Texas Re-Opening Announced

[A-Tex Devil 2,446]

14 minutes ago, kevwun said:

At no point have we acted proactively in this.  We wait till the shit has already hit the fan before halfheartedly trying to do something about it.

The inability to sacrifice comfort in the present to create a better future is contradictory to America's mindset.  Most of us, including me, suffer it in some degree.  We don't have the collective mindset to take a short term loss for a long term gain or to prevent a long term catastrophe.  We were always going to cut the strings on the social distancing parachute when we were 200 feet from the ground.  It was inevitable.

Edited June 22, 2020 by A-Tex Devil

[BrickHorn 18,218]

30 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

lulz

If it happens for another month, we’ll all be wearing spiked shoulder pads and driving a caravan of war-modified dune buggies to raid neighboring clans for petrol.

[FORTY NINE TO ZERO 2,652]

Since our county judge Is a dipshit trumper, the City of Galveston just followed Harris county and is declaring masks mandatory for business. Hallelujah. 

Edited June 22, 2020 by Xian

[Longhorn_Fan68 33,868]

this was 2 days ago. is he waiting for Houston, Austin, and SA to follow suit before doing something?:

 

[gyroprotagonist 2,592]

7 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

Ordering a statewide lockdown/stay-at-home would only be taken seriously by a portion of the population, the people out in the rural areas wouldn’t take it seriously regardless of what Abbott says.  That’s why it’s better to overreact now than wait for the disaster to come to you. 

same thing could be said of a city.  but some city leaders did it anyway even if it pissed off a lot of people.  instead we had brilliant leaders like Cruz and Paxton pay the fines of people who were violating the city orders (that were about to get overridden by the state open'er back up order.) and call for old people to fall on their swords so their grandkids could get a haircut.  Again if the gov was not such such a pussy it would have at least interesting to see if the other top repub brass would followed his lead or keep tonguing Trumps ass.

All that Trump asskissing just so the FEMA could deny Dallas disaster relief for the tornadoes that tore through the city proper.  so much winning, but maybe that was by design as punishment for wanting to keep citizens safe.

[ChiTownDoc 21,152]

I’m definitely thankful my state is run by people who believe in science.  What a clusterfuck you all have on your hands...

Edited June 23, 2020 by ChiTownDoc
Clisterrfuck??

[SizzleChest 8,283]

14 minutes ago, BrickHorn said:

If it happens for another month, we’ll all be wearing spiked shoulder pads and driving a caravan of war-modified dune buggies to raid neighboring clans for petrol.

What makes you think this would not be an ordinary day in Dumas?

[Radical Larry 28,582]

33 minutes ago, BrickHorn said:

If it happens for another month, we’ll all be wearing spiked shoulder pads and driving a caravan of war-modified dune buggies to raid neighboring clans for petrol.

So, Abbott is Pig Killer?

 

 

[plimon 190]

https://twitter.com/pmodern2010/status/1275166363540127744?s=20

 

The remix is catchy.

Edited June 22, 2020 by plimon

[Captainant 27,654]

43 minutes ago, plimon said:

https://twitter.com/pmodern2010/status/1275166363540127744?s=20

 

The remix is catchy.

Obligatory

 

[4th&Five 41,525]

 

[Brisketexan 105,095]

55 minutes ago, Radical Larry said:

So, Abbott is Pig Killer?

 

 

My kingdom for Pig Killer's leadership qualities.

[Gap03 3,304]

11 minutes ago, Captainant said:

Obligatory

 

 

Can't stop laughing at the breakdown at 1:10 (queued up above here for easy access) - so good ...

[safe sex 11,709]

3 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

The accuracy of this is utterly depressing.

Literally what happened to me lol. Thank god it did.

[Continental Op 3,934]

2 hours ago, Pig Bellmont said:

Any lockdown won’t happen unless or until a city’s hospitals get overwhelmed. They’re all in on “open for business”

We aren't shutting shit down no matter what.  March - May was apparently the best we could do and that's that. 

[Wanker Bob 379]

I haven't seen anybody really talk about this but what is this going to do to the health insurance companies and as a consequence to those who end up in the hospital with this? I'm assuming they will find some loopholes to weasel out of some coverage and stick people with 40 and $50,000 bills. 

[elfenix 34,230]

Since our county judge Is a dipshit trumper, the City of Galveston just followed Harris county and is declaring masks mandatory for business. Hallelujah. 

That statement was lame shit. "I'm not going to order businesses to require masks and you're free to not give them your business if you don't like their mask policy" is like saying to the other kids that they don't have to play with Timmy when he pees in the pool.

The continual claim of "personal responsibility" is a denial that systemic problems exist. If systemic problems exist then they justify a systemic answer. But that might mean that government does have a purpose and that billionaires have to pay to clean up after themselves so fukit.

[Bartles 769]

9 minutes ago, Wanker Bob said:

I haven't seen anybody really talk about this but what is this going to do to the health insurance companies and as a consequence to those who end up in the hospital with this? I'm assuming they will find some loopholes to weasel out of some coverage and stick people with 40 and $50,000 bills. 

It's already happening. @sarahkliff is a good follow for this. Lately she's been digging up expensive tests which are mostly not covered, as well as sick people going back to work because that's the only way they keep their insurance. But you're right, the insurance cos have no intention of paying for this stuff

 

[Wanker Bob 379]

7 minutes ago, Bartles said:

It's already happening. @sarahkliff is a good follow for this. Lately she's been digging up expensive tests which are mostly not covered, as well as sick people going back to work because that's the only way they keep their insurance. But you're right, the insurance cos have no intention of paying for this stuff

 

So predictable. 

[Biff Tannen 45,673]

9 minutes ago, Bartles said:

It's already happening. @sarahkliff is a good follow for this. Lately she's been digging up expensive tests which are mostly not covered, as well as sick people going back to work because that's the only way they keep their insurance. But you're right, the insurance cos have no intention of paying for this stuff

 

Read the Seattle article though. He’s not paying a million bucks. He may pay nothing. It’s more about the astronomical health care costs overall. While we should sure as shit watch the insurance companies, this is kind of a misleading  tweet. 

[Pancho 44,757]

1 hour ago, Continental Op said:

We aren't shutting shit down no matter what.  March - May was apparently the best we could do and that's that. 

Yeah, I don’t see us shutting down again regardless of what happens.  

And #AbbottBetrayedTexas is trending in the state right now on Twitter. 

[Blotto 23,497]

8 minutes ago, Pancho said:

Yeah, I don’t see us shutting down again regardless of what happens.  

And #AbbottBetrayedTexas is trending in the state right now on Twitter. 

Not sure if I saw this on Surly or somewhere else, but damn if ain't true

 

Edited June 23, 2020 by Blotto

[bolverk 29,660]

4 hours ago, Pig Bellmont said:

Any lockdown won’t happen unless or until a city’s hospitals get overwhelmed. They’re all in on “open for business”

Actually, he said Texas is "Wide Open for Business" which is the state's official tagline.

Because bragging rights are what's most important in times like these.

[Mrs Whiggins 13,050]

23 minutes ago, bolverk said:

Actually, he said Texas is "Wide Open for Business" which is the state's official tagline.

Because bragging rights are what's most important in times like these.

 

 

I'll say one thing about the governor. He can talk the talk but he sure can't walk the walk.

 

 

 

I'm gonna get smote. Again.

[tx 3 putt 76,905]

Texas Children's campuses in hou being prepped to accept adult ICU and acute care patients 

Edited June 23, 2020 by tx 3 putt

[GreenspointTexas 9,600]

5 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

Texas Children's campuses in hou being prepped to start acceptimg adult ICU and acute care patients 

Wife is a NP at TCH and this is true

[HenryJames 66,041]

Pics?

[yoladu 4,093]

7 hours ago, 4th&Five said:

lulz

 

let me guess... if metric trends continue to move in the wrong direction for another month, he will say the same goddamn thing a month from now.

there is no consequence for that unabashedly naked strategy, re: Texas GOP voters.

[yoladu 4,093]

6 hours ago, MidTexHorn said:

My wife went to a medical imaging place this afternoon for a lung MRI as part of some sort of screening her doctor is having her do. She's not sick. She's standing in line to check in behind some dude who was hacking away. He was wearing a mask but my wife said he looked like shit and the nurse gave him a better mask. My wife asked the nurse if the guy had Covid and all she would say is that he had a cough. My wife noped right out of there and told them to cancel her appointment. Threw her mask away when she got home.

i recommend she inject disinfectant. What does she have to lose?

[ChiTownDoc 21,152]

5 hours ago, Wanker Bob said:

I haven't seen anybody really talk about this but what is this going to do to the health insurance companies and as a consequence to those who end up in the hospital with this? I'm assuming they will find some loopholes to weasel out of some coverage and stick people with 40 and $50,000 bills. 

Overall insurance companies are saving a shitload of money during C19.  I highly doubt anyone ‘reputable’, as in the big players, do that on any large scale.   

[Wanker Bob 379]

23 minutes ago, ChiTownDoc said:

Overall insurance companies are saving a shitload of money during C19.  I highly doubt anyone ‘reputable’, as in the big players, do that on any large scale.   

How does that work? Who's paying for all the treatment if not insurance?

[ChiTownDoc 21,152]

5 minutes ago, Wanker Bob said:

How does that work? Who's paying for all the treatment if not insurance?

Overall costs in healthcare are way fucking down.  Treating c19 is pennies on the dollar compared to all the expensive surgeries that have been cut off for a good long time now.  

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,510]

I can’t tell how Abbott is defining that hospitals are doing fine when every major hospital system is saying the reverse of that.

[Dnaguy 11,943]

2 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I can’t tell how Abbott is defining that hospitals are doing fine when every major hospital system is saying the reverse of that.

Because we live in a post fact/ truth world.

Abbott is full on adhering to the Trump doctrine of creating your own reality, avoiding responsibility for bad stuff, shifting / assigning blame, and after staying on the sideline to just declare victory.

[Wanker Bob 379]

6 hours ago, ChiTownDoc said:

Overall costs in healthcare are way fucking down.  Treating c19 is pennies on the dollar compared to all the expensive surgeries that have been cut off for a good long time now.  

Wow I would have thought the opposite. Do non-essential elective surgeries make that much of a difference or are even covered by insurance? Or are essential surgeries people actually need to continue living way down as well?

[BradInATX 9,208]

2 minutes ago, Wanker Bob said:

Wow I would have thought the opposite. Do non-essential elective surgeries make that much of a difference or are even covered by insurance? Or are essential surgeries people actually need to continue living way down as well?

Elective surgeries are what keep hospitals afloat. The reason April and May were so devastating for hospitals financially was because they shut down elective surgeries in preparation for Covid overflow.

ChiTown probably knows numbers more than I do, but the OR makes up the large majority of profit for most hospitals, so I'd presume they also generate the majority of the cost for insurance companies.

[fuggled 576]

I heard from a nurse friend that works at Parkland that one of their nurses died from Covid. Has anyone seen that reported?

[Wanker Bob 379]

22 minutes ago, BradInATX said:

Elective surgeries are what keep hospitals afloat. The reason April and May were so devastating for hospitals financially was because they shut down elective surgeries in preparation for Covid overflow.

ChiTown probably knows numbers more than I do, but the OR makes up the large majority of profit for most hospitals, so I'd presume they also generate the majority of the cost for insurance companies.

It's America so of course really fat people all of a sudden not getting bariatric surgery would make that big of a difference but I wonder if more essential surgeries are down as well? I wonder what the life toll is on that side effect of Covid19

[BradInATX 9,208]

2 minutes ago, longhornmatt said:

I’m not a doctor, but I do know for a fact that some chemotherapy patients at the infusion clinic in a hospital where a relative goes had their treatment put on hold for a while this spring because of Covid.  I don’t think elective surgeries are the only things that have been shelved.  And if everything except Covid and life or death emergencies are being put on hold, then insurance companies are paying out way, way less.

People are also choosing to delay a lot of the surgeries, even some of the "essential" ones. 

[Steamboat1874 4,056]

57 minutes ago, BradInATX said:

Elective surgeries are what keep hospitals afloat. The reason April and May were so devastating for hospitals financially was because they shut down elective surgeries in preparation for Covid overflow.

ChiTown probably knows numbers more than I do, but the OR makes up the large majority of profit for most hospitals, so I'd presume they also generate the majority of the cost for insurance companies.

And therein lies the whole problem with hospitals in the first place.

Why do they need to "make a profit"?

Why are they not non-profit entities?

It is one of the main reasons our healthcare in this country sucks.

[BradInATX 9,208]

Just now, Steamboat1874 said:

And therein lies the whole problem with hospitals in the first place.

Why do they need to "make a profit"?

Why are they not non-profit entities?

It is one of the main reasons our healthcare in this country sucks.

Well, yeah. I don't disagree either but that's kinda a whole different discussion. I probably should have used revenue instead of profit. But in a lot of cases the OR is what keeps the other wings of the hospital afloat. So your hip replacement or whatever to some extent subsidizes the emergency room, etc. I don't know that it's the best way to go, it seems like pricing models should be set up so that each unit of the hospital can stay afloat on its own. But there's a lot in play there that's way over my head.

[Horn Dog 9,818]

1 hour ago, Wanker Bob said:

Wow I would have thought the opposite. Do non-essential elective surgeries make that much of a difference or are even covered by insurance? Or are essential surgeries people actually need to continue living way down as well?

“Elective surgery” doesn’t mean it doesn’t need to be done, it just means it doesn’t need to be done right now.  The majority of these cases are still medically indicated and thus covered by insurance.  
I also suspect that large numbers of mid aged people with preexisting conditions dying off helps the insurance company’s bottom lines too.  Even the ones who recover but are now chronically ill and unemployed and can’t cover their COBRA costs also helps.

[gmr548 16,576]

I also suspect that large numbers of mid aged people with preexisting conditions dying off helps the insurance company’s bottom lines too.  Even the ones who recover but are now chronically ill and unemployed and can’t cover their COBRA costs also helps.

Smh this fucking country

[troph 24,783]

And therein lies the whole problem with hospitals in the first place.

Why do they need to "make a profit"?

Why are they not non-profit entities?

It is one of the main reasons our healthcare in this country sucks.

Non-profit just means not taxed. Profit is needed to expand, to improve, to reinvest, to study, to subsidize, to preserve when things aren’t going well. Hospitals that don’t make a profit close. If government run completely maybe profit doesn’t matter (as much).

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,510]

1 hour ago, Steamboat1874 said:

And therein lies the whole problem with hospitals in the first place.

Why do they need to "make a profit"?

Why are they not non-profit entities?

It is one of the main reasons our healthcare in this country sucks.

Many hospitals are not-for-profit but they still need revenue to keep the lights on, employees and vendors paid, etc. Many of the large or biggest names in Texas are public or not-for-profit: Baylor, Scott & White, Memorial Hermann, Houston Methodist, UT Health system.

I assume HCA is the largest for-profit hospital system in Texas with 50+ : https://careers.hcahealthcare.com/pages/locations

[WBT 20,561]

2 hours ago, Wanker Bob said:

I wonder what the life toll is on that side effect of Covid19

I wonder that too.  That's the reason the excess death conspiracy people need to tap the brakes a little bit.  Not all excess deaths right now are going to be from covid.  Probably most, but I don't think we have a way to know the percentage yet.

[royiv 9,286]

1 hour ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Many hospitals are not-for-profit but they still need revenue to keep the lights on, employees and vendors paid, etc. Many of the large or biggest names in Texas are public or not-for-profit: Baylor, Scott & White, Memorial Hermann, Houston Methodist, UT Health system.

I assume HCA is the largest for-profit hospital system in Texas with 50+ : https://careers.hcahealthcare.com/pages/locations

All of those not-for-profit hospitals are very much focused on making a profit. As stated by others, profit is what funds research, expansion, new service lines, etc. No profit, no mission. The main difference between the not-for-profits and for-profit is they don't pay taxes.

[elfenix 34,230]

"not for profit" means they aren't handing money to investors and that they're supposed to be doing some amount of charitable care.  every once in a while the IRS gets suspicious about the amount of charitable care being done and finds that either the hospital can't point to any or it claims that uncollectable bills constitute charitable care. 

[Patrick Bateman 3,911]

Look, Doc..... if it gets bad in a couple of weeks, we'll reconsider our options.  Otherwise, let's hit the beach.

 

Edited June 23, 2020 by Patrick Bateman

[ChiTownDoc 21,152]

9 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I can’t tell how Abbott is defining that hospitals are doing fine when every major hospital system is saying the reverse of that.

Yes.  Vast majority of hospitals are financially up shit creek.  Should improve but likely need more stimulus.