Wow, I can not believe Balloon-Juice is over twenty years old.
I was aware of this chunk of the internet during the run-up to the Iraq War. When Watergirl reminded me that the big 2-0 was happening a few weeks ago, I searched the comments and the archives for my first interaction here at the full service cats, politics, rage, laughter, humor, health insurance, geo-political analysis and cooking blog. I think I found my first comment from November 2003 trash talking the Steelers. My next comment was 2006 and then I started to comment here rather regularly after Tim F. highlighted a few things that I had written at other places under names other than Richard Mayhew.
I went down the rabbit hole. And my comments as part of the Jackalariat were under the theme of “let’s do the math to figure out if the desired end state is readily achievable….” And sometimes it was, and often I was a wet blanket on hopes and dreams. I stuck around and kept on pointing out that healthcare reform would be determined by 218-51/60-1-5 so that while Lieberman was a douchebag, the marginal vote in the Senate was either a douchebag or someone representing a state/district that went landslide for McCain and that significantly constrained the possibility space. Tim and I went to a couple of Steelers games and we kept in contact even as I was switching careers from program evaluation to health insurance. I kept on reading Balloon-Juice through the first decade until the summer of 2013 where the ACA had been passed and everyone in comments was going “WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN TO ME???”
And that is an awesome question. It was a question that I could answer. So I reached out to Tim, and he reached out to John. Three days later, I started to write here and I never stopped.
As I have said before, I really thought I would have been done by December 2013. That was a minor underestimate a million words later.
This place is just fundamentally weird. I get to geek out on something that fascinates me. All the other front pagers geek out on things that fascinate them. And then the comment section in almost every post does its own thing within thirty posts. And somehow this all works in a community.
And this geeking out has led to another career change to academia and significant policy impact. The past year, my research has led to West Virginia to change how they instruct insurers to price for the Cost-Sharing Reduction (CSR) benefits so that premiums are much cheaper for most buyers now. California has passed a significant state wrap-around subsidy with details that are directly lifted from a working paper that my co-authors and I are trying to get published at this moment. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services is responding to significant chunks of my research in their 2023 rulebook for the ACA marketplaces. The Assistant Secretary of Planning and Evaluation at the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) recently cited a Balloon-Juice post and made “silver spamming” a term used in a federal document. I can’t even imagine that being in my possibility space from 2013 when I started to write here.
And that is not the coolest part of writing here. Instead it has been the e-mails with all of the Jackals here as people are trying to figure out the almost impossible to navigate US health finance system. We’ll mutually bang our heads into the wall and then figure out a pathway forward. I know that these conversations have led to people savings tens of thousands of dollars, I know that these conversations have allowed people to retire safely. I know that these conversations have allowed people to get the care that they need. I know that we help each other out. That is the most amazing part of the Balloon-Juice community. We help each other out.
That still blows my mind. I am still amazed that you all came through to help Claire and her family out with over $25,000 in under a day. As a quick update, she is doing great. We saw her and the in-laws over the Christmas holiday and the only thing that she needs to be aware of is that shorts are not always indicated for late December. Other than that she is a happy, healthy kid who has an interesting choice in hair styles and a need to perform on stage.
I’ve rambled enough but given that this is Balloon Juice, we’re always on topic even if we’re off-topic.
Starfish
It is amazing that your research is making a real impact. A lot of your posts seem so academic now that it is hard for me to understand what the ultimate impact is. That thing where a lot of people in West Virginia will be saving money is a big deal.
WaterGirl
All that stuff in paragraph 7 – I did the math! – is a big Joe Biden deal. Really impressive. So wonderful to know you have made a concrete difference in the lives of real people.
Okay, so I didn’t actually do any math, I just counted to 7. Close enough. ?♀️
Tim in SF
I started reading about a year before you started writing about Schiavo. I haven’t posted many comments (maybe two or three a year) but I’ve read most every post, every day. I cried when Tunch died.
WaterGirl
@Tim in SF: We all cried when Tunch died. There was a disturbance in the force, indeed.
Ken
Is this already a rotating tag? If not, I am surprised.
Brendan in NC
I started reading you during the ACA, so I could point friends and family in the right direction, if needed. And, as a soccer fan/former player, I stayed for the officiating posts and stories…
Suzanne
Your news about Claire is the best way to start 2022.
Baud
@Ken: you beat me to it.
@OP
Some say Footnote 55 was the beginning of the end of the Biden administration.
Zelma
The health care posts have been so informative and so useful. And it’s great to know that your work is making a difference. I always read them; don’t always fully understand them.
Kelly
If I recall correctly we started Obamacare with 11 insurers offering I don’t know how many plans. Mrs Kelly and I had married a few years before that. She was uninsured w/preexisting conditions when we married. We got her into the Oregon high risk pool which was expensive and kinda crappy.
You were a gigantic help navigating the sudden flood of pretty good choices. We ended up covering both of us for less than I was paying alone.
Thank You!!!!
SiubhanDuinne
You are one of the best things that ever happened to this blog, David! Thanks for your unique combination of scholarship and humanity.
P.S. Excellent update on Claire! She sounds like a totally normal, cool, together, and HEALTHY teenage girl!
Litlebritdifrnt
I am busily arguing on Twitter about Prince Andrew. On one thread that are so many “yeah my brother’s cousin’s friend served with him in the Navy and said he was an arsehole” there are tons of them, not one of them actually served with Andrew and knew what he was like. I did. He basically followed me around the fleet (running joke between us) and I know. I am getting thoroughly pissed off at people who make these claims and have no idea what it was like to actually serve with him. At the time he is accused of wrongdoing with Epstein he was the Prince William of his time, he was adored by females all over the UK, he could have snapped his fingers and got himself a woman without any problem. And another thing he was married to Sarah, the love of his life. Despite the fact that the Duke of Edinburgh couldn’t stand her and ended up forcing their divorce they are still together. I am so tired of this horseshit. It all comes down to money, lawyers and money.
Miss Bianca
Ah, we get to say, “we knew him when…he was RICHARD MAYHEW!”
Seriously, great job here. Ditto the sentiments expressed about the community here. Glad to hear Claire is doing well!
Rusty
Thank you for all the insight and education. Sometimes it was really over my head but I now much better understand (to the extent I need to) our crazy healthcare system. Yesterday the spouse mailed off the last payment for our son’s hospitalization with what was very likely Covid-19 induced pediatric inflammatory syndrome in the spring of 2020. What a crazy system, a payment plan with the hospital and a year and a half of steadily eating away at the amount due. We even have average health insurance! Still, grateful he is fully recovered and I continue to have a job that allowed us to pay it off. Having lived for 4 years in the UK (our son was “born on the NHS”), I can see better possibilities but also understand the US will never go there. So you will continue to have lots of work improving our current system (many, many thanks for that) and explaining to the rest of us what is going on.
OzarkHillbilly
Open mouth, insert foot.
Jerry
Great job, David. That Mayhew fella would be so proud of your work here in his absence.
bluegirlfromwyo
So thrilled that Claire is a kid again.
As for all your posts, I haven’t always understood them fully but they are a great service. Thank you.
OzarkHillbilly
@Miss Bianca: Or to put it another way, “We knew him back when he was still a Dick.”
burnspbesq
OT, but likely of interest to the vets (and any active-duty military) in the jackaltariat:
An Army trial judge in Germany has ruled that under the Supreme Court’s 2020 ruling in Ramos v. Louisiana, court-martial guilty verdicts must be unanimous. Steve Vladeck’s Twitter account has a link to the full text of the ruling.
If this survives the inevitable appeals, then perhaps “military Justice” will be less of an oxymoron.
Gin & Tonic
Too bad you had to replace Mayhew. I still cherish the dildo story – one of the best posts here, on a par with pictures of Walter’s shit.
trollhattan
While I really, really miss the continued (mis)adventures of an NCAA soccer ref, I do appreciate all you do here and for This Great Nation re. our really messed up healthcare system. Some of which I understand.
Almost Retired
I started reading your posts regularly a few months ago, as I was approaching retirement, but still several years away from Medicare. At first, I didn’t understand a lot of it, but the more of these I read, the greater my understanding. So much so that I am opining on health insurance issues to friends and family who never asked. I suppose it’s “balloon ‘splaining” or something.
ETA: I think I do a lot of “balloon ‘splaining” on other subjects as well, thanks to this fucking addictive blog.
wvng
Thanks David/Richard, for all you have done to help us navigate America’s health care mess. And fabulous news about Claire.
karen marie
David Anderson, you are such a mensch!
Thank you for all the hard work you’ve put in on the healthcare front. It is appreciated, even if my brain explodes at the nitty-gritty.
WaterGirl
@Almost Retired:
balloon ‘splaining. that’s awesome.
zhena gogolia
Wow, great post. So glad to hear about Claire.
Litlebritdifrnt
@burnspbesq:
That will be interesting to say the least. Will there be lots of appeals from previous convictions I wonder? I suppose it all depends on how many families have the money to hire an appeals lawyer. My guess would be not many.
Leto
@burnspbesq: I’ll be honest when I say that’s one portion that I didn’t pay the most attention to, mainly because the entire military legal system kind of shrouds itself in secrecy. You’re not allowed to ask about anything, there’s basically no reporting/information about cases that do go to trial outside of, “Airmen Skippy got X punishment for doing Y”, and we have a few different entities that do different things and over time it’s just confusing and frustrating. Idk, maybe working as intended. Idk how this ruling will play out within the larger military legal community, but hopefully good things will follow?
MomSense
Now if we can get DHHS to use green balloons we will really have made our mark. Congrats Mr. Anderson (spoken in the Agent voice). Happy to hear that Claire is healthy!
Jerzy Russian
So you first commented as “Tim F.” Then you went out to a football game with Tim, and reached out to Tim later? It seems you have some sort of split personality disorder, or there is more than one character in this saga named Tim, or that I cannot read. Some guidance would be nice before I go all “Norman coordinate”.
Juju
I am one of the jackalariat you helped, and I am forever grateful that you did. You are truly one of the best things that happened to me in my lifetime. You helped to put me in a better place financially and health insurance-wise with a simple suggestion that I didn’t know was a possibility. You suggested that the money my mother was paying for a Bronze high deductible exchange policy for me should be turned into a salary as caregiver for my mother. This would raise my income to a level where I qualified for a tax credit that paid for a silver health insurance policy. It has put me in a place as my mother’s caretaker, as we deal with her dementia. It helped prepare me for things I wouldn’t have been prepared for without your help. You did this while you were posting as Richard Mayhew, which I thought was your real name. I wasn’t familiar with the Mayhew character from which you were borrowing the name. If you had called yourself Fitzwilliam Darcy or Alex Cross I might have caught on. It was also nice to meet you in person as David Anderson at the gathering at the brewery. I was the one who brought my just that day adopted dog. I now think of you as Mister Anderson soon to be Dr. Anderson, helping people to work their way through the matrix… of the ACA.
I am so happy that Claire is doing so well. That is some of the best news I’ve heard so far this year.
David Anderson
@Jerzy Russian: Slightly clarified the sentence.
Posted under a different name.
Tim F (the first non-JC coblogger ) picked up some work that I had done elsewhere. I got immersed into the community.
Started to write as Richard Mayhew.
Jerzy Russian
@David Anderson: The clarification makes more sense. Norman won’t have to coordinate this one after all.
WaterGirl
@Juju: wow, I literally got goosebumps reading that. so happy for all concerned you, your mom, and dave.
MomSense
@Juju:
❤️❤️
trollhattan
@Juju:
Wonderful tale, and so glad things are working out for you and your mother. Yay!
zhena gogolia
@Juju: Great story.
Meyerman
So happy I found this place. Long ago, I wandered over from somebody’s blogroll (James Wolcott?) in those early days. The scrapping (like a family at a dinner table) can be hilarious or annoying, depending on your mood, but mixed in with the insults and randomness are some supremely enjoyable words, which can be hilarious, profound, intelligent, or necessary, depending on the day. Thanks, David, for all your contributions. Thanks to front-pagers, current and past. And special thanks to JC, who made it all possible.
Juju
Thank you all for your kind thoughts. It’s nice to come here and read the interesting posts and a lot of the comments. It’s a nice respite when I need it.
Ruckus
David.
That’s because it is a community. People come, people go and some settle down for the long run because they found a place they could be comfortable. For some that task takes a long time, for some it takes forever, and for some it clicks early and easily. It’s like living in NYC. It’s not for everyone but it works for millions. It’s never 100% for any one person, but it is often enough to keep a fair number around and interested. I believe that is a pretty normal definition of a community.
And you are a part of that. John may be the founding mayor, but we are all a part of it. It just looks different than what we used to call a community. And looks aren’t everything.
silvery
That HHS cite is awesomeness. Congrats! I was able to use your early ACA posts to help a friend find the right assistance for choosing a plan in California that first year of the exchange.
burnspbesq
@Leto:
I found the military Justice system impossible to understand until a colleague at IRS Chief Counsel who was also an Army Reserve JAG officer told me the secret: “it’s not about justice, it’s about good order and discipline.”
Another Scott
Thanks for checking in and for all the updates. Excellent news all around.
Have a wonderful 2022 and do continue to post when you can.
You do need to pace yourself, though. You need some remaining mountains to climb once you get those 3 initials after your name!
Cheers,
Scott.
different-church-lady
Shit, I still can’t believe I’m over 20 years old…
surfk9
I just wanted to repeat what I said in a thread yesterday. I know more about this shit than I should because of you. I have been able to help some folks get lower rates and even insured by encouraging them to explore subsidies and especially some of the new rules that have come about here in California.
So Thanks David!
topclimber
As an analyst, forgive me for saying, sometimes you numb my mind. That’s the nature of the beast when it comes to policy. In your mensch form, far from it. Thanks for both.
Mai Naem mobile
David, Of all the BJ front posters you are probably the one that I have gained the most knowledge that I’ve used in my every day life. I am resigned to change in healthcare in this country being incremental. I just don’t see an NHS style system. Too many consumers easily scared of change and too many people making a decent living off it who are easy to scare.
Steeplejack (phone)
Great news about Claire!
That fundraiser was one of the jackaltariat’s finest hours.
J R in WV
David / Richard M
So glad to read of your successes, as well as the blog being quoted in DHHS documentation. Amazing. Thanks for all you do for everyone, you are so generous with your time and special expertise~!!~
And Claire — we were so glad to be able to contribute our little bit towards helping her family be there for her. Even more glad to hear that she is doing so well, to be hoped for, even expected today, but still, you can’t count on it for a certainty.
J R in WV
@Steeplejack (phone):
Yes!! This, so much this !! David — thanks for asking, you gave us a chance to help out in a real way!
Nick D
I’m mostly a lurker, but I want you to know how much I’ve appreciated your writing over the years. Thank you!
jnfr
Thanks so much for all you do and have done and all you’ve accomplished and for helping everyone behind the scenes. You are awesome.
Poe Larity
Thanks David
geg6
I know more than I ever would have about insurance thanks to you. I’ll be retiring soon and I know I’ll need some advice when it comes. You must stick around at least until then.?
So glad to see that Claire is just living a normal teenage girl life. Truly, a great BJ moment. Brings tears to my eyes even now.
mvr
As well as,
mvr
As usual, I got here late, but this post and the comments were a great morale improver. Thanks for all of the evident work that shows in all of your posts. And thanks for telling us about how that has mattered to various people in various ways. And for updating us on Claire.
Mike in Oly
Thanks for all the posts, Dave. You gave me such a better understanding of how private insurance works during a time of immense change. I can’t say I understood 100% of what you wrote, but what I did get was eye opening and very useful. I loved seeing the whole community step up to help Claire and her family at a time of need. Glad to hear she is doing well.
laura
You were exceedingly helpful in your posts and answers and made my transition from employer provided care to the marketplace by helping us prioritize several issues- health assessment/prognostication and utilization. We identified keeping our doctor as a must have and we were fortunate to get a good subsidy and be able to weather a high deductible.
Echoing all the warm sentiments about Claire. I fervently wish every family had a balloon juice team to fund the type of housing that serious illness demands of families. Let us hope and work for a better future that lifts all families as they face serious health challenges and then discuss their lovely hair style choices and other carefree pursuits.
SFBayAreaGal
Great news about Claire.
Thank you for all of your posts.
David C
Thanks for all you’ve done, and good to know that other policy geeks have been using your analyses. Love following your publishing adventures. Sometimes a person just meets the moment.
feloniousferb
To echo a few others, thanks for the update on Claire and family. Great news!