But, but, government money should ONLY be spent to help people OVERSEAS and DEFENSE CONTRACTORS!

Government can't do ANYTHING right, except employ me and give my friends and family jobs!

Way to Congress.

Help the American Consumer !

Anita, you mean " Bobbitt" don't you. That's what Dumbass4life is, another victim of Lorraine Bobbitt.

AJ(Baltimore) stop using Logic to explain, Republicans have No Comprehention of Understanding Logic! Just ask Dick in Washington Sate, he'll tell ya!

Yet another legislative victory for the Democrats and the people over the dopes of nope who are doing everything they can to keep the Obama Recovery from working to pull us out of the Bushwhacked Economy the repugnant ones wrecked.  Yet again Nancy Pelosi gets to do her Victory Dance on the heads of the party of sore losers, hah hah!

It's obvious that by giving money to people who don't have enough creates more Demand which helps our businesses recover.  It's way past time to replace the top two tax brackets Ronny Raygunz got rid of to make sure the richest and greediest pay their fair share of taxes again and to help reduce the deficit Clueless George left us.  We need to keep raising taxes on the richest and greediest to start paying down the Reagan, Bush, Bush National Debt.

I wonder what the dopes of nope don't understand about letting the rich and greedy have their tax cut welfare means the rest of us and our children and grandchildren will have to pay more taxes.  So sick to see bleedingheart conservatives whine about raising taxes on the rich and greedy when that means they have to pay more taxes.  Are they a bunch of financial masochists?  Must be.

In Nancy Pelosi We Trust!

Recently I read that 1 billion dollars would cover approximately 250,000 cars.  Adding 2 more billion will bring the total around 750,000 cars. This should be a significant boost to the auto industry.  

Once the money runs out you have to assume car sales will slump. I suspect they will.  Then what???

Why Carlos Watson on MSNBC ROCKS!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/31/mike-pence-caught-making_n_248707.html

Why Carlos Watson on MSNBC ROCKS!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/31/mike-pence-caught-making_n_248707.html

I do have to say, when I first heard of this program I thought WTF! But, it seems like its a win-win...it gets people who were on the fence to buy a car they otherwise would not, it gives the distressed auto companies much needed business, and its a start to getting the most fuel ineffecient cars off the street permanently.  How can anyone have a problem with this, except, to the extent it should apply to purchases of cars/SUVs that get at least 20/25mpg. But, this is a start.

To Alan:
Alan: I am asking you a question with an answer, so chose wisely to respond.

1. The “root of the problem,” to use his language, lies in the way doctors are organized and the way they practice and are paid.

(a). Physicians are in multiple specialities. You cannot regulate how a physicians practiced is organized. That would be socialized medicine. You cannot organize or regulate their payments based on how their practice is organized. That’s socialized medicine. What about their student loans?

2. Doctors are, and should be, the most important factor in determining how clinical resources are used in the diagnosis and treatment of illness and injury.

(b). I agree with you on this. However, a majority of doctors have been forced to game the system by billing for services that their patients din’t require. It is sad but true. There are some physicians that are still in the patient care business, but there are many others that are trying to recoup the losses for their billable charges verses their allowed charges, those charges are passed along to the patient. It’s the insurance companies that are refusing to cover the charges billed by the physicians.

3.Neither insurers nor government administrators can make the medical care decisions in a given case. Only doctors and their patients can do that.

(c). Government doesn’t get between Medicare reimbursement decisions Alan. Administrators don’t make medical care decisions either Alan. Insurance coverage and types of plans do that. An administrator has nothing to do with patient care. That is determined by the physician. The payment of those services are determined by the type of medical plan that the patient has.

Doctors have no control over it as well. They will bill according to services rendered. Most of the time, services are pre-certified prior to treatment anyway. Pre-certification means that the INSURANCE COMPANY gives the approval. Those cards requiring pre-certs are usually coded.

4.The solution to our problem is to cap total national expenditures through an earmarked, graduated health care tax, provide universal coverage on a prepaid basis and encourage physicians to practice in private, not-for-profit multispecialty groups, where they would work for salaries rather than fee-for-service.

(d). This is SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. You wouldn’t find a physician in America that would be practicing either. Do you have any idea how much money goes into the education of a physician? I won’t even THINK about a “medical speciality”, or a “surgeon”. Hell I wouldn’t do it. This is totally unfounded. It takes years for physicians to pay off medical school loans.

Want to know what health care reform is REALLY about?

Read this article about an INSURED woman who incurred a $35,000 bill for a 2 hour procedure for Breast Cancer.

Let me repeat, she was INSURED.

(Warning, this story DOES NOT have a happy ending.)

The pundits want to scare people with talk of "the deficit when the President has said time and again that the plan he signs will be DEFICIT NEUTRAL.

The deficit we need to focus on is the one that INSURED people are stuck with after their insurance company gives them the run around and they have to cope with being SICK and BANKRUPT.

http://lafiga.firedoglake.com/2009/07/30/one-more-reason-why-we-need-health-care-reform/

I challenge everyone here to read this story and then explain to me why the status quo is so great and how very HAPPY everyone who is insured is with their coverage.

I heard the $2B was for administrative costs to implement the first $1B.  Somebody has to process all those lengthy forms and to ensure regulations are met and also to pay for scrapping perfectly good used cars.

What BS. Spend more tax payer money.

This is why our government is not suppose to hold stake in private business. This is not an economy saving program. The government now owns an auto company. This is manipulation of the market.

GET OUR GOVERNMENT OUT OF PRIVATE BUSINESS.

Anita

From what you are saying our whole health care system is predicated on repaying student loans?  

Anyway here we go.  In general this is a long-term objective so the way payments are made could be altered to influence behavior.  There would not be regulation.

On the question of Medicare.  from what I understand Medicare does not require pre-authorization, however, Medicare will refuse treatment after the fact if it decides the procedure was not necessary and the doctor has to eat the cost.  

You seem to think that only Insurance Companies deny treatment.  Do you think a public option plan can be all things to all people?  At some level there must be denial of treatment because it is not cost effective.  Is there any level you think that spending as a nation on healthcare is too much?  At the moment we are spending approximately 18%.  As baby boomers move into medicare this program will bust in around 5 years.  As medical innovation continues the demand for the latest technology and drugs will increase.  I understand at the moment the way doctors are compensated they bill as the do, but in my opinion that is the fundamental change that must be changed.  

To address both issues maybe the government should agree to write off student loans for a a period of time as a salaried employee.  

If the democratically run federal government can't even operate the, "Cash For Clunkers", program correctly. How are they going to run a national health care system? Where did this additional $2 billion come from, thin air?

I guess this is what we would look forward to with a democratic national health care system. Hey, the system is running out of money, that's okay we will just pass another bill to raise taxes even more. Maybe we out to "round up" the amount that Obama's administration believe the cost of the national health care program would cost. I think Mike Pence may be on to something...democratic's plan $100...reality $1 billion

Clunkers is a bad program.

The Air Force One flyover NY was a real bad idea and cost the tax payers $325,000.

The bailouts were a bad idea.

The stimulus was a bad idea because it mostly paid off Obie's supporters. ACORN got 2 million.

Redistribution of wealth is a bad idea and promotes class envy and punishes those who are successful while pandering to those who won't work.

The list is almost endless.

Well, the Clunkers program was so successful it ran out of money on one week. There is a lesson here for all. When stimulus $ are targeted properly, it is indeed a win-win.

By the end of the 3rd quater, the data should be clear enough. Where are you Nopers going to run and hide then?

The President's programs are beginning to work, folks. Unemployment will peak in the next 2 months and then we will see, won't we? :)

Time is NOT on the GOP's side!  

Wow, the koolaid must be free today...

Eric, Salinas, CA (Sent Friday, July 31, 2009 1:44 PM)

giving money to people who don't have enough creates more Demand
(yes giving away money to people who have not earned it, creates more demand FOR FREE MONEY. Only it's not free, someone else EARNED it.)

make sure the richest and greediest pay their fair share of taxes again and to help reduce the deficit Clueless George left us
(The richest pay almost all the taxes already. And their seeming greed is only the desire to hold on to what THEY EARNED. And the deficit has only quadrupled under B. Hussien Obama.)

MORE WAR.
MORE DEFICEIT.
MORE SECRETS.
NO TRANSPARENCY.
NO PLAN FOR SOCIAL SECURITY,
BUT 1 TRILLION A YEAR FOR OBAMACARE?
GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF PRIVATE BUSINESS.
WELFARE STATE FOR ALL.
RACISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE.
WELFARE SCHOOL FOR ALL KIDS.


If this is your HOPE for CHANGE, you got a pig in a poke.

Cat Balou & RH Oregon, you guys are funny!

Sad, but funny.  

People are such sheep...I'm a divorced Dad who has never missed a child support payment. Subsequently, I have absorbed this BS recession in stride - Read: Dads like me are accustomed to going without. Obviously most, if not all of you, don't know that State child support collection and case management budgets are the largest Federally subsidized industries in this country. Calif. alone receives over $980 million Federal Dollars per year for those efforts and has for over thirty-five years; that is your Form 1040 people. I drive a 1990 Acura that still gets well over 20 MPG. But, I also have to add two quarts of oil to it every ten days or so and try and replace things as the fail so that I can get to work and continue to subsidize my ex-wife; my kid gets none of the money I send.
I cannot afford the price of labor to have the main oil seal replaced in my old car, Used Cars aren't eligible for this nincompoop “Cash for Clunker” idea, and I can't afford - nor would I qualify - for a new car loan anyway, even WITH an extra $4,500 in pocket for my old car. Besides, with very few exceptions, Detroit cars are junk and everybody knows it. Its going to take Detroit decades to come back up to the quality that they had prior to emissions controls being implemented in the early 70’s. When was the last time you saw a Chevrolet Corsica on display at a car show? Get real!
And any fool who says the defense industry gets unearned money is as ignorant as those in D.C. - They didn't bail out the aerospace industry in the 90's. Keep plenty of food, water, and ammunition folks; it’s going to get really ugly, really fast!  

Message (please, no HTML tags. Web addresses will be hyperlinked):