It would seem to me that, to increase the Medicare payroll tax, the money would first have to go into the Medicare “trust” column. The increased revenues (dollar for dollar?) are then applied to new programs.

Why is this a problem? It seems to me that we have ONE health care system. Segregating medicare from other government subsidized healthcare programs is where the artificiality lies.

I thought, ultimately, that the plan was argued to shore up medicare, in the long run, by cutting costs, not by pumping money into the system. Now, if the Democrats are double counting the money to claim extra benefits for medicare, that is misleading – but it shouldn’t impact the overall analysis of the effect of the plan on the entire healthcare system and the deficit.

As to Baucus’ “phony” deficit reduction through SS tax increases, I don’t follow your point, but it may be my ignorance. When I go to the SS benefit online calculator, it asks for the amount of my income every year, not the amount of tax I paid into the system. Although I haven’t found a link that clearly answers the question, I don’t see any evidence that, as you assert, “paying higher Social Security taxes today entitles a person to higher benefits in the future.”