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badwasabi · 7 months ago

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I swear, this picture will be relevant.

I'm reading a sci Fi Kindle book with a moderately interesting plot.*

Despite the writer's best efforts.

In the intro, here's a mercenary recruiting scene in a school. Right after the teacher introduced the speaker (as required by law);

The door to the classroom opened and another woman walked in A couple of inches shorter than Mrs. Addams, she had ultra-short black hair and deep-set, piercing gray eyes in a face so thin it was almost skeletal. She wore her dark blue Army uniform like plate armor. He only knew she was a woman by the slight swell of her breasts beneath her uniform shirt.

Okay, this is what Chuck palahannock Palahniuk calls "sign posting", IIRC. It's when a paragraph or whatever tells you the conclusion before building up to it.

Most people look at someone's face first. This usually gets them gender. If that doesn't work, then you usually look at the body. In this case it would make sense for the protagonist to look at her face and then her uniform, since he is obsessed with mercenary companies.

And it would also make sense for him to look at the chest because he's a teenager. I think, it works better if he doesn't gender the Major until after he notices the breasts. Or he's confused about it, then figures it out, which shows he's smart and inquisitive. And on a more nitpicking note, it seems a tad clinical to describe someone's breasts as a "swell". I don't think a kid would use that language, even a smart one. In fact, it sounds exactly like the language a writer would use. I think it would be better if the story simply mentioned that the protag looked at her chest, then concluded that she was a woman. Let the reader infer what he saw. Anyway, here's our hero, thinking about his best friend during a physical assessment at school.

You could describe Frank as a Greek god, and you wouldn't be doing Zeus or Hercules any disservice. He was just over six feet tall with a chiseled chin, and bright Delft-blue eyes under thick waves of dark brown hair.

How many readers are going to understand the reference to centuries old Delft china? Heck, the only reason I knew what it was is because I read it in another book. Why is the character thinking of pottery? If he's thinking of greco-Roman stuff, why doesn't he think of Greek blue? Okay, maybe this could work. Maybe his family owns some Delft. Maybe he saw it as a kid, and his mom sold it off to try and keep the company afloat. It would symbolize her betrayal, his shattered trust. Or it could be one of the few things he got to keep when the vultures swarmed over the carcass. It would be an ironic contrast to make something fragile, ornamental, and delicate represent a mercenary company. If I just read on... Nothing happens. There's no payoff.

But you're probably wondering why a mercenary recruiter is pitching to elementary school kids. In this universe Earth's leading export is mercenaries. They make so much money they pay a 50% tax rate which covers 90% of our tax base and many of them are still stinking rich millionaires. If they survive. The main character of this story is a young man who's the heir to one of the top four leading, legendary mercenary corporations. Ever since his dad died, his mom ran the company in trust for him. Until he turned 18. And learned that Mommy dearest had been running the company into the ground. She does a runner. He's left holding the bag. By the time the lawyers and lawsuits and legal processes get done the company is basically nothing but an office building and a name. Hence those vultures I mentioned. Our protagonist has to put the company into bankruptcy. Then he has to file for personal bankruptcy. After a few weeks of doing crappy online jobs to not die, it turns out there's a family trust of assets that his mom and the lawsuits couldn't touch.

It consists of a museum, with a lot of old military equipment. And a luxury apartment. And some of the company's employees. The whole things automated. Basically, he's loaded. This was hinted at. The protagonist did notice his family's yacht was missing. But that was it.

Our hero doesn't find it buried in the paperwork omehow, or follow the trail at great personal risk. He doesn't pass some secret trial. In fact, the guy running the place sends a lawyer to fetch him. And then he pretends not to recognize the protagonist so the protagonist has to identify himself. Just to mess with him. this is the closest thing to an actual challenge, and it's solved in about 30 seconds, and our boy had no other actual choice. Unless he wanted to get thrown out or bonked on the head. He didn't actually "earn" this stuff. He's spent the first 5th of the story like a kite in a hurricane. Functionally, he's just as rich as he would be if the mercenary company was still intact. Just without the actual mercenary company. Anyway, the dude shows the hero around the place and then shows him to his apartment.

He reached into a pocket and pulled something out – a stuffed toy. As fate would have it, this one was his favorite. Jim chuckled as he took it over and sat it on the windowsill facing the starport. The bright blue body and wings with multicolored mane and matching tail belied the ferocity of the little equine. Rainbow Dash didn't take shit from anyone.

Okay. Hold up. Back up. Where did this come from?

I know the intended symbolism is our protagonist has found a new home. But the story did not establish that the Rainbow Dash toy was a symbol of home. It did not establish the protagonist's love of old cartoons. This comes out of nowhere. When the protagonist packed up his few remaining possessions earlier, the story did not mention or imply he had any equine toys. This is also not "earned". He's a passive protagonist. I have the sneaking suspension that the writer just included it because he likes Rainbow Dash. By comparison, when a wacky sidekick character in one of the Stephanie Plum books mentions her favorite pone, I chuckled, because it fit her established character. Or the opening of Black Widow, when someone dramatically throws away a My Little Pony doll that symbolizes Nat's family. You know what would've been better? Delftware. Let's back up. In the story our protagonist family has a ranch. Unfortunately it gets taken in the lawsuits, and he isn't allowed to take anything expensive away from it.

So maybe he could sneak out the family pottery, and set it up in his new home when he feels safe. In fact, if there hasn't been another MLP reboot with has a new rainbow dash, the rainbow dash doll isn't a modern reproduction or re-release, it should be a priceless antique. You could just sub it in for the porcelain and not have to change anything else. Maybe it got taken by the lawsuits or sold by his mom, so he has to build a new, 3D printed one. Which would symbolize how he's rebuilding his family's legacy in his new home. Later on, it turns out he has a whole collection of little ponies. He even has an argument about it. Says he just likes 20th century stuff. Which is just more confusing. The MLP franchise started in 1986, but the description of rainbow dash's personality is the 21st century FIM version. The earliest RD came out in 2003, the generation before friendship is magic. He also has a Fluttershy, who was also first released in 2003. Gen 3, just like rainbow dash. If this was put in to appeal to MLP fans, shouldn't the writer have done some basic research? How could a big fan mix up the century? And for someone who likes a show about friendship, he hasn't had a single thought about his high school best friend since he graduated. Or any friends.

It still seems weird to introduce his ponies as a Significant Moment ™ and then show he likes centuries old cartoons. Why didn't this come up during the opening character development chapters, or when he visited his family estate, other than a vague mention of packing "memorabilia"? If he was packing ponies, and a cop was watching what he packed, why didn't the cop comment? Even a "aren't those for girls?" Or even just a snort. Something to make it significant. He wouldn't even need to explicitly identify it. Just some setup. Why didn't our protagonist remember how his mom thought the MLP toys weren't appropriate for a boy, but bought them anyway? He smiles at the memory, then remembers how she screwed him over, and stops smiling. Or remembers how he decided to buy any further toys himself. This gives it meaning. And develops his character. We don't even have to learn what the "memorabilia" is until he arrives at his new home. In the actual story, he lived in another home when he turned 18, and it said he packed up "a small collection of very precious stuffed animals." Minor problem; most MLP toys are hard plastic. If they're stuffed plushies, they've got even less of a chance of making it to the 2_th century. Unless these are some kind of reissue, or he bought a fan replica off space Etsy. In case anyone is wondering, examining other people's stuff like this helps me improve my own writing. In fact, writing this has helped me realise that I'm going to have to condense two chapters of my novel into one. * Well, I was, when I wrote this a year ago, and then sat on it. Needless to say, I did not finish the book.

#writing advice #nanowrimo #writing #writers on tumblr #books #my little pony #mlp #bad writing #kindle

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deathbydarkelves · 3 years ago

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I decided to make playlists for Cathala and Tarinne plus explanations for why I chose each song because I entered one of those ADHD fugue states and if I didn't finish this task I would die

Anyway here are the two links (they're youtube playlists because I don't have spotify. I would obviously recommend using an adblocker if you're just gonna watch on youtube) and the explanations for each song are below the cut :) Each playlist is about an hour long.

For Tarinne’s:

1. Foggy Nights: I consider this her theme so putting it first as a sort of intro only makes sense.

2. Here’s a Health to the Company: I think this works as an example of her general disposition. She’s a people person, and always a fan of singing these sorts of songs in taverns, on ships, or what have you. It also kind of feels like a sendoff to soldiers, which I imagine symbolizes her joining the Sentinel Army and quickly thereafter fighting in the Third War.

3. Wartime Prayers: Somewhat self-explanatory, this is symbolizing her seeing war for the first time, but I also included it because the last line transitions SO WELL into the next song.

4. The Hollow: This song is an intro to an album I've never heard so I don't know the context, but I really love it because it sounds like someone praying to their deity and like I mean c'mon. Elune. Tarinne's praying to Elune to guide her through the war. Do I need to elabo-

5. Wave Walker: KILL DEATH MAIM AHAHAHAHA

6. Isil Elun’falo: Just a super rad fan-made night elf song that's basically "wow we sure do love Elune" said in twenty different ways for four and a half minutes. But it ROCKS and I LOVE it.

7. Chewing Cotton Wool: This song is about losing a loved one (I did have to check but yeah that's what it is) and I use it to symbolize Tarinne losing her mom during the war. The last line, which includes the song's title, I especially like. It's referring to how morticians (apparently) put cotton gauze in a corpse's throat and mouth to keep body fluids in and make the face look more natural. So there's a fun fact for you.

8. See U Soon (Song for Dad): Just a short lofi piece to rest a bit, and it was also chosen because the title's in reference to Tarinne growing closer to her dad after losing her mom. She still visits him at his leathers and furs shop in Stormwind fairly often, especially after dangerous adventures. She just wants to make sure he knows she's alright ;-;

9. No Lullaby: Right back into it with a song that I use to represent Tarinne's general feeling of not being able to go home because it's not there anymore. She's felt like this since the end of the Third War, but it's especially strong since the whole Teldrassil thing. But I like the ending, "who said you're on your own," because it contrasts the repeating of "alone" in the rest of the song. And it's kinda like "hey, listen, you're not the only one who feels like she can't go home." I mean that's probably how basically every single night elf feels right now skxnks

10. The Moss: This song juxtaposes classic fairy tales with scientific facts about the world and I love it to BITS. I'm using it here to represent both Tarinne's love for storytelling but also her sort of... part-time historian/archaeologist/conservator career.

11. Rasputin: I just associate this song with her for some reason and this was the best place to put it.

12. Electric Feel: Moving on to focus more on Tarinne's relationship with Cathala now. This is an extremely great and somewhat 😏 song that I also included because the electricity theme is appropriate because Cathala has lightning powers and y'know it's from Tarinne's perspective or whatever.

13. Bedroom Hymns: You know why this is here.

14. Movement: I can't talk about love songs without talking about Hozier, okay. This is just a nice, slower song to relax a bit with.

15. Never Let Me Go: I have an entire goddamn music video in my head with Cathala and Tarinne for this song and it’s very dramatic and emotional and I had to include this song or I’d die. Basically just listen to near the end of this song when she's repeating the title over and over, and imagine the two of them seeing each other at opposite ends of a battlefield after the dust settles and they rush towards each other and fall to their knees holding on as tightly as they can because they got separated early on and each thought the other was dead. Then you'll know how I feel when I listen to this song.

16. Nothing That Has Happened So Far Has Been Anything We Could Control: First of all I love the title, and second of all there's a big section in the middle (1:49 to 2:47) that I like to interpret as the two of them grappling with the fact that they're not really quite sure who or what they're fighting for anymore. Their people, yeah, but there's so many alliances and semi-permanent enemies and only-on-every-other-thursday-enemies all intertwined and the world is just so very confusing and they're trying to make the best of it. Elf school didn’t include international, interracial politics in its curriculum. It did however include how to properly plant trees, and AP calculus (this is a joke).

17. In Dreams: I like to imagine this song is something the two of them would say to each other, as a way of saying “even when everything we know is gone, even when the world ends, I will still be by your side. And if I’m not, don’t fear, for I will find you.” It makes a nice note to end on :)

For Cathala’s:

1. muse: Just a nice lofi intro to get us into things :) I don't see this song as her theme, like I do with Tarinne and the first song in her playlist, but I like it quite a bit. I don't actually really have a theme for Cathala yet, I'm currently going with a version of Way of the Monk from WoW's OST but I'm still looking for something better.

2. Frogs Singing: I included this because it's about just appreciating nature, which works because night elf and also mindfulness and meditation is a whole thing.

3. Tongues: This is a song about feeling distant from your peers which is like Cathala's whole existence! She's this weird mix of two cultures and ultimately she feels out of place regardless of where she is or who she's with. Also the theme with not understanding what people are saying works because the poor woman had to learn Pandaren from scratch and that shit ain't easy. I think blizz said somewhere probably that Common is just a language that EVERYONE knows inherently because Video Game but that's bullshit in my opinion. I'll allow spells that let you understand foreign languages to an extent (Comprehend Languages from D&D lets you understand the LITERAL meaning only, which I like), but every culture and species in the universe knowing Common is silly if you think about it for more than two seconds.

4. Kung Fu Fighting: I'm legally required to include this song. Also I prefer the Kung Fu Panda version, I'm sorry.

5. Harder Better Faster Stronger: I vicariously experience having a great work ethic through Cathala and that's why this song is here because she has 999 Determination and does Too Many push-ups every day or something idk. I was gonna say "every morning" but I have a headcanon that elves only need to sleep every couple of days (sort of a nod to "elves don't need to sleep at all" from D&D, and to explain why NIGHT elves are active at all hours of the day) so that doesn't work.

6. What's Up Danger: This song is Cathala's whole Vibe. Almost zero threat assessment skills in this woman's brain. If it can be punched, she will punch it.

7. Eye for an Eye: Fairly self-explanatory, it's a song about wanting revenge so... yeah. Checked that box. It was this or The Vengeful One by Disturbed but ultimately The Vengeful One's religious symbolism probably makes it fit better as a Tyrande theme lol ("I'm the hand of god, I'm the dark messiah." Did you mean: the Night Warrior)

8. Survivor: Cathala's survived a lot of shit and this could kinda be her making fun of herself for it because "Gods, man! Don't I deserve a break!"

9. Ashes: Really the reason I include this song is the last chunk (2:42 to the end) because holy shit. Listen, if I was gonna include a song with fire motifs, it was gonna be a somber one like this.

10. Into the West: This can kinda represent Cathala just trying to fucking breathe and recover from Teldrassil. Also works because I dunno it has stuff to do with the elves in LotR, I haven't seen those movies in a while. It sounds nice and is melancholy so I included it.

11. Like Real People Do: Cathala loves Tarinne a lot you guys have I ever menti-

12. Into the Wild: Tarinne changed Cathala's world for the better and she's super fucking grateful she has her by her side. Kinda goes without saying but you know.

13. Chasing the Moon: I have a vague music video in my head for this of them falling in love and it's very cute so there's that. Also it's in this specific spot because hey she may be deeply traumatized but she's still got a fair number of things/people in her life that make her happy so :)

14. Follow My Girl: I've got a theme going in my head that while Tarinne is fairly certain of her place in the world, Cathala is still trying to find hers. She outlived all her connections on Pandaria because Elf Lifespans(tm) and the only members of her family still alive are distant relatives she never knew very well.

15. Wish That You Were Here: This works both to represent Cathala on Pandaria feeling super homesick, and for more recently after Teldrassil. Either way, it's a message to her parents and sister.

16. Mr. Fear: She does her damnedest to hide it but she's absolutely terrified something like Teldrassil's gonna happen again! That fear drives her to do everything in her power to protect who and what she can. As long as they're not Forsaken, cause she's still got her biases, that compassion even extends across faction lines. She never really got the whole Alliance/Horde thing anyway. Innocent people shouldn't have to die, regardless of who or what they are.

17. Ordinary Day: Not to get super out there but I think this song works as symbolizing Cathala really trying to hold on to her faith in Elune, but ultimately feeling pretty abandoned. I mean she can clearly see Elune's influence everywhere. But Elune sure ain't doing Cathala any favors as far as she can tell! It also ends the whole playlist on maybe a bit of an uncertain/open-ended note, because this "losing faith" aspect is a new thing with her and will definitely be something she continues to struggle with for a while. On a related note, I should say Tarinne is still very much devout but she gets what Cathala's feeling and doesn't force anything on her, and vice versa. And Cathala wouldn't become atheist, the night elves aren't monotheistic and she still worships all the other deities, it's just specifically Elune she's a little :/ on.

#cathala #tarinne #oc playlist

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digitaldandelions · 3 years ago

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How to Address Gentrification

"Why should I care?"

You read our blog on the gentry last time--And now you're looking for an active example of how to invest in the community.

You want an example of a business pitch

Also, you still care about how you can participate in economic justice.

Last week I posted a few solutions to gentrification. Some subsequent conversations, meditation, and an upcoming event inspired me to create a little pitch deck on something that's been on my mind for a while.

If you are a visual person, you can check out the pitch deck here:

https://www.digitaldandelions.com/about/Craft-House-Pitch-July-2021

In the meantime, I wanted to discuss the inspirations for this and tie some ideas together. I also wanted to share an overview of the pitch for those who prefer to read.

Inspiration: I am both the Displaced Local and the Gentrifier

As I mentioned the other week, I came from a zipcode where companies refused to hire. It's one of many aspects of Marginalization. Combined with cultural displacement and making an informed financial decision, I moved from North Carolina to New York. I'm not the first to this; of course, I am just part of another wave of the Great Migration. Except, I wouldn't have to make the journey on foot (thank goodness).

With all this in mind, now to what I think could help others. My pitch includes:

The Why: My personal story and how the problem has impacted me Problem Statement Our Solution

Cash Flow: How the business will make money

Competition: Things that already exist

Differentiators: How our thing is different (It also features some solutions we discussed last week!!)

Timeline and Structure: How we'll get there and how it'll work

Financials: Requested Support and what we currently have (It also features some important capital raise terms we discussed earlier!)

Overview of our company: List of things that makes us qualified to do this thing!

The Pitch: The Craft House (July 2021)

The Craft House: Our special rental, co-living, co-renting units for entrepreneurs and apprentices.

Above are screenshots featuring the US Federal Hubzone Map with possible target areas for the location. We want to target HUBZones near points of interest because our participating businesses can take advantage of Federal contracts. Also, the US government has identified these areas as needing more support.

Why: There was no place I could Grow

Graduating from college in 2012, I had nowhere to live where there was economic opportunity. I spent 3 years unemployed and underemployed. I suffered domestic abuse, unstable housing, abusive landlords. My business and career didn’t move until I found positive people to cohabitate with, an understanding landlady (she also struggled to start her own business), and a community with more opportunities. I now live right next to the JFK Redevelopment Office. The Port of Authority called me about my business because of where I live!

Problem: We have no place to set down our Roots

We tend to live in places with little economic opportunity. We don't have the equity or capital to move. We are resigned to live with socioeconomic problems (domestic abuse is higher in communities with many opportunities).

Solution: Carve out a Place for Growth

We obtain property in upcoming areas and create positive, stable, co-living arrangements sponsored by the community.

Sources of Cash Flow:

Rental income from working Apprentices: Apprentices have a guaranteed income from their apprenticeships-- the government pays their wages. Their employers also ensure that they have everything they need to work

Rental Income from Entrepreneurs: Given our resources, entrepreneurs will make living expenses. Co-living arrangements make it easier to make rent ( 2-3 to a unit). Resources can include SBA loans, equity from Capital Raises, Cash flow from their businesses supported by already existing tax credits

Subscriptions from Business Owners: Property will have additional space for co-working arrangements. The subscription will include physical postal boxes, working spaces, and meeting spaces for businesses that want a physical mailing address. We'll target our efforts to keep our building in a HUBZone so that apprentice employers and other business owners will have incentives

Rental income from Business Retail: We will attract business-oriented, bulk retail such as Uline and host a physical store

Possible benefits from making it a Cooperative building (leaseholders and other community members have stock in the building)

Competition: Informal Arrangements Communities and WeWork

We have a unique concept for a business. Entrepreneurs have been doing this informally, e.g., Silicon Valley in California, most networks in immigration communities. The closest formal competitor is WeWork. WeWork is a real estate company that markets itself as a "CoWorking" company. Their cash flow consists of subscriptions for members, renting out event space, and community programs. However, they require a lot of propping up through their IPO. They also have been struggling through the pandemic.

Differentiators: We partner with the Community

We will differentiate ourselves by:

Getting support from locals in the gentrifying community,

Offering investment and business opportunities to locals (Co-Operatives, paying out dividends, community-directed IPOs),

Encouraging residents to shop and partner with locals, and

Providing community-oriented, business-building services through the parent company and partners (capital raises, IT, accounting, legal services, etc.)

Timeline and Structure:

My timeline is in the next 3 to 5 years. The current path forward requires increasing the cash flow for my current business and making this venture a subsidiary. We will be able to increase our cash flow by increasing our production through hiring. I want to build $100K in equity for the venture before working on this full-time (getting an SBA loan, creating the business, etc.).

Financials

Requested Support:

We are looking for $200K to onboard, train, and hire someone part-time for 6 months.

Current Capital:

Working Capital: $20k

Equity: $5K equipment, $2K in cash

Knowledge Capital: 10 years of business operations experience, grant writing, and curriculum writing (for apprenticeships, employee training)

About Digital Dandelions Technical Solutions

We are a business operation and strategy firm. If you don't have instructions on how to run your business, your business is imaginary. We help our clients adapt, grow, and thrive in business through:

Strategic Capital Raises of $100K through our partners

Developing their business operation manuals,

Ensuring their employees know how to work efficiently,

Helping them apply to government contracts, and

Pursuing contacts with corporate businesses.

Interested in learning more? Book an appointment with me here:

https://www.digitaldandelions.com/contact-us

#black business #business ideas #growth strategies #business pitch #real estate business #business strategy #capital raise #business operations #apprenticeships #entrepreneuship

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ongames · 8 years ago

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This Is What Obamacare's Critics Won't Admit Or Simply Don't Understand

THOUSAND OAKS, California ― Maryann Hammers is likely to die from ovarian cancer someday. But she hopes someday won’t come anytime soon.

Hammers, 61, received the diagnosis in late 2013, and doctors told her that it was stage 3-C, which meant that she could live for many years with the right treatment and a little luck. So far, she’s had both. She’s in remission for the second time, and her last course of chemotherapy ended a year and a half ago. But recent blood tests detected elevated levels of a protein associated with tumors, she explained when we met a few weeks ago. “Maybe it’s a fluke,” she said. “I hope so. I kinda feel like the clock is ticking.”

If the cancer is back, Hammers said, she may need surgery similar to her two previous operations — “gigantic surgeries, gutted like a fish and hospitalized for many days.” Chemotherapy would likely come next, plus medication, hospitalization, and home care. But Hammers considers herself lucky because she’s been able to get treatment at City of Hope, a highly respected Southern California cancer research and treatment center, and luckier still that she’s been able to pay for the treatment with insurance — an Anthem Blue Cross policy she bought through Covered California, the exchange her state created under the Affordable Care Act.

To hear President Donald Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan and other Republicans tell it, Obamacare has been a disaster, even for those who obtained coverage through the law. Hammers has a very different perspective. She’s a freelance writer and editor, which means she has no employer-provided insurance. In the old days, if she’d gone shopping for a policy with her cancer diagnosis, she would have struggled to find a carrier willing to sell her one.

I'm terrified. ... Do you know how easy it is to use a million dollars when you're getting cancer treatment? Maryann Hammers, Thousand Oaks, California

And it’s not just the pre-existing condition guarantee, which even critics like Trump say they support, that Hammers has found so valuable. The Affordable Care Act requires insurers to cover a wide range of services and treatments — which, in her case, has included multiple shots of Neulasta, a medication that boosts white blood cell counts and typically costs several thousand dollars per injection. The law also prohibits annual or lifetime limits on benefits, which, as a long-term cancer patient, she would be a prime candidate to exceed.

Policies with such robust coverage inevitably cost thousands of dollars a year, more than Hammers could afford on her own — particularly since battling the disease has cut into her work hours. But the law’s generous tax credits discount the premiums and help with the out-of-pocket costs, too. “Without the Affordable Care Act, I honestly do not know what I would have done,” she said.

The coverage Hammers has today still isn’t as good as what she had years ago, when she worked for a company that provided benefits. But it’s better than what she had in the years right before the cancer diagnosis, when she was buying insurance on her own. The latter plan covered fewer services and came with out-of-pocket costs high enough to discourage her from getting checkups. Obamacare’s introduction of free preventive screenings led her to schedule a long-overdue colonoscopy. During routine preparation for that procedure, a physician first felt a lump in her abdomen.

Sometimes Hammers wonders whether, with less sporadic doctor visits, the cancer might have been caught a little sooner. “But I couldn’t afford a fat doctor’s bill. And I thought I was super healthy.”

These days, something else looms even larger in her mind — the possibility that Trump and the Republican Congress will repeal the health care law without an adequate replacement, or maybe with no replacement at all.

“I’m terrified — isn’t that crazy?” Hammers said. “My biggest source of stress right now isn’t the fact that I have incurable cancer. It’s the prospect of losing my insurance.”

What American Health Care Used To Look Like

To appreciate the significance of stories like Hammers’ and what they say about the Affordable Care Act, it helps to remember what used to happen to people like her before the law took effect. By 2009, when President Barack Obama took office, roughly 1 in 6 Americans had no health care insurance, and even the insured could still face crippling medical bills. As a reporter covering health care during those years, I met these people. Some of their stories stand out, even now, because they capture the old system at its callous, capricious worst.

Gary Rotzler, a quality engineer at a defense contractor in upstate New York, lost his family coverage in the early 1990s when he lost his job. He ended up uninsured for two years, while he juggled stints as an independent contractor. His wife, Betsy, made do without doctor visits even after she started feeling some strange pains. By the time she got a checkup, she had advanced breast cancer. Desperate efforts at treatment failed. After she died, Gary, a father of three, had to declare bankruptcy because of all the unpaid medical bills.

Jacqueline Ruess, a widow in south Florida, thought she was insured. But then she needed expensive tests when her physicians suspected she had cancer. Although the tests were negative, the insurer refused to pay the bills because, it said, a brief episode of a routine gynecological problem in her past qualified as a pre-existing condition.

Tony Montenegro, an immigrant from El Salvador living in Los Angeles, was uninsured and working as a security guard, until untreated diabetes left him legally blind.

Marijon Binder, an impoverished former nun in Chicago, was sued by a Catholic hospital over medical expenses she couldn’t pay.

And Russ Doren, a schoolteacher in a Denver suburb, believed he had good insurance until the bills for his wife’s inpatient treatment at a psychiatric hospital hit the limit for mental health coverage. The hospital released her, despite worries that she was not ready. A few days later, she took her own life.

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 was an effort to address these kinds of problems — to carry on the crusade for universal coverage that Harry Truman had launched some 60 years before. But precisely because Obama and his allies were determined to succeed where predecessors had failed, they made a series of concessions that necessarily limited the law’s ambition.

They expanded Medicaid and regulated private insurance rather than start a whole new government-run program. They dialed back demands for lower prices from drugmakers, hospitals and other health care industries. And they agreed to tight budget constraints for the program as a whole, rather than risk a revolt among more conservative Democrats. These decisions meant that health insurance would ultimately be more expensive and the new system’s financial assistance would be less generous.

Still, projections showed that the law would bring coverage to millions while giving policymakers tools they could use to reduce medical costs over time. When the Senate passed its version of the legislation in December 2009, then-Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) described the program as a “starter home” with a solid foundation and room for expansion.

Where Obamacare Failed And Where It Succeeded

Seven years later, Trump and the Affordable Care Act’s other critics insist that the program has been a boondoggle — that the Obamacare starter home needs demolition. Some of their objections are philosophical, and some, like the persistent belief that the law set up “death panels,” are fantastical. But others focus on the law’s actual consequences.

High on that list of consequences are the higher premiums and out-of-pocket costs that some people face. The new rules, like coverage of pre-existing conditions, have made policies more expensive, and Obamacare’s financial aid frequently doesn’t offset the increases. A “rate shock” wave hit suddenly in the fall of 2013, when insurers unveiled their newly upgraded plans and in many cases canceled old ones — infuriating customers who remembered Obama’s promise that “if you like your plan, you can keep it,” while alienating even some of those sympathetic to what Obama and the Democrats were trying to do.

I’ve interviewed plenty of these people, too. A few weeks ago, I spoke with Faisuly Scheurer, a real estate agent from Blowing Rock, North Carolina. She and her husband, who works in the restaurant business, were excited about the health care law because they’d struggled to find decent, affordable insurance. They make about $60,000 a year, before taxes, with two kids and college tuition looming in the not-distant future, she said.

In late 2013, they checked out their options and learned that, after tax credits, coverage would cost $360 a month. Scheurer said she remembers thinking, “OK, that is really tight. But if the benefits are good, we are going to have to skimp on other things to make it work.” Then she learned about the deductible, which was nearly $13,000 per year. “My disappointment was indescribable.”

The Scheurer family ultimately decided to remain uninsured. They’re not the only ones, and that has weakened the system as a whole. The people eschewing coverage tend to be relatively healthy, since they’re most willing to take the risk of no coverage. That’s created big problems for insurers, which need the premiums from healthy folks to offset the high medical bills of people with serious conditions.

Many insurers have reacted by raising premiums or pulling out of some places entirely, leaving dysfunctional markets in North Carolina and a handful of other states. Just this week, Humana, which had already scaled back its offerings, announced that it was pulling out of the Affordable Care Act exchanges altogether. At least for the moment, 16 counties in Tennessee don’t have a single insurer committed to offering coverage in 2018.

Trump, Ryan and other Republicans pounced on the Humana news, citing it as more proof of a “failed system” and the need for repeal. That’s pretty typical of how the political conversation about the Affordable Care Act has proceeded for the last seven years. The focus is on everything that’s gone wrong with Obamacare, with scant attention to what’s gone right.

And yet the list of what’s gone right is long.

In states like California and Michigan, the newly regulated markets appear to be working as the law’s architects intended, except for some rural areas that insurers have never served that well. Middle-class people in those states have better, more affordable options.

It looks like more insurers are figuring out how to make their products work and how to successfully compete for business. Customers have turned out to be more price-sensitive than insurers originally anticipated. In general, the carriers that struggle are large national companies without much experience selling directly to consumers, rather than through employers.

Last year’s big premium increases followed two years in which average premiums were far below projections, a sign that carriers simply started their pricing too low. Even now, on average, the premiums people pay for exchange insurance are on a par with, or even a bit cheaper than, equivalent employer policies — and that’s before the tax credits.

The majority of people who are buying insurance on their own or get their coverage through Medicaid are satisfied with it, according to separate surveys by the Commonwealth Fund and the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. The level of satisfaction with the new coverage still trails that involving employer-provided insurance, and it has declined over time. But it’s clearly in positive territory

And then there’s the fact that the number of people without health insurance is the lowest that government or private surveys have ever recorded. When confronted with questions about the people who gained coverage because of the law, Republicans often say something about sparing those people from disruption ― and then argue that even those who obtained insurance through the law are suffering and no better off. This claim is wildly inconsistent with the experience of people like Maryann Hammers ― and, more important, it’s wildly inconsistent with the best available research.

People are struggling less with medical bills, have easier access to primary care and medication, and report that they’re in better health, according to a study that appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2015. The number of people forgoing care because of costs or being “very worried” about paying for a catastrophic medical bill dropped substantially among the newly insured, Kaiser Foundation researchers found last year when they focused on people in California.

A bunch of other studies have turned up similar evidence, All of them gibe with a landmark report on the effects of Massachusetts’ 2006 insurance expansion, which was a prototype for the national legislation. Residents of that state experienced better health outcomes and less financial stress, according to the study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

“Though it’s had no shortage of controversies and stumbles, there’s really no denying that the ACA has created historic gains in insurance coverage,” said Larry Levitt, a senior vice president at the Kaiser Foundation. “With better coverage that has fewer holes, access to health care has improved and many have better protection from crushing medical bills.”

What Repeal Would Really Mean

Reasonable people can disagree about whether these achievements justify Obamacare’s costs, which include not only higher premiums for the young and healthy but also hefty new taxes on the wealthiest Americans. That’s a debate about values and priorities as much as facts.

What’s not in dispute, or shouldn’t be, is the stark choice on the political agenda right now.

Democratic lawmakers still argue for the principle that Truman laid out in 1948: “health security for all, regardless of residence, station, or race.” They think the Affordable Care Act means the U.S. is closer to that goal and that the next step should be to bolster the law ― by using government power to force down the price of drugs, hospital services and other forms of medical care, while providing more generous government assistance to people who still find premiums and out-of-pocket costs too onerous. Basically, they want people like Faisuly Scheurer to end up with the same security that people like Maryann Hammers already have.

Some Republicans talk as if they share these goals. Trump has probably been the most outspoken on this point, promising to deliver “great health care at lower cost” and vowing that “everybody would be covered.” But other Republicans reject the whole concept of health care as a right. Although it’s theoretically possible to draw up a conservative health plan that would improve access and affordability, these aren’t the kinds of plans that Republicans have in mind.

There’s a face to this law, there’s a face to people that are going to be affected by it. Angela Eilers, Yorba Linda, California

Their schemes envision substantially less government spending on health care, which would mean lower taxes for the wealthy but also less financial assistance for everybody else. Republicans would make insurance cheaper, but only by allowing it to cover fewer services and saddling beneficiaries with even higher out-of-pocket costs. The result would be some mix of more exposure to medical bills and more people without coverage. If Republicans repeal the Affordable Care Act without replacing it ― a real possibility, given profound divisions within the GOP over how to craft a plan ― 32 million more people could go uninsured, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

That would mean real suffering, primarily among those Americans who benefit most from the law now ― the ones with serious medical problems, or too little income to pay for insurance on their own, or both.

Jay Stout, a 20-year-old in Wilmington, North Carolina, is one of those people. He was in good health until a head-on car collision nearly severed his arm and landed him in the hospital for more than a month. Surgeries and rehabilitation would have cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars that, as a community college student working part-time as a busboy, he could never have paid — if not for the Blue Cross plan that his mother had bought through the Affordable Care Act. When we spoke a few weeks ago, he told me the insurance has been “irreplaceable” and that losing it “would be totally devastating.”

Meenakshi Bewtra had never had a serious health problem until her first year at the University of Pennsylvania medical school, when she developed severe gastrointestinal problems — the kind that forced her into the hospital for two months and drove her to drop out of school. Her insurance lapsed, which meant that her GI issues became a pre-existing condition. She eventually found coverage and today she’s a professor of medicine at Penn, where she moonlights as an advocate for universal health insurance.

“For the first time, I truly understood what comprehensive health insurance meant,” Bewtra said, remembering what it was like to become fully covered. “I did not have to worry about how many times I saw a doctor, or how many lab tests I had to get, or having to ration out medications.”

Angela Eilers, who lives in Yorba Linda, California, isn’t worrying about her own health. It’s her daughter Myka who has a congenital heart condition called pulmonary stenosis, which makes it more difficult for the heart to pump blood to the lungs. The little girl has required multiple surgeries and will need intensive medical treatment throughout her childhood.

In 2012, Angela’s husband, Todd, was laid off from his job at an investment firm. Since going without insurance was not an option, they took advantage of COBRA to stay on his old company’s health plan. It was expensive, and Eilers recalled panicking over the possibility they might not be able to pay the premiums. “I remember sitting at the table, thinking of plans. What would be our plan? One of them was … giving up our parents rights to my mom, because she has really good health insurance.”

Eventually her husband started his own consulting business, and that gave them the income to keep up with premiums until 2014 — when they were able to obtain coverage through the Affordable Care Act. Today they have a gold plan, one of the most generous available, for which they pay around $20,000 a year. Even though they make too much to qualify for financial assistance, they’re grateful for the coverage. Seven-year-old Myka has already run up more than a half-million dollars in medical bills. In the old days, before Obamacare, they would have worried about hitting their plan’s lifetime limit on benefits.

The family’s coverage has become more expensive over the years. They wish the price were lower, but they’re also not complaining about that. “I’m thankful that the letter was a premium hike, rather than ‘Sorry, we are not going to cover your daughter anymore,’” Angela Eilers said.

When she thinks about the possibility of Obamacare repeal, she wonders if Trump and the Republicans understand what that would really mean. “There’s a face to this law, there’s a face to people that are going to be affected by it,” Eilers said. “It’s not me, it’s not him, it’s her. She’s only 7. And through no fault of her own, why should she suffer? And she’s not the only one.”

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This Is What Obamacare's Critics Won't Admit Or Simply Don't Understand published first on http://ift.tt/2lnpciY

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yes-dal456 · 8 years ago

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THOUSAND OAKS, California ― Maryann Hammers is likely to die from ovarian cancer someday. But she hopes someday won’t come anytime soon.

I'm terrified. ... Do you know how easy it is to use a million dollars when you're getting cancer treatment? Maryann Hammers, Thousand Oaks, California

“I’m terrified — isn’t that crazy?” Hammers said. “My biggest source of stress right now isn’t the fact that I have incurable cancer. It’s the prospect of losing my insurance.”

What American Health Care Used To Look Like

Tony Montenegro, an immigrant from El Salvador living in Los Angeles, was uninsured and working as a security guard, until untreated diabetes left him legally blind.

Marijon Binder, an impoverished former nun in Chicago, was sued by a Catholic hospital over medical expenses she couldn’t pay.

Where Obamacare Failed And Where It Succeeded

And yet the list of what’s gone right is long.

What Repeal Would Really Mean

What’s not in dispute, or shouldn’t be, is the stark choice on the political agenda right now.

There’s a face to this law, there’s a face to people that are going to be affected by it. Angela Eilers, Yorba Linda, California

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

from http://ift.tt/2lhKYWx from Blogger http://ift.tt/2lYrfLJ

#http://www.topwaytohappy.tk/2017/02/this-is-what-obamacares-critics-wont.html

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restate30201 · 8 years ago

Text

This Is What Obamacare's Critics Won't Admit Or Simply Don't Understand

THOUSAND OAKS, California ― Maryann Hammers is likely to die from ovarian cancer someday. But she hopes someday won’t come anytime soon.

I'm terrified. ... Do you know how easy it is to use a million dollars when you're getting cancer treatment? Maryann Hammers, Thousand Oaks, California

“I’m terrified — isn’t that crazy?” Hammers said. “My biggest source of stress right now isn’t the fact that I have incurable cancer. It’s the prospect of losing my insurance.”

What American Health Care Used To Look Like

Tony Montenegro, an immigrant from El Salvador living in Los Angeles, was uninsured and working as a security guard, until untreated diabetes left him legally blind.

Marijon Binder, an impoverished former nun in Chicago, was sued by a Catholic hospital over medical expenses she couldn’t pay.

Where Obamacare Failed And Where It Succeeded

And yet the list of what’s gone right is long.

What Repeal Would Really Mean

What’s not in dispute, or shouldn’t be, is the stark choice on the political agenda right now.

There’s a face to this law, there’s a face to people that are going to be affected by it. Angela Eilers, Yorba Linda, California

The family’s coverage has become..

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2lVz2x4

#DIYS

0 notes

realestate63141 · 8 years ago

Text

This Is What Obamacare's Critics Won't Admit Or Simply Don't Understand

THOUSAND OAKS, California ― Maryann Hammers is likely to die from ovarian cancer someday. But she hopes someday won’t come anytime soon.

I'm terrified. ... Do you know how easy it is to use a million dollars when you're getting cancer treatment? Maryann Hammers, Thousand Oaks, California

“I’m terrified — isn’t that crazy?” Hammers said. “My biggest source of stress right now isn’t the fact that I have incurable cancer. It’s the prospect of losing my insurance.”

What American Health Care Used To Look Like

Tony Montenegro, an immigrant from El Salvador living in Los Angeles, was uninsured and working as a security guard, until untreated diabetes left him legally blind.

Marijon Binder, an impoverished former nun in Chicago, was sued by a Catholic hospital over medical expenses she couldn’t pay.

Where Obamacare Failed And Where It Succeeded

And yet the list of what’s gone right is long.

What Repeal Would Really Mean

What’s not in dispute, or shouldn’t be, is the stark choice on the political agenda right now.

There’s a face to this law, there’s a face to people that are going to be affected by it. Angela Eilers, Yorba Linda, California

The family’s coverage has become..

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2lVz2x4

#DIYS

0 notes