Posted on 02/20/2010 3:54:20 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON – Millions of seniors who signed up for popular private health plans through Medicare are facing sharp premium increases this year — another sign that spiraling costs are a problem even for those with solid insurance.
A study released Friday by a major consulting firm found that premiums for Medicare Advantage plans offering medical and prescription drug coverage jumped 14.2 percent on average in 2010, after an increase of only 5.2 percent the previous year. Some 8.5 million elderly and disabled Americans are in the plans, which provide more comprehensive coverage than traditional Medicare, often at lower cost.
...
The Medicare findings are bad news for President Barack Obama and his health care overhaul that is bogged down in Congress. That's because the higher Medicare Advantage premiums for 2010 followed a cut in government payments to the private plans last year. And the Democratic bills pending in Congress call for even more cuts, which are expected to force many seniors to drop out of what has been a rapidly growing alternative to traditional Medicare.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
US President Barack Obama speaks at a town hall meeting at Green Valley High School in Henderson, Nevada. Obama threw down the gauntlet to Republicans on health care Friday, saying "show me what you got," one week before a live, televised summit on his deadlocked political priority. (AFP/Mandel Ngan)
If my health insurance jumped ONLY 14% I’d be much happier than I am with 34%.
How you like them apples?
These insurance companies WANT obamacare. It will mean many many more customers.
I gag when I see Zero’s picture. You need a Barf warning when posting.
Don’t worry. They are only cutting waste... $500 billion in waste.
But you may rest assured that Medicare is an example of a scrupulously efficient health care plan. It’s proof that government supplied health care is best!!
This is my third year with my insurance company.
Monthly:
Year one, Med. 9.00 RX 24.24
Year two, Med. 28.00 RX 40.40
This year, Med. 59.00 RX 60.40 W/ 250.00 deductible
Not bad since they paid about 289,000 for my (5) by-pass surgery. Not counting all the medicine or doctors. I paid several co-pays. So I’m still happy at this rate just to be able to CHOOSE the plan I want.
With 0’s plan I would have been thrown out with a pill and gone by now.
I worked all my life, paid my Medicare and SS taxes so I think we about even.
Yes, but they are just doing Obama’s bidding. Punishing the elderly for opposing his health care plan.
Benito Mussolini
" Fascism accepts the individual only insofar as his interests coincide with the state's."
-Mussolini
“Fascism is capitalism in decay”
Vladimir Lenin
"These code authorities could regulate production, quantities, qualities, prices, distribution methods, etc., under the supervision of the NRA. This was fascism."
John T. Flynn
“Indeed, in a free government almost all other rights would become worthless if the government possessed power over the private fortune of every citizen“.
John Marshall
“We can’t be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans…”
Bill Clinton, USA Today, March 11, 1993
“Understand that all battles are waged on an unconscious level before they are begun on the conscious one, and this battle is no different. The power structure wishes us to believe that the only options available are those which they present to us, we know this is simply not true, and therefore we must redefine the terrain of this conflict, and clearly, it is a conflict of worldviews and agendas.”
Teresa Stover
This went up...my rent went up....No COLA this year...Just give me all my money back and I could live very well for many years. In the meantime, I’m 66 and still have to work...
My co-pays increased by 5 bucks and maximum out-of-pocket increased from $3500 to $5000.
IMHO you're right about that, but they won't be so full of Obama-adoration when he begins to weed them out, which he's bound to do.
Political contributions Kaiser Permanente
Political contributions Regence Blue Cross
Over half of Blue Dogs' 2009 Campaign Contributions from Health Care Industry
Snip: In 2008 Pfizer gave $980,048 in campaign contributions to Democrats, representing 52 percent of its total campaign contributions. It was the first year since 1990 that Pfizer gave more to Democrats than Republicans. The biggest recipients of Pfizer campaign dollars last year were Democratic Congressman Allen Boyd, who serves on the Appropriations Committee, and Democratic Senator Chris Dodd, a senior member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. In the 2010 cycle, the company has given 60 percent of its campaign cash to Democrats. Barack Obama blew out John McCain in contributions from the pharmaceutical industry, taking in some $2.1 million compared to the $668,000 contributed to McCain's campaign.
So it starts. hyperinflation
At least the story eventually explained that these plans had to increase premiums because the government cut the government payments to these plans, the payments are meant to compensate these plans for the cost of the underlying medicare coverage that they are replacing.
But the Obama administration wants to get rid of these programs, by pricing them out of the market.
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