Posted on 10/25/2019 3:22:15 AM PDT by Kaslin
From the beginning, the 2020 Democratic race has been a different kind of contest. Candidates aren't competing to see who can run America the most efficiently. That's the old politics. Instead, they're pledging to remake this country entirely: rip out the old America -- irredeemably tainted by racism, sexism and free enterprise -- and replace it with something completely new and different. At the heart of this effort is the promise of Medicare for All. You may have heard the phrase. The most popular Democratic candidates, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, have both endorsed it. But what exactly does "Medicare for All" mean?
You should know. It's not a tweak to some regulation. It's not even Obamacare, which, once upon a time, Republicans denounced as "socialism." Medicare for All is actual socialism. Health care spending amounts to about a fifth of the entire U.S. economy. Warren is demanding total control of all of it immediately. If Medicare for All became law, it would amount to the biggest expansion of government since World War II, by far. So, it's worth asking how exactly this would work and who would pay for it. Warren has been asked that question repeatedly. Each time, she has refused to answer.
No matter how hard she's been pressed -- and even some fairly strident Democratic partisans have asked her -- Warren has refused to explain what it would cost or who would pay for it. We now have a credible estimate. According to a study by the Urban Institute, in just its first 10 years, Warren's Medicare for All plan would cost an additional $34 trillion. Keep in mind that the Congressional Budget Office anticipates that the United States will collect just $46 trillion in taxes over the same period. In other words, Warren's health care plan alone will consume the overwhelming majority of all tax dollars in the United States. That's before we spend a single dollar on Social Security, education, national defense and everything else.
The Urban Institute has no motive to attack Warren. It's a progressive think tank. They likely didn't even account for the cost of Warren's pledge to give free health care to every illegal alien who sneaks into the country. Who's going to pay for all this? Divide $3.4 trillion a year by 320 million Americans and you get more than $10,000 per person. Not per taxpayer. Per person. That includes every child, every retiree, every prison inmate. That would be the largest tax ever assessed in American history, by far. It would change everything. An awful lot of people would just leave the country.
How do you pay for Medicare for All? That's not a minor detail that can be settled later. It's the single most important question. Under pressure from the other Democrats in the field, Warren has now promised an answer: "I plan over the next few weeks to put out a plan that talks about, specifically, the cost of 'Medicare for all' and, specifically, how we pay for it," she said last week at a town hall event.
At some point in the last few years, Warren stopped functioning as a conventional senator and became a kind of messiah. Details like what things cost, whether something is constitutional, whether the majority of Americans even want it -- none of that seems to interest her anymore. Warren has seen the future, and in that future, she has complete and unquestioned control of America; she is the most powerful person in the world. You can almost hear her repeating the phrase to herself: "the most powerful person in the world." It's intoxicating. And scary.
Warren is to be commended for issuing highly detailed policy proposals in a number of areas. This ironically makes her refusal to provide details on Medicare for All that much more noteworthy. She details the little stuff but thought she could get away with proposing to fundamentally change our country without explaining who would pay the price. Her bluff has been called, and she's now on the line to explain her way out of this jam. She hasn't provided a date for the new details she's promising. Given the costs involved, we can't imagine any funding proposal that wouldn't destroy our economy. As far as the election goes, it's also hard to imagine how any honest funding proposal of the scale needed to meet Warren's ambitions would not destroy her political candidacy, at least in a general election. We're waiting on the edge of our seats for this one.
Admit it, we already have a dual system of socialism and capitalism operating side by side.
One question kemosabie, WILL YOU RAISE TAXES?
It's called fascism. "You get to keep your factory and profit handsomely, Herr Messerschmitt, just so long as you pay us rent and carry out the dictates of the state."
She’s a liberal, does that answer your question?
Anyone who advocates “Medicare for All”, obviously hasn’t faced the consequences of Medicare. I have. I’ve been on Medicare for seven years, since required by law to do so when turning 65. Here are a couple of examples of how it has gone
1. I have prostate cancer. It took four biopsies to reveal it, after experiencing high PSA levels. The fourth was a “Fusion Biopsy. It required, first, an MRI of my prostate region. Then, a special newly acquired machine, in real time during the biopsy, used the image from the MRI, to match the image of my prostate. This allowed the Dr. to target the biopsy needle into the proper region. These were all multi-million dollar machines, used in a hospital. The bill was around $4,000. Medicare paid $200.
2. I experienced a “detached viscera”, a relatively minor, age related eye development. However, it developed into a torn retina. That can cause blindness. I went to a specialist who repaired the tear. Her specialty required many years of education and training AFTER becoming an MD. She used several multi-million dollar machines in her clinic, and it took hours of her time. The clinic also had several staff personnel to assist and record the effort. Her bill was over $3,000. Medicare paid less than $100.
US law requires the Medicare allowed payment to be the entire amount. No other payments are allowed. Medicare paid only 5 percent of the bill. Who paid the rest? You did. Medicare costs are subsidized by people on real insurance, or no insurance. These are the payments that keep doctors and hospitals solvent.
Under Medicare for All, there is no one left to pay the bill. The US medical community will go bankrupt. It simply cannot exist the 5 percent payments it receives.
For this “free Medicare”, we still pay a lot. My wife and I together pay over $8,000 a year in combined payments. We pay around $350 in monthly deductions, and the rest in insurance payments. We also pay co-pays. This doesn’t even mention the 55 years of Social Security and Medicare payments we and our employers paid.
Medicare for All will bankrupt the country
Besides this, Medicare is not cheap.
Yep, I can echo that experience. You must have been reading my chart.
What I mean is, people support themselves on the one side and are supported by government on the socialist side. Some people make their own money, some people are on the dole. Socialism and capitalism side by side.
The rats could care less.
HOW DARE YOU ATTEMPT TO KIDNAP MY THREAD. POST YOUR OWN FRIGGEN THREAD AND STAY OUT OF MINE
Agreed. However, anyone wanting health care any better than that of Venezuela better be aware.
Even worse try being on Medicare and Tricare Life. Total Dictatorship.
It’s taken me nearly a year to get a Shoulder MRI, Rotator Cuff Tear, I’ve been waiting a week for the paper print out to make a Ortho appointment.
My spine is a wreck, no surgery will fix it. 5 freaking Autoimmune’s they can’t treat, most don’t have a medication for them. Just try and control the symptoms as best as is possible. I can’ barely walk, fall frequently, being 71 that is how the Rotator Cuff tore.
Last 10 lower teeth had to be pulled, bone spurs developed and had to be removed, then jaw re-sculptured. All out of MY POCKET. Denture doesn’t fit. Won’t stay in the mouth even with adhesives. Gag, puke when I cough or sneeze as they come loose and try to fall out of my mouth. Lower denture cost as much as a full set as a result. I now have to pay for the 80 mg Nexium I have to take a day.
Every time we get a COLA raise Medicare gets 90% or more of it, then Tricare Co-pays go up. 2017 got a whole $12 for the year. This new 1.6% with higher Medicare premiums will not even produce enough money to but a bottle of water each month.
Your treatment is clearly no way to treat a veteran. Unfortunately, it’s exactly what happens when government runs your life. We must all keep pointing this out as often as we can in order to protect our children and grandchildren from having it imposed on them, by government control of their lives. Medicare for All will do exactly that.
Yes, I am finally answering that question. YES!!! But you know what that really isn't the issue because your overall costs will go....UP!!!
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Admit it, we already have a dual system of socialism and capitalism operating side by side.
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Sure as s* ain’t a Constitutional Republic.
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