Tag: Medicaid

Blanket COVID-19 liability shield will cost taxpayers

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Blanket COVID-19 liability shield will cost taxpayers

As a starting point, it is important to remember who is protected by immunity and who is harmed. Immunity from civil liability for negligence does not prevent harm or injury. It simply shifts the burden and costs to the person or group who has been injured — and all too often, to the taxpayer. The legal standard for negligence requires a plaintiff to prove four separate elements: duty of care, a breach of that duty, harm, and a causal connection between the harm and the breach of duty.

Biden Picks Budget Director Who Pushed Social Security Cuts, Who Deleted Tweets Blasting Republicans

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Biden Picks Budget Director Who Pushed Social Security Cuts

Likely OMB nominee Neera Tanden called for cuts to Social Security, saying “we need to put both entitlements on the table as well as taxes.”

Related:

Biden OMB Nominee Neera Tanden Deletes Tweets Blasting Republicans

Tanden deleted tweets between November 16 and today due to harsh criticism of Republican senators, which she will need for confirmation.

Report Details How Taxpayers Subsidize Cruel Low Wages Paid by Corporate Giants

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Report Details How Taxpayers Subsidize Cruel Low Wages Paid by Corporate Giants

Upon the study’s release Wednesday, Warren Gunnels, staff director and policy adviser for Sanders, tweeted: “The real looting in America is the Walton family becoming $63 billion richer during a pandemic, while paying wages so low that 14,541 of their workers in 9 states need food stamps — all subsidized by U.S. taxpayers. Yes. The Walton family is the real welfare queen in America.”

Related:

Walmart and McDonald’s have the most workers on food stamps and Medicaid, new study shows

Trump promises seniors $200 prescription drug gift certificates, but questions abound

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Trump promises seniors $200 prescription drug gift certificates, but questions abound

The administration is getting its authority to ship the coupons from a Medicare demonstration program, a White House spokesman told STAT in a statement. The nearly $7 billion required to send the coupons, he said, would come from savings from Trump’s “most favored nations” drug pricing proposal. That regulation has also not yet been implemented — meaning the Trump administration is effectively pledging to spend $6.6 billion in savings that do not currently exist. The cards, he said, would be “actual discount cards for prescription drug copays.”

Related:

Trump’s ‘most favored nation’ executive order on drug prices is a scam for seniors

Yet none of these reference pricing proposals show how they would directly reduce out-of-pocket costs for seniors at the pharmacy counter. For example, an Avalere study found that fewer than 1% of older adults in Medicare Part B would see a reduction in out-of-pocket costs as a result of the international pricing index model. In all likelihood, the prices of drugs in other countries will be more affected by the executive order than U.S. drug prices.