Mandy's Tue Blog: Socialized Medicine A Disaster In Colorado

OUR FAVORITE NERDY ECONOMIST STEVE MOORE JOINS ME AT 1 To talk about his column about how Biden's energy policy is only helping Putin in his war on Ukraine. Read it here.

MEDICAID ISN'T WORKING WELL IN COLORADO FOR PROVIDERS And I have done some version of this story in every state I've been in so let me tell you how this plays out. Mental health providers in Medicaid have been yelling for months about not getting paid by the system. Many of them have said they will stop accepting Medicaid because the program will bankrupt them while they try to get paid for serving our state's poorest residents. Now they have been joined by a whole host of other providers saying the same thing. From the Colorado Sun:

The department, which oversees the state Medicaid government insurance program, held a virtual listening session last week to hear from home health providers who described chaos and frustration that began last year when the department’s new contractor took over. The vendor, a national company called Kepro, handles prior authorization requests submitted by home health providers, speech pathologists, physical therapists and others for the Medicaid program.
Piles of requests have been denied or delayed, the providers say. For now, state Medicaid officials have put the requirement for prior authorization of services on pause while they sort out the reasons for delays and how best to meet federal guidelines, state officials said. The department said only about 10% of claims are getting denied for clinical or administrative reasons, meaning 90% of the claims are processed without issue. 

This is what government run healthcare looks like. Here is what will happen. They will fix this issue, probably maybe by the end of the year, but by then, providers will drop out of the program because they are tired of the paperwork and not getting paid. That creates a provider shortage that we should start hearing about middle of next year, where Medicaid patients will be trotted out by the media talking about how they can't get mental health care or whatever because there are no providers. Watch it, this is how it goes. If you think I'm lying, check out this quote:

“This one has been horrifically worse than any before,” said Floyd, who has worked in the industry for 20 years. 

Note this person doesn't say "it's never been like this" he says it's "horrifically worse" than any before. Not exactly a ringing endorsement. Government doesn't do healthcare well.

BIDEN IS GOING TO TELL US GREEN ENERGY WILL SAVE US TONIGHT During the State of the Union speech. He is going to tell the lie that green energy will save Americans $500 a year, which is a complete fabrication based on energy prices in other places like Germany that went all in on green energy. The speech is tonight at 7. By the way, the Germans with their green energy pay about 32.16 cent per Kilowatt hour for energy. In the US, we pay 11.88 cents per kilowatt hour. Do you want your energy costs to go up by three times? I do not. This is as bad as the lies that Obama told about Obamacare.

OH, AND THE SQUAD IS ISSUING ITS OWN RESPONSE THE SOTU And this is FANTASTIC. Normally a member of the other party delivers a response to call out how stupid that stuff in the speech was, but now, it's coming from the SAME TEAM. I love this. Read more here.

DON'T LET THE DEMOCRATS TELL YOU THEY WERE EVER TOUGH ON RUSSIA And this entire Twitter thread is worth your time because it lays out just how far back the Democrat appeasement and personal enrichment via the Russians really is. It's shocking and needs to be shared far and wide as Hillary Clinton is making the rounds talking tough about Russia.

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE TELLS THE TRUTH ABOUT COVID BY ACCIDENT This is really, really good.

WHAT CHANGED GERMANY'S MIND? This is a good column about why Germany decided to get involved in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and why they have been reluctant before. It's good information to understand.

THIS ARTICLE ON AMERICANS MOVING LESS SEEMS STUCK IN THE PAST First off, it is interesting how communities where no one moves are different from places full of transplants. We are feeling this tension in Colorado as outsiders bring in ideas they think will improve upon life while longtime residents like things as they are, thank you. The authors make the point that decreasing mobility is a bad thing for a variety of reasons, but with the rise of the internet, I think this is overblown. Whereas previously people had to leave to experience the world, now the world is in our homes in ways we couldn't imagine before. Now, are there underlying reasons that could be addressed when it comes to zoning restrictions and occupational licensing requirements that keep people where they are. We are actually trying to address that occupational licensing issue in Colorado by passing a law that would recognize licenses from other states to allow people to move freely. This is a good thing. However in Colorado we are also making housing even MORE expensive with government regulations about green building. The affordable housing crisis is government created for the most part, but our government simply shakes it head and goes "nuh-uh".

AURORA PASSED ITS CAMPING BAN With Mayor Mike Coffman casting the deciding vote after the Council ended up 5-5. We'll see what happens next, as I'm sure lawsuits are going to be filed by people who think it's okay to let people live like feral animals.

PRESIDENT ZELENSKY SPOKE TO THE EU TODAY And this guy is really something. They gave him the standing O, but they really should give him entry into the EU.

EVEN TURKEY IS PILING ON RUSSIA RIGHT NOW And they have banned access from the Black Sea for Russian warships. This is especially notable because Turkey, frustrated by not being allowed to join the EU, has been cozying up to Russia lately. As Turkey controls that strait completely, this is big blow to the Russian Navy. I think Erdogan is bit crazy but if this can bring him into the fold more so he causes fewer issues, it's a good thing.

THE PFIZER VACCINE IS TOTALLY UNNECESSARY FOR CHILDREN BECAUSE IT DOESN'T WORK That is the result of a study on the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine on children under 12 against omicron. It worked with a whopping 12% efficiency, which is hardly reason to get a shot into your kid. Read more here.

THE FENTANYL DEATHS IN COLORADO ARE WORSE THAN YOU THINK And this editorial from the Denver Gazette is shocking with its stats.

MASTERCARD AND VISA HAVE BLOCKED RUSSIAN BANKS As the cavalcade of financial hurt continues for Russian citizens. The two largest credit card providers in the world have blocked the financial institutions that were listed by the US Government Monday. One must wonder how happy the oligarchs will be when their platinum card is declined.

DID RUSSIA PLAY CHINA WITH THIS INVASION? That might explain part of the reason why China is seemingly pulling back its support for Russia in the last two days. This column explains how China simply refused to believe their ally Russia was planning a full scale invasion and as China didn't begin to evacuate its citizens from Ukraine until AFTER the invasion started this seems credible. China and Russia are allies because of their shared dislike of the US, but it seems Russia tuned China up on this one. That won't go well long term, but it does bode well for how Russia is going to manage these sanctions if China isn't going to bail them out.

PIGS GET FAT, HOGS GET SLAUGHTERED I have always loved this comment about greed and it may apply to retailers and manufacturers taking advantage of inflation to raise prices more than necessary assuming that consumers will not change their habits in response. I am a current user of a product mentioned in this story, but I can assure you, I will not pay ten dollars for toothpaste. It's just not going to happen. Colgate is banking on it though, as they shore up profits to return to stockholders. I don't have an issue with them paying stockholders, but they will lose this customer and others I'm sure, which they will have to explain to stockholders. I can live without whitening toothpaste that costs ten bucks.

WEIGHT TRAINING CAN STAVE OFF DEATH And I believe this 100%. A new study shows that people who weight train for just 30 minutes a WEEK can cut your risk of death by a fifth. Plus it will give you energy and prevent you from becoming one of those old people who can't get up from a chair without help. My grandmother ended up being one of those people and I NOT going to let this happen to me.

RUSSIA IS OUT OF THE WORLD CUP This after FIFA was trying to let them play somehow like the Olympics let them play even though they cheat incessantly. Now Russia has been bounced.

PUTIN IS OUT OF HIS BLACK BELT From the World Taekwondo association which gifted him with an honorary black belt some years ago. They took it back.

THE NEW CEO OF CNN SAYS THEY WILL MOVE BACK TO HARD NEWS Because let's face it, their opinion programming is freaking horrible. He has produced Morning Joe and The Colbert Report so I'm guessing he's a lib too, but the new owners have some pretty big influence over what is happening, including John Malone of Liberty Media. He's been very clear that he wants CNN to be a true unbiased news operation again. I hope they can pull it off, I think there is a real need for this.

IN A LITTLE PAIN? CHECK OUT SOME OLD PHOTOS This is really cool. A new study showed that when people were in mild pain, nostalgia can help. As in walking down memory lane, looking at old photos or movies and stuff like that. Our brains are amazing things.

SO WHAT DOES RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA REALLY LOOK LIKE? Dan Abrams on NewsNation broke it down and you need to watch it to understand what has been going on in Russia and why Russian soldiers thought they'd be welcomed like liberators. By the way, RT is on Xfinity right now. Watch both clips to get the full effect of the crazy alternate universe being projected by this "network".

CAN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL GET ITS ACT TOGETHER BY TODAY AT 5PM? I have to say, I think Major League Baseball is demonstrating how completely out of touch they are with what has been happening in the country for the last two years. As people are trying to rebuild their lives after government shut and destroyed their businesses, we have a bunch of billionaires arguing with millionaires about the luxury tax on payrolls being lifted, or the minimum salary going from $570,000 to something over 600. Get the damn deal done. America forgave you last time because a bunch of juiced up players had an exciting homerun race but that isn't going to happen again, and people will find other ways to fill their time. Trust me, I have.

THERE ARE SOME DEALS IN MARCH And some of these are REALLY good deals if you plan ahead. Find them all here.

THAT ONE FRIEND WHO ALWAYS COMES UP CLUTCH

THOMAS SOWELL SHARES THE MOST IMPORTANT ECONOMICS LESSON

IS THIS REALLY SATIRE? After reading yesterday's news about the government recommending social distancing if you're in a nuclear bomb shelter, is it so crazy that Dr. Fauci would recommend wearing three masks in that same situation?


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