Jackson Jambalaya

Mike is wrong.

He's long in the tooth and it's time for him to go.

Obamacare was and is an epic unsustainable disaster.

i like mike chaney but his agency doesn't have the power to regulate a 1 car funeral. thats why blue cross/bs has a virtual monopoly on the health insurance market in mississippi. that monopolistic competition is why rates are so high. don't look to the feds for help. insurance companies are exempt from federal anti trust law. its up to the legislature to give the department of insurance the teeth to actually regulate this industry. but don't hold you breath there either since BC/BS has the MS legislature on its payroll. you can repeal obamacare all day long and its not going to affect the BC/BS monopoly of 85% of the market. its economics 101 . the only thing that drives down rates is competition . even you guys with your degrees from "prestigious " mississippi universities should be able to understand that.

I agree with 5:13 PM. Mike Chaney has done a good job to the extent he has been allowed to which has not been very often by the legislature. The small business SHOP marketplace which is run by the Mississippi Insurance Department has been a bigger disaster than the federal exchanges, only one carrier with rates even higher than the Obamacare federal exchange. The Senate will make major changes but if TrumpCare becomes the law it will be a disaster to the economy of this state. Many people 50 and older will lose their jobs when their employer is unable to pay the 500% age tax and many with preexisting conditions will be unable to get insurance at all.

For kicks, I enrolled in Obamacare. Granted, it took 21 days to get logged in and get a quote because the website was so junky.

Imagine my shock when the least expensive bronze policy was $1100 a month with a $13000 deductible (family). Yeah, I made too much to get a subsidy and the best advice I got from the obamaites was to take a cut in pay to qualify.

This years quote was $1500 a month with a $13600 deductible.

The ACA was never affordable and couldn't be defined as insurance. Glad to see it die. Had the republicans left it alone, it would have continued its slow death.

The VA, Social Security Retirement, Post Office, EPA and the IRS, why would anyone believe our Government could run any Health Care Program.

Wasn't Cheney the one who rushed to set up the exchanges per the terms of ObamaCare, rather than waiting to let the dust settle and refuse to do so like the majority of other conservative states? And by doing that, didn't it put Mississippi in a bad position? I can't remember the details, but I do seem to recall Cheney's quick response to ObamaCare's provisions caused Mississippians some problems by immediately setting up the insurance exchanges.......

Can anyone remember the details on that?

Republicans in congress learned very little from last years election. The voters last year said they wanted a fighter (Trump or Cruz). No amount of money would help a milk toast (Bush). Now after 7 years of promising to repeal - they don't repeal. They are just as gutless as they were the past 8 years.

This is far from over -- with 217 voting for and 213 against, this will be a street fight. We'll see what the Senate sends back and what we wind up with. Take a look at who in the Senate voted against the omnibus budget the other day - it will tell you a lot about how the healthcare vote will go.

I can tell you this - this plan is not the market-based solution that was promised and the federal government will still have a large influence on how states regulate health insurance.

The US House of Representatives has become a joke and all of the show votes for repeal that made it to Obama's desk were just that - show votes. There is no real desire for a "root and branch" repeal or it would have been done by now. I had a lot of hopes for this presidency, and if all we get is a few favorable SCOTUS picks, I'll consider it a 51% success.

7:04, I like milk and toast, but I hate milquetoast anything...

I enrolled in BammerCare. If it's good enough for Nick Satan, it's certainly good enough for me.

6:28, you've got not just your facts, but the results wrong. But thanks for playing - pick up your consolation prize on your way out.

Chaney will leave state government with a golden PERS parachute just as Georgie Dale did. He'll laugh all the way up to the hunting camp. Nobody will draw a bigger check except Phil.

If you dumbasses want a market based solution to health care you should file bankruptcy now,
Abort your children, and keep a bullet for yourself.

The market cannot solve this as costs are not containable.

Yall see that chart on CNN 34% of Mississippians have pre-existing conditions, including my wife and I. Is it going to be a Risk Pool or Lottery?

Deer Hunter medicine.

7:36 should move to Cuba and see how that works out. Costs are actually very containable and very predictable, but the issue is that the expense of the uninsured is baked into what everyone else is charged so there is no clear indication of what things cost.

Does an aspirin really cost $25.00, 500cc of saline $1,500.00? NO - because I'm paying for all of the irresponsible folks who make poor decisions about how to spend their money and forego medical care for the newest phone or whatever... A safety net program isn't a stopgap if it's used for EVERY situation. Wake up.

Of course, Chaney is pleased as insurance commissioners will still rule the roost.
American insurance costs are based on the population in a State and how consumer oriented and competent your insurance commissioner is.
The costs of all insurance in Mississippi has been shockingly high when compared to coverage and rates available by the same companies in Alabama and Arkansas and more shocking compared to other states.
BCBS of Alabama offers far lower premiums and co-pays than the very same coverage package did when we had BCBS of Mississippi.
You cannot form larger pools or have strength in negotiating and have to rely on a commissioners negotiating skills when you kick it to the States as the GOP is doing.
It is appalling that States will be able to " opt out" of requiring coverage for pre-existing conditions and most anything else.
It's the insurance industry that both Obamacare and Trumpcare are afraid to confront and until they create real competition across state lines and tackle pharma, they are simply being shills for industries that continue to bilk the public and drive up medical costs!
The insurance industry has been given an early Christmas gift ! And, that is why hospitals and doctors have united against this bill. They know they are the next target as they will be paid increasingly less for their services and limited in providing services.
News flash: you will get old and your body will need more " fixing" with age.
The House has just made the age at which you are no longer valuable official, it is 56! Instead of making sure you receive adequate health care, the House has made sure if you get sick as you age ( which is when you are most likely to get sick and not be able to work), you can't afford insurance. They have formally tied health care to age in a negative way. And, if you don't think that gives insurance industries the green light to change your private insurance once you reach 56 as well with, you are a fool. You are officially too expensive when you are over 56 and your past contributions when you didn't need more than routine care bought you NOTHING!
Seen government statistics on actual health insurance industry costs vs profits lately ( as opposed to what the industry self reports)? You won't. Thank the lame duck Congress of 1992 for that! And, THAT was the bellwether of this mess we have now.

7:36 is on the money! Greed will win. Always has - particularly in MS - and other southern states. The state taxpayers will wind up one way or another footing the bill for the population that will, with no access to affordable coverage or having pre-existing conditions and priced out of the market and in desperation return to using the ERs at public and private hospitals as primary care facilities. Some of these people work but will not make enough to pay the sky high healthcare costs. A lot of them voted for DT since he promised to change this. Suckers. With this bill many of them will die slowly and painfully. And of course there are those have no intent on paying and don't care. There is a solution of course but no one will consider it. It is simple - take the profit motive out of Healthcare. Eliminate the opportunity for greed and provide healthcare to all US citizens through a federal (or state) program - like social security, the VA, workers unemployment compensation etc.

Australia has a government-run, universal insurance system in which people can buy additional private coverage to get more choices and quicker access to providers or to fill in the gaps of what the public program does not cover. Government takes a direct role in setting prices for providers and drugmakers, and in establishing an overall “global” budget for health spending each year.

In the United States, universal coverage remains an aspiration. The number of people without coverage is at its lowest level ever, thanks to an expansion of means-tested public insurance programs (Medicaid) and the tax credits that helped low-income Americans afford coverage. But 10.9 percent of the adult population remains uninsured, according to the latest data from Gallup.

The U.S. government doesn’t negotiate drug prices and doesn’t set a global budget, in part because it lacks control of enough of the health care system to do so. Not coincidentally, the U.S. ends up spending a lot more on health care. In 2013, Australia spent $4,115 on health care per capita, while the United States spent $9,086, representing 9.4 percent and 17.1 percent of GDP, respectively.

Trump just now to Australia's PM: "You have better health care than we do.

I hear it's gonna die in the Senate. But the big issue is where in the Constitution does it give government the power to mandate, offer, or run a health care or insurance system? 'Tain't there.

8:58 - The solution to your problem already exists. Called an amendment. There have been many amendments to the Constitution.

It's way too early to spike the ball and the current bill will undergo a lobotomy in the Senate. It's easy for the GOP House and Trump to get their way when guns are stuck in people's face. The current bill hasn't been vetted through the normal processing channels. So this is what the GOP delivers after 8 years of planning; you can't be serious and give me a break.

The House Republicans slapped together an under-cooked, greasy, and unhealthy Happy Meal for Americans that need affordable healthcare. Their horrific healthcare plan will fail miserably when the critical unknowns become known. This bill should also be added to the GOP's greatest stupidity collection...

8:58 - TRUTH! ..and for those of you who believe that the constitution could include medical coverage as "promoting general welfare," check out the following and make your own decision:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/2/1340978/-America-s-Misunderstood-Mission-Promoting-the-general-Welfare

http://www.heritage.org/the-constitution/report/enough-enough-why-general-welfare-limits-spending

http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2014/08/28/the-general-welfare-clause-is-not-about-writing-checks/

https://publiushuldah.wordpress.com/2009/10/27/does-the-general-welfare-clause-of-the-u-s-constitution-authorize-congress-to-force-us-to-buy-health-insurance/

The simplest solution is to put everyone on Medicare or Medicaid and let the insurance companies compete in offering supplemental plans. The infrastructure is already in place.

The drug companies hate the idea, which means that it must be a good one. Obamacare or Trumpcare, either one is irrational because they both come from representatives of only half the country and play to different sets of interest groups. How many of our people will have to be mangled by a politicized "healthcare" system before we accept the fact that a single payor system is, like democracy, the worst possible system except for all the other systems?

2:02, so you want us to pay twice?? Once to the government to cover a bunch of shit I don't need, and to an insurance company for the things that I do need? Just imagine going to MHP for a medical procedure.

I started to comment but realized that this issue is far to involved for a simple comment. The public no longer wants insurance they want health care that covers every issue with no deductible, no co-pay and no cost, not insurance. Insurance is what you have on your car and your home where you buy coverage for a possible unforeseen event. Insurance is based on the laws of large numbers and stastical probablty.
If we are to have universal health care for profit hospitals have to go, drug companies have to come under price control, physicians have to make less, the public has to give up choice of their doctors. It can work but getting healt care will be like going to the DMV, see vA hospital. The wealthy will be OK and by wealthy I mean income of at least $500,000 (or a politician). So saddle up it's probably going to be a rough ride.

For What It's Worth, here is the list of taxes abolished by the GOP health care plan:

-Abolishes the Obamacare Individual Mandate Tax which hits 8 million Americans each year.

-Abolishes the Obamacare Employer Mandate Tax. Together with repeal of the Individual Mandate Tax repeal this is a $270 billion tax cut.

-Abolishes Obamacare’s Medicine Cabinet Tax which hits 20 million Americans with Health Savings Accounts and 30 million Americans with Flexible Spending Accounts. This is a $6 billion tax cut.

-Abolishes Obamacare’s Flexible Spending Account tax on 30 million Americans. This is a $20 billion tax cut.

-Abolishes Obamacare’s Chronic Care Tax on 10 million Americans with high out of pocket medical expenses. This is a $126 billion tax cut.

-Abolishes Obamacare’s HSA withdrawal tax. This is a $100 million tax cut.

-Abolishes Obamacare’s 10% excise tax on small businesses with indoor tanning services. This is a $600 million tax cut.

-Abolishes the Obamacare health insurance tax. This is a $145 billion tax cut.

-Abolishes the Obamacare 3.8% surtax on investment income. This is a $172 billion tax cut.

-Abolishes the Obamacare medical device tax. This is a $20 billion tax cut.

-Abolishes the Obamacare tax on prescription medicine. This is a $28 billion tax cut.

-Abolishes the Obamacare tax on retiree prescription drug coverage. This is a $2 billion tax cut.

Insurance has become a coercive monopoly. At least I don't have to pay a
tax on shitty "product" I'm not buying.
Hail the corporate state!

My neighbor had no health insurance while her tax dollars were being used to pay for my insurance because I am a county employee. Now that she has insurance through the Healthcare Act, my taxes are used to supplement her insurance premiums. I think that's fair.

"Wasn't Cheney the one who rushed to set up the exchanges per the terms of ObamaCare....can anyone remember the details?"

I hope so because you damned sure can't.

8:07, that's quite possibly the dumbest comment I've ever read on this blog.

Look where Mississippi ranks in new cancer cases and cancer deaths...

http://www.businessinsider.com/map-of-cancer-rates-in-the-united-states-2017-5/#this-map-looks-at-the-rate-of-new-cancer-cases-by-state-per-100000-people-this-is-specifically-looking-at-2013-which-is-the-most-recent-year-available-the-darker-the-color-the-higher-the-rate-1