As expected, Kate’s health insurance, purchased on the ACA marketplace, is going to be more expensive next year. In fact, her plan won’t even be available, so she was booted to an allegedly comparable one for…quadruple her current premium. Which she absolutely can’t afford. And so the three of us must now put our heads together and try to figure out an alternative.
I’ve reached the point where I despise every Republican on the planet, and at least some of the Democrats, for allowing this to happen. I can’t even tell you how angry I am that a modestly paid gig worker like her has to risk going bareback because she can’t afford even the shitty health insurance the private marketplace offers.
But remember! The key to Democrats taking back Washington? Is MODERATION. What a joke. Medicare for all.
That rant out of the way, let me commence another: President Shit-for-brains has said he plans to pardon the former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández. Yeah, this guy:
He once boasted that he would “stuff the drugs up the gringos’ noses.” He accepted a $1 million bribe from El Chapo to allow cocaine shipments to pass through Honduras. A man was killed in prison to protect him.
At the federal trial of Juan Orlando Hernández in New York, testimony and evidence showed how the former president maintained Honduras as a bastion of the global drug trade. He orchestrated a vast trafficking conspiracy that prosecutors said raked in millions for cartels while keeping Honduras one of Central America’s poorest, most violent and most corrupt countries.
All this, while we’re still blowing up boats in the Caribbean, claiming without evidence that they’re drug-runners. And millions of Americans are just fine with all of this.
I must say, however, this is really a time for the NYT Pitchbot to shine:
In this Ohio town, it was tradition: Latin mass, biscuits and gravy at Bob Evans, and then down to the old marina to shoot a bunch of fishermen and claim they were running drugs. But now the woke mob wants to take all that away.
— NY Times Pitchbot (@nytpitchbot.bsky.social) November 30, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Friends, I have a lot of work to get out the door in the next two weeks, plus the usual holiday ramp-up. The good news: My shopping is all but done. The bad news: See above. Expect light posting, but I’ll be here, because blogging is a great way to procrastinate.
Jeff Borden said on November 30, 2025 at 5:39 pm
Poor Kate. And woe for the entire nation. The party that screams PRO LIFE at the top of its lungs is shortening ours with every deliberate action. Health insurance is only the start. The FDA under Bobby Brain Worms is now working to demonize vaccinations, which will lead to untold suffering and death. Environmental regulations are being revoked, so our air, water and soil will be more poisonous. Rural hospitals and health centers already are closing because of the slashes to Medicaid. Hunger is on the rise as prices increase but SNAP benefits are being slashed. My thoughts on the matter?
FUCK THE REPUBLICANS AT EVERY LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT FROM TOWNSHIP TRUSTEE TO SCHOOL BOARD TO CONGRESS AND THE WHITE HOUSE.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
762 chars
Deborah said on November 30, 2025 at 5:56 pm
The sad thing about hunger in America now-a-days is that cruel people (Republicans) talk about how pudgy kids are now, that there’s no way any kids are going hungry. Of course that’s totally erroneous because it’s much less costly to grab a big bag of chips to keep your kids from being hungry when there’s nothing in the kitchen, if you’re lucky enough to have a kitchen.
372 chars
Jeff Borden said on November 30, 2025 at 7:21 pm
Ronald Reagan played that same “fat poor people” tune 40 years ago. Ugly now. Ugly then. Always ugly.
101 chars
Suzanne said on November 30, 2025 at 7:26 pm
That NYTimes Pitchbot headline is perfection but sad because we will likely see it for real story in short order.
I still can’t get over the lack of outcry that Trump demolished a third of the White House. We have been watching the new season of Stranger Things and I increasingly think we are living in the upside down now.
328 chars
Heather said on November 30, 2025 at 7:37 pm
I’m also facing insanely high premiums as a self-employed person and it’s infuriating. I don’t think anything will change unless the current system is entirely overhauled. I did at least find an option to get on a group plan as an LLC–I just have to have an employee at some point next year. It’s still going to be insanely expensive but at least I get something for the money. The idea is clearly to make us all poor and desperate enough to work for pennies…but there aren’t any jobs anyway, especially for someone my age.
526 chars
Julie Robinson said on November 30, 2025 at 8:12 pm
Heather, Kate, I’m so sorry. Our daughter’s in the same situation, since at 4K/month the church can’t afford the denomination group insurance. She’s still waiting for premium info, but looked at a lesser plan and it’s complete shit. She’s 45, hasn’t had any issues, but she can’t go without.
Medicare for all? Not if it’s an Advantage plan, which I count as the single worst decision of our entire life.
We hated the plan we had because they delayed D’s heart surgery and he got really sick in the interim. But now both our primary doc and one cardiologist are dropping it, and I’ve spent at least 30 hours combing through all the other choices, all also bad.
Do we pay $60 for specialists and 20% for labs? He has a lot of those. Do we pay $6500 just for one heart drug? I’ve concluded giving up the dentist, optometrist, and dermatologist in trade for keeping the primary care doctor, two cardiologists, and urologist is the best tradeoff. Looking forward to doing this every year exhausts me.
1004 chars
tajalli said on November 30, 2025 at 8:15 pm
My auto insurance went up 48% this year – no accidents, very low annual mileage, just a year older with inflation for US parts and labor for a 21 yr old car. The cost of this insurance for 3 years would afford me a functional used car. California has a state program that allows one to buy basic coverage requirements, no comprehensive, for a very low price, so I’m considering that.
Everything that’s coming down is so beyond my control, all I can do is sigh, vote, and keep my own patch clean.
499 chars
David C said on December 1, 2025 at 5:50 am
Even Medicare sucks if you don’t buy a Medigap plan and a prescription plan and the prescription plans all pretty much suck. We’ve got to tear the whole thing down and rebuild it with a purpose of getting people healthcare, not of making billionaires.
251 chars
alex said on December 1, 2025 at 9:21 am
I need to continue with ACA insurance for the first ten months of next year at which time I’ll start Medicare, but I still don’t know what my premium is going to be. When I re-enrolled last month, I was told the premium would increase by $300+ but it wasn’t clear whether this was contingent on the subsidies being extended by Congress. If it’s quadrupling, I’m fucked.
After all of the horror stories people have shared regarding Medicare Advantage, I’m going with Medigap and Part D.
Tajalli, I was flabbergasted at my auto insurance bills and complained to my agent. I’ve been with State Farm for almost 40 years with a perfect driving record and no claims. I was told that this is happening industrywide and there was nothing to be done about it, but State Farm said it would give me discounts if I placed electronic monitors in my vehicles that track my speed, acceleration, cornering and breaking. So I decided what the heck and tried it. Despite me being a careful driver, these gadgets find fault with just about everything I do, and the discounts are fairly negligible, maybe $30 per vehicle.
Driving on big-city expressways gets me dinged big-time for speed. As I’m sure you know, driving in Chicago or Detroit or Indianapolis at the posted speed limit is far more dangerous than going with the flow, which is always at least 20-30 MPH faster (with some daredevils weaving in and out at much higher speeds than that). Fuck State Farm and its Big Brother beacons.
1486 chars
nancy said on December 1, 2025 at 10:52 am
Alex, our agent offered us that black-box option, too, and I said no fucking way. Talk about Big Brother.
105 chars
Julie Robinson said on December 1, 2025 at 11:34 am
Based on how often Life360 tells me I’ve used the phone while driving, I wouldn’t trust the accuracy of those boxes. Orlando traffic is scary enough that I don’t ever pick up my phone while I’m in the driver’s seat. Yes, I know Life360 is also big brother. We have reasons.
273 chars
Scout said on December 1, 2025 at 12:06 pm
We tried the monitor system to lower our car insurance costs and it was completely bogus. At first we both had scores in the 90s and we maintained that for several months. Then we were notified of a ‘system upgrade’ that once in place lowered our percentages to the 40s. We said fuck this and told them to pound sand. Personally, quoting Sammy Hagar, I can’t drive 55. Ever since we got rid of big brother, freeway edition, I accelerate with a feeling of glee and defiance.
As for the scam that passes for healthcare coverage in the US, we need MEDICARE FOR ALL. This current system is sustainable only for shareholders. It is basically a protection racket and all these insurance arseholes who deny coverage while jacking up policy prices should be brought up on RICO charges. My 62 y/o self employed artist friend (she does big public art projects) will be going bareback until she can get on Medicare.
All the bitching aside, if you didn’t see HCR’s 11/29 letter, it is a must read. It gave me a faint, albeit still far in the distance, glimmer of hope that the demented orange mobster regime will eventually be held accountable. https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/november-29-2025
1200 chars
tajalli said on December 1, 2025 at 12:12 pm
Alex, I figured it was an industry-wide situation, although the supercilious little boy I spoke with at AAA didn’t offer that information. I also “fail” to report my estimated annual mileage – they get it from the smog checks anyhow – or state whether I use my car for car sharing or Uber-Eats/whatever. I paid my bill in person and when the clerk asked me if I wanted enroll in their lovely home surveillance system, I pointed out they’d raised my auto insurance by $500. She looked at me and said, “I guess that’s a no.”
522 chars
alex said on December 1, 2025 at 1:49 pm
State Farm also supposedly gives me a break for using a Big Brother device that monitors electrical current and sends alerts if there are irregularities like arcing and power surges. I think this is worthwhile. I’m also happy to report that I’ve not had any incidents.
268 chars
Dexter Friend said on December 1, 2025 at 1:57 pm
Because I am “almost goddam dead anyway”–Popcorn Sutton quote, my insurance concerns aren’t nearly the problem younger folks experience, but I’ll add this, my Medicare + plan, which pays 100% of everything Medicare stops at, and is now only available to me on a grandfathered-in clause, jumped another $120 per month. What started at $159 in 2014 is now $634 per month. 31% of my Social Security check. Thankfully, no doctor bills nor costs for all my medications. The VA can be cold-shouldered and nasty , but for me, I can put up with that because of the benefits I earned across the world when Nixon was President, that bastard.
634 chars
Colleen said on December 1, 2025 at 5:22 pm
Because we are brokety broke broke, I got the app from USAA that tracks my driving in the hopes of shaving a few bucks off the auto insurance. So far I have been dinged for excessive stopping speed.
The area I seem to have lucked out in is my health insurance. TGH is not passing increased costs along to employees. They haven’t for years, in fact. (They would probably have an uprising, as our annual raises wouldn’t cover the increased costs). It’s still not cheap, but given the spot so many are in, I will take it.
Has this regime done one single thing to benefit Americans? I can’t think of anything. Every day is another exercise in actively causing pain. It’s enough to make one despondent.
707 chars
Mark P said on December 1, 2025 at 8:03 pm
When we first signed up for Medicare we took an Advantage plan. The price seemed great. Then we found that the only dentist within a reasonable distance that was in the network was 25 miles away. Then the next year he was not in network. And then my wife’s PCP was no longer in network. We switched to regular Medicare with a supplement. It isn’t cheap, but we don’t have to worry about prior approval, or copays. We just make an appointment and walk into the office.
You may have seen that Medicare is planning to start requiring prior approval for some procedures in some states. It’s a trial. I suspect it is part of a plan to eliminate traditional Medicare and force everyone into a Medicare Advantage plan so that private insurers can make more money.
The reality of the US hasn’t really sunk in for most people. We are seeing the slow motion destruction of the federal government and the collapse of the entire structure. Virtually every program that provided help or protection for the people is being destroyed. We now have a murderer as president, and another as secretary of defense. If we survive the next three years and a Democratic administration takes over, I hope we see prosecutions for murder and war crimes. I hope that everyone in the entire chain of command goes down, and spends the rest of their lives in prison. I suspect Trump won’t live long enough, or will be in such poor cognitive condition that he cannot be tried.
1870 chars
susan said on December 1, 2025 at 8:29 pm
I suspect Trump won’t live long enough, or will be in such poor cognitive condition that he cannot be tried.
Yeah, but Trump will pull a Vincent Gigante, and walk around in his bathrobe, peejays, and slippers….
224 chars
Julie Robinson said on December 1, 2025 at 8:44 pm
MarkP, didn’t you get rated when you switched back from Advantage? With D’s heart problems I figure coverage would be unaffordable, and there’s no way I’m gonna deal with different insurance companies.
201 chars
Deborah said on December 2, 2025 at 8:46 am
I learned something recently about Trump’s ballroom that keeps circling around in my head, that no official plans exist yet. There are illustrations or what architects call renderings, but there are no binding drawings yet.
There are usually some distinct phases, conceptual drawings, schematic design documents (SDs), design development documents (DDs) and Construction Documents (CDs) which are signed by a certified, registered architect and sent to the Contractor. Then the Contractor provides shop drawings that show what they will actually build. These all take a while to complete, refine and study for accuracy.
For a building as complicated as this ballroom will be based on security and structure as
it will occur over the bunker which has to involve all kinds of gyrations of planning the foundation. There’s no way all of that has been done since Trump has been president. Some buildings go through a design build process which can speed up the process but not that much. Speeding up the process can save money and time but often compromises the quality and materials. It can cheapen the final product.
They already tore down the East Wing as we know, and Trump is saying that the ballroom will be complete in 2029. When he’ll not be president anymore.
1284 chars
Jeff Borden said on December 2, 2025 at 10:12 am
Nothing sums up this “administration” quite like the story of Kash Patel before the funeral service for Charlie Kirk. Patel wanted to exit his government airplane wearing an FBI windbreaker, but he hadn’t brought one along. He refused to leave until one could be obtained, so FBI agents were scrambled to locate one. They eventually found one that fit: a woman’s size medium. This is what the FBI director obsessed about…how he’d look coming off his plane…not the actual crime itself. Man, are we in trouble.
512 chars
alex said on December 2, 2025 at 12:41 pm
They eventually found one that fit: a woman’s size medium.
I hope it slenderized his waist and puffed up his bazooms.
Meanwhile, Felchy McBrainworm is getting his own comeuppance with the release of his poetry and Kegseth might soon be rechristened as Hagueseth.
280 chars
Jeff Gill said on December 2, 2025 at 12:43 pm
FYI, the home built houseboat guy is up to the southern edge of Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron’s west coast. I don’t see him making it to Cheboygan this year. Alpena maybe.
https://x.com/maritimehorrors/status/1995885240401678691
231 chars
Brandon said on December 2, 2025 at 12:44 pm
Checking out the “Today in nn.c history” section, I looked at the comments for “Dried-plum face.” One noted that Donald Trump was going to moderate a GOP debate.
https://archive.nytimes.com/thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/02/trump-to-moderate-republican-debate/
It was canceled soon thereafter.
https://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2011/12/trump-debate-appearance-canceled-107281
402 chars
David C said on December 2, 2025 at 1:31 pm
We can only dream about Kegseth being sent to The Hague. The US isn’t a member of the ICC. Our theory was that the US justice system could handle such cases itself. Seems rather quaint now.
189 chars
Mark P said on December 2, 2025 at 3:01 pm
Julie — We switched so long ago that I don’t really remember what happened, but I don’t recall any problems. I have read that today at least, you can try an Advantage plan for a year and switch without problems. I have friends in Denver who have an Advantage plan. They would probably have trouble paying for regular Medicare supplement coverage. Unfortunately, they often have problems with pre-approvals, and they both have so many health issues that they make a lot of office visits and hospital stays. I imagine the copays are pretty high for them.
558 chars
Brandon said on December 2, 2025 at 3:04 pm
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/the-offices-only-a-newsperson-could-love
86 chars
Mark P said on December 2, 2025 at 3:29 pm
Hegseth is busy backpedaling and under-the-bus-tossing in the recent murder of civilians on a boat in the Caribbean. He blames the “fog of war” and, besides, he had already left and the admiral in charge ordered the second hit.
231 chars
Jeff Gill said on December 2, 2025 at 3:31 pm
Journey’s end. At least without rescue swimmers involved:
https://x.com/maritimehorrors/status/1995938712514126331
119 chars
Deborah said on December 2, 2025 at 10:34 pm
I asked my niece who lives in Minneapolis what the deal was with Trump and Somali people she said A group of 12 Minnesotans scammed the federal government out of millions of dollars during the pandemic. Not all of them were Somalians, but probably more than half were. They were caught immediately because they were such idiots about it. (Buying luxury cars and whatnot). So Trump has lumped all Somali people as being garbage, well also partly because he hates Rep. Ilhan Omar, who is black, muslim and a woman, which drives him crazy and he loathes Gov Walz, who is way more of a decent guy than Trump ever was or will be.
624 chars
Sherri said on December 3, 2025 at 1:19 am
The county I grew up in, Montgomery County, is in the TN seventh Congressional district that had a special election today. The TN-07 went +22 for Trump last year, as did Montgomery County. The Republican candidate won tonight by +9. A young female unquestionably lefty Democrat was only 8 points down in Montgomery County to a military veteran; Montgomery County is home to Fort Campbell and many retired veterans.
Tennessee gerrymandered the map in 2022 to make sure Nashville wouldn’t be able to elect a Congress member; Nashville is divided up and parceled out among districts so that the surrounding whiter, exurban and rural areas can drown them out.
661 chars
Deborah said on December 3, 2025 at 6:06 am
Have you all seen the video of Trump falling asleep next to Rubio who was praising him? Something is definitely wrong, seriously wrong. A guy like Trump who is so concerned about how he looks and all the times he talked about “sleepy Joe”, to let himself be seen on camera dozing off like that is weird. Dozy Don.
317 chars
alex said on December 3, 2025 at 8:40 am
Sherri, here in Indiana they want to divvy up and dilute Indianapolis into four surrounding districts and they’re also trying to obliterate the more liberal region adjacent to Chicago. Despite resounding disapproval from this state’s voters, and resistance from enough lawmakers to prevent passage, the legislature reconvened this week under pressure from Trump to ram this through.
Although ACA premiums were supposed to be officially posted by my current carrier on its customer portal after December 1, there’s still no information available regarding what I’ll be paying for insurance starting next month. The news outlets seem to indicate that both sides in Congress are too entrenched in their positions to negotiate anything by year’s end. The Republicans have some ridiculous counterproposal involving health savings accounts which couldn’t be timely implemented anyway while the Dems want to extend the subsidies by three years instead of just one and make this an issue in the next presidential election.
I need to get off my ass and away from news and get busy. Our tenant moved out of our rental and left the place pretty tattered after 11 years and I have a bunch of work to do. We can raise the rent considerably but it will probably all go toward health insurance.
1287 chars
Dexter Friend said on December 3, 2025 at 2:06 pm
The goddam Fog of War is what got thousands of my contemporaries killed and maimed in Viet Nam , as well as exponentially more Vietnamese combatants and civilians.
This was certified in McNamara’s mea culpa.
Kegsbreath should use different terminology if he wants clarity. I am wanting to see the admiral , Bradley, testify.
327 chars
Jeff Gill said on December 3, 2025 at 2:50 pm
“Fog of War” (2003) is definitely still worth watching; this is a compilation of deleted scenes from the documentary that adds even more to that story even if you’ve already seen it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJdXdESZlik
229 chars
Deborah said on December 3, 2025 at 2:50 pm
I kind of want to read the Olivia Nuzzi book which came out today, American Canto, someone please talk me out of it. I just listened to an interview of her with Tim Miller, the former Republican, never Trumper, Bulwark writer/podcaster. I’ve heard it’s not very well written in a word by word way by various people I respect, but I also feel kind of sorry for her, she obviously made a huge error in judgement, she lost her job, she was afraid for her life etc etc. I did like her writing a lot for New York Magazine, so I’m conflicted about buying it and reading it because it’s not getting good reviews. For what it’s worth I thought it was a terrific interview. She opened herself up to criticism and was very vulnerable. Sorry I didn’t get a link to the interview, you can Google it.
787 chars
nancy said on December 3, 2025 at 3:33 pm
Don’t buy it, Deborah. Just don’t. The excerpts are terrible. The “error in judgment” is apparently the way she operates, which is awful.
137 chars
Scout said on December 3, 2025 at 4:00 pm
Deborah, maybe you can get a copy from the library instead of financially supporting her.
89 chars
Sherri said on December 3, 2025 at 5:56 pm
Last night, I went to see the new city council members be sworn in, always a fun event. One of the new council members, members for Redmond is 20 year old Vivek Prakriya, who is an impressive young man. Among his supporters is former governor, Commerce Secretary, and Ambassador to China Gary Locke, and Locke was there last night for Vivek’s swearing in. Vivek chose to be sworn in on a copy of the Declaration of Independence, which Locke held, but before the swearing in, Locke made a few remarks about city councils being the foot soldiers of democracy and talked about the peaceful transition of power and read from the beginning of the Declaration of Independence. Locke was known as a moderate Democrat as a governor, but I think it’s safe to say, he sees the dangers of the current administration.
When I moved to Redmond, the council was all white and mostly men; the first person of color joined the council less than 10 years ago. Now, the council has three people of color and five women.
1007 chars
Dexter Friend said on December 3, 2025 at 6:03 pm
Thank you Jeff G. Very informative video clips. Well worth 31 minutes. Great education.
88 chars
Suzanne said on December 3, 2025 at 7:49 pm
We have a health savings account but there is a downside. We had it for maybe 15 years since my husband’s employer gave him the choice to go with a high deductible insurance plan and they would contribute each month to the HSA to make up somewhat for the difference. It was cheaper for them. It works well but even after that many years, there is about $30,000 in the account which would be wiped out quickly with one big medical problem. We were beyond fortunate that his employer contributed to it as many don’t. It’s been bought out and switched to a different company 3 times, each time is a huge pain in the you-know-what. The latest company takes a small amount of money each month for “management fees” & charges to send us paper statements. Once you are within so many months of retirement (I think 6 months) contributions must stop. My sister-in-law’s husband was all about having one but when he retired, he commented that there wasn’t that much in his and that if you can’t start when you are young, it doesn’t do you a whole lot good. No kidding. That and not everyone has an extra $500 or more to put in one every month.
1155 chars
alex said on December 4, 2025 at 9:33 am
I had an HSA while I was still working and I don’t see how one of those would work for people who now receive automatically subsidized premiums. I think it’s nothing but a sop to GOP cronies who run the HSA business. I was told HSAs were just another gimmick for Wall Street to stick its hands in the till way back when my employer implemented it in our benefit plan.
My HSA grew to about $10K over the years when I had few medical issues and then it got wiped out in a nanosecond when I had a serious medical issue and the account never really recovered. The monthly employer contributions were spent the minute they were deposited, with even more coming out of my own pocket. And then my local bank sold off my account to a bank in Omaha, and by that time I was retiring and it had essentially no money in it.
The Republicans don’t have any kind of plan and per Jennifer Rubin of the Contrarian Substack most of them want to kill the ACA outright, even though it’s a huge political liability for them coming into the midterms and 2028, but they’re in such disarray that they can’t even see it.
1104 chars
Heather said on December 4, 2025 at 12:24 pm
Yeah, HSAs seem fine for if you have an unexpected expense like a “simple” ER/urgent care visit or unexpected injury. But for the big stuff, as a couple people have said, it gets wiped out fast. When even one ER visit can cost thousands, it’s ridiculous to think of it as a solution to rising costs. Looking at my options, an HMO is cheaper on paper, but not when you have a chronic condition and are getting older and stuff breaks down more often.
I’m really sick to my stomach at the amount I’m going to be paying next year. But what choice do I have? It basically means I’m going to have to cut back on spending and won’t save anything for retirement, major home improvements, etc. I may need to get a full-time job, but frankly it doesn’t sound like employer plans are all that much better.
My only hope that is in a few years we manage to get some sort of universal healthcare system out of this debacle. But I’m not optimistic.
Someone posted a PDF of the Nuzzi book on Bluesky but then deleted the link. If it pops up again, I’ll send it to you, Deborah. It looks truly cringe-worthy. This is why we need editors. Although I suspect any editor worth their salt would have taken one look at the manuscript and say “don’t publish this.”
1244 chars
Sherri said on December 4, 2025 at 3:24 pm
Just wait for the If Books Could Kill podcast to do an episode on Nuzzi’s book. It will be far more entertaining than reading her book.
137 chars
Deborah said on December 4, 2025 at 4:28 pm
There is one good thing about the Nuzzi book and that is how it puts RFKjr in a bad light for a being a sex creep. I don’t know that it will do anything to make him anymore of an asshole than he already is. Also our hands are tied to get rid of him and Trump probably likes him more because of it. We’re just going to have to wait until Trump dies and Vance gets impeached, and that’s probably not going to happen, or we wait for 2028 to get rid of all of them.
461 chars
Deborah said on December 4, 2025 at 5:26 pm
Who’d a thunk it? Trump fired his ballroom architect. Huh?
58 chars