Wait'll She Hears About The ObamaCare Subsidies!

The NY Times has been going on about Leaning In, in an attempt to solve one of the vexing problems of the 80's, to wit, why do women's wages lag that of men? The current collapse of working class male wages is of no concern to their audience, so we press on.

The latest offering examinies the ways in which the tax code penalizes working spouses. Old news, to be sure, so wait until these ardent libs put the ObamaCare subsidies under the microscope:

WASHINGTON — In a long-awaited interpretation of the new health care law, the Obama administration said Monday that employers must offer health insurance to employees and their children, but will not be subject to any penalties if family coverage is unaffordable to workers.

So a low-income worker will get a subsidy for his own health care but not the wife and kids. Or, the spouse could get a job and they could lose the subsidies. In addition to experiencing the tax woes described above.

And sociologists will puzzle over why working class marriage is ever less popular.

Comments

[henry]

Narrative trumps facts. qed

[NK]

Henry-- not quite. According to the Left-- there are no facts, only narratives.

[henry]

NK, I need to read rse's blog more closely to catch up with you on that. It may be that solutions need to be imposed, narratives change to stay fresh, and facts must be banned because they don't help with the first two steps.

[narciso]

'we were never at war with Eastasia, the chocolate ration has always been 40 grams, Private Ogilvy is an unperson'

[NK]

eggs-actly

[narciso]

I don't know how that would be possible;

http://twitchy.com/2013/04/03/meghan-mccain-wonders-why-shes-being-cannibalized-out-of-gop/

[NK]

Henry@11:44-- there ya go again using that fancy Yale degree of yours to interject reasoned discourse that my lowly State U degree can't possibly measure up to....

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

-meghan-mccain-wonders-why-shes-being-cannibalized-out-of-gop--

Because she feeds so many?

[narciso]

Mika I imagine, would wonder why it's happening too, Alexander Hamilton facepalms.

[Marlene]

Obamacare is going to create interesting dynamics in state politics.Yesterday,Mike Michaud,2nd district congressman,was in Bangor with a group of victims(oops,people with sad stories).He was critical of Gov. Lepage's (big meanie) opposition to Obamacare and the Medicaid expansion.Michaud is an obscure and ineffective congressman,but the moonbats love him.He is being urged to run for governor against Lepage.

[Thomas Collins]

See LUN (via Instapundit) for an article on how a substantial number of the uninsured aren't interested in ObamaCare.

I don't think this is surprising. I think insuring the uninsured was simply a prog talking point to justify moving us closer to the British system of health care expense coverage. Progs, I think, view all the perversities of ObamaCare as a feature. The glitches, progs will argue, can best be fixed by "single payer" (what a joke that term is; everybody pays in one way or the other when the Feds are the "single payer").

[NK]

TC-- that -- plus bankrupting all but a handful if health insurers... is the Prog Plan.

[Danube of Thought]

Notice at the Meghan McCain link that one of the leftist goofballs is suffused with a Strange New Respect for her.

[Melinda Romanoff]

henry-

There are no "steps", only "Leaps Of Non-Faith".

[Danube of Thought]

I think insuring the uninsured was simply a prog talking point to justify moving us closer to the British system

I've always thought that, too. Now I'm beginning to think it's not going to work. As this disaster plays out, I think there is going to be an ever-growing perception that the Democrats are the last people on earth we should entrust with solutions to health care issues.

[anonamom]

Thomas, moving us closer to the British model, as they try to leave it, as it is unaffordable. They are attempting to let the GPs be in charge of their patients. What a novel idea!

DoT, from your laptop to God's ears!

It is an unmitigated disaster. 20,000 pages of regulations to date on this 2700 page bill, attempting to control 16% of our economy.

[Old Lurker]

Hope you are right, DoT.

[James D.]

DoT, I'd really like to believe what you say at 12:44, but the 2012 election stands as evidence to the contrary.

By any reasonable measure, Zero, Pelosi, Reid, Holder et al demonstrated in just about every way from 2009-12 that they (and those under them) are not competent to run anything more complex than a hot dog cart (and I'd very much doubt their ability to do that).

And 51% of the electorate just didn't care. Or, at best, they bought the Dem/MSM narrative that whatever wasn't right was the fault of Reps, greedy rich people or uncontrollable outside forces. What makes you think that the LIVs/muddle/whatever we want to call them will see it differently when Zerocare implodes?

Zero demonstrated repeatedly that he's not competent to run (nor is he much concerned by) foreign policy, and neither was Hillary. And that didn't impact the muddle's views.

He demonstrated that he's not competent to be in charge of the economy, with 8% unemployment, historic lows in labor force participation, and on and on and on. And that didn't impact the muddle's views.

Why will it be different this time? I'd like to believe it will be, but I don't see it.

[Neo]

Reagan fiscal guru, David Stockman, has a new book out and he is painting a very ugly picture.

He makes the case that the tax cuts and spending increases (AKA the stimulus) have made the country “fiscally ungovernable” and the best part is that his main conclusion sounds like it comes from #Occupy … it all trickles up to the 1% thru Wall Street while actually having created no real recovery.

It seems the real “Emperor Has No Clothes” moment will be when somebody finally says that there really is no recovery.

I’m still waiting for Joe Biden to start talking about “Recovery Summer IV” but it all gets drown out by the SSM and gun control stuff, soon to be eclipsed by North Korea.

[Frau verkehrte Welt]

Brave New World, indeed.

[Danube of Thought on iPad]

"...the 2012 election stands as evidence to the contrary."

It sure does. But it seems to me that even since November the narrative of the wheels coming off has gotten much more play, and my guess is that it will continue to grow.

[Buckeye]

Today the WAPO has an article about cancer clinics turning away Medicare patients. Seems the reimbursements after the sequester cuts won't cover costs. Just wait until Affordable Care Act kicks in.

I remember sitting at the bar in the Hilton hotel in Rotterdam in the early 80s. An elegant couple in their late 50s (my parents age) joined me at the bar and we started talking. Turns out he was the CFO of Royal Dutch Shell and she had a C suite job as well. Somehow the conversation came around to health care in Holland. They confided that they kept a bank account with half a mill at the ready. Sole purpose was to be able to fly to NY to get medical care that "they would die waiting for" in Holland. They were in the enviable position to be able to afford the "insurance".

Rather doubt many of us are in that same position.

[James D.]

As anonamom said, DoT, from your keyboard to God's ears.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

--DoT, I'd really like to believe what you say at 12:44, but the 2012 election stands as evidence to the contrary.--

Barrycare didn't really begin to impact people until this year.
If the primary results of Barrycare are skyrocketing premiums, which is already occurring, and enraged or retiring med professionals, ditto, with no practical solution for the problems it creates built into Barrycare, and there aren't, then it has the great potential to blow up far more resoundingly in their faces than the "catastrophic health care" expansion of medicare did.

[NK]

Buckeye-- to this day, the Euro wealthy do Medical Tourism to the USA. This past autumn, BarcelonaFC soccer club sent their head coach to Sloan-Kettering for urgent throat cancer treatment. Under Spanish Nat Health, he would have died waiting for treatment.

[NK]

Ig@1:37-- blows up in the Progs faces? that will happen-- but what does that mean? - too many bribes were paid, too much political capital invested and the control over 17% of GDP too big a reward for the Dems to ever give up on Obamacare. They'll have to lose the House/Senate and lose the budget control, before anything can possibly change.

[narciso]

Yes, I don't take Stockman seriously, what was that 1.6 trillion, but when all you have is nails, everything is a hammer.

[Anne]

IMO, It will take future presidential administrations a thousand years to clean up all of the messes and to repair all of the damages done all over the world by this disastrous current administration. But it is so cool to have our first black POTUS.

[narciso]

OT, Sarah Shahi will be back on P o I, now back to the Apocalypse;

http://hotair.com/archives/2013/04/04/report-u-s-backing-off-shows-of-force-against-north-korea-for-fear-of-what-kim-might-do/

[narciso]

I know 'what difference does it make'

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-newtown-shooter-gunned-down-20-children-fully-automatic-weapon_714527.html

[daddy]

Why I hate Guvment part 12,846.

Last week I discovered that there was some local Property Tax Exemption program for having the value of your home reduced for Property Tax Assessment values by $20,000. Not much, but it's something, and we pay just over $10,000 in Property taxes a year. Perhaps it'd save us a hundred bucks or so.

Anyhow, I go down to City Hall to the Tax Office, they ask for my name and Driver's License, and they instantly pull up on their computer my listing, showing all the property Taxes I have paid on the place since I bought it back in 1996. (Was only $4,000 a year when we first bought the place back then). I do the proper paperwork in front of them, all polite nice folks, show them my Alaska Driver's License as requested etc.

Then 2 days back I get a letter from them saying I now have to go down with all sorts of documentation to prove that I live in Alaska, (ie-letter from my employer, etc).

Craziest carp on the planet. How about the 17 years of property Taxes their computer sez I've paid them these last 17 years.

So I can vote without almost any documentation at all, on a walkup basis, but to get my taxes reduced on a place I've been living for 16-17 years, I've got to go get letters from my employers or other acceptable documentation. Grrrrrrrrr.

Off now to fight City Hall@#$%!

Later.

[Extraneus]

Obama claims Newtown shooter used "fully automatic weapon"

Anyone want to give him the benefit of the doubt on this? Just a know-nothing on guns, an honest mistake any lefty could make, can't grasp the fine fine point about the difference between full- and semi-auto?

[Extraneus]

Ooops, didn't see your comment there, Narc.

[narciso]

No, he was a board member of the Joyce Foundation, he knows what he is doing,

[Extraneus]

Click for full size.

[Dave (in MA)]

So Jughead thinks the Newtown shooter had a machine gun. Maybe we should ban those.

[Gus]

How would Obama arrive at the Lanza weapon being AUTOMATIC, when it wasn't AUTOMATIC.
Stupidity or Propaganda?
There is a REASON he LIED.
But you get to keep your Doctor,
Premiums will go down.
It won't add one dime to the debt.
It will help reduce the debt.
etc etc etc etc etc.
If the truth was on Obama's side, he wouldn't need to lie.
Geithner is the only man who can save us.
Obama has saved or created 5 million jobs.

What scares the fux out of me, is that LIBTARDS KNOW that Obama is a liar.

[henry]

Its what NK said about narrative Gus.

[Danube of Thought on iPad]

VDH looks forward to 2017:

"Obamacare may remain in name, but in fact most of its provisions will be discarded or amended. Its full implementation next year will result in almost everything that was not supposed to happen: higher health-care premiums, rationed care, scarcer doctors, and fewer jobs. Obamacare will mostly go the way of the Defense of Marriage Act — officially the law of the land, but its enforcement simply ignored by the powers that be."

Hmmm...I wish it were that simple. Insurers are going to have to start writing coverage that doesn't comply, for starters. I question whether that will happen.

[AliceH]

Why I love my house and my town part 12,846

--we pay just over $10,000 in Property taxes a year.--

That's close to double my total mortgage payments per year (well, it was - I paid off the house). It's also about 14 times more than I pay in property tax.

And, no, I do not live in a cardboard box. :)

[Old Lurker]

I too think VDH is wrong. Not only will insurance companies have to write policies against the law, but companies and doctors too will have to refrain from implementation. Any single individual "harmed" becomes a cop ratting out the miscreant, not to mention all the cable channel lawyers who will advertise to help them get paid for their loss.

[NK]

Link to the Freeh bankruptcy Trustee Report to the Court. If the Bankruptcy Judge doesn't refer this to the DoJ, and/or the US Atty doesn't prosecute, we are witnessing corruption of the highest order-- corruption unseen since Joe Kennedy Sr. pulled FDR's strings in 1933-1934. http://www.scribd.com/doc/134047871/Freeh-Report-on-MFGlobal

[Melinda Romanoff]

NK-

Will not happen.

[NK]

MelR-- you may be right-- but that would be a dark day for the republic. Take a look at pps 74-94, Freeh basically wrote out the factual allegations for a SarBox indictment. Un-- F#@&king-- Real.

[Melinda Romanoff]

I would almost expect a back-dated SarBox Repeal as the alternative.

[NK]

SarBox repeal? I'm fine with that... but that would be the only thing justifying not indicting Corzine. By the way, Corzine was a co-sponsor of SarBox.

[Old Lurker]

I had not realized BCG had played a role in the mess. Great advertising for them ,huh?

[Captain Hate]

-meghan-mccain-wonders-why-shes-being-cannibalized-out-of-gop--

Like her POS father, she'll stick around to be a witless irritant, for which she's doing the donks' bidding.

[Jim Eagle]

Today the WAPO has an article about cancer clinics turning away Medicare patients. Seems the reimbursements after the sequester cuts won't cover costs. Just wait until Affordable Care Act kicks in.

I thought Medicare, medicaid & SS were exempt from the sequester? But if WaPo says it wasn't then the LIV will accept this as fact. This is another example of how the GOP has to have a Truth Serum team to counter every false statement that the Dems and their media cohorts put out there.

Also, every affluent Euro and Brit has either private health insurance to use in America or have a stash of rainy day funds for medical emergencies. Anyone who has ever beein in the cafeteria of Mayo or Cleveland clinic will have heard a cacophony of languages from around the world bein spoken.

That will change after 2014 when Costa Rica, the Bahamas, and Grand Cayman become the new medical tourism hot spots (with expatriated American doctors, surgeons and other specialists).

[Old Lurker]

JiB: "That will change after 2014 when Costa Rica, the Bahamas, and Grand Cayman become the new medical tourism hot spots (with expatriated American doctors, surgeons and other specialists)"

What will make that zing is when we can buy a traditional (non politicized) insurance policy that will apply when used at those facilities. Those will need to be off-shore too I am sure. Not to mention if they build those facilities next door to Ritz or Four Season resorts.

Sign me up.

[NK]

OL/JiB-- if we get full Dem control again-- they'll slap 100% use taxes on off shore medical expenses, plus any other tweaks to the law to keep as much money held hostage to obamacare as inhumanly possible. The Dems don't care if you die-- they just want as many $$ as possible in system to pay union healthcare workers.

[Melinda Romanoff]

May Roger Ebert's soul be received with all the honour it deserves.

[Jim Eagle]

Gee, it looks Hit missed a birthday yesterday. First Cell Phone call was made on April 3rd, 1973. It went like this:

"Hey, babe, my plane just landed."

" "

" "

"Can you hear me?"

" "

" "

"Can you hear me now?"

" "

" "

"Damn useless POS, grrrrr".

[richatuf]

I think there is going to be an ever-growing perception that the Democrats are the last people on earth we should entrust with solutions

A bit of sunshine from DoT!

So it will end up like the gas price controls and rationing of the 1970's with its own even-odd rationing and gas coupons. Can't wait. Wonder how long it will take for the whole thing to blow up-it took about 10 years for it to happen with gas.

[NK]

Ebert = mort?

[Melinda Romanoff]

NK-

I think you're a little light on the imagination there. No need for citizens to possess money beyond their needs. So hand it over.

[Melinda Romanoff]

"Ex-Parrot".

[narciso]

Zany mad cap humor, or just the Whizzo chocolate board;

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/9969582/David-Camerons-critics-are-wrong.-Hes-on-the-verge-of-something-great.html

[richatuf]

narciso-

Thanks. From the other thread, it isn't called the Sopranos State for nothing. However there is a bureaucracy and military and the Kim family has deep loyalty (a religious devotion actually). His acting out (letting him slip the leash) can be used as a way to discredit this generation of Kims to install someone more reasonable. Discrediting him has already been done with news in North Korea of a failed missile test and reports that have leaked about punishments for cannibilism. The Chinese, Russians, and South Koreans are terrified of a disorderly collapse and we should be too and keeping him around too much longer just might spark one. The deesclation though I think is bad and could keep him around longer than necessary.

[cathyf]

Well the fundamental financial math of Obamacare is to raise taxes A LOT on the small number of people who are sick and disabled and then spending that money to buy "free" stuff for the vast majority who are healthy and able-bodied. Each sick/disabled person suffers great hardship, while each healthy/able-bodied person gets a piddly little benefit.

(This is what passes for morality in modern culture. And to think that the Catholic Church in America was and is all for this except for the tiny little detail that some of the "free stuff" is contraception and abortion. If it were just "free" health club subsidies and "free" cholesterol drugs, they'd be full-speed-ahead all for it.)

[narciso]

Well the first two built up the regime, the last have to deal with them directly, There was a McClatchy piece about supposed leadership schism, but naturally they didn't name anyone.

[Old Lurker]

It is fun to explain (as a geezer) to young people in their 20's the simple math behind capping my insurance premium to 3x theirs when the actuarial multiple should have been 6x. Then when I turn 65 this summer they can pay my whole tab. I always offer to pay the bar bill after thanking them for their money.

[Porchlight]

That's close to double my total mortgage payments per year (well, it was - I paid off the house). It's also about 14 times more than I pay in property tax.

But do you pay state income tax?

Our property tax bill is comparable to daddy's, but neither we nor daddy pay state income tax.

In addition, I have the option of keeping the same job/salary but living in a neighborhood or town with much lower property taxes, whereas people paying state income tax are going to owe the state government a chunk of their salary every year no matter where they live.

[Porchlight]

Hey y'all,

In about an hour and a half I'm going to be having beers with Iowahawk. He's hosting a happy hour meetup here in town just scant blocks from work.

Any questions for him? :)

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

--Well the fundamental financial math of Obamacare is to raise taxes A LOT on the small number of people who are sick and disabled and then spending that money to buy "free" stuff for the vast majority who are healthy and able-bodied.--

Cathy, you know I'm pretty slow so could you explain how the taxes (or taxes in other forms) are raised a lot on the sick and disabled in order to provide free stuff to the healthy?

My understanding was that the general taxpayer population and general premium payers would be providing the funding for this boondoggle.

[Pops]

Well, finally Obama is not all bad. I saw where he is giving every penney that he earned back to the government in solidarity with furloughed workers.

Only down side is he's keeping the other 95% that he didn't earn.

[Pops]

I saw on MSNBC that Obama went 2 for 22 and I thought, finally, they are accurately judging his tenure in the White House.

Then found out they were just talking about his basketball score.

[NK]

Porch-- you lucky guy... ehr... or gal.

[Porchlight]

Someone please ask him if he could also return 5% of the taxpayer money spent on vacations for himself and his family.

[Porchlight]

Gal, NK. :)

[centralcal]

Wow - have fun Porch! Lucky you.

[Pops]

""""Cathy, you know I'm pretty slow so could you explain how the taxes (or taxes in other forms) are raised a lot on the sick and disabled in order to provide free stuff to the healthy?

My understanding was that the general taxpayer population and general premium payers would be providing the funding for this boondoggle.

Posted by: Ignatz Ratzkywatzky ""
-------------------------------------------

Not so fast. In fact Obamacare provides for hundreds of FREE screenings that everyone will be entitled to, thus non-sick people will be funded by others to pay that expense. In addition, the sick will have to pay all kinds of taxes to include the medical device tax.

Here is the short list of new Obamacare taxes:

• 2.3% Tax on Medical Device Manufacturers
• 10% Tax on Indoor Tanning Services
• Blue Cross/Blue Shield Tax Hike
• Excise Tax on Charitable Hospitals which fail to comply with the requirements of ObamaCare
• Tax on Brand Name Drugs
• Tax on Health Insurers
• $500,000 Annual Executive Compensation Limit for Health Insurance Executives
• Employer Reporting of Insurance on W-2 (not a tax)
• Corporate 1099-MISC Information Reporting (repealed)
• Codification of the "economic substance doctrine" (not a tax)
• Elimination of tax deduction for employer-provided retirement Rx drug coverage in coordination with Medicare Part D
• Employer Mandate on business with over 50 full-time employees to provide health insurance. $2000 per employee $3000 if employee uses tax credits to buy insurance on the exchange.
• Medicare Tax on Investment Income 3.8% over $200k/$250k
• Medicare Part A Tax increase of .9% over $200k/$250k

• 40% Excise Tax "Cadillac" on Premium Health Insurance Plans 2018

• An annual $63 fee levied by ObamaCare on all plans (decreased each year until 2017 when pre-existing conditions are eliminated) to help pay for insurance companies covering the costs of high-risk pools.

• Medicine Cabinet Tax In Effect
Over the counter medicines no longer qualified as medical expenses for flexible spending accounts (FSAs), health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs), health savings accounts (HSAs), and Archer Medical Saving accounts (MSAs).

• Additional Tax on HSA/MSA Distributions
Health savings account or an Archer medical savings account, penalties for spending money on non-qualifed medical expenses. 10% to 20% in the case of a HSA and from 15% to 20% in the case of a MSA.

• Flexible Spending Account Cap 2013
Contributions to FSAs are reduced to $2,500 from $5,000.

• Medical Deduction Threshold tax increase 2013
Threshold to deduct medical expenses as an itemized deduction increases to 10% from 7.5%.

• Individual Mandate (the tax for not purchasing insurance if you can afford it) 2014
Starting in 2014, anyone not buying "qualifying" health insurance must pay an income tax surtax at a rate of 1% or $95 in 2014 to 2.5% in 2016 on profitable income above the tax threshold. The total penalty amount cannot exceed the national average of the annual premiums of a "bronze level" health insurance plan on ObamaCare exchanges.

The link below provides a full list of ObamaCare Taxes by the IRS.

For a full list of taxes provisions from the IRS

[James D.]

By the way, thanks to everyone who downloaded my book (and everyone else who tolerated my repeated posts about it!). Nearly 600 copies were downloaded, which I have no idea if that's high or low compared to other authors. Now I've got my fingers crossed that the freebies will improve actual cash sales. We'll see.

[Pops]

There is also a tax when selling your home and a Medicare tax increase for those with over 200K in income. Etc. Etc.

Obamacare has at least 4.8 Trillion in New Taxes.

[NK]

Obummer's automatic weapon-- if Adam Lanza murdered using a fully automatic rifle, why are the Dems trying to ban forms of SEMI-automatic weapons because of Lanza's mayhem?

[jimmyk]

Anyone want to give him the benefit of the doubt on this? Just a know-nothing on guns, an honest mistake any lefty could make

Nope, because the "mistakes" are always in one direction, the one that helps their cause.

[daddy]

Dennis Miller continues with call-ins for new Redskin names:

Latest, "The Washington Red Inks."

[Marlene]

The influx of Canadian shoppers is also for healthcare services.Many small,rural New Brunswick hospitals have been closed in recent years.They have the option of crossing the border to avoid waiting lists for surgery. What options will we have?

[jimmyk]

I have the option of keeping the same job/salary but living in a neighborhood or town with much lower property taxes

Where you'd probably either pay more for the house, or get less in the way of services.

That's cool about Iowahawk, I was going to ask if you knew he was coming to Austin.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

Gun control seems even less popular now then when they started so perhaps 'the one that they perceive helps their cause' would be more apt, jimmy.

[NK]

agree with jimmyk-- these casual lies are Alinsky/Clinton playbook stuff. Misrep facts to embelish the narrative-- tell it enough times, and the narrative completely replaces the facts.

[NK]

Ig-- well the cause wednesday evening was to shake the rich white liberal money tree-- mission acomplished.

[Annoying Old Guy]

JamesD writes

Why will it be different this time [than 2012 election]? I'd like to believe it will be, but I don't see it.

I tend to the same DOOM-view as JamesD, but still Obama got many fewer votes in 2012 than in 2008. Morever we can see that get even that for the win the Democratic Party has had to resort to every more energetic and detailed electioneering. There is a bottom to the LIV barrel and it may be that the Democratic Party is reaching it.

OTOH among my college "educated" friends / associates, they don't seem to ever be able to make the connection between their complaints about this or that government boondoggle/fail/corruption and maybe not giving those losers even more power and money. For them it will always be different next time. Very similar to the Gell-Mann effect, where no matter how poorly Old Media reports on something they know about, the next story will be accurate.

[cathyf]

I think that there are two biggies as far as outsized taxes on sick/disabled people. Pops listed one of them -- the increase of the "haircut" from 7.5% to 10% for medical expense deductions. This only affects the sickest people.

The other one is the limitations on the annual contributions to flexible spending accounts. Parents of disabled children have been using those accounts to pay for private special-ed schools and therapy programs for their kids from tax-free money.

A different and more subtle one is the difference between screening tests and diagnostic tests. So if you are having symptoms of colon cancer or IBS or celiac or the like, and have a colonoscopy, this doesn't count as "screening" so you have to pay the deductible and co-pay, while the new regs define "screening" as being when you are NOT showing any symptoms and they just do the test to look, and then you don't have to pay anything. Just a few years ago everybody who had the test had to pay deductible/co-pays.

There is even the bizarre situation where under medicare if they do a colonoscopy and don't find anything, then it's "free", but if they find cancer, then they have to send you a bill. If you are a colon cancer survivor, you pay for the colonoscopy because it's not a "screening" anymore.

But, anyway, the "free" stuff is all for the healthy people, paid for disproportionately by the sick people.

[Janet]

Have a great time, Porchlight! Oh my goodness, that sounds fun. Take him a signed copy of your Day by Day cartoon!

[Porchlight]

Ha, Janet! Too late - gotta dash. Will check in with y'all later.

[Danube of Thought on iPad]

"That will change after 2014 when Costa Rica, the Bahamas, and Grand Cayman become the new medical tourism hot spots (with expatriated American doctors, surgeons and other specialists)"

There is right now a thriving plastic surgery practice (not covered by insurance) for Las Gringas in Cabo San Lucas. Go down there for a nip and a tuck, then hang out in the sun while the bruises and swelling go down.

[jimmyk]

perhaps 'the one that they perceive helps their cause' would be more apt

True enough, and then of course, on the evil vs. stupid question there is the perennial response of "Why not both?"

[NK]

CathyF-- the back drop to your 4:47 is the 'national discussion' that Obummer said we needed about end of life costs. There are indeed many incentives in Medicare for hospitals and medical specialists to lard on medical services they provide to the very elderly-- services which are covered by Medicare. I saw that last year when my 87yo mother was hospitalized for UTI, and a whole host of things were discovered and treated. My mother got world class care, the hospital/doctors got $500,000 from the TPs and she got about $9,000 in copays. She is very much alive and well. But, it will happen again with her, and maybe the outcome next time will be different, but the TP costs will be the same. I am open to a national conversation on medicare and end of life costs. We ain't gonna get it-- the ObummerCare regs will jam changes through that deny Medicare for end of life issues- watch those actuarial tables, US life expectancy will star dropping in a decade or so. The 'Death Panels' are real.

[NK]

OT/BTW-- one of the group of my B-Day cronies sent an email around to the 4 of us with the Star Trek IRS video embedded, with snarky comments about the use of TP funds. Of course one of the 4 cronies is our acting IRS Commissioner. He uses his IRS email address with us- rather than a 'Richard Windsor' bogus address. So I didn't respond to our Commissioner with my Right-Wing snark. I didn't think it wise to put my snark on the IRS server, I don't carry DroneDamage insurance.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

--Ig-- well the cause wednesday evening was to shake the rich white liberal money tree-- mission acomplished.--

He could stand up there, poke a few straws in his hair, say "I am a stuffed pork chop" and they'd still rain money on the idiot.

[iqvoice]

Re: Freeh Report.

I had never heard of Evan Dooley before. What a buffoon! Of course I think Corzine should be doing hard time with "Bubba", but Evan Dooley deserves plenty of opprobrium as well.

[lyle]

US life expectancy will star dropping in a decade or so. The 'Death Panels' are real.

Just like Ezekial Emanual wants it. Huh? Some of you don't know who he is beyond his fraternal relation to Rahm? You should. He's one of O-care's primary--if not THE primary--godfathers. Lurves him some cost control by lowering life expectancy through drastically reducing care to seniors.

[matt]

Same thing in Rosarito, DoT. Very good dental care as well. Low doctor's insurance rates are one of the biggest contributors to the cost differential for patients.

[lyle]

He could stand up there, poke a few straws in his hair, say "I am a stuffed pork chop"

And I'd believe him. Well not really. I don't think his, ahem, religious predilictions favor porcine delicacies.

[cathyf]

NK -- I too think that the end-of-life care issues have to be dealt with, and that the ultimate motivation for the contraception mandate is to drive the Catholic Church out of health care. The Church has a long history and great intellectual depth when it comes to these moral questions. The Church runs both pro-life offices and hospices -- it has never claimed to be "anti-death" because that would be silly since death comes to us all.

What the Obama-ites want is for health care to be a privilege doled out via the political process -- your kid gets his cancer treated only if you have posted regime-friendly things on Facebook. For those with clout, there will be unlimited health care spending, even when hospice is the best choice, while the clout-less proletariat will die of botched appendectomies and be refused painkillers when they are euthanized.

[NK]

Ezekial E = Medical Ethicist...
disgusting misappellation

[Rick Ballard]

"by lowering life expectancy through drastically reducing care to seniors"

Lyle,

Please. "Hedonistic optimization" is the preferred description. It has a nice tie in to CPI-COLA adjustments.

[lyle]

I'll amend my stylebook to reflect the correct usage, RB. Thanks.

[narciso]

Well it's in keeping with his part as a Borgia;

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/04/04/hollywood-actor-goes-full-libertarian-on-mayor-bloomberg-slams-terrible-nanny-statism/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=story&utm_campaign=Share%20Buttons