Seen on the street in Kyiv.

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck, A/K/A Dolt-45,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset., A/K/A P01135809

Sunday, August 7, 2022

If You Have Insulin-Dependent Diabetes, the Republicans Would Rather Fuck You Over Than Take the Chance of Joe Biden Claiming That He Did Something to Help You

Make no mistake about it, that's exactly what happened today, when the budget package passed the Senate:

The bill also caps Medicare patients’ costs for insulin, the expensive diabetes medication, at $35 monthly. Democrats wanted to extend the $35 cap to private insurers but it ran afoul of Senate rules. Most Republicans voted to strip it from the package, though in a sign of the political potency of health costs seven GOP senators joined Democrats trying to preserve it.

No doubt Ted Cruz and Moscow Mitch were fist-bumping each other on the Senate floor because they fucked over diabetics.

10 comments:

JustMusing said...

Once again the Republicans rub our faces in who they are. Will Dems get the message out this time; loud and clear that voting red is the same as putting a round through your own head?

It's pretty obvious that even a diabetic Jesus wouldn't get help from the Grassley's of this world after lying that he voted to preserve the cap, but his "No" on the Senate floor is loud and clear.

https://frankenforiowa.com/sen-chuck-grassley-votes-against-capping-insulin-at-35-a-month/

"Grassley has received nearly $1.4 million in contributions from the prescription drug industry, and has put their profits first throughout his career, including when he wrote the bill to Ban Medicare From Negotiating For Lower Prices."

dinthebeast said...

Perhaps they don't remember how it was that we won the 2018 midterms.

-Doug in Sugar Pine

dan gerene said...

If Cruz, McConnell and their cronies ever became despicable that would be an upgrade.

Comrade Misfit said...

Even Trottin' Josh Hawley could see the folly of this vote; he was one of the seven Republicans to vote for it.

w3ski said...

"I voted to keep your life-saving prescription unaffordable." Now there is a GOP election slogan we need to see.
w3ski

Eck! said...

With Insulin over 350$ a vial and typical type 1 diabetic
at 2-4 vials a month its life or death. Persish if
the drop one. If they cut back trying to stretch that
means very close monitoring of diet and exercise to
stay under what at best is marginally out of control.
At that point long term organ damage is the not a
risk but reality. The nature of that reality is most
forced to that are not going to be in the medicare
system long. Death does that.

All the rethug drumbeats of death panels during the
creation of Affordable Care Act and after were their
self echos of what they do.

The rethugs of the cult can go to the special hell
reserved for them.



Eck!


pigpen51 said...

My wife uses two different types of insulin. She has a new health insurance as of this month. It is medicare as opposed to the ACA, or Obamacare. Walgreen's just sent her a text saying that she has a prescription for both of them ready for pickup, at 1200$ and 900$ respectively. Her new insurance requires her to go to Sam's Club or Walmart.
So any help like this is welcomed. I have not followed any of the law that is being passed by the congress and President Biden will sign, other than seeing that the Republicans are crying foul. I really could not care a bit, if it brings my wife's costs down. As I have said, I am not a Republican, but a conservative. The Republicans often put their principles above the people's best interests. That is why I cannot support any political party. They both at times do things that hurt the people they swear they are trying to help.

Eck! said...

PP,

That is the problem. The rethugs blew up the provision
to cap drugs for insurance plans. When it finally happens
it will be good for Medicare. Least in its current form.

The problems are twofold, DOCs that prescribe the latest
and greatest that happen to be on tier-4 where you pay
dearly or it is not even on the plan. The other is all
that new stuff is never cheap. Smacking the doc upside
the head about that may help as prescribing something
that is high cost is not helping.

We know that being retired, drugs like Pradaxa or Elequis
are common improvements over warfarin but if your supplemental
insurance doesn't cover that Ouch! If it hits the max pay out
(doughnut hole) double ouch. So selection of the supplemental
insurance is critical. Especially the drug coverage.

Remember insurance is a racket. Pay me now, or pay way more later.



Eck!

pigpen51 said...

Eck!
I have been a careful consumer of medical products such as drugs, and surgeries, etc. for some time. I had a doctor that I discussed not only efficacy of the medications, but also the cost of the drugs prescribed. Sadly, he moved to a different city, too far away, after around 10 years. My new provider and I have only seen each other a couple of times, so we have not gotten around to the discussion yet.
I have chronic near daily migraine headaches. The new medications, called anti CRGP's, such as Aimovig or Ajovy, are all very,very expensive. And each one I have tried, the drug company has had programs to help with the cost. I saw my neurologist last week, and am trying my 4th one now. I am waiting for the pharmacy to get the drug company's help with the cost. Otherwise, it is around 2700$ per month, without insurance.
I have had migraines my entire adult life, and worked for over 35 years in a steel melt shop. But it got so bad that I was unable to keep working, and combined with a broken back as a 20 year old, that now has significant problems, as well, I am on SSD. Anyone with chronic pain understands that any change, no matter how small, is appreciated. So I have had about 30% reduction in migraine days. I was happy, knowing that a total cure of migraines is never in the cards. But insurance companies want a 50% reduction to call it a success. With at least 6 significant consussions in my younger days playing football, and a family history of migraines, a cure is never going to happen.
I understand that insurance companies are in business to make money. But I have seen over my adult life that they make at times arbitrary decisions, based on what seems to be unsound medical reasoning, to save money. And they are the final arbiter. It has of course, gotten worse with time. Insurance was for many years a free benefit, but as time went on, I paid more and more, until I paid almost 150$ a week, for a family of 4. Then the same for a family of 3.
I know that the single payer term is anathema for Republicans, but it seems that it is the only way that we can assure that every single American is able to get health care insurance coverage,at an afordable price. The problem is, as with most every problem, bi partisanship is a thing of the past. That is the one thing that Bill Clinton was so very good at doing, building consensis. Together with Newt Gingrich, they balanced the budget, something that sounds quaint in todays world. I doubt that such teamwork can ever be achieved in todays world. It is a sad thing, and hurts our country.

Dark Avenger said...

As for the Republicans -- how can one regard seriously a frightened, greedy, nostalgic huddle of tradesmen and lucky idlers who shut their eyes to history and science, steel their emotions against decent human sympathy, cling to sordid and provincial ideals exalting sheer acquisitiveness and condoning artificial hardship for the non-materially-shrewd, dwell smugly and sentimentally in a distorted dream-cosmos of outmoded phrases and principles and attitudes based on the bygone agricultural-handicraft world, and revel in (consciously or unconsciously) mendacious assumptions (such as the notion that real liberty is synonymous with the single detail of unrestricted economic license or that a rational planning of resource-distribution would contravene some vague and mystical 'American heritage'...) utterly contrary to fact and without the slightest foundation in human experience? Intellectually, the Republican idea deserves the tolerance and respect one gives to the dead.


H P Lovecraft