The Public Is Obtuse On Medicare Spending, While Conservative ‘Leaders’ Bank On This Ignorance

There are conservatives who believe government is incapable of doing anything meaningful. They believe the only true purpose of government is national security. And these conservatives believe programs like Medicare are saddled with massive fraud and waste. And there are conservatives who are on Medicare that hold these beliefs while gobbling up more Medicare services than they paid for. But because they are conservatives, that means they abhor welfare, and would never be caught getting a free handout. And they believe this of themselves because they are ignorant to the fact that Medicare pays $3 in benefits for every $1 it takes in.

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Obamacare: Why Free Market Health Care Is Not The Answer

Just hours after mildly defending Obamacare, which was mostly a rebuke of Republican obsession with Obamacare repeal, I will now tell you why free market health care is not the answer. And yes, Obamcare is a capitalist solution to universal health care. Don’t get me wrong, the Affordable Care Act has great protections and benefits for people — rebates when health care insurers do not spend at least 80% on medical services, no denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions, and no more lifetime caps on health care expenditures. And tens of millions more Americans will have a chance to access more affordable health care when health care exchanges start going online next year.

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Obamacare Won’t Kill Grandma, But Republicans Still Want To Repeal It

Before I talk about Obamacare and irrational Republicans, I have to remind everyone that we need to fight back against the false narrative that says both sides are the same. Right now in Washington, Republicans are not about governing. They aren’t about solutions. They aren’t about helping people, especially minorities of any group. Both sides might cater to their special interests and both sides might feed at the trough of big business, but both sides DO NOT have the same philosophy when it comes to governing and looking out for the disenfranchised.

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Chart: Medicare Insolvency Projections 1980 to 2013

Every year we find out the long-term insolvency projection from the Medicare Trustees, and every year we hear calls from Republicans for major changes and cuts to Medicare in response. So this week we find out that the insolvency projection has been expanded by 2 years to 2026. That’s 13 years until insolvency. That sounds bad right? Well it’s not. The historic average Medicare insolvency projection since 1980 is over 12 years. It’s been as low as 4 years and as high as 28 years during that span. So with the latest report from the Medicare Trustees, we find out the sky is not falling because the program’s insolvency projection is sitting right at it’s 30-year average.

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A Liberal Case For No Compromise In Washington

Washington D.C. - photo by Patrick NouhaillerNumerous articles on this blog have critiqued Republicans’ unwillingness to compromise. I’ve mentioned that House Speaker John Boehner doesn’t even like the word compromise. So you would think that I believe compromise is a good thing in Washington. Well, if we were dealing with two political parties that gravitated towards the center of the political spectrum, one being center-left, the other being center-right, then sure, compromise is a good thing. That’s not the make-up of Washington D.C. at the moment.

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FBI Raids The Scooter Store

So you’re telling me The Scooter Store, the company advertising free scooters for everyone, was committing fraud? Say it ain’t so! — I always thought the promises in those commercials were suspect. Now we know why.

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9 Reasons To Hate Big Government

Do you hate big government? Does waste and corruption disgust you? Do you loathe incompetence? Do you display a general disdain for those public sector scumbags? Well sit back and absorb these 9 reasons to hate big government.

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