I do like these columns since I minored in economics in college, but one of the issues with very large numbers is that they do not translate to the lives of typical Americans.
Can we translate these figures into what they might do?
-- How will the lowest income families see their food budget cut on a weekly basis?
--If a family member loses Medicaid coverage, what is the likely cost of an emergency room visit for them?
We need these tangible forms of information to help everyone understand how our lives will be affected.
The issue you raise is difficult from a simple empirical dataset. The area variations for geography, where COL differences deviate, create wide gaps that a one-solution-fits-all can't properly account.
Food - add in the costs of acquisition. Do you drive? Take Public Transit? Walkable neighborhood? They can play a role in someone's food bill, not just the difference between buying pasta sauce at Walmart or Wegmans (using my locale of D.C.).
Medicare falls into the same generalized issue. Hospitals are required to list the nominal costs of services on their website. (Mine has a 79,800 line Excel Spreadsheet that requires a degree in Medical Billing to understand.) Also, without knowing the reason for the loss in coverage, the alternative options that apply to any single individual become harder to offer a range that applies to all.
At the moment we're only seeing the HR version of this bill and don't know where the Senate will hold firm or make any substantive changes. The rumbles about Medicare coverage are growing since they impact far more people than the WH want to admit.
Bottom-line, everyone is going to be negastively effected. Those at the Top 20% will feel it in different ways and may have a longer tolerance for the increased costs of goods/services. But they eventually trade down and it creates pressures not dissimilar from Covid where people were hoarding things just to make sure they had some options.
‘They’ don’t think we’re stupid, ‘they’ know they can go on news programs and lie outright, and the msm will not call them liars. Indeed the msm will not challenge them at all
Also I love the quote from Thomas More but I wish you had included that fact that Reagan nearly tripled the national debt with his tax cuts for fat cats and his massive military spending.
When those 14 million people lose health care it doesn't stop the treatments they will need which has to be paid by someone! The States? Some other federal agency? Or if not, the losses from bankruptcy they would generate. If it averaged $100K for 14M that's another $140 Billion, give or take, that has to come from somewhere.
Retired MD here. Generally I've seen that medical care is provided by the doctors and the hospitals when the patient shows up "in extremis" Despite urban legends, no one is doing a "wallet biopsy" when a patient arrives with a myocardial infarction or gastrointestinal bleed. They still receive first world care. In the case of heart attacks, that involves a trip to the cath lab, one or more coronary stents, cardiac care unit monitoring, at a minimum.
For the doctors, they do it and it's generally felt to be part of the job, overall they make a good (great?) living despite providing some uncompensated care. The hospitals are another matter. They are real businesses with real expenses, and limited margins. Even with the expansion of Medicaid, many rural hospitals have closed due to insolvency.
This bill will affect the finances of the hospitals far more than the patients. Firstly, more will close. Managers, nurses, therapists, housekeepers, maintenance workers, and many more, will all loose their jobs, most in parts of the country with limited jobs, and mostly in areas that voted for Trump. Patients dying will happen later
Consider section 899 of the BBB which gives Trump the ability to tax foreign investors from countries which treat the US "unfairly" (the same language used with tariffs.
Executives converge on Washington to halt Trump’s foreign investment tax
I hate to say: for the public unless we see a dramatic drop in the Dow Jones or noticeable increases in food prices or interest rates the tragic losses in health care, etc, for those already in the bottom will go unnoticed
I do like these columns since I minored in economics in college, but one of the issues with very large numbers is that they do not translate to the lives of typical Americans.
Can we translate these figures into what they might do?
-- How will the lowest income families see their food budget cut on a weekly basis?
--If a family member loses Medicaid coverage, what is the likely cost of an emergency room visit for them?
We need these tangible forms of information to help everyone understand how our lives will be affected.
Average cost of emergency room visit without insurance-$2600, according to UnitedHealthCare.
The issue you raise is difficult from a simple empirical dataset. The area variations for geography, where COL differences deviate, create wide gaps that a one-solution-fits-all can't properly account.
Food - add in the costs of acquisition. Do you drive? Take Public Transit? Walkable neighborhood? They can play a role in someone's food bill, not just the difference between buying pasta sauce at Walmart or Wegmans (using my locale of D.C.).
Medicare falls into the same generalized issue. Hospitals are required to list the nominal costs of services on their website. (Mine has a 79,800 line Excel Spreadsheet that requires a degree in Medical Billing to understand.) Also, without knowing the reason for the loss in coverage, the alternative options that apply to any single individual become harder to offer a range that applies to all.
At the moment we're only seeing the HR version of this bill and don't know where the Senate will hold firm or make any substantive changes. The rumbles about Medicare coverage are growing since they impact far more people than the WH want to admit.
Bottom-line, everyone is going to be negastively effected. Those at the Top 20% will feel it in different ways and may have a longer tolerance for the increased costs of goods/services. But they eventually trade down and it creates pressures not dissimilar from Covid where people were hoarding things just to make sure they had some options.
" .... why the big budget bill is so…I was going to say “problematic” but that’s way too tame…offensive."
I will settle for 'disgusting abomination.'
‘They’ don’t think we’re stupid, ‘they’ know they can go on news programs and lie outright, and the msm will not call them liars. Indeed the msm will not challenge them at all
Make that the Big Brutal Budget Deal.
Also I love the quote from Thomas More but I wish you had included that fact that Reagan nearly tripled the national debt with his tax cuts for fat cats and his massive military spending.
When those 14 million people lose health care it doesn't stop the treatments they will need which has to be paid by someone! The States? Some other federal agency? Or if not, the losses from bankruptcy they would generate. If it averaged $100K for 14M that's another $140 Billion, give or take, that has to come from somewhere.
Retired MD here. Generally I've seen that medical care is provided by the doctors and the hospitals when the patient shows up "in extremis" Despite urban legends, no one is doing a "wallet biopsy" when a patient arrives with a myocardial infarction or gastrointestinal bleed. They still receive first world care. In the case of heart attacks, that involves a trip to the cath lab, one or more coronary stents, cardiac care unit monitoring, at a minimum.
For the doctors, they do it and it's generally felt to be part of the job, overall they make a good (great?) living despite providing some uncompensated care. The hospitals are another matter. They are real businesses with real expenses, and limited margins. Even with the expansion of Medicaid, many rural hospitals have closed due to insolvency.
This bill will affect the finances of the hospitals far more than the patients. Firstly, more will close. Managers, nurses, therapists, housekeepers, maintenance workers, and many more, will all loose their jobs, most in parts of the country with limited jobs, and mostly in areas that voted for Trump. Patients dying will happen later
Thanks for focusing on this monstrosity.
Consider section 899 of the BBB which gives Trump the ability to tax foreign investors from countries which treat the US "unfairly" (the same language used with tariffs.
Executives converge on Washington to halt Trump’s foreign investment tax
https://on.ft.com/4jzktaB
Probably NOT the thing to do with our Net International Investment Position at $26T and rising
https://apps.bea.gov/scb/issues/2025/04-april/pdf/0425-international-investment-position.pdf?_gl=1*2hw3lo*_ga*OTU0MzQ2MjQ3LjE3NDg2MDgyNzk.*_ga_J4698JNNFT*czE3NDk0OTE0MzQkbzckZzEkdDE3NDk0OTE5MDkkajYwJGwwJGgw
US$62T in Foreign Investments, a good chunk in the equity market
I hate to say: for the public unless we see a dramatic drop in the Dow Jones or noticeable increases in food prices or interest rates the tragic losses in health care, etc, for those already in the bottom will go unnoticed