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Obsolete Government Programs, Part 2 | Medicare
Natural Born Conservative ^ | April 21, 2011 | Larry Walker, Jr.

Posted on 04/21/2011 9:51:37 PM PDT by NaturalBornConservative

Personal Responsibility

You Paid How Much For Medicare?

~ By: Larry Walker, Jr. ~

Medicare is a social insurance program administered by the United States government, providing health insurance coverage to people who are aged 65 and over, or who meet other special criteria. Some say that Medicare operates similar to a single-payer health care system, but with one key exception: Medicare Part A, the part that we pay for all of our working lives, only provides hospital insurance, and it doesn't kick in until after the age of 65. Thus, Medicare is more akin to an excessively expensive, mandatory, long-term health care plan than anything else. Although there is a health insurance aspect to Medicare, known as Part B, it's not free either. Medicare Part B requires the payment of additional monthly premiums upon retirement of between $96.40 and 308.30 per month, depending on the recipient’s level of income at the time.

Medicare is partially financed through payroll taxes imposed by the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) and the Self-Employment Contributions Act of 1954. In the case of employees, the tax is equal to 2.9% (1.45% withheld from the worker and a matching 1.45% paid by the employer) of the wages, salaries and other compensation in connection with employment. Until December 31, 1993, the law provided a maximum amount of compensation on which the Medicare tax could be imposed each year. But, beginning January 1, 1994, the compensation limit was removed. A self-employed individual must pay the entire 2.9% tax on self employed net earnings, but may deduct half of the tax from income in calculating income tax. Beginning in 2013, the 2.9% hospital insurance tax rises to 3.8% on earned income exceeding $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for married couples filing jointly. [1]

Times Have Changed: Medicare is Obsolete

In the 1960s, Medicare was introduced to rectify the following problems: health care for the elderly and health care for the non-elderly with pre-existing conditions. The FICA tax was increased in order to pay for this expense. Both problems are listed below, followed by modern day private-sector solutions meant to address the same.

Most Americans would be able to afford real health insurance, or better plans, were we not forced to pay huge sums out of our current pay, for benefits that some will never see. For example, Barack Obama paid a total of $48,496.29 in Medicare taxes in 2010 alone. This means he paid $4,041.36 per month for long-term hospital insurance benefits that he won’t realize until he turns 65. A portion of the $48,496.29, namely $5,730.23 was actually paid by his employer, which would be you and I. Could Mr. Obama perhaps find a better deal in the private-sector? I would hope so. Would you pay $4,041.36 per month for long-term hospital insurance coverage if you had a choice? “AFLAC… AFLAC… AFLAC”!

Obama's Medicare Tab

Medicare Benefits

Medicare has four parts: Part A is Hospital Insurance. Part B is Medical Insurance. Medicare Part D covers prescription drugs. Medicare Advantage plans, also known as Medicare Part C, are another way for beneficiaries to receive their Part A, B and D benefits. All Medicare benefits are subject to medical necessity. The original program was only Parts A and B. Part D was new in January 2006; before that, Parts A and B covered prescription drugs in only a few special cases.

Medicare Premiums

Most Medicare enrollees do not pay a monthly Part A premium, because they (or a spouse) have had 40 or more 3-month quarters in which they paid Federal Insurance Contributions Act taxes. Medicare-eligible persons who do not have 40 or more quarters of Medicare-covered employment may purchase Part A for a monthly premium of:

All Medicare Part B enrollees pay an insurance premium for this coverage; the standard Part B premium for 2009 is $96.40 per month. A new income-based premium schema has been in effect since 2007, wherein Part B premiums are higher for beneficiaries with incomes exceeding $85,000 for individuals, or $170,000 for married couples. Depending on the extent to which beneficiary earnings exceed the base income, these higher Part B premiums are $134.90, $192.70, $250.50, or $308.30 for 2009, with the highest premium paid by individuals earning more than $213,000, or married couples earning more than $426,000. In September 2008, CMS announced that Part B premiums would be unchanged ($96.40 per month) in 2009 for 95 percent of Medicare beneficiaries. This would be only the sixth year without a premium increase since Medicare was established in 1965.

Medicare Part B premiums are commonly deducted automatically from beneficiaries' monthly Social Security checks. Part C and D plans may or may not charge premiums, at the programs' discretion. Part C plans may also choose to rebate a portion of the Part B premium to the member. While private-sector health insurance premiums are deducted from employees’ paychecks on a pre-tax basis, Medicare taxes are confiscated from employees on an after-tax basis. Is that fair? Upon retirement, if one wishes to pay for Medicare Part B, the premiums are conveniently deducted from retirees Social Security checks on an after-tax basis. Is that fair?

Still Clueless?

Three-quarters of all taxpayers pay more in payroll taxes than income taxes. Do you get it now? It’s time for this to change. It’s time to stop confiscating money from today’s payroll checks to cover tomorrow’s health care needs. It’s time to give American citizens more of our own money so that we may provide for our current needs. All that we ever hear from the Democrats is how many Americans can’t afford health insurance. Did it ever dawn on any of them that maybe the reason we can’t afford health insurance is because we are being robbed blind by a 15.3% payroll tax? Out of every American paycheck, 15.3% is being literally looted and squandered by the federal government. We are being robbed by a 1933 law which has outlived its usefulness. It’s time to end Medicare and Social Security. All past obligations of Medicare must be immediately privatized through legitimate private-sector insurance companies.

References:

[1] http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/ProgData/taxRates.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_(United_States)

Related:

Obsolete Government Programs, Part 1 FICA

Social Security - A Breach of Trust

The Social Security Bust Fund


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; Politics; Reference
KEYWORDS: budget; fica; medicare; taxes

1 posted on 04/21/2011 9:51:41 PM PDT by NaturalBornConservative
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To: NaturalBornConservative

Thank you for this. On the cusp of age 65 one smoking but healthy couple pay $26,000.00 per year for BCBS insurance, prescriptions, and periodic physicals to renew Rx’s. With one of the two now reaching Medicare age and paying Medicare premiums, it’s $9,000.00 per year (on premiums only). I about fell over hearing of the difference. The other will soon be eligibe for Medicare priced premiums, so it will lower some more.

I don’t really understand why medical costs are so high, but for paying for the no insurance-no pay crowd. Is that the sole reason?


2 posted on 04/21/2011 10:18:54 PM PDT by RitaOK
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To: NaturalBornConservative

After 30 months on dialysis which my private plan paid for (probably not gladly), I am being forced to go to Medicare and it is a nightmare. I have ESRD and I can’t buy Medi-gap in my state, earn too much to qualify for AHCCCS or help from the National Kidney Fund, and a bunch of other FUBAR dead ends. I am paying for COBRA but when that ends— what then?

Did you know that the government by law MUST pay for dialysis on or before the 30-month mark, and that it cost taxpayers $28 Billion for 500K patients in 2010? Dialysis is a huge cash cow for DaVita and Fresnius. Not that I begrudge them what they earn honestly, but this modality has been in place for over 40 years now, with no hope of anything new except transplantation.

Why? Government pays for this technology and not for any competing technology.

Imagine what is coming our way when government decides what gets paid for what conditions under Obamacare. The current medical options for hip replacement, cancer, lung disease, heart disease, you name it, are all going to be set and never to be changed except by an act of congress. There is no incentive to work on a competing technology, because the gov’t won’t pay for it, and the FDA won’t approve it.

Crony capitalism.

I’m getting to the point where I think secession is the only answer to get out from under this mountain of regulations and tax law!


3 posted on 04/21/2011 10:37:47 PM PDT by TenthAmendmentChampion (Darwinism is to Genesis as Global Warming is to Revelations.)
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To: RitaOK
We really need to look at how we deliver the treatment. This may be the reason costs are high.
4 posted on 04/21/2011 10:38:30 PM PDT by Domangart
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To: TenthAmendmentChampion

Oh by the way, dialysis costs from $50,000 to $250,000 per patient per year.


5 posted on 04/21/2011 10:39:11 PM PDT by TenthAmendmentChampion (Darwinism is to Genesis as Global Warming is to Revelations.)
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To: Domangart

We really need to look at how we deliver the treatment. “

If “delivery” is the what, when, how, who and how much, if it includes Kathleen Sebilias and her dream team panel of deciders. :)


6 posted on 04/21/2011 10:51:43 PM PDT by RitaOK
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To: RitaOK
Complex question. We pay Medicare taxes of 2.9% of our pay (1/2 paid by the employer in most cases) all of our working lives, and Medicare is on the verge of bankruptcy. Then when we retire we have to pay more into Medicare if we want to be covered by Part B - health insurance.

Medicare doesn't pay doctors the full amount of their charges, so many doctors lose money on Medicare patients, and have to pass those costs onto those covered by private-sector insurance. So those covered by private plans are seeing premiums rise and rise, while those on Medicare will receive less and less in coverage and probably greater premiums in the near future.

I think that if all the money being poured into government-run 'so called' insurance was instead directed to the private insurance market, that insurance rates would be lower for us all. But progressives see it the other way around, they think that if the government ran all health care that it would be cheaper. Yeah, how's that working out?

I'm not advocating cutting off care for folks like the ones you mentioned though. I think that all current recipients should be switched to private-sector insurance plans with the government picking up the tab for those truly in need. And I think that those under the age of 55 or so, should be freed from this bondage, allowing them to be able to afford their own insurance for a change.

Since Medicare is partly paid for by the general fund (and deficit spending) anyway, it might as well all be under the general fund, with the addition that under my theory: The government should pay in full for ‘private-sector’ health insurance premiums on those who are truly needy, and a percentage of the premiums of others who qualify, and then the federal government should and must get out of the insurance business.

7 posted on 04/21/2011 10:54:32 PM PDT by NaturalBornConservative (The Author)
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To: TenthAmendmentChampion

Thanks for sharing your nightmare. Perhaps secession is the answer, if we are unable to find and elect leaders with the courage to tackle the real problem (i.e. government).


8 posted on 04/21/2011 11:00:46 PM PDT by NaturalBornConservative (The Author)
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To: TenthAmendmentChampion

Why? Government pays for this technology and not for any competing technology. “ ================

Thank you for that answer. You have informed me. Point well taken. 40 years of the same modality after all this boom in technology is stunning. What do you think about a state environment in maybe improving competition and research? I suppose population would explode overnight if a state unloaded feds and payroll taxes as you suggest in the event of a succession. BTW, God bless in this Holy Week.


9 posted on 04/21/2011 11:04:10 PM PDT by RitaOK
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To: NaturalBornConservative

I so agree with you, particularly on those under 50 needing to be released from bondage as you aptly say. Thank you for this. You are doing the Lord’s work that’s for sure.


10 posted on 04/21/2011 11:09:39 PM PDT by RitaOK
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To: TenthAmendmentChampion
A Medicare Advantage (MA) Plan may be a possibility. If you are on COBRA, what is the Insurance Company?

Individuals who developed ESRD while a member of a health plan offered by an Medicare Advantage organization and who are converting to Medicare Parts A and B, can elect an MA plan in the same organization (within the same State) as their health plan during their Initial Enrollment Period in Medicare. For example; if you have COBRA with a United Healthcare Plan and United Healthcare offers a Medicare Advantage Plan in your Arizona county, you can join one of their plans during the initial enrollment period. If that company does not offer a plan in your county but does in another, you might consider a move to a county that offers the plan.

Call the Member Services number on the back of your card to see if your insurance company offers an MA plan in your county.

11 posted on 04/21/2011 11:39:09 PM PDT by Tucson Jim
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To: NaturalBornConservative

all I got to say is that my husband and I have no defined pensions and we’ve been paying all taxes for a combined 75 yrs or so and we expect to have SOMETHING when we get to 65.....


12 posted on 04/21/2011 11:40:39 PM PDT by cherry
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To: NaturalBornConservative

Both Ryan and Obama’s budget bills don’t do enough. They cut a little for a while then zoom the debt back up; Obama’s very fast which means he has no intention of stop spending. Ryan needs to cut a lot deeper and keep it that way.

I am tired of these fools lying to us and I have heard no mention of quit paying for the illegals. That would cut a lot.

Our Houston mayor just announced she is cutting the police force. Now that is just plain stupid. Don’t cut them or our fire fighters. Cut your staff and and a lot of the dead weight hanging around.


13 posted on 04/22/2011 12:09:16 AM PDT by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote; then find me a real conservative to vote for)
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To: cherry

I hear ya! But it looks like the federal government has already squandered our payroll taxes and then some. The debt is already $14.3 T, so I don’t know where it’s going to come from, but I do know that if all the money we’ve paid for Medicare and Social Security had been instead invested by legitimate private-sector insurance companies we would have guarantees. Unfortunately, the way the federal laws were written, we currently have no guarantees. In fact, we might be worse off than folks were in 1933.


14 posted on 04/22/2011 12:10:12 AM PDT by NaturalBornConservative (The Author)
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