Trump health plan :)

[georgey]

I’ve been on the Trump health care plan (i.e., anticipating no access to quality affordable health care) for the past 3 months and it is working well for me so far (age 58):

Six foot one inch tall: Losing 20 pounds to go down to 160 lbs.

Improving my already very good diet.

Increasing my cardio to 9 times a week and adding other exercises.

Working on my self-diagnosis and treatment skills.  Example, the increased cardio caused problems in my knees about 3 weeks ago.  Osteoarthritis?  No!!!  My diagnosis is patellar tendonitis.  I over did the stationary bike.  I felt great doing it but unfortunately the tendons of the knee are slow to increase strength and did not give me pain feedback until damage was already done.  Good news:  My book on patellar tendonitis is great. I should be 100% in about 2-4 months with self-directed rest and rehab and then I should be better than ever!  

All these good things under the Trump health care plan.

[outin]

There's indeed some wisdom here...to expect medical profession to keep one at the best health is totally unrealistic. They cure diseases (some better and some not so well) but their cures do not always come without side effects. They do a rather poor work in prevention and raising their patients' general quality of life. And it's time to accept that it is not their job but our own. Neglecting your body for decades and then expecting to be helped by professionals without much input from oneself is just silly. Going to the doctor should be the last resort rather than the first thing. But of course people are taught to believe that if you don't go to the doctor right away something serious will be left undiagnosed. I have some news: It happens quite often anyway. Trying to improve one's daily routines for a few weeks before seeking help will not make any difference in most cases, rather the opposite. Life threatening acute conditions are difference, but it's not that difficult to tell.

If we let the medical resources be used to treat things where they are really needed there would be more and better care available for everyone. Practices like going to a doctor to get antibiotics for a simple flu or something else minor has already severely dangered us by causing antibiotic resistance.

[georgey]

Agreed on all said.  Healthcare starts with the individual.  You would think that fear of developing disease would be motivation enough for all to take care of themselves. Thank goodness for the internet to research good health practices and possible self-administered solutions to many medical issues.  I am lucky to have had great health during all my life with the possible exception of a few minor items in the past year or 2.  I have been able to successfully treat these on my own for the most part and probably better than if I saw a doctor in my specific cases.

Trumpcare would cost me much more than Obamacare for the same benefits because older are required to pay much more under the Trumpcare subsidies and less subsidy money would be available in total.  I do thank Trump though for making me improve my already very good health practices in case I decide to opt-out of insurance if Obamacare is later repealed.  Obamacare does need to be fixed though.  Will Trump work with Democrats?  I hope so.

[chopinlover01]

Everyone should also remember that Obamacare was a conservative idea from the Heritage Foundation when Bill Clinton was pushing so called "Hillary-Care" (single payer). It's basically just an individual mandate that allows for some nice perks (like staying on your parent's plan, getting rid of the pre-existing condition bullshit, etc).

[indianajo]

David Brooks said last night on PBS, the Republican health plan that failed to merit a vote 3/24/17
1.  Provided an average of $$$$$ benefit to each person with over $1 million income
2. Took $$$$ away from each working person just above the poverty/medicaid bracket, which group voted overwhelmingly for Trump
3.  Took, $$$$ away from pre-medicare old group, the 50's & 60's that voted overwhelmingly for Trump.
4. Potentially took $$$$$$$ away from hospitals that have to service the 20 million losing coverage in the emergency room.  
5. Took the most money out of state budget in the three states that voted the most for Trump, Alaska, Okalahoma, and another.  
I'm riding my bike 25 miles a week and exercising my upper body 20 minutes four times a week besides. I want to be retired 40 more years, they are paying me to stay home & play piano.    I had my "free" medicare surgery last year when I fell and tore three arm/shoulder tendons.  Prognosis okay, and I'm starting to play again,  but i've had to deal with eight letters of 3 to 10 pages apiece from Medicare for a coding problem, and write five letters including copies of prescriptions that were 8 pages long apiece.  Bleah.  
My knees were so damaged by Army service that I could easily qualify for "knee replacement' with those titanium monstrosities.  I'll put up with the pain a few more years, cartledge replacement with new grown from stem cells should be cheaper in about a decade.  Plus the **** metal ones only last 10 years for people whose only exercise is toddling around Wall-mart.  I could probably wear a set out in two years, and look what happened to Secretary of State John Kerry's metal hip! Tore off when he ran a bike over a curb.  **** I've been over the handle bars on my chin thrice in the last three years.  

[georgey]

@Indianajo: Every day I am grateful for my relative good health.  This can change in an instant though.  Great that you can ride your bike.  Once over the handlebars would do it for me though.  Stationary bike is not fun though I’m guessing.

@Chopinlover:  You are correct. Healthcare is complicated.  Who knew???  

As you know: Obamacare requires everyone to be covered so that the healthy and young can subsidize the old and sick.  This allows pre-existing conditions to be covered.  In order to require all to have health insurance, it needs to be affordable and so additional govt subsidies are required to help the poor and old.  Since large subsidies are given by the government in the case of Obamacare, the government has an interest to make sure that the insurance is quality insurance and so there are pages and pages of regulations saying what the government requires for coverage.  In theory this should all work but Obamacare needs fixed.

Trump care does not require everyone to be covered and so it all falls apart.  The young won’t buy insurance if they have to subsidize the old and so the older must pay much more.  As a result of the young not subsidizing the old, when combined with the small government subsidies that are only a function of age, the older population and poor won’t be able to afford coverage and so an estimated 14 million will lose coverage in the first year.  Some are of those 14 million are voluntary but many (poor an old) are forced to drop due to not being able to pay over 50% of their income to buy insurance in some estimates for someone age 64.