Posted on 12/11/2009 10:11:54 AM PST by Free ThinkerNY
What’s not to like about the idea of expanding an entitlement program that is already speeding towards collapse, mainly because too many people are entering it already? As it turns out, plenty — and even the New York Times has noticed. It has higher premiums, none of the out-of-pocket caps that private policies have, and will attract a pool with much higher risk, driving costs of premiums and services up, according to a former Medicare trustee:
Marilyn Moon, a health economist and former public trustee of Medicare, said that for people 55 to 64, Medicare premiums could be higher than premiums charged by private health plans.
Health policy experts said that the people who chose to enroll in Medicare were likely to be heavy users of health care, with higher-than-average costs.
Moreover, Ms. Moon noted, private plans would have large numbers of healthy people under the age of 55, whose premiums could help cover costs for those 55 to 64. “Such cross-subsidies would not be available under the new Medicare option,” she said.
All of that would be a burden to a program on sound financial footing. That certainly doesn’t describe Medicare. It’s the worst of the entitlement nightmares, about eight times larger in unfunded future liabilities than Social Security, and it’s been a net-deficit program for years. Thanks largely to Medicare in its current form, federal spending on it will go from 4% of GDP in 2007 (roughly 20% of that budget) to 12% of GDP by 2050.
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus
They don’t think. They just do what the Muslim in the White House tells them to do.
If you work for and are insured by a large company like Hewlett-Packard, once you become eligible for Medicare you MUST join and medicare becomes your primary insurer, leaving HP to pick up 16% of that amount covered by medicare.
This whole idea of expanding medicare could be a real problem for employes over 55 that are working (or retired with medical coverage) for large companies.
That's where I will be next June when I'm 65. My former employeer requires that I sign on to Medicare or lose them as a secondary insurer and lose them as primary insurer for the rest of my family who aren't old enough for Medicare, in addition I'd lose my private pension.
That doesn't leave me with very many options.
I think I will go into the Veterans Administration System.
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