AI
Tuesday, July 16, 2013 6:06:43 AM
Immigrants Subsidize, Rather Than Drain, Medicare
by Jordan Rau - May 30, 201312:53 PM
Patients wait in line at Nuestra Clinica Del Valle in San Juan, Texas, in September 2012 file photo. A study released on Wednesday finds that immigrants, particularly noncitizens, heavily subsidize Medicare, and that policies that restrict immigration may deplete Medicare's financial resources.
Eric Gay/AP
As Congress mulls changing America's border and naturalization rules, a study finds that immigrant workers are helping buttress Medicare's finances.
Immigrants contribute tens of billions of dollars a year more than immigrant retirees use in medical services.
"Immigrants, particularly noncitizens, heavily subsidize Medicare," the researchers wrote .. http://content.healthaffairs.org/lookup/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2012.1223 .. in the journal Health Affairs. "Policies that reduce immigration would almost certainly weaken Medicare's financial health, while an increasing flow of immigrants might bolster its sustainability."
The Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, which pays for Medicare's Part A inpatient hospital care, skilled nursing facilities, home health and hospice for the aged and disabled, had assets of $244 billion at the start of 2012, but is projected to run out of money in 2024 as the population ages, according to estimates of the Medicare trustees .. http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/economic-policy/ss-medicare/Documents/TR_2012_Medicare.pdf . It is financed by payroll and self-employment taxes.
Researchers look at the effect of 29 million immigrants counted in the Census on the financing of the Medicare program. It included those who had become U.S. citizens as well as those who hadn't, but, the authors noted, probably excludes many illegal immigrants who avoided the survey.
The study found that in 2009, immigrants contributed $33 billion to the trust fund, nearly 15 percent of total contributions. They received $19 billion of expenditures, about 8 percent, giving the trust fund a surplus of $14 billion.
People born in the United States, on the other hand, contributed $192 billion and received $223 billion, decreasing the trust fund by $31 billion, according to the paper's lead author, Dr. Leah Zallman .. http://icommunityhealth.org/about-us/staff/leah-zallman-md-mph/ , a researcher at Cambridge Health Alliance in Massachusetts.
Between 2002 and 2009, immigrants generated a cumulative surplus of $115 billion for the trust fund, the study found. Most of the surplus contribution came from noncitizens. The immigrants created a net gain primarily because of demographics: There are 6.5 immigrants of working age for every one elderly immigrant, but only 4.7 working-age native citizens for every one retiree.
Although that ratio could change in the future, the report notes that the Census Bureau projects that the share of immigrants in the United States will increase for the next 18 years.
In addition, care for immigrants also costs Medicare slightly less. The average expenditure was $3,923 for immigrant enrollees and $5,388 for enrollees born in the U.S., a difference "of borderline significance," according to the paper, written by Zallman and colleagues at the City University of New York and Harvard Medical School.
The researchers wrote that changes in the nation's immigration policy that would create a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants would increase revenues for the trust fund, as many workers would shift from under-the-table employment to work where payroll taxes were collected. Also, they would have an easier time getting higher-paid jobs. However, letting the undocumented become citizens would also increase the number eligible for Medicare and, therefore, the expenditures on their behalf.
The researchers did not factor in the Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund, which finances Medicare Part B to pay for physician services and outpatient care, into most of their calculations. That's because the financial trajectory of that fund is less clear, as it relies on enrollee premiums and annual appropriations from Congress. There was no significant difference between the amount spent on immigrants and U.S.-born people from that fund, the study noted.
The authors interjected personal views normally not found in academic papers of this sort:
~~~~~~
"Having ourselves witnessed immigrants dying needlessly because of lack of health care, we (and many of our colleagues) are motivated by the belief that all patients have a human right to health care. But economic concerns — including the worry that immigrants are driving up US health care costs — have often dominated the debate over immigration. Our data offer a new perspective on these economic concerns."
~~~~~~
The paper anticipates that the immigrant surplus to the hospital trust fund will continue for many years, as most of those workers are decades away from retirement. In an interview, Zallman said, "If we continue to have a steady influx of working age immigrants, we're likely to see the subsidy continue for many years to come."
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/05/30/187280882/immigrants-subsidize-rather-than-drain-medicare
.. that one is posted to the healthcare articles which appear about 3.5in. down .. the rest is stuff i ended up
with on the trail, most of it just repeat from one this replies to .. the first, bits of one under an inch down ..
Study of Men’s Falling Income Cites Single Parents
“I think the greatest, most astonishing fact that I am aware of in social science right now is that women have been able to hear the labor market screaming out ‘You need more education’ and have been able to respond to that, and men have not,” said Michael Greenstone, an M.I.T. economics professor who was not involved in Professor Autor’s work. “And it’s very, very scary for economists because people should be responding to price signals. And men are not. It’s a fact in need of an explanation.”
Most economists agree that men have suffered disproportionately from economic changes like the decline of manufacturing. But careful analyses have found that such changes explain only a small part of the shrinking wage gap.
[...]
“We’re pretty much in agreement on most of the facts,” Professor Autor said of Mr. Murray. “But he looks at the same facts and says this is all due to the failure of government programs, eroding the commitment to working. And we’re saying, what seems much more plausible here is that the working world just has less and less use for these folks.
[...] .. it's not hard to see the more insightful one, who might just lean more to the left ..
[...] .. um .. i ended up repeating the rest ..
The children of lower-income parents are ever more likely to become, in turn, the parents of lower-income children.
Moreover, a growing share of lower-income children are raised by their mother but not their father, and research shows that those children are at a particular disadvantage.
Professor Autor said in an interview that he was intrigued by evidence suggesting the consequences were larger for boys than girls, including one study finding that single mothers spent an hour less per week with their sons than with their daughters. Another study of households where the father had less education, or was absent entirely, found the female children were 10 to 14 percent more likely to complete college. A third study of single-parent homes found boys were less likely than girls to enroll in college.
“It’s very clear that kids from single-parent households fare worse in terms of years of education,” he said. “The gender difference, the idea that boys do even worse again, is less clear cut. We’re pointing this out as an important hypothesis that needs further exploration. But there’s intriguing evidence in that direction.”
Conservatives have long argued that society should encourage stable parental relationships. A recent report [ http://twentysomethingmarriage.org/ ] by the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia concluded that promoting marriage is the best way “to make family life more stable for children whose parents don’t enjoy the benefit of a college education.”
Liberals have tended to argue that the government should focus instead on improving economic opportunities. Jonathan Cowan, the president of Third Way, said the paper underscored that addressing social problems was a means to improve economic opportunities.
“If Democrats have as their goal being the party of the middle class, they have to come to the realization that they’re not going to be able to get there solely through their standard explanations,” said Mr. Cowan, a veteran of the Clinton administration. “We need to ask, ‘How can we get these fathers back involved in their children’s lives?’ ”
But some experts cautioned that Professor Autor’s theory did not necessarily imply that such children would benefit from the presence of their fathers.
“Single-parent families tend to emerge in places where the men already are a mess,” said Christopher Jencks, a professor of social policy at Harvard University. “You have to ask yourself, ‘Suppose the available men were getting married to the available women? Would that be an improvement?’ ”
Instead of making marriage more attractive, he said, it might be better for society to help make men more attractive.
© 2013 The New York Times Company
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/business/economy/as-men-lose-economic-ground-clues-in-the-family.html [ http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/business/economy/as-men-lose-economic-ground-clues-in-the-family.html?pagewanted=all ] [with comments]
=== .. how about living together before, what's the latest on that .. um .. oops .. see reply .. now this one .. well ..
North Dakota Personhood Measure Passes State House .. little bit ..
North Dakota became the first state on Friday to pass a fetal personhood amendment, which grants legal personhood rights to embryos from the moment of fertilization. The state House of Representatives voted 57 to 35 to pass the amendment, after the Senate passed the same measure last month.
The measure will now appear on the November 2014 ballot
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/22/north-dakota-personhood_n_2934503.html [with embedded video report, and (over 12,000) comments]
=== .. sure ND voters are more in tune than many of their legislators .. i wonder if any of them want to buy a car ..
just like that .. think .. a zygote hasn't even evolved that far .. does that have life? .. no, but a peel of skin after sunburn has, and i've never seen one of those described has a human being .. nothing like religion to clear yer head .. oh, before that one Michelle Shocked .. lesbian who went born-again Christian and so to raving homophobic .. what a twirl .. have to include this gem ..
Tough Laws, Reduced Ranks Have Effect On Unions .. two bits ..
Also, potential recruits are wary. "For most workers, joining a union is a risky deal and it has very little payback," Chaison says. "Most unions have not put their hearts and treasuries into organizing. It's so difficult and the payoff is minimal."
Zimmick knows firsthand. His local tried to organize workers at an auto supplier two years ago. The company, he says, responded by giving employees raises. "They said, `Don't talk to those union guys. We're going to take care of you.'" The campaign didn't get to the vote stage.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/23/union-laws_n_2940184.html [with comments]
=== .. that looks to me like a union victory .. ok .. though back a bit, one little perspective on union membership ..
Union growth and decline comparisons
In the mid-1950s, 36% of the United States labor force was unionized. At America's union peak in the 1950s, union membership was lower in the United States than in most comparable countries. By 1989, that figure had dropped to about 16%, the lowest percentage of any developed democracy, except France. Other union membership for other developed democracies, in 1990 were:
* 95% in Sweden and Denmark.
* 85% in Finland
* Over 60% in Norway and Austria
* Over 60% in Australia, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
* Over 30% in West Germany and Italy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_comparisons_of_labor_unions
.. think i just read in yours unionization in the US private sector today is about 6.6% .. we all know gross inequality is bad for the social fabric of any country .. don't forget it is also bad for the economy ..
The widening gap - http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=89686850
there is no ideology in any of that one .. the positions are research based .. ok .. could spend a week in there .. :)
.. the first one .. Daniel's letter .. was the main reason i posted to this one .. here it is again ..
http://www.youtube.com/user/depfox .. F6, please .. how did you embed that one?
by Jordan Rau - May 30, 201312:53 PM
Patients wait in line at Nuestra Clinica Del Valle in San Juan, Texas, in September 2012 file photo. A study released on Wednesday finds that immigrants, particularly noncitizens, heavily subsidize Medicare, and that policies that restrict immigration may deplete Medicare's financial resources.
Eric Gay/AP
As Congress mulls changing America's border and naturalization rules, a study finds that immigrant workers are helping buttress Medicare's finances.
Immigrants contribute tens of billions of dollars a year more than immigrant retirees use in medical services.
"Immigrants, particularly noncitizens, heavily subsidize Medicare," the researchers wrote .. http://content.healthaffairs.org/lookup/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2012.1223 .. in the journal Health Affairs. "Policies that reduce immigration would almost certainly weaken Medicare's financial health, while an increasing flow of immigrants might bolster its sustainability."
The Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, which pays for Medicare's Part A inpatient hospital care, skilled nursing facilities, home health and hospice for the aged and disabled, had assets of $244 billion at the start of 2012, but is projected to run out of money in 2024 as the population ages, according to estimates of the Medicare trustees .. http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/economic-policy/ss-medicare/Documents/TR_2012_Medicare.pdf . It is financed by payroll and self-employment taxes.
Researchers look at the effect of 29 million immigrants counted in the Census on the financing of the Medicare program. It included those who had become U.S. citizens as well as those who hadn't, but, the authors noted, probably excludes many illegal immigrants who avoided the survey.
The study found that in 2009, immigrants contributed $33 billion to the trust fund, nearly 15 percent of total contributions. They received $19 billion of expenditures, about 8 percent, giving the trust fund a surplus of $14 billion.
People born in the United States, on the other hand, contributed $192 billion and received $223 billion, decreasing the trust fund by $31 billion, according to the paper's lead author, Dr. Leah Zallman .. http://icommunityhealth.org/about-us/staff/leah-zallman-md-mph/ , a researcher at Cambridge Health Alliance in Massachusetts.
Between 2002 and 2009, immigrants generated a cumulative surplus of $115 billion for the trust fund, the study found. Most of the surplus contribution came from noncitizens. The immigrants created a net gain primarily because of demographics: There are 6.5 immigrants of working age for every one elderly immigrant, but only 4.7 working-age native citizens for every one retiree.
Although that ratio could change in the future, the report notes that the Census Bureau projects that the share of immigrants in the United States will increase for the next 18 years.
In addition, care for immigrants also costs Medicare slightly less. The average expenditure was $3,923 for immigrant enrollees and $5,388 for enrollees born in the U.S., a difference "of borderline significance," according to the paper, written by Zallman and colleagues at the City University of New York and Harvard Medical School.
The researchers wrote that changes in the nation's immigration policy that would create a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants would increase revenues for the trust fund, as many workers would shift from under-the-table employment to work where payroll taxes were collected. Also, they would have an easier time getting higher-paid jobs. However, letting the undocumented become citizens would also increase the number eligible for Medicare and, therefore, the expenditures on their behalf.
The researchers did not factor in the Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund, which finances Medicare Part B to pay for physician services and outpatient care, into most of their calculations. That's because the financial trajectory of that fund is less clear, as it relies on enrollee premiums and annual appropriations from Congress. There was no significant difference between the amount spent on immigrants and U.S.-born people from that fund, the study noted.
The authors interjected personal views normally not found in academic papers of this sort:
~~~~~~
"Having ourselves witnessed immigrants dying needlessly because of lack of health care, we (and many of our colleagues) are motivated by the belief that all patients have a human right to health care. But economic concerns — including the worry that immigrants are driving up US health care costs — have often dominated the debate over immigration. Our data offer a new perspective on these economic concerns."
~~~~~~
The paper anticipates that the immigrant surplus to the hospital trust fund will continue for many years, as most of those workers are decades away from retirement. In an interview, Zallman said, "If we continue to have a steady influx of working age immigrants, we're likely to see the subsidy continue for many years to come."
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/05/30/187280882/immigrants-subsidize-rather-than-drain-medicare
.. that one is posted to the healthcare articles which appear about 3.5in. down .. the rest is stuff i ended up
with on the trail, most of it just repeat from one this replies to .. the first, bits of one under an inch down ..
Study of Men’s Falling Income Cites Single Parents
“I think the greatest, most astonishing fact that I am aware of in social science right now is that women have been able to hear the labor market screaming out ‘You need more education’ and have been able to respond to that, and men have not,” said Michael Greenstone, an M.I.T. economics professor who was not involved in Professor Autor’s work. “And it’s very, very scary for economists because people should be responding to price signals. And men are not. It’s a fact in need of an explanation.”
Most economists agree that men have suffered disproportionately from economic changes like the decline of manufacturing. But careful analyses have found that such changes explain only a small part of the shrinking wage gap.
[...]
“We’re pretty much in agreement on most of the facts,” Professor Autor said of Mr. Murray. “But he looks at the same facts and says this is all due to the failure of government programs, eroding the commitment to working. And we’re saying, what seems much more plausible here is that the working world just has less and less use for these folks.
[...] .. it's not hard to see the more insightful one, who might just lean more to the left ..
[...] .. um .. i ended up repeating the rest ..
The children of lower-income parents are ever more likely to become, in turn, the parents of lower-income children.
Moreover, a growing share of lower-income children are raised by their mother but not their father, and research shows that those children are at a particular disadvantage.
Professor Autor said in an interview that he was intrigued by evidence suggesting the consequences were larger for boys than girls, including one study finding that single mothers spent an hour less per week with their sons than with their daughters. Another study of households where the father had less education, or was absent entirely, found the female children were 10 to 14 percent more likely to complete college. A third study of single-parent homes found boys were less likely than girls to enroll in college.
“It’s very clear that kids from single-parent households fare worse in terms of years of education,” he said. “The gender difference, the idea that boys do even worse again, is less clear cut. We’re pointing this out as an important hypothesis that needs further exploration. But there’s intriguing evidence in that direction.”
Conservatives have long argued that society should encourage stable parental relationships. A recent report [ http://twentysomethingmarriage.org/ ] by the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia concluded that promoting marriage is the best way “to make family life more stable for children whose parents don’t enjoy the benefit of a college education.”
Liberals have tended to argue that the government should focus instead on improving economic opportunities. Jonathan Cowan, the president of Third Way, said the paper underscored that addressing social problems was a means to improve economic opportunities.
“If Democrats have as their goal being the party of the middle class, they have to come to the realization that they’re not going to be able to get there solely through their standard explanations,” said Mr. Cowan, a veteran of the Clinton administration. “We need to ask, ‘How can we get these fathers back involved in their children’s lives?’ ”
But some experts cautioned that Professor Autor’s theory did not necessarily imply that such children would benefit from the presence of their fathers.
“Single-parent families tend to emerge in places where the men already are a mess,” said Christopher Jencks, a professor of social policy at Harvard University. “You have to ask yourself, ‘Suppose the available men were getting married to the available women? Would that be an improvement?’ ”
Instead of making marriage more attractive, he said, it might be better for society to help make men more attractive.
© 2013 The New York Times Company
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/business/economy/as-men-lose-economic-ground-clues-in-the-family.html [ http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/business/economy/as-men-lose-economic-ground-clues-in-the-family.html?pagewanted=all ] [with comments]
=== .. how about living together before, what's the latest on that .. um .. oops .. see reply .. now this one .. well ..
North Dakota Personhood Measure Passes State House .. little bit ..
North Dakota became the first state on Friday to pass a fetal personhood amendment, which grants legal personhood rights to embryos from the moment of fertilization. The state House of Representatives voted 57 to 35 to pass the amendment, after the Senate passed the same measure last month.
The measure will now appear on the November 2014 ballot
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/22/north-dakota-personhood_n_2934503.html [with embedded video report, and (over 12,000) comments]
=== .. sure ND voters are more in tune than many of their legislators .. i wonder if any of them want to buy a car ..
just like that .. think .. a zygote hasn't even evolved that far .. does that have life? .. no, but a peel of skin after sunburn has, and i've never seen one of those described has a human being .. nothing like religion to clear yer head .. oh, before that one Michelle Shocked .. lesbian who went born-again Christian and so to raving homophobic .. what a twirl .. have to include this gem ..
Tough Laws, Reduced Ranks Have Effect On Unions .. two bits ..
Also, potential recruits are wary. "For most workers, joining a union is a risky deal and it has very little payback," Chaison says. "Most unions have not put their hearts and treasuries into organizing. It's so difficult and the payoff is minimal."
Zimmick knows firsthand. His local tried to organize workers at an auto supplier two years ago. The company, he says, responded by giving employees raises. "They said, `Don't talk to those union guys. We're going to take care of you.'" The campaign didn't get to the vote stage.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/23/union-laws_n_2940184.html [with comments]
=== .. that looks to me like a union victory .. ok .. though back a bit, one little perspective on union membership ..
Union growth and decline comparisons
In the mid-1950s, 36% of the United States labor force was unionized. At America's union peak in the 1950s, union membership was lower in the United States than in most comparable countries. By 1989, that figure had dropped to about 16%, the lowest percentage of any developed democracy, except France. Other union membership for other developed democracies, in 1990 were:
* 95% in Sweden and Denmark.
* 85% in Finland
* Over 60% in Norway and Austria
* Over 60% in Australia, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
* Over 30% in West Germany and Italy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_comparisons_of_labor_unions
.. think i just read in yours unionization in the US private sector today is about 6.6% .. we all know gross inequality is bad for the social fabric of any country .. don't forget it is also bad for the economy ..
The widening gap - http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=89686850
there is no ideology in any of that one .. the positions are research based .. ok .. could spend a week in there .. :)
.. the first one .. Daniel's letter .. was the main reason i posted to this one .. here it is again ..
http://www.youtube.com/user/depfox .. F6, please .. how did you embed that one?
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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