Democrats will not face reality

[Wiseacre]

This is my biggest pet peeve for the democrats - they will not even talk about reforming the entitlement programs that everyone knows are on an unsustainable path. These things, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are the largest spending areas in the budget; the trustees, OMB, CBO, everybody says they are growing too large relative to GDP. We simply cannot afford to continue the status quo, and yet for political reasons the democrats adamantly refuse to make any changes. The republicans have at least put forward the Ryan Plan to address the issue; the democrats have done nothing.

This is not the leadership we should be getting from Washington. Problems should be faced and addressed by both sides, deals worked out and compromises made, regardless of the political costs. I wouldn't say the Republicans are blameless in this, and we do have a major difference of opinion over which way to go: gov't centered vs private business. Pretty hard to work out an agreement when each side is diametrically opposed to the other in terms of ideology. In such times, I think you go with what the public wants, both in terms of desired policies and payfors. I would like to see the next president lay it all out to the American people in an unbiased manner - here's the deal, these are the choices, and here's how we can pay for it. Then he should sit down with the leaders in Congress and strike a deal, however onerous it might be to eitherside or both sides. I don't want somebody trying to sell me on what he wants, like a used car salesman trying to unload a lemon. I want the truth with no spin.

In my view it is the democrats who are the most intransigent; they are showing a total unwillingness to offer a plan to deal with these issues. It is political cowardice and a lack of leadership from the top people in their party. I think Obama could've had a deal over the debt ceiling last summer, but he tried to change it to be more in his favor at the end and it all fell apart. A president is supposed to get things done with the opposition party, and he didn't do it.

 

[Full-Auto]

This is my biggest pet peeve for the democrats - they will not even talk about reforming the entitlement programs that everyone knows are on an unsustainable path. These things, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are the largest spending areas in the budget; the trustees, OMB, CBO, everybody says they are growing too large relative to GDP. We simply cannot afford to continue the status quo, and yet for political reasons the democrats adamantly refuse to make any changes. The republicans have at least put forward the Ryan Plan to address the issue; the democrats have done nothing.

This is not the leadership we should be getting from Washington. Problems should be faced and addressed by both sides, deals worked out and compromises made, regardless of the political costs. I wouldn't say the Republicans are blameless in this, and we do have a major difference of opinion over which way to go: gov't centered vs private business. Pretty hard to work out an agreement when each side is diametrically opposed to the other in terms of ideology. In such times, I think you go with what the public wants, both in terms of desired policies and payfors. I would like to see the next president lay it all out to the American people in an unbiased manner - here's the deal, these are the choices, and here's how we can pay for it. Then he should sit down with the leaders in Congress and strike a deal, however onerous it might be to eitherside or both sides. I don't want somebody trying to sell me on what he wants, like a used car salesman trying to unload a lemon. I want the truth with no spin.

In my view it is the democrats who are the most intransigent; they are showing a total unwillingness to offer a plan to deal with these issues. It is political cowardice and a lack of leadership from the top people in their party. I think Obama could've had a deal over the debt ceiling last summer, but he tried to change it to be more in his favor at the end and it all fell apart. A president is supposed to get things done with the opposition party, and he didn't do it.

Articles have already begun to surface about SS going broke, they said not to worry, they could still pay 75% of the promises.

 

[Jackson]

The Democrats are not just ignoring the problem, they are exacerbating the problem with Obama giving illegals amnesty and touting food stamps to people who haven't even thought about receiving them!

 

[bitterlyclingin]

Just continuing the path Teddy Kennedy started America on forty years ago when he got the United States to restrict immigration from the nations that provided most of America's founding stock, and directed the US to encourage immigration from other parts of the world that hopefully would be more amenable and receptive to the poison the Democrats had to sell.
Then in 2008 Americans let go of their grip on reality, went into the voting booth and voted for the head of the Chicago Communist School thinking "How much harm can he do?"
Van Jones, Communist Revolutionary that Obama appointed to be his 'Green Czar' remarked within the last month that "I'm the type of guy you wouldn't want anywhere near the WhiteHouse"
Neither was Obama.

 

[Seawytch]

There has been alternative to Ryan's budget...(and there are no vouchers that will destroy Medicare)

http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=70&sectiontree=5,70

 

[Greenbeard]

The republicans have at least put forward the Ryan Plan to address the issue; the democrats have done nothing.

Medicare reform was proposed, debated, and ultimately passed nearly two and a half years ago. Meanwhile, per capita cost growth in Medicare has slowed to just about the lowest levels ever recorded.

Slower Growth in Medicare Spending — Is This the New Normal? | NEJM

For many years, policymakers have appropriately singled out federal spending on health care — especially Medicare — as the most serious long-term threat to the nation's fiscal health. Over the past four decades, the average growth in Medicare spending per enrollee has exceeded the growth in per capita gross domestic product by 2.6 percentage points per year. This trend is unsustainable: if it continued, Medicare would consume all federal revenues by 2060.

But there are indications that Medicare spending growth has slowed. One highly visible gauge of Medicare spending trends is the standard monthly Part B premium, which is set by the Medicare actuary to cover one quarter of total Part B spending. In August 2011, the actuary projected that the Part B premium for 2012 would be $106.60, but the actual premium was set in November at only $99.90. A much broader indicator of a slowing trend is the fact that growth in Medicare outlays per enrollee in 2010 and 2011 was roughly in line with growth in the economy (see graph). And in January 2012, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) made a $69 billion downward revision to its 10-year Medicare spending projection — a technical correction that reflects emerging data showing surprisingly slow growth in outlays. Similar slowing trends have led to positive earnings surprises for publicly traded insurers.

Medicare spending in surprising slowdown | UPI.com

U.S. Medicare spending growth has slowed even as enrollment rises, and could remain below targets set by Congress for the next 10 years, experts said.

Medicare recorded a sharp drop in the volume of doctor visits and other outpatient services early in 2010, from an annual growth rate of 4 percent growth to less than 2 percent.

"We thought, 'Wow, what's happening?'" chief Medicare actuary Rick Foster told The Washington Post in an interview. "Part B cost growth has slowed down so much, we're seeing virtually the lowest rates ever."

Washington Stuck Fighting Wrong Health-Care Battle | Bloomberg

This brings us back to the progress being made beyond the Beltway toward a better combination of cost and quality in health care. Consistent with other evidence that points to a deceleration in cost pressures is a Congressional Budget Office report earlier this month showing that Medicare spending has risen less than 3 percent over the past year.

Bending The Health Care Cost Curve: More Than Meets The Eye? | Health Affairs Blog

During the past months, a number of important articles have appeared in the healthcare literature on the subject of the recent slowing of health-spending growth in the U.S. In an article in January’s Health Affairs, economists at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services suggest that the recession, even though officially ending in mid-2009, was the major factor in “extraordinarily slow” spending growth of 4.7 percent in 2008 and 3.9 percent in 2010, down from 7.5 percent in 2007 and double-digit growth in the 1980s and 1990s. Also citing recessionary causes, a report from the McKinsey Center for U.S. Health System Reform specifies declines in the rate of overall spending growth for eight consecutive years, from 9.2 percent in 2002 to 4.0 percent in 2009.

The purpose of this commentary is to suggest—through observations and data analyses—that independent of the recession, other fundamental and structural changes are likely contributing to the flattening of the cost curve, and further, that these changes have the potential to significantly alter the curve’s path into the future. Two independent analyses support this premise.