Posted on 02/13/2019 10:43:41 AM PST by jazusamo
Key Democrats introduced legislation Wednesday that would allow people 50 and older to buy into Medicare, saying it’s an incremental step to universal coverage that’s stage-ready and easier to pass than more ambitious liberal plans.
They also said it’s sorely needed, since Americans aged 50 to 64 tend to develop medical issues and get “knocked around” by private insurers.
Some constituents are even putting off an early retirement because they must cling to their job-based insurance, according to Sen. Debbie Stabenow, Michigan Democrat, who filed the bill with Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.
“So many people say they’re holding their breath until age 65. I want people to be able to stop holding their breath,” she said.
The senators were joined by Rep. Brian Higgins, New York Democrat who backed Rep. Nancy Pelosi to become speaker after she told him he could lead the House push for a Medicare buy-in.
He said Medicare would be more affordable than what older people find on Obamacare’s insurance exchanges, and that it makes sense to leverage and existing program instead of reinventing the wheel.
“Medicare is the best ‘public option’ that already exists,” he said.
The Democrats’ prized 2010 health law — Obamacare — managed to cover roughly 20 million Americans, yet nearly 30 million remain uninsured in the U.S., prompting lawmakers to float fixes.
(Excerpt) Read more at outline.com ...
There are no surveys on doctors, and their feelings, but I would imagine that if you showed up as the Med-50 guy....there’s probably a 25-percent chance that your old doctor won’t accept the situation.
Do like “sandy 0” says. “Just pay for it.”
65? I haven’t checked lately but to retire at 100% SS it’s something +/- 67 for me.
And there’s a reason it’s cheaper than the Obamacare exchanges - little thing called the Tax payer.
50 too young
62 makes sense. If you are willing to take less Social Security at age 62, you are left without ins.for 3 years.
Remember with medicare at 50 you can no longer have your kids on your ins.
Yep, if she could do it by herself right now the commie would.
I’m pretty well off, so I get hit with the income adjustments for Medicare and the drug plan. With a supplemental plan like Medex (but no vision or dental), I figure my monthly bill is around $700 to $800. It’s probably a fair price.
But, most people would pay about $350, which at retirement age is probably a highly subsidized rate.
So, I don’t have too big a problem with “Medicare at 50” AS LONG as it isn’t a subsidized rate. That means that for a 50 year old, it might need to cost somewhere between $500 and $600 for Part B and Part D.
One other important thing: I have a friend in the insurance business who tells me that Medicare pays about 89% of what private insurers pay. It’s enough that providers make a profit, but a small one. (They lose money on Medicaid, which pays 70 or 75% of what private insurers pay). So, if a blended rate were put in place, Medicare would have to bridge some of the gap between its current payment rate and that paid by private insurance.
It obviously doesn’t say anything about who pays what. That’s intentional.
Implementing this would produce instant bankruptcy of the system. The younger people haven’t paid into the system as long as the old ones. The result would be that the elderly would not get the care they now get, and that is the intention.
The new “medicare” would be paying for sex-change operations, abortion, and aids care.
The new “medicare” would immediately introduce government-paid euthanasia, while refusing treatment that is now covered. That would cut costs for the new “medicare.”
Hell wid dat...just wait til AOC gives you free stuff for life for free!
It’s going down like this.
They’ll drop the Medicare age to 50. All of a sudden private insurers will start dropping their customers 50 and older, telling them they can go on Medicare.
Then they’ll drop the age a couple more times to fortysomething, and the same thing will happen.
One day people will wake up and realize that the private insurance companies are getting to cherry-pick just the healthiest customers 18-39, forcing the others who actually rack-up costs onto the government plan. They keep all the gravy profits while the taxpayers eat the lions’s share of the expenses.
The vast majority will look at this situation and say “SCROOOOOOOO THAT!” And National Health Care will become a reality.
I thought Obamacare fixed that.
IIRC, you also get screwed if you collect SS before age 66 if you still work. And unsaid is how much this would cost.
In 2014 average Medicare spending per enrollee was $10,986 -- a "buy in" can't be cheap, at least if this complies with any known accounting theory.
I would like a figure of all the premiums paid to private insurance companies on an annual basis. Without that figure a proper analyses of single payer vs private cannot be made.
It requires a theory where money grows on trees!
My Dr. dropped Medicaid patients years ago.
He told me that usually losing over 25% of ones patients would hurt ones bottom line.
Turned out, he says he never lost a single dime by doing so.
My current physician will not take Medicare or Medicaid
Imagine being able to collect 17% of US GDP (est of Health Care Spending) $$$ is all they see
We know that only one of those choices happens. Spending is never slashed, the money is just shifted from one bucket to another and they call it slashing. Raising taxes is always the choice selected.
Suckers.
If you like your life, you can keep your life.
Raising tax marginal rates always ends up REDUCING federal tax receipts and slowing the economy. BAD BAD IDEA.
Our doc won’t take any .gov payments.
We went cash pay.
When we ask for the cash costs, it is usually a lot lower than if it went through insurance.
At the end of each year, I settle up with my doctor in US currency. and a happy new year.
“Hate to say it, but this is a winning issue for Dems”
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I agree,but I don’t get the 15 year jump——why not just lowering to 60?
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