Ron Paul takes the lead in Iowa.

[Jon Miller]

What's your solution? Increase the number of elderly in poverty?

How about give them a relatively nice end of life without spending on outrageously expensive health treatment which will only make a minor improvement to their total life?

JM

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Raise the taxes too much, and you'll distort the economy through rampant tax avoidance and political lobbying for exceptions.

Ah, the Greek Model. "We can't raise taxes because we suck at collecting them". Rarely seen in the actual developed world these days.

[Felch]

What's your solution? Increase the number of elderly in poverty?

My solution is reform, as Jon described. Control waste in Medicare, and recognize that any money spent on that is money that can't be spent on other more worthwhile tasks.

Ah, the Greek Model. "We can't raise taxes because we suck at collecting them". Rarely seen in the actual developed world these days.

Tax avoidance is using legal methods to reduce the amount you pay in taxes. It is not the same as tax evasion, which is using illegal methods to reduce the amount you pay in taxes. The Greek problem was one of evasion, my concern is economic distortions from rampant tax avoidance and political lobbying for exceptions.

You see, in America we have a very complicated tax code. The reason it is so complicated is that special interest groups (everybody from churches and charities to homeowners and multinational corporations) lobby Congress for exceptions. When taxes are low, avoiding them isn't such a high priority. If taxes are raised too high, it becomes more worthwhile to hire fancy accountants, lawyers, and lobbyists than to build a better mousetrap. That sort of rent seeking behavior is not good for anybody.

[Hauldren Collider]

Since Social Security does such a good job of keeping old people out of poverty by taxing the working people, we should come up with a system that taxes old people and gives the money to working people. That will result in more money for everybody.

Now that's clear thinking

What we need is a system that gives out to all the disadvantaged people--the old, the poor, the middle class, minorities, women, college students, children, and then middle-age upper class white men because once we're done giving handouts to everyone else they'll be at a disadvantage.

[notyoueither]

Why should insurance companies pay for old people?

Old people should pay for their health care out of pocket.

Insurance is insurance, it shouldn't be the only way to get health care like it is often in the US now.

JM

Have you gone insane?

[Zevico]

Some insights into conspiratorial thinking from Daniel Pipes' "Conspiracy"--
1. It almost invariably relies on the assumption that power is the overall goal of any group; and that the imagined conspiracies of others justify and/or demonstrate the effectiveness of those attempted by the conspiracy theorist. In other words, conspiracy theorism justifies conspiracies.
2. Conspiracy theorism is all encompassing; the doctrines of conspiracy theorists often cannot be reconciled with religions or other beliefs because everything--science, the arts, society, the economy--is part of the conspiracy. Thus, e.g., Einstein's Theory of Relativity was an assault on Aryan-Nazi manhood.
3. The possibility of real conspiracies being carried out depends on the societal context in which they are perpetrated. The notion of Republicans and Democrats poisoning American Senators is outlandish nonsense; the notion of Russian intelligence poisoning ex-Russian spies or defectors, a distinct possibility.

[molly bloom]

Yes, I am compassionless because I don't want the working poor to pay for some old fat ****'s motor scooter. You caught me.

I'm curious to know which medical conditions and which classes of people should have Medicare coverage of some sort, in your opinion.

In the long run, we are all dead, and before then, all of us, no matter how healthy and clean living, will get ill.

I don't smoke, don't drink alcohol, don't take recreational drugs, take regular exercise and still managed to get a blocked common bile duct, obstructive jaundice and an inflamed liver.

Genetics in my case, but fortunately we have free health care in this country.

I dread to think what I might owe for my (free in the United Kingdom) excellent treatment last year in the United States.

[OzzyKP]

What is so offensive about means testing? I agree that there should be some social safety net provided by the government, but it should be only for those people who truly need it. The truly poor. Why give money away to people who are rich and middle class? They have jobs, they can take care of themselves. We don't give food stamps or public housing to the rich either, they seem to be doing ok. Keep medicaid, get rid of medicare. Means test social security. We'd save a bunch of money there.

[rah]

You wanna make medicare work? I can make medicare work. It's easy, take the cap off of F.I.C.A. and S.E.C.A., the Social Security and Medicaid "taxes". Currently there's a limit, $ 108,000, to the income that's taxed for Social Security and Medicare. Abolish the cap and you'll see the Social Security fund restored to health and plenty of money for healthcare.

I'm with doc on this one. However i would agree to keep the limits (or just raise them) for the employer paid portion.
This one is such a no brainer even to a repug like me.

[Guynemer]

YARGBLWARGLBARGL no tax raises YARGLWARGLBARGL

America: nation of dumb, spoiled pussies.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

You see, in America we have a very complicated tax code. The reason it is so complicated is that special interest groups (everybody from churches and charities to homeowners and multinational corporations) lobby Congress for exceptions.

Then Congress needs to learn the expression "**** off and pay up", rather than "OK, you win! No taxes!".

[Guynemer]

We simply don't do such things, Laz.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

I do love the apparent convictions some posters appear to hold that, if it's not how things have worked specifically in the USA over recent decades, it is a clear mathematical impossibility to rank alongside goblins in terms of plausibility.

[Felch]

Do MPs frequently tell voters to **** off? Seems like a vote loser.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

It was a figure of speech, but I would certainly applaud the ones who did.