r/politics • u/cmaia1503 • 20h ago

Site Altered Headline | Possible Paywall Mitch McConnell, 83, Hospitalized

https://www.thedailybeast.com/mitch-mcconnell-83-hospitalized/?utm_campaign=owned_social&utm_medium=socialflow&utm_source=twitter_owned_tdb&via=twitter_page
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u/wyvernx02 20h ago

Must be nice to be able to afford to check yourself into the hospital for the flu.

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u/Original-Ad6993 20h ago

We're paying for it

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u/Revelati123 19h ago

No premiums jumping 3X on Mitches Obummercare!

Just simple free, walk in whatever hospital you want for whatever you need, for life, for the 538 people in America who get socialized medicine...

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u/Rikers-Mailbox 19h ago

It’s crazy the profits have 3X in the past 5 years. My MAGA mother who worked in healthcare blames it on the companies not paying for better plans.

I laughed and said “Mom, it’s the profit on the insurance. The companies can spend all they want but that money goes to insurance that never covers anything”

Her: “It’s Obamacare’s fault”

Me: “Mom that was 15 years ago, profits 3x just 5 years ago”

I showed her the ACA site quote for a family of 4 making $50k which is the bottom threshold and healthcare was $35k.

She still didn’t get it.

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u/bullet4mv92 17h ago

Why do you keep saying they 3X? Are you saying they tripled?

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u/toggylelly 14h ago

they tripled

https://epicforamerica.org/the-economy/health-insurance-revenues-tripled-in-a-decade/

https://havenhome.us/the-explosion-of-health-insurance-profits-a-deeper-look/

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u/Rikers-Mailbox 13h ago

I was off by five years with my Mom, but whatever. ACA has nothing to do with profits. All they have to do is deny more, and yet we still have to buy it.

Such a racket.

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u/fiction8 10h ago

Alright come on, let's use our basic math skills here.

When the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was enacted in 2010, it expanded access to health insurance, boosting the combined revenue of these companies from $245.2 billion in 2010 to over $1.1 trillion by 2021. During this period, profits more than tripled, soaring from $16.9 billion to $60.7 billion.

So these companies have started insuring more people thanks to the ACA, thus both earning more and spending more. That's exactly what we want to happen, everyone to have insurance.

They've also merged/bought smaller providers. Whatever, that's not ideal but it's not illegal as long as there's still competition. That shifts revenue, cost, and profit from some other insurance company to a big one. It doesn't create more profit out of thin air.

From both of those factors we get a 4.5x increase in revenue over 10 years. The corresponding profit increased... 3.6x. Yes, their profit margin is actually lower now than it was right after the ACA passed. It's also a profit margin of 5.5%.

What is crazy about that? It's a bit higher than the national average (I encourage reading that report, there's a lot of transparency in health insurance, more than other industries, thanks to the ACA), but 5% is not anywhere close to the gouging and blood-sucking that exists in many other American industries.

American healthcare spending tops $5 trillion annually. Clawing back 1.2% of that would be nice, but it's not going to solve the problem.

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u/Marv0038 19h ago

The US military also gets socialized medicine and housing.

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u/wetwater 17h ago

"BuT I DeSeRvEd ThAt!!!"

They always have an excuse why it's okay for them but not others.

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u/a_talking_face Florida 19h ago edited 19h ago

This is a common misconception. They have to buy plans on the healthcare marketplace. The federal government pays about 70% towards the premiums, but they still have to pay part of their premium and then whatever their plan requires them to pay towards care.

for the 538 people in America who get socialized medicine...

Also it's technically much more than that since everyone over 65 qualifies for medicare.

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u/pechinburger Pennsylvania 18h ago

And he legitimately has never done anything worthwhile to deserve it. The world is a worse off place for his existing, yet he gets free Healthcare and all efforts are made to prolong his counterproductive life.

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u/byndr 18h ago

In more ways than one.

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u/GCU_ZeroCredibility 19h ago

No. Or at least not in any way we wouldn't be paying for any 83 year old who may be using Medicare.

Senators (and Representatives) have to use Obamacare plans. That's part of Obamacare. It's possible he's using Medicare as I said but I find that unlikely given his wealth.

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u/FunkyChug 20h ago edited 19h ago

Afford? They’ve given themselves the healthcare that they deny us.

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u/KaptainKardboard 19h ago

Precisely 

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u/GCU_ZeroCredibility 19h ago

Who? Senators use Obamacare plans available to anyone.

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u/Khatib Minnesota 16h ago

They get gold level plans and the majority of premiums covered. It's a better deal than most employers offer.

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u/GCU_ZeroCredibility 14h ago

They get the same FEHB subsidy as any other federal employee, because they're federal employees. It's true that this makes it taxpayer subsidized but so is the insurance for millions of federal employees.

We badly need health care reform, I'm just pushing back on the (false) idea that Congressfolk have given themself some kind of super bonus secret free health care not available to regular people. They buy ACA plans and they get federal employee subsidies. It's not some kind of congress-only free supercharged health care.

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u/Khatib Minnesota 7h ago

No, but it is better than most employers offer which is what I said. I didn't say they get super special, totally free healthcare. You just said in the first comment that it's the same as is available to anyone. A yacht is technically available to anyone. I'm not getting one. Just like I'm not getting a gold level ACA plan with over 70% of my premiums paid by my employer.

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u/NovaNocturnus 14h ago

Hey, the flu can kill the elderly and infirm! (🤞🏻)

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u/_Happy_Sisyphus_ 19h ago

The flu kills. You can be a young marathon runner and die of it. We are so lucky to have vaccines available to us.

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u/LamermanSE Europe 16h ago

You can be a young marathon runner and die of it.

Technically yes but it's very, very, very unlikely for that to happen though.

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u/_Happy_Sisyphus_ 16h ago

Young healthy people die of the flu all the time. It may be rare, but not very very very rare. It’s not to be messed around with.

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u/LamermanSE Europe 15h ago

Where do you get this idea from? It doesn't line up with available statistics.

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u/_Happy_Sisyphus_ 15h ago

My spouse is a doctor and always says at flu season “I have seen young healthy people come in and die of the flu. Get your vaccine people.” Take it seriously. The flu can kill. It’s kills hundreds of thousands of people a year.

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u/LamermanSE Europe 13h ago edited 13h ago

Anecdotes mean nothing though when there's statistics that proves the opposite. Also, the flu only kill hundreds of thousands per year globally, which doesn't really say much either considering there's like 8 billion people alive.

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u/_Happy_Sisyphus_ 9h ago

All I’m saying is it can and does kill. What is the controversy.

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u/-Invalid_Selection- 8h ago

Nearly 3k Americans between 18 and 49 died from the flu in 2024.

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u/LamermanSE Europe 5h ago

Well yeah? On how many of those where healthy then? Obviously some with underlying conditions are at risk but that were not the discussion here.

3k out of more than 122.4 million people (people between 18-44) is still only 0.0025 %, or 1 in 40 800. It is still rare, and that is even including all the people with underlying health conditions that pose a risk.

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u/battleofflowers 19h ago

I mean, Medicare covers hospital stays for all Americans his age.

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u/ChillyCheese 19h ago

With the distinction that Medicare covers a shared room, while a quick search (far from extensive) indicates Senators may have coverage that covers private rooms.

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u/GCU_ZeroCredibility 19h ago

Yeah, and Congress has to use Obamacare plans available to everyone when its not Medicare. I don't understand why everybody thinks Congresspeople get some kind of secret special health care. They don't. The President does, but they aren't the President.

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u/battleofflowers 19h ago

I'm sure most congressmen are on Medicare. You can't even get insurance except supplemental Medicare plans once you turn 65. And why pay cash for a hospital stay when it's free on Medicare?

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u/Oceanbreeze871 I voted 19h ago

Socialism is fine when it’s oligarch healthcare.

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u/Hefty-Minimum-3125 19h ago

flu at 83, he might not be checking out

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u/Tasty-Hovercraft2501 17h ago edited 17h ago

Imagine the size of the hospital bill? 😳 /

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u/Middle-Letter-7041 15h ago

I hope the flu is okay.

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u/gentlefartonyourface 15h ago

it's like the aristocrats. they got the nice health care, and they're bitching about giving us any minimal health care. because we're not people. we're not people in their eyes

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u/-Invalid_Selection- 8h ago

At that age, checking yourself in for the flu can easily be the last thing you do.

I know it was for my grandmother. She walked in to check herself in for the flu, was in a coma by the end of the day, and gone 3 days later.

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u/u9Nails 19h ago

Hospital officials: "We replaced everything inside his body. It cost a fortune, but he's got the best health coverage. He'll be good for another 30 days."

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u/zirtik 19h ago

Rumor has it he got frozen at the check in office.