@ElectricMink Very! I've been explaining to my kids that while some things are very goofy right now, on other fronts we're making a lot of progress. There's good news and hope to be found!

@tek

Another area for hope right now - the push for single payer health insurance is gaining headway, not just in California, but states like Nevada are starting to make "single payer" noises.

@ElectricMink I think it's inevitable at this point. My company ran a lot of "what if" articles showing what would happen to prices under Trumpcare and it's not pretty.

@tek

The only good thing about the AHCA is if it becomes the law of the land, there's going to be a *lot* of anger directed at the people who passed it....might finally be the straw the breaks conservatism's back.

@ElectricMink I think you're right. I _hope_ there'd be a "oh shit this is exactly what they promised us they'd do, how could we have known!" moment.

@tek

Yeah, here's hoping.

@ElectricMink And I admit a certain amount of schadenfreude that the people hurt most are the ones most likely to have voted for Trumpcare's proponents. I know this is bad and I shouldn't feel this way, but I do.

"Haha, we'll teach those West Coasters a lesson! Wait, what do you mean 'black lung' is a preexisting condition?"

@tek

Anytime I start feeling a little schadenfraude about that, I suddenly remember *I* have a pre-existing condition that's already resulted in over half a million dollars being dumped into my chest and will, over the remainder of my life, cost hundreds of thousands more in the best case scenario. If I ever lose insurance, I'm hosed, big time.

@ElectricMink Yeah, that's terrible and things like that temper my gloating. I don't want anyone to go through that, even if I disagree with them. But a small part of me thinks that if someone brings around the situation where it's going to happen, I hope they're the one it happens to.

@tek

I hear you.