Saturday, January 21, 2017

Good news, bad news

I went to the local Women's march today.  It was the first political protest I've ever attended.  (The Viet Nam war ended when I was in elementary school, and after that protesting kind of went out of style.)  It was quite inspiring.  There was a huge (yuuuuge!) turnout.  Joan Baez was there, so it was a little like going back to the 60s.



There were a lot of very clever signs.

 

 



But the best part of the day was watching the news and seeing how big the crowds were around the country and even around the world.  And I confess to indulging in a bit of schadenfreude when I saw Trump's inauguration crowds compared to Obamas:

 

That's Trump on the left, Obama on the right.  And just for comparison, here's today's Women's march crowd:


Of course, The Donald was not pleased when the press reported on this.  He doesn't like it when anyone suggests anything associated with him is small.  If it's Trump, it's gotta be yuuuuge!

So this is how President Trump choose to spend his first full day in office: leveling false charges at the press because they has the temerity to report (correctly) that his inauguration crowds were smaller than his predecessor's.  Pathetic.  It would be funny if it weren't so sad.

Oh, and there is one other thing that His Donaldness did today: he signed an executive order to begin the process of repealing Obamacare, making good on half of a campaign promise.  The other half, the purported replacement that is supposed to fix the problems and provide "insurance for everybody", is nowhere in sight.

I am currently on an ACA individual plan.  But I'm probably going to lose it after this year.  I will probably have to give up my startup and go back to a regular salaried job as a result.  This is what making America great again looks like.

6 comments:

Publius said...

Given President Trump's selection of Sen. Tom Price for HHS Secretary, one should expect the replacement plan to be similar to the Empwering Patients First Act.

Luke said...

> I am currently on an ACA individual plan. But I'm probably going to lose it after this year. I will probably have to give up my startup and go back to a regular salaried job as a result. This is what making America great again looks like.

Hold on a second, are my taxes subsidizing your health insurance?

Ron said...

> Hold on a second, are my taxes subsidizing your health insurance?

No. I'm not even close to being eligible for government subsidies. But why do you ask? Your tax dollars are subsidizing insurance for those who cannot afford it themselves. So are mine. So?

Luke said...

Why would you lose insurance without the ACA?

I asked about subsidies because I don't want my taxes subsidizing you. :-p

Ron said...

> Why would you lose insurance without the ACA?

http://blog.rongarret.info/2017/01/individual-health-insurance-without.html

I wouldn't lose it right away, only when I got sick enough to really need it.

> I asked about subsidies because I don't want my taxes subsidizing you. :-p

Ah. Fear not. Taxes only subside the very poor and the very wealthy. I'm neither.

Luke said...

> http://blog.rongarret.info/2017/01/individual-health-insurance-without.html
>
> I wouldn't lose it right away, only when I got sick enough to really need it.

I was under the impression that health insurance companies generally cannot terminate your plan unless you go over some global maximum (utilitarianism starts to kick in if it costs $5mil/year to keep you alive), or have a break in coverage. Are you saying that at least in CA, they don't provide such contracts? My father's company does work in the health insurance domain, so I could probably get info for a few states on this matter.

> Ah. Fear not. Taxes only subside the very poor and the very wealthy. I'm neither.

Hehe. I wasn't sure that all the loopholes were closed on this, and I know you're a smart guy. :-p