This Is Fine

12:05 PM

HHS IG: Yeah unsurprisingly the hospitals are indeed screwed

1 hour later…

1:24 PM

> The State Dept will announce today that it’s designating a white supremacist group as a terror organization for the first time, per NYT. We first reported State was pushing to do this one month ago

I swear I thought they were already on the list because gestures broadly obviously

They probably had to figure out how to word it exactly to separate what they believe from what e.g. Stephen Miller believes which is actually the same thing done differently

GnomeSlice

2:03 PM

US administration to reimburse hospitals for treating uninsured CV19 patients

If this works as announced, pretty cool news

> He also said that providers would be forbidden from balance billing the uninsured as a condition for receiving the reimbursements and would be reimbursed at Medicare rates.

I don't understand what that means though

It means that they aren't allowed to bill the patients for the difference in price between what they charge and what the Medicare rate is

This is common in the US where an "out of network" provider gets paid by an insurance company the "fair market value" of a treatment, which is often less than what the provider charges. Since they don't have a negotiated rate with the insurance company the patient pays the rest

2:25 PM

Yeah, so like

Medicare has a negotiated rate x, insurers usually go "ok we'll pay 1.2x" or whatever

Uninsured folks often pay in the realm of 2x

That's why Cigna and friends can hand you an explanation of benefits that says "hey look we saved you $8,000 by telling the hospital that actually no we're not going to pay that much"

MBraedley

2:40 PM

(gets up on soapbox) Primary care healthcare should be treated as a public good!

As a bare minimum.

I think it rules that the center is going to get backed into a "well what about everything else why is this special" corner

MBraedley

For anyone that's wondering what primary care means, it's hospitals, general practitioners (family doctors), and sometimes pharma care (prescription drugs). That still leaves a lot of room for secondary insurance providers (dental, vision, physio and massage therapy, and other therapeutics).

2 hours later…

Wipqozn

4:33 PM

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in a statement Monday that delays in global shipments and restrictions at the U.S. border have "severely strained Ontario's inventory" and left Canada's most populous province with "roughly a one-week supply" of critical personal protective equipment (PPE).

cbc.ca/news/canada/…

2 hours later…

6:16 PM

Executive order suspends in-person voting in Wisconsin for tomorrow

Moves deadline to June 9 for mail in

👏

6:43 PM

twitter.com/RightWingWatch/status/1247203740647555073

what

7:19 PM

US deaths from Covid-19 are 10,000

Wipqozn

7:33 PM

U.K. PM Boris Johnson moved to intensive care as COVID-19 symptoms worsen
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/coronavirus-johnson-hospital-1.5522983

@Stormblessed Will people need to pay for mail in?

@Wipqozn I think that postage is paid

in my state it is

Wipqozn

Okay, great

But I am not in Wisconsin

In Ohio it isn't but I seem to recall wisconsin being paid? I don't remember

and I would not put it past the horrible legislature to make it not free

7:41 PM

You do need a witness signature

Including if you sent in a ballot in the 24 hour period between 1 court saying no you don't, and another court saying yes you do

remember that the people in charge of their legislature are the ones who had a special session to weaken the democratic governor after the election

@Unionhawk ugh that sucks with social distancing

It's not too bad for Ohio, but it's still like $1.02 or so to ask for a ballot and then send it

You don't need a printer at least, so there's that

(you don't need to use the proper form, all the board of elections needs is a piece of paper with all the applicable information on it)

I know that how the system works it isn't really possible to control states' systems, but we need automatic voter registration everywhere

I'm pretty sure controlling elections is an enumerated power

at least I thought it was

@Unionhawk well states are in charge of who can do mail-in voting so I guess not?

7:47 PM

I believe the federal government can control it they just currently choose not to

They could do some sort of funding thing like they did with mail-in like "here is some money you can use but only for implementing this"

this sort of stuff would best be constitutionally amended, imo, to give the federal government actual clear authority over it

but 3/4 of legislatures is a lot of people who don't want this who would need to vote to implement it

Yeah here we go (the answer is: both):

> The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.

@Unionhawk some of these things are way too specific

Senate elections were significantly changed in 1913 though

So the stuff about the senate might not be different from other elections now

yeah I'm sure some amendments apply here

who decided it was a good idea to not inline amendments here

like literally any other bylaws type document

Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Seventeenth Amendment (Amendment XVII) to the United States Constitution established the popular election of United States senators by the people of the states. The amendment supersedes Article I, §3, Clauses 1 and 2 of the Constitution, under which senators were elected by state legislatures. It also alters the procedure for filling vacancies in the Senate, allowing for state legislatures to permit their governors to make temporary appointments until a special election can be held. The amendment was proposed by the 62nd Congress in 1912 and became part of the Constitution on April 8, 1913...

7:56 PM

The point is, there is broad authority specifically granted to congress

which is why the voting rights act was allowed to be a thing

well that and the 15th I guess

1 hour later…

9:24 PM

lol Biden called Trump

Private Pansy

@TimStone I keep imagining two grandpa yelling at each other in a community center