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House Progressives Release Their Own Budget

Ends Bush tax cuts, adds public health care option

(Newser) - As the budget debate continues, the House Progressive Caucus has released a plan of its own—and it's all about taxes. Their proposal would end the Bush tax cuts, add new tax brackets for millionaires, and raise corporate taxes. It would also add a public option to health care...

No One's Being Honest About the Budget

Both parties' fixes amount to 'wishful thinking': Robert Samuelson

(Newser) - Republicans and Democrats both claim to have a plan to fix the budget, but neither party is offering a realistic approach. It’s time for Dems to admit that “spending control requires genuine cuts in Social Security and Medicare”—and it’s time for the GOP to recognize...

Paul Ryan's Budget Plan Is 'Cruel'—or Maybe Brilliant: Paul Krugman vs. Charles Krauthammer
 Paul Ryan's Plan Is 'Cruel' 
 —or Maybe Brilliant 
krugman vs. krauthammer
Apr 8, 2011 12:11 PM CDT

Paul Ryan's Plan Is 'Cruel' —or Maybe Brilliant

Krugman and Krauthammer weigh in on GOP budget plan

(Newser) - The battle lines around Paul Ryan's budget plan are pretty well laid today in columns from Paul Krugman, who calls it both "ludicrous" and "cruel," and Charles Krauthammer, who sees it as "brave and profoundly forward-looking." Excerpts:
  • Krugman, New York Times : For starters, it relies
...

Ryan's Medicare Plan Screws the Young
 Ryan's Medicare 
 Plan Screws the Young 
OPINION
Apr 6, 2011 12:47 PM CDT

Ryan's Medicare Plan Screws the Young

Current program a giant 'welfare' program for boomers

(Newser) - Paul Ryan’s ambitious Medicare overhaul proposal might be a good idea, if not for one glaring flaw: “It asks for a whole lot of sacrifice from everyone under the age of 55 and little from everyone 55 and over,” complains David Leonhardt of the New York Times...

OK, Obama: This Is Your 'Moment of Truth'

 OK, Obama: 
 This Is Your 
 'Moment of 
 Truth' 
Brooks, Maddow
Apr 5, 2011 12:25 PM CDT

OK, Obama: This Is Your 'Moment of Truth'

Paul Ryan's budget plan raises big questions: David Brooks, Rachel Maddow

(Newser) - However you feel about Paul Ryan's controversial budget plan to drastically cut government spending and redefine Medicare and Medicaid, it's clear this is not your usual dry debate about numbers:
  • David Brooks, New York Times : Brooks praises Ryan's political courage and says he's stepping to the "vacuum created by
...

New GOP Budget Would Cut $4T

Plan would drastically slash Medicare

(Newser) - In an attempt to reframe the budget debate, Republicans are proposing a 2012 budget that features $4 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade—and would end Medicare as we know it, reports the Wall Street Journal . Democrats won’t likely support the 2012 plan, helmed by House Budget...

Dems to Offer GOP Another $20B in Spending Cuts

...bringing total to $30B, which may not satisfy Republicans

(Newser) - With the threat of a government shutdown less than two weeks away, all eyes are on the budget. The White House and congressional Democrats are working on a proposal to cut another $20 billion in spending, insiders tell the Wall Street Journal . It’s the biggest cut the administration and...

Medicare Forked Over $3.1M for Viagra for Seniors

Software error blamed in erectile-dysfunction error

(Newser) - Medicare improperly used around $3.1 million in taxpayer funds to give senior citizens free Viagra, something that's supposed to be against the law, government investigators revealed today. As an erectile-dysfunction drug, Viagra is hardly essential medication, and Medicare "should not have covered these drugs," said George Reeb,...

One-Third of US Wages? Government Handouts

Social welfare benefits make up 35% of wages and salaries

(Newser) - More than a third of the total wages and salaries in the US is made up of government payouts, CNBC reports. Social welfare benefits including Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance account for 35% of wages and salaries—a record figure that is up from 21% in 2000 and 10%...

America's Young Should Be Mad, Too
 America's Young 
 Should Be Mad, Too 
Fareed Zakaria
Mar 7, 2011 1:18 PM CST

America's Young Should Be Mad, Too

Our leaders aren't focused on investing in the future

(Newser) - Fareed Zakaria sees a lesson for America in the youth-driven revolts sweeping the Middle East. No, America’s democracy is nothing like a Middle Eastern dictatorship. “But if the troubles of Arab youth make us shine a light on the state of America’s youth, the picture that emerges...

Boehner: We Will Cut Social Security, Medicare

'Most Americans don't have a clue' about the problem, says Speaker

(Newser) - John Boehner wants cuts to Social Security and Medicare in next year's fiscal budget, even if voters may not like it, he tells the Wall Street Journal in an interview. “Most Americans don't have a clue” about “how big the problem is,” and it’s time for...

Almost 10% of Medicare Payments Improper

But it's hard to tell how much of that is fraud

(Newser) - The federal government lost around $48 billion to fraudulent and improper Medicare claims last year—which made up nearly 10% of all payments the program doled out, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. And even that figure might be on the low side, because it doesn’...

Old People Rule America
 Old People Rule America 
Robert Samuelson
Feb 21, 2011 8:50 AM CST

Old People Rule America

Budget shows that AARP has all the power

(Newser) - The unspoken question looming over Washington’s budget battle isn’t how much discretionary spending tol cut; it’s “whether our elected politicians will take back government from AARP,” writes Robert Samuelson of the Washington Post . Both parties obviously quake in fear of the senior citizens’ lobby, unwilling...

Feds Nail Biggest-Ever Medicare Scam

More than 100 arrested in fraud sting

(Newser) - Federal agents swooped on health care facilities in nine states yesterday, arresting doctors, nurses, therapists, and health care executives accused of carrying out the biggest Medicare fraud ever seen. More than 100 people were involved in the scam, which bilked taxpayers out of up to $200 million by billing for...

House GOP Eyes Medicare Privatization

Voucher plan would apply to those 54 and under

(Newser) - House Republicans slammed Democrats for making cuts to Medicare, but now the GOP is mulling a renewed effort to privatize the program, the AP reports. House budget leader Paul Ryan is assessing support for his voucher-based system, in which the government would give seniors a fixed payment; they’d then...

Small Pharmacy Makes Millions Fighting Fraud

Ven-A-Care exposes drug companies that overcharge Medicare

(Newser) - Ven-A-Care started out as a small pharmacy supplying intravenous drugs for AIDS and cancer patients, but these days it doesn’t make its money off drugs—at least, not the ones it sells. Instead, it’s pulled in $380 million since 2000 by acting as a professional whistleblower, suing drug...

Poll: Majority Want Action on Deficit Now

Public wants spending cuts ... just not to Medicare or Social Security

(Newser) - Some 56% of Americans want the massive federal budget deficit dealt with now instead of when the economy improves, according to a New York Times / CBS poll, and 62% say they would prefer the deficit be addressed through spending cuts, rather than higher taxes. That preference, however, changed when...

Dems Quickly Pull Plug on 'Death Panels'

White House reverses course, deletes references to counseling

(Newser) - The end-of-life counseling derided as "death panels" that was originally part of health care reform, then taken out, then put back in , is back out again. For now. The Obama administration has reversed itself and removed references to the counseling from new Medicare regulations that quietly went into effect...

Major Health Care Reforms Kick in
Major Health Care
Reforms Kick in
Jan 1, 2011 10:34 AM CST

Major Health Care Reforms Kick in

Insurers now required to spend 80% of premiums on customers

(Newser) - A rule requiring health insurers to spend at least 80% of premiums on customers and a $2.5 billion tax on drug makers are among the health care reform provisions taking effect today. The new rules also plug the "doughnut hole" in Medicare drug benefits and provide free preventive...

'Death Panels' Return: Obama Enacts End-of-Life Planning

Obama to add end-of-life planning to Medicare

(Newser) - Sarah Palin's "death panels" are back. The brouhaha surrounding end-of-life counseling forced Democrats to cut it from health care reform, but now President Obama is quietly adding the same policy to Medicare by rewriting regulations, reports the New York Times . Under the new policy, beginning Jan. 1 the government...

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