patrick.net

jazz music says

It is urgent that we all fight for Medicare for all,

No it's not. Medicare for all is a poor idea. We need to decrease the costs of health care, not the cost of health care insurance.

Damn this would be such a great forest if all those fucking trees weren't in the way.

Pee Wee Herman

Ironman says

THANKS OBAMA!!!

Obama has been president since 1975? You learn something new on patnet every single day.

Like everything you post the numbers don't add up. What percentage of people 18-34 are in school 1975 vs 2016? You do know that all those $25 an hour manufacturing jobs that high school grads took in the 1970's were long gone before Obama took office don't you? I doubt it. Oh my look at that 30% drop in manufacturing jobs under Obama Bush.

http://www.breitbart.com/economics/2017/04/19/young-white-america-dying-despair/

Could this be related?

bob2356 says

We need to decrease the costs of health care

Easier said than done. That was one goal of Obamacare. It should be a goal for a single payer system as well.

BayArea says

I lived in rockridge for 7yrs. Beautiful and extremely desirable part of the East Bay.

It sold for $250,000 over asking because $495,000 wasn't a real price.

The online real estate estimators have that property at around $950,000.

That location right off College Ave is beyond desirable. That's the heart of Rockridge.

The buyers will spend $500,000 to build a new home, making the new value $1.5 million. Brand new home with your choice of upgrades.

Ironman says

BayArea says

The online real estate estimators have that property at around $950,000.

Ironman says

What the hell is in the drinking water in CA....

How much would that dump cost in New Jersey?

Home sweet shithole.

Ironman says

MMR says

In Nixons America one breadwinner could support whole family, small house 2 cars

The problem with that is, the house back then was 1000 sq. ft., today the Special Snowflakes feel they're entitled to 2500 sq ft McMansions. Plus, they can't just drive a simple car, it has to be a fully loaded SUV only a year old... Then add on a $200/month cable bill, a $100/month wireless bill, very few actually cook and either buy processed foods or go out to eat, etc...

All that takes extra dollars that wasn't spent in the Nixon era.

Add to that the cost of computers, electronics, cable, cell phones.
If you live exactly with the same technology and devices as in the Nixon era, you could live pretty well.

Ironman says

In it's current condition, barely $100K (mostly in the property value).

This might have sold for more as an empty lot.

That's easy $20K in demolition and disposal. Perhaps 10 times that in the land of Regulations.

We all know,"You can't fix stupid."
An informed buyer would snatched it up with a cool $million.

1. The price is just for the land. The house is a scraper. The sale price would have been even higher without the additional cost to remove that shack.
2. The article is one of tens of thousands placed by realtor scum in a propaganda move to give the impression that the housing market is so hot that houses go for over asking.
3. They would never have accepted their asking price. It was a fraud specifically designed to manipulate public opinion. And it worked.

Ironman says

Obamacare was a payoff to Obama's medical buddies, insurance companies and lobbyists...

Please! Say it ain't so!
FUCK DEMOCRAT & REPUBLICAN POLITICIANS & THEIR VOTERS!
Nixon defended them all: "I'm not a crook."
The medical industry wrote the ACA & told the govt. that they would pass it.
They did as they were told.
"You have OWNERS! They OWN YOU." Medicine is just one segment of your MASTERS.

"..Now live..", 4/20/17,Trump is President, THANKS for MAGA!

Strategist says

Special Snowflakes feel they're entitled to 2500 sq ft McMansions.

Damn elitist bastards. They should all live in 800 square feet like Republicans.
All of Trumps residences do not exceed 800 square feet.

The three dislikes just shows how much some people hate the idea that poor people might not die because they cannot afford health care.

www.youtube.com/embed/w8_jpjQXUyA

Sign in to make your opinion count. Sign in 13 Loading... Loading... Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Jan 5, 2015One of the best scenes Category Sports License Standard YouTube License Movie Shooter Show more Show less Loading... Autoplay When autoplay is enabled, a suggested video will automatically play next.

I know I know, it seems crazy.

But you guys are smart guys. It's not the dilapidated wooden box that you are paying for. Someone got a lot of land in one of the most desirable locations of the East Bay, for a price that you'd expect to pay for such a thing.

Don't get too fixated on the state of the box you see in the pic.

Oh and just for reference:

I'm looking at the houses surrounding that one... between $1.275 and $1.7M from what I can see on redfin... $750K for that lot looks more than fair if you want to pursue Rockridge.

Ironman says

Strategist says

How much would that dump cost in New Jersey?

In it's current condition, barely $100K (mostly in the property value).

In higher cost area of NJ, maybe up to 250k

BayArea says

Oh and just for reference:

I'm looking at the houses surrounding that one... between $1.275 and $1.7M from what I can see on redfin... $750K for that lot looks more than fair if you want to pursue Rockridge.

Some nice areas of Oakland for sure, but the price surge in recent years absolutely due to people being priced out of SF and overall, having lived in Bay Area and visiting there few times in past years, I hardly see any new home construction, at least when compared to places like Atlanta, Phoenix, Las Vegas and even New Jersey

BayArea says

I know I know, it seems crazy.

But you guys are smart guys. It's not the dilapidated wooden box that you are paying for. Someone got a lot of land in one of the most desirable locations of the East Bay, for a price that you'd expect to pay for such a thing.

Don't get too fixated on the state of the box you see in the pic.

Clearly a tear down, but how was rockridge priced 10-15 years ago?

BayArea says

I lived in rockridge for 7yrs. Beautiful and extremely desirable part of the East Bay.

It sold for $250,000 over asking because $495,000 wasn't a real price.

The online real estate estimators have that property at around $950,000.

That location right off College Ave is beyond desirable. That's the heart of Rockridge.

Well it is one of the few majority white neighborhoods, yet Oakland tech is still only 17% non Hispanic whites

Surely that is worth 600-700/sf

So the Russian propaganda site zerohedge says it wasn't the Russians.
No, it was a Russian spy but acting from the inside.
That's really great info.

MMR says

I hardly see any new home construction,

There is a lot, but mostly (from what I've seen) apartment buildings, townhouses, and detached with microscopic lots.

FP says

MMR says

I hardly see any new home construction,

There is a lot, but mostly (from what I've seen) apartment buildings, townhouses, and detached with microscopic lots.

Tons of new construction in East Dublin and Southern Pleasanton. Both apartments and SFHs.

HEY YOU says

Strategist says

Special Snowflakes feel they're entitled to 2500 sq ft McMansions.

Damn elitist bastards. They should all live in 800 square feet like Republicans.

All of Trumps residences do not exceed 800 square feet.

And if they still can't afford a 800 sq ft home, they should move to a 400 sq ft home.

YesYNot says

Easier said than done. That was one goal of Obamacare.

Obamacare didn't even try to reduce healthcare costs!!!
No lifetime maximum limit should have tipped you off on that already!!!

Strategist says

How much would that dump cost in New Jersey?

In Baltimore City less than $10000, possibly a LOT less.

Ironman says

The seller of the Rockridge home originally purchased the home in the 1970s

Would have been better if article posted this 1970's buying price.

Insurance isn't health care. They make money on health care denial.

Lashkar_i_Trumpi says

Insurance isn't health care. They make money on health care denial.

And the cost of insurance is a very small part of our overall healthcare bill. Before Obamacare distorted the market, most large healthcare firms only make about 3-7% profit.

Does anyone think the US government bureaucracy can manage healthcare claims and payments for less than 5 cents on the dollar?

MMR says

BayArea says

I know I know, it seems crazy.

But you guys are smart guys. It's not the dilapidated wooden box that you are paying for. Someone got a lot of land in one of the most desirable locations of the East Bay, for a price that you'd expect to pay for such a thing.

Don't get too fixated on the state of the box you see in the pic.

Clearly a tear down, but how was rockridge priced 10-15 years ago?

In 2007? Housing market was on fire just before the subprime housing meltdown. Rockridge real estate was scorching hot in 2007.

socal2 says

Does anyone think the US government bureaucracy can manage healthcare claims and payments for less than 5 cents on the dollar?

Yes. It doesn't have shareholders expecting dividends and stock growth.

Price controls, esp. on ER, absolutely necessary. Should be kept in line with inflation. There is no international shortage of cotton, alcohol wipes, etc. and healthcare provider wage pressure is in line with general wage-earners (that is, not increasing rapidly at all).

There is a reason Health Care costs are exploding annually and it isn't aging population, see Japan (and the current elderly in Japan smoke or smoked like Chimneys)

socal2, you seem to equate/confuse profit with expenses

FP says

socal2, you seem to equate/confuse profit with expenses

Profits as a percent of revenue.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2014/06/27/profits-in-health-insurance-under-obamacare/#3c3a24df3c3a

Lashkar_i_Trumpi says

Yes. It doesn't have shareholders expecting dividends and stock growth.

Unionized government bureacrauts don't have any accountability or incentive to save money and ferret out fraud.

Private Insurer Profits? $13 Billion. Medicare Fraud? $48 Billion
https://www.forbes.com/sites/aroy/2011/03/04/private-insurer-profits-13-billion-medicare-fraud-48-billion-health-reform-priceless/#2f5a3cb42f5a

Lashkar_i_Trumpi says

Price controls, esp. on ER, absolutely necessary. Should be kept in line with inflation. There is no international shortage of cotton, alcohol wipes, etc. and healthcare provider wage pressure is in line with general wage-earners (that is, not increasing rapidly at all).

There is a reason Health Care costs are exploding annually and it isn't aging population, see Japan

If the economic structures we used weren't so fucked up, health care like any technology would asymptotically decrease in cost to some fixed, low level.

jazz music says

It is urgent that we all fight for Medicare for all, to FIX OBAMACARE...

You don't seem to realize those are opposite goals, and the latter is the slogan of "The Resistance", an Orwellian subversion along the lines of Animal Farm.

Quigley says

One is assistance for paying for medical school for kids of not-wealthy families.

Mexico has a better solution: free medical/dental/vision school for interested students who show ability and potential and agree to work for a year for the government in an underserved area. It creates a plentiful supply of highly capable medical professionals, and thus low prices for excellent quality. It's the best place in North America to go for those services.

Means testing is a bad idea that keeps coming back, in Rin's comments also. Why should you care whether your doctor was born in a log cabin he built himself? "Oh, sorry he misdiagnosed your kid and blinded her for the rest of her life, but he had come from a dirt poor family so we gave him a scholarship, while dissuading better qualified candidates with $60k/year tuition." The idea comes back because it expands the market for expensive tuition: find a way to enable people who can't afford it. It's a lot like Obamneycare in that way: expand Medicaid so that hospital executives can monetize even indigent vagrants at $500k/year each. The idea comes back because marketing can easily distort the inherent sacrifices to look "fair" when in fact it's about maximizing their own power at the expense of everyone else.

The better solution is to reduce the cost. The Mexican system works because they produce so many talented graduates that even the professors can be hired at reasonable salaries. If we had NAFTA for medical/dental/vision, the price would equalize.

Also repeal the Rx requirement, because too many people are scheduling Dr visits for permission to buy junk they saw on TV. Let Darwin Awards take their course. If some schmuck wants to buy the toxic placebo he saw on TV, and wash it down with a can of Pepsi to deter police violence, so be it. You can't save people from themselves, so let people make their own decisions and the smart ones will check expert systems (e.g. RightDiagnosis.com, FKA WrongDiagnosis.com) that cost nothing.

Also, as noted above, emergency services need price controls. That should also be on a fee-for-diagnosis basis, not fee-for-service, which creates terribly perverse incentives. Ideally, emergency medical should be paid by government like Fire&Police, because there is no time for "market" comparisons.

American overpricing relative to other countries, and excess spending especially after age 65, practically began with Medicare's fee-for-service model driving over-utilization. Dan and others have posted a chart showing how American spending leaps above all others starting around Medicare age. Some have noticed the increase becomes most noticeable around age 60, and so they don't blame Medicare, which starts generally at age 65. They don't realize Medicare eligibility extends already to some people under age 65, and the pool expands enough by age 60 to affect the charts. Expanding current Medicare to all, while maintaining current supply restrictions and perverse incentives that increase demand, would increase spending even faster. Here is a chart comparing American medical costs to other countries; notice what happens when Americans become eligible for Medicare, whether due to age or disability (which correlates with age after around 60):

Ironman says

Strategist says

And if they still can't afford a 800 sq ft home, they should move to a 400 sq ft home.

Or a single wide.

Noooooooo. We deserve nice big houses in good neighborhoods. We need good quality cars with all the bells and whistles, and a sports car on the driveway. We need to be able to shop at nice department stores, go to good restaurants. And we need to have several vacations a year.
It's our right. So what if i'm not working.

3 of my siblings live with my mother in NJ. Ages 28 to 40.