Medicare Advantage is great. Except for taxpayers
Posted By: Harlowe, 11/3/2023 6:11:45 PM
Every year, from mid-October to early December, millions of Medicare beneficiaries get the chance to pick a new health plan. With dozens to choose from and a blizzard of advertising, more seniors are going with the simplest, cheapest option: privately run plans known as Medicare Advantage.[Snip]Yet Medicare Advantage has drawbacks--notably, its exorbitant cost. Government reports show the program routinely overcharges taxpayers relative to original Medicare--to the tune of $27 billion this year alone--at a time when the system’s solvency is at risk.[Snip]How did Medicare Advantage become, as one study put it, a “money machine”? (Or, less charitably, a “great big rip-off”?)
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Harlowe"
Today a Helsinki appeals court acquitted two Christians of “hate crimes” charges with potential prison sentences for tweeting Bible verses and publishing a Christian booklet about sexual ethics. This unprecedented application of Finnish law has kept Member of Parliament Paivi Rasanen and Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola in court for nearly five years. Despite today’s unanimous ruling [Snip] The state prosecutor told media she will appeal to Finland’s Supreme Court, and the court is likely to take the case[Snip]An adverse ruling could effectively outlaw Christianity in Finland and damage the fundamental human rights to free speech and religious exercise across the world.
An appeals court in Finland has dismissed bogus “hate speech” charges against pro-life Finnish lawmaker Päivi Räsänen in a massive victory for free speech and religious freedom. Christian Democratic MP Päivi Räsänen criticized the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, of which she belongs, for participating in a LGBT pride event in Helsinki.[Snip]The Helsinki Police Department received complaints about the post and decided to investigate Räsänen for an alleged “hate crime.” The government’s agenda-driven investigation found two other instances for the rogue prosecutor to charge Räsänen, including a two-minute segment on a 2019 radio show and a pamphlet she authored, and her church published,
It’s Time For Pro-Lifers To Scrap Their
Losing Electoral Strategy And Adopt The
Lincoln Method 24 replies
Losing Electoral Strategy And Adopt The
Lincoln Method 24 replies
With Tuesday’s relatively easy passage of an Ohio constitutional amendment that effectively bars that state’s legislature from regulating abortion in the state, abortion advocates are now convinced that they not only have the public on their side but have found political gold. They now view abortion as such a winning issue that they think it can pave the way to enacting a wide range of other leftist goals. They are largely mistaken, as abortion mercifully remains a highly contentious issue in America. Still, abortion advocates will continue to prevail until pro-life leaders and politicians learn the political lessons that have arisen
Over 2 million Ohio voters may have jeopardized
their eternal souls by ratifying abortion amendment 10 replies
their eternal souls by ratifying abortion amendment 10 replies
As the pro-life movement assesses the damage caused by the codifying of unrestricted abortion into the state of Ohio’s constitution on Tuesday, perhaps the worst outcome is not even the sure compounding of abuse of women and the carnage of preborn children to come, but rather the spiritual harm this has done to the souls of the reported 2.1 million individuals who ratified this “demonic” amendment.[Snip]Most fundamental to these is the inherent human right to life, which proceeds from the very nature of every human being.
To mark Veterans Day, six national security analysts at The Heritage Foundation who served in the military released a statement Thursday supporting Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s stand against the Pentagon’s abortion policy. President Joe Biden “is the one playing politics with the military,” longtime Heritage national security expert James Jay Carafano, who signed the statement, told The Daily Signal. (The Daily Signal is Heritage’s news outlet.) [Snip] Tuberville and other conservatives argue that the Pentagon’s policy is illegal under the Hyde Amendment, a congressional measure that forbids the use of taxpayer dollars to provide abortions.
After years of fighting antisemitism at her alma mater, Oberlin College graduate Melissa Landa has finally had a breakthrough. In September, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) announced it is investigating the charges she filed against the school back in 2019. Thanks to a Trump-era executive order, the OCR probe could cost the school millions of dollars in federal funding. Legal Insurrection readers have had a break from nonstop news about Oberlin, whose six-year court case with Gibson’s Bakery[Snip]But this high-stakes legal battle puts the school back in the spotlight.
Republican faction seeks to keep courts
from interpreting Ohio's new abortion
rights amendment 3 replies
from interpreting Ohio's new abortion
rights amendment 3 replies
COLUMBUS - Four Ohio Republican state lawmakers are seeking to strip judges of their power to interpret an abortion rights amendment after voters opted to enshrine those rights in the state’s constitution this week. Republican state Reps. Jennifer Gross, Bill Dean, Melanie Miller and Beth Lear said in a news release Thursday that they’ll push to have the Legislature, not the courts, make any decisions about the amendment passed Tuesday. “To prevent mischief by pro-abortion courts with Issue 1, Ohio legislators will consider removing jurisdiction from the judiciary over this ambiguous ballot initiative,” said the mix of fairly new and veteran lawmakers
A new report on the aftermath of the Issue 1 vote in Ohio finds that radical abortion activists spent almost $67 million buying the vote. The incredible level of spending, with significant amounts of dark money coming into Ohio from out of state and out of the country, raises questions about whether the Issue 1 vote accurately depicts the will of Ohio voters or merely reflects an inordinate amount of leftist spending to buy votes. [Snip] Meanwhile, Ohio exit polling shows that one third of those who voted for Issue 1 don’t support abortions up to birth and voted for the measure to preserve
Supreme Court justice sues over Ohio law
requiring certain judicial candidates
to use party labels 5 replies
requiring certain judicial candidates
to use party labels 5 replies
COLUMBUS, OH - A top jurist and former elections chief in Ohio has sued two state officials over a recently passed law that requires certain judicial candidates to declare their party affiliation on ballots. Ohio Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Brunner argues in the lawsuit filed Tuesday that the 2021 law violates the free speech, due process and equal protection clauses of the U.S. Constitution because it subjects candidates like her to different rules for fundraising and campaigning than their potential nonjudicial rivals.[Snip]The legal challenge was filed against Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost in their roles
After Ohio voters on Tuesday approved a constitutional amendment protecting the right to abortion and other forms of reproductive health care, advocates on both sides of the issue are looking at how they can get support on 2024 ballots in at least a dozen states. Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that had protected abortion rights nationally, voters in all seven states that held a statewide vote have backed access. That includes Ohio, where voters Tuesday enshrined abortion access in the state constitution.
Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) says his state’s vote Tuesday to enshrine abortion rights “was a gut punch” for anti-abortion officials such as himself. [Snip] “We have to recognize how much voters mistrust us (meaning elected Republicans) on this issue,” he added. [Snip] We need people to see us as the pro-life party, not just the anti-abortion party.” [Snip] Vance, in his post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, wrote that giving up on the issue “is not an option.” “Instead, we need to understand why we lost this battle so we can win the war,” he wrote.
Ohio voters approved Issue 1 tonight after a monumental abortion battle in the Buckeye State. With 57 percent of the vote counted, Ohio voted 56% to 44% for Issue 1[Snip]The result was not surprising given how abortion advocates bought the vote. Also, Ohio voters also voted today on a ballot measure to legalize marijuana. That very likely increased turnout of liberal voters who were more likely to vote for abortion.[Snip]The out of state dark money and millions from leftists[Snip]allowed the pro-abortion side to dominate TV and online with blatantly false commercials that further angered liberal voters and drove them to the polls in higher numbers.
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Barbra Streisand says she “can’t live in this country” if former President Donald Trump is reelected in 2024, adding that she thinks President Joe Biden has “done a good job.”
“I will move. I can’t live in this country if he became president,” Streisand said told late-night host Stephen Colbert during an interview on The Late Show after being asked about her opinion of the idea of a second second Trump administration. After Colbert asked her where she would live if not the United States, the “Woman in Love” singer said, “Probably to England. I like England.”
When Louisiana’s Mike Johnson was pulled from obscurity and elected House speaker last month, many conservatives were cautiously optimistic that the man with the self-professed biblical “worldview” and somewhat solid voting record would be the fighter they’ve needed to halt Democrats’ Marxist takeover of society. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long to discover that Johnson is just as weak-kneed as his Republican predecessors.
Eight high school students in Las Vegas between the ages of 13 and 17 have been arrested on suspicion of murder in the fatal beating of a 17-year-old classmate, authorities announced Tuesday at a news conference.
Las Vegas police homicide Lt. Jason Johansson said investigators were still working to identify two more students believed to have participated in the Nov. 1 fight that he said was over a pair of wireless headphones and a vape pen.
Johansson said the local FBI office assisted with the arrests Tuesday morning of the eight students. The two outstanding students will also face murder charges, he said.
About 300 million people in the United States would be put at risk of death from exposure to radioactive fallout in the four days following a nuclear attack, according to a new report that models the possible effects of such a grim event.
If the US is attacked with nuclear weapons, an adversary would most likely concentrate all fire on the country's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch facilities.
Any retaliatory attack from the US would come from these silos, located in Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Wyoming - and taking them out would be an enemy's first priority.
Some may blame video games, others the music. Some may lay the problem at the feet of years of progressive education and politics, while still others point to the prevalence of social media. Some will point out that the nuclear family has been atomized over the ages through sexual liberation, federal intervention, and feminism. Others will look to conservatives who dithered about taxes while the country rotted from the inside. More than likely, it was all of the above that contributed to the chaos that reigns in the United States. To a certain degree, cops have always faced a certain level of animus.
During his show on Fox News, Jesse Watters revealed that the Secret Service has been misleading the public about a cocaine investigation at the White House.
According to over 100 pages of documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, the narrative surrounding the discovery and handling of cocaine at the White House appears fraught with inconsistencies and cover-ups.
The Gateway Pundit reported in July that Hazmat crews were dispatched inside the entrance gate near the West Wing of the White House to investigate a suspicious white substance that tested positive for cocaine hydrochloride.
Largest Pro-Israel Rally in US History
as 290,000 Take to National Mall to Condemn Antisemitism 17 replies
as 290,000 Take to National Mall to Condemn Antisemitism 17 replies
On Sunday, I reported on the massive pro-Israel demonstrations that broke out across France over the weekend, and I opined that I hoped such action would make its way here and that Americans would stand against hate. On Tuesday, that’s exactly what happened in Washington D.C., as a crowd estimated at almost 300,000 marched on the National Mall to decry antisemitism and express support for the Jewish people.
It was much different than a pro-Hamas rally, as New York Sun publisher Dovid Efune noted: The differences? Efune lists seven:
1. Nobody was assaulted.
2. There were many American flags.
3. There was no racism or
A female pool player recently forfeited a tournament upon realizing she would be facing off with a transgender opponent – a man who identifies as a woman.
Lynne Pinches made it all the way to the finals at the English Pool Association’s 2023 Champion of Champions Ladies on Sunday and opted to forfeit in protest of competing against a transgender named Harriet Haynes.
“A video of the moment shows that Pinches and Haynes vied to see who would break,” noted the New York Post. “Pinches won and shook hands with Haynes but then walked toward the tournament official and apparently declared a forfeit.”
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan today said Israel was a 'terror state' committing war crimes and violating international law in Gaza, while repeating his view that Hamas gunmen are not terrorists but a 'political party elected by Palestinians'.
In a fiery speech to members of his party, Erdogan said Turkey would work to ensure that Israel's political and military leaders are recognised as 'terrorists' and brought to trial in international courts.
A ranting Erdogan said Israel was a 'terrorists state' intent on destroying Gaza along with the thousands of people who live in the besieged territory.
Sweeping safety changes are coming to Isla Vista after a teenager's fatal fall, Santa Barbara County officials announced. On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors "approved a comprehensive set of safety enhancements for the Isla Vista Bluffs," the county wrote in a press release. The initiative was spurred by the death of Santa Barbara City College student Benjamin “Benny” Schurmer. The 19-year-old fell to his death from an Isla Vista cliff on Sept. 2, the 13th such death since 1994.
The Biden administration is extending a sanctions waiver that will allow Iran continued access to $10 billion in previously frozen assets, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.
The four-month extension will allow Iran continued access to previously frozen $10 billion in electricity revenues for humanitarian aid, according to the AP. Critics of the Biden administration have said that giving Iran to access frozen funds will free up money in Tehran’s money reserves and allow them to carry on sponsoring terrorism. The sanctions waiver will authorize Iraq to continue purchasing electricity services from Iran and give Tehran access to the billions in payments currently stored in the Iraqi banks, according to the AP.
Half Of Dems Want Biden Gone If Inquiries
Show Influence-Peddling With China, Others:
I&I/TIPP Poll 15 replies
Show Influence-Peddling With China, Others:
I&I/TIPP Poll 15 replies
Pushed to the back pages by more pressing news, in particular Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks against Israel, allegations of corruption against President Joe Biden and his family have been relegated to the bottom of the news scroll. But it’s still very much an issue for American voters, the latest I&I/TIPP Poll shows.
The I&I/TIPP Poll first broached this topic in July, when voters were asked what should be done if charges that Biden’s family had taken more than $30 million in payments from overseas governments and corporations proved true. The poll then began tracking responses in August.
As the data show,
Comments:
The system has been misused by insurers overestimating spending. coding patients as more seriously ill than they really are, and providing fewer services than promised that permits insurers, “pocketing the difference.” The editorial suggests Medicare Advantage ought to remain an option “with the right payment reforms ... in the best interests of everyone involved” as an option to Medicare.