Seniors and Reform

[InsureGuy5]

Medicare is already underfunded and on the brink of insolvency, so when you talk about taking dollars from that program - naturally seniors will be worried. If the funds that are being removed are from "fraud and waste" then perhaps they should have been removed sometime ago.

 

[Winter_123]

If the funds that are being removed are from "fraud and waste" then perhaps they should have been removed sometime ago.

And the savings should accrue to the Medicare program versus Obama's plan to reduce fraud and costs on Medicare but to shift the savings to his under-65 plan. What's up with that. That's nuts.

 

[atlantainsguy]

Interesting comments on this and other posts about "Obama's plan".

Sounds good, but I don't believe he has a "plan" per se. He's relinquished responsibility to the House and Senate, much to his discredit.

There are dozens of competing ideas, and we won't know what anything will look like until a joint House and Senate committee meets behind closed doors to finalize a single bill. Most of these cretins in both parties are on the take anyway. If Obama did exert some real leadership, I could respect him more.

As far as programs being "underfunded", I believe Congress treats Medicare and SS dollars as "general revenue". They are not reserved as normal insurance is. Again, a problem going back to Congress, and not the Executive branch.

At election time, they throw a bunch of rats in a box -- and then ask me to pick the prettiest one.

atlantainsguy

 

[ins.dave]

Not to worry, ins.dave. I checked aisle 7 and Atlantainsguy did an excellent job; however, you misspelled aisle unless we are talking about a small island surrounded by water. BTW, a local supermarket that is part of Safeway screwed up on the same spelling in their parking lot (isle vs. aisle). Have a good day!

Doh!,
got me again. Ah shucks Arny, sometime the juices get flow'n and I've just got to save the world with a quick post.
Spell check be dat gumed.

 

[ABC]

The gov has to do something with medicare.

They are going to have to cut reimbursement rates to the Doctors. There is no other way around it.

They can't cut benefits because that would be a death sentence politicly.

If the Gov can cut reimbursement rates on medicare then that can be a price point for the PPO networks to try to reach.

This would be the first step in reducing the cost of care.

 

[Winter_123]

The gov has to do something with medicare.

They are going to have to cut reimbursement rates to the Doctors. There is no other way around it.

They can't cut benefits because that would be a death sentence politicly.

If the Gov can cut reimbursement rates on medicare then that can be a price point for the PPO networks to try to reach.

This would be the first step in reducing the cost of care.

They are trying to milk the cow off of too many tits. Last year Congress decided to cut reimbursement rates for medicare advantage in order to preserve reimbursement rates for physicians. Now Barry wants to cut reimbursement for medicare advantage in order to fund his under-65 plan. Plus it has not even been determined politically yet (refer to aforementioned comments about the Blue Hair Brigade) whether medicare advantage can or will be cut. In case you have not noticed, some of these pieces do not fit together.

 

[ins.dave]

They are trying to milk the cow off of too many tits.

Best analogy ever.
God I can't stand this clownish economic policy. First this H.C.R. debacle and now the Cash for Crap give away.
Truely pathetic. They've got no plan outside of getting through 2010 and 2012 by catering to these stupid "give me something for nothing" diddlers. C'mon. Whatever happened to rewarding hard work and innovation? Forget trying to learn Spanish; better off to get on the Mandarin Chinese good foot.
They all but own this place already.

 

[Dave020]

This article pretty much spells out all of the gloom and doom you could want to read:

White House, Congress projects record deficits - Yahoo! News

 

[Winter_123]

This article pretty much spells out all of the gloom and doom you could want to read:

White House, Congress projects record deficits - Yahoo! News

Following some of these deficit and debt projections is getting to be a bit like watching Carl Sagan on TV years ago. He would come on all excited and announce that new information had just come in and a star that we previously thought was 343 light years away is actually 426 light years away. Personally, I had not quite gotten my mind around the first number yet.

All I know is that we are screwed. Whether we are screwed ten times over or fifteen I am not sure. Could be more.

 

[AgentOrange]