News of the Day II

[Flycoon]

Originally Posted by ChaseSpace

An alternative could be barring private insurance companies from making any political donations and/or bar them from lobbying local/state/federal government.

Private insurance is profit driven so they will do everything in their power to buy votes in order to continue handicapping Medicare-for-all in order to get people to keep going the private route.

Really a misnomer calling the program Medicare-for-all. They are proposing universal care with no copay or deductible. Medicare pays 80%. No drug coverage. No dental, vision, or hearing services. No nursing home or assisted living.

Having Medicare without a supplemental policy and Part D coverage for prescription drugs can be outrageously expensive. I will probably go the Medicare advantage route in 13 months; they offer the best Rx pricing. Couple of the drugs I use would be over $900 per month out of pocket; expensive drugs are typically excluded by the part D plans.

[ChaseSpace]

Originally Posted by Flycoon

Really a misnomer calling the program Medicare-for-all. They are proposing universal care with no copay or deductible. Medicare pays 80%. No drug coverage. No dental, vision, or hearing services. No nursing home or assisted living.

I will own up to the fact I did not know Medicare excluded those from the program.

[Donnie D]

Originally Posted by ChaseSpace

I will own up to the fact I did not know Medicare excluded those from the program.

Same here until I turned 64 and 9 months. You saw the list of what isn’t covered, but the hospital and doctor coverage isn’t so great either.

Medicare (parts A & B) is $135.50 a month (you have to pay for it unless you can prove that you have private insurance). The hospital deductible is $1,364. If you stay more than 60 days, you pay $341 a day. After 90 days, it’s $682 a day for the next 60 days and then you pay the full cost. For doctors, you pay the initial $185 and then a 20% copay.

That’s why most people also get a Medicare supplement from a private company. When you get close to 65, you’ll get 2-3 letters a day from different companies trying to sell you one of their policies. And you will get a half dozen calls each day from companies ignoring that you are on the do not call list.

My wife and I pay $435 a month each for our supplement but it covers everything with no deductible or copy. You can get cheaper plans, but you’ll have higher deductibles or copays. (We get this one, because my former employer pays for my supplement).

Medicare for all is a misnomer. It isn’t traditional Medicare with the associated monthly costs or copays. It’s really a single payer system. I guess calling it MFA is supposed to fool folks into thinking that it isn’t a single pay system and that it is just the good old Medicare system for everyone. But you can see traditional Medicare costs folks $6,000 a year. I’d think elderly folks would be more supportive if they knew that cost was going away.

[Flycoon]

Originally Posted by ChaseSpace

I will own up to the fact I did not know Medicare excluded those from the program.

Most find out when old farts like Donnie and I do. The real wealth buster is assisted living and nursing home care. Assisted living starts around $4K per month, nursing home around $6K. Medicaid will pay for nursing home care if you can strip away almost all of your assets and your family will put you in the type of facility that will take the low payment they provide. If a family member needs assisted living and have no assets they are fucked. Or YOU are fucked because they are moving in with you.

If you can afford it, buy long term care insurance as soon as possible.

[Donnie D]

Originally Posted by Flycoon

Some were chanting "Lock him up" during the broadcast. Nats fans are OK with me.

Leanne Potts

Take Trump out to the ball game
Take Trump out with the crowd
Boo him and tell them to #LockHimUp
We don't want him to ever come back

So it's root root root for impeachment
If he stays in, it's a shame
For it's one, two, three crimes you're out
in the U. S. of A.

[Flycoon]

To clarify, Part A (hospital inpatient care) is free if you sign up at 65. Part B (physician and outpatient services) starts at 135.50 per month and increases when you hit certain income levels. Tops out at just over $400 per month. Part b can be delayed so long as you have other qualified insurance. My wife took that road until she retired in August. I have COBRA through her insurance employer. In three months I have been canceled three times due to supposed administrative errors.

Lack of education on this is staggering. 68 year old friend had a heart attack two weeks ago; thought he had traditional Medicare but has a BCBS advantage plan. Saved him significant $ on the 6 prescriptions he was sent home with. Angioplasty and two stents on Friday, one night in ICU and out Saturday afternoon. Cardiologist has no appointments available until mid December for a follow up.

The only advocate you will have is yourself.

[Donnie D]

I honestly don’t know how older, or less educated seniors can understand the complex rules of the program. Most of my former co-workers who were around my age were handling the paperwork for their parents.

[jdhebner]

Originally Posted by Flycoon

If you can afford it, buy long term care insurance as soon as possible.

My wife got us into this about 10 years ago. Its a real piece of peace of mind.

[Flycoon]

Originally Posted by Donnie D

I honestly don’t know how older, or less educated seniors can understand the complex rules of the program. Most of my former co-workers who were around my age were handling the paperwork for their parents.

Very true. They get hammered during open enrollment each year about this time and some get sucked in by companies like CarePlus that refund the Medicare premium. Sounds great until you look at the participating physicians, facilities, and hospitals in said HMO. Count them on one hand.

My 88 yo mother in law wants to change every year; we never let her. BCBS PPO has worked well for her needs. The other service I provide for her is trashing her junk mail after seeing she was sending money to Boy’s Town as well as the scammers “protecting” her social security. No problem be to these Trump like scams.

[Donnie D]

I have United Health Care.