Posted on 04/14/2015 7:06:20 PM PDT by Star Traveler
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Tuesday approved sweeping changes in the way Medicare pays doctors, clearing the bill for President Obama and resolving an issue that has bedeviled Congress and the Medicare program for more than a decade.
The 92-to-8 vote in the Senate, following passage in the House last month by an overwhelming vote of 392 to 37, was a major success for Republicans, who devised a solution to a complex policy problem that had frustrated lawmakers of both parties. Mr. Obama has endorsed the bill, saying it “could help slow health care cost growth.”
The bill, drafted in the House in negotiations between Speaker John A. Boehner and Representative Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader, also extends the Children’s Health Insurance Program for two years, through 2017.
Without action by Congress, doctors would have faced a 21 percent cut in Medicare fees on Wednesday or Thursday. Senate leaders cleared the way for final passage by allowing votes on several amendments sought by liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Good to know who's fiscally responsible
>>There were going to be some awfully mad Seniors if
>>that 21% cut went into effect .
Boo hoo for them and their morbidly obese “Donut hole”s.
Republicans having been tying to get this through since before 0bamacare was signed.
I do not know enough about this to give an informed comment, but I do know that the amount of money that the paltry sums that physicians are forced to take under Medicare rules is insulting to them.
Is this one of the gazillion bills Harry Reid wouldn’t bring up for vote?
Can meet road...
Sure, someone will eventually have to pay but please let it be my neighbor or my children and grandchildren. After all why should I be responsible for my own healthcare bills? That someone else’s responsibility! sarc
Since they caused the problem to begin with, with a raft of false assumptions, it wasn't so easy.
Sure, someone will eventually have to pay but please let it be my neighbor or my children and grandchildren. After all why should I be responsible for my own healthcare bills? That someone else’s responsibility! sarc
Value =
Save a victim of white racism = +20 quality points
Save an illegal immigrant + 10 quality points
Save a single mom who makes Hillary commercials = +5 quality points
Save an old white Republican = -20 points.
Of course they get more back. Because you are forgetting about the effect of compounding interest.
If those contributions had been earning even a measily 5% interest over a lifetime... the total amount contributed (including interest) would be far higher.
Here’s an example of how this works:
Lets see joe smo goes to work at 25 and works until 65 (40 years) and always earns the same amount, and always pays the same amount (to keep things simple)
If he pays $1,400 a year for 40 years = $56,000
BUT
If you factor in a 5% interest rate that he could have earned on that money (that the government is getting to keep for 40 years interest free)
Then he has paid total of $169,119
We’ve got an opening on a Death Panel ... wanna join one? ... LOL ...
Yep, it’s time to get rid of those old fogeys and their helplessly outdated and ancient ideas from another era! ... :-) ...
And rightfully so - just because a program sucks and shouldn't exist does not mean that many older folks didn't get roped in by the government and they "paid" for the care with wage deductions over decades. They shouldn't be thrown overboard. Then there's aging military who have TriCare Prime as their insurance - they pay Medicare from SS and then Tricare makes up the difference to the doctors. Getting rid of Medicare now, or crippling it would hurt a lot of folks who have no other viable alternative due to prior government meddling. Getting rid of it would be good, but it needs to be staged and stepped down instead of a quick jerk of the rug.
I think you’re establishing your cred for getting on that Medicare death panel ... :-) ... they should be contacting you soon.
I said this elsewhere ...
— — —
You should see the “billings” now with payments to doctors ... they bill (for example, a cardiologist) a little over $200. I saw that come through the other day. Then Medicare tells the cardiologist that he’s only approved for somewhere around $80 or $90 of that original bill of over $200.
He has to accept that as “full payment” for Medicare payment and he cannot bill the patient anything more than what Medicare says it will pay - and “write off” the remainder of his bill. His only “other” option is to simply no longer take Medicare patients.
NOW, imagine all those doctors out there ... being told that on top of the over $200 bill, being knocked down to $80 or $90 ... tonight at midnight, that bill is knocked down another 21%.
About that time doctors are going to be tellng Medicare patients to “Get lost!” ... :-) ...
— — —
The doctors have to accept the “approved amount” that is what Medicare says they should charge, no matter what they do charge - normally - to ALL their patients. And then Medicare pays only a “portion” of that approved amount. I’m amazed that doctors even accept Medicare patients as it is, right now!
Knowing nothing about the bill except who voted for and against, I’m inclined to side with the 8 who voted against. I would like to hear what they had to say about why they voted against it.
What the graph fails to show is how much those who paid into the system would have had if they were allowed to keep and invest that $55,000. I’m betting that given average stock market returns, their $55,000 would have been a lot more than their payout. That’s a lot different from “accounting for inflation.” (Someone please correct me if I’m wrong.)
If I am correct, those people who complain that the average senior is taking out more than he put in are mistaken. It is not only the next generation, but the seniors themselves who are being ripped off by the government. (What a surprise. /s)
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