'Medicare-for-All'

Townhall.com ^ | October 23, 2018 | Stephen Moore

[Kaslin]

It seems like just yesterday that Democrats were telling us that under Obamacare, "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan."

That was a nice sales pitch to voters -- even though it turned out to be a lie. Millions of Americans lost affordable insurance plans that were abolished under the Affordable Care Act. Still, people liked the idea that poor people would get health coverage and everyone else could retain the medical care they had.

No more. When Bernie Sanders, and half the Democrats running for re-election, promising "Medicare-for-all," they mean exactly what they say. This is a health plan for all; everybody is tossed in the swimming pool.

Think about that. Health and Human Services now tells us that some 157 million Americans with employer health care plans -- more than the entire population west of the Mississippi River -- would be forced into Medicare. If you don't like that idea, tough. Bernie knows best.

Democrats are denying this is true, but in the Nancy Pelosi tradition, they haven't read their own bill. There are several variations of "Medicare-for-All," but one prominent version makes private plans that would compete with Medicare illegal.

Under Title VIII, Section 801 of the Medicare for All Act of 2017, the bill specifies that "no employee benefit plan may provide benefits that duplicate payment for any items or services for which payment may be made under Medicare." In other words, employers are prohibited from covering workers, retirees and their families.

Medicare already imposes all sorts of restrictions on private health plans for seniors that would dare compete with or undercut Uncle Sam. This is what "single-payer" means.

Republicans have been complaining that "Medicare-for-All" will jeopardize Medicare for seniors. Yes, but that isn't the bill's biggest political poison pill. Republicans should be shouting from the mountaintops: Nearly half of Americans will lose their health care under Sanders' wild adventure. If voters knew this fact, it would surely cause a pitchforked revolt of the middle class. Polls show that more than 70 percent of Americans with private health plans like what they have.

In nearly every country with single-payer health systems that Sanders boasts about for being so "cost-efficient," private insurance becomes either illegal or financially unavailable except for the superrich. The entire premise of government-run care, as we saw under Obamacare, is that single-payer cannot work unless everyone -- healthy and sick -- is vacuumed into the same giant insurance pool so as to avoid "adverse selection" and a death spiral in costs.

Under the Canadian system, "Private insurance for medically necessary hospital and physician services is illegal in only 6 of the 10 provinces," a recent news agency reports. "A significant private sector has not developed in any of the 4 provinces that do permit private insurance coverage," the report continues. As Henry Ford used to say about the Model T when he was asked if you could get it in any color you wanted, "Yes, as long as it's black."

Americans don't have to imagine what a government-run system would look like. We have one that already covers millions of Americans. It is called the Veterans Health Administration. Our veterans die waiting in lines and hospitals often provide shoddy levels of care -- to the very people who have, through their service and sacrifices, earned the best care in the world.

In 2018, Democrats have made "Medicare-for-All" their nationwide rallying cry. Republicans need to tell Americans the real story: Beware, ladies and gentlemen. The Bernie Democrats are coming to take away your health coverage and that of 157 million other Americans -- whether you like your current plan or not.

[Truth29]

Death care for all and a plan that would be both terribly inefficient, but also politicized - vote Democrat or die. The first question would be some version of “party card, comrade.”

[sickoflibs]

Now they are running on ‘replace Obamacare with Medicare’ except calling Obamacare Trump-care.

Medicare ONLY works because many more pay for it than get it, another Ponzi scheme.

If more people get it than pay for it then it doesnt work.

[ClearCase_guy]

If more people get it than pay for it then it doesn't work.

Such a fundamental concept. Yet it goes right past a lot of people.

[I want the USA back]

Medicare-for-All is not medicare. The elderly would be left to die while the system pays for aids care, sex “change” operations, abortion and euthanasia.

[nclaurel]

Bkmk ins

[Gene Eric]

>> “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.”

Deceitful, lying dirtbag.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Under Title VIII, Section 801 of the Medicare for All Act of 2017, the bill specifies that "no employee benefit plan may provide benefits that duplicate payment for any items or services for which payment may be made under Medicare." In other words, employers are prohibited from covering workers, retirees and their families

Their allies in the labor movement will fight to the death to sink it. In their view they chose to forego decades of wage increases in exchange for these benefits.

[Karoo]

Perish the thought! ..........but so true

[GailA]

That is part of it. The other part is the RESTRICTIONS that come with Medicare. I’m 70, so I know to well how restrictive Medicare is. On top of that hubby is Ret. Navy so our Secondary is Tricare Life which has DoD regs and restrictions. We are MANDATED where we get out daily meds as they come through TRICARE LIFE.

You’d still need a Secondary health plan to pay the 20% Medicare doesn’t cover. Good luck finding a doc too or changing out a bad 1.

No Dental, Vision unless it’s disease related, hearing only if Service Connected. Same with Dental. SPOUSE is NOT included in that part. Vision disease or hearing are treated, but if you need hearing aids, glasses YOU pay for them. If you need your Cataract implants fixed because the surgeon screwed up, it’s done with Lasix. Which Both consider Cosmetic, YOU PAY FOR IT out of Pocket. Dentures are OUT of Pocket unless it’s a Service Connected injury.

Test get moved further off. I was getting yearly Barrett’s Esophagus upper Endoscope biopsies as it’s a Pre-Cancer, first they moved it to 2 yrs, now 3 yrs.

Then you can look for forced vaccines and tests you may not want or need. As a Autoimmune, Neuropathy patient I can’t take certain vaccines on Neurologist advice. Nor do I get the Flu from not having that Shot. Shingles vaccine, is a NO go Neurologist orders too.

[oldtech]

Maybe Bernie & his Democrat friends need a good “working over” as they are having the facts of what their plan would entail explained carefully to them. I know we can’t do that,but nothing else seems to work. After all,do they have anything better in mind for us who might not go along with this idiotic plan of their’s?