Comments on: Obama Administration Report is a Devastating Critique of ObamaCare

By: Keith

Keith — Mon, 03 May 2010 21:12:00 +0000

It’s good to see that someone still tells the truth on the government!!!

By: Colony14Author

Colony14Author — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 16:29:19 +0000

Read The Obama Timeline to learn how we got into this mess.

By: Woodrow Wilcox

Woodrow Wilcox — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 21:02:02 +0000

I am not surprised by the report.

I tried to warn America that the problems with Medicare, Medicaid, and the VA health system would be multiplied and forced on everyone with Obamacare.

You can check my almost 200 articles at http://www.medicareproblems.net.

By: We Don’t Call People on Welfare “Employed”; So Why Do We Call People on Medicaid “Insured”? | John Graham | NCPA

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 17:31:08 +0000

[...] 18 million of the newly “insured” will actually be on Medicaid, according to the Chief Actuary of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, who will suffer from limited access to care. And this blog has previously discussed research [...]

By: Don Levit

Don Levit — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:23:57 +0000

Laurie:
Can you provide some details on the Social Security solution?
Don Levit

By: Patti L

Patti L — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 18:25:23 +0000

Thanks Don, I get it now. Not happy….but I get it.

By: Don Levit

Don Levit — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:30:00 +0000

Patti:
You are correct, except the part about running all the taxes through the Medicare trust fund.
Only the Medicare taxes are credited to its particular custodial account.
The trust fund credits have been loaned to the Treasury to pay current expenses – that’s the asset part.
The liability part does not come due until the trust fund’s expenses exceed their income, which occurred with the HI trust fund in 2008, and will occur with Social Security this year.
This is when the debt becomes explicit, real, like the public debt in that principal and interest need to start being paid to redeem Treasury securities (to the extent expenses exceed income, not including interest).
In a paper from 1991 entitled “Social Security and the Public Debt” written by James Duggan at the Office of Economic Policy, at the Treasury, which can be found at. Page 6 “The primary deficit (or surplus) in the U.S. federal budget has two principal components: the balance in the general fund and the balance in the Social Security account. Past balances in the Socual Security account have been too small to have had any significant effect on the overall budget balance and on the Federal debt. Since 1985, however, the Social Security balance has been a growing component of the Federal budget, and in the future, Social Security will be a consequential element in U.S. debt policy.”
This means, in my opinion, that the Social Security surplus has been particularly large since 1985, and has helped the total debt look smaller, for the surplus reduces total debt. Once Social Security has no surplus to reduce the debt (as will hapopen this year), the total debt will be larger.
Page 20 “Of more concern, is the rate of increase in the debt ratio following the inception of annual Social Security deficits.”
Page 26 “This paper has stressed the public debt implications of the long-run financial status of the Social Security program. The central conclusion is that, under current Social Security law, projected Social Security deficits could result in a very high and unstable debt/GNP ratio in the next century unless extraordinary fiscal restraint is exercised.”
“Any adjustments could be disruptive if implementation is deferred until Social Security deficits begin.”
I guess you could say we have been adequately warned, as far back as 1991!
Yes, the ability of Social Security and Medicare to pay benefits is based on the full faith of the government to back its promises.
When revenues and expenses are all part of one big pot, including ever-increasing debt, one’s faith needs to be stronger and blinder to provide peace of mind.
Don Levit

By: Al Peden

Al Peden — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:50:54 +0000

John,

Thanks for publicizing this. I know Rick Foster, and everything you say about him is true. Would that there were more like him.

By: Charles Johnsen

Charles Johnsen — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 12:18:09 +0000

A note to Kenneth A. Fisher: A political system will set prices and allocate resources based on political necessities, not scientific, medical, compassionate, or market necessities. The only true reform of the medical market place that will work in the long run is a constitutional amendment: Congress shall make no law regulating or subsidizing or control prices for medical or health care. I hope this will also abolish the FDA.
I cannot understand how a medical professional could be so mean spirited and cruel, especially to the poor, as to propose further politicizing of medicine.

By: Patricia Smith

Patricia Smith — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 07:36:03 +0000

Why is any senior – no, why is anyone over 50 years of age paying AARP to represent them? With friends like that who needs enemies? And, by the way, they kept my dues for that year in which I resigned. Hit them where their only true pain can come – hit their pocketbook.