Thursday, July 21, 2011

Traveling at 20 Times the Speed of Sound

In the 1930's my parents lived in Sumatra, Dutch East Indies - now Indonesia. It took them 3-4 weeks to get home for vacation. It could take six weeks to get mail from the States. And, it would take about a week to schedule a phone call back home for my grandmother's birthday or Christmas.
This morning the Space Shuttle Atlantis did its deorbit burn over Sumatra and it was on the ground in Florida in about an hour. And, my parents thought that waiting a week for a phone call back home was an amazing technolgical advancement. You young'ns will never understand how good you have it.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Obama: Means Test Medicare

Obama said today that he would be in favor of means testing Medicare - that is, people with higher incomes would pay a higher premium for their basic medicare coverage. That's a great idea Mr. Obama. Only thing is - WE ALREADY DO THAT!

You know - we need someone leading the Executive Branch that has a clue.

The basic Medicare Part B costs $96.40 per month for married taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes up to $170,000. As income increases, the premium increases up to a maximum of $353.60 for married taxpayers earning over $428,000. Now, a good topic might be to increase the premium for those higher income taxpayers. Food for thought - those on Medicare Advantage are covered by an insurance company much like an HMO. This HMO Advantage plan gets paid on average $900 per month for each enrollee by the government. That's right, I pay $96.40 a month for my Medicare Advantage plan and my insurance company gets $900 a month to take cae of all my medical needs. No wonder that invite me to an annual update meeting at a fancy hotel with fancy finger food.