Latest Posts by queerest-frog-of-the-dirt - Page 2

reblog this to put a leaf on your mutuals head

Crow with Fries by Peter Reiquam 

(Les Gove Park, Auburn, Washington USA)

the new halloween movie looks great

The impossible scam of US drug plans

US health insurance is a dismal swamp of scams and opacity, a system whose patient outcomes are in freefall and whose patient costs are screaming upwards on a line that it asymptotic to infinity. As bad as the whole health insurance system is, drug plans are worse.

It is literally impossible to get a good deal on drug plans. Literally. How can I be sure that this is the case? Because Wendell Potter can’t, and if he can’t, you can’t. Potter is the former top Cigna lobbyist who changed sides and became a tireless advocate for Medicare for All, dedicating himself to revealing the evil schemes behind your spiraling costs and declining health.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/12/boeing-crashes/#wendellpotter

Potter was one of the architects of the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act (MMA), providing talking points to the Congressmonsters who voted for it. Under MMA, Medicare was prohibited from negotiating drug prices with pharma companies. Thus Americans pay US companies 200–400% more for their meds than Canadians pay to those same US companies:

https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-21-282

Potter is now on Medicare, and so he’s got a front-row seat to the MMA’s effects, two decades on. He’s got an Rx for a Symbicort inhaler for a chronic cough, and he pays $606 every three months for this. That’s because Medicare Part D users are expected to have a drug plan, and these drug plans are all eye-glazingly complex scams:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/05/04/house-always-wins/#are-you-on-drugs

Now, Potter is an industry insider, so he knows that there are often generic alternatives to name-brands like Symbicort. He asked his doc, and she prescribed a generic, fluticasone propionate-salmeterol. That’s where Potter’s tale gets interesting (and for interesting, read “terrible”):

https://wendellpotter.substack.com/p/i-just-caused-a-long-line-at-the

It turns out that, thanks to MMA, Medicare often provides zero coverage for generics, as a condition of secret rebate deals drug plan insurers cut with “Pharmacy Benefit Managers” (PBMs). PBMs are also a scam, one of those boring, complex, useless elements of US health insurance that exists solely to produce billions for monopolists:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/12/11/number-eight/#erisa

PBMs get special dispensation to create monopolies, in the name of cutting deals that are supposed to benefit the patients who rely on them. This special dispensation was originally coupled with a legal obligation to wield monopoly buying power on behalf of patients, but the PBMs successfully lobbied to do away with that obligation. They get the privilege, but no responsibilities to go with it.

Potter’s drug plan comes from Wellcare. Sure enough, they provide zero coverage for the generic alternative to Symbicort. But Potter is a pro. He knows that services like GoodRx let you comparison shop and search for discounts to get a better deal on insurance-excluded generics than you’d get by going through your insurer.

GoodRx sent Potter to his local Rite-Aid, where a three month supply of fluticasone propionate-salmeterol costs $286.50. Now, fluticasone propionate-salmeterol isn’t actually a generic for Symbicort — it’s a generic for a similar med, from Mylan, called Wixela.

So Potter, being a pro, asked the Rite-Aid pharmacist if Wixela was covered by his drug plan, and it was — $141 for a three month supply, a $55.17/month savings over the generic.

So Potter sort-of got a happy ending. All he had to do to save $155/month was:

Know that generics exist;

Ask his doctor for a generic;

Be told that a generic didn’t exist for his med;

Press on and get a scrip for a generic of a similar med;

Use a search-engine to find a deal on his generic because his insurance doesn’t cover it;

Ask the pharmacist whether the name-brand alternative to the generic is covered

Simple!

Of course, by this point, Potter had already been paying the higher price for some time, shoveling money into monopolists’ gaping maws. There is arguably no one better equipped in America to do what Potter did, and even he lost hundreds of dollars before he managed it.

As Potter says, people with “cancer, MS, or other life-threatening conditions,” often must spend thousands before their insurance even kicks in, and even then, their insurers likely don’t cover many of their meds. That’s why so many people with insurance end up in medical bankruptcy.

By design, the MMA made Medicare Part D drug coverage impossible to decipher, “because of the ever-changing list of medications insurance plans will or will not cover,” and remember, it also banned Medicare for bargaining on drug prices.

Potter closes with a note of hope: there’s an activist called “Lower Out of Pockets NOW” that is attracting bipartisan Congressional support, with talk of forming a caucus to address pharma ripoffs:

https://www.loopcoalition.co/

In the meantime, there’s the all-American tactic of “have you tried not being sick?” coupled with “do a search on GoodRx” and “remember to ask your pharmacist about generics and name-brands.”

[Image ID: A US $100 bill. Benjamin Franklin’s portrait has been replaced with a Symbicort inhaler. The seal of the US Treasury has been replaced with the logo for Wellcare.]

Saying the quiet part out loud. The west is demanding blood - the deaths of millions of Chinese people - in order to sustain Apple’s stock price a little longer.

reblog with ur height in the tags!!!!! i wanna see how tall/short all my mutuals are

Two job-hunting resources that changed my life:

This cover letter post on askamanger.com. A job interview guide written by Alison Green, who runs askamanager.

Look at this lol

It was the nearest I've come in weeks to threatening that if you kids don't settle down in the back, I'm just going to turn this car around and nobody gets to go to grandma's house.

And then I had to explain that it was a joke and, no, I can't and won't unilaterally cancel a show that cost Amazon and the BBC many tens of millions of make and which we've already shot, just because some people were getting huffy on Twitter. Sigh.

Rick Riordan’s response to the racism and hatred directed at Leah after she was cast as Annabeth:

“Leah Jeffries is Annabeth Chase”

“This post is specifically for those who have a problem with the casting of Leah Jeffries as Annabeth Chase. It’s a shame such posts need to be written, but they do. First, let me be clear I am speaking here only for myself. These thoughts are mine alone. They do not necessarily reflect or represent the opinions of any part of Disney, the TV show, the production team, or the Jeffries family.

The response to the casting of Leah has been overwhelmingly positive and joyous, as it should be. Leah brings so much energy and enthusiasm to this role, so much of Annabeth’s strength. She will be a role model for new generations of girls who will see in her the kind hero they want to be.

If you have a problem with this casting, however, take it up with me. You have no one else to blame. Whatever else you take from this post, we should be able to agree that bullying and harassing a child online is inexcusably wrong. As strong as Leah is, as much as we have discussed the potential for this kind of reaction and the intense pressure this role will bring, the negative comments she has received online are out of line. They need to stop. Now.

I was quite clear a year ago, when we announced our first open casting, that we would be following Disney’s company policy on nondiscrimination: We are committed to diverse, inclusive casting. For every role, please submit qualified performers, without regard to disability, gender, race and ethnicity, age, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other basis prohibited by law. We did that. The casting process was long, intense, massive and exhaustive.

I have been clear, as the author, that I was looking for the best actors to inhabit and bring to life the personalities of these characters, and that physical appearance was secondary for me. We did that.  We took a year to do this process thoroughly and find the best of the best. This trio is the best. Leah Jeffries is Annabeth Chase.

Some of you have apparently felt offended or exasperated when your objections are called out online as racist. “But I am not racist,” you say. “It is not racist to want an actor who is accurate to the book’s description of the character!”

Let’s examine that statement.

You are upset/disappointed/frustrated/angry because a Black actor has been cast to play a character who was described as white in the books. “She doesn’t look the way I always imagined.”

You either are not aware, or have dismissed, Leah’s years of hard work honing her craft, her talent, her tenacity, her focus, her screen presence. You refuse to believe her selection could have been based on merit. Without having seen her play the part, you have pre-judged her (pre + judge = prejudice) and decided she must have been hired simply to fill a quota or tick a diversity box. And by the way, these criticisms have come from across the political spectrum, right and left.

You have decided that I couldn’t possibly mean what I have always said: That the true nature of the character lies in their personality. You feel I must have been coerced, brainwashed, bribed, threatened, whatever, or I as a white male author never would have chosen a Black actor for the part of this canonically white girl.

You refuse to believe me, the guy who wrote the books and created these characters, when I say that these actors are perfect for the roles because of the talent they bring and the way they used their auditions to expand, improve and electrify the lines they were given. Once you see Leah as Annabeth, she will become exactly the way you imagine Annabeth, assuming you give her that chance, but you refuse to credit that this may be true.

You are judging her appropriateness for this role solely and exclusively on how she looks. She is a Black girl playing someone who was described in the books as white.

Friends, that is racism.

And before you resort to the old kneejerk reaction — “I am not racist!” — let’s examine that statement too.

If I may quote from an excellent recent article in the Boston Globe about Dr. Khama Ennis, who created a program on implicit bias for the Massachusetts Board of Registration for Medicine in Boston: “To say a person doesn’t have bias is to say that person isn’t human. It’s how we navigate the world … based on what we’re taught and our own personal histories.”

Racism/colorism isn’t something we have or don’t have. I have it. You have it. We all do. And not just white people like me. All people. It’s either something we recognize and try to work on, or it’s something we deny. Saying “I am not racist!” is simply declaring that you deny your own biases and refuse to work on them.

The core message of Percy Jackson has always been that difference is strength. There is power in plurality. The things that distinguish us from one another are often our marks of individual greatness. You should never judge someone by how well they fit your preconceived notions. That neurodivergent kid who has failed out of six schools, for instance, may well be the son of Poseidon. Anyone can be a hero.

If you don’t get that, if you’re still upset about the casting of this marvelous trio, then it doesn’t matter how many times you have read the books. You didn’t learn anything from them.

Watch the show or don’t. That’s your call. But this will be an adaptation that I am proud of, and which fully honors the spirit of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, taking the bedtime story I told my son twenty years ago to make him feel better about being neurodivergent, and improving on it so that kids all over the world can continue to see themselves as heroes at Camp Half-Blood.”

(x)

what I love about tumblr blaze is that it forces people to realize how insulated their bubbles are. tumblr IS really good at allowing users to curate their own personalized experiences, but it also means that people start to think that the drama, opinions, and experiences of their little online sphere is shared by the majority of tumblr (it’s not), so when they blaze their posts they’re just airing their dirty laundry to people that are outside of their echo chamber, and dealing with the consequences of people not automatically agreeing with them. and let me tell you it is delicious to watch

teal and orange truly is the greatest color combo in the world. like name one better combo

In 1934-1936, trans brothers Mark and David Ferrow of Yarmouth, UK, both transitioned at age 13 with full parental support. Mark medically transitioned first in 1939 at 17 and his brother soon followed. “Though we have been girls, we have both felt men at heart,” Mark told a reporter. Their stories show that trans youth can grow up to be happy, celebrated adults.

David lived in their hometown of Great Yarmouth, UK for the rest of his life. He became a local icon. At 15, he started selling books. He later ran a wildly successful bookshop until death in 2006, age 81, 68 years after transitioning. He had a daughter, Jan, who supported his work. The whole town adored him. Why, yes, that is a mug of his face. Mark, always passionate about art, joined the Kirby Muxlue Players troupe as a writer and traveled throughout the UK. His David Gower painting is currently in the UK’s National Portrait Gallery! His art still hangs in collections all over the country - although it’s almost never recognized as being by a trans artist. Mark married Edna Hall in 1942 and died in 1991, age 68, in Leicester. It’s important to mention that it’s unclear if both men are intersex despite the reports. At the time, it was customary for non-intersex trans people to claim intersex conditions in order to access care (e.g. Roberta Cowell). Regardless if they were trans or intersex and trans, I would hate their underreported stories to be forgotten!

hnggg... pleas...oshawott with hard hat ...hngg..ty

OSHAwott lol

The way kim k was allowed to wear Marilyn Monroe’s dress to the met gala is so infuriating both from a fashion conservation standpoint and a historical standpoint. Marilyn Monroe came from absolutely nothing and was super smart and was an advocate for minority rights and was on the fucking government’s communist watchlist and kim k thinks she has the right to wear her dress? And not only that but rich people shouldn’t just be allowed to wear historical garments whenever they want. It damages a garment that should be preserved by experts in a museum instead. Fuck off get hit by a car dumb bitch

just a heads-up for those of you (like me) who have triggers surrounding animal harm/death, PETA has released a youtube ad with sounds of owls screaming in agony and goes into graphic descriptions of ‘mutilation’ and death. it’s unskippable. 

if you see a black screen with audiowaves on it or hear owls/johns hopkins, get out of there

Bees Dice Set // Crystal Maggie on Etsy

Things I Include In My D&D Games That My Players Don't Know About

If they hold a wooden bowl and walk into a locked door, they'll phase through it like it's Skyrim

If they attempt to jump backwards up a set of stairs, with a high enough dex roll, they will launch up the stairs, through the roof, and into the upper atmosphere

There is an Anti-Tarrasque.

Trolls have 12 different blood colors, with only 2 existing in aquatic troll varieties.

If they enter a new area fast enough, they can catch the birds flying without moving anywhere.

Trees DON'T make sounds when they fall and no one's around, there's just no one around that can prove that

Lazer guns exist, they're just shy

If you get knocked prone on a sloped surface, there is a 1% chance of clipping into the terrain

There's a 1% chance of the textures in someone's face not loading correctly

you may notice i use the phrase "my beloved" frequently. this is because i am in love with the world and everything in it. hope this clears things up <3

Genuinely I think if you have ever come up with a headcanon about a real human person, especially regarding their gender or sexuality, or sat down and written fanfiction about them, you should take a serious critical look about the way you engage with media. It’s creepy and dehumanizing to do and you really should not ever be treating real people the same way you’d treat fake ones for reasons that seem incredibly obvious but clearly aren’t

I've been laughing about the Mark Hamill gaygay tweet for six hours

I wish theyd included the scene of Dipper brutally murdering Dippy Fresh

hey so it’s march now aka the beginning of endometriosis awareness month and i feel obligated to remind you that debilitatingly painful periods are not normal. if you or someone you know is ending up sick or bedridden every month, you are not crazy and deserve medical attention from someone who will take you seriously

OUT OF TOUCH THURSDAY

Also, RE Ty Lee's favorite vegetable being mushrooms; apparently fungi were indeed classified as plants until the 1960s irl. There are people still alive that remember when fungi were veggies, not strange organisms that are more closely related to us than they are to anything in the plant kingdom.

I think you meant to say “when fungi were considered veggies” but I love the implication that mushrooms used to be vegetables up until the 1960s when they simply decided not to be

thi s one wins

One day soon I'm going to log on to this app and my whole dash will be crabs and that's how I'll find out the queen died