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Charles Gaba ✡️ Profile picture
Charles Gaba ✡️
@charles_gaba
Healthcare data analysis, advocacy & snark 🐘 https://t.co/ol5x7WaYzF 🐳 https://t.co/WKpeWRMksN 🧵 https://t.co/hQQ3vS7OlT
Adam Smithee Profile picture Jodi Smart Profile picture KathKayH @KathKayH@mastodon.social Profile picture Joshua Cypess Profile picture Gordon I. Herz PhD 🐀 on Mastodon @gih@c.im Profile picture 7 subscribed
Sep 18 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
OH DEAR GOD.

This LITERALLY DEFEATS THE ENTIRE CONCEPT OF HEALTH INSURANCE: SHARED RISK. AGAIN: This graph is the single most important explainer of how risk pools work & the dangers of separating people out into risk pools based on their CURRENT health.

5% of the population racks up over 50% of total healthcare spending. Image
Sep 9 • 19 tweets • 5 min read
So, VP @KamalaHarris has posted her official policy agenda on her campaign website. The healthcare section includes, among other solid items, making the enhanced #ACA subsidies of the IRA permanent.

Here's an idea of how important this is for over 21 MILLION Americans: 1/ The enhanced subsidies are currently scheduled to sunset at the end of 2025. If they aren't extended, they'll revert back to the original formula, which was good for those earning < 200% FPL, but mediocre for those earning 200 - 400% & NONEXISTENT for those earning over 400% FPL.
Aug 15 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
This is a Big Fucking Deal, brought to you by the Inflation Reduction Act, passed by Democrats exclusively and signed into law by President Biden.

Every Republican in Congress voted against it. The Inflation Reduction Act is also the reason over 20 million #ACA enrollees are saving an average of $800/yr on health insurance premiums.

Unfortunately that provision is scheduled to sunset at the end of 2025 unless legislation is passed to make the savings permanent.
Aug 12 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Folks, donating to #HarrisWalz2024 is fine, but we REALLY need to focus on DOWNBALLOT races as well!

Here's how much I've raised for Harris/Walz vs. ~70 House/Senate races & ~700 State Legislative races.

Pick a page, pick some candidates & donate at . Blue24.org
Image Here's my Senate page where you can donate DIRECTLY to @RubenGallego, @DebbieforFL, @AlsobrooksForMD, @ElissaSlotkin, @jontester, @RosenforNevada, @SherrodBrown, @Bob_Casey, @ColinAllredTX & @tammybaldwin, as well as up to 10 other Senate Dem nominees:

.secure.actblue.com/donate/senateb…
Aug 9 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
🔥 Guys...donating to #HarrisWalz2024 is fine, but we REALLY need to focus DOWN BALLOT as well! 1/ Image As my followers know, I've set up a simple website at which contains pages to donate DIRECTLY to *hundreds* of Democrats running for *competitive* seats in everything from State Legislature to U.S. Senate. 2/Blue24.org
Jul 28 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
This.

My main concern wasn’t about her personally (I actually supported her over Biden back in 2019); it was more about whether they could make the transition without it turning into a mess. So far they’ve pulled it off nearly perfectly. Biden's timing was perfect:

1. He waited until after the RNC, which meant they wasted 4 days of prime time hours attacking an opponent who wasn't their opponent.

2. This also meant he waited until Trump & Vance were (effectively) locked in as the GOP nominees.

continued...
Jul 17 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
With early voting starting in just 65 days in a few states, David asked this very reasonable question. I'm not an expert, but my general understanding of the situation is this: 1/ There've been a number of polls claiming that Harris/etc. would perform a few points better...but that's all THEORETICAL.

We all know that the moment it became a reality the numbers could change dramatically...especially given all the other chaos which would surround it. 2/
Jul 4 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Thread. ~20 years ago, one of the minor controversies surrounding then-President George W. Bush was after being warned that something he wanted to do was unconstitutional, he allegedly angrily replied that the Constitution is "just a damned piece of paper!" 1/ I don't know whether this actually happened or not, but regardless of how appalling it my is, on the most basic level that's actually *correct*: The Constitution *in and of itself* *is* "just a damned peice of paper." It's not a talisman. It doesn't have any magical powers. 2/
Jul 3 • 19 tweets • 5 min read
🧵 I just had a lengthy conversation with someone who wanted some insight as to how I've been so successful with my Democratic fundraising project over the past few cycles.

(obviously it wasn't called that in 2020 or 2022) 1/Blue24.org For those unaware, I've raised nearly $8 MILLION *directly* for hundreds of Democratic candidates since 2019. And I've done it *without* a mailing list or texting anyone. I've done it without a PAC or a staff.

It's all been done purely online via social media. 2/
Jun 29 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
ELECTIONS. HAVE. CONSEQUENCES.

WE SCREAMED ABOUT SCOTUS FROM THE TOP OF OUR LUNGS IN 2016 AND Y'ALL SHRUGGED IT OFF.

NOW WE'RE FACING THE CONSEQUENCES.

Biden is appointing judges at a furious pace, but our ONLY shot at fixing SCOTUS is to re-elect Biden & keep Senate control. "So if we do that, Biden fixes SCOTUS?"

I said it's our only *chance* of doing so. It would also require, within the next 4 years, either:

1. Both Alito & Thomas retire (hah) or pass away.

Or...

2. Congress passes legislation to either expand or otherwise modify SCOTUS.
Jun 27 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
🚨 STATE BY STATE: How much more will YOU pay if enhanced #ACA subsidies aren't extended? (Massachusetts - Missouri):

acasignups.net/24/06/27/state… The original ACA subsidy formula was decent at low incomes, stingy at moderate incomes & nonexistent at middle class incomes.

ARPA/IRA had solid subsidy upgrades, bringing them up to where they should have been in the first place...but they're scheduled to revert in 2026. 2/
Jun 27 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
As someone pushing HARD for folks to donate to Democrats up & down the ballot, I’d like to note something about the AIPAC money brouhaha re NY-16.

Yes, money CAN make a significant difference in a race, but only up to a point. After that there’s diminishing returns. 1/ My guess is the first few million dollars AIPAC spent on the NY-16 race probably helped Latimer by a point or two. After that, however, it probably didn’t make much difference at all & may have even hurt him a bit due to residents getting sick of the constant ads/mailers etc. 2/
Jun 10 • 28 tweets • 8 min read
🧵 EV Infrastructure Update:

I just returned from my 4th road trip from Detroit to DC & back over the past 2 years. Since it's the same route each time I have a pretty apples to apples comparison on EV public chargers over time. 1/ The good news is that it looks like Electrify America, which makes up most of the chargers along the route (I-275/280, I-80/90 (OH Turnpike), I-70/270 (PA Turnpike), seems to be in the process of upgrading their charging stations; the newer ones seem to be more reliable. 2/
Jun 3 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
Since partisan COVID death rates are back in the news again today, a reminder that ~150,000 *more* Trump voters died of COVID between the 2020 - 2022 elections than Biden voters due *specifically* to GOP/FOX/MAGA pushing antivax/anti-mitigation narratives.
acasignups.net/22/09/17/eleph… Re. electoral impact, there was only one statewide race in which the GOP COVID Death Cult factor made a decisive difference:

In AZ, 900 - 4,100 more Trump voters died of COVID between Nov. 2020 - Nov. 2022.

AG Kris Mayes won her race by 280 votes.

acasignups.net/22/12/29/updat…
Jun 1 • 13 tweets • 4 min read
🎉 MAY DEM FUNDRAISING PROJECT REPORT: Donations up 341% for the month & 89% overall vs. the same point in 2020!! 🧵
blue24.org/24/06/01/may-2… As I teased the other day, by the end of May 2020 I had raised $303,000 for Democrats up & down the ballot. For the 2024 cycle, as of last night, I had raised over $573,000! 2/ Image
May 24 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
Let's see...Trump is 6' 3" tall. Putting him sideways it looks like the stage is perhaps 15' long, but I'll be generous and call it 16'. It also looks like it's only 6' deep but I'll call it 8' for the heck of it. Image So that's ~92 stages or so...call it an even 100 to account for the stragglers at the outer edges.

That's 128 sq. feet x 100 = 12,800 sq. feet. Let's assume they're all tightly packed.

Again, in a tightly-packed crowd the avg. adult takes up 4.5 sq. ft.
poynter.org/reporting-edit…
Image
May 12 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
Let's see here...a semi trailer (lower right) is roughly 50' long, so the venue is roughly 9 trailers x 4 trailers, or 450' x 200', or 90,000 sq. feet.

Of course the rear 1/3 is almost empty, but there's also some people lined up in the upper left, so call it ~80% full...

Image
Image So, that's perhaps ~72,000 square feet of "tightly packed" people. According to this article, in a tightly-packed crowd the avg. person takes up ~4.5 sq. feet.

That would mean perhaps 16,000 people.

.cleveland.com/datacentral/20…
Mar 20 • 26 tweets • 7 min read
🧵 People have asked me why I started an organized project to raise money *directly* for Democratic candidates up & down the ballot when there's already so many other organizations out there doing this. There's a couple of reasons. 1/ The first is that most of the existing organizations/PACs/etc seem to (in my view) *either* focus ONLY on the true swing districts *or* they raise money for races which are clearly unwinnable without being up front about how long the odds in those races are. 2/
Mar 7 • 13 tweets • 5 min read
📣 I'm just $6,300 away from raising $300,000 for Democrats up & down the ballot!

Help me push the total over the top by the end of this evening's #SOTU!

Pick a page & donate today!

(all donations go to the campaigns listed; none goes to me)
#Blue24

Blue24.org 📣 HELP KEEP THE SENATE BLUE (& also chip in for President Biden) HERE:

.secure.actblue.com/donate/senateb…
Dec 16, 2023 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
A little fun Die Hard trivia for those who don’t know:

The first Die Hard was based on a 1979 novel called Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp. In the novel McClain’s character was named Joe Leland. This was a sequel to a 1966 novel by Thorp called The Detective. 1/ The Detective had been made into a film starring Frank Sinatra as Joe Leland in 1968.

This means Bruce Willis plays the same character as Frank Sinatra.

In fact, the studio was contractually required to offer the role to Sinatra if he wanted it. Sinatra was 73 at the time.
Dec 6, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Holy fucking shit.

This may be the first and likely only time that I give @RepStefanik sincere praise.

As she openly states, this was the easiest softball question she possibly could have asked, and all three of them completely flubbed it. The question she asked: "Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate your university's code of conduct regarding bullying & harassment?"

The answer is YES, for fuck's sake.