Re: 2016 Election
 

Doesn't Trump must have some skeletons in his closet from a wives/mistresses standpoint - he does fit the profile!

Now if there were dirt on Cruz, that would be lovely !

Re: 2016 Election
 

Trump raped his wife. Cruz is Canadian.

Re: 2016 Election
 

That's right. Scrap everything and replace it with nothing. Beats me when I see old white seniors who have to live on Social Security checks spewing hatred of Obama and then voting Republican

Re: 2016 Election
 

What's your basis for that?

Re: 2016 Election
 

Re: 2016 Election
 

About the Democrats regaining control of the Senate? McClatchy has the full article on the subject:

Landscape shifts: Democrats could take control of Senate | McClatchy DC

In short, the Rs have to defend 24 seats, seven of them in states that Obama carried in 2012. The Ds only 10, and only one of theirs is in danger. Six of the R seats are in danger and the Dems only have to win a net of 4 seats. McClatchy thinks Toomey is not in bad shape, but living in Pennsylvania, I think he may well lose.

Another poster suggested that the Rs should offer a reasonable bill to replace Obamacare if they want to override a veto. Ryan said the same thing. There are probably as many ideas on replacing it as there are proponents of replacing it. It doesn't matter what they come up with now, the Ds in the Senate will filibuster it to death and/or Obama would veto it to protect his signature ACA. Any replacement will have to await a Republican president with a majority in the Senate. Even then, any replacement programme would probably be filibustered to death.

I believe the only thing that can realistically be done with Obamacare is to amend and tinker it until it works. Same thing has happened with the NHS over the decades.

Re: 2016 Election
 

Seniors aren't on Obamacare.

As for the silly remark, there's an equally silly saying that if you're young and voting Republican you have no heart, but if you're old and still voting Democrat you have no brain.

With my wife going through cancer treatment, I've been in a lot of waiting rooms for the past year and the people in them are constantly complaining about Obama - but I don't think they are "spewing hatred." (Yesterday the TV in the waiting room for the chemo center was tuned to the news, they were showing Obama's SotU address and this kicked off lively and universally negative responses from the patients.) I've also yet to hear ANY doctors, among them PCPs, cancer and cardiac specialists, say anything supportive about Obamacare. Ask your PCP or specialist, in a neutral way please, whether he or she thinks Obamacare has improved things for doctors and patients and listen carefully to what he or she says.

Re: 2016 Election
 

I've heard that saying before, but never really understood it? What's more, my own political persuasion has drifted leftward with the years, as I gained wisdom and compassion.

Re: 2016 Election
 

I know seniors are not on ACA care but if the GOP manage to dismantle the ACA their next target will be Social Security and Medicare, probably privatizing both to the point of oblivion

Re: 2016 Election
 

Most doctors have the commonsense not to get involved in "political" discussions with their patients. And the ones that do engage probably say stuff they think their patient wants to hear.

Re: 2016 Election
 

I have Doctors and Surgeons I know socially.

One certainly would like a Bernie scheme. Nobody likes the current system, one has decided to give it up, too much hassle.

Re: 2016 Election
 

General doctors I can see being affected, but how has it affected surgeons?

Re: 2016 Election
 

I've recently transitioned from a Group Health plan (employer provided) to a private / individual plan that is ACA 'compliant'. The ACA plan is about the same cost as the Group plan was under Cobra, but the deductibles are way worse/higher.

Pre-ACA, people transitioning from Group plans were hit with either complete denial of coverage (due to pre-existing conditions), or sky-high premiums, so it was really shitty before. ACA hasn't magically fixed all that, but at least now, you can't be denied and the plans cover a basic set of needs. Logically, ACA was a tolerable 'first pass' and - if the Republicans would 'play ball' - should have been tweaked and improved incrementally since it first came out, but the Republicans are so hell-bent on complete failure for it that they won't participate in meaningful, constructive efforts to improve. So we are stuck with it as it was out of the gate.

But the bigger reality is - the vast majority of Americans are still covered by Group-style plans from their workplace, and don't have any real insight into how individual coverage was, or is, provided. I think most people are listening to the sound-bites put out by Faux Noise.

Re: 2016 Election
 

Particularly so for some very large union brokered plans. This is not a dig at unions, they are just looking out for their own. Some of the plans I've seen are very very cheap and when your whole family has been in union jobs for years you can be very unaware of what it is like for others.

I recall talking to a friend way back when I lived in NYC. The MTA subway drivers were threatening to strike, some of their demands were outrageous in terms of healthcare etc. The friend worked for the NY public library system and her husband worked on broadway, both heavy union jobs. They were utterly shocked to hear how much my group insurance cost, thought I was making it up.

Re: 2016 Election
 

That's the only thing he's got going for him.