ldrews

Thank you for a thoughtful, substantive post. Indeed, Obamacare has been successful in increasing the percentage of the public that have health insurance. Unfortunately it is becoming an empty success for many. The premium and deductible increases have essentially made many families self insured. I assume this was not the intent. I recently read an article that indicated that 60% of Obamacare hospitial charges of <$500 in 2016 are still unpaid, 85% of charges >$1000. The families/individuals simply don't have the money.

You are right, I can't answer how will Trump's agenda solve the problems. But the current system seems to be failing rapidly. Doing nothing doesn't seem like a solution. How would you solve the problem?

And how is politics different?

Yeah, but I am not criticizing other's attempts to address the problem. You are.

So you criticize but have nothing constructive to offer. Sounds about right. I think the Republicans should just bag it. Not pass anything. Then when the situation becomes dire enough that the Representatives and Senators are getting heat from their constituents, then maybe they will work together and come up with something better. Until then, nothing much will probably happen.

So you don't have one.

To me the tax cut per se is a red herring. The current program is imploding, millions of people have access to healthcare insurance with premiums and decuctibles that they can't afford. Hence they have no effective health care. The situation seems destined to get even worse. Premiums continue to soar, deductibles continue to go up, insurance companies continue to bail out. Is this the program that you want to continue? If not, what is your solution to the problem? The liberals came up with this mess, now you want the Republicans/Trump to fix it? And you criticize the proffered solution? OK, then give us your solution.

Gee, I don't know. What is your solution?

I know that you are not that obtuse. So you must be deliberately misleading. The question is: Why did the Democrats, when they were in power, not institute a single payer system or expand medicare to be universal? It seems to be the obvious solution and was even back then.

Good question. I wonder why the Democrats, when they had control, didn't push the same thing?

From http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-06-27/2-out-3-patients-cant-afford-their-hospital-bills-thanks-obamacares-soaring-deductib - 63% of hospital bills were $500 or less; of those hospital bills, 68% were not paid in full in 2016. - 14% of hospital bills were $3,000 or more; of those hospital bills, 99% were not paid in full in 2016. - 10% of hospital bills were $500 to $1,000; of those bills 85% were not paid in full in 2016. Apparently Obamacare enrolles cannot afford the deductibles.

In the US the two sides of the political spectrum don't just disagree, they think the other side is evil. It is difficult to compromise with evil.

Actually ldrews expects Trump to try to get any bill passed so that he can claim "winning" again. That is the nature of politics. However, it doesn't look like the Republican controlled Congress will be able to pass anything. There is no consensus, even among Republicans. And the Democrats steadfastly refuse to participate/cooperate with the Republicans to pass an improved health care bill. So the current "Obamacare" is likely to continue to be the law of the land, at least for a while. I anticipate that Democrats will reap the benefits of having created and supported an imploding system where premium and deductible increases are rendering the plan unaffordable to many. And as insurance companies continue to bail out, there will be many counties/states where no individual plans are available at all. The health care situation is a mess and continues to be a mess. And until a consensus emerges it is unlikely to change.

I like, I like.

Barmar, View Postbarmar, on 2017-June-17, 18:39, said: No wonder you can't tell fake news and conspiracy theories from fact. As Lincoln said, "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time ..." So your gratuitous smear gets picked up and repeated and becomes a meme. Sort of like a drive-by-shooting, you don't care who you kill or what damage you do as long as you can score a point. Your mother must be proud of you.

Now wasn't that a gratuitous smear? Did I provoke you in some way, or are you always this nasty?

My understanding is that the shooter is a rabid anti-trumper and Bernie Sanders supporter. Is this left? The reality of the US is that many citizens own guns. Gun ownership is a basic right enshrined in the Constitution, no advocacy is required. Probably the majority of the gun owners are conservative/right wing. Many of them are paranoid with respect to the liberal left. Some of them are crazy. So I would not be surprised if one of them takes it upon himself/herself to retaliate. The bulk of the current inflammatory talk/action has been provided by the liberal/left and the mainstream media. A recent example is Kathy Griffin's severed head of Donald Trump. The first blood incident was the recent shooting of Scalise. The perpetrator allegedly asked bystanders if the group of baseball players were Republicans or Democrats before opening fire. It would be understandable if the Republicans/right interpreted this as a politically motivated crime, a direct assault on them. Given the emotional tenor of the times, I would be surprised if retaliation did not occur. If it doesn't, that would simply indicate that the right-wing groups are not as crazy as the left-wing groups at the moment.

I guess I am gullible! My understanding is that Scalise is still in critical condition from a gunshot would. Do you have other information?

Amen! But now that the precedent has been set I expect some right-wing nut to retaliate. If that happens, we may have just witnessed the beginning of the 2nd US Civil War, where logic and reason become subservient to AK-47s.

The anti-Trump contingent seems to have drawn first blood (Scalise). This will get interesting.

Some people are still influenced by the "War of Northern Aggression" 150 years ago. Makes 16 years pale in comparison.

And quite unlike your position.

Trump appears to be assiduously keeping most of his campaign promises to the extent that he can personally do so. No politician in my memory has been as dedicated to that. The major one he has not kept is putting Clinton in jail. If you do not agree/like his campaign promises then naturally you do not like or approve of Trump. You would be one of those that, on seeing Trump walk on water, would report that apparently Trump can't swim. Mind you, Trump is not suave, sophisticated, politically correct. He is, in many ways, an adolescent. But damn, he is shaking things up, renegotiating bad and questionable deals, and generally making everyone else get off their position and change. Look at what is happening in Europe and NATO.

You are comparing Obama's 8 years to Trump's 5 months?

We have been playing Precision with natural 1D and 1NT 11-15. NT responses are Australian Stayman (to divide notrump range), Jacoby transfers, and Minor Suit Stayman. This has been working reasonably well for us.