Posted on 02/20/2011 3:50:27 PM PST by george76
The federal Medicare program is popular among older Americans, but that doesn't mean it's easy to navigate.
Medicare is a complex web of health benefits serving more than 46 million seniors and disabled people.
It's easy to get confused, says Joe Baker, president of the Medicare Rights Center in New York. For instance, because the age to collect full Social Security benefits "is moving up to age 67, a lot of folks think Medicare eligibility has changed as well, but it hasn't," he says. "It's still at 65."
Here are four common Medicare misconceptions:
1. Medicare works like private health insurance.
2. Medicare provides free or cheap health care.
3. Medicare covers everything.
4. You can sign up for Medicare at any time.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
No, you are probably NOT paying anywhere the premiums that you would have to pay without Medicare. So, are you getting extra benefits without paying the premium or are you getting benefits from the government?
If you actually check on the rates for medical insurance at your age, I would suspect that it would be over 600.00 a month. Not fair, but the going price for old age medical insurance. No, you are NOT paying anywhere near the required amount for your insurance! Heck, it was over 600 a month when I was 55 - many years ago...
So, No, you are skating with that kind of low payment. In reality, you are getting about 300 or more a month guaranteed by the government. That is not a bad thing, it is just a fact of life right now. The younger generation is paying for that though...
So, you also are relying on government to pay most of your premiums. That is understandable since they did make a pact with you regarding taxes etc. That does NOT mean that it is right or that you aren’t depriving your children of their monies - either taxes or other hidden taxes.
Yes, you and I continue to be the problem with the younger generation... Not a nice thought, but it is true...
You sir are refusing to acknowledge the problem - common among the unions but not among the voters...
When you become a private company surviving on profits, get back to me...
Do you have medicare advantage?
BTW, not my fault. Congress passed a bill that Richard Nixon signed that said USPS cannot be operated at a profit.
You don't like Nixon, fine, take it up with him next time you see him (which I'm sure you will, heh,heh, heh).
First off, you don't want any competition. Then you want a government subsidy. Then you want us to go beat up on someone else you think might be getting better service than you ~ none of which you pay for.
The Post Office in this country is financed through USER FEES, the very essence of the sort of thing Ronaldus Magnus proposed. And it's time for you to get cracking emptying your pockets ~ I want my money, and make it snappy.
I have no problem with the Post Office except when people that work there say that their benefits and salary are not due to the government. They do perform a service, it is just a shame that they can’t do it at a profit.
I blame much of that on the unions. Without them, they just might make a viable enterprise (as it really should be). The unions demand way too much in both pay and restrictions to the working environment. That has to change in the future or the Post Office can and should go extinct.
As to the current environment, haven’t used the post office in years thanks to UPS and FedEX and the Internet. If it were my choice, I would eliminate them entirely and same many billions.
You sir, should not respond without thinking...
They did pay for them. The government spent it as fast as it came in or Medicare and SS would not only be solvent but have a major surplus.
If they had invested it then they could pay all current claims off the income without touching the principle.
However... they didn't.
Is this the retiree's fault? Partly. After all they were the ones who elected the crooks that drained the account.
However it can be argued that the government must pay back everything they borrowed before it would be just to ask the retirees to give up any part of their claim.
Oh, I’m thinking. I’m thinking that you are coming down too hard on folks that paid into the system with expectations to get something in return.
I don’t believe that the government can meet those expectations and those folks will be cheated. So there are tough times ahead. Unions won’t be able to meet their promises either.
Many folks gave up their fates to others and will lose.
I’m an entrepreneur, and kept my fate in my own hands. Tough road. I’m a very lucky man, but I also worked very hard for my luck.
BTW, hats off your son, who is serving to protect us. My deepest thanks to you and yours. I meant no disrespect.
Yes, it is partly the fault of the beneficiaries... come on now, do you really think that the benefits promised live up to anything that you could get privately with much more money?
No, we all played stupid and took everything that the politicians offered without questioning the future. It was way too easy....
Now, we are meeting the rock in the road and it is us and our benefits. Do we stonewall like the Wisconsin Democrats or do we realize that we’ve been had and things have to change?
That is really the question and it does dictate the answer. It is and will not be pretty, we have lived high on the hog for way too long...
All have to finally agree that things have to change and it will hurt many of us...
Remember, the United States alone has half the mail in the world. That's because we have the world's most efficient and least costly mail system.
It doesn't get better than that even where private companies move the mail.
What it no longer has is a super surplus where the government's obligation to repay is growing. It's now shrinking but it still exists.
You’re past the times... Read up on the latest results.
Actually I know the benefits promised are puny compared to what people would have if they had kept that money and invested it very conservatively. The vast majority would retire as millionaires. They could draw $4,000 a month and never touch the principle.
I have run the numbers and I am not the only one who has. The government ran a huge scam and they are running a even bigger one when they whine that "people didn't pay enough in to the account to cover their future benefits".
BTW a major drain on SS is SSDI or "crazy checks". Cut that out and I would bet that the fund would suddenly be solvent again for a bit.
Not really sure about the amount, but surely it would be in the billions since that is constantly the amount given to the Post Office to continue operating.
Really just a guess..so I give you any question about amounts. Are you defending the idea that the Post Office moves lots of mail and loses money? And you are stating that a private company would lose more?
Bump for later...
(I think I heard little Billy sniff, and so I have to get him to a doctor.)
The USPS is not given billions in tax dollars to keep the doors open.
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