White House says sequester will cost Virginia big
Note from Dan: Yesterday the White House released reports estimating the impact of the sequester on all 50 states. Specific cuts from the report on Virginia are below. To read the entire briefing sheet on Virginia, as well as some national impacts, click here (pdf).
VIRGINIA IMPACTS
If sequestration were to take effect, some examples of the impacts on Virginia this year alone are:
Teachers and Schools:
Virginia will lose approximately $14 million in funding for primary and secondary education, putting around 190 teacher and aide jobs at risk. In addition about 14,000 fewer students would be served and approximately 40 fewer schools would receive funding.
Education for Children with Disabilities:
In addition, Virginia will lose approximately $13.9 million in funds for about 170 teachers, aides, and staff who help children with disabilities.
Work-Study Jobs:
Around 2,120 fewer low income students in Virginia would receive aid to help them finance the costs of college and around 840 fewer students will get work-study jobs that help them pay for college.
Head Start:
Head Start and Early Head Start services would be eliminated for approximately 1,000 children in Virginia, reducing access to critical early education.
Protections for Clean Air and Clean Water:
Virginia would lose about $2,997,000 in environmental funding to ensure clean water and air quality, as well as prevent pollution from pesticides and hazardous waste. In addition, Virginia could lose another $826,000 in grants for fish and wildlife protection.
Military Readiness:
In Virginia, approximately 90,000 civilian Department of Defense employees would be furloughed, reducing gross pay by around $648.4 million in total.
- Army: Base operation funding would be cut by about $146 million in Virginia.
- Air Force: Funding for Air Force operations in Virginia would be cut by about $8 million.
- Navy: Cancel the maintenance of 11 ships in Norfolk, defer four projects at Dahlgren, Oceana, and Norfolk, and delay other modernization and demolition projects.
Law Enforcement and Public Safety Funds for Crime Prevention and Prosecution:
Virginia will lose about $276,000 in Justice Assistance Grants that support law enforcement, prosecution and courts, crime prevention and education, corrections and community corrections, drug treatment and enforcement, and crime victim and witness initiatives.
Job Search Assistance to Help those in Virginia find Employment and Training:
Virginia will lose about $348,000 in funding for job search assistance, referral, and placement, meaning around 18,390 fewer people will get the help and skills they need to find employment.
Child Care:
Up to 400 disadvantaged and vulnerable children could lose access to child care, which is also essential for working parents to hold down a job.
Vaccines for Children:
In Virginia around 3,530 fewer children will receive vaccines for diseases such as measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, whooping cough, influenza, and Hepatitis B due to= reduced funding for vaccinations of about $241,000.
Public Health:
Virginia will lose approximately $764,000 in funds to help upgrade its ability to respond to public health threats including infectious diseases, natural disasters, and biological, chemical, nuclear, and radiological events. In addition, Virginia will lose about $2,140,000 in grants to help prevent and treat substance abuse, resulting in around 1,700 fewer admissions to substance abuse programs. And the Virginia State Department of Health will lose about $337,000 resulting in around 8,400 fewer HIV tests.
STOP Violence Against Women Program:
Virginia could lose up to $172,000 in funds that provide services to victims of domestic violence, resulting in up to 700 fewer victims being served.
Nutrition Assistance for Seniors
Virginia would lose approximately $1,215,000 in funds that provide meals for seniors.
February 25, 2013 - 8:00 AM
In light of the sequester cuts the Republicans are trying to force upon us, I thought the article linked below was enlightening.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-22/obama-channels-eisenhower-with-anemic-government-spending-growth.html
Everything on the list, except those Defense Department cuts, is a state responsibility. The General Assembly and/or municipal governments should be funding these if they are necessary. Put any “blame” where it belongs. Furthermore, some of those “cuts” are really cuts in proposed spending increases. Separate the real cuts from the phantom cuts or take this column down. On the defense front, those civilians aren’t all being fired. Most will be forced to take unpaid leave and therefore take a small (though for many a significant) cut in pay. There’s tens of thousands of unemployed and underemployed Virginians from the free enterprise workforce who would gladly trade places with these people.
wonder how much $$ they spent making this report…
Mr Loco,
This is not a column. It’s a blog post, transparently culled verbatim from a White House release. Your orders that I “separate the real cuts from the phantom cuts or take this column down” are quite amusing. You are free to separate “the real” from “the phantom” for us in the comments.
Your comment that “On the defense front, those civilians aren’t all being fired. Most will be forced to take unpaid leave and therefore take a small (though for many a significant) cut in pay” is amusing as well. There is no suggestion by the White House that those workers “will be fired.” That came only from you.
Quite explicitly, the release notes they will be furloughed. You obviously understand the difference. Why are you pretending you don’t?
Why don’t they do the right thing and take the money from congressional pay, presidential pay, former congress member pay, perks, and the like?
Kinda makes you wonder why Obama supported Sequestering if it is so bad.
Kindergarden, Headstart how many of us did not attend either
of these Federally funded babysetter programs and turned out
just fine?
Without the grants there will not be as many cops on time-and-one half
setting around on the Interstates writing citations. Wow all of us
will miss that.
“Under the Permanent Campaign Shimmy, the president identifies a problem. Then he declines to come up with a proposal to address the problem. Then he comes up with a vague-but-politically-convenient concept that doesn’t address the problem (let’s raise taxes on the rich). Then he goes around the country blasting the opposition for not having as politically popular a concept. Then he returns to Washington and congratulates himself for being the only serious and substantive person in town.
Sequestration allows the White House to do this all over again. The president hasn’t actually come up with a proposal to avert sequestration, let alone one that is politically plausible.” David Brooks NYT
Michele Rice | February 25, 2013 at 9:16 am
Why don’t they do the right thing and take the money from congressional pay, presidential pay, former congress member pay, perks, and the like?
Answer.
Congress assured itself continuing pay in the 27th Amendment which was approved in 1992.:
“The 27th Amendment is the most recent amendment, and there are many people who probably don’t remember what it stands for: congressional pay raises. “No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened…
In short, the amendment states that a sitting Congress can’t change its pay while it is in session.”
http://constitutioncenter.org/
Pretty underhanded, no?
Since the cops mostly write citations for things like driving like a juvenile delinquent, I pretty much appreciate what they do. Generally speaking, if you’re not weaving dangerously in and out of traffic and you keep it less than 10 mph (sometimes 15 mph) over the speed limit on the interstate, you’re good to go. If you can’t do those things, you deserve a ticket.
Henry, Obama mistakenly thought Congressional Repubs would grow up and act like adults. Big error by the president.
Rob, everyone of my generation that I know went to Kindergarden. As for HeadStart, it’s specifically for a certain population, so if you didn’t go it means you didn’t qualify.
Sequestering will not happen. The President said it would not happen. Oh ye of little faith
http://thehill.com/video/campaign/263425-obama-parries-romney-attacks-on-sequester
Henry: Kinda makes you wonder why Obama supported Sequestering if it is so bad.
Like many compromises, it’s a game of chicken: both your stuff AND my stuff is on the chopping block. If you want to save your stuff, you gotta save my stuff too. If there’s gonna be pickin’ and choosin’ going on, we’re both gonna have to do it, and don’t you be sayin’ what I have to get rid of and get all defensive when I say what y’all need to be gettin’ rid of too.
(Spent a weekend with family and all I have to show for it is a stronger accent.)
The Beta hates HTML tags of any sort. Good to know. (Dan, please get rid of my comment #9, as it makes no sense without tag display.)
Well Henry, obviously President Obama “misunderestimated” the capacity for Congress not doing the right thing, again.
Rob Thommins, do you have any statistics or studies that show that “Kindergarden, Headstart” and more police on patrol have not had an impact on the lowering of crime? Or do you think criminals just all became “nicer” and quit?
Our fiscal woes would never be solved by cutting all Congressional pay and retirement. That’s a drop in the bucket compared to spending and revenue.
Besides, you drop all pay for Congress and the only people you’d have serving there are the independently wealthy who, by and large, would be less inclined to represent the interests of the average American. Who wants Shel Adelson and David Koch serving in the Senate?
Carolina Kid, are you aware that David Brooks had to eat those words?
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“The above column was written in a mood of justified frustration over the fiscal idiocy that is about to envelop the nation. But in at least one respect I let my frustration get the better of me. It is true, as the director of the Congressional Budget Office has testified, that the administration has not proposed a specific anti-sequester proposal that can be scored or passed into law. It is not fair to suggest, as I did, that tax hikes for the rich is the sole content of the president’s approach. The White House has proposed various constructive changes to spending levels and entitlement programs. These changes are not nearly adequate in my view, but they do exist, and I should have acknowledged the balanced and tough-minded elements in the president’s approach. [The New York Times, 2/21/13]”
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http://mediamatters.org/research/2013/02/22/conservative-media-ignore-obamas-sequester-plan/192778
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There is a reason the President will not be blamed for whatever happens, because it is not the President who is playing fast and loose with the truth.
No doubt he was pressured to do so. After all, he’s working for the NYT.
#12 Kristen:
When I was kindergarden and headstart age, they did not exist.
Ms: Saunders:
In Tennessee last year, highway patrols and soberity check points
increased 25% across the board. Last year in that same state
highway fatalities increased from the year before. DUI arrests
increased also.
Source: Tennessee Bureau of Investigations Highway Statistics.
It would appear that this “increased presence” had no effect on
lowering the crime rate.
It is all well and good to think that the problem is only spending and that the inequality in our tax, education, justice and economic systems have nothing to do with our problems. It is wrong, but like every other wrong thought, you can have it.
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Unless you see this as not being a problem (and they don’t), then only cutting spending might seem reasonable, but it isn’t.
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http://billmoyers.com/2013/02/22/in-this-recovery-the-rich-get-richer/
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“Since 2009, income growth among the majority of Americans has remained relatively stagnant. But an updated version of economist Emmanuel Saez’s study, “Striking it Richer,” shows that this is not true for the top one percent of Americans.”
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It seems something is working in their favor and their favor alone. Why is that not worth looking at if cutting Social Security, Medicare, teachers and cops is?
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An equitable system would not keep seeing this result:
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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/26/opinion/the-rich-get-even-richer.html?_r=0
Oh, so Obama is both naive and an innocent victim of the legislation that he signed. Maybe he should step down and we can get someone in office that knows what is happening. He seems completely clueless.
Perhaps if the Democrats had bothered to offer a budget, we wouldn’t have this mess. Obviously, the idea of a budget completely baffles Obama. Maybe he could ask his kids to help. They take math in school.
Obama said sequester would not happen. You guys are portraying him as a liar http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/10/23/obama-said-the-sequester-will-not-happen-that-doesnt-change-anything/
Rob, when you were kindergarten age, had those pesky court rulings that outlawed segregated school been handed down yet?
They didn’t outlaw segregated schools. You can still have segregated schools by sex or religion or sexual orientation. They just outlawed segregation by race…somewhat. Can you have an African-American or Latino school? I thought that was happening.
It takes 2 to tango, well, in this case 3. The President, House and Senate. The house refuses to budge on revenue increases, claiming that the sun setting of the bush tax increases on those making over 1 million and the 2% Social Security restoration is all the president will get. It’s a ridiculous position. The GOTP is willing to trash the US economy and the confidence the world has on the US to clean up its mess. All to protect it’s revenue source for campaigning which the GOTP uses to elicit fear mongering and generate votes from the “Low information” voting block, the ignorant and misinformed and angry white men.
No deal can be made that does not include increases in revenue in addition to cuts across the board.
If Sequester goes in effect, we will see unintended consequences the likes of which just might make the collapse in 2007 seem like a bump in the road.
Want to replace the dollar as the worlds currency?
Want to see runaway inflation as T-bill sales plummet?
Want to see the cascading effect of the “minor” federal funding cuts?
The Presidents door is open and he has called Congressional leaders in an attempt to compromise. The GOTP only wants cuts to the US social nets. This position is untenable and will certainly lead to disaster for the GOTP at the polls in 2014. Not to mention the pain inflicted on the average American who will lose jobs and purchasing power, see a drop in their retirement funds, most likely see another drop in property values and god knows what else.
That’s what we get for sending children to congress. Again I say, where are the protests in Washington? Americans have lost their spine. That’s what the world and our enemies see and they are absolutely correct.
Mr. Casey:
I was born in 1951.
Headstart age 1955
Kindergarden age 1956
Civil Rights Act 1964
I’m gonna have to start using Sandi’s trick to get proper spacing between paragraphs. Dan, know why the beta doesn’t allow for spacing?
Cold, I don’t know what’s up with the paragraph breaks/spacing in the new blog format.
hey cold, in your above rant, you start out ok, by saying that “it takes three to tango”. Then, you lost it, and your true colors emerged. Well, at least you didn’t blame Bush, yet.
The president and the libs don’t want a budget, because they don’t want limits on their spending, which is why we don’t have a budget, and haven’t had one for several years. The president hasn’t yet even proposed a budget for 2014, and it was due three weeks ago.
The president and his libs have succeeded in raising tax rates on the rich, and soaking the working poor and low income workers via the FICA tax “recovery”…but now they want more….always have….always will, in my opinion.
When it comes to thinking Congress is going to one day do their job, yes, President Obama is worse than Charlie Brown trusting Lucy.
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If being “naive” and a “victim” on top of “completely clueless” was reason to “step down”, Reagan and Bush sure missed that memo too. But thanks for your concern Henry. America is well aware of what is going on. They hear your tune, they just can’t dance to it.
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“The president and his libs have succeeded in raising tax rates on the rich, and soaking the working poor and low income workers via the FICA tax “recovery.”
–Frank
This is not a fact. It’s an argument — and a really silly one at that. Just imagine if Obama had never sought and won passage of a FICA cut (which was always promoted as temporary). That you would never be able to make the claim that Obama had “soaked the working poor” by allowing it to expire. (Instead, you’d be forced to blame it on Reagan, who signed the last increase to FICA taxes 30 years ago — but we know you would never do that).
In fact, what the president and Congress did (Republicans voted for it, too) was to give workers a temporary 2-year wage increase for the purpose of spurring consumer spending and helping the economy. It indeed helped the economy struggle out of a recession. Now it’s time for that to end, as Obama promised it would.
It a shame that Repbulicans wouldn’t keep their “temporary” promises on the Bush tax cuts.
Frank, having, or not having a budget is not what allows or stops Congress, or the President, from spending money. Did you truly learn nothing, nothing at all from Bush?
hey dano,
i think obama played fast and loose with his low information supporters before the election…shouting that he was “gonna raise taxes on the rich”, followed by bellowing, “i will not fix the budget on the backs of the working poor and the middle class”….knowing all the while that FICA was gonna go back to what it was…which wouldn’t touch the rich, but would crush the working poor and middle class.
what a class act that guy is. oh, did ya see michele last night on the oscars? yep, that was her, giving the best picture award to Argo…which told the story about the successful rescue by Canadians of some of our embassy staff in tehran….while her hubby did zero, zilch, nada,…for the four murdered staff of our consulate in benghazi….followed by singing a duet “zippity do da, zippity day” (figuatively speaking) with hillary on a pakistani tv commercial.
for goodness sake, where are those Canadians when ya need them, right?
So what is the president doing to stop the sequestering cuts besides waiting on Congress to do something? Anything?
“hey dano,
i think obama played fast and loose with his low information supporters before the election…shouting that he was “gonna raise taxes on the rich”, followed by bellowing, “i will not fix the budget on the backs of the working poor and the middle class”….knowing all the while that FICA was gonna go back to what it was…which wouldn’t touch the rich, but would crush the working poor and middle class. ”
–Frank
OK, Frank, well let’s look at this this way, through the eyes of a $35,000-a-year bus driver. For the sake of argument, we’ll assume the gross pay hasn’t changed since Jan. 1, 2010 and they are paid up on FICA through the end of this month.
That bus driver has paid $5,473 in FICA taxes since the beginning of 2010. If Obama HAD NOT pushed and won the temporary cut, they would have paid $6,873. And you’re sitting here and trying to persuade us that bus driver would have been better off if the temporary, sunsetted cut had never been enacted.
What are you smokin’ Frank?
Frank.
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Balancing the budget on the backs of the middle class is an option I will not accept. I am currently in the process of filing my company taxes. I am outraged that I, as a sole proprietor in one business and a LLC in another am taxed at a rate much higher than your beloved millionaires.
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I’m just trying to make an honest living and provide for a dignified retirement.
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The GOTP is standing in my way and I’ll make it my business to defeat them on every front and if the Democrats won’t get the job done then I am willing to consider 3rd party options. That party has not emerged yet.
My personal message to the US House of Representatives is:
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COMPROMISE or go HOME!
nooo, dano. It may be that’s what YOU think I think. but, that’s not what I think. i think he could have raised the upper-income ceiling for FICA withholding, and kept the reduced FICA rate for the folks like your bus driver right where it was. then, he could have truthfully bellowed to the world that he was not gonna raise taxes on the working poor and middle-class. sheesh, dano, don’t you know anything?
Speaking of Head Start, the President gets “corrected” for making up a fact about early education. Oh, and Head Start is just a hole to throw money in.
http://twitchy.com/2013/02/25/junk-social-science-white-house-tweets-bogus-fact-about-early-education-spending
Frank is a creative, if simplistic, digger.
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Losing the FICA “holiday” has not and will not “crush the working poor and middle class” and your whining cannot make that true.
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How much more petty can you be Frank?
sandi, your words are spoken like a true blue confused lib. your deliberate failure to engage in a conversation concerning raising the income ceiling on FICA taxes in order to enable the temporary FICA reduction for the working poor to stay permanent…. means you don’t give a twit about the working poor.
Cold n P
What does a compromise look like in your world? What has the President offered to compromise in order the meet the Republicans in the middle?
Henry, buddy, you need to find a better source than something as horrendously biased and stupidly named as “twitchy.” I mean. after all, you want us to take your bomb throwing seriously, don’t you?
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And not “weasel zippers,” either.
“your deliberate failure to engage in a conversation concerning raising the income ceiling on FICA taxes in order to enable the temporary FICA reduction for the working poor to stay permanent…. means you don’t give a twit about the working poor.”
Nah, heyfrank, that would be the Repubs you’re describing.
Cold n P: My personal message to the US House of Representatives is: COMPROMISE or go HOME!
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I’m not really sure compromise is an option at this point. The old-school GOP thought they could control the GOTP and, for the most part, thought wrong. I would rather the latest bill-paying financial crisis (cliff, sequester, whatever name it has now) actually happen rather than this never-ending game of chicken. Let everything go to h-e-double-hockey-sticks in a handbasket then figure out where to go from there.
In a backhanded way, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, agrees with the White House that sequestration is going to be bad for Virginia.
“If I was the governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, I’d probably be freaked out,” Walker said, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “But we don’t have big military bases (and) our military contractors have already started to account for this.”
The problem is, we don’t really know where we’ll end up if we allow sequester to happen. How many times in our lives has the Government or talking heads been correct on predicting outcomes?
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It’s always the unintended consequences that bite us in the backside.
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This is so unnecessary.
“Junk social science White House tweets bogus fact”
Well if that title doesn’t just ooze credibility.
hey gdud, is that you up on that fence post, playing turtle? sandi thinksthat the increase in FICA tax on the working poor didn’t mean diddley squat to them, and that there is no need to raise the income ceiling for FICA taxes to enable the working poor’s reduced rate to stay permanent. Do you agree with sandi? ah, what’s that? oh. ok. you need to concentrate on what you’re doin’. ok. have fun on that fence post.
hey cold n p,
you do realize, don’t you, that obama has folks like you in his cross-hairs. the republicans don’t want to raise taxes on anybody. by the way, how’s it going with implementing obamacare in your companies?
Frank, the temporary FICA cut pushed by Obamna saved FT working- and middle-class people hundreds of dollars at least, and thousands of dollars in some cases. It put more money in their pockets than they otherwise would have had. He raised no taxes on them. He cut them temporarily.
By your exact logic, Roanoke City Council “cut” the meals tax in 2012 — because they had raised it temporarily for the two years before that. You realize that under that temporary increase — that “cut” according to Frank-logic — diners in the city paid MORE tax they would have otherwise, right?
Frank, my “deliberate failure to engage in a conversation” with you concerning anything is in direct response to the esteem I view your conversations.
“by the way, how’s it going with implementing obamacare in your companies?”
Very well, thank you for asking Frank, my insurance alone is about $400 per month cheaper than with the well know insurance company I was dealing with before.
So from what I gather,the President supported these cuts because he knew that Congress would not let them happen? So what does that mean? He is either an enabler, or unqualifed to run this country. Real leaders do not act this way. What we need is a real leader to lead this United States. What we have are professional politicians that realy don’t know what it means to be a leader and a patriot. I see no self sacrifice for the good of this country. As long as the eletorate places remains uneducated when it comes to our elected leaders, this country will continue to erode. Stop voting with your wallets and with with the attitudes of what can government do for me. Start voting by using a moral compass to elect by. We have become a self centered and serving society and look to others to take care of our needs. When we view personal security as more impoertant than our personal freedoms, then you have become enslaved to the politcally corrupt. Look at our large cities and the dependance that portions of our society have on the local government. Dependance breeds dependance. Thankfully I grew up in a poor rural area where you either worked hard or did without. There were no handouts and programs to go to. This actually built within me a need to work hard and improve my circumstances. Now we leave in an era where many of our young people have been raised to believe that everything is a right, that everything should be fair. What they don’t see yet but will one day, that this is not the basis of a great society. That the America we are now was not what it was when it was founded. Now we strive to be just like those other nations and be part of the global society. That is what made us the greatest. Becasue we were different. That we gave opportunities, not guarantees. Nothing is ever appreciated more than what is gained through hard work and sacrifice. Otherwise, it is not appreciated and cared for. There is no real ownership for what we have not earned. So while you want to blame one party or another, I blame those in position of leadership who do not lead, who do not stand, who do not sacrifice for the good of this country. I blame them for the decay and errosion of free society and for the bankrupting of this once great country.
Frank | February 25, 2013 at 8:10 pm
hey gdud, is that you up on that fence post, playing turtle? sandi thinksthat the increase in FICA tax on the working poor didn’t mean diddley squat to them, and that there is no need to raise the income ceiling for FICA taxes to enable the working poor’s reduced rate to stay permanent. Do you agree with sandi? ah, what’s that? oh. ok. you need to concentrate on what you’re doin’. ok. have fun on that fence post.
Heyfrank’s newest bestest most favorite colloquialism involves fence posts and turtles. But just for the record heyfrank, Ron May, Sandi, myself
and numerous others have been on the record here numerous times advocating raising the ceiling for payment of FICA. But you dissemble here
because you know as well as I that that proposal would have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting passed by the Republicons in the House of Reps
and would be filibustered until hell freezes over by McConnell and the Senate
crazies. And that would be especially true if it were proposed by (gasp!)
Obama. And this is the first time you have ever advocated such a change here that I can recall. So why don’t you pack up your fake outrage and take it somewhere where people will believe you (if you can find such a place).
I have read that some blame Congress for this problem. This blog article from the Washington Post states that all this originated at the White House. So they both are to blame I would think. Click the link below to read this. Very interesting.
http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/obamas-fanciful-claim-that-congress-proposed-the-sequester/2012/10/25/8651dc6a-1eed-11e2-ba31-3083ca97c314_blog.html
Talk head, from RCP today. Obama job approval…51%. Congressional job approval…15%. So who do you think is getting them blame here.
ok, wayne, ok. you win. you get to be king of the fence post turtles…for the rest of today.
wayne, in my opinion, i doubt that the republicans would have put up much of a fuss about raising the salary ceiling for FICA taxes…particularly if it would have resulted in a lower permanent rate for the working poor. i just don’t think that they would have fought it, much. i’m surprised that you libs didn’t even bring the issue up, and left the working poor to twist in the wind.
cold n p, several years ago, i had a similar experience where i changed insurance carriers for my business and received better coverage options and much better rates for all employees. but, after that first year, things kinda caught back up pretty quick.
Talking_head-Yes they are both to blame, however the implacable stance the GOTP has towards raising revenue and focusing only on Social net cuts has me blaming the GOTP for the standoff.
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Any solution should be balanced with revenue increases along with budget cuts including cuts to a bloated military.
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The GOTP saying that Obama got his tax increases by allowing the Bush Tax cuts to sunset on those making 1 million or more and sunsetting the 2% temporary cut to the SS tax is ludicrous.
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Boehner, Cantor, McConnell et al need to stop misrepresenting the extent of the revenue increases Obama negotiated at the end of 2012 and Obama needs to cool down the fiery rhetoric about the coming disaster. Instead of posturing for the media these legislators and our president (Along with democratic leaders) need to be locked in a room and not allowed out until we have a reasonable compromise to our revenue and spending issues.
“cold n p, several years ago, i had a similar experience where i changed insurance carriers for my business and received better coverage options and much better rates for all employees. but, after that first year, things kinda caught back up pretty quick.”
–Frank
There is a game going on. First year — teaser rates. Second year, back to the old rates. Then the companies shop again. There are even benefit analysis companies that help other companies stay ahead of the curve. A chief drawback is you end up in different networks every other year, which can mean different docs, etc.
On the other hand, Cold n P is at least the 3rd or 4th poster who has indicated here that his premiums declining substantially, rather than increasing steeply, under ACA. That kinda flies in the face of the doom and gloom predictions.
Frank, I support single payer. If I was king for a day, everyone would have the same plan, made to participate which would spread the risk and health care for profit would be tossed on the trash heap of history.
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Single payer would mean no outrageous bonuses to unworthy corporate heads, reduce the need for multiple pencil pushers fighting with the dozens of private insurers and eliminate the need for huge advertising campaigns wasting billions of dollars which would be better spent on direct healthcare and prevention of disease.
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That’s my 2 cents worth on healthcare.
Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin says he’d be freaking out if he was governor of Virginia, with sequestration looming, because of all the defense-related jobs in this state.
Amen to that Dan. A considerable portion of my business caters to folks from Nova or Military bases across Virginia
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I doubt that McDonnell has given the ramifications too much thought though. He seems to be organizing for his next run at political office. He’s done being Governor of Virginia.
“I doubt that McDonnell has given the ramifications too much thought though. He seems to be organizing for his next run at political office. He’s done being Governor of Virginia.”
–Cold n P
Do you think he’s going to try to portray himself as the governor who got rid of the 17.5-cents per gallon retail gas tax? That’ll be an incredible farce.
You betcha!
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However, the WP is reporting the Transportation bill is unconstitutional:
“Virginia’s constitution is clear that the General Assembly can impose only uniform taxes across the state for similar activities. But the bill that emerged from the House-Senate conference committee last weekend upsets the historic balance between localities and state government; it contains new provisions about taxation, some of which would effectively set up a two-tier system for residents in certain parts of the state. It’s difficult to see how some of these provisions could survive legal challenge.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/vas-transportation-bill-is-unconstitutional/2013/02/25/3d73abee-7f88-11e2-a350-49866afab584_story.html
Once again, McDonnell seems to have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Our transportation needs have not been solved just yet.
Frank, I support single payer. If I was king for a day, everyone would have the same plan, made to participate which would spread the risk and health care for profit would be tossed on the trash heap of history.
The very best way to ensure a doctor shortage is to go to single payer. Then you throw in American-style malpractice suits, and the doctor exodus is doubly acute.
-
America is already experiencing a doctor shortage which obamacare will only exacerbate. When the best and brightest leave the profession, you get disastrous results. Unfortunately, one of our own bloggers has just experienced this horror first hand.
Why, heyfrank, I’ve also advocated raising the ceiling in the past. And you know damn well the Teabaggers would have fought that tooth and nail. As for fenceposts and turtles, you just can’t let it go once you find something really stupid and juvenile, can you? But then, that fits your “posting” personality.
“Do you think he’s going to try to portray himself as the governor who got rid of the 17.5-cents per gallon retail gas tax? ”
-
That’s certainly what he was shooting for originally.
Furthermore, as I have often pointed out. Any profit savings is quickly outstripped by government incompetence and indifference. There has never been an exception. No liberal can name any like enterprises in which government outperforms the private sector.
-
I’m always amazed when I have to explain capitalism to a businessman.
“The very best way to ensure a doctor shortage is to go to single payer. Then you throw in American-style malpractice suits, and the doctor exodus is doubly acute.”
–Suzie
Of course! All the would-be docs will choose instead to make sandwiches at Subway. Bonus: those wages are taxed at a lower rate! It’s a win-win!
/snark off
“Furthermore, as I have often pointed out. Any profit savings is quickly outstripped by government incompetence and indifference. There has never been an exception. No liberal can name any like enterprises in which government outperforms the private sector.”
–Suzie
Industry: health insurance
Government program: Medicare
It’s by far the most efficient healthcare system in this country.
Nobodies suggesting that Doctors get lower pay Suzie. They deserve every penny Earned. Imagine, some of those pencil pushers staying in school a bit longer and becoming doctors. Your thesis that ACA will create a shortage in Doctors is a false GOTP meme.
-
To suggest our dear bloggers loss was caused by ACA is beyond contempt.
I can name another enterprise which our government runs which is the best by far in the world. Our Armed Forces. Would you privatize the Military Suzie?
“Unfortunately, one of our own bloggers has just experienced this horror first hand.”
And suzie not only breaks her Lent vow but does so to use another poster’s tragedy to make a trolling political point without actually knowing all the facts.And while ignoring the fact that “Obamacare” has had absolutely no effect whatsoever on the competency of existing doctors.
-
suzie, you are despicable.
Dan and Cold:
-
Ergo my phrase “like enterprises”. The private sector isn’t in the military business or the Medicare business. So the point remains. There is no like enterprise in which the government outperforms the private sector, and no one can point to one.
-
To suggest our dear bloggers loss was caused by ACA is beyond contempt.
I knew we’d get a cheap shot for something I didn’t say. I said there is a growing doctor shortage, which there is. And all predictions have it getting worse because the vast majority of doctors don’t like ACA and have considered leaving the profession. Medical school enrollment is down.
-
As for Lewis Gale, no one can deny they’ve lost many doctors in the recent past. When you lose the best and the brightest, it is obvious you will have more mistakes and misdiagnoses.
And anybody who thinks Medicare is efficient isn’t dealing with reality.
heyfrank, you might want to read your own stuff before you post:
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#50 “the republicans don’t want to raise taxes on anybody.”
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#58 “wayne, in my opinion, i doubt that the republicans would have put up much of a fuss about raising the salary ceiling for FICA taxes…”
-
So which is it fwankie? Jeez, talking about fencepost sitting.
-
Just when you think the right wing cannot go any lower…
“There is no like enterprise in which the government outperforms the private sector, and no one can point to one.”
-Suzi
Suzie, the U.S. Postal Service outperforms the private sector. Unfortunately, they may not be around much longer. Not because of their performance, however. It’s because a lame duck Congress cynically saddled them with a responsibility that no other private-sector competitor has: the PS must advance fund the healthcare benefits for all future retirees for the next 75 years, and they must put that money up over a 10-year-period. In other words, they have to set aside retirement benefits now for people who aren’t even born yet. This is costing them $5 billion a year, and it’s responsible for the losses they have been posting for the last 5 years or so. And by the way, the brilliant Congress ordered that money into the general fund. It’s not being set aside. Congress is spending it.
I know this sounds fair to conservatives, some of whom turn a blind eye to (or applaud) corporations that raid their own pension funds and leave them empty (take that, unions!). But the whole point of the bill was to make the post office fail, so that its private industry competitors could divvy up the spoils in the future aftermath. There’s no way they could beat it fair and square.
When/if it goes down, you will not be able to sent a letter to Nome, Alaska or any other rural outpost for under 50 cents, like you can with the postal service. That’ll cost a fortune compared to first-class rates today.
Medicare is more efficient than any private insurer.
“in my opinion, i doubt that the republicans would have put up much of a fuss about raising the salary ceiling for FICA taxes.”
–Frank
He phrased it this way, as “in my opinion, I doubt that . . .” because it’s an unreal and unprovable statement and he knows it. There has never been a hint that a majority of Republicans ever would have gone for such a thing.
To suggest our dear bloggers loss was caused by ACA is beyond contempt.
I knew we’d get a cheap shot for something I didn’t say.
“America is already experiencing a doctor shortage which obamacare will only exacerbate. When the best and brightest leave the profession, you get disastrous results. Unfortunately, one of our own bloggers has just experienced this horror first hand.”
You’re lying.
Unless you have never driven on the Interstates, you cannot believe for one moment that private enterprise would have been more cost effective on road and bridge construction…The federal government contracted and paid for these roadways. If it were up to “private enterprise” we would all still be slogging along unpaved highways, or paying heavy tolls at every mile for the “privilege” to use “their” paved highways.
Suzie, the U.S. Postal Service outperforms the private sector.
That’s ridiculous. The USPS is and has always been government subsidized. Ditto for Medicare. They have never been on an even playing field with the private sector.
The republicans have obstructed any and all attempts by President Obama to close the massive loopholes in the tax code favoring large corporations….an example:
—
According to Businessweek.com, Facebook’s first annual earnings report showed a $1.1 billion in pretax profits, but the social networking firm will likely pay zero federal and state taxes.
Instead, thanks to some clever bookkeeping, the company is expected to RECEIVE a $429 million tax refund.
—-
My husband and I did not make one billion $$$, but we will have to send an IRS payment to the feds and the state. Who in their right mind thinks that these exceedingly profitable companies should not pay one cent in taxes? Except for republicans bloviating on behalf of corporations and their lobbyist friends, why would any thinking person find this inequity to be the “norm”?
—-
BTW, for the crowd who crows “we built it ourselves”…without the federal government’s spending on developing the internet – cost free to businesses and corporations – there would be a lot less in their customer base, and in their profits.. Just sayin’
“The USPS is and has always been government subsidized.”
-Suzie
LOL. The USPS receives no government subsidy. It’s self supporting.
“Medical school enrollment is down.”
-
suzie, why do you even bother with these lies?
“Posted: 5/22/2012, 6:00 p.m. — America’s medical schools are seeing a steady increase in first-year enrollment numbers, just as the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) projected in 2006. That’s according to an AAMC report highlighting survey results (16-page PDF; About PDFs) that anticipate first-year medical school enrollment will reach 21,376 in 2016-17.
That’s a 29.6 percent increase compared with first-year enrollment statistics from 2002-03. “
#83 Hillary, in many places where it’s left up to private enterprise, people ARE slogging along in the slow lanes of the information superhighway — and paying a pile to do it. Roanoke is one such area. Rural areas where a combo of governments have stepped in have faster connections and pay less. Note that when discussion started recently of Roanoke Valley governments banding together to upgrade access because connections here are too slow for business, Cox’s spin doctor immediately sent a piece to the RT declaring how up-to-date the company’s service is.
Suzie, as the “dear blogger” you are referring to, DO NOT EVER AGAIN use my family’s tragedy to further your ridiculous theories.
I’m with Debbie! Suzie is well aware of what she is doing. Sick, contemptible and just plain wrong.
So much for Lent. suz just can’t quit Dan.
,em> LOL. The USPS receives no government subsidy. It’s self supporting.
-
“The U. S. Postal Service (USPS) still relies on the federal government
to cover a portion of its costs, although 1970 law moved the USPS off-budget
with the intention that the service operate as a self-supporting enterprise.
Of particular note are the costs of health and pension benefits for USPS
retirees. The USPS now covers only two-thirds of these personnel costs, and
the federal government covers the balance in “indirect subsidies.”"
http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/ftpdocs/109xx/doc10975/84doc25c.pdf
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I dunno. I guess Dan believed only wizards at the USPS could figure out how to profitably get a letter anywhere in the country for 44 cents.
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Oh, that’s right. They couldn’t and didn’t.
gdad | February 26, 2013 at 10:27 am
“Medical school enrollment is down.”
-
suzie, why do you even bother with these lies?
–
“Medical school admissions are down by 6% at a time when the Association of American Medical Colleges predicts a shortage of 160,000 by 2025. ”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/marcsiegel/2012/08/12/will-your-doctor-quit-obamacare-foretells-mass-exodus-from-patient-care/
Do you people think I make a claim without already having documentation in hand? That’s two of these in the last ten minutes. After three years, you think they’d learn.
#89
I have no idea what you’re talking about.
“I dunno. I guess Dan believed only wizards at the USPS could figure out how to profitably get a letter anywhere in the country for 44 cents.”
–Suzie
Suzie,
It’s not nearly as simple as your black-and-white mind would have us believe. Federal law requires the post office to deliver first-class letters everywhere in 50 states for a single low price. When and if the USPS fails (which was the intent of the prefunding-for-75-years law Congress passed, and GWB signed) that requirement will end. UPS and FedEx and maybe others are going to swoop in and pick off the most profitable services in high-populated and leave the others alone. If you live 25 miles down a dirt road south of Cutbank, Montana. you will be out of luck. No way will you get your first-class mail for 44 cents per.
Think of it this way: All the “blue” areas on the most recent presidential election map will be in decent shape, mail-service wise. A huge proportion of the “red” areas are going to be totally screwed, as will the businesses that want/need to connect with those people.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Oh, dear lord, she truly has no shame whatsoever. suzie, you have now sunk to the lowest of anybody ever on this blog.
Suzie, your link is dated 1984! FGS, grow up!
–
“The USPS does get some taxpayer support. Around $96 million is budgeted annually by Congress for the “Postal Service Fund.” These funds are used to compensate USPS for postage-free mailing for all legally blind persons and for mail-in election ballots sent from US citizens living overseas. A portion of the funds also pays USPS for providing address information to state and local child support enforcement agencies.”
–
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/consumerawareness/a/uspsabout.htm
–
“The USPS has not directly received taxpayer-dollars since the early 1980s with the minor exception of subsidies for costs associated with the disabled and overseas voters.”
–
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Service
hey dano at #81,
Can’t you count? The dems don’t need a “majority” of republicans to pass a bill. The senate could have brought up the issue. Heck, obama could have brought up the issue. He didn’t, so his lib dems didn’t, and the working poor got hosed…by libs.
Sheesh.
#93 Wrong, suzie, the guy who wrote the item you link to is a Fox toady who offers no proof of his assertion and in fact is lying.
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“The AAMC said the new medical schools will help address a physician shortage that is projected to rise to more than 90,000 by 2020 “with 32 million newly insured Americans entering the health care system,” AAMC president and chief executive Dr. Darrell Kirch said in a statement following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act.
“Medical schools have done their part, increasing enrollments during the last six years in response to these shortage projections,” Kirch said. “But the overall supply of U.S. physicians cannot expand unless Congress increases the number of federally funded residency training positions, a number that has been frozen since 1997.”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2012/07/17/as-obamacare-looms-new-medical-schools-open-to-address-doctor-shortage/
-
Guess how many people applied for 42 spots at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine this past fall? 3,200. Yeah, boy, people don’t want to go to medical school any more. It’s terrible.
-
As for me, I’m diagnosing you as severely disturbed.
hey you, up there on the fence post! yes, you, egads.
i firmly believe the republicans wouldn’t have put up much of a fuss (at least not enough to stop it) over raising the FICA ceiling, and, personally, i had hoped that they would get out in front and raise the issue themselves. but, they let obama and the libs take the lead, which resulted in the hosing of the working poor.
Suzie, the Forbes blogger does not reference his source so we can only assume he is referencing the old news that “In 2006, in response to concerns of a likely future physician shortage, the AAMC recommended a 30 percent increase in U.S. medical school enrollment by 2015”
–
In 2011 the survey concludes: “The current 137 schools plus the 7 applicant and candidate schools are on track to reach 30 percent increase in enrollment by 2016 (increasing enrollment by 29.6 percent over the 2002 level).”
–
https://www.aamc.org/download/281126/data/enrollment2012.pdf
–
Obviously only your opinion matters, but you remain wrong.
“i firmly believe the republicans wouldn’t have put up much of a fuss (at least not enough to stop it) over raising the FICA ceiling, and, personally, i had hoped that they would get out in front and raise the issue themselves.”
–Frank
To that, you should add: “And that fact that they did not get out in front of this issue, or never put up ANY significant fuss about raising the income cap on FICA taxes, does not alter my unwarranted belief one iota.”
There, fixed it for you, Frank. (Who cares what you “believe,” anyway?)
dano, your post at # 51 compares grapes to watermelons, and you know it. the meals tax increased the cost of a meal to a VOLUNTARY diner in Roanoke City. The reduced FICA tax increased the take-home pay for middle class and working poor…who INVOLUNTARILY pay the tax to the government in the first place. Yes, both are taxes, and both were deemed temporary. but, their similarity ends there.
#100 OK, fwankie, so you didn’t really mean it when you said this then?
-
“the republicans don’t want to raise taxes on anybody.”
-
Thanks for sort of clearing that up.
“dano, your post at # 51 compares grapes to watermelons, and you know it. the meals tax increased the cost of a meal to a VOLUNTARY diner in Roanoke City. The reduced FICA tax increased the take-home pay for middle class and working poor…who INVOLUNTARILY pay the tax to the government in the first place. Yes, both are taxes, and both were deemed temporary. but, their similarity ends there.”
–Frank
I can tell that one really got you, Frank. It was a perfect analogy. To recap:
Frank is claiming Obama and the Dems raised taxes because they allowed a temporary 2-year FICA tax cut to expire. The fact is, it put hundreds to thousands of additional dollars into lower-, middle- and upper-class pockets for two years. Now it has expired. Those workers got more money because of the temporary cut than they would have gotten if it had never been enacted. This is what Frank keeps calling “an increase.”
By the same token, Frank must also argue that Roanoke City Council “cut” the meals tax when they allowed that temporary increase to expire. Yet through this “cut,” lower- middle-, and upper-income diners paid more.
In this pattern of Frank logic, a temporary cut is “an increase” and a temporary increase is “a cut.”
Bizarre.
The two situations are perfectly analogous, Frank. It’s true that dining is voluntary, and the meal tax increase was paid only by diners. But working is voluntary, too, Frank. And the FICA taxes are only paid by workers.
Look, we need to address each other by our chosen names, rather than bastadize each others’ chosen nickname. Beginning now I’m going to renew my previous efforts to trash all posts that don’t adhere to that.
Frank, you can “firmly believe” in unicorns if you like. The truth remains that the GOTP would have had a slam dunk WIN if they had brought up the issue of increasing the FICA cap as an alternative to workers losing the FICA tax holiday and NOTHING on this earth stopped them from doing so except they did not want to. Since they did not want to, and they hate Obama with a passion displayed by the insane, there was NO CHANCE they would have gone along with that alternative if Obama had suggested or pushed for it. Which he has in fact done.
–
Who is it you are trying to fool?
–
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/21/obama-social-security_n_1903773.html
–
“You know, I do think that looking at changing the cap is an important aspect of putting Social Security on a more stable footing,”
great warning, dano. …after you do it, along with others. then, I do it, and you trash the posts, then you warn your buddies.
dan, your anaolgy in #53 is stupid. one is a strictly voluntary tax…the other is a strictly involuntary tax. yeah, according to your lib-way of thinking, “working is as voluntary as is buying a steak at Frankie’s”, eh dano? That’s the most profound lib-logic I’ve seen yet.
by the way, i referred earlier to something you did as “bizarre” didn’t i? yet, you trashed it with no warning, didn’t you?
dan, i meant to say post #105, instead of #53.
I smell another manifesto coming.
Frank, get the hell over yourself! You have been abusing Gdad’s screen name for quite some time completely without being “trashed”. Your whining is on par, but still annoying.
Frank, let me try to draw you a picture. Dan was not “comparing” the taxes. He is well aware that one is voluntary and one is not. His point was that the tax “increase” you keep whining about expiring on the FICA holiday is how you choose to view that one and the repeal of the food tax, or allowing it to expire, which IS a lowering of that tax is not the same to you. The “comparison” is in the “raising” and “lowering” not in what the taxes are. Stop being obtuse.
i’m not whining, sandi….and you’re having to spend way too much time explaining what …you… think …dan… meant…with his idiotic analogy. meanwhile, all I’ve done is point out dan’s, and now your, abuse of logic.
” . . .all I’ve done is point out dan’s, and now your, abuse of logic.”
-Frank
Coming soon: a guest post in which Helen Keller will give us her opinion of Picasso’s paintings!
Yes….frank…you’re..whining. that makes ………you, a whining pantywaist.
I’ve trashed a bunch of posts recently, by Frank, Suzie, gdad, Warren, mike o, pammala, Big Momma, stephen a, Another Chuck, John Wilburn and others. I trashed them for various reasons that I’m not going to get deeply specific about. I really don’t have the time. The vast majority (but not all) of them fell into one subcategory or another of the catch-all heading,”abusive,” or they’re because of previous “abusive” posts.
Posts can be abusive in many different ways. Examples:
1) changed nicknames for other posters
2) A flat out mischaracterization of someone else’s argument.
3) Unbelievably cruel in the context of the conversation.
4) Weirdly personal attacks.
5) Direct personal insults.
Those all fall under the category of “abusive,” and there are other subcategories, too.
I’m getting tired of this stuff. Sometimes I feel like a substitute teacher in a class with a large proportion of juvenile delinquents. When a poster does it frequently and egregiously, the next step is for me to have that poster “blocked” from posting at all. That relieves me of the hassle — and I’m heading in that direction, with a few of the names listed above, very quickly.
GO Dan GO! The posters like myself who react to the bile and juvenile posters are with you all the way and I KNOW we outnumber those who do egregiously just come here to beat up on others.
kristen,
hey, i’m game. what have i …whined… about?
ooh – ooh – ooh Kristen call on me…I Know the answer to the question posed @119
Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi….Ad nauseam
hey folks,
Did you notice the Common Cause effort to bring obama back to his job of governing, and to stop his incessant money raising? It seems they want him to stop, among other things, prostituting himself for $500,000 cash donations per meeting with donors. Gee, it brings back memories of the clinton whitehouse, and bill’s use of the Lincoln bedroom. I bet bill says, you go man!
http://blogs.mcclatchydc.com/washington/2013/02/watchdog-group-tells-obama-to-shut-down-outside-political-group.html
“..after you do it, along with others. then, I do it, and you trash the posts, then you warn your buddies.”
“by the way, i referred earlier to something you did as “bizarre” didn’t i? yet, you trashed it with no warning, didn’t you?”
Seriously? We’ve all had posts trashed. Why whine like it’s some personal vendetta against you? It’s part of the game..get over it.
dan re #17
does this explain why none of my posts have been posted in the past week? Maybe you could just give us a post number and an explanation like “abusive”.
I have had all my posts “trashed” (even some that agree with your libprogs comments).
If you are just looking for a blog of sheeple let us know and some of us will move on; if you are looking for a blog of diverse opinion, that is good.
mikeO, I’m not looking for a blog full of sheeple. I’m looking (from all posters) for a modicum of civility towards other posters. And from you in particular, I’m looking for self-acknowledgement of the fundamental dishonesty you displayed earlier, and a statement that moving forward you won’t do it again. (Contrition would nice, too, but I wouldn’t ask you to lie.)
Otherwise, your comments simply aren’t worth my trouble.
Allow me to explain it to you Mike O, and anyone else who is confused: This is Dan Casey’s blog. He runs it, he puts in his time, effort, creativity and interaction and what he says should be respected or yes, “move on”. That list was not ONLY right wingers.
–
Dan asks very, very little of us. And some cannot even meet that minimum. I have worked hard to clean up my own act and I hate it every time I am goaded into the old insults game, but a saint would have a hard time with the way some of the posts on here go. Dan has never claimed to be a saint, not even in his avatar.
Dan Casey | February 26, 2013 at 9:32 am
Medicare is more efficient than any private insurer.
Dan,
This just is not so. . .Medicare loses billions in fraud every year, just like the IRS releases billions in fraudulent refunds each. Private prosecute fraud.
There are no efficient government programs.
mikeO | February 26, 2013 at 5:46 pm
“If you are just looking for a blog of sheeple let us know and some of us will move on; if you are looking for a blog of diverse opinion, that is good.”
—
mikeO – not only diverse opinion, but some sort of fact based reality reflected in the opinions. Everyone has the right to their opinion, but to paraphrase, not to their own “facts”.
mike o, in the blog’s newfound spirit of civility, I would more than happy to hold the door open so it doesn’t hit you on the way out.
We all wish you well in your search for a blog where your wit and wisdom would be more appreciated. Maybe we’re just not smart enough to be able to fully grasp the magnitude of people’s daughters being raped at gun point. You will not be missed here.
Leon, private insurance companies lose millions in fraud every year. It’s not just Medicare that people scam.
Leon, Medicare has by far the lowest overhead of any insurance program. Its members are far more satisfied with it than members of privately insured companies are.
“This just is not so. . .Medicare loses billions in fraud every year, just like the IRS releases billions in fraudulent refunds each”
A source for either of these factoids?
Kristen | February 26, 2013 at 7:35 pm
“This just is not so. . .Medicare loses billions in fraud every year, just like the IRS releases billions in fraudulent refunds each”
A source for either of these factoids?
http://www.cnbc.com/id/48462508/Tax_Scam_IRS_Pays_Out_Billions_in_Fraudulent_Refunds
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_fraud
Dan Casey | February 26, 2013 at 7:35 pm
Leon, Medicare has by far the lowest overhead of any insurance program. Its members are far more satisfied with it than members of privately insured companies are.
Source? or made up?
Debbie | February 26, 2013 at 7:28 pm
Leon, private insurance companies lose millions in fraud every year. It’s not just Medicare that people scam.
Having personally witnessed a number of Anthem Blue Cross/Shield prosectuions; scaming of Medicare would be a bettter option; more often
than not, never noticed.
gee kristen, i didn’t take you for a “bad” girl. What’s your take on obama charging donors $500k for a personal meeting, eh?
Leon overstated how much Medicare loses to fraud and I probably overstated how much private insurers do. I do know that tens of thousands of dollars are lost to fraud each year, and Medicare and private companies are greatly stepping up their efforts to combat fraud and they are prosecuting to the fullest extent, those who are caught.
This is one page of the linked report.
http://energycommerce.house.gov/sites/republicans.energycommerce.house.gov/files/Hearings/Health/20121128/HHRG-112-IF14-WState-LavelleA-20121128.pdf
In order to truly make inroads into the problems associated with health care fraud and
abuse, WellPoint believes that a holistic view needs to be adopted, since the enormous costs of
health care fraud and abuse are borne by all Americans whether they have private health
insurance coverage or government-provided health care. Health care fraud and abuse is not just
a Medicare or Medicaid problem – it is a health care system problem and it is the American
taxpayer who is paying for it. Moreover, it is clear that many of the same individuals and entities
that perpetrate fraud against government health care programs also engage in fraudulent activity
in the private health insurance industry. Thus, the most effective way to address health care
fraud and abuse is to forge a close and active partnership between private health plans,
government agencies, and the provider community. It is only through cooperation and
collaboration between the public and private sectors that health care fraud and abuse can be
meaningfully addressed.
In addition, it is important to understand that stopping health care fraud and abuse means
that multi-faceted approaches need to be used, as there is more than one problem and more than
one source. For example, drug fraud or abuse can be caused by overutilization (drug abuse) or
fraudulent prescribing (for financial gain), and can be driven not only by the recipients of the
drugs but also by prescribing providers. For this reason, it is important to recognize that a one-size fits all solution does not exist. Congress, the Administration, and the agencies of jurisdiction
need to increase their collaboration with each other and with the private sector in order to combat
fraud and abuse throughout the health care system.
Hey Debbie and Leon,
According to the link below, the FBI estimates that 3-10% of Medicare funds are lost due to fraud each year. In 2011, Medicare paid out $565 Billion…meaning roughly $20 billion to $60 billion was lost from Medicare due to fraud in 2011. Looks like Leon’s estimate “of billions” is dead-on. The private health insurance industry loses billions each year to fraud as well, but I could find no specific data which didn’t also lump in Medicare and as well as Medicaid fraud. I think a safe estimate is somewhere between $5-12 Billion is lost each year due to private health insurance fraud.
That’s just incredible And, don’t look now, but obama has just hugely expanded health insurance coverage. I wonder how much the crooks gave obama, and continue to give obama, in donations?
http://www.medicarenewsgroup.com/news/medicare-faqs/individual-faq?faqId=6a130489-e387-476d-a358-c77cfba68367
That fraud has always gone on, Frank. It didn’t just start when Obama was elected, it didn’t suddenly grow worse when Obama was elected and it will not stop when he is out of office. It is impossible to stop insurance fraud completely. 3-10% of funds are lost to fraud, vs 90 to 97% of claims that are legitimitely paid. Yes, it’s a lot of money lost, but it’s a lot more money that is paid out.
If you know how to stop insurance fraud, please call Medicare and all the private health insurance companies and give them the benefit of your expertise. I’m sure the companies and the FBI will be grateful for your help, Frank. Pardon me, but this comment is idiotic. “I wonder how much the crooks gave obama, and continue to give obama, in donations?”
Debbie@139
Looks like you can now admit that Medicare is rife with fraud. . .10% fraud does not equate to 90% in valid benes paid. You forget the factor of government waste and administration which, unlike Dan indicates, is much higher for any gov’t ran program versus a private insurer. As to how much
Obama and his cronies are skimming. . .not sure. It would seem the Green
enegy programs would satisfy his corruption appetite but such appetite does appear to be endless. Err to Frank’s ideas is closer to the truth: which we will never know cause you know who runs the DOJ!
. .
You are right on one point. . .Gov’t fraud didn’t begin witht he Obama administration. . .our Gov’t needs to be flushed like a great big toilet.
Remember Tom Periello’s admission. . .”we will just keep on stealing.”
Leon, there’s debate over what the gross overhead for Medicare is, but nobody disputes that it’s in the low single digits. The disagreement is over where it falls in that range, from 1.3 to 5 percent.
There’s also debate over what the private health insurance industry overhead is, but nobody disputes that it’s in the low double digits. The disagreement is where it falls in that range, from 11.1 to 30 percent.
However you cut it, the administrative costs for Medicare, as a perentage, are at least half what they are in the private insurance system. Thus, it is far more efficient. Questions of fraud are moot — as others have pointed out, there is fraud in both.
There’s actually a great disincentive to commit fraud against Medicare than there is a private insurer, because fraud against the government, when uncovered, is more likely to be prosecuted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/10/opinion/medicare-and-private-health-insurance.html?_r=0 (Ist letter, from the former editor in chief at the New England Journal of Medicine).
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/may/30/barbara-boxer/barbara-boxer-says-medicare-overhead-far-lower-pri/
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/07/administrative_costs_in_health.html
There are many more links regarding this subject, and different ways to slice the apple (and conservatives have found 1 or 2 that twist the truth to the point where it’s unrecognizable, for the purpose of disputing that Medicare is more efficient). There also are somewhat more valid arguments that the two systems cannot be compared at all.
But the general agreement among the experts is that Medicare’s overhead is much lower, at least in part because of economies of scale. Thus, it’s more efficient.
I don’t expect you to ever recognize this, though. How’s that “President Obama is ineligible to serve!” debate coming? Has the U.S. Supreme Court thrown him out of office yet?
Leon, I know you don’t believe it, but Dan is correct. The overhead for Medicare is cheaper than private insurance, and fraud is fraud. It happens to every insurance carrier, and is not the gov’ts fault. Medicare is no more rife with fraud, than Blue Cross, Aetna, or any other health insurance company is. As long as people are on this earth, and insurance companies exist, fraud will exist.
I won’t even dignify your comment about Obama and his cronies.
Fraud and identity theft have cost business billions of dollars too. Please stop acting like only the government systems can be ripped off.
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http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/financial_literacy/identity_theft/costs_of_identity_theft_a1.asp
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“The total cost (in 2007) was $45 billion,” says James Van Dyke, president and founder of Javelin. That’s down from $51 billion the previous year. “It’s a huge crime, the number of victims is 8.1 million,”
Frank and Leon do not want any discussion, they only want to bash Obama.
I don’t know about the disincentive to commit fraud against Medicare, Dan. Most people still think they’re so smart that their fraud won’t be detected. They don’t worry about prosecution because they don’t think they’ll be caught.
Sandi Saunders | February 27, 2013 at 8:04 am Frank and Leon do not want any discussion, they only want to bash Obama.
Seems to me we were discussing Medicare. Perhaps Sandi should be on your new list Dan.
Debbie | February 27, 2013 at 7:56 am Leon, I know you don’t believe it, but Dan is correct. The overhead for Medicare is cheaper than private insurance, and fraud is fraud. It happens to every insurance carrier, and is not the gov’ts fault. Medicare is no more rife with fraud, than Blue Cross, Aetna, or any other health insurance company is. As long as people are on this earth, and insurance companies exist, fraud will exist.
I won’t even dignify your comment about Obama and his cronies.
Do you have some reference sources? Last time I heard the GOA announced they could not complete an audit of the Federal Government. . .
due to lack of internal control. Seems like reliable statistics about any gov’t program are hard to come by and should be taken with a grain of salt.
Dan@141. . .do you seriously suggest that sources such as the NY Times and Barbara Boxer know anything about anything. BTW. . .based on info
that I can find no decision has been formally announced regarding the SC hearing the eligibility case. There are some reports that the clerks did not
provide copies of the case to a number of the judges. Nevertheless, there
are questions about Obama’s eligibility which should be answered for the American people. You can ignore such or pretend such is farcical but based
on his own book and the SC precendent of Minor vs. Happerset. . .Obama is
not eligible to be President of the USA. . .he is not a natural born citizen.
Leon, I’ve linked to some sources for you. One was a letter to the editor written by the former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine. Another was Politifact (which was semi-disputing Barbara Boxer’s claim that the “gap” in overhead percentages between Medicare and private health insurance is greater than it is). A third was came from the Washington Post.
Obama is a natural-born citizen, Leon. To believe otherwise is to align yourself with a bunch of crackpots.
I’m off to my mom’s house and will be there most of the day, so enjoy your day, folks.
Dan Casey | February 27, 2013 at 8:44 am Obama is a natural-born citizen, Leon. To believe otherwise is to align yourself with a bunch of crackpots.
Minor vs Happersett (SC 1875) defines NBC as born of two (2) (to) (too) U.S.
citizen parents. The case is precedent. Obama says and writes his father was KENYAN. Whether he is or not should not be a matter of belief. . .the American people have a right to know.
“Minor vs Happersett (SC 1875) defines NBC as born of two (2) (to) (too) U.S.
citizen parents. The case is precedent. Obama says and writes his father was KENYAN. Whether he is or not should not be a matter of belief. . .the American people have a right to know.”
–Leon
That’s a misstatement of Minor vs Happersett (SC 1875) and if you’ve read that case, you know it, Leon. If you haven’t read the decision it simply means you’re hitched your horse to a bunch of malarkey other crackpots have written about it.
First, the case was not at all about who is or who is not a natural born citizen. Instead, it was ruling by the Supreme Court that said women had no right to vote. The crux of it was overturned by the 19th Amendment. Later, Minor vs Happersett was cited in support of poll taxes, literacy tests and other anti-freedom voter-suppression garbage.
In developing the argument that women have no right to vote, the majority opinion raised the issue of whether women were citizens at all. The point made about natural-born citizens was at best parenthetical to that sub-issue. It occupies a single paragraph in the decision, and that paragraph does not at all limit the definition of a natural-born citizen to a person born of two U.S. citizen parents. It says there is no question that a person born of 2 citizen parents is a natural-born citizen. Furthermore, it explicitly AVOIDS the question as to whether a child born to one citizen and one noncitizen is a natural-born citizen. Below is the relevant graf, in which the court arrives at the startling conclusion that females born in the U.S. to two citizens parents are themselves citizens.
The Constitution does not, in words, say who shall be natural-born citizens. Resort must be had elsewhere to ascertain that. At common-law, with the nomenclature of which the framers of the Constitution were familiar, it was never doubted that all children born in a country of parents who were its citizens became themselves, upon their birth, citizens also. These were natives, or natural-born citizens, as distinguished from aliens or foreigners. Some authorities go further and include as citizens children born within the jurisdiction without reference to the citizenship of their [p168] parents. As to this class there have been doubts, but never as to the first. For the purposes of this case it is not necessary to solve these doubts. It is sufficient for everything we have now to consider that all children born of citizen parents within the jurisdiction are themselves citizens. The words “all children” are certainly as comprehensive, when used in this connection, as “all persons,” and if females are included in the last they must be in the first. That they are included in the last is not denied. In fact the whole argument of the plaintiffs proceeds upon that idea.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0088_0162_ZO.html
I mean, Jesus, what other imbecilic argument are you going to raise next? Are you gonna cite Dred-Scott as “proof” that black people are worth only 2/3 of a white person?
Gosh, Leon, why didn’t the Repub Party have Obama declared ineligible? Because they didn’t mind if he won?
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End of that crackpot crap.
Leon – a FACT or two in your posts would make them seem more credible. This old meme you are parroting has been debunked many, many times. Here is a short course in citizenship that may help clear up your misinformation:
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As the 14th Amendment states that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” Since Hawaii is part of the United States,
even if Barack Obama’s parents were both non-US citizens who hadn’t even set foot in the country until just before he was born [although his mother WAS a US citizen], he’d still qualify as a natural born citizen.
http://snopes.com/politics/obama/citizen.asp
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Please go to the website and educate yourself so you do not continually appear so foolish.
Thoughts are with you all Debbie!
I’m kicking myself for wasting 10 minutes of time bothering to dispute another of Leon’s so-called “facts.” Precedent, schmecedent.
We’re well into Lent, but I think I should make another vow to ignore the garbage he trots out as truth. Or perhaps I should pledge to believe the opposite of whatever he writes.
Yeah Leon, I am the one who needs to be on some “list” while you are still hawking the lunatic idea that President Obama is not a legitimate President which confirms that like I said, you are not remotely here for any damn discussion at all.
Dan@153, Gdad@154, Dan@157, Sandi@158. . .the question of eligibility
has merit. http://naturalborncitizen.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/minor-v-happersett-is-binding-precedent-as-to-the-constitutional-definition-of-a-natural-born-citizen/
Debbie, ditto Sandi. Thinking of you and your family.
Yeah, Leon, let’s take a look at the dude who authored the bunk you linked to:
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“Leo Donofrio is the most colorful of all the characters in the birther saga. Before becoming the guiding light of the birther losers, he led a rock band. He has gone by the nicknames “Burnweed,” “Jet Wintzer,” “Jet Schizo,” and “The Paraclete” (the Holy Spirit in Christian theology).
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He is the lawyer who first created the fake imaginary “two citizen parents” rule that has been thoroughly disproven and explicitly rejected by the courts, especially the court in Ankeny v. Daniels. Leo is also the father of the Fake Grand Jury movement, though he disavowed them when the first fake grand jury threatened to take physical action to enforce its “indictment”.
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And look, some more of his writing:
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“I am not Lee D’onofrio or Burnweed.
Those are names of the body I have used as a spacesuit to appear here before you on planet Earth.
My real name is The Paraclete. And Reni IS The Messiah. The Paraclete aka The Spirit of Truth, aka The Holy Spirit is the third person of Trinity. As Jesus stated in the Gospel of John, he has sent me to condemn Satan and glorify the Messiah.
The Holy Spirit concept derives from the word “Paraclete” which translates as “advocate” or “lawyer.” I am a lawyer, God’s lawyer. They never told you “he” would come as a man, they lied about me denying me a place in the world of men. But Jesus made it clear he would send a man. Do your homework because he said he’d send “another” like him, another man. That’s me people. Freaky? Yes. True? You bet your sweet human ass that mine is divine. I speak with a mandate from Heaven.
At this moment in time, the name for the body I am using has been changed to Jet Wintzer. I am spreading the prophecies given to me by God, the Father, to the world through my asskicking new band Schizo FunAddict.”
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Last year this bizarro said on is blog that he was giving up his law license and going into movie and music. And then he apparently disappeared from the birther scene.
Folks, when a person has nothing else by which to make sense of the world, we should allow them their delusions. Leon’s need to believe in a distorted reading of a long ago and since superceded SCOTUS decision to explain away the reality of the GOTP’s recent electoral impotence is obviously such a delusion. What harm can come of letting him think he knows something that many Republicans, the SCOTUS, the FBI, the CIA, the state of Hawaii, foreign governments and thousands of journalists haven’t been able to prove? So I say, good for you, Leon, you’ve got the key to special knowledge.
Thank you, Sandi and Kristen. <3
“You bet your sweet human ass that mine is divine. I speak with a mandate from Heaven.” Somehow I can’t imagine Christ speaking like that.
Lent must be on again.
I enjoy the comedy of many in these comments. For those who actually believe the President is the guiltless victim and the republicans are the evil villians, I’ll let you in on a little secret. I had a converstaion with the lead budget/economic staffer in the office of our beloved Virginia 8th District Congressman, Jim Moran. After about 10 minutes of listening to the Obama talking points about the sequestration – “balanced approach” / “not a spending issue” / “the rich should be asked to pay a little more” / I asked a simple question to this staffer – “why” and how would that solve the sequester since Obama got a 500 Billion over 10 years tax increase on the wealthy? The guy mumbles and stumbled and then he let the cat out of the bag – you have to understand the sequester situation he told me. And then he said the following “the sequester was a contrivance between the White House and Senate Democratic leaders in an attepmt to back the republicans into a “grand bargain” about spending and raising revenue.” That is verbatim and since it came from the office of a liberal democratic congressman it has to be true. So when a half hour later I heard the President make his blathering statement about the sky falling and blaming the republicans, all I could hear was that congressman who shouted from the gallery a few state of the unions speeches ago “YOU LIE!” This President is an insult to the intelligence of anyone who works, pays taxes and tries to live withing their means. He is only popular to those to whom he placates and hands out to them money earned by others. It reminds me of what Benjamin Franklin said “when a nation finds it can vote itself money at the forced expense of anothers’ labors, the fate of the republic is already sealed.” Sadly we are now totally ignoring Mr. Franklin’s advice and warning. Happy hope and change everyone. You voted for it and now you are getting it – ENJOY!
#166 “For those who actually believe the President is the guiltless victim and the republicans are the evil villians blah blah blah…”
Kinda like how your kind actually believed the last President was the guiltless villian and Democrats the evil villains? Stupid is as stupid does, garry.
Oops: Meant to say “guiltless victim”.
#166 “For those who actually believe the President is the guiltless victim and the republicans are the evil villians blah blah blah…”
Kinda like how YOUR kind actually believed the previous President was the guiltless victim and the Democrats were the evil villians? Stupid is as stupid does, garry.
Oh, and next time try a few paragraph breaks. They’ll make your diatribes a little less unreadable.
“You voted for it and now you are getting it – ENJOY!”
Another “now look what you’ve done” GOPer. The president thought he was dealing with adults who would come to an agreement. Wrong.
the resident is the one that wouldn’t budge on anything artieboy, no matter what happens, garry, they will follow the commie just like they’re told to do