Dan Drezner posts all the links dividing the Biden-Confidents and the Worry-Warts. He thinks Biden’s got it. Megan McArdle says she voted for divided government.
Andy Rotherham predicts major fights over funding of education as at the populations ages.
I’m really into oversized fluffy sweaters and fleece right now. Also, baggy fluttery, flowery dresses that can be worn with tights and boots. It’s all about being comfortable working from home, walking around the neighborhood, and shopping at the supermarket. Don’t live in yoga pants until the vaccine, please!
Individual candy bags for Halloween. COVID-friendly!
Apt. 11d 
Megan is so good about cookware and stuff and so bad about politics. Really, voting for a divided government is voting to waste every tax dollar; you’re giving their salary to those legislators and other elected officials for free, not expecting any work back from them.
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I am doubling down on pajamas. Yoga pants are not comfortable enough. I am also seriously considering whether I can fully embrace the look even when the virus is managed. I’m pretty weird, so I might do it, though maybe I will wait until I’m a bit older. Then I can wear purple pajamas and a red hat.
My girl kiddo gets dressed nicely everyday and said she has now fully realized that she dresses for herself.
My boy kiddo lives in his pajamas now, but does have outside pants.
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bj said, “I am doubling down on pajamas.”
I haven’t gone quite that far, but it is true that you might find me in night clothes pretty late into the morning. It feels more productive to start getting stuff done, rather than “waste” time on getting ready for the day.
I think flannel is fantastic and I own a small wardrobe of flannel shirts and tunics. Chenille is also amazing.
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That a great pseud, in case nobody has pointed it out.
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Nesting comments is hard on my phone.
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Do you mean my nym?
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Yes.
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Well MM probably thinks divided government is a measure for getting nothing done, which she might prefer.
My problem with voting for divided government is the presumption that government will be divided because you have divided your votes.
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Voting for divided government is like saying you pine for the days of debt ceiling brinksmanship.
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Megan McArdle says she voted for divided government.
McMegan. Honestly, has she ever been right about *anything*? Her writing about the Iraq war was horrifically misinformed, her opinions about healthcare policy are similar (“Oppose the ACA because it will harm research about my restless leg syndrome!”), she trades on being an expert in economics but her understanding of it appears predicated on the vocabulary you pick up in a shallow MBA econ 101 class and it isn’t clear that she ever took 102. She is the perfect example of a certain sort of right-center pundit who constantly fails up without ever being held accountable for anything silly she says.
If she is advocating divided government that is the strongest argument for the opposite.
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Jay said, “her opinions about healthcare policy are similar.”
Her 2010 writing on the ACA was some of her best work. It pointed out a lot of structural weaknesses in the ACA that have become really obvious.
Also, if the ACA is so great–why are Democrats so eager to fix it? The truth is, that it was bad for a lot of moderate-income households without employer-provided insurance. It often made their insurance and healthcare more expensive. A lot of people were forced into expensive high-deductible plans that they never wanted that still made any major medical event a crap shoot.
Also, Obama said that everybody was going to save $2500 on their health insurance. That did not happen.
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Why fix it? Because no bill is perfect and Republicans in Congress and the executive branch (as well as the Sup Ct) have made changes that make parts of the ACA dysfunctional. For example, it would be nice to fix the gap in coverage for low-income people in states that didn’t expand Medicaid.
—H.A. Erler, Kenyon C
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“Also, if the ACA is so great–why are Democrats so eager to fix it?”
What on earth was ever so perfect that it could not be made better?
Oh, and seatbelts are good even though they don’t prevent all injuries.
And masks are useful even though they don’t stop 100% of germs.
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bg said, “Why fix it? Because no bill is perfect and Republicans in Congress and the executive branch (as well as the Sup Ct) have made changes that make parts of the ACA dysfunctional. For example, it would be nice to fix the gap in coverage for low-income people in states that didn’t expand Medicaid.”
The final vote that passed the ACA was 219-212, with no Republican support.
When you have such a major piece of legislation and it’s highly controversial and highly partisan and just barely squeaks by, why is it a surprise when there are issues with implementation in states that were ridden rough-shod over to pass the bill?
Also, a lot of doctors don’t take Medicaid patients, or limit how many they take.
https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/doctors-less-likely-to-accept-medicaid-than-other-insurance/546941/#
“MACPAC found that only 71% of providers accept Medicaid. That’s compared to 85% who take Medicare and 90% that accept private insurance.”
“Physicians in general/family practice were less likely to accept Medicaid patients (68%) than Medicare (90%) or private insurance (91%). Only 36% of psychiatrists accepted new Medicaid patients compared to 62% who took Medicare patients and also 62% who accepted on private insurance.”
Given US mental health issues and the low number of mental health providers in much of the country, that last stat is a disaster.
Again, second look at federalism?
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If you’d like to actually learn something about the implementation of the ACA (no idea what your comment about states being ridden roughshod is about since they most certainly were not) and maybe even learn something about how Medicaid has never had the same rates of acceptance as Medicare (and in fact is designed to incentivize doctors not to take Medicaid patients vis-a-vis Medicare patients) here are some recommendations: Beland et al, Obamacare Wars; and Emanuel, Reinventing American Healthcare.
–H.A. Erler (KC)
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Amy Barrett was confirmed to a lifetime appointment on the court with a 52:48 vote 8 days before a national election in which not a single member of the other party supported her after being appointed by a president who was preferred by a minority of the nation’s voters.
The last time a Supreme Court justice was confirmed without a single vote from the other party was 1869.
Complaining about the closeness of the health care vote would be a prime example of the double standards Republicans routinely apply.
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