NYT: Bush’s Medicare Budget Would Raise Premiums

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 — More and more Medicare beneficiaries would have to pay higher premiums for coverage of prescription drugs and doctors’ services under President Bush’s 2008 budget, to be unveiled on Monday.

Single people with annual incomes over $80,000 and married couples with incomes over $160,000 already have to pay higher premiums for the part of Medicare that covers doctors’ services. The income thresholds rise with inflation.

Budget documents show that Mr. Bush will propose a similar surcharge on premiums for Medicare’s new prescription drug benefit. In addition, the president will ask Congress to “eliminate annual indexing of income thresholds,” so that more people would eventually have to pay the higher premiums.

The proposal, expected to raise $10 billion over the next five years, is one of many advanced by Mr. Bush in a $2.8 trillion budget that aims to eliminate the deficit by 2012.

In his budget request, Mr. Bush expresses alarm about what he calls “the unsustainable growth of federal entitlement programs,” and he proposes savings in Medicare and Medicaid that far surpass what he or any other president has sought.

The president contends that he can make the rule changes without any action by Congress. But Congress could try to block some or all of the changes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/04/washington/04budget.html?ex=1328245200&en=83e242741b9115ef&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

Yes, the chimp doesn't give a fuck anymore.

How much war would he have to give up instead to pay for this?

and your mama too! You are the spawn of the devil!!

he can make the change without congress now. I do remember that he wanted to do away with overtime for policeman, firemen and nurses and could not get congress to do it for him...So the Sec. of labor, Madam chow, just made the law herself. Saw Sen. Kennedy on cspan trying to get a raise in minimum wage...he said there were 6 million Americans who didn't get overtime.Don't think they ever tried to do it to their choice workers. Would have saved hospitals a ton of money and demoralized the country...it was right after 9/11. Can you imagine a worn out nurse having to work an extra shift, and not getting overtime? Very stressful work...when you make a mistake you can really hurt people.

Why is it that it's always the so-called entitlement programs that are flagged as "unsustainable" in a budget with ballooning military appropriations?

"the unsustainable growth of Pentagon programs," and she proposed savings in Military spending that far surpass what she or any other president has sought.

The story on the front page of DU directly above this story. Interesting juxtaposition. It's kind of surreal.

"Bush favors using $1.3 trillion of budget surplus for tax cut."

President Clinton on Thursday projected that the ocuntry will enjoy a $1.9 trillion budget surplus over the next decade. ... the U. S. government could be free of puclicly held debt in less than a decade."

I ran across this article when I was cleaning out some files the other day. What a heartbreak!

Also, on a personal note.

We are the only generation that has contribution to our own Social Security program and we expect ALL of it. No cuts, no means testing, no limits, ALL of it.

People with $80K incomes are not rich and shouldn't have to pay higher premiums. The next thing we hear will be that the $80K people will have to foot more of their prescription bills too. Will they be able to afford food?

With that kind of income, to me who makes $12,000 a year, they are rich! I would say that's upper middle income nowadays! Before my husband died our combined incomes were about $50,000. With no children at home....we considered ourselves middle income, and pretty well off!!! I think they will be able to afford food. I can!!

If they're not rich, it's due to some stupid money management!

Do you know how much wealth you would have to accumulate to draw an $80,000 income in retirement??? I live in a retirement town with lots of folks living very comfortably, and they do not draw that kind of retirement because they don't want to pay the taxes on it. Only the incredibly rich draw that kind of retirement income.

How can anyone live on that. :sarcasm:

Unfortunately I'm disabled and can't do handstans so I'm stuck with 1/8 of that. :sarcasm:

They are upper middle class.

to undo all of W's garbage.

...in which the poor are subjected to higher and higher inflationary costs while the rich receive more and more tax breaks.

As for eliminating budget deficits, this too is a smoke and mirrors illusion designed to always present the false impression of projecting deficit reduction four to six years into the future to justify yet more tax breaks for the wealthy thus assuring ever present deficits against wasteful spending on wars and pet projects for the benefit of the wealthy.

Bullshit. The only unsustainable growth of a fed entitlement program is our military/black budget. This is an inhumane country that creates insane wars, but will not use its tax dollars wisely with single-payer, universal healthcare like the civilized countries have.

is the U.S. and South Africa.

How do we live with that?

It must be there somewhere if he keeps talking to God and God supposedly answers.

And it reveals Bush to be one of those 3-headed fire breathing dragons that visits misery and destruction on anyonce and everything in sight. I guess when Christ admonished humanking to help the least among us, he must have been referring to the top 1% of the income scale. This stands to reason, because compared to the other 99%, they're the LEAST impacted by Bush's economic and tax policies!

Why, all them Prosperity Gaw-spell preachers bullshit bout Jesus, but they ALL follow Sister Ayn AS IN MINE Rand and Brother Milton Friedman's "Fuck everyone else and Get Yours" philosophy.

Let's hear a bunch of AaaaaaMENs from the Peanut Gallery!

:puke:

Bush for years has expressed an intense hatred of anyone making less than $1 million a year. Look at his spending proposals, and the evidence is unrefutable. At least, among those who don't have broccoli for brains.

Love that quote, “the unsustainable growth of federal entitlement programs”. Would that be the programs you created for your insane war, Mr. Duh-Sider, or the programs you ACTUALLY want to kill because they're "socialist-minded"?

And get this quote, right from Doonesbury.com:

"I am surprised, frankly, at the amount of distrust that exists in this town. And I'm sorry it's the case, and I'll work hard to try to elevate it."
-- George W. Bush

Freudian slip? Yup, I know so.

He gets his jollies this way, folks, ruining this country for everyone. It's a toy he got for X-Mas, and he can break it if he wants to.

..that in turn places the cost burden for this type of premium increase onto the backs of average American wage earners. But who gives a hoot, when "Getting the Gov't off OUR backs" is a gift that keeps on giving!$!$! Just keep them good ole GOP family values a-comin' every couple of years around election time -- that'll mollify the overburdened huddled masses and whatever. They'll cough up a few extra bucks out of their hard-earned pay in a heartbeat!

Guess he's trying to borrow it from China now, like he has everything else.

Enemy of the Constitution.
Enemy of peace and national security.
Enemy of the poor.
Enemy of the American People.

Congress needs to do whatever they can to get this criminal and his robber baron cronies out of our government.

He has back door regressive taxes called "fees" that are being used to replace what tax cuts have spent. We see this with the raise in premiums.

it takes a Congressional majority to approve such changes in the federal budget. This is why I actively worked for the Democrat running for Congress in my district in 2006, because we need a Congress that can say no to this creep!

IMO this is the test which determines whether or not we were wasting our time in 2006.

What's this crap that once again he can do what he wants and Congress can't stop him. FUCK HIM - IMPEACH HIM NOW

It is absolutely not acceptable. He must work with us to compromise, or no budget goes through.

when is congress going to wake up?

bush is pissing on them, and all they do is thank him for the shower