| Show IT THURSDAY PIN 0 10W Sfjttmbkr92004 A10 nvsitrfcCMi Our View A health insurance plan that serves millions of Americans raises its rates significantly twice in as many years promises new benefits it cannot afford to deliver rolls over for the drug providers it should be Jawboning and hides significant data from its own board of directors Complain to the government? It is the government Medicare the federal health care plan that has made the difference between poverty and independence for millions of American retirees increasingly looks like one of those too insurance deals that state regulators sometimes crack down on Rut there's nobody to crack down on Medicare except Congress and the president And leaders of both parties are too busy claiming credit for the misleading new prescription drug coverage that nobody's in a good-to-be-tru- crack-dow- e n mood Officials announced the Friday before Labor Day weekend — when they knew few journalists and fewer real people would be paying attention — that Medicare premiums are going up by $1160 a month to $7820 the largest dollar hike in the program's history hike on top of That's a last year's 14 percent About a tenth of the increase will go toward inducing private insurance carriers to lure some customers away from traditional Medicare and into supposedly competitive managed care plans This is a new verse of the same HMLIBJRPN SpCK Social tirement That is what President Bush proposed last week in his nomination acceptance speech What the president did not say is that this plan would actually make the problem of paying for the Baby Boomers' benefits worse because the portion of payroll taxes diverted to private accounts would not be available There was a time early in the president's first term when the nation was running a healthy budget surplus Then Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan had talked about a more radical Social Security reform Their informal proposal The cost of the drug benefit was horribly misrepresented by the Department of Health and I luman Services so much so that the Government Accountability Office has ruled that the former head of Medicare Thomas A Scully illegally drew his federal salary for the seven months before he left for private industry because he violated a federal law against hiding information from Congress Scully won't pay and the Bush administration says a law penalizing executive branch workers is an unconstitutional breach of the separation of powers The GAO says that for sitting on civil service estimates that the drug plan would cost $534 billion over 10 years instead of the $400 billion claim that was low enough to attract trie necessary votes in Congress Scully owes the government nearly $85000 — or a year's worth of Medicare premiums for some 90 people That's not much But it would be a little justice would have kept all taxpayers over the age of 37 in traditional Social Security Those under 37 would have been put into entirely privatized accounts To bridge the gap in paying for the boomers' retirement this plan would have used $1 trillion of the budget surpluses That idea is now but a fond memory since a sagging economy the Bush tax cuts and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have moved the federal budget from surpluses to steep deficits The $1 trillion to finance the transition is no longer available But Greenspan is still warning that the nation must face up to the looming Social Security crisis Most politicians don't want to touch the problem because any solution must involve a combination of unpopular options: higher retirement ages at which benefits would become available higher payroll taxes and lower benefits Some experts argue that the government could borrow money to bridge the gap in boomer benefits or help finance private investment accounts but that would compound the deficit President Bush made Social Security reform a pillar of his first election platform and he has returned to it again in this election You can fault the president for not pursuing it in his first terra because he chose tax cuts instead But at least he is keeping the issue before the public Publisher Editor WlUJAM DfcUl SlNCI£TON Nancy Conway PastPubliiiien Vun Andkuon Editorial Pagr Editor (ItfUHfiO) Johk W (Iajjjvam (lyW-iym- Executive Editor Tom Badkm i) Managing Editors Tm FrnvATKicK L DoMIKlC WUX'H (Um U)W) " I ers ©hfgaltMeSribtme Firfatm 7 ! co-pa- Utah's Independent Voice Since 1871 John F l song that has been such a dud for the last few years as every attempt to offer retirees enough benefits to lure them away from Medicare has actually raised costs when the point of competition is to lower them What the higher rates won't cover is the new prescription drug coverage That plan has its own fees deductible and but without the ability to negotiate bulk buys with pharmaceutical makers offers precious little benefit to anyone Except pharmaceutical mak- Social insecurity Security is like the Everybody talks it but nobody does about it That's because the crisis is still a ways off Social Security currently is running a surplus but in about 2019 the payroll taxes that support it won't be enough to pay benefits to the retired Baby Boomers Until then politicians can continue to ignore the problem There's a price to pay for delay however If the nation agrees on a new plan to shore up Social Security now there are more options available For example it may be possible to allow younger taxpayers to divert a portion of their payroll taxes into private retirement accounts that could be invested and grow for their re- 193 Sept 2002 — Sept 2004 Medicare muddle r $30 IRAQ PROFIT AND LOSS STATEMENT TtkltVOKMK M K'H AJ-- Amahi am I - it -- ii in iml fc- -r -- — iirr ii'iiiiiniinrr-nmHTiMi- rr- r- mm!- n m --- J - The Public Forum Kerry did his duty How There is no duty of citizenship greater than the constitutional obligation to defend this country against all threats both external and internal including the harmful policies of its leaders John Kerry may not be a perfect man senator or presidential candidate but he had the courage to return from a war he and then defend experienced first-hanAmerican values by speaking out against the tragedies of that war Most Americans now agree that the war in Vietnam and our government's policies at the time were rife with mistakes of horrendous proportion The consequences of those mistakes haunt America to this day Kerry's efforts to educate the public and influence Congress concerning the follies of Vietnam demonstrate levels of citizenship and patriotism that most of us will never experience The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth with the tacit support of the Bush administration arc waging war against Kerry's patriotism because they want an America where everyone possesses the same thoughts and beliefs as their own Well that's just not the way a democracy works Disagreeing with John Kerry's viewpoints during and after Vietnam is totally appropriate but to question his patriotism is an insult to democracy itself ItODCKR RkNSTKOM llolhulay For the common good With respect to Bid Roberts' "Most asinine idea" (Forum Sept 5) one of the tenets of a society is that individual rights must be subordinated for the common good Because secondhand smoke does indeed cause cancer Mr Roberts docs not have a constitutional right to smoke where his smoke may cause harm to others KkrmitHkid SaltLaJceCity Nothing to be ashamed of Itad Charles Kimball done his homework (Tribune Sept 5 "Misusing a tragedy") he'd know President Bush stood beside Mayor Giuliani three years ago in the ashes of the World Trade Center and made a commitment to hold the 2004 Republican Convention there as a show of support for that broken community Since then the president has kept his promise and not wavered in the pursuit of those responsible for that nightmare I attended the convention and can tell you the New York City policemen and firemen we spoke with were delighted to host us some actually lamenting the lack of real protesters Furthermore the residents we talked to were friendly and eager to discuss politics Amazingly not one person mentioned the Republicans "using" the World Trade Center for their own selfish purposes As Mr Kimball and his liberal colleagues campaign on a platform of negativity the Republicans continue to show leadership in many areas: rebuilding a weakened economy nursing a crippled defense system to health and taking the lead In fighting global terrorism to name just a few To even the most casual observer it's been a productive four years and there is nothing for the Republican Party to be ashamed of Dana Dickson Suit jahr City to reach us Phone Number Kearns stands by Workman on Tribune Fax: soi I am a resident of Kearns once one of the forgotten areas of Salt Lake County For years Kearns has been treated as the county's stepchild Mayor Nancy Workman has given us something no other state or county representative bothered to give us: respect! She has backed our Take Pride in America project Neighborhood Pride Day which just received two awards one state and one national She helped us k ick offand has continued to support our Believe in Kearns! campaign She has assisted us in the recycling program and the citywide dumpster pickup When she heard complaints concerning lots that had weeds taller than county codes allow abandoned autos in both front and back yards and the wayward landlords or property owners who allowed their properties to get trashy she listened and made sure there were more county inspectors sent " to our community Because of Mayor Workman the community has a liaison attending the town council meeting once a month who then relays to her what events andor problems we may be having She also sets aside some time onqa month to open the doors to her office and listen to what the residentHf JZ Kearns have to say For the first time in eons an elected official has not only paid attentionlp residents on the east side of the valiejf but to those on the west side as wel- lKearns respects and stands behind ZZ Mayor Nancy Workman d (Please send text only attachments will not be opened) Mali: Public Forum The Salt Lake Tribune PO Box 867 Salt Lake City Utah 84110 Letter Guidelines The Tribune welcomes letters of up to 25j0 words on topics of genera interest Letters must Include full name home address and day and evening phone numbers Only the name and city of residence are published Letters may be edited for length grammar and accuracy Due to volume not all submissions are published Mainspring of progress The Tribune editorial "John McCain's moment" (Sept 1) was a thoughtful truthful totally necessary statement regarding our current condition in international relations Every point the writer makes is true and wise 1 believe the writer's analysis of Islam as founded Ls true but usually ignored in this country In 1956 the editorial page editor of the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph newspaper loaned me a copy of Henry Grady Weaver's Mainspring of Human Progress That mainspring is intellectual and personal freedom Islam kept the mainspring alive in the world for many years When Clarence Manion was dean of Notre Dame University Law School he wrote The Key to Peace in which he emphasized that same idea and showed that the Constitution of the United States as ratified by the states was and could still be the key to peace And ranting about forcing democracy in all the world is sad I saw more freedom of the people in Honduras from 1947 to 1953 under the dictator General Tiburcio Carrias than we will ever find in the democracies of the socialist revolution Eighty one years ago I was born in a country in which personal and intellectual freedom were normal That country's freedom has been partially destroyed from within It was the United States of America It seems that as in Vietnam in order to save the village we must destroy it Thomas O Brkitmng llolluihiy What lawyers do Attorney Monte Stewart challenges the opinion of Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff AG candidates Gregory Skordas and Andrew McCullough and Quinney Law School Dean (and gubernatorial candidate) Scott Matheson Jr concerning Amendment 3 (Tribune Sept 5) (Oh yes former AGs Paul Van Dam and Jan Graham concur with the current AG and the candidates) lawyers disagree about the meaning of words That's what they do (among other things) So lawyers will d go to court where those accursed judges" will decide what this proposed amendment means And we taxpayers will foot the bilL Before cursing lawyers let's not forget that one of the best trial lawyers in US history was Abe Lincoln And the revered Tom Jefferson was a lawyer too "un-electe- W Paul Wharton Salt Ukr City Claudia NabuS Kaiffyi A nation divided Many people have different opinions on Amendment 3 and that is good We have a free country and we should be able to express our different opinions! The real problem with it is not Uje ideas involved but in the division that it causes People are not going to change whether we get an amendment or not Gay couples are still going to live together and so are all others It seems that some people are afra jd that if we allow gay couples to be recognized other people might stop having children Of course that is absurd But what happens if they aren't recognized is that children would be givena message that the children who hae parents who are "different" are actually inferior They would in effect b taught that those children do not havo'a normal family and discriminatidn would continueor get worse Another major problem with such an amendment is that it divides our states and therefore divides our country Nationally the amendment d id not pass Qn the state level some will pass We will be a nation divided How sad that is Kimbj:rikvSummkhJ Tayhtrtvtile Negative politicking After the Republican National Convention it is becoming excecdiiigjy clear that effective politicking consists of making your party the most attraV tive choice by vilifying your opponents I certainly hope the Iraqis wereij't watching our democracy in action If the Sunnis Shlites and Kurds adit our political tactics a civil war villi ZZ certainly ensue -- MikkPakJEXk WtMVoUryfty POOH |
