Medicare Buy-in a great Idea -- But for whom???

[TheCoxwain]

If you are 55 and over and want to buy in to Medicare .. you are joining a pool where you are youngest of the old lot ... So you are going to subsidize them as opposed being subsidized by younger people until now ..


Insurance cos love it too .. they are getting the most expensive people off their rolls ...


So whom does this really benefit ... I am not saying this is bad .. I would love it If congress allows everyone to buy in .... but how will the risk get pooled when you draw the line at 55 as opposed to say 30.

Think a bit before you run to pop that champagne.




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[mmonk]

1. I would have to see before making a determination.

I will say I cannot hang on until 65 with the annual increases at this point in the cost of my private insurance.

[stray cat]

2. If you otherwise pay for your own insurance Medicare is a bargain

I would rather spend 1000 and subsidize someone than 15000 and subsidize no one.

[TheCoxwain]

4. There a was call in to the Brian Lehrer show where a 65 yr old woman said that her premium under

Medicare was higher that what she paid a self employed the year before ( the plan was PPO with Aetna)

additionally - she found fewer doctors accepting medicare.

[mmonk]

15. I would like to know what that was.

Maybe she has been on Social Security for a couple of decades. As a self employed person, I have real doubts as to her authenticity.

[grilled onions]

3. If they don't already have a doctor

they may find it quite a challenge to get any regular doctors who will take Medicare. I have found I can get a specialist without much of a problem but GP's won't even take a first appt. That puts many in the under insured category. It may be a first step towards coverage for all but it certainly is a tiny step at best.

[timeforpeace]

5. It's a bargain. Only twice as much as my current premiums.

[TheCoxwain]

6. my point exactly .. I bet the premiums would be higher that what a typical 55 year old would get

in the open market today

[Old Codger]

13. Might check that

I am on Medicare, my premiums are 96.00 month, if you know of a private policy that is lower please post it here and do a lot of people a big favor...hell even a supplement add on is 150+ that added to the 96 I already pay.

[mmonk]

16. How old are you?

[lapfog_1]

7. Wrong.

Medicare for those over 65 is paid for by everyone that pays taxes.

Any buy in pool (55, 45, whatever) is only covering those who are in the buy in pool.

And many who can't afford even the modest Medicare plan (which would be even MORE modest if the pool was larger and included younger adults) will be subsidized by taxes.

So those opting in to Medicare early are not being used to provide for those over 65.

People like me, who can't afford any individual insurance plan, will love it... just as soon as I turn 55 (about the time that it takes effect). What I will do between now and then, well, just what I've been doing, hope that I don't get sick (really sick, like cancer).

The rest of you that aren't close to 55, let's wait and see what else will be in the bill to contain insurance premiums. This ain't over yet.

[TheCoxwain]

10. It will still be a bad deal for you as opposed to joining a non profit plan that covers everyone

as 55-65 is still higher risk compared to population as a whole ..

[lapfog_1]

14. Yes, tell me where the non-profit plan IS right now that I can join

with my pre-existing heart condition? Especially one that won't drop me when I change employers or (like right now) I'm on extended unemployment.

Look, this isn't any progressives idea of a good health care reform plan (it never even started as health care reform, it started as health INSURANCE reform... and it's not great at that).

I would like to see Single Payer with the premiums paid for by tax increases on the wealthy.

Pretty sure that would meet with near universal approval here.

We ain't going to get it.

With the way that political campaigns are financed, we ain't gettin much of anything from our Aetna and Blue Cross Senators.

So we take what we can get right now, and start a new effort to have fewer corporate dems in the house and senate, and many, many fewer repukes and revisit this in another 4 years or 8 years or whenever.

We have a large populace of ignorant reactionary people who are easily swayed by astroturf efforts, and a very strong insurance lobby that likes bilking the public (and those ignorant reactionaries) for their personal profit. That system wasn't nearly as strong in the 60's when Medicare was passed. We have to start whittling them down to size.

Getting disgusted because we don't even have a "public option" and sitting on our hands next November and November in 2012 is the best way I know to give away any gains that we made, and certainly isn't going to get us "single payer" any sooner.

[AllentownJake]

8. Either way the fuck the youth idea

Is simply idiotic. They win over 60% of the under 30 vote in 2008 and they turn around an fuck them. They are giving the GOP a future.

[Odin2005]

11. Exactly.

This is PISSING ME OFF!!!

[mmonk]

17. While I agree you shouldn't be screwed over, the reality is

those of us over 50 are really getting screwed with the status quo. We have to give up the insurance with the 20/80 coverage due to high premiums and go with HSA's with high deductables. Thing is, as you stay on it, the premiums eventually reaches the amount you had with the 20/80 coverage, but now you have a real high deductable.

[AllentownJake]

19. I agree you are getting fucked

However, saving youself at the expense of your children and grandchildren, isn't the answer.

[mmonk]

20. Continuing to roast in the present barbecue isn't either.

[elocs]

9. So, you know all of the details of the plan.

Please, we'd all like to hear exactly what it is going to be.

[Old Codger]

12. It is a sham

It is another gift to the insurance lobby, they are taking the sector of society that is the most expensive overall where health care is concerned , then they will mandate it for the rest of the "younger" crowd to buy from the private insurance co's. That way the insurance companies get a guaranteed pool of money coming in from the lower risk segment.. it is all a phony deal in the end. Taxpayers foot the bill and give a HUGE christmas present to big insurance.

[PHIMG]

18. MEDICARE FOR ALL NOW!

One nation, one Cadillac plan - MEDICARE FOR ALL.

When the rich get exactly the same care as the poor, that's when we'll have a healthcare system that works for everyone.

[WeCanWorkItOut]

21. A gift to insurance, yes. And too comfortable for other monopolies

No effort made to educate Americans about health.
None to increase access to nurse practitioners.
None to break up some of the hospitals' monopoly powers.
A burden on many elderly, on the states, and on many of the healthy poor.

(Why is it that if someone inherits a million, they pay no taxes at all,
but if someone is poor, and only inherits tolerable health, they overpay?
Sounds like a regressive tax system to me.)