JULY 17, 2011
BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND
The news as I see it and the views as I want them.
July 17 is … National Peach Ice Cream Day
Never been a Peach Ice Cream guy but I married a Peach of a gal.
Welcome to talking heads Sunday, the day the various news programs will have politicians on telling us why they are correct and why the other guys are wrong about the manufactured, alleged ‘debt crisis’.
President Obama is warming up to the idea of changing Medicare. He will soon join the ranks of those who want to change Social Security. I do not see why the government wants to change the rules for people who have paid for the benefits that are now going to be taken away. That is illegal in the world I live in. A contract is a contract and both sides are legally obligated to abide by the terms agreed to. Nobody is talking about reducing welfare, food stamps and other freebies. We should change those programs first since the recipient does not pay for these benefits, everyone else does.
According to HuffPost, President Barack Obama formally acknowledged on Friday that he would support a plan to means-test Medicare as a part of a deal to raise the nation’s debt ceiling. “I have said that means-testing on Medicare, meaning people like myself -- I’m going to be turning 50 in a week, so I’m starting to think a little bit more about Medicare eligibility -- but you can envision a situation for somebody in my position, me having to pay a little bit more on premiums or co-pays would be appropriate. And again, that would make a difference,” the president said at a press conference. “What we are not willing to do is restructure the program in the ways we have seen coming out of the House in recent months.” The comment was the first public acknowledgment from the White House that the president would support changing the payment structure of the entitlement program. Prior to Obama’s remarks, multiple sources in both parties told The Huffington Post that the administration was making it clear to debt ceiling negotiators that such a structural change to Medicare was on the table.
The proposal is not entirely controversial among health care economists. But it will rankle a good chunk of the president's own party, which has sought to keep Medicare's structure as a basic insurance program. Medicare premiums for doctors and for prescription drugs are already means tested. Making top earners pay even more -- while potentially sound policy -- opens the program to the politically potent charge that it is becoming health care welfare for lower income Americans.
The Obama administration's embrace of the idea came during talks between lawmakers and Vice President Joseph Biden. The exact contours of what was proposed are not entirely clear. But a version that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) proposed in later discussions would have saved the government an estimated $38 billion by charging those high-income beneficiaries 10 percent more for the cost of hospital stays and prescription drugs.
Obama's nominal support for means-testing Medicare, however, does fit into the larger outlines of his plan for the debt ceiling debate. In an effort to both win the support of Republicans and tackle as many deficit-contributing issues as possible, the administration has placed entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare ("sacred cows" for the Democratic Party) squarely on the table. The president also lent his support to a plan to raise the eligibility age of Medicare from 65 to 67, over the course of roughly 25 years. His team has, additionally, discussed various changes to the way in which Social Security benefits are measured and paid.
Both of those ideas encountered immediate push back within Democratic and even moderate Republican circles. Means-testing Medicare has more political support. Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) a top-ranking Democrat in the caucus, has embraced the idea, as have the party's more fiscally conservative members. In the past, the administration too has embraced the idea. The president's own health care law placed a small tax increase on the wealthiest Americans, a fee that could, theoretically, be considered a form of means-testing. And in his 2009 budget, the Obama administration suggested means-testing the prescription drug portion of Medicare.
We already overtax the wealthy. If they pay into Social Security and Medicare like everyone else, they should get their benefits like everyone else. If you do not give them the benefits then return the money they paid in to them, with interest. Fair is fair. It is time to stop penalizing the successful person for being successful. Communism and Socialism tried this and that concept hasn’t seemed to work out real well where tried around the world.
Just a couple of thoughts I had.
BRUCE A. BRENNAN
DEKALB, IL 60115
COPYRIGHT 2011
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Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan. It is still a good time to purchase any of my books. The books are interesting and inexpensive reads. My third book should be available later this year, in late 2011. More information will be forthcoming.
www.ebookmall.com (Do search by my name or book Title)
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Book Titles:
Holmes the Ripper
A Revengeful Mix of Short Fiction
"I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances." - Martha Washington
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