[GeneV]

Actually you did say who pays:


And it's actually been at 6.2% since at least 2007. What has gone up is the salary cap at which you stop paying. Personally I think SS should be paid no matter the amount of your salary. $1 - $1million you pay SS on all of it.

Mike is more correct. A tax on your salary is a tax you pay regardless of who writes the check. Perhaps it does not matter to you in setting your employees' salaries, but FICA does to me. It is a tax paid mostly by the employee. I say "mostly" because least by having the employer "pay" it, the tax is deductible.

[GeneV]

True John... I just think that it used to be generally confined to small practices and individual doctors. Few major health care providers could or were willing to forgo that revenue stream. However, now it's happening with major care providers with much greater frequency.

I don't think it is generally accurate to say Medicare pays "pennies" on the dollar. That is true of Medicaid. In rural areas, Medicare has not kept up, but thank congress for that. I believe another poster in the health care industry noted that Medicare usually pays about 95% of the cost. The number of doctors who restrict medicare patients is pretty low. http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-06-20-medicare_N.htm It is actually mostly primary care doctors that are opting out. Some of these doctors are "making a statement."

Orthopedic surgeons and hospitals are some of the highest paid providers in existence. Here in ABQ, the private practice and hospital won't take Blue Cross for similar reasons. If you have Blue Cross, you go to the University Medical Center for Orthopedic surgery--just like a Medicaid patient. Some of the doctors are very good, though.

On the other hand, how do our health care costs ever go down, if we keep paying the same thing for the same services?

[MRRiley]

Maybe I got Medicaid mixed up with Medicare... A friend of mine is the billing manager for the company and were were talking about this the other day... He said they've made more because of the policy though since they are able to schedule appointments for people with private insurance which tends to pay better.

[Nesster]

said those taking out student loans should start paying interest right away, rather than being able to defer payments until after graduation.

really? I've seen the loans first hand, 8 years apart. With our eldest, the rates charged are much lower, with the new centralized way they are higher. And apart from the small government backed amount we qualify for, we're paying interest the minute the funds hit the college cashier's.

I suppose this would make a difference to someone who qualifies for a larger government backed loan. And at the interest rates currently charged (vs early 80s) and the much higher tuition charged, sure that makes a huge difference.

[deadwolfbones]

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) said Tuesday that more than 59 members of his caucus would not vote for any debt ceiling deal.

.....

[deadwolfbones]

The fact that there are 59 elected officials in this country who are actively lobbying for a default is almost too much to comprehend.

[deadwolfbones]

On the other hand, this is pretty good:

Ron Paul to Bernanke: "Is gold money?" Bernanke: "No, it's a precious metal". Paul: "Why do central banks hold it?" Bernanke: "Tradition."

[shooz]

Republican stonewalling?
Who would have thunk?
I thought they were to be voted out by the toss all incumbents movement.
I guess they lied too.

[Nesster]

The fact that there are 59 elected officials in this country who are actively lobbying for a default is almost too much to comprehend.

By their own logic, they aren't lobbying for a default. Rather, they are standing up for principles of smaller government and no new taxes. Either that, or are afraid that in the next Republican primary, they will be made ex-elected officials, should they compromise.

[Nesster]

And here's Mitchie-baby weighing in:

"[W]e knew shutting down the government in 1995 was not going to work for us. It helped Bill Clinton get reelected. I refuse to help Barack Obama get reelected by marching Republicans into a position where we have co-ownership of a bad economy," McConnell said. "It didn't work in 1995. What will happen is the administration will send out to 80 million Social Security recipients and to military families and they will all start attacking members of Congress. That is not a useful place to take us. And the president will have the bully pulpit to blame Republicans for all this disruption."

"If we go into default he will say Republicans are making the economy worse," he concluded. "And all of a sudden we have co-ownership of a bad economy. That is a very bad position going into an election. My first choice was to do something important for the country. But my second obligation is to my party and my conference to prevent them from being sucked into a horrible position politically that would allow the president, probably, to get reelected because we didn't handle this difficult situation correctly."

And Newt adds his $.02

Congressional Republicans should not relent in the battle with President Barack Obama over raising the federal debt ceiling, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said during a presidential campaign swing through South Carolina on Tuesday.

When he was speaker, the Republicans' fight over the budget with President Bill Clinton closed down the government in 1995 and 1996.

"In that process the American people looked up and said they wanted a smaller government," Gingrich said.

"What Republicans shouldn't do is try to back down from this fight," Gingrich said to loud applause from about 150 people attending a town hall meeting organized by the Charleston Tea Party. South Carolina is holding the South's first GOP primary.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell offered on Tuesday to hand the president powers to avert the first-ever government default threatened for Aug. 2. But Gingrich said he doesn't know what McConnell was trying to accomplish.

"The Washington media will tell you we made a huge mistake closing the federal government in 1995 and 1996," he said. "I will tell you as one of the people who did it – baloney."

"I'm deeply opposed to Senator McConnell's plan," he said of the Republican leader's plan during an appearance on Fox News' "Hannity" on Tuesday night. "First, it transfers enormous power to the president. Second, in the real world, it will be easy for the president to get 34 Democratic senators to sustain his veto. So there will be no real cuts."

[shooz]

McConnell is stonewalling because he just doesn't like Obama.
At least that's what he implied.

McConnell: No real deficit deal until Obama is gone - Political Hotsheet - CBS News

[Nesster]

McConnell is stonewalling because he just doesn't a Democrat in the White House.

I took the liberty of correcting you... For Mitch it is Party first, over all else. Winning the next election. Getting a Republican in the WH.

[Parallax]

McConnell is stonewalling because he just doesn't like Obama.
At least that's what he implied.

McConnell: No real deficit deal until Obama is gone - Political Hotsheet - CBS News

I took the liberty of correcting you... For Mitch it is Party first, over all else. Winning the next election. Getting a Republican in the WH.

So that would suggest that he can't even tell the truth about why he is obstructing the process.

[JohnInIndy]

Mike is more correct. A tax on your salary is a tax you pay regardless of who writes the check. Perhaps it does not matter to you in setting your employees' salaries, but FICA does to me. It is a tax paid mostly by the employee. I say "mostly" because least by having the employer "pay" it, the tax is deductible.

My employee negotiates a salary of $120,000 per year. It's a number he agreed to. I also agreed to that number. He's going to have federal taxes and Medicare taxes taken out. Remember, he agreed to the salary. He's worked a job before where taxes where withheld. How is the 6.2% coming out of his check? How is he paying for my portion of the SS tax? I suppose he's also paying UC taxes also? (Unemployment Compensation for our union friends) Sorry, that's out of my pocket any way you want to look at it. I'm not docking his pay for the 6.2% nor for other taxes we pay. He's getting the salary he wants.

[mikemike]

McConnell is stonewalling

How is giving the president a blank check to raist the debt ceiling without actually cutting spending stonewalling?

More than just being blunt, this tendency has also put the brakes to the legislative process. In the immediate aftermath of his proposal to essentially give President Obama the authority to raise the debt ceiling while only demanding that he suggest (not pass) commensurate spending cuts, McConnell was greeted with skepticism.

McConnell Debt Ceiling Strategy: 'I Refuse To Help Obama Reelection'