[edcoil]

Thanks George. Now you know why the "right" did not turnout in the polls.

[sheana]

Ahhhhhh come on! We just need to send them more money!

[digger48]

But the point of the piece is no doubt, that the Democrat Plan which was twice as big, wouldn't have been bad

[I see my hands]

"the 'right' did not turnout in the polls."

After the next attack I'll have to ask you to remind me of that transcending wisdom.

[WV Mountain Mama]

Barf.

[tobyhill]

Has the cost of the Prescription Drug plan offset any amount that would have been a result of surgery and if so by how much?

[poobear]

This article is absolutely correct. The part about it is the boomers fault once again just ticks me off. They have know about the short comings of the ponzi scheme of SS for decades and did nothing about it. Now since all these workers that have supported these benefits to others start to age, this is suddenly their fault? I surely wasn't my fault for the last 35 years of employment to pay towards this BS scheme.

Ugh! I'm going to have to stop reading these articles.

[LtdGovt]

Ronald Reagan said: a government program has the closest thing to eternal life of anything. Once the government has obligations, you cannot go back.

[Doohickey]

I can't wait to see how much the "fix" is going to cost us.

[WV Mountain Mama]

X'er ping

[DustyMoment]

Yep. This is why the Dems weren't getting any traction with it when they originally proposed it. Then, they dropped the idea and W co-opted it.

It was a bad idea when the Dems dreamed it up and it didn't get any better when W enacted it.

FWIW, it's still a bad idea and getting worse by the minute.

[dirtboy]

Hmm. The right raised questions about Bush's compassionate conservatism in 2000. We were told to compromise for the good of the party. We got No Child Left Behind, the Medicare Prescription Bill, $15 Bil in AIDS money to Africa, and have amnesty looming on the horizon. Just for starters.

Now we are being asked to go even FURTHER left for Rudy. We are told to compromise FURTHER for the good of the party.

[KoRn]

Bush's Fault!


....really

[KC_Conspirator]

As life expectancies increase and the cost of health care continues to rise at twice the rate of inflation, radical reform in health care will be necessary, Walker says. He says the federal government is also going to have to find ways to increase revenue and reduce benefits.

Ah yes, more taxes.

I would say that Rove and Bush's strategy has been and F.

[Axenolith]

Well "DUH!", it's not like anyone with an IQ over 50 couldn't see this coming well before it passed.

Doesn't matter though, as long as it potentially reels in votes...

[stevio]

Bush is going to wind up being a disastrous president. His stupid daylight savings time adjustment alone has cost our company thousands of dollars not to mention the software problems that we're still having.

[rock58seg]

Don't get too hysterical about the drug plan,,. Take a look at the numbers.

Senior citizens pay almost $93.50 a month for medicare.. lets say $1100 a year. For all practical purposes the drug plan is capped. this year at $2450.

The cap is composed of what you and they pay. Say a $20 tier 1 retail drug has a copay of $5. The full $20 is counted toward your cap. A tier 2 drug having a retail price of $35 has a copay of $29. The total of $35 is counted toward your cap.

Typically I pay about $60 a month toward my copays. Another $720 a year.

So When I didn't have medicare, doctor visits were $40, now they are $5. I go quarterly.

on balance I pay out $1100 + $720 + $20 = $1840

I receive $ 80 Dr. + $2450 drugs = $2530, or a positive balance of $690.

The cap last year, when it was $2150, was arrived at in August. The balance of the year was then at 100% my pay. The catastrophoc feature does not kick in until I pay about $4000 of my own dollars. (not a combination of copay and benefits, but my own $)

Think of it as a tax reduction to make up for taxing S.S., or for not privatizing S.S. in the first place.

All in all I don't think giving Seniors a $700 break annually is going to bankrupt the country when one considers the far larger amounts wasted on agribusiness, ethanol, illegal aliens, bloated education, Congressional salaries and retirements, and other bureaucratic waste.

Remember this is money going to the formerly most productive employees of our country.

[Leftism is Mentally Deranged]

That was the original intent. Make the system break. Then the libs would step up and announce that they have a plan to fix it. It would be socialized medicine with high taxes. Their goal is total and complete socialization of the USA.

[af_vet_rr]

Thanks George. Now you know why the "right" did not turnout in the polls.

Medicare = votes

That's why no Republican will try and seriously reform it, and that's why no Republican President would ever veto anything that would seriously impact it.

[EGPWS]

Bill Will Add $8 Trillion to Long-Term Medicare Obligations - That Could Already Bankrupt the U.S.

So what?

Although I don't need it, since my total tax burden is mid 50%, I'll take it!

(I'll just consider it a behind the scene P&L gain) /sarcasm

[cherry]

but notice even with this ridiculous bill the Rats and the MSM still want more.....its never enough for them....

being in my 50's I state emphatically that older people for the most part are better off than all other groups...they get more free money from Govt then anyone, and its something like $10 to every senior for $1 to a child....

its got to stop....

I fully believe in indexing SS and Medicare...I fully believe its almost immoral to be making my taxes and my kids taxes and my grandkids taxes( if I had any grandchildren) higher so some senior getting multiple pensions and discounts and freebies can get even more free stuff...

its unconscionable...its insanity...