Their opinion (Congress, drug, health care, Obama)

[0marvin0]

I"m glad the weaper of the house finally let us all know that the CBO has been giving us their opinions instead of facts. Guess all of you that have been supporting your arguments with their figures will have to look elsewhere for your facts.

[thecoalman]

I'll post it again for those that have apparently missed it over the last year or two. The deficit reduction in the law the dems passed depends in large part on medicare reductions. We ALREADY have legislation that does this however it never gets implemented:

Doctors brace for possible big Medicare pay cuts | Philadelphia Inquirer | 11/13/2010 (http://www.philly.com/inquirer/business/20101113_Doctors_brace_for_possible_big_Medicare_p ay_cuts.html - broken link)


WASHINGTON - Breast-cancer surgeon Kathryn Wagner has posted a warning in her waiting room about a different sort of risk to patients' health: She will stop taking new Medicare cases if Congress allows looming cuts in doctors' compensation to go through...

...lawmakers in the 1990s devised a formula for payment cuts intended as an automatic braking system to keep Medicare humming along at a sustainable growth rate.

But every time health-care costs went up, the legislators hit the override button to block the payment cuts.

For the same reasons these cuts never take place the HHS study on the HC law calls these cuts unrealistic:

https://www.cms.gov/ActuarialStudies...2010-04-22.pdf

It is important to note that the estimated savings shown in this memorandum for one category of
Medicare provisions may be unrealistic. The PPACA introduces permanent annual productivity
adjustments to price updates for most providers (such as hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and
home health agencies), using a 10-year moving average of economy-wide private, non-farm
productivity gains. While such payment update reductions will create a strong incentive for
providers to maximize efficiency, it is doubtful that many will be able to improve their own
productivity to the degree achieved by the economy at large.Over time, a sustained reduction
in payment updates, based on productivity expectations that are difficult to attain, would cause
Medicare payment rates to grow more slowly than, and in a way that was unrelated to, the providers’
costs of furnishing services to beneficiaries. Thus, providers for whom Medicare
constitutes a substantive portion of their business could find it difficult to remain profitable and,
absent legislative intervention, might end their participation in the program (possibly
jeopardizing access to care for beneficiaries). Simulations by the Office of the Actuary suggest
that roughly 15 percent of Part A providers would become unprofitable within the 10-year
projection period as a result of the productivity adjustments. Although this policy could be
monitored over time to avoid such an outcome, changes would likely result in smaller actual
savings than shown here for these provisions.

Even more interesting is this tidbit from the White House someone else posted in another thread, matter of fact you might as well say the Obama administration is saying the same thing Boehner is:

http://www.fiscalcommission.gov/site...h12_1_2010.pdf

Health Care Cost Containment: Replace the phantom savings from scheduled Medicare reimbursement cuts that will never materialize and from a new long-term care program that is unsustainable with real, common-sense reforms to physician payments, cost-sharing, malpractice law, prescription drug costs, government-subsidized medical education, and other sources. Institute additional long-term measures to bring down spending growth.

[sindey]

Although its a bit early to tell, I have stated before in a few different threads that there is NOT going to be the major changes when the republicans take over that some people think.
It will be business as usual......both parties just say what we want to hear & change their tunes as soon as they are in office. Disgusting greedy bast***s, all of em.

[padcrasher]

Right wingers don't care about the deficit. It's a big con.

They care about sticking it to those "other people" not like them.

It's bigotry at it's core, but they'll only admit to it in close company.

They hate minorities so much they'll cut their own throats to make life difficult for them.

I actually think today minorities underestimate how much they are hated by the right.

[shroombeanie]

Originally Posted by sindey

Although its a bit early to tell, I have stated before in a few different threads that there is NOT going to be the major changes when the republicans take over that some people think.
It will be business as usual......both parties just say what we want to hear & change their tunes as soon as they are in office. Disgusting greedy bast***s, all of em.

. As usual 'sindey' sees things as they are.

It's a true shame at the amount of people believing the propaganda that media reports. There is a SERIOUS problem in this country. But business as usual dictates 'we' believe what is reported... no matter what.

That no longer holds true for me. This is going to be an VERY INTERESTING year for me. I already have a few people ready to 'follow my lead'. I guess all it takes is 1 (one). I've gone over my convictions, aspirations and issues, on which I will be speaking up about, and they are READY. One even said... "You should better not slow down or I'll get ahead of you". I, without hesitation, replied... "You definitely do not have to worry yourself about that".

Unless one is out in their community and being observant, one will NOT know anything other than what is HEARD and blindly believed.

[shroombeanie]

Originally Posted by padcrasher

Right wingers don't care about the deficit. It's a big con.

They care about sticking it to those "other people" not like them.

It's bigotry at it's core, but they'll only admit to it in close company.

They hate minorities so much they'll cut their own throats to make life difficult for them.

I actually think today minorities underestimate how much they are hated by the right.

This, as well as all other conundrums, goes so much farther than 'right wing', left wing', 'middle wing', or Dark Wing Duck. Money DOES NOT discriminate. Big business and government are full of both. The longer it takes too see beyond this, very real truth, the longer it will be before America is once again proud.

If one cannot think outside the box, one gets get trapped.

[Winter_Sucks]

I'm glad to see John is taking the debt of our nation as a serious problem now. It only took him about 20 years in DC to start worrying about it now.