Paul Ryan's 'unfortunate' poverty report. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has been pretty aggressive in recent months about leaking word of his recent policy focus on poverty.
The far-right congressman has periodically let major news outlets know he now hopes to “help” those who would suffer most under his own budget plan: low-income families. Extreme Makeover: Paul Ryan Wants You To Believe He Will Help The Poor. His First 4 Sentences Are Interesting. The 5th Blew My Mind. And Made Me A Little Sick. 7 Things Every Medicare Beneficiary Needs to Know About Obamacare – MedicareWire.
Obamacare open enrollment starts on 1 October, and it’s confusing the heck out of millions of seniors.
In today’s blog post, I’d like to clear up a bunch of misconceptions seniors have about Obamacare and how it affects their Medicare. The most frequent question I get is “If I have Medicare, do I have to buy Obamacare health insurance?” The answer is no. The reason is quite simple. If you have Medicare, you already have qualifying health insurance.
Read This Before You Believe The Obamacare Premium Spike Hysteria. By Igor Volsky "Read This Before You Believe The Obamacare Premium Spike Hysteria" CREDIT: Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters While some states are reporting lower than expected health care premiums in the exchanges established by the Affordable Care Act, a growing number of Republican-controlled states — like South Carolina, Ohio, Indiana, Florida and Georgia — are garnering screaming headlines about huge premium spikes under the law.
Calculating premium rates is a complicated and tedious task that will vary greatly among states and is open to interpretation and manipulation by both supporters and opponents of President Obama’s health care law. 'The American people should be outraged' When federal policymakers start with a bizarre premise – low-income Americans simply aren’t suffering enough – it’s truly amazing to see where they end up.
A plan by House leaders to cut $40 billion from the food stamp program – twice the amount of cuts proposed in a House bill that failed in June – threatens to derail efforts by the House and Senate to work together to complete a farm bill before agriculture programs expire on Sept. 30.The bill that would double cuts previously sought by House Republicans was announced Thursday by Representative Frank D. Lucas, Republican of Oklahoma and chairman of House Agriculture Committee, during a lunch with lobbyists, and first reported by Reuters. About a month ago, after the Senate approved a bipartisan farm bill rather easily, the House pushed its own right-wing version, which was almost laughably extreme. Obamacare works where state officials want it to work. An important “Obamacare” pattern is emerging and the political impact should prove to be fascinating in the coming months.
Maryland insurance officials approved final rates Friday for health plans to be sold in the online marketplace for individuals beginning Oct. 1. An Affordable Care Act report card, three years in. The Sunday New York Time's editorial page celebrated the third anniversary of the Affordable Care Act by detailing some of its achievements, even ahead of its full implementation next year.
Beyond that, as the editorial notes, the annual growth of health care expenses has declined sharply, both in private care and Medicare. But the focus on quality of care seems to be working. "The percentage of Medicare patients requiring readmission to the hospital within 30 days of discharge dropped from an average of 19 percent over the past five years to 17.8 percent in the last half of 2012. " Social Security Tax For 2013. The Social Security tax for 2013 reverts back to its normal rates.
The tax rate for 2013 is: Employee-portion: 6.2% of wage earnings, up to the maximum wage base of $113,700; Employer-portion: 6.2% of wage earnings, up to the maximum wage base of $113,700; Self-employed persons: 12.4% of net self-employment income, up to $113,700. The Social Security tax rate had been temporarily reduced for the years 2011 and 2012, in what was referred to as a payroll tax holiday.
Mooching Off Medicaid. Robert Reich: The Hoax of Entitlement Reform. It has become accepted economic wisdom, uttered with deadpan certainty by policy pundits and budget scolds on both sides of the aisle, that the only way to get control over America's looming deficits is to "reform entitlements.
" But the accepted wisdom is wrong. Start with the statistics Republicans trot out at the slightest provocation -- federal budget data showing a huge spike in direct payments to individuals since the start of 2009, shooting up by almost $600 billion, a 32 percent increase. And Census data showing 49 percent of Americans living in homes where at least one person is collecting a federal benefit -- food stamps, unemployment insurance, worker's compensation, or subsidized housing -- up from 44 percent in 2008. But these expenditures aren't driving the federal budget deficit in future years. Trusting The Fund: A Citizen's Guide To Social Security's Trust Fund. Just as a smothering fog obscures the landscape, discussions of Social Security are inevitably enshrouded in impenetrable mythology, misunderstanding, and misinformation.
