Posted on 01/16/2020 10:08:32 AM PST by Kaslin
If Tuesday night’s debate felt like a scene out of “Groundhog Day” to you, you’re not alone. Democratic moderates Buttigieg and Biden tried to— for what must be the 100th time— differentiate themselves from the socialist wing of their party with the same old talking points about "Medicare for All" and the much more moderate
"Medicare for Some." We were indulged with the same old reassurances: this new and improved proposal would give Americans a “choice” between a private and public option.
However, as the Iowa Caucus draws near, voters would do well to realize that this “choice" is a deception. In reality, Medicare for Some is a Trojan horse for single-payer healthcare.
Private insurers are in the business to make a profit, whereas our government seems most apt at running up trillions of dollars in debt. Medicare for Some would be no different: perpetually in the red, and heavily subsidized by taxpayer dollars. It would provide exorbitant benefits at a price lower than any private insurer could afford.
There would be no way for an insurance company to profitably compete with a government option. As Lewis Carroll put it in the Red Queen’s race: it would take “all the running you can do just to keep in the same place.”
Insurance is, above all, a numbers game. With its generous subsidies, Medicare for Some would siphon customers away from private insurers, driving up the prices for those left in the private market, and also driving up the bill for taxpayers. If funded as the Democrats propose, Medicare for Some would soon enough become Medicare for All.
Moreover, public hospitals in the U.S. (the vast majority of hospitals) legally cannot refuse patients with public insurance (like Medicare and Medicaid). The Obamacare expansion more than doubled the number of people on Medicaid, which has already sent many hospitals into financial turmoil because the program reimburses doctors and hospitals much less than other insurers do. Government insurance is a monopoly bleeding hospitals dry.
If the much more ambitious Medicare for Some similarly took American healthcare hostage with coercive, subpar reimbursements, it could spell disaster. We’d not only be running up our debt, but also exacerbating our projected 122,000 physician shortage.
Medicare for Some may seem the more palatable, consensual proposal for healthcare reform from Democrats. It’s not. Medicare for Some is just Medicare for All with a few extra steps.
For the 71 percent of Americans who appreciate their current private insurer, Medicare for Some would, in due time, deprive them of that option.
America is a nation founded on choice and competition, and government insurance would inherently stifle competition and deprive patients, doctors and hospitals of choice. Nobody will end up with better healthcare if their insurer is forced out of the market and their doctor is forced to see patients.
Voters in Iowa and across the country should keep in mind that our upcoming vote may be the last choice in healthcare we ever get to make.
The Democrats promised to make abortion “safe, legal and rare”.
That means free abortion for female of all ages, for any reason at all, and if some of them die it’s no big deal. Whoo-Hoo!!
There is a minimum of one death per abortion.
Fair point. I sometimes say that RU-486 is the only drug approved by the FDA which kills at least one person every time it is taken.
Medicare works. Here’s why. Many years ago, when I first started working, I noticed a “Medicare” deduction from my pay. Everyone else with a job has paid it since that time. The number of recipients of care was very small at the beginning of Medicare. It was solvent.
It’s essentially solvent today because of the long period of premium payment, and the premium that recipients pay during the period that they receive service.
Opening it to all will destroy it in a day. It should be obvious why: huge payouts to patients receiving service, and small total amount of premiums paid. Elementary.
They are clever. By calling it “Medicare for all” they have given it a nice-sounding name that instills a warm fuzzy sense of security. In reality it is low-cost health insurance for all that cannot be sustained, and so will have to be paid from the treasury, from taxes.
They know that most people don’t think past the name of a thing.
Medicare for all is quite possible financially.
It is the extra stuff like dental care for all and most especially nursing home care for all that push “Medicare for All” beyond the possible.
They have to do this because the government is such an incompetent administrator on its own. This is also, coincidentally, comparable to the subsidy provided by most company insurances for group plans. If you lose a job, they offer COBRA coverage at your former contribution plus about $800.
The point being is that Medicare goes broke a LOT slower when you have to be 65 and over for eligibility. Once they make it "Medicare for All", it bleeds red ink a lot faster and will have to be kept afloat by massive infusions of tax dollars or increasingly crappy service, probably some combination of both.
That is not speculation, it is fact.
“our projected 122,000 physician shortage”
Many drugs could easily be moved to auto-renewable status.
Other drugs could simply be made OTC.
EU/Canadian/Australian medical licenses could be honored in the USA.
“much touted Medicare supplement programs”
You are referring to “Medicare Advantage” programs.
Correct. They type which airs constant commercials for a full month leading up to the December 7 decision deadline for the following year.
Long term care would be covered. Cheaper to just shift most seniors nto assisted living residences.
Nursing homes would be the last resort for people with complicated medical conditions who cannot look after themselves and who need round the clock care.
Never put someone in charge of your healthcare that has an interest paying your retirement. And if you are removed from the doctor patient relationship, they will treat the easy stuff, but make it expensive.
DK
If you have Medicaid you’re covered for things Medicare won’t pay for.
If democrats want a health perk for their victim-class members they need to call it "DemocratVictim-Groups Free Health Care'... and be real about what's happening.
Medicare for some and Medicare for all are both more similar to Medicaid than to Medicare.
The most important feature of Medicare is that it goes to those who paid into it for many years. Medicare for some/all goes to those who did not pay into it.
This is basically an expanded Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance for the poor.
Democrats are guilty of switch and bait.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.