runamok27

1 hour ago, Card said:

Jeez. What real people said wasn't that it couldn't happen, but it wouldn't be the Chinese exporters who pay for it but the American consumer. That HAS happened.

That actually has not happened, at least not yet. 

1 hour ago, NobbyClarke said:

People tend to forget about the ball players. 40,000,000 a. month and upwards.

We all pay to drink red bull, beer, coke, and watch the sports.

No one thinks about "The Man/Woman" at the top of the tree.

I wish I had mixed together the ingredients for red bull. I certainly would not be complaining. Would you?

The number 1 reason people hate the rich is, they are not one of them.

22 hours ago, Magictoad said:

We don't think they are unnecessary and we don't trust your medical qualifications. I trust doctors and nurses who incidentally; wear masks throughout the hospitals, everywhere in the hospital.  Because masks stop airborne infections. Please stop using this forum for your looney anti vax campaign.  I guess you are an American

because no British fall for these conspiracy theories.  They just go to their doctor twice a year to get their free vaccinations on the NHS.

Respectfully yours

Most European countries either do not recommend them for children or only for children with underlying conditions. Japan only recommends them for children with underlying conditions. Those are some countries with very good medical qualifications. I believe in vaccinations and have had pretty much every vaccine and they do work but there is too much data out there from credible sources that is not favorable towards these vaccines and that is the reason for the caution. From what I have read, they are not really sure about a lot of things regarding this particular vaccine. Considering that the new strains of Covid keep getting weaker, this is 100% based on science, vaccination is not warranted unless you have underlying disease seems to be the consensus and taking any medication carries inherent risks so a lot of people and medical professionals do not recommend taking this vaccine anymore.

On 5/12/2025 at 8:44 PM, ChicagoExpat said:

The reality is alleged war crimes seldom get prosecuted by anyone.  That said, if you actually do care about following the rules of war, you're far more likely to see that with the West, as opposed to the Eastern nations you would seem to support.  Edit -- just saw in another thread that you are indeed a Putin supporter.  That was easy.

There are no rules of war. If you prosecute a war governed by rules you will lose. 

If another country attacks your country you do whatever you have to do to repel them. You absolutely do not follow any rules. 

You mention the west following rules. The west has not won a single war since they started following rules of war. We won World War II being ruthless and overwhelming both Germany and Japan. We showed them no mercy whatsoever. If we had followed rules we all would be dead or speaking German/Japanese now.

The owner needs to go to prison for a minimum of 10 years and if the girl dies, life. It's the only thing that worked in America to get idiots to stop getting these dogs or if they do making it so it can't hurt anyone.. 

I really don't understand why people are so negative now.

• Will we see more war or less? Less, a lot less.

• More poverty or greater prosperity? Greater prosperity for all.

• Will environmental challenges worsen, or will we make progress in fixing them? The ones we can fix we'll fix, the ones we can't, we'll adjust.

• Will human rights and equality improve, or will they decline? Improve greatly.

• Will people be healthier due to better awareness of health and technology, or will poor diet and lifestyle choices continue to take a toll? Gotta go with the poor diet and lifestyle choices on this one.

• Will AI become a true game-changer, or will it simply evolve into a more advanced and user-friendly search tool? It's already a game changer.

• And for Gen Z, will they find themselves in a better world or a more challenging one? A much better one.

2 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

The U.S. is a way over medicated country.  So many people on antidepressants, anti anxiety, anti fat medications, booze and weed.

Completely agree and its only going to get worse. They won't give people with legitimate pain any pain medication anymore but they'll give them all the mind destroying medications they want.

2 hours ago, Centigrade32 said:

 

No. I as someone who doesn't get involved in politics, lost all interest in your thread.

Now if you had kept it to just being about the health of the nation, I would have been all in.

But you turned it into a crashing bore. Just MHO.

 

 

If it is true that left wing people predominantly take these drugs that would be a genuine health concern. 

2 hours ago, stevenl said:

Just read a story of a trump supporter who saw his diabetes medication increase from 6 dollar for the month to 80. Not a happy camper.

People makes these statements but what exactly did Trump do to make that happen? Yeah, I know, you don't know. Medications go up for all kinds of reasons. 

Those prices seem ridiculously high.

.....four surgeries to remove infected tissue, incurring medical expenses of £15,300 (approximately 651,000 baht).

.....expected total expenses reaching at least £33,300 (about 1.42 million baht).

A commercial flight with a stretcher could cost around £42,500 (approximately 1.81 million baht), while an air ambulance is estimated at £140,000 (about 5.97 million baht).

2 hours ago, sqwakvfr said:

Gambling addicts come in all sizes, shapes, colors and wealth.  The saddest story I heard about  was a woman who won $14 million at a casino in Florida. A year later she had lost it all and then stole from work to continue gambling.  If  the Thai government thinks establishing a minimum level of wealth as a way to stem gambling addicion then I would say they have not done enough research.  All they have to do is look at what S.Korea does.  Some casinos ban Korean citizens from entering and some casinos put a cap on monthly visits.  

All casinos in the US have large and aggressive security force.   This is because the combination of adult beverages and losiing at slots or at the tables elicit emotional and aggressive behavior.   Of course TIT and all ideas that come out of this country are great. 

I've been gambling in casinos in America many times and have not witnessed any violence whatsoever. 

On 2/14/2025 at 5:55 AM, mistral53 said:

Of course, every tire shop will tell you that tires over 5 years old must be changed, pronto! What business model would not dictate that? let you drive and them not making some cheap dough? 

 

ChatGPT and DeepSeek R1 both suggest a nuanced view of the tire life and expiration - chiefly, if you are a highway racer pushing top speed often, replace the tires after 6 years, if you are driving mostly in the city or at lower speeds, 10 years is the more sensible limit.

 

'Conclusion: Balance Safety & Sustainability

If your tires still have good tread, no deep cracks, and retain grip, you can safely use them beyond the recommended replacement age, especially for city driving. Just perform regular checks and listen to your car’s handling—it will tell you when the rubber is no longer safe.'

That is comical. So now people are going to become tire experts and evaluate their own tires? 

16 hours ago, proton said:

Justice would be the death of the dog, but that's a bit much to hope for here, why not let him free to have another go! I expect she is more interested in the cash.

No, justice would be the owner going to prison for a few years, paying all medical bills and some restitution to the kid, say, $1 million baht.

There is no solution to this problem without enforcement. The bad air, dangerous driving, etc. are all unsolvable problems because they refuse to enforce anything. What good are traffic laws when so many drivers just ignore them? What good is having laws against burning when so many ignore them. This is not a Thai thing either. In America, people burning trash and littering didn't stop until the authorities starting fining people and threatening them with jail time. People don't care about stopping burning and polluting the air to keep from killing people, including themselves, but they do care if they are fined $1000.

On 12/30/2024 at 2:17 AM, ChumpChange said:

More natural disasters, more floods, more of the planet will become uninhabitable because of climate change, more large scale corporate cyber attacks and user data theft, more poverty, more food shortages, and more global human carnage than in 2024.

You must be a lot of fun at parties.

On 12/16/2024 at 4:11 AM, simple1 said:

 

Remember trump promised oil executives he would take care of them if they donated a billion dollars towards his election. Not long after we heard trump promising to "drill baby, drill'

Trump didn't have anywhere near a billion dollars for his campaign. If you're going to make stuff up at least make it plausible.

5 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

That was before Obamacare.  For which I was paying $1,400 a month with a $5,000 deductible.  So I wasn't too impressed with ACA, either.  (But that's another timeframe and a whole 'nother topic)  I was pleased when I hit Medicare age...  

 

I believe Obamacare took care of that issue but that is also one of the reasons why healthcare insurance is so expensive. They need to drastically lower the prices of medical care in the U.S..

27 minutes ago, jerrymahoney said:

From the manifesto but not quoted in the MSM:

 

A reminder: the US has the #1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy. 

 

Not good. But this is a (coloried) map of life-expectancy by US state as of 2020:

 

 

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr71/nvsr71-02.pdf

Life expectancy is not a good indicator of healthcare. I saw a study a while back that determined that the U.S. had the second highest life expectancy when removing murders, suicides and accidents, which would be actual life expectancy. We have way too many murders and suicides, far more than any other country and they are usually very young people so that brings life expectancy way down.

1 hour ago, Thingamabob said:

The dislike of the insurance companies is understandable but the problems with healthcare in the USA start with outrageous fees charged by most hospitals.

This is actually more of the issue than insurance companies. I read an article a while back that compared cost of procedures between the EU and the U.S.A.. One example was some kind of breast cancer treatment. It cost $1500 USD in the EU but it was $5500 USD in the U.S.A.. 

1 hour ago, impulse said:

 

Having held several different jobs at companies of varying sizes, I've had great luck with some insurance companies.  And horrific experiences with others.  Never an outright denial.  Generally a fight over what was covered and at what rates. 

 

For example a procedure I had in Wyoming was only done at one facility in the whole state.  My insurance covered a maximum of $2,000, at 80%.  The only facility in the state said "tough noogies, our price is $3,000.  So I was reimbursed $1600 on a $3000 bill.  No biggie for a couple of thousand, but I was always worried what would happen if I had a $million procedure.  It would have bankrupted me, even with "full coverage".

 

Edit:   I tried to be smart and get the procedure done in Houston the next time I visited my parents.  It was only $1800 in Houston.  But the insurance only covered $1000 in Texas because they claimed that was the "reasonable and customary" fee in that market.  I could never find a facility that charged their reasonable and customary fee.  

 

Was this before or after Obamacare passed?

1 hour ago, jerrymahoney said:

Going back to OP, that 90% figure was misstated: The 90% refers to the number of denials of one very specific Medicare Advantage coverage in that 90% of denials which were formally appealed were reversed.

The type of Medicare Advantage insurance with which Mr. Thompson over saw -- much as with CVS/Aetna and Humana -- dealt with "post-acute care facilities.”  Covered persons could receive per Medicare mandate up to 100 of post-inpatient care days following a minimum of 3 days impatient.

 

A big difference in USA and Thailand is that in USA you can have inpatient surgery and be sent home in 1-3 days e.g. for hip replacement whereas in Thailand at a private hospital you can spend a week inpatient for the same.

 

And post-operative care is judgment call of a patients physician i.e. when is the person is stable enough to go home with only minimal/family care.

 

That 'judgment call' is pretty much the root cause of all 3 big insurers relying upon AI models based up millions of outcomes as referenced in the OP.

Yeah in a subsequent post I read the actual denial rate was 37%. But, even at 37% I or someone I know should have seen a denial. I'm not saying it doesn't happen but it would seem it happens in specific instances for specific types of care and not overall. 

On 12/5/2024 at 11:27 PM, impulse said:

 

The AI could have been programmed to pay out any percentage of claims they decided.  Someone decided on 90% rejection.

 

Personally, I have health insurance horror stories going back to the '80s.  To the point I was never confident that I wouldn't be bankrupted at the whim of the insurance companies.  My claims were always in the "few thousands of dollars" range.  But I can see where someone who lost their home, their marriage or, God forbid, a loved one would feel justified in taking it out on the CEO. 

 

Boeing's recent cases prove that individuals won't be held responsible for deliberate decisions that killed hundreds.  The innocent shareholders took it in the shorts.  That's millions of retirees and others, who had nothing to do with the decisions.  Along with Betty, who serves coffee and slings hash in the Boeing employee dining hall.

 

And if the law fails like that, what other option do people have?

 

Maybe I am just lucky but I have never had a claim denied and I don't know anybody who has. At a 90% denial rate I should have been denied multiple times and same with people I know.