I think Medicare needs to increase their oversight of claims, because there is too much fraud allowed, but everyone except the insurance companies will benefit from expanded Medicare coverage if they fix that criminal Part D giveaway.

Well, FEHPB is fine and dandy – if you can afford it.

The taxpayers (federal & state) heavily subsidize those premiums for government employees. My sister sent me a chart showing the premiums for her Fairfax County choice of plans – it shows the amount paid by “the employer” (which I would assume to be the taxpayers of Fairfax County with possibly some federal funds thrown in) – each employee’s premium is a small fraction of the total cost. No link, as it’s an internal document.

For example, the most expensive (Blue Cross PPO + Davia Vision) is $1503.00 per month for a family policy. The ‘county’ pays $1127.26 per month. The employee pays $375.74 per month. Not sure what her deductible and co-pays run; I know they aren’t much, and she also has a ‘flexible spending plan’ to cover them.

So, who is going to pick up that $1127.26 per month for me?

Not all states/counties offer the same heavy subsidies, but most come close.

It’s hopeful that given a choice, people would go for the expanded Medicare over what will surely be overpriced private policies – which is exactly what FEHBP is, you just get a choice of which one suits you…if you can afford it.

However, unless any expanded Medicare plan is fully funded from the get go – I have serious doubts it will work.

He isn’t a polished performer, Michael, but he has his head on straight.

They knew they wouldn’t get anything passed a veto if they didn’t clump it together, so I expected a less than stellar bill. As long as the Dems fear a smear more than voter backlash, they won’t show any spine.

However, I’m not prepared to see the omnibus bill as quite the catastrophe it’s being painted elsewhere in Left Blogistan. They had to get this done before the end of the year, for both practical and political reasons. And they had to put in some war funding–though like all good compromises, no one walked away from the table completely happy. The Hedgemony got less than half of what it wanted, meaning it will have to come back, hat in hand, somewhere around April of next year, begging for more. Our side didn’t get the strings attached that we wanted–but I’m not sure that was ever a realistic goal in the first place, especially with the Iowa caucuses just a couple of weeks away. From here on out until the first Wednesday after the first Monday next November, everyone’s going to be toeing the middle of the road and playing it safe, so as to hand their opponents as little rope as possible with which to hang them up with the voters.

i’ve only skimmed some of them so far—

– looks good on energy, environment, and agriculture

– out of iraq immediately [yay!], redeploy to afghanistan [boo]

– demoplan on healthcare, but simpler [and my favorite version fo all the demoplans]: medicare at 55, all others have the choice of their present plan or fehbp; his willingness to expand medicare this much might signal a willingness to expand medicare to all [purely speculation on my part]

– health care for veterans: he seems to be a bit fuzzy on the differences between the va and walter reed, which bothers me a bit, but his heart is in the right place

– immigration: i haven’t decided what i’d like to do on this one as a practical matter, but philosophically i prefer the idea of open borders

The parallels are a bit strange, because in both cases the succeeding Georges were less competent and less tied to reality.

I’d almost include Richardson in that list, based on his virtues, but he has not succeeded in getting his name before the voting public, and if he has a signature issue (hipparchia’s trinity each have their own), I haven’t found it. I wish Richardson would assert himself more (not that the media makes it easy for any candidate who is not in their judgment a star).

Who ever takes over in 2009 has multiple messes to clean up, and compromises won’t get it done.