11/01/08
Here’s some food for thought. Grab a good toothpick and pick out what’s important to you to chew on!
Recent headlines claim Oprah will be hit hard tax-wise with Obama's plan.
I love Oprah, don't get me wrong but I find it hard put to be upset that out of her earned $275 million for the year she will presumably have to pay $16,775,000 more in taxes under Obama's plan. (Hello!!! It's not like she'll go hungry or become homeless because of this.) I know that she has earned this money. I know that she does a lot of good in the world but still!
Under McCain's plan Oprah would pay about $9,075,000 less in taxes. That's okay with me too, as long as Molly Middle Class doesn't have to pick up the slack, but I ask you, will Molly Middle Class, when she files her taxes, find her tax bill reduced in the same proportion to her earnings as Oprah? I hope so because she’ll have to use it to pay taxes on her insurance benefits.
WHAT? Did you notice? McCain's Plan would treat health care that you get from your employer as taxable cash income? This tax money would go directly to the insurance providers! (The Insurance "providers" will then most likely pass it on to the CEOs as a huge bonus right after they replace said CEOs for non-performance!) ANOTHER PROBABILITY is that those premiums paid by your employer will go to be going up!!
WHAT? Makes sense doesn’t it? Your premiums will have to go up because the insurance companies will have to hire additional employees to do the bookkeeping involved in all that new money coming in. Happy note: New jobs?
WHAT? This could very well put you, Molly Middle Class, into a higher tax bracket. Think about it! If the insurance benefits being paid by your employer amount to $12,000 a year, you MIGHT have to claim that $ as cash income, you definitely will have to pay taxes on it under McCain's plan if it becomes a reality, and it COULD put you in a higher tax bracket!
WHAT? Did you read about the NEW RULES that MEDICARE is going to publish? Get this! MEDICARE WILL NO LONGER PAY your hospital expenses for treating any conditions that were caused by the hospital, conditions that could have been? Things like bedsores, infections that could have been prevented, removal of "things" left inside you during surgery. Now I ask you! Does that make sense? THIS ISSUE THAT WILL AFFECT MILLIONS OF AMERICANS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE ELECTION, so you might want to take note and stay awake during your next surgery!
WHAT? Who will pay? YOU! Because of carelessness, or lack of proper procedure, or just someone not being diligent during your hospital stay, you the patient, will have to pay the bill with your money. You read it right! The Surgeon “accidently” leaves a clamp in you, the clamp is found 3 months later after much stress and discomfort to you, plus many preventable visits to the Dr., you are hospitalized again, the Surgeon removes the clamp, and you COULD receive another hospital bill AND another bill from the Surgeon but MEDICARE WILL NOT PAY!!!! Pretty scary! I know of 3 people that were hospitalized in the last 2 years (different states, different hospitals) and out of those three, 2 of them ended up with a staph infection they acquired while hospitalized after surgery. A staph infection neither of them got rid of for over a year AND 1 of them had to have a second surgery to repair the original surgery that never healed due to the infection!!!!! Pretty bad percentage on the good luck side wouldn't you say? The Centers for Disease Control and Preventions stats say that hospitalized patients develop 1.7 million infections a year. It also states that these infections cause about 270 people a day to die! That’s 99,000 deaths a year!!
Tune in tomorrow for more "Thinking Out Loud"!
Phili Banter
©Copyright 2008 Philomena Banter
