To call the White House, here's the comment number: 202-456-1111
To call The House of Representatives, use this number: (202) 224-3121
It's too late to call today since the hours are 8am-5pm EST, but you can call tomorrow and today, you can still send your comment via this page at the White House website and/or this page to contact your representative in the House of Representatives. It's a simple process to find out who to write (pull down menus for states and/or add your zip code) to. Make sure you contact John Boehner (as I did yesterday) to encourage him to stand up in the name of HONOR, to stop acting like Pinocchio to Eric Cantor's version of J. Worthington Foulfellow and Paul Ryan's Gideon in order to DO THE RIGHT THING, career be damned. Boehner's first allegiance is to this country; to his constituents - NOT to a faction of his party that isn't even legitimate, although they're trying hard to become legit - to, in fact - take over the Party.
Anyway, I've now written the President twice, phoned once (will phone again tomorrow), and yes, I've called John Boehner and emailed him and will continue to do so - and my message to John?
"STOP LISTENING TO THE TEA PARTY - THEY'RE NOT EVEN A RECOGNIZED ENTITY AND YET THEY'RE CONTROLLING REPUBLICANS WITH THE USE OF FEAR - AND IT'S TIME TO STOP THEM - BY TELLING YOUR REPRESENTATIVES THAT YOUR VOTE CAN'T BE BOUGHT BY THE WEALTHY FEW BEHIND THE MAJORITY OF THE TEA PARTY!"
And my message to the President?
"GIVE UP THE BELIEF THAT A BI-PARTISAN GOVERNMENT IS STILL POSSIBLE! THEY'VE TOLD YOU IN NO UNCERTAIN TERMS THAT THE HOUSE WILL 'JUST SAY NO' TO EVERYTHING YOU PUT ON THE TABLE AS LONG AS YOU'RE PRESIDENT."
The good news is that according to the news, many folks are, indeed, doing as President Obama asked; writing and phoning. BUT, the majority are asking all of them to compromise in order to end this. That is not something I can support because the Republicans, as led by the new Tea Party junior Congressmen and some senior Congressmen, consider total capitulation as the only compromise they'll accept. Complete, total surrender by Obama and the Democratic Party. And the scary part? Obama has already offered an olive branch of a compromise that includes cuts in the Big Three: Social Security, Medicare/Medical and Social Security Disability. If he's willing to cut our benefits in spite of the one, singular message America has been sending...
To call The House of Representatives, use this number: (202) 224-3121
It's too late to call today since the hours are 8am-5pm EST, but you can call tomorrow and today, you can still send your comment via this page at the White House website and/or this page to contact your representative in the House of Representatives. It's a simple process to find out who to write (pull down menus for states and/or add your zip code) to. Make sure you contact John Boehner (as I did yesterday) to encourage him to stand up in the name of HONOR, to stop acting like Pinocchio to Eric Cantor's version of J. Worthington Foulfellow and Paul Ryan's Gideon in order to DO THE RIGHT THING, career be damned. Boehner's first allegiance is to this country; to his constituents - NOT to a faction of his party that isn't even legitimate, although they're trying hard to become legit - to, in fact - take over the Party.
Anyway, I've now written the President twice, phoned once (will phone again tomorrow), and yes, I've called John Boehner and emailed him and will continue to do so - and my message to John?
"STOP LISTENING TO THE TEA PARTY - THEY'RE NOT EVEN A RECOGNIZED ENTITY AND YET THEY'RE CONTROLLING REPUBLICANS WITH THE USE OF FEAR - AND IT'S TIME TO STOP THEM - BY TELLING YOUR REPRESENTATIVES THAT YOUR VOTE CAN'T BE BOUGHT BY THE WEALTHY FEW BEHIND THE MAJORITY OF THE TEA PARTY!"
And my message to the President?
"GIVE UP THE BELIEF THAT A BI-PARTISAN GOVERNMENT IS STILL POSSIBLE! THEY'VE TOLD YOU IN NO UNCERTAIN TERMS THAT THE HOUSE WILL 'JUST SAY NO' TO EVERYTHING YOU PUT ON THE TABLE AS LONG AS YOU'RE PRESIDENT."
The good news is that according to the news, many folks are, indeed, doing as President Obama asked; writing and phoning. BUT, the majority are asking all of them to compromise in order to end this. That is not something I can support because the Republicans, as led by the new Tea Party junior Congressmen and some senior Congressmen, consider total capitulation as the only compromise they'll accept. Complete, total surrender by Obama and the Democratic Party. And the scary part? Obama has already offered an olive branch of a compromise that includes cuts in the Big Three: Social Security, Medicare/Medical and Social Security Disability. If he's willing to cut our benefits in spite of the one, singular message America has been sending...
"DON'T TOUCH OUR SOCIAL SECURITY/MEDICARE!"
...then he's obviously willing to accept just about anything when the tires finally hit the road, which means I'm beginning to doubt that he'll hold firm on his refusal to keep from taxing the wealthy - in other words, repealing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy - which is one of the primary items on which the Republicans refuse to budge.
When the Republicans use the broad - and scary - term, "Obama wants to raise taxes!" they're not referring to OUR taxes (which, btw, are the lowest in ages and should be raised) but the Bush Tax Cuts for their rich supporters (meaning people earning a quarter of a million dollars a year!).
And speaking of John Boehner (again) - do you think he recently walked out on the President because HE wanted to? Not hardly. Boehner is fighting for his career; knows Cantor is just waiting to step into his position as Speaker. And that's looking all too possible since even though Obama did put the Big Three on the table, he also included the elimination of certain tax breaks for the rich and the closing of corporate tax loopholes. If Boehner were to accept? Oh, yeah, his job would be toast.
If he doesn't toe the Tea Party line, Eric Cantor will take over as House Speaker - hell, he's practically drooling now because one more misstep and John is out on his ass. And his seat in the House? Well, the next time he's up for re-election, he'll lose because the Tea Party will see to it. Which, btw, is where YOU come in.
If you live in Ohio (even if you don't live in his 8th District), you can call and write and tell him that if he settles this like a man of honor and trustworthiness, you WILL vote for him no matter what the Tea Party says! And btw: If you don't believe Boehner is misusing the phrase about Obama wanting to raise taxes, thus scaring us all to death, just take a look at his page and you'll see a changing headline by the video section withone of those headlines having been copied and pasted here:
When the Republicans use the broad - and scary - term, "Obama wants to raise taxes!" they're not referring to OUR taxes (which, btw, are the lowest in ages and should be raised) but the Bush Tax Cuts for their rich supporters (meaning people earning a quarter of a million dollars a year!).
And speaking of John Boehner (again) - do you think he recently walked out on the President because HE wanted to? Not hardly. Boehner is fighting for his career; knows Cantor is just waiting to step into his position as Speaker. And that's looking all too possible since even though Obama did put the Big Three on the table, he also included the elimination of certain tax breaks for the rich and the closing of corporate tax loopholes. If Boehner were to accept? Oh, yeah, his job would be toast.
If he doesn't toe the Tea Party line, Eric Cantor will take over as House Speaker - hell, he's practically drooling now because one more misstep and John is out on his ass. And his seat in the House? Well, the next time he's up for re-election, he'll lose because the Tea Party will see to it. Which, btw, is where YOU come in.
If you live in Ohio (even if you don't live in his 8th District), you can call and write and tell him that if he settles this like a man of honor and trustworthiness, you WILL vote for him no matter what the Tea Party says! And btw: If you don't believe Boehner is misusing the phrase about Obama wanting to raise taxes, thus scaring us all to death, just take a look at his page and you'll see a changing headline by the video section withone of those headlines having been copied and pasted here:
There's your proof. We all know President Obama is NOT insisting on "Raising Taxes", which, as stated in the above manner, leads Americans to believe he wants to raise taxes on all of us, and thus qualifies as the scare statement of all scare statements since the ridiculous "Death Panels" that surrounded the false rhetoric around the Health Care Reform Bill. In reality, don't we really know Obama simply means dealing with the Bush Tax Cuts - and even going further in ending the free ride the wealthy - the really wealthy - are currently enjoying? Of course we do. But the wealthy, like David Koch (of the Koch Brothers who ranked 18th on Forbes Billionaires List but if you combined their individual wealth - $22billion apiece, they'd rank FOURTH) who founded the Tea Party organization called, Americans for Prosperity (AFP), well, it's those men who are soundly against the repeal of the Bush Tax Cuts or any other taxes on the rich or of the closing of any loopholes for the rich. And these guys control men like Eric Cantor and thus threaten good Republicans everywhere.
You can disbelieve it, call me a liberal and by implication, that I'm simply repeating leftist lies, but all of this can easily be researched, as I did. AFP outspent the Democratic Governors Association by more than three to one in the 2010 primaries and elections - a fact that scares the hell out of me. The goal of the Tea Party is to take over the Republican Party, completely, and it's not one that currently is being stopped. And do they care if we go into default? If the nothing happens by August 2nd? Of course not. In fact, it might even be their real goal. These are some of the richest men in the WORLD and they're protected; have taken the steps to ensure that protection. In fact, they may even prosper should we go into default!
And I'm not alone in believing this. I happen to read alter.net and stumbled upon an article by Adele M. Stan, the Washington Bureau Chief for Alter.net who wrote that we're tempted, "...when assessing the showdown over the debt ceiling that is bringing the United States to the brink of defaulting on its debt, to view the confrontation in terms of Republicans vs. Democrats, liberals vs. conservatives, Obama vs. Boehner." But, "What we're really witnessing, though, is a ruthless power-grab by the architects of the Tea Party movement for control of the Republican Party. And if they have to destroy House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to do it, they will. Heck, if they have to destroy the United States in order to grab the levers of GOP machinery, they will, content in the knowledge that, as elites, they will have first pick of the spoils."
It was weird to read what I'd been thinking!
So the real question for the rest of us is: How much - and how far - is Obama willing to go in this game of Chicken? Two cars are bearing down on each other and the fact is, the Tea Party, if they're as strong as I believe them to be, won't budge, so, based on Obama's past performance, and his almost overwhelming need to make it appear that our government is still willing to work on a bi-partisan level, he'll give in. And that will mean what to us, the Average American? What will he give up to avoid the collision?
* Repealing the Bush Tax cuts for the rich - down the tubes, along with other taxes for the wealthy like
* Further raising taxes on other areas pertaining to the top percent of wage earners
* Cuts in Medicare (which also probably means added costs for Medicare recipients)
* Cuts in SS and SSD (which will also mean added costs for both and more difficulty in attaining both)
And more that I can't even begin to mention here.
And the funniest (in the saddest of ways) is that Republicans are now trying to compare themselves - and this debt battle - to what we, the average Americans, go through every day. They're actually stating on every right wing news show available that we Americans can balance our budgets, so why can't the government?
Hello? Do you Republicans have ANY idea of what's going on out in Main Street, USA? If you want to compare us to you, then try this: WE'RE UP TO OUR EYEBALLS IN DEBT TOO! The majority of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and the differences between white households and minorities have grown further and further apart, more than I can remember. That means if the middle-class white family is barely making it - guess what's happening to the minority family next door? And none of us can buy houses now, can we? And saving for college? A horror film for families.
You can disbelieve it, call me a liberal and by implication, that I'm simply repeating leftist lies, but all of this can easily be researched, as I did. AFP outspent the Democratic Governors Association by more than three to one in the 2010 primaries and elections - a fact that scares the hell out of me. The goal of the Tea Party is to take over the Republican Party, completely, and it's not one that currently is being stopped. And do they care if we go into default? If the nothing happens by August 2nd? Of course not. In fact, it might even be their real goal. These are some of the richest men in the WORLD and they're protected; have taken the steps to ensure that protection. In fact, they may even prosper should we go into default!
And I'm not alone in believing this. I happen to read alter.net and stumbled upon an article by Adele M. Stan, the Washington Bureau Chief for Alter.net who wrote that we're tempted, "...when assessing the showdown over the debt ceiling that is bringing the United States to the brink of defaulting on its debt, to view the confrontation in terms of Republicans vs. Democrats, liberals vs. conservatives, Obama vs. Boehner." But, "What we're really witnessing, though, is a ruthless power-grab by the architects of the Tea Party movement for control of the Republican Party. And if they have to destroy House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to do it, they will. Heck, if they have to destroy the United States in order to grab the levers of GOP machinery, they will, content in the knowledge that, as elites, they will have first pick of the spoils."
It was weird to read what I'd been thinking!
So the real question for the rest of us is: How much - and how far - is Obama willing to go in this game of Chicken? Two cars are bearing down on each other and the fact is, the Tea Party, if they're as strong as I believe them to be, won't budge, so, based on Obama's past performance, and his almost overwhelming need to make it appear that our government is still willing to work on a bi-partisan level, he'll give in. And that will mean what to us, the Average American? What will he give up to avoid the collision?
* Repealing the Bush Tax cuts for the rich - down the tubes, along with other taxes for the wealthy like
* Further raising taxes on other areas pertaining to the top percent of wage earners
* Cuts in Medicare (which also probably means added costs for Medicare recipients)
* Cuts in SS and SSD (which will also mean added costs for both and more difficulty in attaining both)
And more that I can't even begin to mention here.
And the funniest (in the saddest of ways) is that Republicans are now trying to compare themselves - and this debt battle - to what we, the average Americans, go through every day. They're actually stating on every right wing news show available that we Americans can balance our budgets, so why can't the government?
Hello? Do you Republicans have ANY idea of what's going on out in Main Street, USA? If you want to compare us to you, then try this: WE'RE UP TO OUR EYEBALLS IN DEBT TOO! The majority of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and the differences between white households and minorities have grown further and further apart, more than I can remember. That means if the middle-class white family is barely making it - guess what's happening to the minority family next door? And none of us can buy houses now, can we? And saving for college? A horror film for families.
In addition, the Republicans are trying two other tactics to get YOU on their side. Tactic #1: They're saying, "If the American family can balance their budgets, why can't we?" Hello? Where do you Congresspeople live? We're not balancing our budgets, we're in DEBT too and drowning. We live from paycheck to paycheck! And what about Tactic #2? It goes like this: Fox News has decided that there are NO poor people in America! Don't believe me? Well, here's actual proof as Stuart Varney and his guest show us how 'the poor' aren't.
And by the way? The Heritage Foundation is, of course, a right wing foundation that is actually considered one of the most powerful
Anyway, it's certainly natural that they wouldn't believe there are any real poor people or that only TWO percent of America's children go hungry every night. *rolls eyes* And you can't possibly be poor if you own a coffee maker or a fridge. *rolls eyes again*
So are the Republicans that far out of the loop - or are they simply lying? Using words, once again, to fool the gullible Americans? And aren't you insulted to know they think we're this stupid???
If the Republicans actually admitted how bad things are for us, that we're in debt too and can't fix it, then they'd have to deal with the current situation and actually DO SOMETHING - like vote, as they have too many times to count before, to raise the debt ceiling which is a totally arbitrary number to begin with! And btw, it's the government's failure in the last 10 years to control banking procedures, housing procedures, etc., that contributed to our own debts (along with our own irresponsibility and stupidity - just like our government). And if they continue to refuse to deal with the very wealthy and the loopholes that keep them at the lowest rate of tax rate (if they pay any taxes at all) in history, then the horizon looks dim indeed.
If the Republicans actually admitted how bad things are for us, that we're in debt too and can't fix it, then they'd have to deal with the current situation and actually DO SOMETHING - like vote, as they have too many times to count before, to raise the debt ceiling which is a totally arbitrary number to begin with! And btw, it's the government's failure in the last 10 years to control banking procedures, housing procedures, etc., that contributed to our own debts (along with our own irresponsibility and stupidity - just like our government). And if they continue to refuse to deal with the very wealthy and the loopholes that keep them at the lowest rate of tax rate (if they pay any taxes at all) in history, then the horizon looks dim indeed.
Hopefully you're aware that the House did vote through Boehner's "Cut-Cap-Balance Plan" (which, thank GOD, the senate shot down and which is why he's in trouble again), but are you aware of what was in it? You can read the whole thing here but below are some important items directly from the Plan:
‘‘SEC. 317. CERTAIN DIRECT SPENDING LIMITS.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—It shall not be in order in the House of Representatives or the Senate to consider any bill, joint resolution, amendment, or conference report that includes any provision that would cause total direct spending, except as excluded in subsection (b), to exceed the limits specified in subsection (c).
‘‘(b) EXEMPT FROM DIRECT SPENDING LIMITS.—
Direct spending for the following functions is exempt from the limits specified in subsection (c):
‘‘(1) Social Security, function 650.
‘‘(2) Medicare, function 570.
‘‘(3) Veterans Benefits and Services, function 700.
‘‘(4) Net Interest, function 900.
‘‘(c) LIMITS ON OTHER DIRECT SPENDING.—The total combined outlays for all direct spending not exempted in subsection (b) for fiscal year 2012 shall not exceed $680,730,000,000.’’.
Now, maybe you're left wondering what subsection (c) actually says so you can understand the phrase, *"It shall not be in order in the House of Representatives or the Senate to consider any bill, joint resolution, amendment, or conference report that includes any provision that would cause total direct spending, except as excluded in subsection (b), to exceed the limits specified in subsection (c)."
*Er...human translation required? Okay: The House and Senate can't consider any bill, joint resolution etc. that would cause any spending on anything that wasn't excluded in subsection (c). Or, in other words, they can spend money on the stuff in subsection (c) but everything else is excluded. So here's subsection (c):
‘‘(c) ADJUSTMENTS.—After the reporting of a bill or joint resolution relating to the global war on terrorism described in subsection (d), or the offering of an amendment thereto or the submission of a conference report thereon—
‘‘(1) the chair of the House or Senate Committee on the Budget may adjust the discretionary spending limits provided in this section for purposes of congressional enforcement, the budgetary aggregates in the concurrent resolution on the budget most recently adopted by the Senate and the House of Representatives, and allocations pursuant to section 302(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 23 1974, by the amount of new budget authority in that measure for that purpose and the outlays flowing there from; and
‘‘(2) following any adjustment under paragraph (1), the House or Senate Committee on Appropriations may report appropriately revised sub-allocations pursuant to section 302(b) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to carry out this subsection.
‘‘(d) GLOBAL WAR ON TERRORISM.—If a bill or joint resolution is reported making appropriations for fiscal year 2012 that provides funding for the global war on terrorism, the allowable adjustments provided for in subsection (c) for fiscal year 2012 shall not exceed $126,544,000,000 in budget authority and the outlays flowing there from.
So again, to translate for us mere humans - they can spend money on war and terrorism, but not on:
‘‘(1) Social Security, function 650.
‘‘(2) Medicare, function 570.
‘‘(3) Veterans Benefits and Services, function 700.
‘‘(4) Net Interest, function 900.
And that's just part of the ridiculous Cut-Cap-Balance Plan delivered by the all-mighty and wonderful Tea Party of the House. *rolls eyes* And believe it or not - this plan is now considered TOO soft and the Tea Party wants Boehner to go back to the drawing board and come up with an even harder law. *rolls eyes again*
Right now, I'm scared to death. Obama is refusing to use his powers to raise the debt ceiling, to pay the bills, and that leads me to believe he's going to ultimately give in. So what will that mean to those of us on Medicare, SS and SSD?
For one, I suspect our premium will go up quite a bit in January, 2012, but the actual amount paid to us may go down or, at the very least, stay the same - again, for the 2nd year in a row - even though expenses are going up and up and up. I also suspect other changes will be made to Medicare, with less coverage being the result. Just the threat of all of this resulted in some major changes in Medicare and Medicare Advantage for 2011 from 2010. For instance, Mental Health co-pays went up in many plans, and the amount of $ available for eye exams/lenses/frames went down (for me, it went down by $60!). Many MA plans offer a set amount of free transportation and, in 2011, the trips were cut in half in many plans, mine included - and the same will probably happen again. But do I believe those in the higher income brackets will suffer equally? No way. Besides, they can afford the really GREAT MA plans anyway, and I doubt that they'll pay more for those benefits. :( And if you don't understand what I mean by better MA plans, let me explain.
The higher cost of the plan, the better the health advantages offered to the patients. I'm with MD Care and I pay no premium, no co-pays and tier one drugs are free. BUT, the number of physicians and specialists available are so small that in my case, I can't even see a dermatologist regarding the skin cancer because my plan doesn't have one! Of Primary Care physicians, I've got a choice of three! That's it. Three. And two of those have restrictions and aren't even permitted to treat anyone *alone*!!! In my entire plan, the number of specialists added up to something like ... 12.
And SNF (Skilled Nursing Facilities)? OMG. I checked the ones I'd be eligible for and NOT ONE had a rating above 2 on a scale of 1-5 stars and there were only two in my area and both had either 1 star or 2 out of 5!!! So last night, I spent time looking up other plans after finding several SNF's with ratings of 4 and 5 stars and I wanted to find what plan I'd need to join to get these AND more specialists - but those available with the good SNF's were plans that would cost a fortune:
$50 monthly premiums, $15-$25 co-pays, hospital stays with co-pays no matter how many days you're in, drugs starting at $10 and going up from there (and I take 7 medications daily), mental health co-pays = $50 per visit, and specialists? There were so many pages, I couldn't count them all (and yes, there were dermatologists galore). And Primary Care physicians galore as well.
And speaking of Medicare - has anyone noticed the sudden onslaught of stories about "Medicare Fraud" hitting our news stations? Coincidence? Not hardly. After all, Medicare and SS are prime targets of the Tea Party, so is it a surprise that these stories are cropping up now, while our government is in the middle of a financial debate that could, conceivably, ruin this nation? It's only a surprise if you live in Never-Never Land.
Oh, and what about those who will need SSD come 2012? I suspect the number of NO's will go up higher than now, even with lawyers helping. And so many have no idea what that will mean to the disabled or how long they'll go on while waiting, with no income and thus forced to use their retirement, eventually forced to sell their home, all the while fighting to be accepted on SSD, which already can take a year! But come 2012? I can't even imagine how much longer. After all, it's easier to say no than to actually investigate where reforms are needed (and investigations take MONEY). So instead, it will just be made tougher, all around.
We're in deep shit, so all this was to say: CALL tomorrow and keep on calling and write and/or email/comment NOW, today, and keep CALLING/emailing/commenting until this is settled in a way that saves our programs, keeps the US solvent, taxes those who need to be taxed, and follows Honor, Honesty and Trustworthiness.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—It shall not be in order in the House of Representatives or the Senate to consider any bill, joint resolution, amendment, or conference report that includes any provision that would cause total direct spending, except as excluded in subsection (b), to exceed the limits specified in subsection (c).
‘‘(b) EXEMPT FROM DIRECT SPENDING LIMITS.—
Direct spending for the following functions is exempt from the limits specified in subsection (c):
‘‘(1) Social Security, function 650.
‘‘(2) Medicare, function 570.
‘‘(3) Veterans Benefits and Services, function 700.
‘‘(4) Net Interest, function 900.
‘‘(c) LIMITS ON OTHER DIRECT SPENDING.—The total combined outlays for all direct spending not exempted in subsection (b) for fiscal year 2012 shall not exceed $680,730,000,000.’’.
Now, maybe you're left wondering what subsection (c) actually says so you can understand the phrase, *"It shall not be in order in the House of Representatives or the Senate to consider any bill, joint resolution, amendment, or conference report that includes any provision that would cause total direct spending, except as excluded in subsection (b), to exceed the limits specified in subsection (c)."
*Er...human translation required? Okay: The House and Senate can't consider any bill, joint resolution etc. that would cause any spending on anything that wasn't excluded in subsection (c). Or, in other words, they can spend money on the stuff in subsection (c) but everything else is excluded. So here's subsection (c):
‘‘(c) ADJUSTMENTS.—After the reporting of a bill or joint resolution relating to the global war on terrorism described in subsection (d), or the offering of an amendment thereto or the submission of a conference report thereon—
‘‘(1) the chair of the House or Senate Committee on the Budget may adjust the discretionary spending limits provided in this section for purposes of congressional enforcement, the budgetary aggregates in the concurrent resolution on the budget most recently adopted by the Senate and the House of Representatives, and allocations pursuant to section 302(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 23 1974, by the amount of new budget authority in that measure for that purpose and the outlays flowing there from; and
‘‘(2) following any adjustment under paragraph (1), the House or Senate Committee on Appropriations may report appropriately revised sub-allocations pursuant to section 302(b) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to carry out this subsection.
‘‘(d) GLOBAL WAR ON TERRORISM.—If a bill or joint resolution is reported making appropriations for fiscal year 2012 that provides funding for the global war on terrorism, the allowable adjustments provided for in subsection (c) for fiscal year 2012 shall not exceed $126,544,000,000 in budget authority and the outlays flowing there from.
So again, to translate for us mere humans - they can spend money on war and terrorism, but not on:
‘‘(1) Social Security, function 650.
‘‘(2) Medicare, function 570.
‘‘(3) Veterans Benefits and Services, function 700.
‘‘(4) Net Interest, function 900.
And that's just part of the ridiculous Cut-Cap-Balance Plan delivered by the all-mighty and wonderful Tea Party of the House. *rolls eyes* And believe it or not - this plan is now considered TOO soft and the Tea Party wants Boehner to go back to the drawing board and come up with an even harder law. *rolls eyes again*
Right now, I'm scared to death. Obama is refusing to use his powers to raise the debt ceiling, to pay the bills, and that leads me to believe he's going to ultimately give in. So what will that mean to those of us on Medicare, SS and SSD?
For one, I suspect our premium will go up quite a bit in January, 2012, but the actual amount paid to us may go down or, at the very least, stay the same - again, for the 2nd year in a row - even though expenses are going up and up and up. I also suspect other changes will be made to Medicare, with less coverage being the result. Just the threat of all of this resulted in some major changes in Medicare and Medicare Advantage for 2011 from 2010. For instance, Mental Health co-pays went up in many plans, and the amount of $ available for eye exams/lenses/frames went down (for me, it went down by $60!). Many MA plans offer a set amount of free transportation and, in 2011, the trips were cut in half in many plans, mine included - and the same will probably happen again. But do I believe those in the higher income brackets will suffer equally? No way. Besides, they can afford the really GREAT MA plans anyway, and I doubt that they'll pay more for those benefits. :( And if you don't understand what I mean by better MA plans, let me explain.
The higher cost of the plan, the better the health advantages offered to the patients. I'm with MD Care and I pay no premium, no co-pays and tier one drugs are free. BUT, the number of physicians and specialists available are so small that in my case, I can't even see a dermatologist regarding the skin cancer because my plan doesn't have one! Of Primary Care physicians, I've got a choice of three! That's it. Three. And two of those have restrictions and aren't even permitted to treat anyone *alone*!!! In my entire plan, the number of specialists added up to something like ... 12.
And SNF (Skilled Nursing Facilities)? OMG. I checked the ones I'd be eligible for and NOT ONE had a rating above 2 on a scale of 1-5 stars and there were only two in my area and both had either 1 star or 2 out of 5!!! So last night, I spent time looking up other plans after finding several SNF's with ratings of 4 and 5 stars and I wanted to find what plan I'd need to join to get these AND more specialists - but those available with the good SNF's were plans that would cost a fortune:
$50 monthly premiums, $15-$25 co-pays, hospital stays with co-pays no matter how many days you're in, drugs starting at $10 and going up from there (and I take 7 medications daily), mental health co-pays = $50 per visit, and specialists? There were so many pages, I couldn't count them all (and yes, there were dermatologists galore). And Primary Care physicians galore as well.
And speaking of Medicare - has anyone noticed the sudden onslaught of stories about "Medicare Fraud" hitting our news stations? Coincidence? Not hardly. After all, Medicare and SS are prime targets of the Tea Party, so is it a surprise that these stories are cropping up now, while our government is in the middle of a financial debate that could, conceivably, ruin this nation? It's only a surprise if you live in Never-Never Land.
Oh, and what about those who will need SSD come 2012? I suspect the number of NO's will go up higher than now, even with lawyers helping. And so many have no idea what that will mean to the disabled or how long they'll go on while waiting, with no income and thus forced to use their retirement, eventually forced to sell their home, all the while fighting to be accepted on SSD, which already can take a year! But come 2012? I can't even imagine how much longer. After all, it's easier to say no than to actually investigate where reforms are needed (and investigations take MONEY). So instead, it will just be made tougher, all around.
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