Leaving New York City

[Gregmal]

4 minutes ago, rkbabang said:

This looks more pro hit than disgruntled customer to me.  1. the lack of hesitation.  2. The suppressor and low pressure subsonic ammo.  Not even enough pressure to cycle the firearm.  He shoots, racks slide, shoots again, racks slide again, all without confusion due to lack of cycling which probably means this was an intentional weapon/ammo choice and he knew he would have to rack the slide between shots.  This isn't a setup your average gun owner has.  You need to hold an FFL (Federal Firearms License) to buy a suppressor and buy a $200 tax stamp for each one.

Sounds like something your average Upstate NYer or Pennsylvanian can do lol

[rkbabang]

1 minute ago, Gregmal said:

Insurance companies need to be accountable. Especially when mandates by big government force coverage…it’s abusive and onerous. A normal person can’t drive a car, IE make a living, without car insurance. They can’t buy or rent a home, without insurance. They can’t go to a doctor, without insurance. And they get these things, not with $700 an hour lawyers in their back pocket, so they can prepare themselves for the scumbag Wall Street guys who fuck them when something happens to the “home/car/person” they have insurance for…”because of what the contract says”.

 

One correction.  There is one state where a normal person can drive a car without car insurance.

[nsx5200]

So we should see shady companies start paying more for security for their senior management.  It'll be interesting to see which company will self-select to be in this group, and avoid investing with them.

[rkbabang]

1 minute ago, Gregmal said:

Sounds like something your average Upstate NYer or Pennsylvanian can do lol

 

Yeah, the weapon setup isn't unheard of (both legal and illegal), but just how calm and cool he was.  This guy didn't look angry or nervous, he was cold.  I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think most people could just execute someone like that without a single shake of the hand. 

[73 Reds]

2 minutes ago, rkbabang said:

 

One correction.  There is one state where a normal person can drive a car without car insurance.

Also don't need insurance to buy a home or see a doctor.  Not opining on the wisdom of that but just saying.  Evidently the guy had been threatened recently.

[Castanza]

 

1 minute ago, rkbabang said:

 

Yeah, the weapon setup isn't unheard of (both legal and illegal), but just how calm and cool he was.  This guy didn't look angry or nervous, he was cold.  I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think most people could just execute someone like that without a single shake of the hand. 

 

"Tempt not a desperate man"

[rkbabang]

Just now, 73 Reds said:

Also don't need insurance to buy a home or see a doctor.  Not opining on the wisdom of that but just saying.  Evidently the guy had been threatened recently.

 

True, but unlike homes (or chronic medical care), the average person can afford a cheap car without a loan.  If you have a loan to buy a house or car your lender will require you carry insurance.  Uninsured medical care can easily bankrupt the average person.

[73 Reds]

1 minute ago, rkbabang said:

 

True, but unlike homes (or chronic medical care), the average person can afford a cheap car without a loan.  If you have a loan to buy a house or car your lender will require you carry insurance.  Uninsured medical care can easily bankrupt the average person.

I read somewhere that a larger percentage of people have car loans than home loans.  In Florida most real estate purchases require no financing.  Just a further illustration of the haves vs. the have nots.  

[John Hjorth]

37 minutes ago, Luke said:

 

14 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

Insurance companies need to be accountable. Especially when mandates by big government force coverage…it’s abusive and onerous. A normal person can’t drive a car, IE make a living, without car insurance. They can’t buy or rent a home, without insurance. They can’t go to a doctor, without insurance. And they get these things, not with $700 an hour lawyers in their back pocket, so they can prepare themselves for the scumbag Wall Street guys who fuck them when something happens to the “home/car/person” they have insurance for…”because of what the contract says”.

 

That stat posted above by Luke [ @Luke ] is actually shocking and appalling. Luke [ @Luke ], what's the source?

[Castanza]

9 minutes ago, 73 Reds said:

I read somewhere that a larger percentage of people have car loans than home loans.  In Florida most real estate purchases require no financing.  Just a further illustration of the haves vs. the have nots.  

 

The issue is that health insurance is tied to your employer in the US. Prior to HMO1973 Most people only carried catastrophic insurance. It was cheaper, competitive, and plenty of pro-bono work available for the needy. 

 

I sometimes think about how healthcare being tied to employment is holding back American innovation. Everyone knows someone who would start a business or take a risk if it weren't for the health insurance aspect of it. Plenty of people out there working jobs they hate, just for insurance. 

 

If I were President, I would start there....

 

 

edit: Anecdotal story about UNH personally. Two years ago I was going to get my employee mandated health check for the insurance "discount"...$500 off. Well my doctor decided to randomly retire right before my appointment and I was unable to get another physical in time (boo-hoo me). UNH would not work with me at all.....All I needed done was height, weight and blood pressure lol ffs really? I guess I could have went to an urgent care and ate the $250 out of pocket for that....If they are willing to fight you on something that simple, I cant imagine a complex medical bill. 

Edited December 4 by Castanza

[Gregmal]

15 minutes ago, 73 Reds said:

Also don't need insurance to buy a home or see a doctor.  Not opining on the wisdom of that but just saying.  Evidently the guy had been threatened recently.

You don’t, if you’re top 5-10%. Average people don’t have the money to pay cash for a house or $300 out of pocket for a routine physical. 

[Dinar]

35 minutes ago, 73 Reds said:

Also don't need insurance to buy a home or see a doctor.  Not opining on the wisdom of that but just saying.  Evidently the guy had been threatened recently.

That's just NOT true.  If you go to the hospital as a cash payer, you pay $30K.  If you go with insurance, the insurance company + you pay $10K.  So  the government forces you to buy insurance otherwise you a price 3x more than the hospital charges an insurance company.  

[John Hjorth]

 

UNH - Press Release [December 4^th 2024] : UnitedHealth Group Statement on Today’s Events.

 

 

So much giving your life to the job?

[Luke]

35 minutes ago, John Hjorth said:

 

 

That stat posted above by Luke [ @Luke ] is actually shocking and appalling. Luke [ @Luke ], what's the source?

https://www.valuepenguin.com/health-insurance-claim-denials-and-appeals

 

Dont know how reliable this is but my guts tell me that a part of the assasination was related to claim denial and angry customers...

 

Other sources:

 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/unitedhealth-lawsuit-ai-deny-claims-medicare-advantage-health-insurance-denials/

 

UnitedHealth uses faulty AI to deny elderly patients medically necessary coverage, lawsuit claims

 

In those four years, UnitedHealth’s post-acute services denial rate increased from 8.7% to 22.7%, the report found. Meanwhile, UnitedHealth’s skilled nursing home denial rate increased ninefold. These increases coincide with UnitedHealth’s use of NaviHealth-backed nH Predict, an algorithmic tool used to manage claims denials, the Investigations subcommittee alleges.

 

Senate report slams Medicare Advantage insurers for using predictive technology to deny claims

UnitedHealth, CVS and Humana used technology to increase MA prior authorization denials for post-acute services, boosting profits, according to a report for a Senate subcommittee.

 

https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/medicare-advantage-AI-denials-cvs-humana-unitedhealthcare-senate-report/730383/

 

 

[Gregmal]

Yup. Women give birth at home, and have for centuries. If you go to a hospital they try to tell you it’s $50,000-100,000 lol. Maybe I can see $5,000 on the higher end. But these assholes try telling you $125 equivalent rooms that fail to even match a basic Comfort Inn….cost way more. Total scam.

[John Hjorth]

Thanks, Luke [ @Luke ],

 

Much appreciated! 

[dwy000]

2 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

Yup. Women give birth at home, and have for centuries. If you go to a hospital they try to tell you it’s $50,000-100,000 lol. Maybe I can see $5,000 on the higher end. But these assholes try telling you $125 equivalent rooms that fail to even match a basic Comfort Inn….cost way more. Total scam.

So is the problem the insurer, who's goal is to reduce the cost, or the providers who have no restrictions on what they charge?

[73 Reds]

12 minutes ago, Dinar said:

That's just NOT true.  If you go to the hospital as a cash payer, you pay $30K.  If you go with insurance, the insurance company + you pay $10K.  So  the government forces you to buy insurance otherwise you a price 3x more than the hospital charges an insurance company.  

Well, the average doctor visit isn't $30k or even $10k.  And if you are poor and go to the ER, the visit is free.

[Gregmal]

4 minutes ago, dwy000 said:

So is the problem the insurer, who's goal is to reduce the cost, or the providers who have no restrictions on what they charge?

It’s the system. 

[dwy000]

2 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

It’s the system. 

 Without a national healthcare system (which has its own major issues) it's never going to change. Providers want maximum care at maximum price.  Insurers want minimal care at minimum price.  And people want maximum care at minimal price.  The factors will never gibe.

[73 Reds]

1 minute ago, dwy000 said:

 Without a national healthcare system (which has its own major issues) it's never going to change. Providers want maximum care at maximum price.  Insurers want minimal care at minimum price.  And people want maximum care at minimal price.  The factors will never gibe.

Several years ago Buffett and Jamie Dimon worked on health care alternatives but eventually gave up.  That says a lot.

[LC]

27 minutes ago, dwy000 said:

So is the problem the insurer, who's goal is to reduce the cost, or the providers who have no restrictions on what they charge?

 

The providers many times can only charge what insurers will pay. Providers are not the ones with pricing power - it is the insurers. 

 

But yes the whole system is screwed and only a single payer solution will work.

 

And so it tells you all you need to know about American society when the best, most obvious solution repeatedly gets voted down.

[rkbabang]

Just wondering.  Serious question.  Is it normal for a company's stock to be in the green the day its CEO is gunned down in cold blood on the street?

 

 

[thepupil]

3 minutes ago, rkbabang said:

Just wondering.  Serious question.  Is it normal for a company's stock to be in the green the day its CEO is gunned down in cold blood on the street?

 

 

 

 

unless one's thesis was hinged upon the CEO (which technically this wasn't the CEO of the whole group), I would regard this as immaterial to the earnings power of the company / a non-event from a stock perspective.

 

if a CEO/CFO killed himself, I'd be more concerned about fraud, but murder wouldn't concern me as a shareholder. 

Edited December 4 by thepupil

[Luke]

2 minutes ago, thepupil said:

 

 

unless one's thesis was hinged upon the CEO (which technically this wasn't the CEO of the whole group), I would regard this as immaterial to the earnings power of the company / a non-event from a stock perspective. 

Imagine what would have happened if Pony Ma was gunned down, stock would have been sent down -30% based on some stories like the CCP was behind it etc, new CEO will be a puppet