Fake Medicare Copay Reduction

[Isaac]

Biden-Harris administration using taxpayer money to mask Medicare premium hikes before election: critics

The Biden-Harris Administration is using taxpayer funds to mask Medicare premium hikes, subsidizing costs significantly despite increasing debt, critics say.

www.foxnews.com

This article is very informative about what Biden/Harris really did with medicare, rather than what they are putting all over the TV regarding capping drug copays.

All they did is shift the burden to the premiums, which (obviously) will just increase. Then to make it super deceptive, they rolled out a 3 year plan to cover their a** so that the pain won't be felt until a while from now.

Just like minimum wage hikes, always shifting around money!

 

[Pat Hartman]

SS has been PERMANENTLY "fixed" at least twice that I can remember since the 80's. Maybe even three times. The SSA has been aware of the bubble since the 60s when the birth rate dropped after the war ending boom. The talking heads make it sound like this just "happened" and no one anticipated it. It doesn't take a lot of brains to be a talking head. You just need to be attractive, speak clearly, and be able to read a teleprompter. The problem with the SSA are many. Starting with the fact that when the program was initiated no one ever anticipated the drop in birth rate which puts more of a burden on workers to pay benefits for retirees. So, the actuaries calculate how much more money is needed and when and SS is adjusted. Raise the retirement age gradually. Raise the contribution percentage. Raise the top wage limit. But somehow the problem seems to persist. Why? Well, Congress keeps adding more participants and benefits. SS paid for my two neighbors to go to college because their father died. Then there is the corruption and incompetence. I spent 10 months (at least two hours on the phone each month) trying to get a bill corrected. My doctor's office billed Medicare $1200 for an in-office procedure that never happened. I'm sure it was an accident but I could never get the bill corrected. NOBODY CARED. I was the only one who thought this should be fixed. Eventually I gave up and Medicare paid the $1200 for a procedure that never happened.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

I gave up and Medicare paid the $1200 for a procedure that never happened

I had a "ghost consultation" once when I was still on corporate insurance rather than Medicare. That "ghost consultation" occurs when a specialist sticks his head in on someone else's surgery and asks, "How's it going?" then nods blankly at the answer. And sticks a $1500 consultation fee on your surgical costs. In my case it was during my gall bladder removal done via laparoscope. He wasn't my gastro guy or the surgeon; nor was he on the surgeon's staff. Supposedly there is now a law against that kind of billing irregularity but when it happened, it technically was not yet illegal.

 

[Steve R.]

Some historical perspective to Social Security (rather than Medicare) which still relates to the bastardization of both of these programs. I wasn't old enough then to be receiving Social Security, but I vividly recall how wrong it was for the government to be doing that. Ironically, Reagan was president at the time. Now the government under Democratic leadership is pushing for even more taxation. Government has a voracious appetite to tax and spend your money.

Since a pair of 1938 Treasury Department Tax Rulings, and another in 1941, Social Security benefits have been explicitly excluded from federal income taxation. (A revision was issued in 1970, but it made no changes in the existing policy.) This changed for the first time with the passage of the 1983 Amendments to the Social Security Act. Beginning in 1984, a portion of Social Security benefits have been subject to federal income taxes.

Key Moments in the History of Social Security

A look back at the evolution of this vital government program that dates back to 1935

www.aarp.org

 

[Pat Hartman]

SS is the typical feels good idea implemented by Democrats. It went downhill after that when it morphed into this all encompassing feel good and add more people to the umbrella. The idea was to fund the benefits with interest from US bonds. Fair enough. But, it would have been far better to use a market index instead. Think of how much money would be available if it had actually been even conservatively invested in the market.

 

[Isaac]

Kamala Harris was on record many times for medicare for all and a single payor system for EVERYONE - but now she claims she's not for it, as she knows it's unpopular. she's a liar and a fraud - and a very weird public speaker

 

[Steve R.]

Using federal taxpayer money to mask Medicare premium hikes implies a greater governance problem. Federal money is also apparently being used to "mask" the humanitarian (welfare) aid illegal immigrants are receiving. The Biden/Harris administration, by "masking" how programs are funded demonstrates corruption. The public has no assurance that funds designated for one specific program is not somehow "stolen" from that program to fund another program such as Medicare premium and illegal immigrant welfare.

Who’s Funding Illegal Immigration? You Are.

People often ask how illegal aliens can afford to pay for their journeys across the border. Much funding comes from predictable sources.

amac.us

At every stage of a migrant’s journey, U.S. tax money smooths the way for people planning to enter and live in the United States illegally.

 

[Pat Hartman]

Why do people who support uncontrolled, illegal immigration, not understand that THEY are footing the bill? Food, housing, medical care, education, etc. are not free. Why are they not informed of exactly what that bill is? Why are they not informed that American citizens in dire straits are not afforded the same level of support?

 

[AccessBlaster]

Utopia is just around the corner with these folks.

“If you understood what communism was, you would hope, you would pray on your knees that we would someday become communist. I, a socialist, think that we should strive toward a socialist society, all the way to communism.” -Jane Fonda

 

[Isaac]

If you understood what communism was was meant to be but never works out

 

[Pat Hartman]

“If you understood what communism was, you would hope, you would pray on your knees that we would someday become communist. I, a socialist, think that we should strive toward a socialist society, all the way to communism.” -Jane Fonda

North Korea is about as close to utopia as you can get. Jane should go there and enjoy it. I would personally pay her airfare provided she gave up her US citizenship. This is probably the last country on earth that would have an illegal immigration problem. I wonder why. How can people be so downright stupid?

Utopia is just around the corner with these folks.

I know I've been in office for 40 years but if you just elect me one more time, I promise I will deliver on all my promises.

 

[AccessBlaster]

I know I've been in office for 40 years but if you just elect me one more time, I promise I will deliver on all my promises.

It's the epitome of asininity

 

[Pat Hartman]

It's the epitome of asininity

It sure works for the low-information voter who votes based on what boxes you check. A lot of people will vote for Kamala because she is black and/or because she is a woman. The fact that she is incompetent doesn't seem to enter into their equation. Others will vote for her because she is projecting a "joyous" vistage. What they don't understand is that being the President is an actual job and requires actual work, you know like reading AND UNDERSTANDING your briefing papers - which we KNOW that Kamala is not capable of doing. If she couldn't be bothered as VP where she was only a heartbeat away from being the President, why does anyone think she will become intelligent and conscientious overnight? She is "joyous" because she thinks she has the election won and she has started her happy dance already. She finally is speaking to crowds. Of course the fact that the crowds are there for the free concert doesn't penetrate into her pea-brain. Nor does it penetrate the pea-brains of the talking heads who three weeks ago thought Joe should drop her from the ticked she was so unpopular but who today laud her as the next coming of Jesus Christ. Talk about hypocrisy. Talk about the mantra of the progressives "stupid people shouldn't breed". It is well too late for that.

So in summary, here are the reasons to vote for Kamala:

1. She is black
2. She is a woman
3. She is joyous
4. She is not Trump

Here are the reasons to vote for Trump

1. His policies worked for us during his first term
2. He knows he was naive and allowed the deep state to interfere. He will be better this time
3. He knows he ended up with people close to him who actively worked against his policies. He will fire them sooner this time
4. Congress will be more supportive given the McConnell will be gone (unless he reneges) and a new Speaker will be chosen who will hopefully work with him instead of against him
5. He has selected a VP who will be something other than just a pretty face doing nothing. Vance is capable and willing to implement Trump's agenda unlike that scumbag Pence
6. He knows the FBI, DOJ, and CIA are corrupt. He will deal with them
7. He knows he has the power to shut down agencies. He will start with the DOE
8. He knows he has the power to fire political appointees outright and he will.
9. He knows he can get rid of others by using the RIF technique and simply forcing a dowsize
10. He knows that having all of government concentrated it DC is really bad. Hopefully, he will start to distribute the wealth around the country. The heartland could use some high-paying jobs if the DC folks don't want to move.
11. He will re implement his policy of dropping old rules if an agency wants to add new rules

 

[DickyP]

This thread has made me glad for the first time ever to have our dreafuĺy bloated and inefficient NHS!

 

[AccessBlaster]

This thread has made me glad for the first time ever to have our dreafuĺy bloated and inefficient NHS!

I've always had good health insurance because I shop the benefits before accepting employment. They had to have as a minimum good health and retirement plans. Now that I am retired, I have been with SCAN Medicare (government insurance) for about 3 years. It's not as portable as company insurance, but it seems to be working with few complaints.

 

[Isaac]

Democrat politicians are smart, though. The lethal combination is they're smart and the average voter is stupid, which makes the whole situation easily manipulate-able.

Meaning that for instance - think how well Identity Politics has worked for them. The second they present a black candidate, they're guaranteed almost all black votes, as black voters have been trained to identify based on race above all else, all the time - whether it be "seeing" victimhood in the way they are treated on a daily basis rather than blaming the just-as-likely candidate of their own behavior.......or whether it be voting or following.

 

[Pat Hartman]

If I'm out and about in the afternoon I listen to Andrew Wilkow on SeriousXM, the Patriot Channel. He takes calls and sometimes they get pretty funny. People who want to argue his points get to go to the head of the queue and he always slays them. He had one guy last week who was very excited that Kamala was the Democrats' nominee. Andrew asked the caller if he cared that no vote was ever cast for Kamala and he said no. Then Andrew said he'd give the guy 2 minutes to present a sales pitch to his largely conservative audience on why they should vote for Kamala. The only proviso was that the caller couldn't mention Trump by name or by inference. The reasons had to relate specifically to Kamala and not be negative against the Republican candidate. Andrew stopped him after 10 seconds and rewound the clock. Then after 15 seconds and rewound the clock. Then after 20 seconds and rewound the clock and then after 30 seconds Andrew cut him off for the last time and pointed out that the caller never came up with ANY coherent reasons to vote FOR Kamala. All he kept coming up with is negative comments about Trump.

They have NOTHING. They just don't know it yet.

 

[Isaac]

Kamala's latest idea of price controls is so stupid - we should allow the market to determine prices