Texas -- a failed state

[StassneyHorn 6573]

States are required to first try to renew Medicaid recipients through what’s known as an “ex parte” process, or using already available data sources, like state wage databases, to access ongoing eligibility. Only 8% of Texans who retained coverage did so through the ex parte process, the lowest rate of any state. By comparison, 99% of people who were renewed for Medicaid in North Carolina were deemed eligible through the ex parte process.
 

 

[mchookem 16320]

i'm just here to say... most women only use 'up to' 12 tampons per cycle?? 

riiight 🙄

 

 

 

[PenelopeWitherspoon 19100]

3 hours ago, mchookem said:

i'm just here to say... most women only use 'up to' 12 tampons per cycle?? 

riiight 🙄

 

 

 

Yeah, that number is way too low.  But it is funny listening to a man try and explain how many tampons a woman uses in a cycle.  Idiot.

[TwiceHorn 31435]

6 hours ago, Anastasis said:

If you want to fix the healthcare finance system in this country (or this state), you have to tackle the cost drivers of healthcare spending. Hospital systems and pharma. That’s where the profit margins are. Physician services makes up another big chunk of the spending, but the margins there don’t have much fat once you parse out the imaging and diagnostics. 

I mean, that's true.

But we also have an incredibly distorted system of matching supply with demand and getting price discovery.

All of the options to solve that seem to involve government intervention.

I'm still enough of a conservative to be wary of comprehensive government intervention, but I don't see any other way.

[Anastasis 23455]

1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:

I mean, that's true.

But we also have an incredibly distorted system of matching supply with demand and getting price discovery.

All of the options to solve that seem to involve government intervention.

I'm still enough of a conservative to be wary of comprehensive government intervention, but I don't see any other way.

Yes, price transparency is a huge part of the problem, and one that exists in particular as a result of government intervention. So sure, let think about government intervention and discuss it in specific terms, but historical government intervention is the reason that we have institutionalized price obfuscation across the entire industry.

 

Edited November 28, 2023 by Anastasis

[Nice Guy Eddie 13507]

The worst part of the dropped medicaid recipients info are the Texans who high five each other about that news. Like what would happen on TexAgs. But they’re morons.

this increases the costs to the Texas taxpayer. Do you think most of former Medicaid recipients are going to magically find health insurance options? No they will use ER services even that much more. Which makes that person even poorer which isn’t a win for Texas. This will put even more stress, financially and operationally, on our already stressed health system.

when you have a 8 hour wait at your local ER, thank Greg for it.

[Guest]

6 hours ago, mchookem said:

i'm just here to say... most women only use 'up to' 12 tampons per cycle?? 

riiight 🙄

 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

Yeah, that number is way too low.  But it is funny listening to a man try and explain how many tampons a woman uses in a cycle.  Idiot.

I didn't know the answer, and FWIW,  I'd absolutely take your word for it.

[Nivek 16916]

27 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

The worst part of the dropped medicaid recipients info are the Texans who high five each other about that news. Like what would happen on TexAgs. But they’re morons.

this increases the costs to the Texas taxpayer. Do you think most of former Medicaid recipients are going to magically find health insurance options? No they will use ER services even that much more. Which makes that person even poorer which isn’t a win for Texas. This will put even more stress, financially and operationally, on our already stressed health system.

when you have a 8 hour wait at your local ER, thank Greg for it.

clearly we need tort reform to drop prices and invite doctors to practice medicine without the fear of getting sued for fucking up.  

[royiv 9244]

35 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

The worst part of the dropped medicaid recipients info are the Texans who high five each other about that news. Like what would happen on TexAgs. But they’re morons.

this increases the costs to the Texas taxpayer. Do you think most of former Medicaid recipients are going to magically find health insurance options? No they will use ER services even that much more. Which makes that person even poorer which isn’t a win for Texas. This will put even more stress, financially and operationally, on our already stressed health system.

when you have a 8 hour wait at your local ER, thank Greg for it.

It goes further than that. Those ER visits don't just pay for themselves. The taxpayers and commercially insured end up subsidizing those losses through higher healthcare premiums. Not providing coverage to the poor ends up costing all of us more in the long run. 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13507]

11 minutes ago, Nivek said:

clearly we need tort reform to drop prices and invite doctors to practice medicine without the fear of getting sued for fucking up.  

The average GOP voter would want to fix an overcrowded ER by suggesting that hospitals need to check the immigration status of anyone who "looks Mexican." The nice GOP voter will say that they don't want a hospital to refuse to save a dying illegal alien but that Homeland Security also needs to detain/deport them. The not-so-nice majority will disagree about the saving part.

Edited November 28, 2023 by Nice Guy Eddie

[YGIFS 19449]

1 hour ago, Anastasis said:

Yes, price transparency is a huge part of the problem, and one that exists in particular as a result of government intervention. So sure, let think about government intervention and discuss it in specific terms, but historical government intervention is the reason that we have institutionalized price obfuscation across the entire industry.

 

This is an overlooked point.  Most (51%+) Americans can tell you within $10 either way what an oil change costs, health care for cars.  Most Americans can tell you within $10 either way what a plumber costs per hour, health care for homes.  I bet less than 10% of Americans can tell you within $10,000 what the cost of a heart stent is or a hip replacement or kidney treatments for a year or the vast majority of Px drugs.  It's a feature, not a bug, to our system.  

[Nice Guy Eddie 13507]

6 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

This is an overlooked point.  Most (51%+) Americans can tell you within $10 either way what an oil change costs, health care for cars.  Most Americans can tell you within $10 either way what a plumber costs per hour, health care for homes.  I bet less than 10% of Americans can tell you within $10,000 what the cost of a heart stent is or a hip replacement or kidney treatments for a year or the vast majority of Px drugs.  It's a feature, not a bug, to our system.  

Yes but only a small minority of people pay for heart stents. Insurance companies, or even more accurately, employers pay for heart stents. People pay their per-paycheck premiums, copays and deductibles. They know roughly those amounts.

[Anastasis 23455]

1 hour ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Yes but only a small minority of people pay for heart stents. Insurance companies, or even more accurately, employers pay for heart stents. People pay their per-paycheck premiums, copays and deductibles. They know roughly those amounts.

This is spot on, the costs of services is clouded from the ultimate consumer and as such market forces are perverted. Some components of healthcare services are harder than others to  expose to market forces, emergent services such as stent placement for example. But there are certainly components that you can, it would just require shaking up the major stakeholders that benefit from the current system. Convert Medicare to a HDHP-like public backstop that kicks in at a reasonable annual amount, open up tax advantaged HSAs to everyone, HSA credits for certain income bands, private coverage for services prior to hitting the backstop available if desired, public coverage up to the hd annual for low income safety net. That would expose the most frequently used Rx and medical utilization to market forces and have a backstop for catastrophic events. It would also decrease premiums for private coverage and incentivize savings for future healthcare spending needs. We could even give it a catch name like "Medicare 4 All".   

Edited November 28, 2023 by Anastasis

[YGIFS 19449]

Also, true.  But we also pay home owner's insurance premiums/deductibles.  We know those numbers really well, and even with the buffer of the insurance company---most folks know about what it costs to re-do a roof, rebuild a ruined bathroom or kitchen, etc.  Same for auto insurance, and other parallels.  Most of us are clueless when it comes to what's on the other side of our health insurance though.  Or at least, me and every single person I know are.  

Anyway, it's Tuesday---let's get some brown kids off the care they need!  

[elfenix 34221]

1 hour ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Yes but only a small minority of people pay for heart stents. Insurance companies, or even more accurately, employers pay for heart stents. People pay their per-paycheck premiums, copays and deductibles. They know roughly those amounts.

or even even more accurately, employees, since the employer is agnostic whether that money goes to an employee's checking account or to the government or to an insurer.  only when employees get market power can they shove much of that cost onto employers.  and i'd posit most employees don't have that market power. 

[Horn Under a Bad Sign 20390]

[Horn Under a Bad Sign 20390]

Florida, Texas residents fleeing due to soaking insurance costs, surging home prices.

"This year, homeowners in the Sunshine State pay on average $6,000 a year for home insurance, or 42% more compared to 2022, according to the Insurance Information Institute ...

The cost of home insurance for Texans is also among the highest in the nation. Last year, homeowners insurance rose an average of 10.8%, according to the Texas Department of Insurance ...

Over the last decade, home prices in and around the metropolitan areas of Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston have become less affordable relative to income than Chicago, a recent analysis by the National Association of Realtors and the US Census Bureau found.

https://nypost.com/2023/11/27/business/florida-texas-residents-flee-due-to-soaring-costs/

 

 

[CooterBrown 18002]

2 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

The average GOP voter would want to fix an overcrowded ER by suggesting that hospitals need to check the immigration status of anyone who "looks Mexican." The nice GOP voter will say that they don't want a hospital to refuse to save a dying illegal alien but that Homeland Security also needs to detain/deport them. The not-so-nice majority will disagree about the saving part.

The next Texas GQP platform:  The obvious answer to assure minimized wait times is to have separate hospitals for citizens (white) and for potential non-citizens (non-white). 

 

[txkman 5]

Lived in Texas my whole life (40+ years).  Vast majority of my family and friends are still here.  Wife and I decided earlier this year we are ready for a change.  We are moving our family (2 kids) to Boise, ID in a few weeks.  It's hard to quantify or rank the reasons why we want a change (although the reasons frequently referenced in this thread certainly play a big part), and we realize not all of our current issues with living in Texas will be better in Boise.  We did a lot of research on various places and concluded no place is perfect.  We are sad to move away from family and friends, but we are very excited about a new adventure in a smaller town with cooler weather and lots of outdoor activities close by.  I was also pleasantly surprised to find my income will be the same, my overall tax burden will be slightly less, and my home and auto insurance premiums will be 1/3 of what I'm paying in Texas for comparable coverage.  

Time will tell if it works out, but we're excited.

[royiv 9244]

5 minutes ago, txkman said:

Lived in Texas my whole life (40+ years).  Vast majority of my family and friends are still here.  Wife and I decided earlier this year we are ready for a change.  We are moving our family (2 kids) to Boise, ID in a few weeks.  It's hard to quantify or rank the reasons why we want a change (although the reasons frequently referenced in this thread certainly play a big part), and we realize not all of our current issues with living in Texas will be better in Boise.  We did a lot of research on various places and concluded no place is perfect.  We are sad to move away from family and friends, but we are very excited about a new adventure in a smaller town with cooler weather and lots of outdoor activities close by.  I was also pleasantly surprised to find my income will be the same, my overall tax burden will be slightly less, and my home and auto insurance premiums will be 1/3 of what I'm paying in Texas for comparable coverage.  

Time will tell if it works out, but we're excited.

Boise is a great city. I have spent a lot of time there for work for 10+ years and you did a good job summarizing the positives. In some ways it reminds me of Austin when I was growing up in the 80's. That said, Idaho politics are just as bat shit crazy as Texas politics.

[YChang 3442]

3 minutes ago, royiv said:

That said, Idaho politics are just as bat shit crazy as Texas politics.

I have two friends from there originally that moved back to Idaho. From their stories it sounds worse than TX. I'll keep enjoying it as a visitor... one of them has a great cabin right outside of Yellowstone. 

[txkman 5]

2 minutes ago, royiv said:

Boise is a great city. I have spent a lot of time there for work for 10+ years and you did a good job summarizing the positives. In some ways it reminds me of Austin when I was growing up in the 80's. That said, Idaho politics are just as bat shit crazy as Texas politics.

I hear you on the state politics.  Silver lining is that Boise itself seems pretty moderate, and the state is growing which (hopefully) mitigates the bat shit crazyies over time.

[royiv 9244]

3 minutes ago, txkman said:

I hear you on the state politics.  Silver lining is that Boise itself seems pretty moderate, and the state is growing which (hopefully) mitigates the bat shit crazyies over time.

All of the large urban county counties in Texas are solidly blue. How's that working out here? 

[mchookem 16320]

yeah...congrats on escaping Texas, but Idaho is...scary 😳

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13570]

4 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

The worst part of the dropped medicaid recipients info are the Texans who high five each other about that news. Like what would happen on TexAgs. But they’re morons.

this increases the costs to the Texas taxpayer. Do you think most of former Medicaid recipients are going to magically find health insurance options? No they will use ER services even that much more. Which makes that person even poorer which isn’t a win for Texas. This will put even more stress, financially and operationally, on our already stressed health system.

when you have a 8 hour wait at your local ER, thank Greg for it.

Yup. Altruism and just being a decent person is a long term investment that ultimately benefits you. 

[Nivek 16916]

3 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

The average GOP voter would want to fix an overcrowded ER by suggesting that hospitals need to check the immigration status of anyone who "looks Mexican." The nice GOP voter will say that they don't want a hospital to refuse to save a dying illegal alien but that Homeland Security also needs to detain/deport them. The not-so-nice majority will disagree about the saving part.

The average GOP voter doesn't want to fix.   As far as refusing services to illegals, they already want that.  They don't care if they push children and drown them in the Rio Grande.

[Fudge Nuggets 19184]

14 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

Was jogging/walking along Shoal Creek this morning, and under one of the bridges, there was a huge "TEXAS NATIONALIST NETWORK" spray painted in black and red with the aid of a stencil, along a retaining wall.

Only whoever did that completely fucked it up, because it looked like this:

"TEXASNATIONALIST NETWORK"

Yeah, rather than alternate black and red, they just did the first two in black (maybe they ran out of paint).  And they ran the Texas and Nationalist part together. 

And because of where it was spray painted, there was mold and dirt along the bottom, so the "L" looked more like an "I" because the bottom was lost in the dirt/mold, so it came out like this:

"TEXASNATIONAIIST NETWORK"

Okay, fine, whatever, these people are not that bright to begin with - none of them have even pondered a new nation of 30 million people with less than 20,000 weekend soldiers (and it would be far less, many National Guard members would stay in the US, as would the equipment), where whites are outnumbered by minorities, where Catholicism is the biggest religious group.  Oh, and all of that is sitting next to a 1,254 mile-long border shared with a Hispanic, very Catholic nation of 127 million people, that does not have control of the border cities, where there's over 175,000 members of the various cartels sprinkled throughout, especially near the border areas, many of whom have heavy military hardware.  And those cartels would quickly move through El Paso and Brownsville and various other areas and straight up towards San Antonio and Houston and other points north and east.

But they also painted this out-of-the-way somewhat (couldn't see it from the street), so they are cowards as well (there is an abandoned Randalls and Burger King not that far away in plain sight), and they painted it in an area where the people who would actually see it would not give a shit about them at all, both because they aren't members of any such network and because anybody who wants to be a Texas secessionist has already looked into, and a shitty spray paint job won't convince non-believers.  Oh, and it's an area that sees so much graffiti that most people don't pay attention to any of it to begin with (too busy keeping an eye out on homeless people camped along the creek).

At least if they are going to do this shit, grow a spine and do it out in the open, or at least get it right and paint it so that it looks like this:

"TEXAS   NATIONALIST   NETWORK"

and tag a .com or whatever their website is on the end.  Fucking amateurs.

Next time, say the last part first. 
What a beating. 

[Fudge Nuggets 19184]

4 hours ago, Nivek said:

clearly we need tort reform to drop prices and invite doctors to practice medicine without the fear of getting sued for fucking up.  

Government needs to nationalize every insurance company. Wonder why Mr Both Sides gives them a free pass?

[Eskimohorn 5630]

If you want to fix the healthcare finance system in this country (or this state), you have to tackle the cost drivers of healthcare spending. Hospital systems and pharma. That’s where the profit margins are. Physician services makes up another big chunk of the spending, but the margins there don’t have much fat once you parse out the imaging and diagnostics. 

Urban (community) and rural hospitals are struggling. Surgical centers and speciality hospitals are doing well. And Pharm are flush with cash and help direct public policy.

One thing Texas could do today to help hospitals is expand Medicaid.

[Chewbacca 7766]

16 hours ago, DalTxHornFan said:

I never brought up your diversion about sedition.  Not relevant to this thread.

You think sedition is just a diversion?  Anyone who supports this iteration of the GOP supports sedition.  But I guess it's your side trying to do it so it's OK?

[Eskimohorn 5630]

State Board of “Education” doubts climate change

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/11/17/texas-climate-textbooks-education-SBOE/

[Chewbacca 7766]

12 hours ago, fattyflattie said:

I’m not the one dying to leave my home.  So, yeah, winning. 

So you contribute to winning by turning your state into a shithole people don't want to live in?  Interesting choice there.  I'd rather make my state somewhere people want to live.  Oh, wait, it already is.

[SimonBolivar 10957]

7 hours ago, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

But it is funny listening to a man try and explain how many tampons a woman uses in a cycle.  Idiot.

Men are a special breed when it comes to woman issues.

I was at the store last month picking up some tampons and Pamprin for the wife on the way home from work and I had an older lady stop me and say that she was proud of me as her "husband would never be caught in public buying tampons". I bet they won't even earn their red wings either, buncha pussies. 

I don't know why ya'll don't overthrow us.

[Chewbacca 7766]

1 hour ago, Nivek said:

The average GOP voter doesn't want to fix.  

This became abundantly clear when they went through the whole 'repeal Obamacare' fiasco.  They had no plan for what happened after they repealed it, they just knew they wanted it gone and did not care one little bit about the millions of people who would lose their health insurance as a result (due to pre-existing conditions).

[YGIFS 19449]

9 minutes ago, SimonBolivar said:

Men are a special breed when it comes to woman issues.

I was at the store last month picking up some tampons and Pamprin for the wife on the way home from work and I had an older lady stop me and say that she was proud of me as her "husband would never be caught in public buying tampons". I bet they won't even earn their red wings either, buncha pussies. 

I don't know why ya'll don't overthrow us.

I grew up in a primarily female household.  After my dad left, it was my mom, two sisters, and always one female cousin or aunt staying with us.  So 4 women from my age 9 to 17.  My mom arranged it so the female stuff stayed discrete but I wasn't dumb.  But I distinctly remember my father buying tampons for my mom and sisters at times and he'd look at people snickering at him with his infamous glare which suggested, "I've had people killed for less."  Once in my teenage years, I asked him about condoms and how to buy them.  Granted, he was a sailor off the coast of Morocco and the South Pacific so condoms maybe weren't his jam.  But he simply told me, "If you're man enough to have sex, you need to be man enough to walk in to a drug store and buy your own rubbers." 

Wife has sent me to the store for everything from D&C drugs to tampons to medical full-sized underwear after labor and everything in between.  Some people think that makes you less of a man.  I think it makes you more of one.  Taking care of the people who depend on you is our highest calling as a gender/sex/whatever.  

Like any human male though, I've had my moments of nervousness or self-consciousness.  After we starting getting hot 'n heavy, my then girlfriend (now wife of 17 years) told me to go out and get some of that massage oil that got hot when you blew on it but to make sure it was safe for penetration.  So I went to that Tabu lingerie on South Lamar and was reading labels.  I was a bit shy about it.  We were bold in the bedroom but we kept it there.  So here I am needing help and was all puritan as hell for a few minutes.  A woman about 50-60 in front of me was asking if this particular vibrator was safe for anal usage with no reservations at all.  At that point, I thought my little massage lotion question was lame by comparison.  Ever since then, I just laugh at how insane our society is when it comes to periods and tampons and sex and contraception and all that shit.  Take care of her needs whether it's medical, biological, sexual, or whatever it is.  That's what being a Texas Man should mean.  Instead, many of y'all are tripping over your flaccid dicks to berate and regulate them as if they're this alien species that needs containment.  

[Anastasis 23455]

1 hour ago, Eskimohorn said:

Urban (community) and rural hospitals are struggling. Surgical centers and speciality hospitals are doing well. And Pharm are flush with cash and help direct public policy.

One thing Texas could do today to help hospitals is expand Medicaid.

  That's fair, and yes Medicaid expansion would have favorable impacts on payer mix for rural hospitals in particular. 

[Brisketexan 105049]

3 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

A woman about 50-60 in front of me was asking if this particular vibrator was safe for anal usage with no reservations at all. 

Well.....was it?

And in a related story, how did it feel for you to sit down the next day?

[YGIFS 19449]

She was gentle, but firm.  Like my ConLaw professor before her.  I'd like to think she's still partying her ass off (literally) 20 years later somewhere in Travis Heights.  Smoking peyote and washing her toys in conflict-free organic soap.  But I've never forgotten that little exchange.  Made me realize in real life, it's very sexy when a woman knows what she wants and it's very sexy when you get over yourself and do what she wants.  Unfortunately, many men aren't wired that way and so they take it out on women as a whole.  And welp, here we are...

[Brisketexan 105049]

Just now, YGIFS said:

She was gentle, but firm.  Like my ConLaw professor before her.  I'd like to think she's still partying her ass off (literally) 20 years later somewhere in Travis Heights.  Smoking peyote and washing her toys in conflict-free organic soap.  But I've never forgotten that little exchange.  Made me realize in real life, it's very sexy when a woman knows what she wants and it's very sexy when you get over yourself and do what she wants.  Unfortunately, many men aren't wired that way and so they take it out on women as a whole.  And welp, here we are...

Your mere acknowledgment that women can take pleasure from sex disqualifies you from any position of leadership in Texas.

[YGIFS 19449]

Speaking of positions, so I'm talking with Dan Patrick and I says to him, i says...

"You've never been blown like you have when you bring your wife home from a D&C procedure and the day after, she wants you to look at her like the woman you knocked up...not some patient or barren invalid.  So she goes to town on your dick like it's the microphone on American Idol and she's doing the extended version of an Iron Butterfly medley."

And the Lt. Gov. says, "My wife once touched my fanny whilst reaching for the door handle of my Subaru Outback.  I was wearing my thicker Wranglers so I didn't really notice until she apologized later.  I had had a robust day of being outdoorsy, we had to park several rows away from the Kohl's you see, and I was glistening with sweat on my brow."

seriously, we are far and away the worst thing to ever happen to women.  But I gotta be honest ladies, other women in Texas are quickly becoming 1a in terms of dangers to Texas women.  It used to hide itself under the guise of religion, but now it's just an open political free-for-all.  Women happily punishing other women at the polls to keep some twisted version of Texas thriving.  For what?  What is the fucking end game here?  

[SimonBolivar 10957]

8 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Your mere acknowledgment that women can take pleasure from sex disqualifies you from any position of leadership in Texas.

"Have you never made a woman cum? Vote Republican!"

[Brisketexan 105049]

3 minutes ago, SimonBolivar said:

"Have you never made a woman cum? Vote Republican!"

It's a long bumper sticker....but an accurate one.

[Biff Tannen 45661]

1 hour ago, Eskimohorn said:

State Board of “Education” doubts climate change

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/11/17/texas-climate-textbooks-education-SBOE/

Quote

The 15-member board largely rejected the books either because they included policy solutions for climate change or because they were produced by a company that has an Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) policy

Here's the next acronym you'll see them screaming about!

[Nivek 16916]

10 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

I grew up in a primarily female household.  After my dad left, it was my mom, two sisters, and always one female cousin or aunt staying with us.  So 4 women from my age 9 to 17.  My mom arranged it so the female stuff stayed discrete but I wasn't dumb.  But I distinctly remember my father buying tampons for my mom and sisters at times and he'd look at people snickering at him with his infamous glare which suggested, "I've had people killed for less."  Once in my teenage years, I asked him about condoms and how to buy them.  Granted, he was a sailor off the coast of Morocco and the South Pacific so condoms maybe weren't his jam.  But he simply told me, "If you're man enough to have sex, you need to be man enough to walk in to a drug store and buy your own rubbers." 

Wife has sent me to the store for everything from D&C drugs to tampons to medical full-sized underwear after labor and everything in between.  Some people think that makes you less of a man.  I think it makes you more of one.  Taking care of the people who depend on you is our highest calling as a gender/sex/whatever.  

Like any human male though, I've had my moments of nervousness or self-consciousness.  After we starting getting hot 'n heavy, my then girlfriend (now wife of 17 years) told me to go out and get some of that massage oil that got hot when you blew on it but to make sure it was safe for penetration.  So I went to that Tabu lingerie on South Lamar and was reading labels.  I was a bit shy about it.  We were bold in the bedroom but we kept it there.  So here I am needing help and was all puritan as hell for a few minutes.  A woman about 50-60 in front of me was asking if this particular vibrator was safe for anal usage with no reservations at all.  At that point, I thought my little massage lotion question was lame by comparison.  Ever since then, I just laugh at how insane our society is when it comes to periods and tampons and sex and contraception and all that shit.  Take care of her needs whether it's medical, biological, sexual, or whatever it is.  That's what being a Texas Man should mean.  Instead, many of y'all are tripping over your flaccid dicks to berate and regulate them as if they're this alien species that needs containment.  

This is a nice sentiment and all that, but I am not an expert and I don't want to be on some things.  I have enough man duties as it is.  It's not like she is going to take the time to learn which fluids the cars need or take initiative and handle a home repair.  

[Anastasis 23455]

2 hours ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

Government needs to nationalize every insurance company. Wonder why Mr Both Sides gives them a free pass?

Free pass, nah. Under the outline of healthcare finance reform I laid out, which is not new and I've gone into greater detail in the healthcare policy treads before, private insurance at least as it exists today becomes largely unnecessary and irrelevant. Which is just a small part of why it is a pipe dream...it would would free people from the capture of employer sponsored insurance, put real market pressure to pharma and most non-emergent healthcare service pricing, empower Americans with tax-free health savings accounts to direct as they choose, and provide reasonable safety nets to back stop catastrophic events and those without the means for even the basic level of preventative care. Basically every healthcare industry segment would hate it. Which is a fairly good indication that it is probably on the right path. 

Edited November 28, 2023 by Anastasis

[Fudge Nuggets 19184]

25 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

Here's the next acronym you'll see them screaming about!

ESG will always mean Everyday Street Gangsta

[atomheartbevo 89619]

6 hours ago, royiv said:

It goes further than that. Those ER visits don't just pay for themselves. The taxpayers and commercially insured end up subsidizing those losses through higher healthcare premiums. Not providing coverage to the poor ends up costing all of us more in the long run. 

That sounds like socialized medical care....

 

[Biff Tannen 45661]

2 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

That sounds like socialized medical care....

 

Republicans:

[C-Man 27183]

5 hours ago, txkman said:

Lived in Texas my whole life (40+ years).  Vast majority of my family and friends are still here.  Wife and I decided earlier this year we are ready for a change.  We are moving our family (2 kids) to Boise, ID in a few weeks.  It's hard to quantify or rank the reasons why we want a change (although the reasons frequently referenced in this thread certainly play a big part), and we realize not all of our current issues with living in Texas will be better in Boise.  We did a lot of research on various places and concluded no place is perfect.  We are sad to move away from family and friends, but we are very excited about a new adventure in a smaller town with cooler weather and lots of outdoor activities close by.  I was also pleasantly surprised to find my income will be the same, my overall tax burden will be slightly less, and my home and auto insurance premiums will be 1/3 of what I'm paying in Texas for comparable coverage.  

Time will tell if it works out, but we're excited.

Went through Boise twice this summer taking my son to and then picking him up from Wilderness Therapy camp. Cool town. But ...

 

4 hours ago, royiv said:

Boise is a great city. I have spent a lot of time there for work for 10+ years and you did a good job summarizing the positives. In some ways it reminds me of Austin when I was growing up in the 80's. That said, Idaho politics are just as bat shit crazy as Texas politics.

... also this. Ground zero for the American Redoubt is in northern Idaho. Lots of white extremist groups up there.

Edited November 28, 2023 by C-Man

[YChang 3442]

35 minutes ago, C-Man said:

... also this. Ground zero for the American Redoubt is in northern Idaho. Lots of white extremist groups up there.

Lol, the first time I went to visit Idaho to visit friends and explore.. that's what my dad brought up.