In article ,
 Josh Hill  wrote:


> >Oh yeah, you can make almost 80K and qualify.  The highest
> >tax bracket (what Dems define as the rich) is 67K.
> 
> The Democrats don't define $67,000 as rich: it's middle class by any
> definition. That it's also the highest tax bracket says something
> about the Republican war on the middle class, doesn't it?
> 
   Okay, I need clarification here from both you guys. $67,000 is not 
near the highest tax bracket. It's actually one of the middle ones. 
Also, how does this being a tax bracket say anything at all about your 
alleged war on the middle class. 


>
> Medicare delivers a higher percentage of the insurance dollar to
> medical personnel than any private insurance plan. It's more efficient
> than private systems for much the same reason that Social Security is.
   Actually it doesn't by all that much. The number you keep hearing 
tossed about is the budget figure for Medicare's running of its in-house 
part. This is largely for certain kinds of research and to review the 
work of the Fiscal Intermediaries (EDS, Blue Cross, etc., depending on 
the state). When you add in the money paid to the FI to actually do the 
heavy lifting (paying the bills, keeping the books, etc.) all most all 
of the difference goes away. 



> Most people in this country would be glad to be elevated to that same
> level of mediocrity, thanks in part to managed care, which combines
> the worst features of socialized and for-profit medicine. For all
> except a few who live on Park Avenue, medical care in this country has
> become a bad joke. And countries with socialized medicine allow the
> wealthy to get private care if they want, just as the United States
> allows the wealthy to send their kids to private school.
  Managed care no longer exists in the US and at the top of its game, it 
never had more than a 20% hold on the market. But hey, boogie men are 
useful.
--- SBBSecho 2.12-Win32