Comment

Comment by J.R. on April 7, 2011 at 7:53am

Great information! I am in awe of how much I'm learning from the input of information from and exchange of ideas with you guys.  I believe if the government would get out of the way, the American people could solve most problems and do it with more common sense, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness.  There's no reason whatsoever that health insurance couldn't be sold across state lines nationwide to pool the risks and costs and make it cheaper and more accessible overall. If it works well with car and homeowners' insurance, why not use it for health insurance, where the savings it would provide would be beneficial to individuals, businesses, job creation/retention, and the economy. 

Comment by Joe Story on April 7, 2011 at 1:13am

 

A little tip folks! The procedure codes that Medicare / Medicaid use for doctor reimbursement are administered by a GE affiliated company, GE Healthcare. (as an aside this is why GE was off the radar screen during TARP, funds were automatic.) The codes are required for each and every procedure performed they also become the standard of insurance reimbursement to the doctors as well.  as an example see http://www.gehealthcare.com/usen/community/reimbursement/docs/Breas...

What happens is the doctor knows how much he will be reimbursed by Medicare / Medicaid, he then sets a rate for the procedure that is based on what the best private insurance company in the nation will pay or in the case of a boutique, whatever rate he wants. The spread can be quite high and the effect creates a totally confusing system that the patient can never understand. Ask your doctor and your insurance company to start including the code, ex. rb82, for every procedure included on your bill and EOB then look it up on the web. It can be very interesting. see http://gecommunity.gehealthcare.com/geCommunity//nmpet/reimbursemen...

 

This system forms the basis of fraud mills that look at the procedure codes and design businesses to address specific codes.  The system also forces the doctor to create the artificial spread between Medicare / Medicaid patients, insurance patients, and self pay patients (always the highest). I am not sure how doctors can use the system to effect taxes but they can.

 

As you see the system does not care one single smidgen about the doctor patient relationship and it forces the doctor into hiring a third party invoice and coding company or too create a large office staff. That 6% (low estimate) system administrative cost occurs at each and every step.

 

Have some fun take your latest medical bill and check it out. Ask for the codes look for the Medicaid/Medicare rates, insurance rates, what the doctor billed and do the math.

Comment by JL Gawlik on April 6, 2011 at 9:08pm

http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/medicare-fraud-costs-cms-bill...

http://www.moneynews.com/Economy/US-Medicare-Sleuths/2010/08/08/id/...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22184921/

http://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-09-2010/fight_fraud_save...

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/frightful-medicare-scams/

http://www.hhs.gov/asl/testify/2010/06/t20100615c.html

http://www.examiner.com/law-enforcement-in-national/billions-medica...

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/nov/30/medicare-fraudsters...

 

Steve are the above urls reporting millions and billions of waste and fraud figured into your 6% of administration costs? My mother in law had a podiatrist over bill Medicare and do you know why? Because the percentage that Medicare and Medicaid now reimburst doctors and medical facilities is about 55 to 65% if that. They lower it almost every year. That is why the Health care costs have risen so dramatically over the years, that and the PPOs, HMOs, etc. that the Federal government put in place several decades ago. See a pattern here? Everything that the federal government tries to control and run it raises costs, it greatly increases corruption, fraud and waste. 

The figures of all the waste and fraud, and bonuses in Freddie Mac and Frannie Mae will make your head spin. A couple of years ago i had read that the head of the USPS made over $900,000 plus dollars in annual salary.

Web search millions and billions found in Medicare Medicaid waste fraud and you will get literally thousands of pages of urls with different cases of fraud discovered in the millions and billions of dollars. I remember one case here in Florida where some brothers were immigrants and they set up shop as medical supplies with a store front and they were getting millions of dollars a  year with out any patients. Same thing with FEMA and other federal departments. I would love to be able to clearly see the real amount of our tax dollars that is paid out by fraud and waste.

People are paying into Medicare for decades before they receive benefits. 

Great urls J.R. and Roma, at least the GOP is putting forth budgets and plans unlike the Progressive Liberals who can only name call and accuse. Even the President accused Congress of not doing anything when the House has submitted three budgets since Jan 2011 and 7 C.R.s, the President is 6 months and 6 days into the 2011 budget that should of been signed by him Sept 2011 and he is blaming Congress? The House? He is a so not a leader. The GOP is showing more leadership in just 3 months, than all of the progressive liberals have shown for the past four years! 

The government has no business handling massive amounts of money period, they will spend it in some form before giving it up or giving it back. They should just provide military protection, protect our freedoms and liberties, and our U.S. Constitution and a couple of other things. I would love to see the bill on their lawyers. I had read somewhere, that we are spending over $160,000 per day for lawyers for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to defend them from all the lawsuits.

http://bailoutsleuth.com/news/2009/04/fannie-mae-and-freddie-mac-to...

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110406/pl_nm/us_imf_housing  

 

Web search that one, it will make your head spin also. They received billions of dollars in Stimulus money, i am going to take a break from looking at our government waste and fraud. It gets really depressing. My hat goes off to the GOP for passing all of the safe guards for our military and other federal employees in case of a shut down, no one is reporting that except for FOX news. Weird, huh?

Wouldn't it be interesting to KNOW what HEALTH CARE COST would be IF there  was no insurance, you just paid from the pocket like the good old days without all the middle people, the insurance costs and no lawsuits? I remember $5 office visits and some doctor would charge that to visit you in  your home! I know most doctors have staff of about 6 clerks just to deal with the insurance paper work.

Comment by J.R. on April 6, 2011 at 7:45pm

BELOW ARE A MUST-READ ARTICLE AND A MUST-VIEW VIDEO:

 

"How the Senate was bait and switched into war"

http://blog.heritage.org/2011/04/05/senate-resolution-requesting-no...

 

Video: Paul Ryan Breaks Down GOP Budget Plan As Government shutdown Looms

http://conservativebyte.com/2011/04/video-paul-ryan-breaks-down-gop...

Comment by J.R. on April 6, 2011 at 6:22pm

The below is a letter I received from FRIENDS of the U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE today. It represents the Chambers' position on Rep. Paul Ryan's budget proposal.

"America’s Budget Crisis: Where the Chamber Stands"

"America faces an enormous fiscal challenge – one that threatens the future of our country and the quality of life for the generations to come.

With a current budget deficit of $1.3 trillion, $14 trillion in debt and spending only expected to sky rocket in the coming years – we’re on a fiscal path to bankruptcy. It’s time for Washington to tighten its belt and balance the budget -- just like you do every month.

Yesterday, a leader in Washington stood up to do just that. Congressman Paul Ryan (WI-01), Chairman of the House Budget Committee, took the first step in solving our fiscal crisis with a blueprint to address the roots of the problem and a plan forward for prosperity.

Facing a tidal wave of federal outlays, his budget takes the spending curve and bends it downward for the first time in decades.

And while the plan will spur a national debate over the size and scope of government and entitlement programs – that debate is long overdue and is exactly what’s needed to create solutions.

We hope Congress will use this opportunity to take a serious look at cutting spending, addressing our broken tax code and ending an unsustainable build-up of debt driven by out-of-control increases in entitlement spending.

If left alone, the mountains of debt will weaken our dollar, encourage inflation, increase interest rates, and ultimately send our future wealth abroad to the people from whom we borrowed. Recognizing the problem isn’t enough. The time for action is now.

America faces a defining moment; it is up to us to ensure that the American dream has a chance at a comeback."

Here is the title and link to an article posted on the home page of the website:

"Rep. Paul Ryan's budget sets 2012 stage"

http://www.friendsoftheuschamber.com/article/rep--paul-ryans-budget...

Comment by J.R. on April 6, 2011 at 4:39pm

Below is information that shows the annual budget year and timetable for the U.S. Congress. There is also a link to the rest of the information.

The fiscal/budget year begins on October 1 and ends on September 30.  In my brief scanning of the material, I did not see any legal authority for Congress to use a series of continuing budget resolutions, based on a prior year's budget, for an entire new fiscal year, in lieu of passing a a new budget for that year. Neither did I see any authority for leadership in Congress to irresponsibly skip preparing, introducing and passing a fiscal year budget for an entire budget year, as the Democrat-controlled Congress just did. I believe the Democrats violated the Constitution and their fiduciary duty by doing so. If any of you know where they derived authority to do these things, please share that information here.

"The Congressional Budget Process Timetable

 

Analyst on the Congress and Legislative Process

Government and Finance Division,

Bill Heniff Jr.

The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (Titles I-IX of P.L. 93-344, 2 U.S.C. 601-

688) established the congressional budget process, which coordinates the legislative

activities on the budget resolution, appropriations bills, reconciliation legislation, revenue

measures, and other budgetary legislation. Section 300 of this act provides a timetable

(see Table 1) intended to ensure that Congress completes its work on budgetary

legislation by the start of the fiscal year on October 1. For more information on the

budget process, see the CRS Guides to Congressional Processes at:

[http://www.crs.gov/products/guides/guidehome.shtml].

 

Table 1. The Congressional Budget Process Timetable

Date Action

First Monday in February -  President submits budget to Congress.

February 15 - Congressional Budget Office submits economic and budget

outlook report to Budget Committees.

Six weeks after President submits budget, Committees submit views and estimates to Budget Committees.

April 1 - Senate Budget Committee reports budget resolution.

April 15 - Congress completes action on budget resolution.

May 15 - Annual appropriations bills may be considered in the House, even

if action on budget resolution has not been completed.

June 10 - House Appropriations Committee reports last annual

appropriations bill.

June 15 - Congress completes action on reconciliation legislation (if

required by budget resolution).

June - 30 House completes action on annual appropriations bills.

July 15 - President submits mid-session review of his budget to Congress.

October 1 - Fiscal year begins.

Link:

http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/98-472.pdf

Comment by J.R. on April 6, 2011 at 2:02pm

NEWS ABOUT LIBYA WAR:

Libyan Rebels: 'Nato Is Now Our Problem'

Link:

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Video-Libya-Rebels-Accu...　

 

Gadhafi, in letter, asks Obama to end air strikes

"...Our dear son, Excellency, Baraka Hussein Abu oumama, your intervention is the name of the U.S.A. is a must, so that Nato (NATO) would withdraw finally from the Libyan affair," Gadhafi wrote. "Libya should be left to Libyans within the African union frame."

Gadhafi said his country had already been unfairly subjected to "a direct military armed aggression" ordered by then-President Ronald Reagan, who famously called the leader the "Mad Dog of the Middle East," in 1986, as well as earlier rounds of U.S. and international sanctions.

Although he listed a litany of complaints, Gadhafi said he bears no ill will toward Obama.

"We have been hurt more morally (than) physically because of what had happened against us in both deeds and words by you," he wrote. "Despite all this you will always remain our son whatever happened. We still pray that you continue to be president of the U.S.A. We Endeavour and hope that you will gain victory in the new election campaigne..."

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110406/ap_on_re_us/us_us_libya

Comment by J.R. on April 6, 2011 at 1:02pm

Steve, what's your better plan for Medicaid and Medicare that would be cheaper and better?  And what, exactly, would you do that is better than block grants to the states?  Do you believe the federal government will be better at managing that same amount of money?  If, so, why?

Comment by J.R. on April 6, 2011 at 10:24am

J.L., Obama believes all the leftist hype about himself. He craves it, encourages it, and helps create it. He thinks he is above having to respond to mere Republican members of Congress and Republican Governors. After all, he's the Emperor-of-the-World-in waiting. He apparently answers to no one but George Soros and his other major benefactors... big labor union bosses, for instance, and former GE mogul, Jeffrey Immelt, who is now firmly ensconced in the White House, with GE moved to China. What more can we ask of him? He's far too important to care about anything his subjects, We the People, think or want.

That Boston policeman you wrote about, was the only one with any class and common sense at that insulting "Beer Summit." Not for him the lavish and expensive red-carpet treatment given to vacuous pop-culture celebrities and foreign dictators. He got the "we know you're just a common man and not important enough to warrant anything that costs more than a few beers in the garden treatment... and having to suffer the company of three fools.

Also, we all should be alarmed about the aggressive indoctrination students are being subjected to by leftist teachers, professors, and administrators all over this country. In grades K-12, they're being indoctrinated to be immoral, progressive, world citizens. On the college level, students have to regurgitate the leftist ideology they are fed by their professors in order to receive a decent grade. Just read David Horowitz on this subject. It's a real eye-opener. I read the other day that the percentage of graduating high school students who have a leftist ideology is in the upper 50th percentile, while the leftist ideology of students graduating from college is around 70%. This concentrated indoctrination has been going on since the late 1960's and is now firmly entrenched. That's why school choice vouchers are so important and we need to get the education bills related to this issue, both in the Florida Senate and the Florida house, passed and signed into law.

I believe the public money spent on education should follow the child and that parents should have a choice in how and where their children are educated and, as taxpayers, should be able to get the vouchers to pay for sending their children to private schools, including religious schools. I've posted a blog on this subject and added new information to it yesterday, including links to the Florida legislature, the identifying bill numbers, and how to contact the sponsors of the bills and other legislators to request passage of this very important law.

Comment by J.R. on April 6, 2011 at 8:11am

Rick, I appreciate the fact that you combined your Flat tax numbers with a logical and understandable explanation of how it would work and the results it would produce. Too bad it's too much down-to-earth common sense for most politicians to get a handle on. I doubt they would eliminate taxes on incomes below $25K, however. They don't want us to know how much they're taxing the poor in order to "fight for the middle class" whose votes they want. A disproportionate number of the poor probably don't vote. What's your analysis of how the FairTax will work? I'd like to hear a good, reasoned explanation of that. It's hard to even guess what will get us out of the black hole Obama's hoodoo economics has wrought.

I was delighted to read this morning what is actually in Rep. Paul Ryan's budget that completely repeals and de-funds Obamacare. There are two good articles in today's news that explain Ryan's budget and his reasoning, the links to which are below:

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/gop-budget-proposal-making-sure... 

http://blog.american.com/?p=29518

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