Tag: Medicare

–Ultimate irony: The debt-hawks create “death panels”

The debt hawks are to economics as the creationists are to biology. They, who do not understand monetary sovereignty, do not understand economics.

The debt-hawks are the right wing, “cut-federal-spending” folks, who also tended to be the people complaining about so-called “death panels” mentioned by Sarah Palin. Yet, these same people actually favor death panels:

By Rob Stein, Washington Post Staff Writer, Monday, November 8, 2010; 7:52 AM

“Federal officials are conducting an unusual review to determine whether the government should pay for an expensive new vaccine for treating prostate cancer, rekindling debate over whether some therapies are too costly.

“The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which dictate what treatments the massive federal health-insurance program for the elderly will cover, is running a ‘national coverage analysis’ of Provenge, the first vaccine approved for treating any cancer. The treatment costs $93,000 a patient and has been shown to extend patients’ lives by about four months.

“Although Medicare is not supposed to take cost into consideration when making such rulings,the decision to launch a formal examination has raised concerns among cancer experts, drug companies, lawmakers, prostate cancer patients and advocacy groups.

“Provenge, which was approved for advanced prostate cancer in April, is the latest in a series of new high-priced cancer treatments that appear to eke out only a few more months of life, prompting alarm about their cost.

“This absolutely is the opening salvo in the drive to save money in the health-care system,” said Skip Lockwood, who heads Zero – the Project to End Prostate Cancer, a Washington-based lobbying group. ‘If the cost wasn’t a consideration, this wouldn’t even be under discussion.’”

So there you have it. Sarah, speaking for the right-wing debt-hawks, complained mightily about “death panels.” Now we have a move toward death panels – by the Palinesque debt-hawks. The article goes on to say:

”Medicare officials, who are convening a panel of outside advisers to vet the issue at a public hearing Nov. 17, say Provenge’s price tag isn’t an issue. But Berwick and other officials declined to discuss the rationale for the review.
[. . . ]
“The review comes as the Food and Drug Administration considers withdrawing an approval for another expensive cancer treatment- Avastin for metastatic breast cancer – which triggered a similar debate even though the FDA too is not supposed to factor costs into its analyses.>/span>

[ . . . ]
“Some fear the move will discourage pharmaceutical companies from developing new cancer drugs.

“’It is extremely chilling if, after spending a huge sum of money, time and effort to get a drug through FDA approval, you’ll then have to go through it all again to see if CMS will pay for it,’ said Allen S. Lichter, head of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. “Firing a shot across the bow like this is not the way to have an intelligent and meaningful discussion about how we start to address the complex issue of drug costs.”

Then we have the non-economists telling us what America can and cannot afford:

“To charge $90,000 for four months, which comes out to $270,00 for a year of life, I think that’s too expensive,” said Tito Fojo of the National Cancer Institute. “A lot of people will say, ‘It’s my $100,000, and it’s my four months.’ Absolutely: A day is worth $1 million to some people. Unfortunately, we can’t afford it as a society.”

[ . . .]

“‘I’d like to think cost doesn’t need to come up when it’s a slam dunk,’ said H. Gilbert Welch of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice. ‘But when it’s a close call like this, it certainly has to be a factor. That’s $100,000 Medicare can’t spend elsewhere.'”

Clearly, Fojo and Welch have no idea how a monetarily sovereign nation works. They either believe FICA pays for Medicare or that the federal government’s ability to pay for Medicare is limited – both wrong. Sadly, even a man who claims to be an economist doesn’t get it:

“’At some point, if we keep paying these very high prices for treatments that provide very limited benefit, we’re going to reach the point where we can no longer afford health care,’ said Alan Garber, a professor of medicine and economist at Stanford University. ‘Some say we’re living through that right now.’”

So in addition to denying America a recovery from the recession and so many of the other benefits of federal spending, the debt-hawks create the Palin death panels, and deny us health care – and all from ignorance.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
http://www.rodgermitchell.com

No nation can tax itself into prosperity. Those who say the stimulus “didn’t work” remind me of the guy whose house is on fire. A neighbor runs with a garden hose and starts spraying, but the fire continues. The neighbor wants to call the fire department, which would bring the big hoses, but the guy says, “Don’t call. As you can see, water doesn’t put out fires.”

–1937 Redux: How our leaders have learned nothing from history

The debt hawks are to economics as the creationists are to biology. They, who do not understand monetary sovereignty, do not understand economics.

For those of you who don’t remember the Great Depression (almost everyone, now), it began in 1929, after several years of federal surpluses ( Item 3.), but by the early-1930’s we already were on our way to recovery – something like today. Then, the government decided to reduce the federal deficit with increased taxes and reduced spending — something like today. So we had four more years of depression (something like tomorrow?)

According to Wikipedia: “The Recession of 1937–1938, sometimes called the Roosevelt Recession, was a temporary reversal of the pre-war 1933 to 1941 economic recovery from the Great Depression in the United States. Economists disagree about the causes of this downturn. Keynesian economists tend to assign blame to cuts in Federal spending and increases in taxes at the insistence of the US Treasury, while monetarists, most notably Milton Friedman tended to assign blame to the Federal Reserve’s tightening of the money supply in 1936 and 1937.”.

Hmmm. Let’s think about that. “Cuts in federal spending . . . and increases in taxes” = federal deficit reduction. “Tightening of the money supply . . .” also = federal deficit reduction. So here you had two different schools of thought, both saying essentially the same thing. The 1937 recession was caused by what we today refer to as “austerity.”

So what do our political leaders favor, now that we are creeping out of the latest recession. Yes, that same austerity. Republicans hate federal spending. They stand ready with dozens of proposals to slash the federal budget. Reportedly, they want to cut $260 billion (25%) from the federal budget. Now that should be stimulative.

Republicans also do not believe their proposed cuts in education, Medicare, unemployment compensation and many other worthy federal projects will hurt anything or anyone.

The Democrats are no smarter. They have to be dragged kicking and screaming, to retain (not even cut, just retain) the Bush era tax levels. They do not believe taxes, which remove money from the economy, slow the recovery. They want to tax the “wealthy,” because . . . well, because that is what Democrats, with their eternal class warfare strategy, do.

Then we have the media. My hometown newspaper, the Chicago Tribune repeatedly rails against the federal debt. They never explain why. They don’t provide data. They just don’t like it. The Tribune is typical of the media, which almost universally hate the debt, and almost universally don’t provide data supporting their position.

And then there is Fed Chairman Bernanke, who feels we must “act to bring down long-term fiscal deficits.” He too, has no clue about why and never gives a coherent reason.

Finally, we have the mainstream economists – all those Nobel winners – none of whom seem to understand monetary sovereignty, and all of whom call for less deficit spending.

Put them all together and things look very bad for this fragile economy. With leaders like these, who needs enemies?

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
http://www.rodgermitchell.com

No nation can tax itself into prosperity. Those who say the stimulus “didn’t work” remind me of the guy whose house is on fire. A neighbor runs with a garden hose and starts spraying, but the fire continues. The neighbor wants to call the fire department, which would bring the big hoses, but the guy says, “Don’t call. As you can see, water doesn’t put out fires.”

–Will the party of “NO!” become the party of “I don’t know”?

The debt hawks are to economics as the creationists are to biology. Those, who do not understand monetary sovereignty, do not understand economics. Cutting the federal deficit is the most ignorant and damaging step the federal government could take. It ranks ahead of the Hawley-Smoot Tariff.
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This should be interesting. Will the party of “NO!” become the party of “I don’t know,” when asked how they plan to reduce federal spending without alienating all the people who receive federal spending, and without destroying the economy, too?

My hunch is all those “small government” types will begin to whine loudly when their favorite federal benefits begin to disappear. And then there is the presumed reduction in federal employees, “to save money” at just the time when we’re supposed to be creating jobs.

For a reminder about some of the things we voters will have to worry about, read: “14 ways to dismantle a monstrous government”.

And why cut federal spending? The debt hawks have no clue. They do not understand monetary sovereignty, and have no desire to learn.

Ignorance has its costs.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
http://www.rodgermitchell.com

No nation can tax itself into prosperity. Those who say the stimulus “didn’t work” remind of the guy whose house is on fire. A neighbor runs with a garden hose and starts spraying, but the fire continues. The neighbor wants to call the fire department, which would bring the big hoses, but the guy says, “Don’t call. As you can see, water doesn’t put out fires.”

–Read how the debt-hawks threaten to destroy Medicare.

The debt hawks are to economics as the creationists are to biology. Those, who do not understand monetary sovereignty, do not understand economics. Cutting the federal deficit is the most ignorant and damaging step the federal government could take. It ranks ahead of the Hawley-Smoot Tariff.
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Read how the debt-hawks threaten to destroy Medicare.

Washington Post, 11/2/10:

“Physicians face painful decision on Medicare

“While most people are focused on the midterm elections Tuesday, the American Medical Association is gearing up for the lame-duck congressional session scheduled to start Nov. 15. Unless Congress intervenes, payments to doctors for treating Medicare patients will be cut by 23 percent on Dec. 1 and another 6.5 percent on Jan. 1.

“Cecil B. Wilson, an internist from Winter Park, Fla., who became AMA president in June, is pressing for a 13-month patch that would prevent the Medicare physician cuts. In April, the Congressional Budget Office said that blocking the cuts until January 2012 would cost about $15 billion. A long-term formula fix, through 2020, would cost about $276 billion, it said.

[…]
“Four hundred physicians across the country were involved in a webinar, in which we talked to them about their options. The reality is between now and the end of December physicians have to make a decision about their status related to Medicare. So we are trying to provide information to [them] so they can make a wise decision. Our concern, of course, is that if Congress in the lame-duck session does not address this problem, or they address it in ways that are disruptive to physicians’ practices, more physicians are going to say, “You know, I’m just out of here. I cannot keep my doors open and provide care for other patients.”
[…]

“This is not about the AMA; this is about senior citizens who need care. I can just tell you from my own [experience in] Winter Park, Fla., the conversation in the grocery store lines [or] at the shopping mart is, “Do you know any physician who is still taking new Medicare patients?” And the answer is no.”

Why are payments to doctors liable to be cut? Because of the absolutely false belief the federal debt is too high, and must be paid by future taxpayers. This just one more example, out of hundreds, of the inexcusable damage debt-hawk ignorance causes us. And they call this “fiscal prudence.”

Hello, all you supporters of federal debt reduction. Thanks for nothing.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
http://www.rodgermitchell.com

No nation can tax itself into prosperity. Those who say the stimulus “didn’t work” remind of the guy whose house is on fire. A neighbor runs with a garden hose and starts spraying, but the fire continues. The neighbor wants to call the fire department, which would bring the big hoses, but the guy says, “Don’t call. As you can see, water doesn’t put out fires.”