Just Skip The First Paragraph-- This Is About Obama And Medicare, Not Obama And Syria
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No one's accusing Obama of being a secret Republican. Why bother? Establishment Democrats aren't that different from Establishment Republicans most of the time anyway. His catastrophic corporate trade policies are virtually identical with Bush's. Wall Street? Check. Is Penny Pritzker any less of a sleazebag and corporate criminal than anyone Bush appointed? "Obamacare?" Except for the name... it was a discredited Republican proposal to avoid single-payer universal health care. How about wrecking Social Security with Chained CPI-- another Republican idea Obama has embraced-- like the Sequester. Who would have ever imagined a worse Democrat than Bill Clinton in the White House? At least Clinton was smart. Obama really is turning out to be a fool and a lightweight. (No, I didn't vote for him in November. Did you?)
Can Obama do any more damage than he already has to the Democratic brand? Well of course. He has some crappy Republican ideas to wreck Medicare he's feeling good about. No one ever knows how great Medicare is 'til they turn 65. And then it dawns on you-- this isn't a theory; this is the best thing ever! I was the president of a company that was part of a Fortune 500 corporate monster. The carefully negotiated health insurance policy they gave company presidents is the best thing available-- blue chip to the max. Guess what-- so far Social Security is at least just as good. I actually think it's better but I want to give it a year before I make a final judgment. Unless Obama manages to wreck it before the year is up.
Obama says he likes a Republican Austerity plan that combines Medicare's doctor and hospital coverage in a way that saddles beneficiaries with higher costs. The Austerity crowd, both Republicans and the conservative Democrats Obama has surrounded himself with, feel that Medicare beneficiaries need to pay more. The proposals don't attempt to save money; they just shift the costs to beneficiaries while enacting a cap on catastrophic costs. The unified deductable (for Parts A & B) that Obama says he'll go along with is meant to raise expenses by hundreds of dollars for the vast majority of Medicare beneficiaries who aren't getting hospital treatment. "It's just shifting costs," explained Henry Waxman (D-CA), just "a way to ask people to pay more for their premiums." Waxman hasn't even signed onto the Grayson-Takano No Cuts letter and you get the idea that he still hasn't lost faith in Obama yet.
Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chairman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) has signed onto the Grayson-Takano letter and has analyzed it and called it a "net loss" for patients that "is not going to control rising costs." Meanwhile, of course, virtually all Republican congressmembers are getting behind Cantor's devious and callous approach that he articulated for the American Enterprise Institute: "We can modernize Medicare so it isn’t so complicated for seniors or healthcare providers. We should begin by ending the arbitrary division between Part A, the hospital program, and Part B, the doctor services."
I'm looking very skeptically on any incumbents who haven't signed onto the Grayson Takano letter which just states very clearly that "we will vote against any and every cut to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security benefits-- including raising the retirement age or cutting the cost of living adjustments that our constituents earned and need." Tuesday Blue America will be formally endorsing Pennsylvania state Senator Daylin Leach, who is running for the open congressional seat in northeast Philly/Montgomery County, which Allyson Schwartz is leaving. Daylin backs the Grayson Takano No Cuts approach. "At a time when corporate profits, executive compensation, the stock market and wealth disparity are at near record highs," he told us, "it is obscene to even consider balancing our budget on the backs of seniors and veterans. I fully supported President Obama's election, but I can't support any drift towards corporatism to appease tea-party extremists. If we are really serious about ensuring the solvency of Social Security while preserving benefits well into the future, there is a simple solution. We should raise the cap on income subject to the payroll tax from $110,000 per year to $200,000 per year. This is fair, reasonable, and keeps faith with those who rely on Social Security to survive."
No need to wait 'til Tuesday, when he joins us for a Crooks and Liars live chat session, to back Daylin's campaign. You can do it here, now.
Labels: Daylin Leach, Israel, Medicare, Obamacans, Social Security, Syria
posted by DownWithTyranny @ 6:00 PM
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Bryson said he gives Obama a "B" for his trade policy, saying that the president was able to push China on trade issues without starting a trade war.
U.S. exports have risen steadily during the Obama administration. U.S. companies exported $1.3 trillion in goods and services during the first seven months of 2012, putting it on pace to top last year's record setting total. The increase in sales came even as the European sovereign debt crisis has cut the demand for U.S. goods and services in that key market.
But our imports have also grown. The trade gap -- the difference between the value of exports and imports -- has risen each of the last two years and is on pace to be even higher this year.
The trade gap is a major drag on the economy. And while the current gap is smaller than it was in the last five years of the Bush administration, it's tough for the Obama administration to take a victory lap. Today's narrower gap is greatly due to weak consumer demand for imported goods and oil, rather than exports being boosted by any specific trade policy.
"A lot of the trade record is determined by forces outside the power of the administration to affect," said Jay Bryson, international economist for Wells Fargo Securities. "It depends on what is happening in the rest of the world."
http://money.cnn.com/2012/09/13/news/economy/obama-trade/index.html
As for Medicare..I am a recipient.
It is good health insurance and darn cheap in comparison. Medicare was never set up or meant to cover all medical costs of a senior. The premiums have been adjusted/increased as well as the deductibles over the years. Personally, I feel the Medigap plans are a rip off and do not understand why most seniors purchase them...One, the premiums are high..anywhere from around $165 to $300 a month. That doesn't include the Medicare premium of $140 a month nor does it cover Medicare Part D. And the benefit offered (covering the A & B deductible) plus some will pay the 20% not covered by Medicare just isn't worth it (depending on ones health)The plan can be changed the end of each year. Since I have decent health I am waiting until it deteriorates to the point I may need hospitalization. Even then it hardly is worth it. Saving the $165 to $300 a month premium would cover the deductible.There are the Medicare Advantage Plans and the Medicare Part B Prescription Drug Plans..all attempts to privatize Medicare as they are purchased through private health insurance companies. The Medicare Part D plan is mandated that all Medicare recipients must purchase through a private health insurance company or pay a penalty; enacted in 2005 with hardly a whimper.With the exception of the supplemental/gap plans, a recipients health care is no longer managed by Medicare.
The AHCA did not burden most Medicare recipients with more of the costs..if anything they will be less. Preventive services have been expanded and are with-out co-pays(free). Medicare recipients that are in the higher income bracket will have a $40 more a month additional premium on top of the $140 medicare premium.
**So far, the changes the president has proposed do not go as far as a single deductible and a cap on catastrophic costs. Instead, Mr. Obama has called for increasing the Part B deductible, which has risen much less than medical costs. He also proposed that beneficiaries pay something for home health care, which is among Medicare’s fastest-growing and most fraud-prone expenses; people just released from the hospital would be exempted.
Third, Mr. Obama proposed a 15 percent surcharge on Medigap plans that cover all or nearly all of a beneficiary’s initial annual expenses. Economists say that such coverage leaves beneficiaries insensitive to costs, increasing Medicare’s spending and the premiums beneficiaries pay.
And no matter what the President proposes it is off the table unless Republicans agree to provisions that increase revenue..either taxes on the rich or closing tax loop holes on corporations.
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