#WAGMI Remembered, Grading Joe on A Curve? & Catching Up w/ Ange from Australia
Added 2023-03-12 17:42:54 +0000 UTCMatt and David see what Randi Zuckerberg is up to these days, react to Mehdi Hasan on Biden, and talk with our friend Ange a little bit about running in Australian politics Check out Ange on Youtube at What Do You Mean?: https://www.youtube.com/@WhatDoYouMeanVideos
Comments
Thanks for the info Cristy
David Griscom
2023-03-16 23:47:12 +0000 UTCAs an Australian (hey, Ang!), in regards to health care, here's a few anecdotes. I know it's not statistical evidence, but given the medical horror stories we hear from the States, it might add to the picture... My adult daughter broke her wrist & ankle during COVID, both of which needed surgery. We are all public (Medicare only) patients. She needed several X-rays, had quite a few days in hospital, had home visits by a registered nurse daily for a couple of weeks post-surgery, plus checkups in hospital. She had the surgeries immediately, no wait times. She went to the GP, they referred for X-rays, straight to hospital & surgery. It cost her AU$7. We were going to hire a little wheelie scooter type thing for her to get around on, but it was cheaper to buy, so she now has a $70 mobility device. Personally, I have an ongoing condition in my neck that stopped me working for 2 years. It's still affecting me 10 years on, but is so much better. Initially, it required more visits to the GP than I'd had for the previous 30 years. I had several referrals to specialists, CT & MRI scans. My doctors asked for payment exemptions for the scans, which saved several hundreds of dollars. Medicare reduced specialist fees considerably ($250 total out of pocket). I found what we called a 'bulk billing' medical clinic locally, which meant no out of pocket expenses for Dr visits. We couldn't afford the $30-$40 gap most GPs charged with the amount of appointments I needed. I got on health plans which saved hundreds of dollars on treatments. The medication I need is $20 every few months. Most clinics do now charge the gap for GP visits, including the one that was so vital to my recovery. I'm not sure what would happen for people like me now... my hubby earned JUST over the income bracket for a family with 2 children to receive a national Health Care card, which entitles low income households to low-no cost health care & pharmaceuticals. It still cost my family money, but it wasn't crippling, and we didn't go into debt for it. The previous Liberal-National government slashed over 900 items from Medicare during the pandemic, and stifled increases to Medicare payments to health care providers, hiking up gap payments for patients, hence the reason my local clinic now needs to charge the gap. The LNP coalition is continuously finding ways to whittle away at Medicare 🙄
Cristy Coates
2023-03-16 22:06:24 +0000 UTCBiden may have pulled out of Afghanistan but he also enforced economic sanctions which is causing a famine and fuel crisis killing thousands. 1 in 10 newborn Afghan babies have died directly as a consequence of Biden's policy.
Val Q
2023-03-15 10:44:11 +0000 UTC
