Health care 2017

MEDICAID EXPANSION BIGGEST HURDLE

OBAMACARE MADE PROBLEMS WORSE

 

 

 

Before The Affordable Health care Act was passed, the biggest problem with health care was the cost and the growing number of uninsured. Now the problems have multiplied and seems to be impacting everything from employment opportunities, a reluctance of business to expand and almost all facets of business and life. Many of these problems are not evident to the majority of Americans. Most receive their insurance coverage from their employer, all they see is that they have had increases in their contribution to the premium, increased deductibles and co-pays. There is also a 4.3% tax on real estate that they are surprised to find out when they sell their home. This along with 13 other taxes. Penalties for those who do not purchase insurance. This is mostly the self -pay portion of society around 22 million. Many of these were previously insured but the cost of insurance and the coverage and deductibles have made it a bad deal.

 

The increase in the insured portion accomplished through the ACA has been mostly in Medicaid expansion. Medicaid was put into place to pay for those that are handicapped, disabled,  children and those unable to work. Medicaid was available to those who were at the national poverty rate. Medicaid expansion raised this rate to 133% of the poverty rate, this was paid for by the federal government until 2020. After 2020 it will be financed 90% by the Federal government 10% by the states. 32 states took the expansion, those that refused feared that in the end the cost of the expansion will be placed onto the states and increase their own financial problems.  68 million are now on Medicaid. The reimbursements have been continuously lowered to those that provide healthcare to Medicaid patients. It will soon be difficult to get service if you are on Medicaid. Being insured through the exchanges or being on Medicaid does not guarantee quality healthcare. It provides a statistic but the end result has been very high deductibles and co-pays of  up to 40% on the exchanges and lack of access on Medicaid.

 

The recent legislation has attempted to put in policies that will lower premiums, thereby encouraging the uninsured to purchase insurance, restrain the exploding costs of Medicaid, eliminate the regulations on business to increase employment opportunities and business expansion. The impasse is between those who believe in a market, competitive health insurance market, and those who want government provided healthcare for all. Most big business want to rid themselves of the burden of providing health insurance. As more cost shifting is employed, their costs are continuously rising. Once government became involved in health care there has been one crisis after another. This of course is how it works, pass legislation to fix a supposed problem, make the problem worse or create more problems, then pass more legislation that increases the government role, and the cycle goes on. It is now probably to the point that it will never be made better. It will be a continuous slide that results in  poor quality, limited availability, mediocre personal and a great government bureaucracy. The great result will be equality, it will be equally poor healthcare for all.

Democrats caught in classic Catch-22 dillema

CAN DEMOCRATS REBUILD PARTY IN NEAR FUTURE?

REBUILDING AFTER OBAMA MAY TAKE YEARS

 

 

 

The Democratic post election losses have increased the calls for new leadership of their party. While new leadership is needed, they also will need to come up with a platform and objectives that appeal to the majority of Americans.  The democratic party under Obama has moved to the extreme left, they are now associated with the policies of redistribution, class and race division, a disrespectful attitude toward the police, open borders with unlimited and unregulated immigration, an objective of placing large segments of society in a dependent state, and increased regulations on every aspect of business and life.

 

In the last election they ran on, " More of the same", and opposition to Trump. There was no real platform with objectives for the future. There was a good reason for this, if they would have run on an open and honest platform for what their party specifically stands for at this time, they would have had even greater losses. This is their Catch -22 dilemma, If they move the party platform to the center, to appeal to the average American, their coalition will blow up. If they continue on the path they have taken , they will continue to loose. They have lost over 1000 state seats, the house, the senate and presidency. While Trump is hated by the left, he ran a campaign with a platform and ideas for the future. He was honest about his proposals, not bashful, not embarrassed, and it gained him respect from many Americans, some who may not particularly like his personality, but at least they   know who he is. 

 

If the Democratic base has its way their new leadership will be Corey Booker, Keith Ellison, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and they will continue to loose. If they choose new leadership in the image of the old Clinton democratic leadership group, their coalition will disintegrate. Another catch-22 dilemma. The Democratic party has been reduced to be the party of Government workers, bureaucrats, and the fringes of society. To rebuild, they will need to win elections in local and state elections by appealing to everyday Americans. This is much like a Sports team whose stars are now old and their rookies are mediocre. Rebuilding may take many seasons and a new strategy to become a winner again.

 

 

The Trump show continues.

TRUMP SHOW STAYS AT #1 IN VIEWERSHIP!

CAST OF 1000'S ENJOYING LIMELIGHT

 

It seems the media is beginning to realize that the national reality show that emerged in June 2015 may be the best show, with the best ratings, in the history of television. While the media has portrayed Donald Trump as in a state of despair and on the verge of a  breakdown due to their coverage of his administration, it is becoming clear that they are all part of the cast of the Trump Show. One can see Trump and Bannon brain storming and Trump saying to Bannon, as he tweets a morning tweet, "Lets see what they say about this", as they watch the morning shows.  Is this really what's going on? Can they keep this up for 4 or 8 years? Has the media been played since the beginning? Did their hate and disapproval put Trump in the White House?

 

The cast of 1000's includes Senators who say they wont, but we know they really will.  Freedom caucus members who can't but eventually can. Leaks from the White House that there is disarray, and firings and replacements are imminent, but never happen. Comey better hope that there are not tapes if he is about to leak, then there are no tapes. Trump never said there were tapes. Senators and House members engaged in hearings that have created more smoke and flashing lights than a MTV special, but no real answers. A special prosecutor who has hired all Obama and Clinton lawyers. Is this going to be another foil for Trump? It may be a dangerous game, but that is all the more the allure that just keeps happening. This is a script that is made up daily, sometimes reactionary, sometimes well planned, sometime a misfire.

 

All the while, Trump is rolling back decades of progressive policies, while everyone is focused on the entertainment provided by the media.

 

IS THIS REALLY THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH?.

Northwestern Lehigh June board meeting

ALL DAY KINDERGARTEN TO START 2018-19

WILL BE VOLUNTARY

The Northwestern Lehigh board voted 6-1 to approve all day kindergarten beginning in 2018. John Casciano voted no on this proposal. Administrative salaries were approved for the 17-18 school year they are as follows;

 

Northwestern Lehigh School District 2017-2018 Administrative Salaries June 21, 2017

1718 Salaries
Superintendent	157,274
Assistant Superintendent	134,355
Business Administrator	123,306
Director of Human Resources	119,507
Director of Curriculum & Instruction	116,252
High School Principal	122,634
Director Student Services	107,687
Director of Operations	112,541
Middle School Principal	107,445
Elementary Principal	115,033
Elementary Principal	91,045
Assistant Middle School Principal	93,629
Assistant High School Principal	93,128
Director of Athletics & Student Activities	91,440
Food Service Supervisor	58,262

The board approved a $5000. stipend for Jason Zimmerman for managing the Tiger Concession for 17-18.

All residents are encouraged to attend these meetings.

 

Illinois ready to go under

ILLINOIS WILL BE TEST AS TO HOW TO DEAL WITH GOVERNMENT FINANCIAL IRRESPONSIBILITY

CALIFORNIA MAY BE NEXT

 

Illinois is now in imminent danger of descending into a death spiral. The state has $250 billion in debt. It spends $3 for every $2 in revenue. It is now reported to be as much as $14 billion behind in paying its current bills. It has an 11% unemployment rate. Corporations are relocating out of the state and the state has lost 78,000 in population in the last 3 years. It is borrowing to pay its pension obligations as the fund can only pay 40 cents on the dollar paid. It has 6000 retired teachers receiving over $100,000 in benefits a year and many retired administrators are receiving over $250,000 a year.

 

The legislature is now focusing on how to expand health care benefits in the state. It seems that they feel there really is not a problem.

 

There is really no provision for states to declare bankruptcy. If it fails to pay its bond holders and looses its ability to borrow it can be declared a failed state by the federal government. It  can then be placed into receivership and a administrator appointed to make the cuts necessary to bring the state into financial health. It can also loose its statehood and be place back into a territory status. This would be for not living up to its constitutional obligations required for statehood. While Illinois is the worst state in the nation for financial responsibility, there are others not too far behind.

California has recently passed a single payer health care bill in the senate. It will cost an estimated $400 billion. This is more than its present budget. It is expected to be financed by a additional 15% tax.  Can anyone predict the results of human action. Many leaving the state and also many more consumers of health care moving into the state. Both Illinois and California have opened the door to illegal immigrants to replace those fleeing their states. While this may help them by receiving more federal aid, it will in the long run replace their high skilled workers with those requiring even more benefits. The next recession will push many of these states over the edge.  

Did Nixon change U.S. politics forever.

 NIXON'S RESIGNATION IN 1974 SET DISASTROUS PRECEDENT

DECISION RAISED HOPE OF OVERTURNING ELECTIONS

 

 

 

The resignation of Richard Nixon on August 8, 1974, the first in U.S. history, has changed politics in this country forever. Almost every president since has been subjected to endless investigations and hearings and accusations in an attempt to diminish or remove them from office. While Nixon was facing a Democratic majority in the House and Senate, rather than resign, he should have fought to the end. The precedent of his resignation has now escalated to the situation we see today. We have seen attempts overturn the elections of Reagan, Clinton, Bush, Obama and now Trump. While those attempts did have some limited evidence of misdeeds, today we see investigations in search of misdeeds to accomplish the desired conclusion.  Trump has few allies in the government, he has promised to reduce the size of government. He is hated by the media, as was Nixon. While he does have a Republican majority in the House in Senate, many are more aligned with the deep state than any party loyalty.

 

The media is enjoying the praise and adoration of Trump's enemies. Most look at Woodward and Bernstein and the Washington Post as the heroes of Nixon's demise. Many hope that they can become famous in some way from the whole affair. The Democrats hope they can so soil the Republicans that they can regain power in Washington and around the country.

 

I remember the Nixon goings on very well, I was convinced by the media that he had to go. Years later I realized the country really had been had. The attempts at the overthrow of all remaining presidents did not succeed. Impeachment of Clinton in the House was as far as it would go and then he was re-elected. The American people are a lot more cynical and distrusting of the media than we were in 1974.  A whole year of investigation has yet to produce any evidence of wrongdoing. The media and Trump's opposition has produced all the smoke in hope that they can fan it into some fire. Maybe they will succeed, and they will be proud of themselves and be some sort of heroes in their own minds. I doubt that Trump will resign, I believe he will fight to the bitter end, as he should. Many will say that he should do it for the good of the country. Just the opposite is true. For the good of the country, these tactics need to be stopped if this country is to survive as we know it.

Dems and media self-destructing

AS  COLLUSION, OBSTRUCTION CHARGES FADE  

DESPERATION INCREASES

IS THE LEFT NOW ENCOURAGING VIOLENCE ?

 

We see today a violent attack on republican members of congress. This, followed the televised depiction of the be-headed head of the President by a CNN entertainer. The depiction in a play in central park of the assassination of the President. This play was sponsored by the New York Times, CNN and others. The vehemence that the media and the democratic party are attempting to overthrow the election of Donald Trump is unprecedented in American History. This is the kind of atmosphere that was prevalent in central Europe in 1917, or occurred in the political scene of 1860 America in the U.S.. It seems the media believes it is above criticism and that they have the right to eliminate anyone who takes them on.

 

 It all started with the unexpected win by Donald Trump in the 2016 election. The dems and the media could not accept that Trump won even with the media being an unpaid extension of the Clinton campaign. Since that time, starting the day after the election, the plan has been to overthrow this election by any means possible. Is it now a media and democratic plan, seeing that their collusion charges have mostly fallen by the wayside, that is very unlikely to prove obstruction about a non-existent crime, that they are now encouraging violence against the president, and republican office holders. This is how civil wars are started. Lets hope that there is not some retaliation against democratic office holders.

 

What ever happened to debating the issues? There could be common ground on many of the issues of the day. But the strategy of the left has been to silence debate, either on college campuses or the political arena. It seems when they are losing the debate, they first try to silence by using every label of political correctness, then resort to violence. The strategy has been to diminish Trump, to embarrass him and his supporters. They may believe that this will quell the uprising against the establishment government. I doubt it. Trump won support by voicing what many have been thinking for decades. That will not go away if Trump is impeached or assassinated. But people better realize the nation is on the edge of chaos and violence none of us have seen or hope to ever see in our country.

Pennsylvania pension and tax reform

TOO LITTLE, BUT A START

PROPERTY TAX BILL INTRODUCED IN SENATE

 

 

 

The Pension reform bill passed both sides of the legislature and is now expected to be signed by Gov. Wolf. While it is a step in the right direction, it will need to be addressed again in the future. It moves to put new hires into a 401 type pension plan, raise contributions of existing employees, and makes other minor changes.

 

The Pension fund is now unfunded by over $60 billion and possibly $74 billion depending how it is calculated. It paid out $4.8 billion in 2016 and is excepted to rise to $7.3 billion by 2025. Most of the provisions will not come into effect till 2019. If changes would have been made 10 years ago when the problem became evident, it could be well on its way to sustainability.These changes may be too little too late. The economic well being of school districts, and the state in general is being hampered by this pension plan.

 

The Senate has introduced Act 76 this past week, it has 20 sponsors in the senate and 4 in the committee. It is very possible to pass the senate this year. This bill would eliminate the property tax and replace it with raises in the income and sales tax. Its future in the house is not clear and whether the governor would sign such a bill is unclear. You can expect this issue to be a campaign issue in the future.

 

Fiscal reform is needed in this state if it is going to be competitive in attracting business. While we see at least an acknowledgment that reform is necessary it will be a contest between special interests and the well being of the whole state. Things may have to decline further till real action is taken.

Comey Testimony raises many questions

INVESTIGATIONS NOW TO SPREAD TO DEMOCRATS

COMEY RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT HIMSELF

 

 

 

The Senate hearing yesterday was anti-climatic. After the hype raised by the media it was impossible to live up to expectations.  While less than expected by many, it looks like the testimony is going to lead to more investigations into the 2016 campaign. Comey revealed that he acquiesced to demands by Loretta Lynch to use the label, " Matter" rather than "Investigation" in regards to the Clinton email server investigation. He also revealed that he started keeping detailed notes or memos about his interaction with Trump even before the inauguration, but admitted he never kept notes about his interaction with Clinton, Lynch, or anyone else. He admitted it was because of his opinion as to the nature of Donald Trump. It also opened a window into the jockeying of both Comey and Trump with matters of trust. It appeared neither trusted the other from the beginning. I am sure Comey's performance in the 2016 campaign led to questions of trust by Trump. Comey seemed to believe he would be fired sooner or later. Whether he believed his documentation could be used to secure his position or whether it was a plan from the beginning to put the President in Jeopardy may never be known. We expect to see more questioning of Comey in the future.

 

What we did learn was that Trump, up to the time of Comey's firing, was not under investigation. That the president was concerned about the cloud of the investigation and hoped that Comey could let it be known that Trump was not under investigation. This was known before the hearing. That Trump had put in a good word for Flynn, hoping that his military record would be taken into account with any action taken by the FBI. That on 3 occasions Comey assured Trump that he was not under investigation. That there is still no proof of a collusion of the Trump campaign and the Russians. That Comey leaked his memo's through an intermediary to the New York Times, hoping it would trigger a special council. That Comey believed he was fired because of the Russian investigation. No one asked Comey if he or any of his associates had leaked information at any time. It seems Flynn is under jeopardy due to paperwork errors or omissions concerning his firm lobbying for Turkey and money paid for appearing at an event in Russia.

 

Part of the problem with this whole business, is that shortly after the election, many democrats predicted that Trump would be forced out of office within months. Trump has not only been under siege since he announced his candidacy, but the same assault by the media has continued and intensified. The whole business was started before Obama left office, rules for the dissemination of classified data were changed days before the inauguration. Leaks have been rampant, many coming from the intelligence community, no effort seemed to made by the FBI to investigate leaks. It appears every phone conversation and meeting by Trump is being recorded and made public by someone. Now that it increasingly appears that there was no collusion concerning the campaign and the Russians, it is now shifting to obstruction and you can expect to see them attempt to place Trump under oath to catch him in perjury. He should respectfully decline to testify. Of course, the agenda is to force Trump out of office or at least hamper his ability to pass any meaningful legislation. While this may be applauded by those who hate Trump, were is all this going to go in the future, we can see that there will be no unity of the country, probably in our lifetime. It will probably take a major all out war or economic collapse to possibly unite the country. But I really doubt that even that will do it, but will probably be used to increase political opportunity.

 

I increasingly believe we have seen the best days of America, and that political and economic self interest at all levels of government and the citizenry is what rules and may lead to the end of this experiment in self government.

More U.K. terror

IS TERRORISM IN THE WEST ACCELERATING?

ARE THERE ANY REAL SOLUTIONS?

 

 

As predicted by many, the increased pressure on ISIS in Syria and the other mid-east countries has accelerated terrorist attacks in Europe. If you listen closely, we see that the strategy is now annihilation of ISIS on the battlefield. It seems there are few prisoners, the new strategy is eradication. While this will eventually take away ISIS safe places in the middle-east it will be a lengthy process.  There are at least 6 countries in the region with no viable government control. It will require the large nations of the middle east to secure this area, it could now take decades. President Trump's visit to the region was an attempt to unify stable Muslim governments in an attempt to put an end to ISIS. While this is part of a long range solution, we will have to wait to see if it is successful.

 

As for terrorist attacks in Europe and the U.S., there really is no end in sight. Europe has a reported 30,000 possible terrorists on the loose across the region. It is an impossible task to keep track on all of them. They will inevitably have to step up the apprehension and elimination of radicals in their countries. I would expect one day to see the forced expulsion of non-citizens out of the E.U.. They are not there yet, but how long can a country pay the burden in financial, political and quality of life costs. As for the U.S. the FBI has stated that they have as many as 1000 active investigations underway. If this continues to increase, it will soon become unmanageable. We are blessed by oceans on most of our borders, so it is easier for us to control who comes here, but not a simple job. So far we may have a chance to protect ourselves, but the situation in Europe is far more dismal. We keep hearing that most of these terrorists were born  citizens in these countries. They are the children of immigrants who came here and to Europe in the beginning of mid-east turmoil  now 4 decades ago. Did they learn to hate westerners from their parents? Has this fertile ground for terrorists of the future multiplied 100 fold with the new crop of immigrants and refuges? Is this a gamble we can afford to take?

 

Short term, we can help to kill ISIS members and other terrorists. Does anyone believe that rehabilitation is possible? Long term, the prospects are not good. We may one day have to disengage from the middle east and let the governments of the area sort it out for themselves. After all, the rulers of the middle-east have controlled their populations for centuries. Real democracy has yet to take a firm hold, and without stability, democracy is impossible. Democracy has to come from a strong desire of the citizens, it cannot be forced from the outside.