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In reply to the discussion: Did Obama say that Medicare is the biggest contributor to the deficit? [View all]dkf
(37,305 posts)26. The payroll tax is only for part A.
http://www.medicare.gov/what-medicare-covers/part-a/what-part-a-covers.html
In general, Part A covers:
Hospital care
Skilled nursing facility care
Nursing home care (as long as custodial care isn't the only care you need)
Hospice
Home health services
It doesn't cover these services which are part B:
Part B provides coverage for doctors services outside the hospital setting and other medical services that Part A doesn't cover. Additional services covered include:
Doctor visits received as an inpatient at a hospital or at a doctor's office, or as an outpatient at a hospital or other health care facility
Medically necessary services or supplies that are needed for the diagnosis or treatment of your medical condition and meet accepted standards of medical practice. (for example, laboratory tests, X-rays, physical therapy or rehabilitation services, etc.)
Ambulance services.
Some home health care.
Preventative services to prevent illness or detect it at an early stage, when treatment is most likely to work best. (for example, pap tests, flu shots, and colorectal cancer screenings)
http://www.medicare.com/medicare-coverage-basics/medicare-part-b.html
Part B doesn't have a payroll tax fund. Instead it has a fund which receives premiums and general fund monies.
In general, Part A covers:
Hospital care
Skilled nursing facility care
Nursing home care (as long as custodial care isn't the only care you need)
Hospice
Home health services
It doesn't cover these services which are part B:
Part B provides coverage for doctors services outside the hospital setting and other medical services that Part A doesn't cover. Additional services covered include:
Doctor visits received as an inpatient at a hospital or at a doctor's office, or as an outpatient at a hospital or other health care facility
Medically necessary services or supplies that are needed for the diagnosis or treatment of your medical condition and meet accepted standards of medical practice. (for example, laboratory tests, X-rays, physical therapy or rehabilitation services, etc.)
Ambulance services.
Some home health care.
Preventative services to prevent illness or detect it at an early stage, when treatment is most likely to work best. (for example, pap tests, flu shots, and colorectal cancer screenings)
http://www.medicare.com/medicare-coverage-basics/medicare-part-b.html
Part B doesn't have a payroll tax fund. Instead it has a fund which receives premiums and general fund monies.
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Did Obama say that Medicare is the biggest contributor to the deficit? [View all]
Stinky The Clown
Jan 2013
OP
Neither does defense. In fact, defense doesn't get anything except money from the federal
HiPointDem
Jan 2013
#49
A lot of what goes into the "Defense" budget actually does go into the domestic economy
Alameda
Jan 2013
#53
big deal, so does a lot of medical spending. Defense spending drives deficits.
HiPointDem
Jan 2013
#54
After all this discussion how is it possible people still don't understand the basics?
dkf
Jan 2013
#11
So are those deficits from Bush tax cuts going to morph into deficits from Obama tax cuts?
dkf
Jan 2013
#15
Thats the past drivers of the current debt as it stands today. Future deficit projections
phleshdef
Jan 2013
#23
They don't go away because unemployment is currently a far bigger problem than the deficit.
bornskeptic
Jan 2013
#58
Hogwash. More than half of medicare costs are paid directly by beneficiaries.
HiPointDem
Jan 2013
#20
That is a falsehood. More than half of *all* medicare costs are paid by workers, through direct
HiPointDem
Jan 2013
#22
I am specifically addressing the part that we have paid into all our working careers...
dkf
Jan 2013
#46
They shouldn't deny it. He said it. He has been saying it for years. And its 100% true.
phleshdef
Jan 2013
#7
That is the chart I have always used -- it draws a very clear picture, doesn't it?
Samantha
Jan 2013
#30
Defense spending is 19% of the combined federal budget. Medicare spending funded from general
HiPointDem
Jan 2013
#31
End of life care is crazy expensive for a lot of people. Lots of elderly die in ICUs
mucifer
Jan 2013
#17
you realize that these cuts for 'waste' and 'redundancy' have been ongoing, right? how much
HiPointDem
Jan 2013
#32
I'm all for that. I doubt it will ever happen; things are the way they are to ASSIST pharma in
HiPointDem
Jan 2013
#40