Booman Tribune ~ A Progressive Community

Reconciliation

by BooMan
Thu Mar 18th, 2010 at 07:40:42 PM EST

Want to know what's in the reconciliation bill? Here you go. You'll probably wonder why anyone would want to "read the bill," and that was a summary that translates the actual bill into something a normal human might understand if they are an incredible geek. I'd actually like to pass a law requiring teabagging screamers to memorize bills, especially of the several thousand page variety. We'll probably get to that right after witnesses get to swear in congresspeople and make them swear to tell the truth. Hah.

Reconciliation | 11 comments (11 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Reconciliation (none / 0)

Again, the parallels are instructive. That's what I kept telling the evoting people. Stop listening to the fearmongers and READ THE DAMN BILL. Those who did saw it was good.

"If you look for the social economic motive, you will not have to wait for history to tell you what was propaganda and what was truth." - George Seldes

by Real History Lisa (lpeaseRemoveThis@gte.net) on Thu Mar 18th, 2010 at 07:53:18 PM EST

Re: Reconciliation (none / 0)

I gotta tell ya,,,I can't read the bill. I can barely read the summaries, and then only at about a 3rd grade level. It's another language. Some things I can discern, and others I know how to figure out what they mean but don't have the time.

by BooMan on Thu Mar 18th, 2010 at 08:12:51 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Reconciliation (none / 0)

It's all legalese - it gets easier after the first few pages.

It refers to US code at points - sometimes you have to go look up the original text there to see what is being amended.

Yeah - it's not easy. This really IS rocket science. Not for the faint of heart. But it's important. And at least you can see what is NOT in the bill, most of the time.

I had to do some research on the evoting bill when they made outside referenes. But I did it. And then was so disappointed to find that those making the most noise were not as familiar with it as they claimed. They flat out misrepresented some sections. Very enlightening experience, in a sad way. Lost a lot of respect for people I had formerly admired.

"If you look for the social economic motive, you will not have to wait for history to tell you what was propaganda and what was truth." - George Seldes

by Real History Lisa (lpeaseRemoveThis@gte.net) on Fri Mar 19th, 2010 at 02:17:29 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Reconciliation (none / 0)

I recommend in the future make people source the claims of their objections. Ask for the page and line number. ;-)

"If you look for the social economic motive, you will not have to wait for history to tell you what was propaganda and what was truth." - George Seldes

by Real History Lisa (lpeaseRemoveThis@gte.net) on Thu Mar 18th, 2010 at 07:53:55 PM EST

A billion dollars... (none / 0)

for administrative costs? A billion with a "B"? That seems like a lotta fuckin' administration.

by Ed J on Thu Mar 18th, 2010 at 08:36:38 PM EST

Re: A billion dollars... (4.00 / 2)

10,000 GS-13's for a year at direct labor. I have no idea of the overhead. I'd guess maybe 1,000 GS-13's equivalent for the program. No more than 2000 bodies. Doesn't seem like much for a big program. My directorate in one Navy Bureau had 4,000 employees, GS-4 (clerk-typist) through GS-13 (professional), GS-14 (manager) and GS-15 (manager). Navy doesn't (didn't) use many "supergrade" GS-16 through 18, preferring to fill those slots with Captains and Admirals.

Picked GS-13 because a topped out 13 makes about 100K.

by The Voice In The Wilderness on Thu Mar 18th, 2010 at 10:22:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: A billion dollars... (none / 0)

I think most GS-13s are managers. That's the first managerial grade, anyway. There are "technical 13s" who make the same money without being supervisors. Some agencies have a lot of them, some have very few.

GS-7 through GS-12 are the professional (Bachelor's and higher) grades where I'm at. GS-13s are section chiefs. GS-14s are branch chiefs. GS-15s are Assistant Division Chiefs.

Division Chiefs are part of the SES, I believe. I don't think there are GS-16s and GS-18s anymore now that they have the SES.

A thousand GS-13s would be a pretty big operation, if it's anything like my office. Each one overseas about 5 people. So you'd be looking at essentially creating a second Census Bureau (at non-decennial capacity).

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to you country.

by Drew J Jones (blahblahblah@blahblahblah.com) on Fri Mar 19th, 2010 at 07:15:19 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: A billion dollars... (none / 1)

I worked for the Bureau of Ships (NAVSHIPS, NAVSEA) which is a technical bureau, lots of engineers, GS-13, an occasional non-supervisory GS-14. I was an Industrial Specialist, GS-12. When I was studying Physics at U of Md graduate school, many of my fellow students were from NASA in Greenbelt Md. They were trying to get their Phd to become GS-11. Sadly, war pays much better than peaceful science.

Back when I was an Industrial Specialist, I could roll out a back of the envelope calculation like my original post in nothing flat with more detail. Had to think about it a bit now. My specialty was estimating material requirements. I was one of the few with formal training in statistics and probability by virtue of my Physics education. Ah me. Glory Days.

by The Voice In The Wilderness on Fri Mar 19th, 2010 at 10:22:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: A billion dollars... (none / 0)

I saw that too. Did the Senate forget to appropriate any?

by BooMan on Thu Mar 18th, 2010 at 09:03:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: A billion dollars... (none / 0)

I suspect that part of that has to do with setting up the IT systems to administer the exchanges and other aspects of the bill.

There will a substantial amount of time required to draft the regulations, put them out for review, and rewrite the final regs.

And then there are additional auditing costs to control waste, fraud, and abuse.

Finally, that figure might not be single-year figure but a total authorization for the transition.

50 states, 210 media market, 435 Congressional Districts, 3080 counties, 192,480 precincts

by TarheelDem on Thu Mar 18th, 2010 at 09:11:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Reconciliation (none / 0)

I am having a hard time estimating what this mandated insurance is going to cost us. After reading the House bill, I could roughly estimate what a couple of 62-year-old people might pay per month. After scanning parts of the Senate bill, my estimate jumped a couple hundred dollars. I mainly used the caps on percentages of adjusted income and applied them. But I'm still full of questions about how subsidies are going to be applied.

Example: My income is below poverty level; my husband's is around median level. Singly, I would qualify for 100% subsidy and he would get no subsidy at all. Can we file taxes separately to make this happen or do we have to get divorced? Or can we divide his income between the two of us and both qualify for... I dunno... a 40% subsidy.

Are we going to get a work sheet in the mail that will help individuals figure this out? Will it all become clear once the Exchanges are up on the internet? Or is there going to be a growth industry in advisors -- the equivalent of tax accountants -- to help people figure out their options?

I know I should be patient but it's hard when your head is spinning.

by sjct on Fri Mar 19th, 2010 at 09:48:02 AM EST

Reconciliation | 11 comments (11 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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