I Hate To Get Into Politics, But...

[Kung Wu]

Is Dr. Watson up in Park City still doing $50 for 5 mins with the Dr.?

Took my wife to get a spider bite looked at. $184. A P.A. spent 3 mins with her. When paying at exit, I asked how much more was it to see the DR. No answer.

They charged you a rate of $3680/hr to see the PA? I think I would have pressed them on that.

[Aargh]

Unfortunately, I have a lot of experience with a lot of different doctors. In cancer treatment I found two types of physicians 1) Those who cared about my condition, pain and suffering levels, and outcome; and 2) Those who seemed hell-bent on billing everything possible before I died.

When medicine became a corporate business driven by profit margins, billable hours, production quotas for doctors, etc. the corporate well-being is sometimes given a higher priority than the patient's well-being. That fits well into a capitalist economy, but a capitalist economy is based on supply and demand factors and informed buyers. You get an estimate before you get work done on your car, but not on your body.

My main point in opening this subject is the inequities in the current system. The Federal system would have me paying $24 a month for my wife's insurance if I were earning between $15.5K and $38K a year. If I'm earning between $30 and 38K a year, I'm golden. I don't need any assistance paying for anything. I've got disposable income AFTER I pay for health insurance. But, the Federal government will give me a subsidy of OVER $400 a month for insurance coverage.

However, if a family of 2 has income of less than $15.5K a year, there is no government assistance for medical insurance.

Both I and my wife can work and are willing and able to work. My wife's last job was the manager of a computer department at local bank. Her job moved to Kansaas City in 2000. There are few (if any) opportunities in her area of expertise. There are few who will hire someone with her credntials (t her age) at a lower position. If anyone here knows of someone who want to hire a 60-year-old woman who's expertise is in processing banking transactions, pleas let me know.

The opportunities for employment at our ages is minimum wage at businesses that do not provide insurance coverage. We could both go to work for Wal-Mart. Then we would qualify for government assistance for almost everything. Subsidized medical insurance, subsidized groceries, subsidized housing. I've read reports (that I "sort of" believe) that the average Wal-Mart employee qualifies for about $5,800 of government assistance a year.

Right now the government is subsidizing the Walton family and the shareholders in Wal-Mart to the tune of $5,800 a year per employee. I hear the "get government out of our lives" people chiming in on why I shouldn't be bothered by my situation, but I don't hear any of them complaining about why the government is subsidizing Wal-Mart.

[shocka khan]

I think the biggest shame in this whole discussion and where Aargh is right on the mark is the fact that the republican party, at least the one of Reagan, used to offer us ideas and solutions.

Now, they can only say 'no'.

FYI, a lot of your tax money goes to subsidize lifestyles of the rich and famous, for instance the Walton family. New Walmart employees are given instructions and help for applying for food stamps, AFDC and more, and the taxpayers pay for that while the wealthy Waltons line their pockets. The republican party of today seems to think that corporate welfare is peachy-keen and a safety net for the poor is for worthless spongers.

[wu_shizzle]

I think the biggest shame in this whole discussion and where Aargh is right on the mark is the fact that the republican party, at least the one of Reagan, used to offer us ideas and solutions.

Now, they can only say 'no'.

FYI, a lot of your tax money goes to subsidize lifestyles of the rich and famous, for instance the Walton family. New Walmart employees are given instructions and help for applying for food stamps, AFDC and more, and the taxpayers pay for that while the wealthy Waltons line their pockets. The republican party of today seems to think that corporate welfare is peachy-keen and a safety net for the poor is for worthless spongers.

You need to pick a meme and stick with it. Either the Republicans are the party of "No" (Free market will handle problems) or Corporatism (We want to distribute the money to our friends) because I doubt they're both.

I see the solution you're looking for is wealth redistribution and I can't go there. I don't feel I or anyone else has the right to take large percentages of personal property for the "common good".

[WuDrWu]

I think the biggest shame in this whole discussion and where Aargh is right on the mark is the fact that the republican party, at least the one of Reagan, used to offer us ideas and solutions.

Now, they can only say 'no'.

FYI, a lot of your tax money goes to subsidize lifestyles of the rich and famous, for instance the Walton family. New Walmart employees are given instructions and help for applying for food stamps, AFDC and more, and the taxpayers pay for that while the wealthy Waltons line their pockets. The republican party of today seems to think that corporate welfare is peachy-keen and a safety net for the poor is for worthless spongers.

All I can say is wow. That is shotgunning the left koolaid if I've ever seen it. Please, please, please do everyone, but especially yourself, a favor and educate yourself on who REALLY pays the lion's share of the taxes in this country.

[SB Shock]

All I can say is wow. That is shotgunning the left koolaid if I've ever seen it. Please, please, please do everyone, but especially yourself, a favor and educate yourself on who REALLY pays the lion's share of the taxes in this country.

Wow is not even a word for it, I'm just amazed.

[SB Shock]

I will determine whether to continue MY health insurance through a COBRA policy or let the US Government take care of me through the VA

If you are going to go the VA route, get started early and get fully in the system before you need it, because if you aren't in their system when you need it your are not getting any assistance. We tried to get help for my Dad (WW2 vet) as he was dying last year with cancer and they made it impossible with their bureaucracy.

[shocka khan]

Dr wu.....

I see you're getting butthurt because you don't want your standard of living lowered. Typical response from a doctor....,by the, where were you when the rest of us were watching our standard of living erode away slowly. Yup, it's only a bad thing when your pocket gets picked. Not so much for the other guy.

If you haven't noticed lately, the entire standard of living for this country has been going down the last 20 years. It's just catching up to the medical community now.

Canada's middle class has already passed us, Europe, specifically Belgium, but also Germany, are poised to pass us.

Maybe you should have learned more in your history classes about great civilizations that went downhill after the middle class was systematically killed off.......

[pinstripers]

power to the people

[shocka khan]

Swizzle:

Who said I was drinking left-wing kool aid?

Why as recently as Sunday, I believe I saw Bill Kristol, who would never be confused for a koolaide drinker, saying we have a problem with income redistribution.

And of course myopic Ayn Rand followers (you do know that she was an illegal alien who overstayed her visa, didn't you?) will continue to drone on about corporate tax reforms, the biggest one of which will allow our large multi-national corporations to repatriate overseas profits back to this country without consciously thinking about it.

Just so you know, the last time our country did this, the result was an even larger number of jobs transferred to India and China.

I have a great deal if respect for independent business owners who work hard and play by the rules. I may not always agree with them, but I don't have their entrepreneurial spirit, either. What I don't respect is anyone who seems to think that Paris Hilton and her clan are entitled to their money while you continue to advocate policies on their behalf that benefit them while sucking me dry.

What did Paris Hilton do besides inherit a bunch of money and star in reality TV? She never had an original idea, met a payroll or invented anything .

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

A big reason why other middle classes have gone up and ours down is due to the rapid disappearance of manufacturing jobs. What used to drive our society is now the driving force for other countries. And we willingly watch them leave while paying $.50 less for a t-shirt. As we become more service oriented, people are willing to do without and it is a downward spiral.

And SAMs/Walmart are almost single handedly responsible for the ghost towns that were once great small towns. Walmart is given millions in tax breaks to bring "500 jobs", but these cost the town $100 jobs at other independent owned stores pumped lots more into the local economy.

There is plenty of blame to go around, and I am sick of hearing the blame of who's fault it is we are in the toilet. The fact is we are about to be flushed, and NO ONE has a plan to get us out of there.

It starts by putting people back to work. You want help? We have a crumbling infrastructure, grab a shovel, and let's get to work. Put the free market in charge of healthcare. Remove car and health insurance regulations, and let it work. Ever asked what the price difference in car repair is if filing insurance claim? How about healthcare? These are two of the biggest cases of price gouging ever, and the main reason is a lady can sue a doctor for millions because she did heroin while pregnant, which leads to he son dying, and win. Make people responsible for their own actions, and let's get to work.

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

What did Paris Hilton do besides inherit a bunch of money and star in reality TV? She never had an original idea, met a payroll or invented anything .

Are you arguing that she should be in the same situation as you? Waiting for your original idea, meeting a payroll, or inventing something.

Your own argument suggests you are where you deserve to be, and don't deserve anything else.

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

Also, for those complaining about tax loopholes. Keep in mind how much money lands in charities due to these. I read somewhere not to long ago, that removing these will cost charities 0.50 on the dollar even if the government took every penny itself and redistributed to the charities directly.

The government and huge corporations have too much money and too much power. But we have shown that we refuse to change either as we want our "parachutes" of money compounded in the stock market for our retirement and social security that is the third biggest fraud ever committed, drained by congress (both parties) embezzling this money to pay other bills and vote themselves raises.

[shocka khan]

DSB:

One of my best friend's sons never attended college. Not a minute. He made over 2 million dollars last year and paid over $700K in taxes.

He made a 30K contribution to the Star of Hope I Houston last year. He could not deduct it on his taxes because he would have had to have 50K in total contributions.

The fact that you are ignorant of tax law suggests to me that you are in the same place as I am and I hope to God you didn't specialize in tax if you got your degree in accounting.

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

DSB:

One of my best friend's sons never attended college. Not a minute. He made over 2 million dollars last year and paid over $700K in taxes.

He made a 30K contribution to the Star of Hope I Houston last year. He could not deduct it on his taxes because he would have had to have 50K in total contributions.

The fact that you are ignorant of tax law suggests to me that you are in the same place as I am and I hope to God you didn't specialize in tax if you got your degree in accounting.

Sounds to me like he should have gone to college, or at least studied in high school. He would have then known that spending 20k more could have saved him 50k.