Basically, if there is no cost of living adjustment then the people who are currently on SS don't have to pay the increase in premium making all of the increase in cost to be borne by the rest of the recipients meaning that those people got a massive premium increase. Apparently that is somehow being cut for those people.

states where they don't get SS will be paying more than those who receive SS benefits? We had no choice in the matter. A few years ago when Medicare was $94.90 and was taken out of the SS checks, those of us who didn't get SS had to pay $115.90 per month. This looks like the same thing again. So unfair.

the increases for certain groups.

I've been researching as I'm going to be 65 and am going off the supplemental I've had while on disabiity (being gouged bigtime for years) and going onto a regular people's supplement during open enrollment!

Along the way I found the info on the Medicare premium increases...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/advisor/2015/10/15/rising-medicare-premiums-will-you-pay-more-in-2016/


"Get ready to pay higher premiums in 2016 if you fall into one of these groups: those who enroll in Medicare for the first time in 2016; those who don’t receive a Social Security benefit at age 65 or who pay their Medicare premiums directly rather than having them deducted from their Social Security payment; and those who are already paying a higher premium because of higher income. AARP provides a good analysis of who will have to pay the higher premiums in their article: Some Medicare Premiums Could Spike.

The premium increase also applies to those who are dual Medicare and Medicaid recipients and whose premiums are paid by state Medicaid programs. However, in this case the state will have to pay the increased premiums not the recipient."

A few days ago, Ron Wyden and another Dem introduced a bill to cancel these provisions, but who knows what will happen to it...

http://www.cahealthadvocates.org/news/basics/2015/will-part-b-prem-deductable-increase.html

In response to advocacy from many beneficiary organizations, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced the “Protecting Medicare Beneficiaries Act of 2015” (S.2148) and Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) introduced the “Medicare Premium Fairness Act” (H.R.3693) in early October 2015. The bills would hold the Part B premium stable at $104.90 for the 30% of beneficiaries who would otherwise have to pay $159.30 monthly, and would maintain the annual deductible at $147 for all beneficiaries.

that is helpful

And then go back to "normal" but this was in July and he was urging clients to contact their reps.

And IMMEDIATELY start putting it into campaign ads against every Republican who wants a default rather than simply raise the debt ceiling.

Why the Hell should we WANT to give Ryan a 'clean start as speaker' or let Republicans pretend they can govern effectively?

I think Bonner is doing the People & the President a big favor by getting a long agreement on the budget as he's leaving the House. He will gt lots of Dems & some Pubs to vote yes and not care about the "Freedom Caucus" throwing their constant hissy fits and threatening to throw him out of offiice...he's already leaving! Being brand new to the position, who knows what Ryan would do nor how much of grief the 40 idiots would give him. I'm glad John decided to do this before departing. I was actually hoping he would do the same with several other bills that have been tabled because of the Freecas (freedom caucus) tantrums!

of it means we pass the budget and end the sequestration?

"adjustments" anot major changes. My source is Norm Goldman on his show today. Seems that falls into the category of "each side loses something and gains something" in any negotiated agreement. Sorry I haven't done any research on just what the adjustments are. The only thing I did read was that this budged would eliminate to need for higher medicare premiums that were to happen as of January 2016.

the people who will be signing up for Medicare now and in the future that will pay more. I don't even know what to say to the fact that you are saying that these changes are minor. That is so sad. First of all people pay into SSDI and Medicare with their paychecks. It is their money. Secondly, it is these so called minor cuts that will the the death by a thousand cuts to our social programs. They will cut these programs every single time it is time to negotiate a budget deal and the fact that we are taking money away from disabled people in order to increase military spending is disgusting. This just cannot be the Democratic Party. Where is the Democratic Party? There is nothing left. If the Democratic Party cannot even defend SS then what is left of the party? I cannot tell you how both sad and infuriated this makes me. After I cast my vote for Bernie I may never vote for another Democrat again.

part of this budget. He didn't say what the new adj's were biut that's not one of them.

it is not accurate. Seniors and the disabled all over this country who have to chose between medication and paying a heating bill know that the cost of living is too high.

Wage Earners and Clerical workers. Bernie Sanders said it should be calculated using the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly. I'm scratching my head over why seniors and the disabled would be considered workers.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/social-security-cola_561fcbcee4b0c5a1ce624d1f

this is what the Wyden bill and the one in the House is supposed to restore to new enrollees..

to Heritage.org, which explains all about this new "flat benefit" plan for SSDI.

All it is, is a plan to go flat tax for everyone...nobody pays more and nobody gets more because they earn more. Everyone gets to live at poverty level. Yay!

check out my two posts in this thread (now three?) that indicate some of the things we are not supposed to worry about.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=7290932

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=7291088

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2015/10/improving-social-security-disability-insurance-with-a-flat-benefit

Read it and weep. If they tried to pull this when I was applying for disability, I would now be homeless or dead. And I'm not kidding.

BIG problem.

This action is why many of us are trying to get the old FDR values back. Hillary tells us she will fight for Social Security. Okay - all of it or just the part that deals with the elderly? Once again it is the poor and disabled who are going to get screwed. That is not one of our Democratic values.

But who cares - we will keep the government open and save the Rs ass once again.

For years now, the standard has been, 'the people get keep something they already have for a little while longer, in exchange for giving the 1% something permanent".

Enshrine tax cuts for the rich in exchange for six month of unemployment benefits. Take cuts to social programs 'in exchange' for the continuance of basic government functions. The scam couldn't be much more blatant.

You should try it sometime.

on the poor by this deal outweighs any short term pain a shutdown would inflict. We need to quit governing the country the same way publicly traded businesses are run. Quit focusing on 'this quarter', and instead focus on the results of our legislation over decades. If we have to take short term pain to avoid longer term, more damaging pain, then we need to take the pain now, rather than screw people over for decades to come.

I would not want to let the country burn out of spite.

Not only that, Republicans are Teflon people. They blow everything up ending in a massive fiasco, and all the mess that splatters ends up in the Democrat's faces. Even if they are clearly at fault, it ends up being the fault of both any way.

I can't... I am sorry, I can't agree with that sentiment.

term reprieve. The politicians who are happy about this deal tell me enough to know that they, having scrutinized the details, feel that it screws over poor people far more to do the deal than not to do it.

So my sentiment is exactly the opposite. DON'T sign on to burning the country simply to avoid a shorter, sharper pain.

I can agree with that point. I just didn't get that from the way you said it.
My apologies.

I actually do think it is better to stand firm on this point. I was still very much upset with Obama during his deal with the Republicans around 2010. I feel like that really hurt the Democrats and depressed turn out for the incoming elections.

... and not the fascade that just uses that party's name to hide its corporatist BS that it is pushing on us like this crap and the TPP/TPA shit earlier.

The MSM seems determined to see the Obamlicans replaced by the Hillarians, who have the same goals.

Fuck that!

And a Democrat.
So the same script will play out... the GOP will call her a socialist while she enacts right wing polices and democrats will wind up supporting them.

They sure know how to play us.

I refuse to play that game anymore.

I bought into the "Hope and Change" crap only to find I ended up supporting a moderate Republican, I went along (again) in 2012 just to keep Romney and Ryan (especially Ryan) out of power.

Thats it, no more letting them lie to me for my vote.

Except I actually believed that Obama when he had his second term would actually do something liberal...but no sooner than the election was over he came out with the CPI talk and I knew I had been had again.

Yep, that was the one straw too many for me as well.

I refuse to support another Neo-Liberal in Hillary, no way, no how.

29 minutes ago


http://news.yahoo.com/speaker-boehner-pushes-budget-deal-leaving-house-160804630--finance.html


FUCK!

understated that fact and should have characterize himself a RayGun republicon because that is what he has proven to be. The 2008 & 2010 elections turned out to be the lesser of two evil republicons, IMO.

Hillary has pledged to carry on Obama's legacy. Think about that. Think about betrayal (the following is my list of betrayals that I share with you):

*Heritage Foundation health insurance for and by insurance companies (with $11,500 deductibles for the poor and economically strapped)
*Guantanamo remaining open
*Continuing war in Afghanistan
*Lack of effective followup to the Arab Spring uprisings to help those countries achieve peace and stability
*Armed interventions in 53 countries
*Drone strikes causing thousands to join ISIS as thousands of innocents perish
*Bombing of a Doctors Without Borders Afghan hospital killing 22
*Russia, Israel, and China unrestrained
*Continuing involvement (and missteps) in the never-ending Shea-Sunni religious civil war
*TPA
*TPP (pending)
*TPIP (pending)
*TISA (pending)
*CISA (pending)
*Advancing corporate sovereignty and thereby global corporatism (once called global fascism)
*Unbridled continuing NSA spying
*13 agencies with the capability to intercept cellphone traffic using pseudo-cellphone tower hardware and software
*Whistleblower prosecutions under espionage laws
*Bailing out Wall Street with 0% interest and free trillions of created money while leaving main street and the citizenry to fend for themselves
*Refusing to prosecute too-big-to-fail bank executives for destroying or absconding with 22% of this country's wealth,
*Massive numbers of illegal home foreclosures that destroyed whole neighborhoods, cities, and people's lives left unprosecuted and the damage left largely intact
*Unconstrained militarized local police forces killing unarmed African-Americans by the thousands
*Accelerating the dismantling of our public school system in favor of for-profit charter school corporations
*Huge student college debt saddling graduates with years of bankruptcy-proof loan repayments
*Renewal of the Bush tax cuts thereby continuing the avalanche of income inequality
*Highest "discouraged worker" (or as I like to call them: the independently wealthy poor folks) rate since the Great Depression
*In the face of the greatest climate crisis since the last mass extinction event, the largest expansion of oil and gas drilling in the last 70 years
*Mountaintop removal to dig out and burn dirty coal continues unabated
*Staffing the highest levels of government with corporate executives and lobbyists
* As leader of the Democratic Party, losing State houses and governorships in a critical 2010 census year election and thus providing republicons the window to gerrymander a majority of states and thereby lock out Democratic majorities in many of those states while insulating republicon control in the rest
*Again as leader of the Democratic Party, doubling down on failed party and DCCC leadership after losing house seats in both 2010 and 2012, and losing control of the Senate
*Neglecting to aggressively pursue and prosecute election fraud, fair election violations and republicon tactics to restrict voter turnout and actual voting by largely Democratic POC, and new Jim Crow laws engineered and enacted by republicons in order to restrict elderly, students and POC from voting.
*Allowing the only 3 times since the inception of COLA that no COLA was issued to retirees by failing to adopt retiree-specific cost of living formulations
*And now, reducing Social Security and Medicare benefits for future retirees

(I could have continued adding to this litany but it is late and I am depressing myself)


In my view, we have one chance and one chance only, one chance in my lifetime, one opportunity left, to undo what has befallen us: Bernie Sanders. Embrace that opportunity or begin seeking forgiveness from your prodigy now because it will get worse otherwise (I guarantee it).

NOTE #1: There have been some positive results under Obama, some due to the efforts of John Kerry, notably, the normalization of relations with Cuba, and the Iran nuclear non-proliferation deal. Plus Obama concluded the reparation settlement with the Native American tribes. Thank you, Obama for these accomplishments and others, the disclosure of which is failing me at the moment since my brain is falling asleep!

NOTE #2: Some may argue that some of the items in the above list began before Obama's presidency. To that argument, I pose: A) Obama has been president for 7 years, and as such, he holds responsibility (per Harry Truman, "The buck stops here&quot ; and B) Obama has proved ineffective in dealing with republicon obstructionism (Google Bernie Sanders about his understanding of where and how Obama miscalculated this and Bernie's proposed course of action to challenge said obstructionism)

DISCLOSURES:
1) I voted for Obama twice in spite of my full knowledge of his self-description as a RayGun Democrat (I too wanted an African-American to be president)
2) I have never voted for nor will ever vote for a republicon
3) I have been a Sanders supporter since the day he announced his candidacy
4) I deeply want and greatly prefer a woman president (just not Hillary - see disclosure #5)
5) I met Hillary in 1970 and had a 1-1/2 hour conversation/debate with her regarding her positions and advocacy of what she then called globalism. I can report that she has been a consistent proponent of her views, as then so too to this day. Because of what she laid out as her vision, I cannot support her candidacy for president. I warned her then that her vision would fail as she would have it implemented; I told her why it would fail; and I provided what would have to be done for any possibility that it might succeed. She dismissed it all and, to our great demise, her vision as it has been to date and is continuing to be implemented, it is failing and the prospects and the consequences are not good. Since that day I have held deep regret that I could not bring her to understand. I choose to remain silent about further details of that encounter as it would serve no one (other than possibly republicons).

PLEA
Please contemplate and search your conscience in frankness and honesty. It is vitally important. We are, after all, all in this together.

While I implore all to consider long and hard the above and what we all must do to change this, I understand that reaction is more readily forthcoming than contemplation. Therefore, I will not respond to the inevitable slings and arrows since I recognize that they will be thrown against each reactant's own self-interest and I will lend no power to them.


Thank you,
Kip
(from my wife's computer & username)

A President Sanders would never, repeat NEVER, screw over people on Medicare and SS.

Clinton(s): Yes.
Obama: Yes.
Sanders: NEVER

you have no idea what Clinton and Sanders would do......

Than getting Fd every time I turn around...If Obama goes with cutting medicare and social security it wil be in fact the definition of his presidency ... adding to staying in Afghanistan

That's why he spends his time talking about building a movement.

Bernie would never roll over for cuts to domestic programs like Barack and Hillary. He'd veto BS legislation since he's not tied to lobbyists and corporations.

support it. A true democrat if I ever saw one, and it's been decades but I remember well a different America.

Would that qualify as a flip flop? Or did he evolve?

an unforced error.

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/252880-obama-warns-republicans-to-avoid-unforced-error-of-government-shutdown

He compared a potential shutdown to an “unforced error,” and made reference to the infamous Bill Buckner error that helped cost the Boston Red Sox the World Series in 1986.

the bloated military spending.....increases I'm sure. Screw this crap.

Lockheed Martin is taking in enormous profits and not their drone production, just take out of the SS and Medicare, who cares.

I am on Social Security and pay Medicare..no COLA this year and big rises in Medicare means I have to get buy with LESS this year then I did last year....screw them all! Lawmakers have millions to sit on and draw from while many seniors like me have to decide..do we pay for meds to keep healthy or buy some groceries so we do not starve....do we pay the electric bill or freeze from the cold....you get the idea...

He continues to vote every time this comes up.

And unforgivable. I had a patient recently who told me of her experience at a state office where she was applying for benefits. She said, and I have no reason to not believe her, that a state employee told an elderly man, who was there upset about the cost of his medications and the impact it had on his budget for food, "Well you have to eat don't you, guess you'll do without your medicine". And that's in a very blue state!

40% of the nation's wealth?

And ww're expected to vote for Hillary and 8 more years of the same shit????

that none/few of the commenters took a moment to actually read the article.

Those programs need expansion, not cuts! Why are the poor and elderly always the ones to suffer?

and keeping people off.

to get disability? It appears that these exams would be paid for in the bill.

I know people on disability who work under the table, take vacations, etc., while I can barely finish a sink full of dishes without my back starting to hurt, and my arms and neck burning. I have to mow my lawn in sections... mow until I can't stand the pain anymore, stop for a while, take a pain pill, stretch my back out for an hour or 2, then start again.

At pain management, I have seen people limp in on a cane, then be running to their car, script in hand and on the phone. I also know several people who get pain pills and sell them, keeping enough to take before their next visit so it shows up in their system. I had a family member who started going to the same pain clinic that I was going to, and he was selling his pills. I turned his ass in in a heartbeat, and don't feel bad about it at all.

Believe it or not, there IS a lot of abuse and fraud when it comes to disability. I've seen it firsthand for too many years now to believe any different.

Peace,

Ghost

so that would, one thinks, make it harder to get on disability.

answer quickly ... without the google ... I doubt you know what the test is and/or how it affects eligibility.

they claim this will save billions, the only way that is true is if it is keeping people off of disability.

since in order to receive SSDI, one must have a disabling physical or mental condition, no?

Who better to make that judgement, a doctor or a clerk?

since it seems both a doctor and a clerk would be looking at them. Again, they say it saves money and the only way that is true is if it is keeping some people off of disability.

... which is another tax on those that can't afford it to fatten the wallets of the rich when they can continue to avoid paying taxes here. All part of the plan of first wiping out our savings and assets like houses, cars, etc., then wiping our retirement plans, and stealing people's pension plans, and now screwing us all on social security too.

If you corporate rich crooks continue this, Marie Antoinette has a good warning for your futures if you don't try to help the middle class rebuild itself peacefully. Most Americans would never want that future, but you keep pushing people in the ground, then eventually they'll have nothing left to lose when you have their backs against the wall, and there are far more of them than there are of you!

Situations. After 59 there isn't a 10% penalty.

When you don't have anything else to pay the monthly bills or your taxes, then you have to either cash that in or sell stuff. Cashing that in is often the only option for many people. That is why there are also many homeless now that weren't so before.

Most people don't know about these tax rules until tax time comes up and all the weird wrinkles of having to do things like be unemployed 12 consecutive weeks in order to count COBRA or other health insurance payments against the 10% penalties, or to make sure that one rolls over their older 401k retirement fund that is still administered by a company that they worked at before they turned 55, when they have a chance at the many contract jobs they are forced to work at now that don't offer 401ks to do this.

Yes, the wealthy are more able to use these loopholes, and have their tax people taking care of it for them, whereas those that are have their savings wiped out amongst other things that push them in to more problematic situations are the ones that have to pay more taxes, just like so much of the rest of our government infrastructure has been working lately trying to screw the less well off to reward the wealthier.

But there are some here who never bother to check the facts, they just go ballistic on Obama, and rant and rave about him being a "sellout". They also never bother to admit they were wrong when nothing they claim ever happens.

But it is confusing. Having a disability often includes frequent interactions with doctors anyway.

it really means 'fewer services will be provided', or 'we have found a way to automate part of the system, so that we're employing fewer people, leaving more people unemployed'.

$5 Billion is serious money. You don't save that kinda cash around the edges. Somehow 20 states are currently spending $5 billion that ultimately won't be spent. And they are attributing it to a test that the government will now have to pay for. If it is to detect fraud, that's a lot of fraud.

I guess my point is that the article didn't explain a lot about how this feature will save $5 billion in 20 states and so my suspicions are raised. I don't have much reason to trust this president so I am naturally suspicious. For one thing, I still don't see any of the tax cuts that the GOP always asks for.

It worked so well for you the first time. Done deal...wait what???? Never happened.

Can I steal it?

Images....I look for the best of the best.

Art major here~

Ha! I loved it.

I had a painting in an student art show written up by the art editor of the Springfield Times and compared to Georgia O'Keeffe.

Lol~ I still have the article after all these years. The painting hangs on my wall.

So cool PP~

I've never been in the art forum, but I noticed yesterday that there is one, and people post pics of their art. Unfortunately I can't post pics (or maybe that is fortunate, as I've not seen the competition here... ), but I've been meaning to check it out. Maybe after the primaries. But if you've posted a picture of your painting, I'd love to see it. I love Georgia O'Keeffe's work. I have some beautiful greeting cards of her paintings, and I dole them out very slowly because I hate to see them go. I love the artwork that gets posted on Reddit. Much of it just really blows me away, there is so much great talent out there.

Anyway, thanks for this beautiful flaming hair pic. I love to save great images too.

My ex made fun of it.

The assignment, take an image and blow it up.I did a Zinnia...huge and dripping water. My ex ridiculed me. The art editor thought different. Whatever.

Try Hair-on-Fire 7.0.: The Re-make Re-Pre-Re-Pre Sequel to the 2009 Classic.

DU never ceases to amaze.

in 2016 then we are lost. This move by Obama and Biden saying Cheney is a good mad has me so f ing pissed what the fuck is going on here?

Obama and Biden say he is a good "mad"?

If this doesn't influence the way you vote
in 2016 then we are lost. This move by Obama and Biden saying Cheney is a good mad has me so f ing pissed what the fuck is going on here?

Exactly. WTF is going on here?

I want links.

This move by Obama...and Biden saying Cheney is a good man. (Actually, he said "a decent man.&quot

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/biden-i-actually-like-dick-cheney-for-real/article/2574489
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2015/10/21/joe-biden-dick-cheney-is-a-decent-man-you-know-n2069269

Finally, we find out that Joe actually gets along with Vice President Dick Cheney, who most in his party often regard as having the qualities of Darth Vader, or some other cultural reference meant to symbolize the personification of evil. Inside Sources reported that Biden saying, “I actually like Dick Cheney…For real. I get on with him. I think he’s a decent man.”

Comes to show you that while political differences might separate Biden from his Republican colleagues on certain issues (okay–almost every issue), it also shows he doesn’t let that torpedo the chance in striking up a friendship, or speaking admirably of someone with different views. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2015/10/21/joe-biden-dick-cheney-is-a-decent-man-you-know-n2069269

You link to Biden sources. Show me the exact quote where Obama says he is a good man, a decent man. Actually the poster said he was a good "mad". You link Obama, then prove it.

It was an awkward sentence of two disjointed, non-related thoughts.

This move by Obama. One complete thought. Full Stop.

Biden saying Dick Cheney was a decent man. Second entirely-unrelated complete thought.

The second half of the sentence does not reference the first half in any way--everything after "and" no longer has anything to do with Obama. It should have been parsed as two sentences perhaps or with a different connector like "but also." Also, all I was doing was providing the citation. Your argument isn't with me, it's with kacekwl in post #14.

I don't give a flying hell if Dick Cheney and Joe Biden are friendly...I'm a far-left progressive that would never vote for either of them. They're both too conservative for me. So are Hillary and Bill...and sometimes Barack.

Also, no crickets. It's already too goddamned cold outside in the highlands of Northwestern CT. Currently 35'F, overnight lows in the low 20s.

'decent man'.

Anyone have any brands they can recommend? Friskies? Puss'n'Boots? Purina Cat Chow?

Perfect for snacks at those Sunday football parties.

Cat food is too dry.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement on the bipartisan budget deal, which also raises the national borrowing limit until March 2017.

“This is not the budget I would have written. It doesn’t ask the most profitable corporations and the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share in taxes and it increases Pentagon spending too much. But I will support it because it’s much better than across-the-board budget cuts, increased premiums for Medicare, cuts to Social Security and the constant threat we won’t pay our bills.

“In my view, a two-year deal gives us time to focus on providing an emergency cost of living adjustment for senior citizens, raising the minimum wage, ensuring equal pay for women, expanding Social Security, making college tuition-free, reforming our criminal justice system, bringing millions of new Americans out of the shadows and addressing the growing threat of climate change.”

The deal also includes a provision to curb skyrocketing drug prices by requiring drug companies to pay a rebate to Medicaid when prices of generic drugs shoot up at a rate steeper than inflation. The legislation was originally introduced as the Medicaid Generic Drug Fairness Act by Sanders and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) in the 113th Congress. The bill was reintroduced in May.

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sanders-statement-on-budget-deal

Or has your tuned changed now that Bernard supports it?