Posted on 07/06/2021 8:59:11 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
“Medicare Is Insolvent, And Getting Worse. Here Are 3 Ways To Start Fixing It: But Will It Attract Democrat Support?”
Is that because they are giving illegals free healthcare? Or is it because the pandemic affected old folks the most and drove their medical cost through the roof?
Illegals are not eligible for Medicare , however, I think Medicaid money is being taken to support illegals.
Medicare was on the road to insolvency independent of illegals.
Politicians lie to voters about what they can have to get their votes.
I paid in to SOC and Medicare for 50 years and am still taxed on the benefits. At the age of 74, I’m not going to live long enough to get my money back, nor leave the residual to my heirs. Calling this an “ entitlement “ just enraged me. How about a full audit of “beneficiaries “ to weed out fraud . I would et there are thousands who are on the rolls who don’t belong there.
It was always a Ponzi Scheme. They paid out increasing benefits beyond what was contributed. The “greatest generation” stole from their kids and grandkids. Politicians like Claude Peppers kept increasing benefits over what was contributed instead of saving the money to buy votes. We should dig them up and hang them.
The older, higher income workers who have contributed much more than they will ever received, will now have their benefits reduced or taken away. We are creating a system where there is no benefits or incentives to work hard and save and, in fact, these people are demonized.
Fixing the Fraud would save Billions yearly. Add in Military Tricare Life, VA, you might hit a Trillion yearly. Our knee Ortho tried hard to do only partials where possible, cost wise it saved money, pain, rehab, time off, etc. Medicare now forces him to do unnecessary full knees, he won’t perform, so he’s moving into Stem Cell field. Still does for Private ins.
Hubby got 1 of the last, which is now both knees, more stable, more function than the full knee. Driving in 3 days, home rehab.
I’ve got a better solution.
PRINT MORE MONEY.
It seems to work for everything else.
Means testing? BS. I’ve been means tested all my life and I’m the one who pays. From each according to his means and to each according to his needs. We have lived under that system for a very very long time.
Both SS and Medicare are means tested ALREADY and in a substantial way. The cost nearly doubles for the first income tier above the first one.
The scheme is to pay the maximum if you work and do well then on the other side to pay the maximum again.
Fair is a word only referring to a woman’s skin in the Bible. It is a concept that does not exist otherwise.
I had a co-worker who was receiving treatment for melanoma over many years. When he was forced on to medicare, the specialized care he had under the company insurance policy evaporated. He reported cancer in his spine in September and died in early January. Being forced to medicare signed his death warrant.
“... nor leave the residual to my heirs. ....”
What makes you think you can do that? You have no property rights in what you paid into social security ! In other words “It’s not yours ! You don’t own it !” You have a sort of a hazy IOU political promise that the next working geneation will keep paying into it. There have been several federal court cases saying exactly that. I didn’t make it up to be mean ! Like it or not it is an entitlement. What you paid into SS while working went out the door to the then retirees. What you’re getting now in SS comes from the current working generation. As long as there are more paying into the system it “sort of” works. In 1940 there were 159.4 workers paying in to every 1 beneficiary recieving. In 2013 there are 2.8 workers paying in for every 1 person recieving. Don’t beleive me? Here is the SSA own statistics on it. (see the link below!) Since SSA hasn’t updated this table since 2013 that ratio must be really really bad now !
https://www.ssa.gov/history/ratios.html
It was a Ponzi scheme from the “git-go” and all Ponzi schemes crash. There isn’t enough fraud or mismanagment to weed out to make any difference. I beleive Medicare is funded by the same fairy dust economic thinking.
A link for those who think SS is “theirs”.
https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/ssp19.pdf
:It was always a Ponzi Scheme.”
Unlike a Ponzi scheme funding, FICA and Medicare taxes are not optional.
It was a Ponzi scheme than penalized anyone moving into the upper class and they are making it more so.
“a premium support program that would place private plans and traditional Medicare on a level playing field to attract and enroll seniors”
Medical “costs” are as high as they are due to government meddling. The government has the power (and the fiscal need to exercise that power) to compensate for its medical industry meddling.
Would the AMA like the Medicare reimbursement schedule be universally applicable? Didn’t think so.
The medical industry is the largest US industry. The Article I, Section 8 federal power to regulate commerce is clearly applicable to the medical industry.
“Does anyone know how the Medigap policies are funded? Surely the modest rates do not cover the outlay.”
My mother had a Medigap policy.
In her last year she paid about $2,000 in premiums and got about $2,000 in reimbursements for her lung cancer care.
The rates are not “modest”. They are carefully set by actuarial experts. Some customers make out like bandits because most Americans would rather pay $2,000/year to an insurance company than $4,000 once in their lives to a “rich” doctor to save their lives. I hate arrogant doctors, but I hate stupidity even more.
“wastes taxpayer dollars better spent elsewhere”
By typical federal standards, taking care of the medical bills of our elderly is on the upper end of federal spending quality.
Government does nothing well except throw away vast sums of money. Efficiency, effectiveness, transparency, etc. are just not things government (especially the national government) are ever concerned about. The reason is no one is held accountable for failure. The way to fix Medicare is to do away with it and go private. The way to fix SS is to do away with it and go private. Government is simply incapable of doing anything well, and should therefore only be allowed to do that which is absolutely essential to the survival of this nation. Nothing more.
Put everyone on Medicare and the whole medical system will collapse.
“Medicare was on the road to insolvency independent of illegals.”
And if you look at what providers are charging Medicare for medical supplies such as Glucose test strips (almost $1.50 per strip) it’s no wonder it’s going broke.
we’re fooked!
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