Official: Performance czar withdraws candidacy

of course we could eliminate this issue by new legislation .....let's call it the Rangel Geithner Daschel Killefer flat tax bill.

No one will need pay taxes on rental properties ; self employment/speaking fees ,lobbying fees ,limo services ,domestic help , or quarterly payments . (I think that covers it but who knows ?)

tomder55

if there was no preexisiting conditions clause then what would prevent me from not buying health care insurance until the day before I go to the doctor or realize I am sick ? What would prevent me from dropping it as soon as I am well ...only to purchase it again the next time I'm ill ?

tomder55

I don't want to sound uncaring but I've seen how people are treated in the exisiting socialized system . It isn't pretty .

TexasParent

I have had two family members be treated for cancer while I lived in Canada; both were treated professionally and in a timely manner and are both alive today 10+ years after treatment.

As for being dropped, as long as you don't represent a risk to the insurance companies they will cover you. Once you represent a risk to their bottom line, you will be dropped. Now that is uncaring. How about the people in their 50's who have paid their insurance or thier company has paid their insurance all their life and never needed it and now they have been let go and are unemployed and suddenly become sick?

speechlesstx

A blogger has developed a new form 1040Dem which amounts to:

Line 1: Are you a Democrat?
Line 2: How much income do you want to declare for this year?
Line 3: How much tax do you feel like paying on that income?

Here's an image of the new form:



Fortunately in Texas I don't have to register with a party affiliation so I should be able to file this form without signing up.

TexasParent

Thank goodness I identify with the Democrats more than the Republican's surely I will qualify for these tax breaks.

Hmmm...now that I think about it, why are you upset about this speech? I mean, y'all have been promoting stimulus through tax breaks; surely if 53% of American's get them it's better than none getting them....

speechlesstx

Upset? I have no problem pretending to be a Democrat so I can file the 1040DEM. It's about time we got some of the perks that politicians get, and I'll gladly stimulate the economy with my savings.

speechlesstx

This is really starting to be some trend. In another interesting choice for Obama's new, more transparent government, he's named Ron Sims, to the no. 2 position in HUD. Sims is the “most fined” Washington State bureaucrat, for of all things "blatant violations of the state Public Records Act."

tomder55

Buried in the bucket list is a new pseudo agency calledb "Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research." Bureaucrats will "coordinate the conduct or support of comparative effectiveness and related health services research."

In other words they will be responsible to cut health care costs by preventing Americans from getting treatments that the government decides don't meet their standards for cost effectiveness.

This is an idea that originated in Tom Daschle's manifesto Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis
Amazon.com: Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis: Tom Daschle, Jeanne M. Lambrew, Scott S. Greenberger: Books

Health Blog : Tom Daschle's Blueprint for Health Reform

This panel of bureaucrats would decide what is and what is not cost-effective by their definition.Then based on their recomendation the government will stop paying for treatments, medicines, therapies or devices that they deem unworthy.

Daschle's intention (which I'm sure would not go away just because he no longer will be the pointman)was/is to expand the Coordinating Council's power even further, allowing the government to deny tax benefits for private insurance that covers treatments deemed too expensive by the Council.

So not only would they decide which treatments work ;but also they would decide which ones work ...but cost too much to be covered .

That is what the Dems and Daschle have in mind to reform health care. There is a word for it ........rationing .

Emland

I try to explain that to fellow employees who thing universal healthcare adminstered by the government is the way to go.

If you are overweight and are type 2 diabetic the treatment will be: lose weight.

If you are a smoker, forget about getting COPD treatment or transplants.

Most treatments will involve taking 2 ibuprofen and hope it goes away (standard Navy health care guidelines).

I would much rather see Congress pass a law that says if your employer offers healthcare then you are required to take it. My employer pays 60% and most don't take advantage of it because they can't "afford" it. They can afford a carton of smokes, cable TV, new clothes, etc. Makes me crazy!

speechlesstx

Now tom, he only has the best intentions, that “ Medicare should pay more for care that leads to good outcomes, and should stop paying for unnecessary or harmful treatments.”

Right, and I’m really Superman. What’s ironic about this is it’s no different than the complaint about private insurance, deciding what treatments they’ll pay for. My insurance changed at the first of the year and when I had my recent MRI’s I was told they had to be pre-approved. Well, that would have been nice but the new provider had no record of me yet. I may face protesting a denial even though I had a red flag headache that cannot wait for pre-approval.

Same with prescriptions, every time the wife or I get a new prescription we have to first find out if it’s covered. With my wife that’s a real challenge so she sometimes has to opt for what may be a less effective medication so we can afford it. I can’t wait for the day when the feds decide what may be an effective treatment.

I LOVE this little quote from the WSJ article:

After Fanny and Freddie and the feds handling of the bailouts, etc. that inspires a tremendous amount of confidence