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Nope. I've been on a couple group zooms for business since the swearing in, and there's a palpable relief. In groups where we have never in the past talked about politics or religion, I'm hearing people quoting Bible verses about the dawn of a new day, of light after the darkness. Complete relief Trump is finally gone and a new brighter day is dawning.
yeah, for Communist China , not Americans losing their jobs and illegals flooding in again bringing in more covid.
Nope. I've been on a couple group zooms for business since the swearing in, and there's a palpable relief. In groups where we have never in the past talked about politics or religion, I'm hearing people quoting Bible verses about the dawn of a new day, of light after the darkness. Complete relief Trump is finally gone and a new brighter day is dawning.
Me thinks those people haven’t read far enough in their Bibles.
The thing is Trump wasn't really the Republican party, he was practically taking a wrecking ball to it and realigning it by getting support from an increasing majority. He was far away the best option if you wanted to accomplishing anything against a major party.
He certainly dragged a lot of the party with him, and a lot of the pundit class as well.
Given how he inflamed a lot of people and caused a lot of folks to dig their heels in just because it was an anti-Trump position, I do put a lot of blame at his feet for worsening political discourse. He essentially handed out free fuel to stoke the fires of illiberal leftist activists - once upon a time, BLM was a much needed voice until the timbre of discourse caused unscrupulous folks to turn it into something unrecognizable, just to name a prime example. He also managed to bring out of the woodworks some formerly closeted racists on the right. I’m perfectly happy to run down the things he did right, but I’m certainly not following Trumpism as the way to take that proverbial wrecking ball to the Republicans. Come what may of the Republican Party, the Trump era has left America more fractured than ever. Biden was certainly never the guy to mend any of those fences. He lacks the moral conviction and strength of character to do so. One need only look at his rather spineless pandering re: his VP pick to see that.
So no, I don’t feel one bit bad or conflicted about not voting for either of the trash put before us. PSA to the GOP and DNC - quit sweeping up the garbage, dressing it in business attire, and trying to pass them off as good candidates. Thank you.
There are suppliers elsewhere, but not as cheap as in china. But rather than promoting domestic production, he wants to allow financial markets greater control of our energy grid.
He passed an order that will allow transgender women (biological males) to play in girl sports, without 'investigating' the repercussions as he is supposedly doing with everything else.
He once again canceled the Keystone XL pipeline, which for now means less available jobs, and that the oil must be bought from elsewhere, or shipped along rail lines (less safe).
He has received no push back from the republican party, and the media is celebratory of all his actions.
The main goal of this administration was to raise the COL, and then increase the influence of corporations on the job market so people have less control over their finances and consumption habits can be better controlled by financial markets.
Then, his administration at inauguration riled up people into believing their was a fascist coup at work, so some 20,000+ active troops would be sent to DC.
Rather than plan to house them, they were left in the parking lot, and now Covid is spreading among them super fast.
And this was all for a performative action against "domestic terrorists" meant to garner support.
People in this country thought Trump embarrassed them, but do any regret voting for Biden?
edit: Also note, his policy of counting illegals in the population census will change representation in congress by state, and bolster one party.
The promotion of illegal migration lowers the average wages of blue collar workers making life even harder.
The Insulin Order as told to me by some diabetics
" So, I'm seeing a massive freak-out on the socials about Biden's HHS freezing the former Trump administration's drug policy that requires community health centers to pass on all their insulin and epinephrine discount savings to patients. Some people with diabetes are enraged, others are just confused.
The topic IS legitimately more complex that it might seem, so let me parce this out for those less familiar with health policy:
On July 24th, Trump issued an executive order that directed federally funded health centers to sell patients insulin and injectable epinephrine at the same discounted price they got from a drug company. Trump said his goal was to give more people affordable access to two critical, often expensive drugs.
There were several problems with this.
First, who gets their prescription products from publicly funded health centers? No one. If you have insurance, you are usually limited to in-network pharmacies that have a brokered deal with the insurer or, worse, are OWNED by the insurer. If you have state medicaid, you can go almost anywhere and these drugs are covered in full. It's a very, very few number of patients who could have benefited from this order.
To put it in perspective, there are roughly 1,400 community health organizations, which serve areas with limited access to health-care coverage, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration. Those organizations run roughly 12,000 delivery sites. That's not serving even 1% of the people with diabetes in this country.
Secondly, prescription drug prices weren't going to drop just by re-routing discounts to patients, anyway. Rather than taking steps to address rising prices for lifesaving drugs, the executive order recycles techniques the Trump administration has already seen die in court or flounder at federal agencies.
The inflationary pressures on retail insulin pricing are driven almost entirely by the insurance marketplace. It's largely out of the hands of even pharmaceutical companies, and there's no evidence that community health centers were out there gouging the poor.
The real issue is the legality of the order itself. Not only is it ineffective at addressing pricing issues, but the Trump administration had already tried to alter the federal discount that hospitals that serve low-income patients get from drug companies, which is known as the 340B discount. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services lost twice in court after trying to cut Medicare reimbursement rates for those discounted drugs.
The order was never even enforceable. The administration acknowledged they didn't have the authority.
Biden froze until March a useless executive order that wouldn't withstand legal challenge as part of a larger-scale effort to address the failed health policies of the Trump era. If the previous administration's policies raise "fact, law, or policy" concerns, the Biden HHS will delay them and consult with the Office of Management and Budget about other actions. Anything that couldn't withstand legal challenge has to be un-done before the new administration can move forward with a comprehensive plan that might ACTUALLY benefit people.
I hope that provides a background for the decision."
More on the Insulin order from a thread by some diabetics on Twitter
This seems counterintuitive but this freeze is actually a GOOD thing for patients. The original EO was pharma backed, giving them a way to back out of the #340b program
The #340b program, is a life-saving program that provides healthcare and medicine to the most vulnerable. 15.5% of #diabetics get their insulin from the program. Since the EO came out, many people have seen their monthly insulin rise from $15-> over $1000
Why? The EO demands that #340b pharmacies pass on their discounts of insulin to the patient. At first note, that sounds great! However, #340b's have a small upcharge to help pay administrative fees, pharmacists, etc... This EO gave pharma a big out for a program that they HATE
If pharmacies didn't comply (which was virtually impossible for them) then pharma got to pull their medications, including insulin. Pharma has also piled on new reporting and audit measures that make it almost impossible to meet due to limited staff, reporting etc...
#340b is still under attack and patients are suffering for it. I don't know for sure but I think the Medicare $35 savings will still stand.
So, moral of the story? Devil is in the details, policy matters, listen to advocates.
Not even a little bit. Now if they can convict the narcissistic orange man so he can never hold any federal office ever,. I would count that as things really looking up
" So, I'm seeing a massive freak-out on the socials about Biden's HHS freezing the former Trump administration's drug policy that requires community health centers to pass on all their insulin and epinephrine discount savings to patients. Some people with diabetes are enraged, others are just confused.
The topic IS legitimately more complex that it might seem, so let me parce this out for those less familiar with health policy:
On July 24th, Trump issued an executive order that directed federally funded health centers to sell patients insulin and injectable epinephrine at the same discounted price they got from a drug company. Trump said his goal was to give more people affordable access to two critical, often expensive drugs.
There were several problems with this.
First, who gets their prescription products from publicly funded health centers? No one. If you have insurance, you are usually limited to in-network pharmacies that have a brokered deal with the insurer or, worse, are OWNED by the insurer. If you have state medicaid, you can go almost anywhere and these drugs are covered in full. It's a very, very few number of patients who could have benefited from this order.
To put it in perspective, there are roughly 1,400 community health organizations, which serve areas with limited access to health-care coverage, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration. Those organizations run roughly 12,000 delivery sites. That's not serving even 1% of the people with diabetes in this country.
Secondly, prescription drug prices weren't going to drop just by re-routing discounts to patients, anyway. Rather than taking steps to address rising prices for lifesaving drugs, the executive order recycles techniques the Trump administration has already seen die in court or flounder at federal agencies.
The inflationary pressures on retail insulin pricing are driven almost entirely by the insurance marketplace. It's largely out of the hands of even pharmaceutical companies, and there's no evidence that community health centers were out there gouging the poor.
The real issue is the legality of the order itself. Not only is it ineffective at addressing pricing issues, but the Trump administration had already tried to alter the federal discount that hospitals that serve low-income patients get from drug companies, which is known as the 340B discount. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services lost twice in court after trying to cut Medicare reimbursement rates for those discounted drugs.
The order was never even enforceable. The administration acknowledged they didn't have the authority.
Biden froze until March a useless executive order that wouldn't withstand legal challenge as part of a larger-scale effort to address the failed health policies of the Trump era. If the previous administration's policies raise "fact, law, or policy" concerns, the Biden HHS will delay them and consult with the Office of Management and Budget about other actions. Anything that couldn't withstand legal challenge has to be un-done before the new administration can move forward with a comprehensive plan that might ACTUALLY benefit people.
I hope that provides a background for the decision."
More on the Insulin order from a thread by some diabetics on Twitter
This seems counterintuitive but this freeze is actually a GOOD thing for patients. The original EO was pharma backed, giving them a way to back out of the #340b program
The #340b program, is a life-saving program that provides healthcare and medicine to the most vulnerable. 15.5% of #diabetics get their insulin from the program. Since the EO came out, many people have seen their monthly insulin rise from $15-> over $1000
Why? The EO demands that #340b pharmacies pass on their discounts of insulin to the patient. At first note, that sounds great! However, #340b's have a small upcharge to help pay administrative fees, pharmacists, etc... This EO gave pharma a big out for a program that they HATE
If pharmacies didn't comply (which was virtually impossible for them) then pharma got to pull their medications, including insulin. Pharma has also piled on new reporting and audit measures that make it almost impossible to meet due to limited staff, reporting etc...
#340b is still under attack and patients are suffering for it. I don't know for sure but I think the Medicare $35 savings will still stand.
So, moral of the story? Devil is in the details, policy matters, listen to advocates.
Thank you.
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Voted against Trump
