Your World Host Cant Stand To Admit GOP Hypocrisy On Health Care Reform And The Deficit

Big Health-Care Changes Arrive in 2011...
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Rep. Andrews challenges Republicans on health reform repeal's impact on the deficit
A leading liberal lawmaker said Tuesday that Democrats may be open to compromising with Republicans on their effort to Repeal Healthcare Reform - but only if congressional Budget scorekeepers reassess their estimate that the bill cuts the Deficit. Rep. Robert Andrews' comments on Fox News come as Democrats have been accusing Republicans of being hypocrites for pushing Repeal even though it would violate their campaign pledge to tackle the Deficit. "If (Republicans) would make the Repeal of th...

Francine Hardaway: Both Health Care and Real Estate Face Further Reforms in 2011
Health Care and Real Estate, two important areas of interest to me and to the US economy, are due for some changes in 2011. I have no better crystal ball than anyone else, but here are some of the things I expect: Health Care reform will have to be re-reformed. No, I don't think the Republicans will actually Repeal it all. If they do, they're dumber than I thought, because they would then get caught in the same quicksand the Democrats have been in for the past two years. There will, however, b...

The Kroog Versus Voodoo Economics
Paul Krugman wonders why the Village idea of Deficit Austerity vanished when the Obama-McConnell tax deal came along. How did Republican leaders reconcile their purported deep concern about Budget deficits with their advocacy of large Tax Cuts? Was it that old voodoo economics — the belief, refuted by study after study, that tax cuts pay for themselves — making a comeback? No, it was something new and worse. To be sure, there were renewed claims that tax cuts lead to higher revenue. ...

Perks, bad paperwork cost DMC $30 million
The DMC agreed to pay the Federal Government $30 million to settle allegations that it engaged in improper financial relationships with referring physicians, offering them Kickbacks in some cases in the form of cheap rent, sporting event tickets or free promotional materials. Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanguard, which already had agreed to cover $20 million in liabilities, will cover the entire bill, according to DMC President and CEO Mike Duggan. CEO weig...

Playing Catholic politics with US healthcare | Becky Garrison
St Joseph's Hospital released a statement in support of McBride: "In this tragic case, the treatment necessary to save the mother's life required the termination of an 11-week Pregnancy." A statement issued by Sr Carol Keehan, DC, president and chief executive office of the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA) concurred with this assessment: "They carefully evaluated the patient's situation and correctly applied the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Serv...

Debunking Krugman (Again): On The Shift From Net To Gross Income Tax Basis
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP New York The most significant change was a gradual one that took place incrementally and is proceeding apace: The shift in the definition of income for purposes of the Income Tax on individuals, from a net to a gross tax base. When I first began practice in 1981, the individual tax was still largely a tax on net income, with few exceptions. The only items of expense or loss that were not deductible, other than capital items, were truly personal items (that is, ex...

The New Voodoo
By Paul Krugman NYT Hypocrisy never goes out of style, but, even so, 2010 was something special. For it was the year of Budget doubletalk — the year of arsonists posing as firemen, of people railing against Deficits while doing everything they could to make those Deficits bigger. And I don’t just mean politicians. Did you notice the U-turn many political commentators and other Serious People made when the Obama-McConnell tax-cut deal was announced? One day Deficits were the great evil and ...

What you pay for Medicare won't cover your costs
WASHINGTON -- You paid your Medicare taxes all those years and want your money's worth: full benefits after you retire. Nearly three out of five people say in a recent Associated Press-GfK poll that they paid into the system so they deserve their full benefits -- no cuts. But a newly updated financial analysis shows that what people paid into the system doesn't come close to covering the full value of the medical care they can expect to receive as Retirees. Consider an average-wage, two-earne...

Your Medicare taxes wont cover what youll cost
WASHINGTON (AP) — What you paid in Medicare taxes shows up on your W-2 Income Tax form every year. So when you retire, you want your money’s worth. That’s how most Americans see it. In an Associated Press-GfK poll nearly 6 out of 10 said they paid into the system so they deserve their full benefits — no cuts. But a newly updated financial analysis shows that what people paid into the system doesn’t come close to covering the full value of the medical care they can e...

Your Medicare taxes won't cover what you'll cost
What you paid in Medicare taxes shows up on your W-2 Income Tax form every year. So when you retire, you want your money's worth. That's how most Americans see it. In an Associated Press-GfK poll nearly 6 out of 10 said they paid into the system so they deserve their full benefits — no cuts. But a newly updated financial analysis shows that what people paid into the system doesn't come close to covering the full value of the medical care they can expect to receive as Retirees. Consider an ...

RNC Candidate Priebuss Law Firm Says Health Reform Is Constitutional, Touts Benefits Of Reform
On January 14, 168 standing members of the Republican National Committee (RNC) will hold an election to select the next national chairman of the party. Current RNC Chairman Michael Steele is running for a Second Term against a number of challengers, including Saul Anuzis, Ann Wagner, Maria Cino, Gentry Collins, and Reince Priebus. Priebus, the current state chairman of the Wisconsin GOP, is positioning himself as the true conservative alternative to Steele. His announcement video contained mi...

Dem regrets language in memo on death panels that reignited debate
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) is distancing himself from a memo sent by his office that urged health reform advocates not to advertise new end-of-life counseling Regulations to avoid reviving talk of “Death Panels.” The weeks-old memo recommended that end-of-life advocates celebrate a “quiet” victory out of concern that Republican leaders would “use this small provision to perpetuate the ‘death panel’ myth.” Blumenauer now says he regrets the letter's secret

2010 predictions scorecard
1. The BLS will report U-3 Unemployment to be in excess of 11 percent. The actual number of unemployed workers will be much higher. U-3 is at 9.8 percent. There are some minor shenanigans going on at the BLS, of course, as the size of the Labor Force is shrinking even faster than the number of employed workers, thus keeping the Unemployment Rate artificially low, but I factored that into my prediction. INCORRECT. 2. The BEA will report real GDP to be less than 12,973 in billions of chained 20...

Pro-Life Leaders Want Congress to Overturn Death Panel Regs
Leaders in the pro-life community are angrily responding to the news that the Obama Administration added “Death Panels” to the ObamaCare implementation. They are calling on Congress to take steps to Repeal the new Regulations Obama officials put in place that they worry will give financial incentives to doctors to hold end-of-life discussions with patients that will lead to the Rationing of their medical care. Doctors will instruct patients in the annual “voluntary” exams...

New study shows Social Security pays for itself, but not Medicare
In 2011 the United States Congress will begin to address the long-term fiscal problems facing the nation.  At the top of the list will have to be Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, which together make up over 40% of the entire federal Budget.  In the future those programs will take up an increasing part of the federal budget as more Baby Boomers reach Retirement Age.  A new study by the Urban Institute may inform lawmakers on the issue, as it shows Social Security really pay...

Sentences given in 'fake doctor' case
Dr. Charles C. Njoku, 61, was sentenced to a year in federal Prison for having Veronica Scott-Guiler see patients and prescribe medication from January 2005 through March 2009 at a Columbus, Ohio, medial center, The Columbus Dispatch reported Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley sentenced Njoku on charges of healthcare Fraud and improperly prescribing medicine. Njoku and Scott-Guiler were arrested in January. Each pleaded guilty. Earlier this month, Marbley sentenced Scott-Guiler, 4...

DMC-Vanguard deal finalized, but medical center now faces $30-million settlement
"It's a great day, and it's been a long journey," said DMC President and CEO Mike Duggan. The $1.5-billion deal will expand the struggling medical system -- adding $850 million in improvements and financial assistance, including a new pediatric specialty center and a new cardiovascular institute -- but the final agreement came with a catch. The DMC also announced news of a $30-million settlement with the Department of Justice to resolve allegations tha...

Medicare launches Web tool to help patients find a doctor
The Medicare agency on Thursday launched an online tool that contains information about doctors and other medical professionals who participate in Medicare, the first step toward rating physicians. The "Physician Compare" feature was required by Democrats' Healthcare Reform law. It contains information about physicians' practices and lets patients know whether the doctors have opted to share quality-of-care data with the Federal Government. The Healthcare Reform law also requires the Centers f...

Obama's recess appointment that makes sense
I gave President Obama some grief last summer for bypassing the Senate and making a precipitous Recess Appointment for Donald Berwick, his choice to oversee the Medicare and Medicaid programs. I have a completely different take on the president's latest such move, to issue a Recess Appointment for James Cole to serve as deputy Attorney General, the No. 2 position at the Justice Department. This time around, the maneuver was justified. My assessment has nothing to do with the individuals or po...

Medicare agency creates quality standards for kidney disease treatment
The Medicare agency has issued new regulations rewarding high-quality care for end-stage renal disease, a condition whose treatment has come under heavy criticism because the Federal Government pays more but gets worse outcomes than many other countries. The new regulations establish performance standards and payment incentives required under a 2008 Medicare law. Payments under the newly created Quality Incentive Program are set to begin Jan. 1, 2012. The new regulations aim to replace the cur...

One Day, When The Times Has An Economist As A Columnist
Paul Krugman closes the year with misdirection and deception.  His topic is Tax Cuts (bad!) and Evil Republicans (what else?).  My emphasis: How did Republican leaders reconcile their purported deep concern about Budget Deficits with their advocacy of large tax cuts? Was it that old voodoo economics — the belief, refuted by study after study, that Tax Cuts pay for themselves — making a comeback? No, it was something new and worse. To be sure, there were renewed claims that tax ...

The collapse of government. "Banana Republic,here we come..."
It doesn't take much, only the stupidity we are facing in Congress in 2011 to collapse effective government in the US. The collapse just took place on a small scale, in Nassau County, NY, where Paul Krugman grew up. And it's because Nassau County did what Jon Kyl and others are planning to do in Congress, according to Krugman. ...A year ago, in one of the first major Tea Party victories, the county elected a new executive who railed against Budget Deficits and promised both to cut taxes and to...

New Congress and Health Care: Rocky Road?
New provisions under the Health Care law will roll out starting Jan. 1, but the the debate over Health Care reform is far from over as lawmakers in both chambers craft ways to tweak the Controversial Legislation. More Video ...

Tis The Season for Bullies
In a short time, a great number of people will verbally abuse, beat, and kill the people that they live with, date, are married to, or are recently divorced from or separated from. The most subtle types of abuse are those who “forbid” a partner from talking to visiting with or associating with family or friends. It may come as a surprise to “progressive” women today to find out that there are men and women who control their partners in this Fashion. It should come as no s...