and every maga senior on Medicare...........that voted for this shit show............wait and see what happens Medicare on January 1, 2026...........lets get back to the 6 states that are going to be the guinea pigs for that shit show to begin the process of privatizing Medicare for wall street and the health care companies backed by wall street greed.............JFC

applied to the ACA, which would mean millions would lose their coverage on the ACA because people could not afford the premiums without the subsidies.

yup

They will start requiring prior authorizations for some services.

This is MEDICARE.

Don't think they are though. Haven't read about it yet.

It could be a very big change.

Maybe this is the next thing to rile up the troops!

I fear Trump may start out slow and then put the whammy on Medicare.

If I have Part A and Part B and a Supplement to cover "out of pocket" A and B costs, how could my state force me into managed care?

The only thing "managed" about my coverage is Part D, prescriptions, with formularies and pre-authorization required for some drugs.

That is what the press releases are saying.

New Jersey
Ohio
Oklahoma
Texas
Arizona
Washington

It's not the states that are implementing this. It is the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. They are adding some pre-authorization requirements for certain services/procedures provided under Part A and Part B (currently covered without pre-authorization).

It is not Managed Care in the same sense that Medicare Advantage is Managed Care.

So, it sounds like it will actually only affect people like me who keep their original Medicare and add a supplement because they refuse to be shoved into the rapidly deteriorating Medicare Advantage Plans.

Not surprising because Republicans hate people like me. They've fucked around with Medicare Advantage to weaken that coverage, but have been unable to touch Original Medicare. I am actually wondering if people in those six states can sue. I would like to know what authority CMS has to run this "experiment." Did the Republican Congress grant it? Or is it another case of an agency doing shit it is not allowed to do? I have more research to do.

AI Summary

The authority under which this program is being implemented is Section 1115A of the Social Security Act.

Another AI summary:

I await the many Schumer critics here to offer their praise as well.

absolutely - it will make me think maybe he learned a fucking lesson

just like, if it's on the internet, it must be true!

If we don't, he'll fold.

I was happy to send one I found here
a while ago.

But the Senate needs 60 votes to pass legislation and that means the GOP needs (D) votes and they don't have them.

The split is 53 (R)s & 45 (D)s & 2 (I)s (who caucus with (D)s), so they need at least 7 Democrats to vote with them.

Schumer is the Minority Leader "speaking for" the Senate Democrats.

and I believe that the Senate Democrats are in unity on this.
No caving.

Right now the Democrats have to show leadership, and stand up to the Right, otherwise, they will be punished in the midterms.

However he was "elected' by the Senate Caucus as the Minority Leader and thus he becomes the "spokesperson" for the Caucus.

It's basic protocol.

At the start of every 2-year Congressional session, "leaders" are chosen as well as either "Chairs" (for the party in the majority) or "Ranking Members" (if the party is in the minority) for all the Committees. It can be a fierce battle as you might have noted with some of the Ranking Member slots like for the House Oversight Committee and House Judiciary Committees.

Democrats CHOSE Schumer after we lost the Senate in 2024 as he had been the Majority Leader before then (since 2020). Prior to 2020, Democrats were last in control of the Senate in 2013, where Harry Reid was the Majority Leader. We then lost the Senate in the 2014 election and didn't regain it until 2020 (barely as it was a tie but swung to (D) due to having the Presidency and Vice-Presidency where the VP is technically "the President of the Senate" and can break ties). At that time, Schumer was the Democratic Caucus Vice-Chair (and Dick Durbin was the Assistant Majority Leader to Reid), and Schumer ran and won the top leadership job.

So from that era, the Caucus had a record of his work in a leadership position. I know that Durbin decided to remain as a Whip vs running for Minority Leader.

ETA and IMHO - Schumer was fine for the "past" but we are in a "break glass" moment, where all bets are off and a different style/tactic is needed (i.e., I get what you are saying but they are not going to completely toss out protocol now but should we make it to the 2026 election, he'll be toast).

More and more media consumers are cutting the cord and losing access to C SPAN.

I wish there was a way to get CSPAN without cable. But, it’s a Cable service/product, unlike the legacy networks which are available over the free digital airwaves (NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS).

As always, it’s the public that suffers.

Um, really?

Even if true, it’s only the last person who talks to him that he can remember what they said.

And anyway neither can compete with the voices in his head.

(Unintentional rhyme, maybe I should be a songwriter.)

For example ...

"...warn[ing] Trump directly about the possibility that thousands of Americans will see their health insurance premiums soar next year." Is exactly the kind of result that psychopaths enjoy.

Why aren't those "in charge" aware of that?


Tips for how to spot a psychopath like our president:

Either dumb or just stupid either way it's impossibly bad.

Bastards now. Shut this horrible shit show down forever.

What about going after Medicaid cuts?

What about demanding 47 stop violating his oath of office?

The most pressing has been the ACA subsidies that sunset at the end of the calendar year and that would probably be the easiest to fix (just doing an extension). The Medicaid cuts are amongst all the other health-related cuts and there were an obscene amount of them, but might be fixable with legislative language changes.

Meant only to get the shutdown out of the headlines while they work with Murdoch to figure out how to blame it all on us.

Time to put up or shut up.

And Johnson should finally quit acting like a garden slug and swear in that Democratic Congresswoman, too!! I sometimes think he must maintain a strict salt-free diet to keep from melting.

Is Kaiser Family Foundation:

kff.org

about the consequences of his being obstinate and of his inaction.

The classic "You were told but you wouldn't listen".