The Economic Stimulus

[healey36]

The day Congress does away with Social Security, they'll find themselves hung on the trees on the National Mall. No doubt the program requires reforms, but with some tough action the program is viable. First up, they should do away with the income limitation for paying in. I routinely hit the maximum in July or August each year and paid nothing in thereafter (until the next year). Second, they should means test it...wealthy retirees should be limited to benefits equal to what they paid in, not the crazy benefit schedule as it exists today.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

The day Congress does away with Social Security, they'll find themselves hung on the trees on the National Mall. No doubt the program requires reforms, but with some tough action the program is viable. First up, they should do away with the income limitation for paying in. I routinely hit the maximum in July or August each year and paid nothing in thereafter (until the next year). Second, they should means test it...wealthy retirees should be limited to benefits equal to what they paid in, not the crazy benefit schedule as it exists today.

There's no doubt that it needs "fixing".

Problem is that the people responsible for fixing it are better at breaking things and making them excessively complicated to point that they cease to function, and only have their own interests at heart.

[healey36]

If left alone, the CBO (once a reputable organization within the government) projects a 20% cut in benefits in 10-20 years once the payouts exhaust the theoretical fund balance (there is no fund balance anyway). I'm not sure how they come up with the 20% cut; perhaps that is the projected funding gap between what comes in versus what is paid out on a pay-as-you-go basis. I suspect some sort of action will be taken by the government by then. Trump has promised that, if reelected, he will take action on reforming SS. I can't wait to see what that might look like...probably credits toward overnight stays at Trump properties.

[HONDO74]

Trump has promised that, if reelected, he will take action on reforming SS. I can't wait to see what that might look like...probably credits toward overnight stays at Trump properties.

Congress controls what will happen with Social Security not the president. He can't do anything about it.

And congress will continue to kick the can down the road until it goes bankrupt....

[healey36]

I used to believe that, but in this day and age we can count on that guy to take some sort of executive action, just enough to throw everything into chaos. We certainly can't count on the zombie Republican caucus to take any action to prevent it.

[HONDO74]

There's no doubt that it needs "fixing".

Problem is that the people responsible for fixing it are better at breaking things and making them excessively complicated to point that they cease to function, and only have their own interests at heart.

Are these the same people you want to take over and run the health care system in this country....

Single payer, medicare for all. They will like your idea for getting the soylent green factory up and running.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

There's no doubt that it needs "fixing".

Problem is that the people responsible for fixing it are better at breaking things and making them excessively complicated to point that they cease to function, and only have their own interests at heart.

Are these the same people you want to take over and run the health care system in this country....

No. I'm referring to Congress. Remember those folks? Healthcare is run by the insurance companies; they own Congress. Like how that works?

They will like your idea for getting the soylent green factory up and running.

I can see ADM running the Soylent Green factory with a lots of support and subsidies from their friends in Congress.

[HONDO74]

Like how that works?

Private insurance provided my my employers always worked great for me.

And it's that private insurance that is paying the bill that medicare and medicaid don't pay.

When it becomes medicare for all the Doctors and hospitals and nurse are going to be in for a big shock if they think they can continue to charge those high prices they do now.

Doctors now will only accept a certain percent of medicare patients VS private insurance.

Supreme Court justices lean toward hospitals in Medicare DSH case
https://www.modernhealthcare.com/articl ... e-dsh-case

Two U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday pushed back on the federal government's sweeping Medicare payment change cutting billions of dollars from hospitals, saying the procedure for the formula change didn't reflect the magnitude of the policy's impact.

In oral arguments before eight of the justices, Sonia Sotomayor and Neal Gorsuch both focused on how hospitals would be hit by the CMS' alterations to its Medicare disproportionate share hospital payment formula in 2014. The change was put into place without a public notice-and-comment period, which several hospitals claim violates federal law.

[healey36]

Private insurance provided my my employers always worked great for me.

You're lucky, you must not have to use it very often. Most employer health policies now carry a $5,000-$7,000 deductible for things beyond preventive care. Some have benefit caps.

Within twenty years employer-provided health insurance will go the way of the company pension. You'll get an allowance every month, similar to the contribution the company makes toward a 401K, and you'll have to go buy your own plan.

We're paying through the nose for "the greatest health system in the world". The current situation would seem to contradict that notion.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Private insurance provided my my employers always worked great for me.

You're lucky, you must not have to use it very often. Most employer health policies now carry a $5,000-$7,000 deductible for things beyond preventive care. Some have benefit caps.

Yup!

Within twenty years employer-provided health insurance will go the way of the company pension. You'll get an allowance every month, similar to the contribution the company makes toward a 401K, and you'll have to go buy your own plan.

If not sooner, like maybe next year.....

We're paying through the nose for "the greatest health system in the world". The current situation would seem to contradict that notion.

If only it were........and we got our money's worth out of it.

[HONDO74]

You're lucky, you must not have to use it very often. Most employer health policies now carry a $5,000-$7,000 deductible for things beyond preventive care. Some have benefit caps.

I worked for 2 different aircraft companies in my working life. As I recall it was Blue Cross/Blue Shield at both. Both at the time covered everything for a family of 4. Just general illness for us most of the time. Both kids had braces. It paid for that.

For me I have had kidney stones since I was 18 so I have made several trips to the ER to kill the pain so I could pass them. In the 1990s the hospitals had this new procedure called Lithotripsy. Went through it twice. It was $7000 each time. Insurance paid for it.

When I was 20 I was diagnosed with Valley Fever. Nothing they could do for it no cure to this day. Your own immune system cures you or you die from it. After nine years it went dormant. I had it when I was drafted. They sent me home and reclassified me 1Y. Only in a national emergency would they take me.

I do consider myself lucky...

[healey36]

I've been lucky too. I'm not 65 yet, fully retired (my choice). I buy health insurance via ACA, a Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan...costs my wife and me $21.6K annually (and that's with a $5,500 deductible for 2020). From a cost perspective, this is the best plan I've found in Maryland. I'm fortunate that I have the resources to pay for this.

[HONDO74]

I've been lucky too. I'm not 65 yet, fully retired (my choice). I buy health insurance via ACA, a Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan...costs my wife and me $21.6K annually (and that's with a $5,500 deductible for 2020). From a cost perspective, this is the best plan I've found in Maryland. I'm fortunate that I have the resources to pay for this.

I started my retirement at age 58 when I took a buyout from the company. Took what was know as an advanced pension that came with the same insurance that I had when working. That ended when I signed up for medicare. The pension cut back when I started Social Security. The company had a great 401k that I transferred to the stock market.

Never had to touch it until 70 1/2 when the government say you have to take some out as an income distribution since the money went in tax deferred. Gov wants their tax money they didn't get back then.

Wife worked for a stock broker for 12 years starting in the 80s. She made some excellent investments. Like the day she came home and said she spent $3000 dollars. I was looking around to see what she bought. 100 share of Walmart stock. I don't remember how many times it split and we ended up with double the share each time. I think we paid something like 20 times the original purchase when we sold it in taxes. If you had bought Walmart stock when it first began in 1970 $17 dollars a share and you bought 100 shares and didn't touch it you would be a multi-millionaire today....

Back to company insurance. As I recall the company said that it was costing them something like 18 to 20 thousand for the employees insurance for a family of 4. That was back in the 90s

[Rufus T. Firefly]

It is a slow day in anytown, USA, and streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody is living on credit.

A tourist visiting the area drives through town, stops at the motel, and lays a $100 bill on the desk saying he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs to pick one for the night.

As soon as he walks upstairs, the motel owner grabs the bill and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher. The butcher takes the $100 and runs down the street to retire his debt to the pig farmer. The pig farmer takes the $100 and heads off to pay his bill to his supplier, the Co-op. The guy at the Co-op takes the $100 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer her "services" on credit. The hooker rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill with the hotel owner.

The hotel proprietor then places the $100 back on the counter so the traveler will not suspect anything. At that moment the traveler comes down the stairs, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, picks up the $100 bill and leaves.

No one produced anything. No one earned anything... However, the whole town is now out of debt and now looks to the future with a lot more optimism. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how a Stimulus package works.

[healey36]

Brilliant...