LGP Political Discussion Thread - Latest news at top

[Gaucho]

Netanyahu working hard at making the prophecies about our impending doom come true.

[shafnutz05]

Jindal throws Romney under the bus....

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la ... 3762.story

I found absolutely no issue with Romney's assertions, although he has no one but himself to blame for losing the election.

The mass college tuition forgiveness was no doubt a financial reach-out to the youth demographic, and was aimed to encourage them to turn out in 2012. It certainly doesn't make any financial sense. Not to mention allowing children to stay on their parent's insurance till 26, free contraception, etc.

Amnesty? While even I support some kind of work program or whatever to solve the illegal immigration issue, make no mistake the Democrats are thinking about the millions of voters they will gain if they are the ones to push it through. Not recognizing that is naive.

I think his argument is a little more difficult to make re: the black vote. I would argue that's more of a Democratic Party giving gifts to that demographic, and that's lasted a lot longer than Obama has been around.

While it sounds like sour grapes, and it probably is, I don't really disagree with the general premise of what he is saying.

[columbia]

"If we lose this election there is only one explanation — demographics. ... If I hear anybody say it was because Romney wasn’t conservative enough I’m going to go nuts. We’re not losing 95 percent of African-Americans and two-thirds of Hispanics and voters under 30 because we’re not being hard-ass enough," - Senator Lindsey Graham.

Agreed.

If the GOP wants to ignore people like Graham and Jindal, all I have to say is, "Please do."

[columbia]

BTW, Graham will likely have a Tea Party person go after him in the 2014 primary.
If he's not conservative enough for the US Senate, I'm not sure what kind of government people expect.

I guess the answer is "less" or "none."

[mac5155]

So the fine is $2,000 per employee? It would appear that my single-dude premium is $300 a month, which I pay $50 of.. so, work pays $3k. I want to think they wont do it, but they could very well just pay the fine.

[Ossa]

BTW, Graham will likely have a Tea Party person go after him in the 2014 primary.
If he's not conservative enough for the US Senate, I'm not sure what kind of government people expect.

I guess the answer is "less" or "none."

It is going to be Tom Davis.

[thehockeyguru]

Jindal throws Romney under the bus....

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la ... 3762.story

The mass college tuition forgiveness was no doubt a financial reach-out to the youth demographic, and was aimed to encourage them to turn out in 2012. It certainly doesn't make any financial sense. Not to mention allowing children to stay on their parent's insurance till 26, free contraception, etc.

Is the Tuition Forgiveness plan he suggested (capping payments at 10% of discretionary income) actually in effect. I consolidated some student loans recently and there was no mention of this at all.

[mac5155]

Jindal throws Romney under the bus....

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la ... 3762.story

The mass college tuition forgiveness was no doubt a financial reach-out to the youth demographic, and was aimed to encourage them to turn out in 2012. It certainly doesn't make any financial sense. Not to mention allowing children to stay on their parent's insurance till 26, free contraception, etc.

Is the Tuition Forgiveness plan he suggested (capping payments at 10% of discretionary income) actually in effect. I consolidated some student loans recently and there was no mention of this at all.

Yes you choose the Income Based / Contingent Repayment plan.

[Letang Is The Truth]

So the fine is $2,000 per employee? It would appear that my single-dude premium is $300 a month, which I pay $50 of.. so, work pays $3k. I want to think they wont do it, but they could very well just pay the fine.

just think of huge corporations too. they could save up to 1000+ employee by not offering the coverage and paying the fine

[Letang Is The Truth]

someone astutely pointed this out that the ACA is all about access. its about (potentially) adding several million people to the system without addressing the larger issue: cost containment. our cost continue to rise and when you introduce a demographic that has never had access before and is typically of a poorer health status, utilization will be through the roof. this will be offset on other beneficiaries with higher costs on their end. value based purchasing attempts to address this but people are already meeting a number of the fiscal incentives so these will be weighted less and less and the total VBP will be shifted more towards patient satisfaction. there are several studies that implicate that patients perceive higher satisfaction with increased utilization (there are studies that show the contrary as well - more effective research needs done here) but its not unlikely that this will drive providers to increase utilization as much as possible while falling within the vbp guidlines

[Hockeynut!]

and when you introduce a demographic that has never had access before and is typically of a poorer health status, utilization will be through the roof.

Why do you assume that the demographic without insurance is in poorer health? I think the reverse is true. I know dozens of people in their 20s and 30s who don't have insurance because their employer either doesn't offer it or their employer gives them extra $$ in lieu of not taking insurance. They're young, healthy and simply don't need insurance (barring something catastrophic, of course). Adding all of these younger, healthy people to the pool is why insurance companies are loving much of the ACA.

[DelPen]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ation.html

And it begins. Did anyone really not see this coming? So essentially the entire food services industry will be reduced to be almost entirely part time and the manaement will need to find an exchange while the owners pay the $2,000 penalty.

Only question is what kind of benefits did they have already? If none, well they will still have none but now they will be taking home less money.

[Letang Is The Truth]

for the same reason that you assume the uninsured are healthy and in their 20s and 30s?

the kaizer family foundation* has sponsored numerous studies investigating 'who are the uninsured'. if you look at the 45 million uninsured, 74% are the working poor, 14% are illegal immigrants, 12% make enough money and choose not to. this doesnt even include the underinsured that will see an increase in coverage as well.

if you are unfamiliar with KFF they are one of the nations leaders in health care research, specifically evidenced based practice and cost effectiveness. they are non-partisan and have distanced themselves from kaizer permanente

[steelhammer]

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-november-13-2012/post-democalyptic-world---whine-country---employee-benefits

[mac5155]

So the fine is $2,000 per employee? It would appear that my single-dude premium is $300 a month, which I pay $50 of.. so, work pays $3k. I want to think they wont do it, but they could very well just pay the fine.

just think of huge corporations too. they could save up to 1000+ employee by not offering the coverage and paying the fine

Yea, i work for a huge corporation, which is what scares me.

[mac5155]

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-november-13-2012/post-democalyptic-world---whine-country---employee-benefits

I love that Jon Stewart can make fun of people losing their jobs. It's quite comical, actually.

[steelhammer]

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-november-13-2012/post-democalyptic-world---whine-country---employee-benefits

I love that Jon Stewart can make fun of people losing their jobs. It's quite comical, actually.

That's how you interpreted that piece? Really?!?

[thehockeyguru]

Jindal throws Romney under the bus....

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la ... 3762.story

The mass college tuition forgiveness was no doubt a financial reach-out to the youth demographic, and was aimed to encourage them to turn out in 2012. It certainly doesn't make any financial sense. Not to mention allowing children to stay on their parent's insurance till 26, free contraception, etc.

Is the Tuition Forgiveness plan he suggested (capping payments at 10% of discretionary income) actually in effect. I consolidated some student loans recently and there was no mention of this at all.

Yes you choose the Income Based / Contingent Repayment plan.

So what is that 10% of your income after taxes?

[columbia]

Ron Paul's Last Speech to Congress:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc ... s/265263/#

[mac5155]

Jindal throws Romney under the bus....

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la ... 3762.story

The mass college tuition forgiveness was no doubt a financial reach-out to the youth demographic, and was aimed to encourage them to turn out in 2012. It certainly doesn't make any financial sense. Not to mention allowing children to stay on their parent's insurance till 26, free contraception, etc.

Is the Tuition Forgiveness plan he suggested (capping payments at 10% of discretionary income) actually in effect. I consolidated some student loans recently and there was no mention of this at all.

Yes you choose the Income Based / Contingent Repayment plan.

So what is that 10% of your income after taxes?

I don't know how exactly it works, but its something like that but increases as time goes on. I could afford the standard payment so I didn't worry about it, essentially you are paying less in the beginning but ended up paying almost double the interest. Some quick reading, it may actually be somewhat beneficial...

The Federal government's income contingent repayment formula compares two payment ceilings, picking the lower ceiling as your monthly payment. The first ceiling is 20% of your monthly discretionary income. Discretionary income is defined to be the adjusted gross income minus the federal poverty line that corresponds to your family size and the state in which you reside. The second ceiling is the amount of the 12-year standard repayment plan monthly payment, multiplied by an income percentage factor (IPF). The IPF corresponds to your income and marital status, and starts at about 50% for incomes near the poverty line. There is also a $5 minimum monthly payment. (Technically, if your monthly payment is $0 it is not rounded up to $5, but a monthly payment of $0.01 would be rounded up to $5.)

That's for Income Contingent. There's also Income Based, which is a bit different, and sounds like it's for people who can't find any job. Income Contingent sounds like its for those who have a job but have high debts (which is what category I would fall into). I'd like to ask an accountant to crunch the numbers for me just to see. I think my repayment plans right now are 15 years so 25 is intimidating, but if the gov't is willing to pay some of my interest, then have at it.

Edited a bit more cause I looked into it - IBR, my repayment plan would be $182, for 25 years. That would equal out to be my loan amount, except my AGI would increase over those years so my repayment would also. However if my AGI NEVER increased and my payment was allowed to stay at $182, after 25 years, I would have saved approximately $22,000 over the Standard Repayment Plan (which also would make me repay it all in 10 years instead of 25). In the end, I would pay $55k, which is also my current principal balance. Very, very interesting, and I wonder if I got that right?

[stopper40]

So the fine is $2,000 per employee? It would appear that my single-dude premium is $300 a month, which I pay $50 of.. so, work pays $3k. I want to think they wont do it, but they could very well just pay the fine.

just think of huge corporations too. they could save up to 1000+ employee by not offering the coverage and paying the fine

Yea, i work for a huge corporation, which is what scares me.

I work for a huge corporation also. Right now we're in an open enrollment and to a person we all agree our coverage got worse for next year and it, quite frankly stinks, I'm meeting with a highmark rep later to possibly go on my own

[shafnutz05]

I didn't see the Jon Stewart piece, but I have definitely gotten the sense from a lot of people that support the ACA that many of us who already have pre-existing medical coverage through our employer are whining. I personally haven't experienced any ill effects from the passage of the bill (other than doing away with my FSA), but I've noticed others that are being affected are basically being accused of being privileged, white whiners boo-hooing that finally they might lose something and others might gain something.

Being concerned about changes to your private health plan is not "white whine".

[mac5155]

I didn't see the Jon Stewart piece, but I have definitely gotten the sense from a lot of people that support the ACA that many of us who already have pre-existing medical coverage through our employer are whining. I personally haven't experienced any ill effects from the passage of the bill (other than doing away with my FSA), but I've noticed others that are being affected are basically being accused of being privileged, white whiners boo-hooing that finally they might lose something and others might gain something.

Being concerned about changes to your private health plan is not "white whine".

It's something else you work for when you bust your ass in college to get a good job.

But yeah, it's white whine to those who have had everything handed to them.

[thehockeyguru]

I don't know how exactly it works, but its something like that but increases as time goes on. I could afford the standard payment so I didn't worry about it, essentially you are paying less in the beginning but ended up paying almost double the interest. Some quick reading, it may actually be somewhat beneficial...

The Federal government's income contingent repayment formula compares two payment ceilings, picking the lower ceiling as your monthly payment. The first ceiling is 20% of your monthly discretionary income. Discretionary income is defined to be the adjusted gross income minus the federal poverty line that corresponds to your family size and the state in which you reside. The second ceiling is the amount of the 12-year standard repayment plan monthly payment, multiplied by an income percentage factor (IPF). The IPF corresponds to your income and marital status, and starts at about 50% for incomes near the poverty line. There is also a $5 minimum monthly payment. (Technically, if your monthly payment is $0 it is not rounded up to $5, but a monthly payment of $0.01 would be rounded up to $5.)

That's for Income Contingent. There's also Income Based, which is a bit different, and sounds like it's for people who can't find any job. Income Contingent sounds like its for those who have a job but have high debts (which is what category I would fall into). I'd like to ask an accountant to crunch the numbers for me just to see. I think my repayment plans right now are 15 years so 25 is intimidating, but if the gov't is willing to pay some of my interest, then have at it.

I just applied for the IBR or Income Based plan. It ends up linking to the IRS web page and pulls in your AGI. The amount you pay is 15% of you AGI divided by 12. I did a little research and all my loans are at 25 years right now, and with the IBR plan I would pay about $130 less a month based on my current salary. You then pay taxes on any amount left at the end of 25 years.

[Troy Loney]

I didn't see the Jon Stewart piece, but I have definitely gotten the sense from a lot of people that support the ACA that many of us who already have pre-existing medical coverage through our employer are whining. I personally haven't experienced any ill effects from the passage of the bill (other than doing away with my FSA), but I've noticed others that are being affected are basically being accused of being privileged, white whiners boo-hooing that finally they might lose something and others might gain something.

Being concerned about changes to your private health plan is not "white whine".

No, he's basically attacking pizza papa john for being a public jerk*** about the election threatning to fire people and increase the price of pizzas.