OT: Festivus - Airing of Grievances

Submitted by Magnus on

I saw it requested in another thread, so here is the place for the annual Airing of Grievances.

I have a problem with stephenrjking, whose name I thought was stephenjrking for the longest time.

I also have a problem with whoever negs this thread.

Grievances? Air them. Which MGoBloggers really grind your gears?

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festivus

Wolverine Devotee

December 23rd, 2016 at 11:17 PM ^

Oh how wrong you are.

We could probably have a great conversation off of here because I agree with most of your post. Social media like Twitter exposes you to how weak our domestic society is.

I turn my trends on Twitter to different countries to escape the mindless drivel that trends in the US more times than not.



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Joined: 06/29/2009

MGoPoints: 31528

CoverZero

December 23rd, 2016 at 12:49 PM ^

OK I do have to get political for one second here (sorry). 

I fucking HATE the "Affordable Care Act".  It is not affordable.  The premiums are sky high AND the deductables are sky high as well.  As a self-employed person, I need to have this crappy "insurance" or I have to pay a penalty to the IRS so that they can subsidize the people who supposedly do not earn enough money, so that they can have insurance. WTF is that?  Its basically a socialist Ponzi scheme that is crushing the middle-class and is hurting small business very badly. 

The insurance that I have to pay for by law, covers nothing until I have to pay about $11,000 out of pocket.  I could not imagine how this must be for families with kids whos parents are self-employed, and make just enough above the subsidy level.  I am throwing my money away every month on something useless that could only help me if I had a catastrophic event happen.

Insurers are pulling out of most markets, therefore creating a vacuum of non-competition by the few that stay in the markets.

Prior to the ACA, I had a policy for just less than $200 per month, that had an $1800 deductible, AND had immediate coverage on things like general office visits and prescriptions.  That is all gone now.

Something has also got to be done about drug prices too.

When they restructure it, hopefully soon....they need to keep the prior conditions clause in, and also the abiltiy for kids up to 26 to stay on their parents insurance.  Allow insurance to be sold over state lines for competition.  Allow healthy people like me to purchase low cost catastrophic insurance.

The rest of it needs to go.  One of the creators of ObamaCare, the professor from MIT, sneered at the middle-class a couple of years ago in a speech, calling them "dumb" enough to accept the plan that he created.  Its horrible and needs to be restructured for all Americans.

Joined: 08/30/2014

MGoPoints: 14571

Abe Froman

December 23rd, 2016 at 1:06 PM ^

I once did a study of health plan minimums in every state for the largest HMO in the country. Without wading into politics here, the ACA minimums raised the bar in pretty much every state. So I don't disagree it's possible your ACA plans is worse, but for an overwhelming % of people their ACA plan covers more.

Also you probably had no claims. In the days of insurance rating, a white 35-45 year old male with no health problems would have paid next to nothing for bare bones coverage. The flip side of that is that people with cancer or congenital diseases couldn't get approved for coverage, regardless of the price.

Now that they have done away with insurance rating people (and forbidding Pre existing conditions) the additional price is being spread over the entire group.

Sorry your paying more. Just thought I'd explain why.

Unless of course your name is Josh. Then it's just because the world hates you.

Joined: 09/20/2010

MGoPoints: 2386

Blue Balls Afire

December 23rd, 2016 at 3:24 PM ^

I totally understand your frustrations with the ACA and they are valid.  I just quickly want to point out how we got here, though.  Remember, Republicans were and are adamantly opposed to a single-payer system (Medicare for all) and insist that private insurance companies remain part of the equation.  Absent a single-payer system, or anything close to it, the ACA was an attempt to at least expand insurance coverage to the then 45 million Americans who didn't have any.  Without getting into details, there were two big proposals by Obama's team (as well as several smaller ones) that were intended to prevent or at least limit the situation you are in, and each one was rejected by the Republicans.  I'm not being partisan when I say that; it's just a fact.  First, the GOP rejected any sort of government option to compete with the private health insurance companies; and second, the GOP specifically forbade the government from using its bulk buying power to negotiate lower drug prices from pharmaceuticals.  The loss of the government option and the prohibition on negotiating lower drug prices were solely intended to benefit the insurance companies and pharmaceuticals, not the consumer and certainly not the middle-class working folk like you and me.  Yes, the ACA isn't perfect and it has problems that need to be fixed, but Obama tried to prevent the very problems you are experienceing now and was thwarted at every turn, resulting in the imperfect compromise that is the ACA today.  

Joined: 12/17/2013

MGoPoints: 8142

Wendyk5

December 23rd, 2016 at 4:58 PM ^

Both my husband and I are self-employed and we have two kids. The ACA has been the worst nightmare for us. This year, the PPO plan in our marketplace (yes, there's only one and we live right outside Chicago) has an out-of-network deductible of $45,000. Forty five thousand dollars. The networks are so small that we have almost no choices for doctors or hospitals. To keep my doctors, I would have to choose an HMO, and if we had done that, my kids would have lost their doctor and the closest hospitals. Actually all hospitals, because only one is in the HMO, and it's 25 minutes away. So......we got a policy that does not meet the ACA standards. We have no pre-existing conditions, so we didn't have to worry about that. The premium is half of what we would have paid with the ACA, the in-network deductible is about the same, and the network includes every doctor we have and all the best hospitals in the area. Screw the ACA. I was told how great it was, I was told I could keep my doctors. If they can't deliver on the promise, I'm not taking part. So fine me. (P.S. I voted Obama both times and I'm happy I did. This is not political or partisan, it's just bad policy). 

Joined: 11/20/2008

MGoPoints: 68131

sadeto

December 23rd, 2016 at 6:30 PM ^

The ACA has a lot of problems, but please stop with the "state lines...competition" nonsense. It's an old, discredited idea that doesn't even make sense. A plan sold in Michigan is based on agreements with provider networks in Michigan. You can't sell that plan in New York unless you negotiate new network agreements in New York. Which makes it a different plan. Which is why states that already passed laws to allow out of state plans to be sold haven't seen any difference. It doesn't work. It can't work. It's a distraction that uses the tired buzzword "competition" to make it sound like it will work. True markets don't exist in the health care sector. The cost of insurance on the individual market here in New York has actually gone down due to the ACA, primarily due to the community rating requirement, which NY already had but many other states didn't, and the mandate. Be aware that the parts of the ACA that you and most others want to keep will simply not work without cost increases if you do in fact allow younger, healthier people to opt out either through low penalties or minimal catastrophic insurance. And Gruber from MIT didn't "create" the ACA, he was an important advisor to MA when that state developed its earlier version, and his microsimulation model was used by HHS to compare with CBO estimates of future costs. He did call voters stupid, but he's not the first person to do that and it doesn't really matter to assessing the ACA, does it? My and my colleagues' work on state level reforms in the areas of expanding Medicaid eligibility and covering older children was also used by the Obama team early on, but nobody would ever call us creators of the law. Laws are created in committee, with lots of actors at the table, and it gets ugly and complicated. The American health care financing system is really complicated and insanely expensive. Any attempt at major reform is going to be really ugly. The main problems with the ACA from my perspective are 1) the major health care lobbies, including the AMA and PhRMA, were brought to the table to prevent them from tanking the law, which they had done to every prior reform effort, resulting in there being very few cost control mechanisms (there are some, primarily benefitting Medicare); and 2) political resistance has led to the dismantling of the risk corridors that were supposed to provide short term relief to plans that initially lost money. Certain aspects of the ACA have been very successful and have led to improved outcomes among the most vulnerable populations who have gained coverage. My colleagues and I will be publishing our research after the New Year clearly demonstrating the positive impact of Medicaid expansion on outcomes including financial status and employment prospects. The law needs to be fixed, but there is no doubt it was an important step in the direction of ending the shameful state of a system with tremendous inequities in access and outcomes.

Joined: 01/17/2014

MGoPoints: 10469

Phinaeus Gage

December 23rd, 2016 at 1:33 PM ^

1)  At minimum, the second best team in college football is not in the playoffs.

2)  It's not a 'Natty' it's a National Championship.

3)  Wisky is nothing.  It's either whiskey - which is wonderful - or Wisconsin, which is an average to above averge college football team.

 

Joined: 10/02/2008

MGoPoints: 438

stmccoy

December 23rd, 2016 at 2:50 PM ^

That the officials from The Game still have jobs.  That there are trolls in the media bloviating that everything in The Game was somehow acceptable, above board and questioning it is the same as whining about the outcome.  That the Big Ten has yet to publicly address the many questions about these events (to my knowledge anyway).  That a coach publicly disagreeing with an officiating crew warrants a fine and public admonishment, as though a crew of officials is infallible.  

Now I'll go get the pole out of the crawl space.  

 

 

Joined: 10/07/2009

MGoPoints: 2146

Dr. Emil Shuffhausen

December 23rd, 2016 at 3:54 PM ^

Is it so damn hard for cooks and waitstaff to honor

a simple request?  Anybody with the attitude of

"if you don't like it just pick it off..." can suck it!

Would they feel the same way if I took a shit

on their plate and said just scrape it off if

you don't like it? 

 

Pickle Juice has ruined many a Burger

Bun and Fries over the years, this has

to stop people ( MSU Grads I'm talking

to you ).
 

Joined: 11/10/2013

MGoPoints: 724

UMChick77

December 23rd, 2016 at 4:07 PM ^

I just wish that Amy Schumer, Lena Dunham, and Jennifer Lawrence (they're apparently all really good friends with each other which isn't surprising) would just go away for good.

Joined: 12/16/2014

MGoPoints: 7699

MGoBrewMom

December 23rd, 2016 at 4:16 PM ^

-the name "Jim-bo" for anyone over the age of 12 -those female shaped silhouette mud flaps -any "pissing Calvin" on anything -political bumper stickers...please keep your stupid ass opinion to yourself -bigots -selfish people -never feeling satisfied with myself and over apologizing. Fuck that.. -my kids constantly staring at their phones if I don't intervene -that fucking blocked punt vs. MSU last year -that "news" shows are not news, but opinion and skewed. There's more..that's top of mind.

Joined: 08/13/2009

MGoPoints: 22969

Wendyk5

December 23rd, 2016 at 5:14 PM ^

Things that have been especially irksome this year:

My passive aggressive mother-in-law.

Parents who micro-manage their kids' social lives and expect me to do the same.

The state of the news.

Getting older, and feeling like I'm getting older. 

When my kids complain about anything (The charmed lives they lead). 

Bad meals at restaurants.

Drivers who cut in front of you, especially when they have a nicer car than you. 

People who don't say thank you or acknowledge you when you hold the door open for them. 

People who hate on other people because of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or disability. Live and let live. 

 

Joined: 11/20/2008

MGoPoints: 68131

Har Bro

December 23rd, 2016 at 9:43 PM ^

People who merge into your lane at the last second even though everyone knows the damn lane ends ahead Paul Feinbaum and his supreme dickishness regarding Harbaugh and UM.

Joined: 10/24/2016

MGoPoints: -999761

will

December 25th, 2016 at 6:09 PM ^

I managed to kick off my sheets,then 5 minutes later throw my feet over the side of the bed. I am now desecrating my toilet fr the 15th time today.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 2549