[quote=CONCHO]
Wrong. Look on the back of your paycheck, you should see both SSDI and MDCR. SSDI taxes combined employer/employee are 12.4% of gross up to the SS limit of $102000. MDCR combined employer/employee is 2.9% of gross up to the SS limit. So the amounts are deducted separately.
However all of this goes into the general fund and can be used to build bridges to nowhere. buy a welfare queen a Cadillac, or bomb goatherders in places that 99% of Americans can’t find on a map.[/quote]
SS and Medicare are deducted separately, though some employers do lump them together for the purpose of showing deductions from paychecks. (which is perfectly legal)
However, technically, neither OASDI nor Medicare taxes go directly into the general fund. Both go into their separate trusts, which, by law, can only be invested in non-negotiable special issue US government securities. So the old canard that the goverment is “raiding” the trust funds is just that. Even if it weren’t required for the current budget, it would still be lent back to the general fund, there is no place else for it to go, even if there was no other federal debt and the budget was otherwise balanced or showed a surplus.
As to the broader point, comparing the financing of Medicare with the financing of the proposed public options is absurd. Medicare is not designed to be a full cost/premium plan. The proposed public option plans (at least with regards to the House plan) is. The actual operation of the reimbursement side is comparable. (Though not necessarily coverage. Ultimately, coverage design may be significantly different.)
And medicare is, and has been for over 40 years, a reasonably efficient operation. Specially when compared to the public perception of government bureaucracies. Reimbursement for most medical providers is close to market rates in most markets, and payment is efficient (specially when compared to private insurance companies). As noted, administrative costs are very low. It does have problems. Fraud has been almost ignored for the last 8 years, though improvements have been significant recently through better enforcement, and it can still get better.
