Leaving New York City

[Saluki]

Even without the DNA on the water bottle and the cell phone I think they will find the shooter pretty quickly. I've seen that he's 6'2, which is less than 4% of the population. United Healthcare apparently has 30% of the market share for insureds. And they are reviled for denying a third of claims. So .4 x .33 x .33 and you already have less than half of 1% of the population.

 

If this image is accurate, I would say he's in the top 5% of income too. And he's probably former military since he cleared the weapon so quickly. He probably made the suppressor himself (3d printer?) since it jammed. So maybe he's a tech guy? 

[gfp]

3 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

What I dont get, is why be a scumbag like UNH and some of the bigger ones? People buy insurance for a reason; give them a proper policy and charge them appropriately for it. I had a basement pipe burst a few winters ago, and the remediation guy that came by asked about insurance. I said I had USAA, and he goes...oh you have nothing to worry about, USAA and Chubb always pay. Whats the point running a scum shop where you stiff people or litigate when someone encounters an issue that they specifically bought the insurance to cover? 

 

USAA is the best when the shit hits the fan.  No shareholders.  No adversarial stance toward members at all.  

[73 Reds]

8 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

What I dont get, is why be a scumbag like UNH and some of the bigger ones? People buy insurance for a reason; give them a proper policy and charge them appropriately for it. I had a basement pipe burst a few winters ago, and the remediation guy that came by asked about insurance. I said I had USAA, and he goes...oh you have nothing to worry about, USAA and Chubb always pay. Whats the point running a scum shop where you stiff people or litigate when someone encounters an issue that they specifically bought the insurance to cover? 

The lawyers are partly to blame.  And then you've got the profit motive.  Shareholders can be a fickle bunch.

[nsx5200]

12 hours ago, mcliu said:

Have you tried using the healthcare system in Canada?

13 hours ago, Dinar said:

Again, what will be the cost of the single payer system and how will you pay for it and what will be the impact of the way you pay for it?  NHS is very badly run and so is Canada.

All systems have issues, that will be a given, but according to reports I've read, most of the systems in modern countries outside of the U.S. have a better outcome at a cheaper price.  There are tons of material left and right, but from I've read in the past decades, they tend to say say what I stated above.  Here's a center left-leaning report from the Commonwealth Fund:

Their summary highlights:

"- Health care spending, both per person and as a share of GDP, continues to be far higher in the United States than in other high-income countries.

- The U.S. has the lowest life expectancy at birth, the highest death rates for avoidable or treatable conditions, the highest maternal and infant mortality, and among the highest suicide rates.
- The U.S. has the highest rate of people with multiple chronic conditions and an obesity rate nearly twice the OECD average.
- Americans see physicians less often than people in most other countries and have among the lowest rate of practicing physicians and hospital beds per 1,000 population.
- Screening rates for breast and colorectal cancer and vaccination for flu in the U.S. are among the highest, but COVID-19 vaccination trails many nations.
Health care spending, both per person and as a share of GDP, continues to be far higher in the United States than in other high-income countries"

 

1 minute ago, Saluki said:

If this image is accurate, I would say he's in the top 5% of income too. And he's probably former military since he cleared the weapon so quickly. He probably made the suppressor himself (3d printer?) since it jammed. So maybe he's a tech guy? 

That's the sad truth about cost of healthcare in the U.S.  Even if you make a decent income, it still might not be enough if something catastrophic happens to you, like in Breaking Bad.  For many, it is choosing to die, or most likely in the case above, choosing to let somebody close die, because you're not in the top X% in net wealth.  From a personal retirement standpoint, considering getting a citizenship in another modern system is a serious consideration in order to mitigate this risk.  To most in the U.S., this is simply out of reach due the lack of saving and investment.

[dwy000]

16 minutes ago, 73 Reds said:

The lawyers are partly to blame.  And then you've got the profit motive.  Shareholders can be a fickle bunch.

Look at how much the large health insurers plummeted this year when their utilization rates on Medicare rose a couple of points.  And they're repricing and dropping Medicare coverage for coming years.  They can be less of an asshole, just pay out and charge for it but they'd lose half their customers on higher premiums. 

 

Everyone wants phenomenal coverage and every drug.and every test and treatment when their family is sick.  And hospitals want to over care and over charge.  So the only brake pedal is insurer.  But then people also want low premiums and deductibles and no exclusions. It's just an impossible bridge to gap.

 

The craziest name on that denials chart was Kaiser.  They combine insurance and hospital.  And they're denying their own coverage!  

[73 Reds]

4 minutes ago, dwy000 said:

Look at how much the large health insurers plummeted this year when their utilization rates on Medicare rose a couple of points.  And they're repricing and dropping Medicare coverage for coming years.  They can be less of an asshole, just pay out and charge for it but they'd lose half their customers on higher premiums. 

 

Everyone wants phenomenal coverage and every drug.and every test and treatment when their family is sick.  And hospitals want to over care and over charge.  So the only brake pedal is insurer.  But then people also want low premiums and deductibles and no exclusions. It's just an impossible bridge to gap.

 

The craziest name on that denials chart was Kaiser.  They combine insurance and hospital.  And they're denying their own coverage!  

Yeah, I think we're all open to suggestions.  An interesting thought experiment is to consider what would happen if all health insurance was instantly discontinued and every health care provider had to compete for business.   Would patient costs go down, particularly for routine services?

[dwy000]

3 minutes ago, 73 Reds said:

Yeah, I think we're all open to suggestions.  An interesting thought experiment is to consider what would happen if all health insurance was instantly discontinued and every health care provider had to compete for business.   Would patient costs go down, particularly for routine services?

Absolutely would!!!

 

Unfortunately those with low income, those over 50, those overweight and those with chronic disease would still be unable to afford care.  

 

Insurance is a nightmare.  But in the current system they are the only party putting a brake pedal on costs. 

[Luke]

 

Just have a look at the level of hate in the comments, 0 empathy with the CEO...tells you a lot about the business...dangerous Job to be head of a company that is hated by half the country.

[rkbabang]

2 hours ago, Saluki said:

Even without the DNA on the water bottle and the cell phone I think they will find the shooter pretty quickly. I've seen that he's 6'2, which is less than 4% of the population. United Healthcare apparently has 30% of the market share for insureds. And they are reviled for denying a third of claims. So .4 x .33 x .33 and you already have less than half of 1% of the population.

 

If this image is accurate, I would say he's in the top 5% of income too. And he's probably former military since he cleared the weapon so quickly. He probably made the suppressor himself (3d printer?) since it jammed. So maybe he's a tech guy? 

 

If he's just some disgruntled "customer", then the chances that he didn't tell someone he was going to do this beforehand or tell someone that he did it afterwards is slim to none.  The chances that people he's told don't drop a dime on him or tell 3rd parties who told 4th parties, etc, who will drop a dime on him is slim to none.  These people always talk too much and get themselves caught.  They'll have him within a week.  They might already have an idea who he is.

[changegonnacome]

1 hour ago, nsx5200 said:

Even if you make a decent income, it still might not be enough if something catastrophic happens to you, like in Breaking Bad. 

 

Hate to break it to folks.....but the premise of Breaking Bad no longer really stacks up..........Walter White at the next ACA open enrollment period could have signed up for a top tier coverage plan.....with no pre-existing condition exclusions and no waiting period for coverage to start!

[Spekulatius]

12 hours ago, rkbabang said:

I guess the market likes it, or at the very least doesn’t hate it. 

Stock is down 4% today. This was definitely a planned assassination based in the info provided. Sad.

 

I guess exec now need bodyguards as well. He was not a high profile person. FWIW, the insurers get too much blame for the health care system faults, imo.

 

I do think that UNH owning a piece in too many providers isn’t right as it’s not really disclosed to customers. Obvious conflict of interest there and so I wonder why the FTC Lina Khan never dug into that one.

 

I guess CPRI was easier to sue, but the outcome isn’t really life changing for anyone, unlike with health insurance potentially.

[rkbabang]

7 minutes ago, Spekulatius said:

Stock is down 4% today. This was definitely a planned assassination based in the info provided. Sad.

 

I guess exec now need bodyguards as well. He was not a high profile person. FWIW, the insurers get too much blame for the health care system faults, imo.

 

I do think that UNH owning a piece in too many providers isn’t right as it’s not really disclosed to customers. Obvious conflict of interest there and so I wonder why the FTC Lina Khan never dug into that one.

 

I guess CPRI was easier to sue, but the outcome isn’t really life changing for anyone, unlike with health insurance potentially.

 

Agreed.  It's funny how much joy you see on left-wing twitter about this assassination when it's pretty much government regulations that these people support that have done this to our healthcare system.  I don't see anyone advocating ending the tie of health insurance to employment.  Or deregulating this crazy system they've created which gets worse every year.  Everything insurers do they have to do to work in this insane system.

[Red Lion]

4 hours ago, Saluki said:

Even without the DNA on the water bottle and the cell phone I think they will find the shooter pretty quickly. I've seen that he's 6'2, which is less than 4% of the population. United Healthcare apparently has 30% of the market share for insureds. And they are reviled for denying a third of claims. So .4 x .33 x .33 and you already have less than half of 1% of the population.

 

If this image is accurate, I would say he's in the top 5% of income too. And he's probably former military since he cleared the weapon so quickly. He probably made the suppressor himself (3d printer?) since it jammed. So maybe he's a tech guy? 

 

What's more interesting to me is to see what happens after they arrest a suspect. It's fairly obviously a premeditated killing, but if this is some sort of revenge killing after losing a family member due to denied claims for example, would a jury unanimously convict him of murder? Seems like a possible jury nullification type case. 

[rkbabang]

25 minutes ago, Red Lion said:

 

What's more interesting to me is to see what happens after they arrest a suspect. It's fairly obviously a premeditated killing, but if this is some sort of revenge killing after losing a family member due to denied claims for example, would a jury unanimously convict him of murder? Seems like a possible jury nullification type case. 

 

Unless they can get him to plea for a reduced sentence or something.  I have a feeling they will try very hard to get him to accept a plea deal if this is a "lost a family member" type of thing.  They will not want a trial.

[Gregmal]

The guy looked young as hell. Almost certainly a parent or sibling. At which point, not sure I’d put him in jail for life either. 

[sleepydragon]

6 hours ago, Saluki said:

Even without the DNA on the water bottle and the cell phone I think they will find the shooter pretty quickly. I've seen that he's 6'2, which is less than 4% of the population. United Healthcare apparently has 30% of the market share for insureds. And they are reviled for denying a third of claims. So .4 x .33 x .33 and you already have less than half of 1% of the population.

 

If this image is accurate, I would say he's in the top 5% of income too. And he's probably former military since he cleared the weapon so quickly. He probably made the suppressor himself (3d printer?) since it jammed. So maybe he's a tech guy? 

 

My wife thinks this guy is from Europe, as it’s rare for local Americans buy hermes sneakers

[Luke]

It's pretty interesting how well he shot, that he had a silencer unable to be obtained in NY...I dont think he is an expert killer but he certainly put a heck of time and planning in executing this murder...I think it's either political or he suffered from denied claims/by his relatives/friends.

[Morgan]

On 12/4/2024 at 3:43 PM, 73 Reds said:

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

Bezos/Amazon was in on this too. I was pretty hopeful something would come from this, but even they failed. Pretty shocking. 
 

Other than a total collapse of the healthcare system, I don’t know how we’ll ever switch to a national healthcare system. 

[mcliu]

Maybe the US should focus more on the obesity problem. If Americans had the same BMI as the Japanese your life expectancy would be far better and your healthcare costs would be far less. This is not something universal healthcare can fix. 

 

[changegonnacome]

Centene investor day has now gone virtual....previously it was to be held in person at NYSE on Dec 12th.....

 

https://investors.centene.com/2024-12-05-CENTENE-CORPORATION-TO-HOST-VIRTUAL-INVESTOR-DAY-ON-DECEMBER-12,-2024

 

Very sad state of affairs that this is where we are now.

 

 

Edited December 6 by changegonnacome

[Gregmal]

Eh just like Covid companies will use this as an excuse to be less transparent and accessible to shareholders. 

[LC]

55 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

Eh just like Covid companies will use this as an excuse to be less transparent and accessible to shareholders. 

Guess it's too much to ask for management to represent shareholders AND not do stuff that makes their customers want to murder them. 

[Gregmal]

56 minutes ago, LC said:

Guess it's too much to ask for management to represent shareholders AND not do stuff that makes their customers want to murder them. 

Yup the “virtual” meeting is a disgraceful way to screen anything incoming from shareholders. 

If you’re doing shit that’s gonna make people wanna kill you, at least you’re getting paid $10m a year. Man up. Same shit as the old school boxers getting $20m a fight and then having brain damage later in life…not up for the job? Don’t take it. Why do shareholders always get shortchanged?

[Parsad]

5 hours ago, Gregmal said:

Yup the “virtual” meeting is a disgraceful way to screen anything incoming from shareholders. 

If you’re doing shit that’s gonna make people wanna kill you, at least you’re getting paid $10m a year. Man up. Same shit as the old school boxers getting $20m a fight and then having brain damage later in life…not up for the job? Don’t take it. Why do shareholders always get shortchanged?

 

I don't think this is a disgruntled claimant.  He was under investigation for fraud and insider trading...I would guess that the people who possibly could see their names tied up with him...they don't want to be known.  It looked like a clear, professional targeted killing...8 feet back in the head, and the guy makes a clean getaway.  Probably left the country already.  If it wasn't for that one picture of him at the hostel, no one probably would ever know who he was.  I think the writing on the casings are just to throw people off and make them think this was some disgruntled insurance claimant.  Cheers!

[rkbabang]

So it turns out the assassin's name is Luigi.  How will this effect $NTDOY?