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 ...
Medicare covers “miss-conceptions”???
Who knew???
Anyone under the misconception that any government agency provides “free” anything is stupid.
“Free” stuff from the government just means the government charges a fee to rob one’s neighbors.
Yes, Medicare and Medicaid is a real problem but only caused by a small percentage of the population.
1. If most of those eligible only went to a Doctor when actually needed, the costs would be much smaller.
2. Forget all those advertisements and pushes toward preventive-medicine. They cost much more than only seeing a doctor when needed.
3. Costs are absorbed by all of the younger tax payers - please don’t go to Doctors without a good reason.
4. If the elder actually would take some responsibility for their medical care, things would not be in such a mess.
There are those that need chronic care and that is understandable, but most need no such care - minimal is the ideal. Can’t understand why the elderly would continue to soak their grandchildren for their benefits. I think it is time for us - the older generation to either start paying our own way (as possible) or quit complaining...
Time for all you elderly who think that you’ve paid for Medicare and Social Security to speak up and declare that you deserve your benefits!
Come on folks, don’t you think that you deserve your protections regardless of the condition of the country?
Awaiting your reasonable responses.
Now roughly what that means is that in exchange for riding out the period of dislocation from the Post Office Department to the USPS I've got FEHB forever.
What happens to most all federales when they retire is that as soon as they get to be 65 the FEHB stuffs them over into Medicare (for all practical purposes). You even get a medical care card that denotes your Medicare status.
What happens to those of us covered by that special provision is that we continue to get the same sort of insured coverage that regular federal employees get ~ not just the watered down stuff they'll get from Medicare later on.
I know, it sounds unfair ~ but a contract is a contract, and the law is the law.
Yes, it is unfair - proposed and verified by our wonderful politicians that needed your votes. Do you see any problems here? Doubt it, you have yours and hell with the poor people that have to sustain you and your pension.
Yes, I do believe in the contract law...but by god we can change the future... These kind of benefits can NOT continue and actually, you would probably agree. You’ve got your gold, but this can not be sustained.
Medicare is insurance: i.e. seniors pay monthly premiums, deductibles & co-pays for Parts B & D (physicians & drugs) and high deductibles for Part A (hospital in-patient).
Working seniors are saving Medicare $$billions by having primary group health insurance.
There are chronically ill persons under 65 who are filing claims for, and receiving Medicare benefits far in excess of healthy seniors.
http://ssa.custhelp.ssa.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/400/~/how-to-qualify-for-medicare
Yes - I have worked for 40+ years, paid income taxes, SS taxes, gasoline taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, medical premiums, raised children, sent one to Iraq and never asked the Government for rent, food or medicine. Now my children are doing the same on my behalf.
Hey it’s only underfunded to the tune of $72 trillion or so.
Won’t the huge tax $$ influx resulting from the Baraqqi Boom of 2011 / Recover Summer #2 pay for this several times over?
Well, all I can say is that not only do you fail to see the problem, you are a major part of it!
Yes, we did pay for Medicare and Social Security... but as you well know, it was way less than what it takes to get by today. Call it way you may, but it was and does not provide the benefits that we take.
Chronically ill should have help if needed - not a problem. It is the rest of us that use benefits that cost the government millions that I despise.
Yes, you are the ideal candidate that thinks that your grand children should take care of you in your old age. You sir, are a selfish bastard (speaking carefully). Yes, I have sent my child to Iraq (Marine) with pride and do NOT think that I deserve anything extra for that.
It’s no wonder we are in such a dastardly shape with people that think like you do... We and the future are doomed.
I have no hope for my son, much less for my grandchildren.
PS: Your attitude disgusts me!
They could have simply paid me off, and I could have walked away with the money and invested it. My heirs would have been most happy.
Well, as it turns out the government LOST THE BET. It's time to pay.
Sometimes that happens when you cheat people with nickel and dime deals and then they don't die. It's not that I'm stealing anything from you ~ a deal is a deal ~ your representative sought to deprive me of rights and income ~ and he knew what he was doing.
You'll notice that in Wisconsin Governor Walker is NOT proposing to take away any "earned" benefits. The credit for retirement already earned stays right there. The proposal is to have the employees pay a pittance for their future retirement benefits.
Over the years I found Congress doing that to me regularly. Sometimes they'd want 7%, and other times 7.25% and even 7.8% ~ then it went back to 7.15% ~ notice though, they always wanted something. NOBODY in the federal government ever got the deal the people in Wisconsin got!
That is a reasonable response.
No the government did NOT make a bet... It played the pyramid game and succeeded with the populace - hey vote for me and I will raise your benefits. You know that politics was the motivating factor.
All of this was and is a scam from day one - we have just finally figured it out. At no time did any offering of benefits actually come with your taxes. You were happy to claim your extra benefits without looking to the future, as most did...
Surprisingly reasonable response...
I hope you actually understand what I said and vote accordingly. Time is short and our future is dim.
Most postal workers at thetime protested being added to Medicare coverage. For us it amounted to a TAX on current pay with actually no future benefit.
Turns out it was an additional tax with no benefit.
I think you missed the part about the transfer of personnel from Post Office Department to USPS ~ we have our own law that specifies what our benefit package is to be equal to and that carries through retirement. Medicare is not an acceptable substitute ~ we already had 'better" and we still have "better" and all that happened was we paid money to the government to take care of you.
Paid for out of postage - ie., paid for by your customers.
Do you really think that the rest of society is not paying for your coverage? You don’t seem to have any idea about just who actually pays for your benefits. You do know that the government does not actually have any money - don’t you?
All is eventually paid for by taxing the rest of the people that do NOT work for government. Yes your better coverage is actually paid for by the people that you deliver the mail to... Weird isn’t it...
Nothing that the Post Office does provides enough money to provide either the wages or the benefits that are provided. After all of that is only provided by taxes.
Welcome to the real world!
Oh, and give me the year that the Post Office has been self sustaining? No government subsidies now...
Now that you've brought that up, empty your pockets into a bag. That means empty your wallet too.
Good. Now, put that bag in a mailing box ~ one of those postal "one price" deals.
Put my address on there. Seal it up.
Send it to me ~ I might well have a piece of my money in your pockets and I WANT IT BACK, K?
1974. They needed an extra billion the first year due to some financial miscalculations by OMB when the government turned over POD assets and accounts to USPS.
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.