I am on Medicare. It is not a matter of Medicare users ripping us off. It is the way Medicare is structured. The premiums you pay amount to 25% of the USG's total costs for the program.
My give-away was your “The unfunded portion of Medicare part B”. The un-funded part of Part B is paid by those of us that elect to BUY IT at about a $100 a month. Then you also don’t seem to know that Part B does not cover all and we have to buy private MediGap insurance to cover the significant portion Part A and Part B do not cover. Then if electing to BUY Part D we have to pay the 25% you claim, then Co-pays and deductable. Top it all off with the most non-sensical confusing coverage regulations on the planet.
Again, you are totally missing the point. The $100 you pay in premiums each month or double that if you are married, only pay for 25% of the GOVERNMENT'S COSTS OF MEDICARE PARTS B AND D. THE REST OF THE COSTS ARE FUNDED WITH MONEY FROM THE GENERAL FUND.
I don’t argue that Medicare is some super good deal for us having to use it or to the taxpayers. It sucks, but is what Congress stuck us with. Adding up all the Medicare “Parts” and MediGap insurance, my cost is higher than I could have bought on my own, if the Gubmit would allow it.
Medicare is a great deal. You get back three times in benefits compared to what you contributed.
This graph shows that the average man and woman (average defined in the study as average income over their working lives and living to the average life expectancy) who start receiving benefits in 2010 get over 3 times more in benefits than they pay in to the system! Of importance, the study accounts for inflation by calculating all past taxes and future payments in 2010 dollars to provide an accurate comparison.
If the notion that Medicare recipients are simply "getting back what they paid in" is false then where is the money coming from? Simply, the excess received is being borrowed from younger generations and the cost is more than we can bear.