Health Care

[ariscus99 1]

From a friend of mine finishing up his residency

The more this crap happens, the more I am convinced that I'd rather live modestly and enjoy lots of time with my family than make a bunch of money and get raped by the government.

I'm thinking something like going into EM and working 20 hours a week and pulling in 140K or so. After paying taxes and loans I'd guess I'll have around 80K left which is enough to live a quiet middle class life and spend some time with my kids at the ball park during the summer.

But hey if the government won't let me enjoy my money, I'll enjoy my time instead. Maybe it's a good thing..work 20 hours per week or so so making sure not to make over $200,000/year. Then take 4 months off during the year. How funny would that be. Then the government would be forced to lower the tax bracket..wait a second...looks like the seed for socialism has been planted

On a serious note: I lost count of how many people I personally know who were premedicine and choose another route such as pharmacy, physician assistant, podiatry, dentistry etc because of the politics going on the last year+. Some had excellent GPA's, MCATS also. Brilliant people who shied away from medicine because of the government. It's really sad

[BJean 16]

ariscus: said when speaking of what George W. Bush did for him: "Protected me and my country from additional terrorist attacks."

Yeah, you personally didn't die in a terrorist attack. And Dubya personally saw to that. Brilliant!

Because if you think that invading Iraq saved you from terrorist attacks, you're wrong again. The terrorists have become stronger and better funded because of that war. That invasion - shock and awe - as Georgie called it, was a huge mistake and of course, we will pay the price for it. In fact, the humongous debt we have is due in large part to that war.

Now what is more important to you, no new taxes or paying off the debt we already have for a war we should never have waged? That your hero, Geo Bush, got us into.

And you say that you pay 50% in income tax on a combined salary of $200,000? Dude, you're doing something really wrong. Or perhaps when I scanned your post I didn't understand what you were saying.

As for comparing me with Cleo'smom, what a compliment!! Thank you so much. I don't deserve it, but if I in any way can be compared to her, I am humbled and feel a strong sense of pride at the suggestion.

And I'm sure that you and patty have such a similar mutual admiration thing going on, eh?

[BJean 16]

ariscus, thanks for bringing my words back to light for all to see. I appreciate it. They are brilliant enough to show again, I agree. :-)

And as for your friend's words, who's surprised that he doesn't want to be a doctor with the health care system that we've had. Doctors haven't been given a fair shake by the insurance companies either. They have their decisions monitored by insurance companies, who have wedged themselves between the patient and doctor. They have a tremendous amount of paperwork that they have to deal with because of insurance companies.

And as my doctor said... several years ago, the U.S. is no longer able to recruit the best and brightest young Americans to become doctors. Now we have thousands of doctors who have been schooled in foreign countries, who have English as a second language and there wasn't been any promise of it turning around during the Bush administration. In fact, year by year it got worse!

You hear what you want to hear. We all do of course, but you really need to stop jumping to conclusions when you read something bad. Stop assuming that it is because of this president that bad things have happened. We haven't been recruiting the best and brightest for medicine long before President Obama was elected and took office.

You all are trying to re-write history but too many of us know the truth. We freakin' had to live through that crap that your guy brought down on our shoulders.

[BJean 16]

This is a losing argument on both sides. You're blinded by the light and I am tired of your same lame, inane line of thinking.

Why don't you stop trying to debate me and I'll do you the same favor.

[LilMissDiva Irene 3,282]

...................................

Edited March 23, 2010 by LilMissDiva
Nevermind, not worth it.

[Cleo's Mom 257]

Protected me and my country from additional terrorist attacks.

Really? This is an example of selective memory that I have been referring to with conservatives.

So here I am to remind you:

9/11 HAPPENED UNDER BUSH'S WATCH. HOW DID HE PROTECT THOSE 3000 PEOPLE WHO DIED OR THIS COUNTRY FROM A TERRORIST ATTACK?

ANYONE CAN CLOSE THE BARN DOOR ONCE MOST OF THE HORSES GOT OUT AND SAY, SEE NO HORSES HAVE GOTTEN OUT UNDER MY WATCH

[ariscus99 1]

Really? This is an example of selective memory that I have been referring to with conservatives.

So here I am to remind you:

9/11 HAPPENED UNDER BUSH'S WATCH. HOW DID HE PROTECT THOSE 3000 PEOPLE WHO DIED OR THIS COUNTRY FROM A TERRORIST ATTACK?ANYONE CAN CLOSE THE BARN DOOR ONCE MOST OF THE HORSES GOT OUT AND SAY, SEE NO HORSES HAVE GOTTEN OUT UNDER MY WATCH[/color][/b]

And this is a perfect example of selective reading. What did I say in the passage that you quoted? Here let me refresh your memory; verbatim: Protected me and my country from additional terrorist attacks. Now unless I've missed where I said 9/11 happened under someone else's watch.....

[ariscus99 1]

ariscus, thanks for bringing my words back to light for all to see. I appreciate it. They are brilliant enough to show again, I agree. :-)

And as for your friend's words, who's surprised that he doesn't want to be a doctor with the health care system that we've had. Doctors haven't been given a fair shake by the insurance companies either. They have their decisions monitored by insurance companies, who have wedged themselves between the patient and doctor. They have a tremendous amount of paperwork that they have to deal with because of insurance companies.

And as my doctor said... several years ago, the U.S. is no longer able to recruit the best and brightest young Americans to become doctors. Now we have thousands of doctors who have been schooled in foreign countries, who have English as a second language and there wasn't been any promise of it turning around during the Bush administration. In fact, year by year it got worse!

You hear what you want to hear. We all do of course, but you really need to stop jumping to conclusions when you read something bad. Stop assuming that it is because of this president that bad things have happened. We haven't been recruiting the best and brightest for medicine long before President Obama was elected and took office.

You all are trying to re-write history but too many of us know the truth. We freakin' had to live through that crap that your guy brought down on our shoulders.

First, when and where did I say Bush was my guy? And where do you get this idea, that I think he is great? Show me something somewhere, that says or implies I think Bush was great. Ask me a simple question like "hey did you vote for Bush?" Why no BJ I didn't.

And what my friend was talking about and was very clear about in that message was that with the (coming, as this was sent to me before he bill passed)passage of obamacare and the new taxes, he will now, make these changes, not because of how the medical field has been in the past, because of how it and the taxes will be in the future. The people he knows that have veered away from becoming physicians, according to him, have done so, because of fear of what this bill will do to the medical field. Again, not because of how it was before, but because of what it will become. Whether he and the people he knows are right or wrong about the bill, that is why their decisions were made. I have two other very close friends from high school that dropped out of med school in this what would have been their 3rd year, and have switched tracks to become lawyers. For; according to them, the same reason, the medical field is about to become a wasteland.

Edited March 23, 2010 by ariscus99

[BJean 16]

missdiva, I agree with you, but to think that doctors are still called to medicine to help people is probably folly. Nearly everybody in America seems to want nothing more than to be wealthy and own more and bigger luxury merchandise. If someone who was thinking of going into medicine can't get the kind of wealth they want, it's no big deal to make a change and do something else that will.

With that kind of greed-driven mindset, it's no wonder that all we hear from those folks has to do with what they are expected to pay to keep our government strong. They expect everybody else to take care of their needs - roads, bridges, police, firemen, their ailing grandparents... but oh no, they sure don't want any of their salary going to the government. The government is the boogy man. The goverment in America is socialism.

Only problem with that is they NEED what the government takes care of, but they don't think that THEY personally should be required to pay for those things. They want to keep every red cent they earn in wages. And for a long time, most rich people did keep most of what they earned.

But now that a more honest, fairer adinistration is in place, they're feeling very threatened! And they should. They've been able to build their portfolios on the backs of hard working middle class Americans.

How do I know this you might ask? Because my portfolio grew by leaps and bounds when there were more and more loop holes for the rich. And now it's time to pay the piper. I am more than willing to do my part and always was, but Georgie boy and his cronies saw to it that I didn't have to. I am glad they're gone and I hope that November (the threat that ariscus made) doesn't bring out a bunch of voters with short term memory loss, because if they do elect a majority of Republicans to Congress, as a country we are really in for it!

[LeighaMason 19]

From a friend of mine finishing up his residency

How Much Americans Actually Pay in Taxes

By CATHERINE RAMPELL Not full article, see complete article hereHow Much Americans Actually Pay in Taxes - Economix Blog - NYTimes.com Fortunately, the Congressional Budget Office recently released updated data on effective average federal tax rates — that is, the percentage of their entire incomes that Americans hand over to the federal government in the form of personal income, social insurance, corporate income and excise taxes. As this is effective tax data, it also takes into account the fact that many Americans use deductions that make their taxes lower than statutory rates would imply.

$140K= 4th quintile effective tax rate is 17.5%

$248,400= 5th quantile effective tax rate is 25.8%

(for ease of example I am going to round the second amount to $250K, I hope you don't mind)

$140K X .175 = $24,500 taxes leaves after taxes $115,500

$250K X .258 = $64,500 taxes leaves after taxes $185,500

So he wants to leave $70K after tax dollars (per year) on the table just because he has to pay extra taxes? (By the way, 5.4% are corporate taxes that he wont have to pay if he is not self employed. The numbers I use above are worst case scenario.)

http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/100xx/doc10068/effective_tax_rates_2006.pdf

[BJean 16]

ariscus "medical wasteland"? You're a stitch! At this point I just have to laugh.

Yeah, I thought George was your boy. You speak in Bushisms. The thoughts you post are line by line what the Bushyheads have fed you. If you didn't vote for him it's probably because you didn't vote. But I don't expect you to admit that. Or you brilliantly voted Independent, which was a non-vote in its' own way.

But the fact that you are so consumed with taxes and big government and you're vocal about it NOW and not when Bush was in office should really tell you something. It tells me a lot.

[BJean 16]

Once again Leisha, you pop up with relevant information. Thanks.

[ariscus99 1]

How Much Americans Actually Pay in Taxes

By CATHERINE RAMPELL Not full article, see complete article hereHow Much Americans Actually Pay in Taxes - Economix Blog - NYTimes.com Fortunately, the Congressional Budget Office recently released updated data on effective average federal tax rates — that is, the percentage of their entire incomes that Americans hand over to the federal government in the form of personal income, social insurance, corporate income and excise taxes. As this is effective tax data, it also takes into account the fact that many Americans use deductions that make their taxes lower than statutory rates would imply.

$140K= 4th quintile effective tax rate is 17.5%

$248,400= 5th quantile effective tax rate is 25.8%

(for ease of example I am going to round the second amount to $250K, I hope you don't mind)

$140K X .175 = $24,500 taxes leaves after taxes $115,500

$250K X .258 = $64,500 taxes leaves after taxes $185,500

So he wants to leave $70K after tax dollars (per year) on the table just because he has to pay extra taxes? (By the way, 5.4% are corporate taxes that he wont have to pay if he is not self employed. The numbers I use above are worst case scenario.)

http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/100xx/doc10068/effective_tax_rates_2006.pdf

Feel free to factor in state taxes as well, we are trying to be honest here aren't we?

[LeighaMason 19]

Texas doesn't have "state taxes", we pay "property taxes" based on the value of our property.

Edited March 23, 2010 by LeighaMason
changed your to our

[KartMan 58]

Protected me and my country from additional terrorist attacks.

Really?

That is an incredibly myopic and ignorant view of history. The unjustified and unnecessary war in Iraq created more terrorists than any recruiting drive Al-Qaida could have conceived of. The war in Iraq also created a tremendous opportunity for Iran to become the nemesis they are today. The illegal torture techniques, Abu Ghraib, and Guantanamo (Cheney still defends these today) are all used by our enemies as a justification for everything they are doing. The ongoing doomed to failure approach in Afghanistan is doing nothing more than propping up a corrupt drug dealing dictatorship and a civil war that is of no business of ours.