Posted on 08/16/2009 5:03:02 AM PDT by Alas Babylon!
The Talk Shows
Sunday, August 16th, 2009
Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows:
FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Sens. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., and Richard Shelby, R-Ala.; J. James Rohack, president of the American Medical Association; John Rother, executive vice president for policy and strategy at AARP.
MEET THE PRESS (NBC): FreedomWorks chairman and former Rep. Dick Armey, R-Texas; Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla.; former Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D.; R. Bruce Josten, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.; Gov. Bill Ritter, D-Colo.
FACE THE NATION (CBS): White House press secretary Robert Gibbs; former Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb.; former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind.
THIS WEEK (ABC): Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius; Sens. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.
STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Sebelius; Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo.; Reps. Mike Ross, D-Ark., Tom Price, R-Ga., and Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas.
You're kidding!
Another issue discussed earlier but not addressed is the amount of SS that is taxed. I know there is a sliding scale depending on your income.
Medicaid is medical welfare. In our state of Maine, 23.5% of the population are on it, due largely to the unaffordable private insurance premiums.
The national average is 1 out of 7.
As government gives out this "free" care, underpays, or worse does not pay, the hospitals "cost shift" the difference to the insured and cash paying patients.
Hence the $20 aspirin etc.
More... from the San Francisco/Danville rallies .. woo hoo!
As I’ve said earlier, if public outrage and fury can be this ignited over govt. control there in San Francisco, we got ‘em on the run.
Pelosi will need more Botox this week.
Thanks,with me I have 2 1/2 years to wait until I am 66.
Does not get any better.
Thanks much Star,great job as usual!
You do have to pay taxes on your SS income. I was on SSI (disability) before I turned 65.
Absolutely the funniest joke ever.....ON US!!!
Let it sink in.
Quietly we go like sheep to slaughter.
Does anybody out there have any memory of the reason given for the establishment of the DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ..... during the Carter Administration?
Anybody?
Anything?
No?.....Didn't think so!
Bottom line ... we've spent several hundred billion dollars in support of an agency...the reason for which not one person who reads this can remember.
Ready???????
It was very simple.. and at the time everybody thought it very appropriate...
The 'Department of Energy'
was instituted on 8-04-1977
TO LESSEN OUR DEPENDENCE
ON FOREIGN OIL.
Hey, pretty efficient, huh?????
AND NOW IT'S 2009, 32 YEARS LATER ... AND THE BUDGET FOR THIS NECESSARY DEPARTMENT
IS AT $24.2 BILLION A YEAR
IT HAS 16,000 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES
AND APPROXIMATELY 100,000 CONTRACT EMPLOYEES AND LOOK AT THE JOB IT HAS DONE!
THIS IS WHERE YOU SLAP YOUR FOREHEAD AND SAY
"WHAT WAS I THINKING?"
Ah, yes, good old bureaucracy...
And NOW - we are going to turn the Banking System, Health Care & the Auto Industry over to government?
May God Help Us !!!
Ok, got it. The thing I was confused about was earnings vs. pension payments. Thanks for that info.
Not only is your SS income subject to income tax, but because there is no witholding, you are required to pay that tax quarterly. Of course the formula for how much you owe is so complicated it is difficult to estimate your qtrly tax.
Thank you Alas, you have no idea how much that means to me.
Pray for America
Here’s their corporate website.
http://www.ruralmetrotn.com/intro_highres.htm
True, very similar to the idea of a volunteer fire department in that people don’t need to count on government for such services.
I am sure most people do. And for most of the things my parents used, it was fine.
It’s when you have weird situations that it isn’t helpful. And that’s not including the fact that it’s going bankrupt.
I am not agitating against Medicare. I just think that the idea that we can make the whole country on some similar type of program is a bad idea.
First, my private insurance covers the difference between what Medicare covers and what the doctor charges, limited to 115% of what Medicare reimburses the doctor.
I am a retired Federal employee and can choose a large menu of coverage plans. Currently, I am covered under the FS Benefit Plan {Coventry is the health provider), the same one I have used for over 38 years. My premium is the same as if I were still actively employed. If Medicare rejects all or part of my claim, I can send it to my insurance company for processing. It doesn't follow that I cannot be reimbursed for those services not payed for by Medicare. For example, my insurance pays for an annual physical, but Medicare only approves of a one-time welcome to Medicare physical exam.
With my parents’ insurance (through the retired teacher’s association) it covered the deductible on the ALLOWED fees. That meant if the real fee was $1000, Medicare allowed a total fee of $500, of which they paid 80%. The insurance would pay the 20% of the $500, not 20% of $1000.
I have better insurance. Still, there are limits to what my plan will pay beyond what Medicare would reimburse.
My taxes are paying for a portion of your Cadillac plan, which is nice for you but doesn't put me in a very good mood.
Nicely said and ditto
Darn it, Republicans have pushed for health care reform for years and it's always been blocked by the Democrats. Bush tried and Democrats shot it down. The problem is we want tort reform in it, to stop abuse by trial attorneys. We want to give more choice to the consumer, something Democrats cannot stand to have. We want to allow the market to work, another thing Democrats cannot agree too. Democrats want socialized medicine to cement their power while Republicans are intent to introduce more market centerred solutions.
We have more information and choice in eye care, veternarian care, dental care. But dealing with doctors and hospitals is somehow off limits. I don't believe it has to be that way. I will admit insurance companies like the system as it is, and that too has to be changed.
Nine out of ten Medicare recipients, including myself and my wife, have private, supplementary insurance to cover what Medicare doesn't. My doctor charges me the market rate and then is reimbursed by Medicare and my private insurance company.
True, except the supplemental insurance only picksup the 20% of the 100% Medicare allowable.
a routine office visit of say 15 minutes the Dr charges say 150.00 Medicare allow 61.31 and pay 49.05 and the supplemental will pay the rest up to the 61.31.
Yup, I’m finally up to speed.
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