Having massively ratcheted up the federal budget deficit by passing a tax cut with $1 trillion in revenue reductions over the next decade, and then jacking up military spending by a significant amount at the same time, Senate Majority Leader McConnell makes it clear that, nope, the real cause of the budget deficit is all those poor, sick, old people.
“It’s disappointing, but it’s not a Republican problem,” McConnell said Tuesday in an interview with Bloomberg News when asked about the rising deficits and debt. “It’s a bipartisan problem: unwillingness to address the real drivers of the debt by doing anything to adjust those programs to the demographics of America in the future.”
But he realizes if the GOP push it forward on their own, it will make them very, very unpopular, so, hey, he wants to drag the Dems into it as well.
McConnell said it would be “very difficult to do entitlement reform, and we’re talking about Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid,” with one party in charge of Congress and the White House. “I think it’s pretty safe to say that entitlement changes, which is the real driver of the debt by any objective standard, may well be difficult if not impossible to achieve when you have unified government,” McConnell said.
McConnell is very clear — the GOP's intent is to suddenly change course, emphasize how bad the deficit they created (or at least substantially worsened) is, and insist that the only thing to do about it is cut critical social programs. The idea of reversing the tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, or reducing military spending so that we're only outspending the next five biggest-spending nations on defense rather than the next seven, those are clearly off the GOP table.
I don't know if that influences anyone's vote — but it certainly should.
McConnell Blames Entitlements, Not GOP, for Rising Deficits
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday blamed rising federal deficits and debt on a bipartisan unwillingness to contain spending on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, and said he sees little chance of a major deficit reduction deal while Republicans control Congress and the White House.
We shall see just what the people of this very fucked up country do in the face of this. As if trumpism wasn’t enough.
Would say his pants must be blazing not to mention he's spewing fire as he attempts to speak…the fraud trying to "speak to gop base" as if…they could care less…their "hero" in the WH
#NeverAgain
VOTE BLUE!!
It’s cute that our useless press refuses to see the games that the GOP has been playing for my entire lifetime and treat anything they say as being a normal response instead of stating that the goal of the GOP is to turn the US into a third world banana republic (i.e 1890s US) that benefits the 1% at the expense of the 99%.
About $59 billion is spent on traditional social welfare programs. $92 billion is spent on corporate subsidies.
https://thinkbynumbers.org/government-spending/corporate-welfare/corporate-vs-social-welfare/
The rat wing has been selling their lies for decades, but their scam is not as easy to sell as it used to be.
Cut spending . Done.
https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-feel-about-Mitch-McConnell-saying-that-we-now-need-to-cut-Social-Security-Medicare-and-Medicaid-to-fix-the-1-trillion-per-year-deficit-created-by-tax-cuts/answer/Shava-Nerad
Well, the problem definitely lies with certain entitled people. Old, cranky, stupid entitled people.
The republicans controlled government has borrowed nearly $2.8 trillion as of 2014 from the Social Security Trust Fund (AKA the working class Americans who paid into it) and used the money for other purposes.
Is this what McConnell means? Or, another LIE! https://plus.google.com/photos/…
He is a fucking rat bastard.
The Democrats want everyone on Medicare , that will cut services for the most vulnerable. Those programs were designed for needy people who had no choice , not working age healthy people.
DUMP THIS F@#$ING BASTARD!!! USELESS, WORTHLESS, POWER HUNGRY GOP LEADER!!! I am sure he has medical coverage, food on the table, a place to live!!! SHAME ON YOU, TURTLE!!!
One thing both retarded parties agree on is Free Intitlements. why not start by Cutting Intitlements to those with over $250K in assets .That should give a little more for those that really need it
Get rid of him. Cut his paycheck. All of them! Senior citizens depend on their social security & medicare. The ones I know worked their WHOLE life!! I'm not talking about the slackers. You always get them. Oh by the way most of them are in Washington D.C. !!! They just go to hearings & run their mouths. None of them listen to their CONSTITUTES. I'm talking all the way from the school janitor to CEO'S. They never do what we request. 🇺🇸☮️
+Greg Hi-Z How would a single payer system, under which the only customer for the greedy health care industry is "We the People"? If the greedy health care provides won't accept the amount Medicare deems an acceptable payment then he/she could go work at Walmart.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/wFVqpksPxBRUFfFi8z-ecd87fYhf16oJ-cHrJBqZ_DlwBt0_N8O7Di6DF0JP89u6gYEZtQdfstU
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/gxf2CgMcBpLe79HuPqaEocRBBCyQ2C8J7yhQVK85dTUduGYOH_a-ctvtnQZEvNCITUF93FS4IbY
+Greg Hi-Z Australia has everyone on Medicare.
No Australian goes bankrupt due to medical costs.
No Australian is denied health care.
Australians live longer on average than US citizens.
Australia pays half the costs per capita that the US now pays.
Simply be adopting Australia's Medicare For All Citizens program we could eliminate the US Federal Government deficit, eliminate individual health care costs, & cover every single US citizen.
Only a complete f*ing moron is against that.
+John Poteet or fucking republicans who hate government doing anything other than protecting them from all those awful,brown people
McConnell is among the most evil people to ever be born.
+Greg Hi-Z That's bullshit. The Dems want to restructure Obamacare so it works on the same model as Medicare.
The idea is that if insurance companies don't have to make a profit off of healthcare and drug contracts, it will all be cheaper and we'll get better healthcare for everyone for less money.
Right now, people like myself who are on public health are often bumped from getting care because people with private pay are put in for surgery or specialist services before us.
One of the arguments from privileged folks is that single payer (medicare model) insurance is inefficient because "you have to wait" for services. Right now, only the poor and disabled have to wait.
If you go somewhere like Canada? Everyone waits their turn regardless of income or social status — unless they can pay a private doctor — if they can find one available — out of pocket, retail. Like good kids, no cutting in line.
Someone has been blowing smoke up your butt. Do a little research.
(p.s. I am now a fully disabled elder living in poverty in a HUD building, and a former Democratic State Committeewoman, and if you have any questions regarding Democratic Party policy particularly having to do with those having to do with those in need, I'll be happy to do my best to oblige — I'd hate to have you speculate on my behalf)
vox.com – The "pleasant ambiguity" of Medicare-for-all in 2018, explained
my motto is always try to do the right thing and to help other people and other living things ,the cows are food a 30-06 bullet to the head
+John Poteet I know , I prefer too take care of myself and family . I prefer too have competing choices .
I am a man ..a responsible hard working independent minded man .
Nowadays were called idiots.
+Greg Hi-Z Which is great for you, if you can afford it. Or if the circumstance allows it in an emergency. For too many people, that's not the case, and driving a for-profit insurance, healthcare, and pharmaceutical model leads to higher costs and human suffering.
But, hey, if it helps you feel like you're taking care of yourself and your family, I do hope you remain able to do so.
+Dave Hill The more the government gets involved the more expensive it becomes !
Government can not run healthcare .. period.
+Greg Hi-Z actually you could not be more wrong
+Greg Hi-Z It certainly is worth a look as to whether government officials answerable to the voters can do a better job than private bureaucrats answerable to profit-driven stockholders.
+Greg Hi-Z Here are your Rape-publican State choices:
1) Pay the highest medical care prices in the world for substandard care for as long as you have the cash.
2) Once you've been rendered destitute: die early.
Living in a GOP state knocks more than one day per month off your average lifespan. Rape-publicans pay for their idiot voting habits with shorter lives. It's a fact.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_life_expectancy#/media/File:American_Life_Expectancy_at_Birth.png
Did you know that before 1973 it was illegal in the US to profit off of health care. The Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973 passed by Nixon changed everything.
In 1973, Nixon did a personal favor for his friend and campaign financier, Edgar Kaiser, then president and chairman of Kaiser-Permanente. Nixon signed into law, the Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973, in which medical insurance agencies, hospitals, clinics and even doctors, could begin functioning as for-profit business entities instead of the service organizations they were intended to be.
+Al Kirkwood Amazing. I hadn't realized that. So republicans are responsible for the current mess of a private healthcare system that we now suffer from. Nixon, what a dick he was. What a total piece of s*, in every way.
Republicans are very good at being enemies of we the people, and that's all they are good for. Hopefully we'll never elect another one EVER, to any office. If it wasn't for their continual lies and gullible dupes, they would have been done decades ago.
+Al Kirkwood The HMO Act of 1973 did not introduce profit to health care in general, but did enable for-profit HMO situations (or, rather, HMOs to use for-profit medical providers).
It's worth noting that the KP as an insurance organization is actually still a non-profit — and one of the few non-profits remaining out there. (The medical group it works with, Permanente MG, is for-profit)
(ObDisc: I have a family member working for KP, and use its services.)
The HMO Act of 1973's primary sponsor was Teddy Kennedy, and a major driver was not so much "personal favors" but already escalating Medicare and Medicaid (for for-profit services).
Pregnant moms eat up the pentagon budget? And schools and healthcare? A bold faced liar, and smells like one too!
+Dave Hill Is KP as an insurance organization actually still a non-profit or is it like Blue Cross/shield which has CEO's and Board members getting super rich not providing health care to we the people?
Their are not real not for profit insurance companies.
The more you ask from your government , the less free you will be.
+Greg Hi-Z The less you demand of your government to protect you from the wealthy elite and greedy corporations the more enslaved you are.
+Greg Hi-Z That need not be the case. It's interesting that whenever "conservatives" gain power, they do whatever they can to create the dysfunctional and authoritarian government you fear. It's as if they truly want government to be that way.
+Al Kirkwood Well, I believe the Blues are now "Anthem," and dropped the non-profit stuff in the late 90s / early 00s.
KP has executive leadership roles, as one would expect from a $73bn revenue organization. I've not heard of any particular scandals related to the top leadership.
+Al Kirkwood I'll take my chances over corrupt government politicians and bureaucrats any day. They have guns.
+Greg Hi-Z
They have guns? My man, you fix war planes for the USAF. You have anti-piracy training exercises and every sort of military airpower all over your homepage.
Tell me you are truly not posturing about being afraid of politicos with guns.
I come from a military family. You are a damn troll. Stop wasting my time and have some respect for the intelligence of your fellow citizens.
+Dave Hill In 2006 Kaiser settled five cases for alleged patient dumping—the delivery of homeless hospitalized patients to other agencies or organizations in order to avoid expensive medical care.
California insurance regulators announced Tuesday that they have reached a settlement with Kaiser Permanente to address its repeated failures to provide patients with timely access to mental health services.
The U.S. and state attorneys general have penalized Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc., Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and the Hawaii Permanente Medical Group $1.9 million for making improper Medicare and Medicaid claims.
Kaiser was penalized $1 million for submitting false federal Medicare claims and $900,000 for improper state Medicaid claims.
For a not-for-profit company they sure do worry about profit.
+Shava Nerad I am not in the Military or a veteran. I'm a private contractor , for big evil corporations .
I have paid my families insurance , paid 2 kids full university , employed many people , made allot of money and paid hundreds of thousands in taxes.
Man .
+Greg Hi-Z Did you pay for your families insurance or was in paid for by the Defense contractor you work for?
+Al Kirkwood Yes , I had my own policy it used to be much better that way. I am the business owner , working on contract.
+Greg Hi-Z I believe you are full of shit, you probably don't even own a car. You are a boot…
I'm blocking you..
+Greg Hi-Z If you were a military contractor Uncle Sam paid for your health insurance one way or the other.
Hey, maybe the vast majority of citizens should apply your "I've got mine so fuck everybody else" ethic to veterans. I'm tired of veterans who don't give a shit about Joe Average Citizen. If we put YOU in the back of every line would that fix your bullshit attitude?
+John Poteet Not military . I pay into the government , I Don't cost the government and my fellow citizens money.
I ask not what my country can do for me … you know
+Greg Hi-Z That's an amazingly weird thing to say when every post of yours is about multi-million dollar war toys. That shit isn't even close to free & mostly what it is used for is to defend oil industry profits.
No Iraqis or Afghanis were involved in the 9-11-2001 terrorist attacks. It was Saudis, Egyptians, & Yemenis all with Saudi passports, leadership, & funding.
+John Poteet you are having a battle of wits with an unarmed man.
+John Poteet Those are just my hobbies. I work on commercial aircraft ..
And let me apologize , I assume some on here are foreigners , and assume Americans younger than I .
Maybe you ever lived during the time when you could choose many insurance policies , doctors , and healthcare plans. I raised a family of 3 kids , my wife and I always afforded insurance that fit our needs . Yearly or whenever we wanted , we could ask our broker to check plans compare prices and services to get us the best value.
Competition … that is what drives down costs , improves care and makes the system work .
+Al Kirkwood I don't think I said anywhere that KP had a perfect track record of any sort. But those items are scattered across the last couple of decades.
And non-profit doesn't necessarily mean open-pocket spending. KP or individuals within it may well be looking to protect their budgets in improper ways. That's certainly wrong.
Item 1 (dumping) from 2006 [http://articles.latimes.com/2007/may/16/local/me-dumping16] I couldn't find the specific story you reference, just this (very notorious) case of a homeless woman improperly dumped on Skid Row, a problem endemic to multiple medical groups and law enforcement. KP was rightfully pressured into a settlement to fix their part of this, and it's a settlement the story makes clear was both groundbreaking and beyond what folks were expecting KP to do.
Item 2 (mental health) from 2017 [https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Settlement-reached-on-Kaiser-Permanente-s-11303537.php] Appears that KP didn't have enough mental health professionals available to meet state insurance requirements for how fast people should be able to see one. It looks like they are resolving that issue.
Item 3 ($1.9M) from 2005 [https://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2005/04/11/daily50.html] "Kaiser says the inaccurate billings to Medicare and Medicaid occurred after the state created a certification requirement for physician assistants and that the dermatology assistant practiced at Kaiser prior to the change and failed to obtain a license after the requirement went into effect." Which meant the billings for services rendered by an improperly certified individual from 1986-2001 were deemed false/improper. KP ought to have tracked such things more carefully, but it doesn't sound like it was an intentional act of fraud.
All of these are clearly poor practices on KP's part. And I agree that they should have been corrected once uncovered. It's not clear all of them were because of some nefarious money-making scheme on the part of avaricious insurance executives.
+Dave Hill odd how denying working class people health care or cheating the poor is "poor practices" or the fact that KP hasn't been found guilt of any malpractices n recent years makes them honest and fair.
+Greg Hi-Z
If you're assuming I'm not an American, my family has been here since WWI-ish, and my son is a vet, my brother is a USAF vet, my nephew is active US Navy (XO in the China Sea atm), I lost family in every war in the past century but Vietnam (my brother was blessed and has lived into his 70s now). Both my son and nephew went to Norwich.
I'm in a HUD development right now because I was driven into poverty by catastrophic health issues — I was rear-ended by an uninsured drunk driver in 2007. I was the primary support at the time for my son, my mother (Lewy Body Dementia and Parkinson's in her late 80s), my BF (couldn't marry because he was applying for disability and the government punishes you if you marry), and me — a govt contractor working with a lot of IC and mil types and the State Dept.
This knocked me out of a career I loved, promoting among other things American (and free press) media access in China working with funding from the Voice of America folks.
You can make a lot of assumptions. But I'm left with no options at this point but to be on Social Security and subsidized housing with nursing supports. My son is only 25, I had him late and he's my only one.
This is what those programs are for.
But my career was in media and public policy, and I've worked with international affairs a good deal. You've traveled too. Socialized medicine works better for the majorities in the countries where it's instated.
Your "choice of plans" only work for employers who offer choices. It only works for families who can afford the plans which since our generation (I'll assume we are both older) have become more and more costly as wages have stagnated.
The HMO Act of 1973 instated under Nixon was well intentioned, and became a robber baron excuse for profit taking and medical expense inflation ever since.
https://commonwealthmagazine.org/arts-and-culture/emthe-rise-and-fall-of-hmosem-shows-how-a-worthy-idea-went-wrong/
If you want to blame government for rising health care expenses — pair it with the private sector and pin it to 1973.
The system needs a full overhaul. And we know more about what works now. What works today for a western democracy is not your choice of plans, any more than what works today is a manufacturing economy, or unions for every worker.
Sometimes models need to adjust. And as we age we need to reach out for new information, not lean on what worked when we were thirty-five and growing our families.
It doesn't serve the coming generations of Americans.