Unfortunately it seems that all it takes to get people riled up about social security and welfare kings and queens is a series of myths, and the occasional video, who would have ever thought that 5% of a country with roughly 300,000,000 people, or in other words 15 million people that any one of them would ever exploit a program.
Then again you can police programs heavily, you get the savings of stopping from somebody "leaching $ 6,000 / year at the mere cost of $40,000 to prevent them.
I confess I don’t know enough about this specific program to make an educated comment, but having read the Time Magazine article on why healthcare costs so much as well as other similar stories, I find myself suspecting the bag man with the club is avoiding scruitiny by staying in the shadows and out of sight of targeted oversight.There is a lot of money being shuffled around and not enough control over the value the people and the gov’t are getting from it.Stay healthy folks.Respectfully,C.
I think it’s fair to consider that how a country treats its most vulnerable (including the elderly) is a good indication of how civilized it is.
One of the “conservative” posters here suggested that radio station fund drives are a reasonable way for patients in need of transplants to get them e.g.
How can a nation that claims to be exceptional, or under the guidance of some charitable god like Jesus take from the poor, old and weak while we coddle people like the Walton heirs (whose greatest skill in wealth-gathering was being born into a rich family)?
I doubt there’s anyone here (myself included) who’s rich enough to fully understand the persecution of the rich, but we all know poor, weak and old people. The rich people I know (and some of them are fabulously rich) don’t talk about politics. They let people like us do it, knowing that there will always be people who crave a golden ticket but will never get it.
What does it seriously take to make someone who extols the virtues of an economy which disproportionately gives to the wealthy at the expense of the poor, weak and elderly some reasonable perspective? Why do old white and POOR Republicans feel it is better to suffer themselves than to deprive rich people they’ve never met an extra house or yacht?
The reason that Obama asked for CPI and nothing on Medicare is that CPI is what the GOP asked him to do. The GOP isn’t going to touch Medicare except to pretend that they’re willing to hand it over to Wall Street. If they were in power, their budget would look a lot like Obama’s, but with a whole lot more spending and tax cuts and no deficit reduction. Because that’s what they always have done in the past.
Robert Landers: my last trip to the ER (it was a weekend and “problem” came up outside office hours) WAS $345! That is silly, but, considering where my daughter is a nurse, New Zealand, while TAXES are quite “high”, an ER visit costs nothing, because YOU"VE PAID YOUR TAXES!
The problem the U.S. has is that folks (Right AND Left) don’t want to pay taxes for future support. That is why a small and reasonable increase in SS or medicare payments, to adjust for FUTURE BENEFITS EARNED, to match actuarial tables isn’t crazy. “Privatizing” further these systems however IS crazy! and COSTLY! Yes, PRIVATE doctors and hospitals CAN remain the standard with a “single payer” system, but maybe INSURANCE CoMPANIES will lose some of their power, along with “big pharma” and the “medical industry” that makes the calls on care, not doctors.
I can tell you from personal experience that doctors and hospitals are not doing well in our current system. Too much stress, too much demand on time, and continuously reduced reimbursements.
Exceptions would be doctors who can game the system and hospitals owned by insurance companies or other health-care consortiums.
A lot of the cost of hospital care is a direct result of care given to people who cannot or will not pay. Also, remember that even if your insurance benefits specifically list what is covered, they can deny coverage for whatever they want to, so even people who are “well-insured” may find themselves with enough hospital debt to put them into bankruptcy.
I have been over this subject a number of times; in deference to those who have endured it before, I will refrain from details now.
I will reference this, however:
In America, we know this by heart: “If you desire an attorney and cannot afford one, one will be appointed before any questioning.”
And this one that is usually unstated but true nonetheless: “If you desire a doctor and cannot afford one, go home and die quietly.”
Mr. King, I think it’s for the same reason we don’t hear about the Tar Sands Oil Spill in the Kalamazoo River or how Exxon got the FAA to prevent flyover in Mayflower Arkansas, or arresting reporters who “trespass” to show images of how Exxon is pumping the oil into the nearby wetlands.Money is greasing the right hands. Hey! MSNBC! If you show news we don’t want you to show, we’re not going to buy any advertising time from you. You too, FOX. Show what we’re doing wrong, and no advertising dollars for you!^I’d like to be wrong.Respectfully,C.
Quipss about 11 years ago
Unfortunately it seems that all it takes to get people riled up about social security and welfare kings and queens is a series of myths, and the occasional video, who would have ever thought that 5% of a country with roughly 300,000,000 people, or in other words 15 million people that any one of them would ever exploit a program.
Then again you can police programs heavily, you get the savings of stopping from somebody "leaching $ 6,000 / year at the mere cost of $40,000 to prevent them.
Stormrider2112 about 11 years ago
Holy crap, the Republicans are trashing him for using their idea and making them look bad!
chazandru about 11 years ago
I confess I don’t know enough about this specific program to make an educated comment, but having read the Time Magazine article on why healthcare costs so much as well as other similar stories, I find myself suspecting the bag man with the club is avoiding scruitiny by staying in the shadows and out of sight of targeted oversight.There is a lot of money being shuffled around and not enough control over the value the people and the gov’t are getting from it.Stay healthy folks.Respectfully,C.
Darsan54 Premium Member about 11 years ago
With his brother “military expenditures” and “corporate welfare” (example-oil subsidies) right behind him.
Chillbilly about 11 years ago
I think it’s fair to consider that how a country treats its most vulnerable (including the elderly) is a good indication of how civilized it is.
One of the “conservative” posters here suggested that radio station fund drives are a reasonable way for patients in need of transplants to get them e.g.
How can a nation that claims to be exceptional, or under the guidance of some charitable god like Jesus take from the poor, old and weak while we coddle people like the Walton heirs (whose greatest skill in wealth-gathering was being born into a rich family)?
I doubt there’s anyone here (myself included) who’s rich enough to fully understand the persecution of the rich, but we all know poor, weak and old people. The rich people I know (and some of them are fabulously rich) don’t talk about politics. They let people like us do it, knowing that there will always be people who crave a golden ticket but will never get it.
What does it seriously take to make someone who extols the virtues of an economy which disproportionately gives to the wealthy at the expense of the poor, weak and elderly some reasonable perspective? Why do old white and POOR Republicans feel it is better to suffer themselves than to deprive rich people they’ve never met an extra house or yacht?
ARodney about 11 years ago
The reason that Obama asked for CPI and nothing on Medicare is that CPI is what the GOP asked him to do. The GOP isn’t going to touch Medicare except to pretend that they’re willing to hand it over to Wall Street. If they were in power, their budget would look a lot like Obama’s, but with a whole lot more spending and tax cuts and no deficit reduction. Because that’s what they always have done in the past.
Dtroutma about 11 years ago
Robert Landers: my last trip to the ER (it was a weekend and “problem” came up outside office hours) WAS $345! That is silly, but, considering where my daughter is a nurse, New Zealand, while TAXES are quite “high”, an ER visit costs nothing, because YOU"VE PAID YOUR TAXES!
The problem the U.S. has is that folks (Right AND Left) don’t want to pay taxes for future support. That is why a small and reasonable increase in SS or medicare payments, to adjust for FUTURE BENEFITS EARNED, to match actuarial tables isn’t crazy. “Privatizing” further these systems however IS crazy! and COSTLY! Yes, PRIVATE doctors and hospitals CAN remain the standard with a “single payer” system, but maybe INSURANCE CoMPANIES will lose some of their power, along with “big pharma” and the “medical industry” that makes the calls on care, not doctors.
I Play One On TV about 11 years ago
I can tell you from personal experience that doctors and hospitals are not doing well in our current system. Too much stress, too much demand on time, and continuously reduced reimbursements.
Exceptions would be doctors who can game the system and hospitals owned by insurance companies or other health-care consortiums.
A lot of the cost of hospital care is a direct result of care given to people who cannot or will not pay. Also, remember that even if your insurance benefits specifically list what is covered, they can deny coverage for whatever they want to, so even people who are “well-insured” may find themselves with enough hospital debt to put them into bankruptcy.
I have been over this subject a number of times; in deference to those who have endured it before, I will refrain from details now.
I will reference this, however:
In America, we know this by heart: “If you desire an attorney and cannot afford one, one will be appointed before any questioning.”
And this one that is usually unstated but true nonetheless: “If you desire a doctor and cannot afford one, go home and die quietly.”
What a country.
chazandru about 11 years ago
Mr. King, I think it’s for the same reason we don’t hear about the Tar Sands Oil Spill in the Kalamazoo River or how Exxon got the FAA to prevent flyover in Mayflower Arkansas, or arresting reporters who “trespass” to show images of how Exxon is pumping the oil into the nearby wetlands.Money is greasing the right hands. Hey! MSNBC! If you show news we don’t want you to show, we’re not going to buy any advertising time from you. You too, FOX. Show what we’re doing wrong, and no advertising dollars for you!^I’d like to be wrong.Respectfully,C.