Health Secretary Nominee May Cut Programs (1 day on the job)

[underpants]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=703&e=1&u=/ap/20041214/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_cabinet

WASHINGTON - Michael Leavitt, President Bush (news - web sites)'s choice to be secretary of Health and Human Services (news - web sites), may have to cut billions of dollars from the government's mammoth health programs for the elderly, poor and disabled to pare the budget deficit.

The Medicare and Medicaid programs, consuming nearly $500 billion a year and growing quickly, could be vulnerable in the context of last year's $413 billion budget deficit, the ongoing war in Iraq (news - web sites), costly domestic security commitments and administration plans to revamp Social Security (news - web sites) without raising taxes.

[da_chimperor]

1. Oh well, healthcare is a luxury anyway

:puke:

[Ganja Ninja]

4. We may be sick but at least were safe.

(/sarcasm):hurts:

[da_chimperor]

8. Freedom is on the march! Stop complaining!

yeah . . . right. :eyes:

[radwriter0555]

2. Those pesky seniors, children and disabled are a drain on the war budget

and oil profiteering goals you know.

And since the voters don't really vote anyways, it doesn't matter if the GOPNazis piss off or alienate entire voting blocks anymore, now, does it?

Welcome to Uhmurrikkka Under A Bush.

Gee, what a great place to LIVE!

[Acryliccalico]

3. This is really stupid of them to do.

The cost of these programs is very small. I guess it's OK to take things away from thoes who are the poorest and need the help the most. The richer a few get the more they must have. IMHO The greedier they are the greedier they get. I guess this is a (moral value) thats not important.

[underpants]

5. They are just trying to pit the middle class against the poor

I don't agree with everything Howard Zinn says in "The People's History..." but the overwhelming evidence is that the truly powerful have created a buffer zone for themselves by pitting the whites against the blacks and the middle class against the poor mainly through taxing the middle class to pay for the poor and not the moneyed elite (Middle class: "THEY(the poor) are taking our money")

[Deja Q]

16. And it is impossible to fool all of the people all of the time.

Rest assured, the truly powerfull will ultimately be eating grass sandwiches.

For while they set up this bogus mindset of middle-vs-poor, they are also culling the middle and making them poor.

[EFerrari]

18. I don't understand this because most of that money

goes to their Big Pharma buddies.

Remember, Dean said we pay for universal health care but we don't have it.

So, isn't this move just taking from the rich to give to the rich? God, the states and counties are already shutting down clinics and hospitals left and right.

[sherilocks]

6. What is that $78.20 they will be deducting from my SS check for?

It's a 20% increase over last year. What's that liitle item on everybody's paycheck that deducts for your future Medicare? Are they spending it on the futile war in Iraq or giving it away to the big corporations? Maybe, after one day on the job, Leavitt isn't aware of this yet.

In case anybody thinks $78.20 is cheap, I also have to pay through the nose for a secondary health insurance plan, for all the things that Medicare doesn't cover. And I still have to pay 20% out of pocket for that. I guess I should be grateful that I have health insurance, unlike millions of other Americans without any at all.

Sticking it to the little guy, chimpy and his gang of thieves ride again.

[CountAllVotes]

14. that is all they know how to do ...

stick it to the little guy and walk away with what few bucks they can steal while the rich by themselves a new Lexus or motorhome or wtf ever! :grr:

:kick:

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

7. Stop! Thief!

The Mugging of America, day 1500.

[juslikagrzly]

9. Check out these paragraphs from the AP story---Geesh!

AP story from Tulsa World (reg. requ.)

<snip>Leavitt, Utah's governor for 11 years before joining the administration in late 2003, would succeed Tommy Thompson if confirmed by the Senate.

Before becoming governor, he was chief operating officer of the Leavitt Group, a family insurance firm in which he maintains an investment worth between $5 million and $25 million, according to a financial disclosure report he filed in 2003.

The company owns 100 independent insurance agencies that sell supplemental Medicare policies, among other insurance products, according to company literature.<snip>

[byronm]

11. Thats insane...

But under Bush what else would we expect? He's out to privatize anything and everything he can.. that's the republican way!

[CountAllVotes]

12. conflict of interest!!

They should never allow this man to be confirmed into this position. This is an obvious conflict of interest!

Cut Medicare/Medicaid while he has millions invested in health insurance companies?

Who will stop these people before they completely destroy what is left of America?

I am so depressed! :(

:kick:

[snippy]

15. How very republican. Cut Medicare to help the family business. n/t

[EFerrari]

20. Bilking Medicare is a Bush family pastime

and why Jeb couldn't run sooner. Rolling Stone ran an expose of his involvement with Recaray in Florida who was in the business of overbilling Medicare. He had to flee the country. Jeb just said, "Who knew?" and got away with it.

[Deja Q]

10. You know, fixing the damn PROBLEM would be better:

The HMOs, privatization gone mad, no price controls. You know, common sense shit that the civilized countries of the world practice. Countries like, gadzooks and vapors, CANADA.

Bunch of bloodsucking leaches running this cartoon of a circus we now have to call America.

[Solly Mack]

13. Imagine that

[muriel_volestrangler]

17. Good pickup on the language the 'reporter' uses, underpants

That's a horrifically slanted piece. It reads like an administration press release - 'may have to' ("sorry, we've got no choice"); health programs are 'mammoth', not 'wide-reaching' or 'popular'; they 'consume' (while domestic security is just 'costly' and a 'commitment', and the 'war' doesn't even merit an adjective beyond 'ongoing', despite so many like 'trumped-up', 'illegal', 'incompetent', or 'corrupt' being available); and Social Security is going to be 'revamped' (hey, that must be good, mustn't it? 'Privatized' might not be good, though, so we won't say that, and we'll say 'without raising taxes' rather than 'by increasing the deficit even more').

[EFerrari]

21. Wait - are you suggesting the Free Pass isn't free?!

What do they do all day while they're waiting for the WH faxes?

[Sara Beverley]

25. Wait, are you saying Medicare is a "free pass?"

I want my money back that I paid into the system then.

[EFerrari]

26. Not at all. I don't use the term "free press" any more and

really enjoyed your analysis of the faux news piece.

[underpants]

27. Thanks-aside from them releasing this only one day after his announcement.

The piece itself does seem to come right out of the White House or at least Roger Ailes office.

[Guarionex]

19. what do we expect

he's a Republican.

Being a Republican sould be synonimous with "uncaring excuse for a human being".

[woodsprite]

22. Need a quick answer - Does he have to be confirmed? n/t

[underpants]

23. Yes-n/t

-

[woodsprite]

24. Thanks! Off to write letters n/t

[goforit]

28. Your on your own America.........No more Health programs!!! Zippo!!