - Theo Bard


Ch. 16: Act 8: The peasants are revolting - Progressive Faith Sermons w/ @RevDrRay - Air Date 5-14-17

Ch. 17: Song 8: Common Ground - Our Last Night


Ch. 18: Act 9: Let's compare what we get for our health care expenses with other countries - @DCCommonSense w/ Dan Carlin - Air Date 3-15-17


Voicemails

Ch. 19: Still unclear if universal health care means slavery for doctors - David from South Carolina

Voicemail Music: Loud Pipes - Classics


Ch. 20: Final comments on why debating if health care is a human right is a distraction

Closing Music: Here We Are - Everyone's in Everyone


Activism:

TAKE ACTION

Use the new "Stop Trumpcare" tools and resources from Indivisible Guide 

Amplify your local actions against the 217 pro-AHCA Reps with Payback Project

Send faxes and letters to Congress quickly via Resistbot, and voicemails via Stance

EDUCATE YOURSELF

Here are the 217 Representatives that voted for the AHCA and their contact info (Project Payback)

If you would die under Trumpcare, you can send your ashes to Congress via Mail Me to the GOP 

What a Trumpcare nightmare: Just about everyone with health care is going to pay more, get less and face chaos (Salon)

The Health Care Bill’s Insults to Women (New York Times)

Republicans duck town halls after voting for Trumpcare… (The Guardian)

Trumpcare Hits Children's Hospitals Hard (Forbes)

Poll: 48 Percent Say House GOP Health Care Bill Is a Bad Idea (NBC News)

Written by BOTL Communications Director Amanda Hoffman


Produced by Jay! Tomlinson

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Showing 1 reaction

  • David Edmunds
    commented 2017-05-17 03:16:39 -0400
    I listened to your despair over the US health system, and references to other health systems. I thought it may help to put some bones on what it is like here in Australia.

    We have a standard of living roughly comparable to the US, but with somewhat less inequality. We have universal health insurance and health statistics way better than those of the US. We pay around 2/3 of the cost of the US system, as a proportion of our GDP.

    I am 67 years old, and pay an additional $2,000 per year for top up insurance, and my wife pays the same.

    My wife needed a hip replacement some five years ago as the result of a horse accident, although she tells me that it wasn’t the horse’s fault. From diagnosis to operation was two weeks. She had her choice of surgeon. We had a copay of $100, for which the surgeon apologised. Apparently there was some anomaly in the system that did not cover the cost of a nurse he preferred to do the bandaging. If we did not have private insurance, she would have had to wait perhaps 4 months.

    Last year I had a heart arrhythmia problem that required ablation surgery. That is the procedure where the cardiologist feeds a catheter into your heart from a cut in the groin, and then does something to a nervous connection within the heart. I had a one-month wait, for which the surgeon apologised, as the machine had broken on the date of my scheduled surgery and had to be rescheduled. The procedure was done in a private hospital and required an overnight stay. There was no additional charge. The ambulance ride was covered.

    In both of these cases I do not know exactly how the system worked. I gave my private insurance details to the hospital, and the costs were somehow shared between that insurance and the universal public cover. I just know that we did not receive a bill.

    We had a federal election last year in which our left of centre opposition accused the right of centre government of attempting to weaken medicare, our universal health insurance system. The government was returned with a one-seat majority, blaming the loss of a number of seats on the health scare campaign against it, and has since worked to improve its credentials regarding the protection of the system. The electorate in Australia will not countenance any weakening or attack on our universal health insurance system.

    Over forty years I have had numerous trips to the US, the last one in September last year, and love the place, but am amazed at this extraordinary anomaly.
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