A reader and former health insurance executive examined Paul Ryan's ridiculous Medicare privatization plan (see also this) and came up with the following analysis:
A Medicare supplement such as BC/BS Plan 65 covers the 20% of the allowed charge that Medicare does not cover--and note that the Medicare deductible is $100 yearly.Now, presumably, BC/BS makes a reasonable profit on this. It would seem reasonable that if BC/BS Plan 65 had to cover 100% of the cost, it would need to price its product at five times the cost of its supplement. That is, 5 X 20% = 100%.
I just got off the phone with BC/BS. At that rate the MONTHLY premium for one aged 73 would be $900; at age 80 or older, the MONTHLY premium would be $1200.
THESE ARE MINIMUM RATES; THE ACTUAL RATE WOULD BE DETERMINED BY THE UNDERWRITERS.
Does anyone think the typical 73 year old retired person can afford $10,800 yearly for health insurance or that a typical eighty year old person can afford $14,400 yearly for health insurance?
Think about that; more than $20,000 yearly for a couple at age 73; almost $30,000 yearly for an elderly couple 80 or older to purchase health insurance.
But Paul Ryan is "bold and brave" for coming up with such awfulness, according to the Washington corporate press. Shame on all of them.
Adding... There's a reason why Medicare cuts and privatization, as well as raising the retirement age or cutting Social Security benefits are so popular with the media elites. It's because they're rich. But removing the payroll tax cap is inconceivable to them. Once again, because they're rich, and they'd have to pony up in order to keep Social Security and Medicare solvent. This is yet another reason why the notion of a "liberal media" is horseshit.
But there was a backup!
Parsons requested the backups and eventually filed a lawsuit against Huckabee and Beebe, alleging that the new governor had siphoned taxpayer money from an emergency fund to pay to replace the destroyed hard drives. Altogether, the new equipment cost over $335,000. Huckabee countered that the information on the hard drives included private details, such as social security numbers, that shouldn't be released to the public. In the end, Parsons' suit was dismissed—largely because he didn't name Turner, who apparently possessed the records, as a plaintiff.
$335,000? Exactly how many computers was Huckabee using that he needed to destroy? Keep it in your office, Huck!
Huckabee's aversion to public disclosure extends beyond his gubernatorial papers. He and his handlers have also taken steps to block access to videotapes of his sermons, spanning his 12 years as a Southern Baptist minister before he entered politics. During the 2008 campaign, Mother Jones reported that Huckabee's campaign had refused to make the sermons public—and that, according to an official at one of the churches he'd led, much of the archival material relating to Huckabee's tenure had been destroyed.
So not only was Huckabee watching weird man-on-dead-squirrel porn on hundreds of government computers, he was also illegally taking lobbyist money directly from God. This is what we must assume, as Huckabee destroyed all the evidence he was ever anything but a former presidential candidate with a terrible talk show. [Mother Jones]
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A former Baltimore cop, carpet installer and wingnut host of some web-only thing called "Liberty Works Radio Network" has been arrested for the shooting murder of his next-door neighbor, because the neighbor's dog allegedly wouldn't stay in its own yard. Charles "Pete" Richter (?), a 66-year-old ex-cop and failed candidate for Queen Anne's County sheriff known for painting swastikas on the cars of his political opponents, is accused of killing his neighbor on Maryland's Kent Island. Because of the dog. READ MORE »
Conservative provocateur James O'Keefe, who asked supporters for donations a few weeks back to help him and his friends pay off the major credit card debt they racked up when they targeted National Public Radio, is hitting up his email list one again.O'Keefe wrote in an email to supporters on Monday that he hopes to "assemble and train an army of new truth-seekers and investigators who will expose more corruption in government and shine a bright spotlight on just how corrupt power can be in America -- including many at the highest levels of government."
"But to keep up our efforts, we must grow an army of truth-seekers and investigators, purchase equipment, hire staff, etc. All of this is very expensive," O'Keefe writes. "Remember, every dollar The Project Veritas receives comes from generous supporters, like you."
He also asks supporters for suggestions on who he should go after next, writing: "What institution, organization, or public figure would you like The Project Veritas to investigate next?"
How about an investigative piece on conservative parasites who want to destroy the working class but who have never worked a day in their lives - mostly because they wouldn't last five minutes doing real work.
