I’m Lisa Gill, an investigative reporter with Consumer Reports, and I’m joined by an independent Medicare advisor from Chapter, Doug Hall. Between us, we spend a lot of time helping people understand Medicare and untangling their questions. Things get confusing fast, especially if you’re dealing with caregiving or a serious health issue. 

Here are some of the questions we saw in a recent internal webinar:

• Can you use your remaining HSA balance to pay Medicare premiums?
• How can you switch from Medicare Advantage to Medigap?
• Are Medicare Advantage premiums subject to IRMAA charges?
• Any info on whether Medicare will start covering GLP-1 drugs for obesity, for people without diabetes?

If you need help with Medicare enrollment, have questions about your coverage, or are helping a parent or loved one, ask us anything.

Here's our proof:

https://preview.redd.it/v0e09fg6mi2h1.jpg?width=531&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e7b8b7997277604fcde03feb75a895e336cfdc2d

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Thanks for your questions! Consumer Reports is a nonprofit that has partnered with Chapter to provide free, priority access to their unbiased Medicare advisors. You can call 844-341-7135 or https://askchapter.org/partners/cr-3 to get personal advice for your specific Medicare situation.

Hey r/IAmA,

My name is Josh Tyack and I'm the manager of the HVAC Repair Team at Bonney Plumbing, Sewer, Electrical, Heating & Air. I've been in the heating and air conditioning industry for 25 years and have helped thousands of customers across California get their systems running the way they should.

Other Bonney team members have run AMAs here before and we wanted to bring one back with summer right around the corner when your air conditioner is top-of-mind. Ask me anything!

Some examples of what I can help with:

• Why your AC isn't keeping up with the heat
• Whether it's time to repair or replace your unit
• What maintenance you should actually be doing and how often
• Air filters, airflow, and indoor air quality
• High energy bills and whether your system is the culprit
• Rooftop units, ductwork, thermostats, and more
• Any questions you may have about getting into the trades

I'll be here tomorrow, Friday May 22nd at 1PM Pacific to answer live. Drop your questions below and I'll get to them when we go live and answer as many as I can within the hour I'll be here.

Proof: https://imgur.com/a/cf1nTdL

Update 5/21/26 - Thank you for an amazing AMA and thank you to everyone who asked a question. I hope this thread was able to help! I will continue to answer any questions that come in until the thread archives. If you need a personalized mattress recommendation be sure to use my mattress quiz here - https://naplab.com/mattress-quiz/ (I manually respond to all of these requests, it's not an automated form). For all other questions please feel free to DM, chat, or email me here - https://naplab.com/contact/ - And for all else, check out my site at https://naplab.com/ - there you can find all of my reviews, comparisons, best of lists, research guides, and a more. Not sure where to start? My best mattress guide can help.

Hi Reddit!

My name is Derek Hales. I am a professional mattress tester and I’ve been testing mattresses since 2014. Over the years, I’ve tested 558 mattresses (and counting) from 116 different brands. 

5 years ago I launched NapLab.com and developed a new way to test mattresses. Instead of merely sleeping on a mattress and then writing a subjective assessment, I use a battery of 10 objective and data-driven tests (with 64 individual data points) to help quantify the performance criteria that are important for most sleepers.

Derek in our mattress testing garage

My testing process includes:

• Objective durability tests using a 3700-pound industrial mattress testing machine called a rollator (see photos & videos in the imgur link below)
• Thermal photographs to assess cooling performance / heat retention
• Motion Transfer Testing - IE, how much energy and motion will you feel on the mattress when your partner moves around. We use an accelerometer to objectively measure the intensity and duration of motion transfer across the mattress
• Sex performance testing using a weighted equation including 5 factors (bounce, edge support, noise, pressure relief, and cooling)
• High FPS video and high resolution photo analysis to take precise & objective measurements for sinkage, material responsiveness, edge support, and bounce
• In-depth Material Analysis - foam density tests using a densimeter (a plastic box that does digitally controlled water displacement density measurements) and coil gauge (thickness) using a digital caliper 
• You can see our full range of tests and testing process here - https://naplab.com/how-we-test-mattresses/

I’ve spent the majority of my adult life working to create videos, photographs, data, comparisons, guides, and reviews that can help people find a mattress that is perfectly suited to their needs. Over the years I’ve assembled a small team of friends and family to help me test mattresses bigger and better than I could do alone.

Happy to answer any questions about mattresses, sleep, NapLab, the sleep / mattress industry, or anything else on your mind 🙂

Proof - https://imgur.com/a/naplab-u-derek-naplab-reddit-ama-2026-proof-swQsrAI

More Proof - we really love mattresses, so we made a parody of the Pokemon Pokerap with 150 mattress brands (just dropped today!)

PS - if you need help choosing a mattress check out my mattress quiz - https://naplab.com/mattress-quiz/ - I provide personalized mattress recommendations based on your needs, preferences, and budget. FYI, the quiz isn’t automated, I manually review all submissions so it does take me a little time to answer, but I can usually respond within 24 hours. 

Hey reddit, Bubsy here! Hosting an AMA on r/gaming this Friday, May 22nd, at 11 AM ET.

See you there!
https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1tjp5pf/hey_rgaming_bubsy_here_with_fabraz_the_developers/

​Hi Reddit! My name is Vivienne Vixxen and I have worked at a legal brothel outside of Las Vegas for almost three years. In my time here, I have gone through a TON of personal growth. I am also debt free, which did not seem possible three years ago.

I currently have plans to enroll in a graduate program for gender studies, but for now it is just a plan! I am enjoying my little life for the time being.

Ask me anything about my time in the industry, how I have changed, why I decided to stay, or whatever else! I cannot discuss pricing due to Nevada state law, I know that's always everyone's first question!

Hi Reddit! I'm Kat Whetstone, and I'll be here until 12:30pm EST (and will be back later to answer any more questions).

You may know me as "Hockey in Heels", which is my Substack, started last spring. Or from my other Substack, Sunshine & Hockey, which my friend Morgan Page and I run together. I also covered the Carolina Hurricanes for two seasons with Inside the Rink, and the Columbus Blue Jackets for two seasons at another outlet.

I'm also an author! My memoir, Manic Autistic Dream Girl, is out now. It's about my journey to a late autism diagnosis at the age of 21, and about my chaotic life.

Some other fun facts about me: I'm working on my English degree at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (Go Niners!), I intend to go to grad school for journalism, I have a little Siberian kitten named Crosby (named for Sidney Crosby), I'm allergic to peanuts, I'm fascinated by pop culture, and I'm a diehard Carolina Panthers and Ohio State football fan. I also collect hockey memorabilia.

Ask away!

PROOF:

https://preview.redd.it/w64x0m4e1b2h1.jpg?width=2316&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3efa4a504c4af4404be51a9a14e4dfa566413639

Hi Reddit! I’m Aundrea Mills, VP of Nursing & Chief Nursing Officer at Compass Healthcare, the leading provider of support services in the healthcare industry. In honor of Nurses Month, I’m here to answer your questions how support services elevate nursing. Are you curious about patient dining, or maybe wondering how environmental services and nursing work together?  How does outsourcing patient observation or transportation work? Ask me anything! This AMA is for informational purposes only and not intended as medical advice; hate speech or harmful comments will not be tolerated.

https://preview.redd.it/jog5167o942h1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=9cda9d36d65f7b401b1180412328d0ba3184c7d1

Tuesday, May 19, is World Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Day. I'm Dr. Reezwana Chowdhury, a gastroenterologist who treats and researches inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn’s disease. I can answer your questions about Crohn's disease, including managing flares, biologic treatments, diet changes, and the mental and emotional challenges of living with a chronic condition. Ask me anything!

https://preview.redd.it/r917ksjdtx1h1.jpg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fd2617272039eec698044d7822acfcdfee371145

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During childhood and up to now, I was always the last option in friend groups, in one sided friendships, always quiet and mostly by myself at school.

A lot of my friendships were one sided and I was the backup option. I was hardly ever thought of, even by my ex friend who I was friends with for 6+ years.

After I graduated high school, I started posting on TikTok that summer, and I gone viral on TikTok due to my personality and how I present myself online.

I still don’t have anyone to hang with irl. I am 18 about to be 19 in August.

Proof: https://imgur.com/a/ccXujz5

Ask me anything!

tl;dr - I just published a book, China’s Backstory: The History Beijing Doesn’t Want You to Read, which explains the historical narratives fueling today’s most volatile geopolitical flashpoints: Taiwan, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and the Chinese economy. Is a war over the Taiwan Strait inevitable? How did Xinjiang become the human rights dumpster fire of the 21st century? What is the historical reality behind "ancient" territorial claims in Taiwan? The book tackles these without the academic "mumbo jumbo," focusing on the messy, human history that drives China’s role in geopolitics. AMA related to the history behind the topics Xi and Trump are talking about right now.

Hey reddit, my name is Lee Moore, I have a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures from the University of Oregon, I worked as an adjunct professor there, teaching Taiwanese and Chinese literature and film, and I occasionally write for The Economist. I also host the Chinese Literature Podcast. 

I just published a book called China’s Backstory: The History Beijing Doesn’t Want You to Read (available on my indie publisher’s site) and also from a little bookstore based in Seattle). 

The book does a deep dive into the history of the four China-related topics driving geopolitical discussions: Taiwan, Xinjiang, the Chinese economy and Hong Kong. How did Taiwan become the point that where WWIII is most likely to start? Why is Beijing conducting a genocide in Xinjiang? Is the Chinese economy the 800 pound gorilla about to dominate the world, or is it a house of cards teetering on the point of collapse? Why did Beijing deep six freedoms in Hong Kong despite having agreed with Britain to not change anything for 50 years after the Handover?

And I do it with a shit-stirring sense of humor that is meant to reach readers who would never normally pick up a book about China. The book has a chapter titled, “The Most Important Motherfucker in Taiwanese History,” discussing the 1670’s sex scandal that rocked the island and may lead to a war between the US and China. In the section of the book detailing Xinjiang’s bloody history, the book has a drinking game where, every time someone is beheaded, the reader is encouraged to do a shot.

The book discusses the China-related topics driving geopolitics. Here are some of the things the book discusses: 

Taiwan: 

• Today, as Chairman Xi is meeting with President Trump, he is telling Trump that Taiwan, since ancient times, has been Chinese. That claim  is nonsense. No power in China controlled Taiwan before 1683, two years after Pennsylvania, its 12th of 13 colonies, was established. The first documented case of a Chinese person stepping on the island of Taiwan was in 1603. Some Chinese sailing guides, written as early as the 1560’s, refer to bits of Taiwan as land that could be spotted from sea, but there is no documented case of a Chinese person stepping foot on Taiwan before 1603. China’s claim to have owned Taiwan in ancient times has zero historical evidence supporting it. 
• Today, the US Marines are training to invade southern Taiwan in case of a Chinese invasion. This is not the first time they were there. In 1867, the US Marines twice invaded Taiwan. 
• American politicians are worried about how to protect Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, the crown jewel of the Taiwanese Miracle. In fact, the Taiwanese Miracle was partially the creation of American politicians. Eisenhower pushed Chiang Kai-shek to enact the “Land to the Tillers” program, which helped jumpstart the Taiwanese economy in the 1950’s. From 1951 to 1965, the US doled out $1.5 billion in economic aid. In the 1960’s, Washington told Taiwan it needed to graduate from aid, the Stanford Research Institute cooked up a plan that would shift the Taiwanese economy from agriculture to high-end tech products. Taiwan’s semiconductor dominance is a direct result of American government investments in the 1950’s.
• Taiwanese democracy is also a product of American politicians. In the 1980’s, America grew tired of supporting despots just because they were anti-communist. American politicians like Congressman Stephen Solarz turned the screws on funding for Taiwan as it refused to democratize. The event that precipitated Taiwan’s democratization was an assassination in Daly City, California. Dry Duck, a Taiwanese gangster, walked up to Henry Liu, a China-born American citizen, and shot him in the driveway of his suburban California home. American politicians were pissed that the government officials deep in the Taiwanese authoritarian government had authorized a hit in the US. The assassination in California was the moment that Taiwan’s authoritarian government began to unravel, and Taiwan began the transition to democracy.

Xinjiang:

• In 2022, the Michelle Bachelet at the UN issued a report arguing that China had committed “serious human rights violations” in Xinjiang in constructing a system of concentration camps and forced labor factories where Xinjiang’s Muslims were imprisoned. 
• This is a genocide. The government is forcing many Uyghur women to become sterilized. In 2019, in Khotan, a city that is 96% Uyghur, the government  budgeted for 14,872 sterilizations, meaning that the government was going to try to sterilize about one third of all women of marriageable age. From 2015 to 2018, the birthrate in Khotan and Kashgar, another mostly Uyghur city, dropped by 84%, from 1.6% to .26%. In the concentration camps that the government made for Uyghurs, women were frequently injected against their will with Depo-Provera, a birth-control shot. In 2018, 80% of all IUDs in China were inserted in Xinjiang, a province with 1.84% of China’s population. 
• Why is Beijing doing this?
• China has long fought over Xinjiang. Beijing’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has claimed “since the Han Dynasty established the Western Regions Frontier Command in Xinjiang in 60 B.C., the Chinese central governments of all historical periods exercised military and administrative jurisdiction over Xinjiang.” That is false. Chinese forces controlled the region from roughly 60 BC to 0 AD and then from roughly 70-100 AD. Then it controlled the region from 640 AD to the 750’s. For the next millennium, no Chinese power would control Xinjiang until 1758, when Qing China took control of Xinjiang. Since then, Beijing has ruled over the region as a colony, fighting with the locals. 
• And what of the locals? Uyghurs claimed to have lived in Xinjiang for 6 millennia. That is also false. The first Uyghur Empire was established in the middle of modern Mongolia in 744 A.D. and the Uyghurs had nothing to do with Xinjiang. In 840, this empire collapsed, and some Uyghurs fled to the eastern corner of Xinjiang, setting up a small state there. But from 1500 to June 4, 1921, the Uyghurs disappeared. No one alive during this period would have said, “I am a Uyghur.” The Uyghurs, who had long been Buddhist, Christians or Manichean, but they largely hated Islam. Until the 1400’s. During this period, most Uyghurs went from hating Islam to becoming Muslims, and the ethnonym Uyghur, associated with anti-Muslim feeling, disappeared. When it reappeared, in the 1910’s, it came to denote the people not just a corner of Xinjiang but almost all of the Turkic speaking peoples settled in Xinjiang. 
• Xinjiang has long been fought over by Chinese, Uyghur and other groups. The region is a clusterfuck of different identities, and no one is indigenous to the region. Today’s genocide is another part of that long fight over who ought to rule the region.

Economy:

• Beijing says that universal values like freedom of speech, liberal economic policies and checks and balances don’t jive with China and its ancient civilization. In fact, the biggest economic catastrophes in Chinese history were when Chinese leaders abandoned these “American” values. 
• In 1069, Emperor Shenzong and China’s leading left-winger, Wang Anshi, pushed a government takeover of the economy, eliminated the relative freedom of speech that had previously been allowed and spiked the checks and balances of Song Dynasty China. The economic results were a disaster and caused Song China to almost collapse and split in half. 
• In the 1950’s, the Chinese Communist Party took over the government, but initially allowed the old economy to hum along as it had before. In the latter half of the 1950’s, Mao eliminated the relative political and economic openness of the first half of the decade. First, in the Hundred Flowers campaign, he slammed those who criticized him and made it so that no one was willing to call Mao out for his nonsensical ideas. Then, in the Great Leap Forward, the government ditched its relatively liberal economic policies for hardcore collectivization. The result was the world’s most deadly famine.

Ask me any question you want about the history behind the topics Trump and Xi are discussing!

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