movielover said:

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Free market, cut out Billions going directly to HC companies, dramatically reduce prescription prices.

Obama told us HC premiums would be the cost of a cable bill.

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Yes, and then Republicans repealed the individual mandate with this predictable result.

Obama hasn't been president for 9 years. Time to find someone else to blame.

Well, it should have given you plenty of time to figure out an alternative, well that didn't happen despite dozens of campaign promises. Better act fast.

cal83dls79 said:

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Well, it should have given you plenty of time to figure out an alternative, well that didn't happen despite dozens of campaign promises. Better act fast.

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How fast?

Trump already delivered by signing two executive orders, one to mandate clear pricing disclosures to expose hidden costs and to empower patients. The second EO mandates lower drug prices by cutting out the middleman and to match drug prices in other countries like those in Europe. Obamacare just subsidized Big Pharma's price gouging.

Trump has already closed the border, and ICE is deporting illegals, lest Democrats have any funny ideas about covering them.

tequila4kapp said:

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DiabloWags said:

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Affordable Care Act - Wikipedia

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Supposedly illegals are ineligible for ACA and Medicare. But Oregon will spend about @1.5 Billion over the next 2 years on free health care through the Oregon Health Plan / Healthier Oregon Plan for immigrants regardless of legal status (approximately 300K of that is paid by the Feds for certain emergency and pregnancy related expenses). California provides free / low cost healthcare to immigrants regardless of status. Washington state does it with the Apple Extension. New York does it with New York Cares. Plus Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and the District of Columbia.

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Yes, states have evolved their Healthcare standards over the last 15 years to meet their heathcare systems needs.

They do this so that they avoid people OVERWHELMING the ER's of hospitals. If you've ever spent any time in the waiting room of an ER, you'll understand what Im talking about.

I simply posted the ACA eligibility parameters for when the law was first enacted in 2010.

DiabloWags said:

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tequila4kapp said:

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DiabloWags said:

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Affordable Care Act - Wikipedia

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Supposedly illegals are ineligible for ACA and Medicare. But Oregon will spend about @1.5 Billion over the next 2 years on free health care through the Oregon Health Plan / Healthier Oregon Plan for immigrants regardless of legal status (approximately 300K of that is paid by the Feds for certain emergency and pregnancy related expenses). California provides free / low cost healthcare to immigrants regardless of status. Washington state does it with the Apple Extension. New York does it with New York Cares. Plus Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and the District of Columbia.

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Yes, states have evolved their Healthcare standards over the last 15 years to meet their heathcare systems needs.

They do this so that they avoid people OVERWHELMING the ER's of hospitals. If you've ever spent any time in the waiting room of an ER, you'll understand what Im talking about.

I simply posted the ACA eligibility parameters for when the law was first enacted in 2010.

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The ACA passed in 2010. Insured rate peaked at @90% in 2016, dipped heading into the pandemic and has rebounded to @90% levels again.

ER usage rates per 1k: (note the correlation between % of people who are insured and ER usage…insuring people is not reducing ER usage or wait times in the ER)

So at the peak, what do you attribute the roughly 8% increase in ER utilization rate to?

Good Q.

Per the CDC the rate of insured / uninsured was "stable" between 2016-2018, with 1% or less change.

That peak year is the continuation of a multi-year trend.

I don't know. What do you think?

tequila4kapp said:

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Good Q.

Per the CDC the rate of insured / uninsured was "stable" between 2016-2018, with 1% or less change.

That peak year is the continuation of a multi-year trend.

I don't know. What do you think?

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I don't think it's really about the ratio of insured to uninsured.
I think you have to look below the surface at demographics and the increasing population of older Americans.

The number of Americans getting older, as well as those getting older 65+ and living in poverty.
That's where I would start.


2023 Profile of Older Americans


Historical Poverty Tables: People and Families - 1959 to 2024

The Santa Presidency




$1,176 Bonus Checks for Troops

$2,000 Tariff Dividend Payments

$12 Billion in Relief to Farmers


Trump's 2026 Resolution: Give People Money - The Atlantic

BREAKING: US gas prices reach lowest level in 5 years.

— Leading Report (@LeadingReport) January 2, 2026

Thank You OPEC+

Everybody is pumping bigly.
Including non-OPEC countries!

Oil barrels toward its worst annual performance since the pandemic as Russia feels the pain

sycasey said:

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I thought this was the anti-war president?

Full-scale military operations appear to be underway against Venezuela, with dozens of helicopters with the U.S. Army spotted over the capital of Caracas. pic.twitter.com/kIqfbGjOK4

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) January 3, 2026

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This isn't a war, don't be silly. The people of Venezuela thank us. Do you support a dictator?

Y EL Q NO ES VENEZOLANO Q SE CALLE LA BOCA POR QUE NO HAN PASADO HAMBRE, NO LES HAN MATADO UN HERMANO POR PROTESTAR, NO LES HAN AMENAZADO POR MONTAR UNA HISTORIA. CALLENSE

— storm🇻🇪 (@ssstormzzz) January 3, 2026

No puedo creer lo que estoy viendo.

Gracias, Dios. Sabia que este día, tarde o temprano, iba a llegar, gracias.

— Agustín Antonetti (@agusantonetti) January 3, 2026

And it's already over and we got Maduro

MADURO CAPTURED

HOLY SHIT

SUPERPOWER DOING REAL SUPERPOWER SHIT pic.twitter.com/lxUBVeQNOa

— Drew Pavlou 🇦🇺🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 (@DrewPavlou) January 3, 2026

BREAKING: The U.S. military has CAPTURED Venezuelan president Nicholas Maduro and his wife.

President Trump is planning an announcement today at 11:00am EST. pic.twitter.com/QKSGatUdaA

— E X X ➠A L E R T S (@ExxAlerts) January 3, 2026

Someone said it's "over" so we can all go back to monitoring the Portal. Wheew.

10 years of civil war incoming after removal of the Bad Hombre from Caracas.

This is Biden's fault.

His Administration should have taken care of Maduro a long time ago. But he didn't.

Thank You President Trump!

This is how you MAGA!

BearlySane88 said:

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sycasey said:

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I thought this was the anti-war president?

Full-scale military operations appear to be underway against Venezuela, with dozens of helicopters with the U.S. Army spotted over the capital of Caracas. pic.twitter.com/kIqfbGjOK4

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) January 3, 2026

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This isn't a war, don't be silly. The people of Venezuela thank us. Do you support a dictator?

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I remember people saying this about a certain guy from Iraq.

We'll see.

sycasey said:

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BearlySane88 said:

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sycasey said:

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I thought this was the anti-war president?

Full-scale military operations appear to be underway against Venezuela, with dozens of helicopters with the U.S. Army spotted over the capital of Caracas. pic.twitter.com/kIqfbGjOK4

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) January 3, 2026

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This isn't a war, don't be silly. The people of Venezuela thank us. Do you support a dictator?

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I remember people saying this about a certain guy from Iraq.

We'll see.

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So you're saying you support Maduro decimating his people and country for decades?

BearlySane88 said:

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sycasey said:

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BearlySane88 said:

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sycasey said:

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I thought this was the anti-war president?

Full-scale military operations appear to be underway against Venezuela, with dozens of helicopters with the U.S. Army spotted over the capital of Caracas. pic.twitter.com/kIqfbGjOK4

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) January 3, 2026

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This isn't a war, don't be silly. The people of Venezuela thank us. Do you support a dictator?

---

I remember people saying this about a certain guy from Iraq.

We'll see.

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So you're saying you support Maduro decimating his people and country for decades?

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Again, sounds familiar.

sycasey said:

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BearlySane88 said:

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sycasey said:

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BearlySane88 said:

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sycasey said:

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I thought this was the anti-war president?

Full-scale military operations appear to be underway against Venezuela, with dozens of helicopters with the U.S. Army spotted over the capital of Caracas. pic.twitter.com/kIqfbGjOK4

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) January 3, 2026

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This isn't a war, don't be silly. The people of Venezuela thank us. Do you support a dictator?

---

I remember people saying this about a certain guy from Iraq.

We'll see.

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So you're saying you support Maduro decimating his people and country for decades?

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Again, sounds familiar.

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And yet you didn't answer the question. Weird.

I guess we could almost justify invading the country to capture Maduro for the purpose of bringing him to legal justice under an existing indictment. That gets us over our skis a good bit but there is precedence (Noriega). But what about this business that we will be running the country for a while and all the talk of oil? This is pretty transparently the worst of the stuff that was said about Bush and Iraq (regime change for oil) by the supposed no foreign war / no regime change President.

I am going to call this a failure by Trump. At an absolute minimum you have to spend some time communicating, explaining and presenting evidence to the US population making the case that a nation is a bad actor before you put our soldiers in harms way. If we have a vital national interest at play...explain it.

It is one thing to use the narco-terrorist rationale to blow up drug boats on their way to a shore (read: thin but...okay). But that same rational to do regime change? Ugh.

BearlySane88 said:

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sycasey said:

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BearlySane88 said:

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sycasey said:

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BearlySane88 said:

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sycasey said:

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I thought this was the anti-war president?

Full-scale military operations appear to be underway against Venezuela, with dozens of helicopters with the U.S. Army spotted over the capital of Caracas. pic.twitter.com/kIqfbGjOK4

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) January 3, 2026

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This isn't a war, don't be silly. The people of Venezuela thank us. Do you support a dictator?

---

I remember people saying this about a certain guy from Iraq.

We'll see.

---

So you're saying you support Maduro decimating his people and country for decades?

---

Again, sounds familiar.

---

And yet you didn't answer the question. Weird.

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Because it's a silly question set up to make the answer look bad no matter what. A "when did you stop raping your wife?" kind of question. And I think you know that.

Of course Maduro sucks. But when was the last time the US forcing regime change in Latin America worked out well? How about the Middle East?

Maybe if the Trump Administration had some kind of great Marshall Plan for how they will rebuild the government after . . . hahahahaha, sorry I can't stop laughing.

sycasey said:

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BearlySane88 said:

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sycasey said:

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BearlySane88 said:

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sycasey said:

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BearlySane88 said:

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sycasey said:

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I thought this was the anti-war president?

Full-scale military operations appear to be underway against Venezuela, with dozens of helicopters with the U.S. Army spotted over the capital of Caracas. pic.twitter.com/kIqfbGjOK4

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) January 3, 2026

---

This isn't a war, don't be silly. The people of Venezuela thank us. Do you support a dictator?

---

I remember people saying this about a certain guy from Iraq.

We'll see.

---

So you're saying you support Maduro decimating his people and country for decades?

---

Again, sounds familiar.

---

And yet you didn't answer the question. Weird.

---

Because it's a silly question set up to make the answer look bad no matter what. A "when did you stop raping your wife?" kind of question. And I think you know that.

Of course Maduro sucks. But when was the last time the US forcing regime change in Latin America worked out well? How about the Middle East?

Maybe if the Trump Administration had some kind of great Marshall Plan for how they will rebuild the government after . . . hahahahaha, sorry I can't stop laughing.

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It's not a silly question, it's a very easy one to answer. I didn't ask if you support regime change. I didn't ask if you support going in and getting.

I asked if you supported him pillaging "his" people and "his" country

BearlySane88 said:

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sycasey said:

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BearlySane88 said:

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sycasey said:

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BearlySane88 said:

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sycasey said:

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BearlySane88 said:

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sycasey said:

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I thought this was the anti-war president?

Full-scale military operations appear to be underway against Venezuela, with dozens of helicopters with the U.S. Army spotted over the capital of Caracas. pic.twitter.com/kIqfbGjOK4

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) January 3, 2026

---

This isn't a war, don't be silly. The people of Venezuela thank us. Do you support a dictator?

---

I remember people saying this about a certain guy from Iraq.

We'll see.

---

So you're saying you support Maduro decimating his people and country for decades?

---

Again, sounds familiar.

---

And yet you didn't answer the question. Weird.

---

Because it's a silly question set up to make the answer look bad no matter what. A "when did you stop raping your wife?" kind of question. And I think you know that.

Of course Maduro sucks. But when was the last time the US forcing regime change in Latin America worked out well? How about the Middle East?

Maybe if the Trump Administration had some kind of great Marshall Plan for how they will rebuild the government after . . . hahahahaha, sorry I can't stop laughing.

---

It's not a silly question, it's a very easy one to answer. I didn't ask if you support regime change. I didn't ask if you support going in and getting.

I asked if you supported him pillaging "his" people and "his" country

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No, but that's not the question here.

sycasey said:

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BearlySane88 said:

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sycasey said:

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BearlySane88 said:

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sycasey said:

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BearlySane88 said:

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sycasey said:

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BearlySane88 said:

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sycasey said:

---

I thought this was the anti-war president?

Full-scale military operations appear to be underway against Venezuela, with dozens of helicopters with the U.S. Army spotted over the capital of Caracas. pic.twitter.com/kIqfbGjOK4

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) January 3, 2026

---

This isn't a war, don't be silly. The people of Venezuela thank us. Do you support a dictator?

---

I remember people saying this about a certain guy from Iraq.

We'll see.

---

So you're saying you support Maduro decimating his people and country for decades?

---

Again, sounds familiar.

---

And yet you didn't answer the question. Weird.

---

Because it's a silly question set up to make the answer look bad no matter what. A "when did you stop raping your wife?" kind of question. And I think you know that.

Of course Maduro sucks. But when was the last time the US forcing regime change in Latin America worked out well? How about the Middle East?

Maybe if the Trump Administration had some kind of great Marshall Plan for how they will rebuild the government after . . . hahahahaha, sorry I can't stop laughing.

---

It's not a silly question, it's a very easy one to answer. I didn't ask if you support regime change. I didn't ask if you support going in and getting.

I asked if you supported him pillaging "his" people and "his" country

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No, but that's not the question here.

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Then we are on the same page. As I previously said, I don't love that Trump did this. I don't love what he's saying about running the country for now.

I can however separate the two and be EXTREMELY happy and supportive of the Venezuelan people and be grateful for our military and the incredible work they do

tequila4kapp said:

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DiabloWags said:

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Affordable Care Act - Wikipedia

---

Supposedly illegals are ineligible for ACA and Medicare. But Oregon will spend about @1.5 Billion over the next 2 years on free health care through the Oregon Health Plan / Healthier Oregon Plan for immigrants regardless of legal status (approximately 300K of that is paid by the Feds for certain emergency and pregnancy related expenses). California provides free / low cost healthcare to immigrants regardless of status. Washington state does it with the Apple Extension. New York does it with New York Cares. Plus Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and the District of Columbia.

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Minnesota created new ways to funnel billions to legal and illegal Somali immigrants. I hope @DataRepublican is on it.

tequila4kapp said:

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DiabloWags said:

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tequila4kapp said:

---

DiabloWags said:

---

Affordable Care Act - Wikipedia

---

Supposedly illegals are ineligible for ACA and Medicare. But Oregon will spend about @1.5 Billion over the next 2 years on free health care through the Oregon Health Plan / Healthier Oregon Plan for immigrants regardless of legal status (approximately 300K of that is paid by the Feds for certain emergency and pregnancy related expenses). California provides free / low cost healthcare to immigrants regardless of status. Washington state does it with the Apple Extension. New York does it with New York Cares. Plus Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and the District of Columbia.

---

Yes, states have evolved their Healthcare standards over the last 15 years to meet their heathcare systems needs.

They do this so that they avoid people OVERWHELMING the ER's of hospitals. If you've ever spent any time in the waiting room of an ER, you'll understand what Im talking about.

I simply posted the ACA eligibility parameters for when the law was first enacted in 2010.

---

The ACA passed in 2010. Insured rate peaked at @90% in 2016, dipped heading into the pandemic and has rebounded to @90% levels again.

ER usage rates per 1k: (note the correlation between % of people who are insured and ER usage…insuring people is not reducing ER usage or wait times in the ER)

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Really spiked during Clinton / Bush. Did laws change?