re: Price changes: Jan 2000 to June 2021 - Selected US goods and services, wages

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They should be handed out for free or have to compensate the viewer through an agreed upon monthly contract.

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TV’s have hit this low price due to manufacturing costs shrinking and patents expiring or sharing of technology.

What is crazy is that almost all TV’s are made in the same Chinese factories and just the label/branding is changed. Now TV’s will start to roll out with new TV tuners with the ATSC 3.0 standard, but right now few stations are utilizing the new standard and the new tuners are only available in mid to high end models. The new tuners will probably cost more due to licensing and patents for the newer codecs used.

Now what hasn’t gone down in the cost of owning a TV are subscription costs for cable, streaming services, etc.

New cars haven’t gone up since 2000? I’m not a believer. New trucks are a lot more. Wonder why? What are they trying to spin? I’m a skeptic of most everything the government says.

bullshite that wages went up 80%

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I don’t see anyone coming up with the solution to the problem

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and you're not going to see anyone come up with a solution. Healthcare is so politicized and polarized at this point that real solutions are impossible. You can't even broach the subject of medicare and Medicaid reform because you are immediately hit with accusations of wanting to kill granny. Both sides know that older voters show up to the polls more consistently that any other group because their biggest concerns are their healthcare and social security.

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I don’t want the government to take over healthcare, but something needs to be done in a major way to fix things.

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I’ve said similar things. I’m extremely libertarian on most things and in no way want UHC or government intervention, but when you learn healthcare cost are a made up number by some a-hole in a hospital back room that they negotiated with some insurance a-hole in another back room, something is broken. You can show up with a piece of paper and they’ll say that x-Ray will be $50. You could show up with a different piece of paper and now it’s $1000.

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Everyone loves to shite on Obama for that, but he’s the only President who attempted to fix our shitty healthcare system.

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He is literally the one that sent costs skyrocketing.
Insurance and costs made a huge jump from 2009-2011.

I do agree that Obama gets unfairly dumped on for some things, but government taking over healthcare costs and student loans gave universities and hospitals a carte blanche to go hog wild.

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I understand complications with procedures and surgeries, but a routine visit and lad test should Cost the exact same and it should Be published prior to going to see them

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I’ve shared this story before but a TLDR version is that my wife had 2 surgeries (1 per foot) in 2018. Took care of those and then one pin started coming out and protruding through the skin. Doc said come and get it out.

Wife goes in, signs nothing, he cuts, unscrews the pin, sews it back up, take an x-ray, all good and goes home. 15 minutes.

2 months later, $7k bill. I ask for a line item bill and they say no, pay us $7k for 15 minutes of time and an X-ray. I tell them to have a nice day and that’s that.

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2 months later, $7k bill. I ask for a line item bill and they say no, pay us $7k for 15 minutes of time and an X-ray. I tell them to have a nice day and that’s that.

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Insurers are just as bad. I saw a case where Blue Cross said they would pay for a procedure and it didn't require auth, then they stiffed the provider.

At least the provider wrote it off so the patient didn't get stuck with a large bill.

Everything the government has their hands in vs everything they don't