Latest Breaking News
In reply to the discussion: Progressives Support Shoring Up ACA Before Tackling Medicare For All [View all]George II
(67,782 posts)....of Medicare. It's not the federal government, it's private insurance companies. The government contracts with private insurance companies to administer Medicare, and those contracts serve to keep the premiums for supplemental insurance way down.
We've been on Medicare for about three years, and we have supplemental insurance. Our Medicare premium is about $125 each per month (deducted directly from our Social Security benefits), and our supplemental premium is about $25 each per month. Both go up or down a few dollars at the beginning of each new year. Deductibles and co-pays are reasonable. I'm on two medications, my wife one - our co-pays are $2, $2, and $3 per month.
So, with three prescriptions combined, our monthly total cost is $307, that's $3700 per year, less than I was paying through my employer for just me!
There are also a number of factors contributing to why the ACA "doesn't work" and why premiums are "high". In states where the ACA was embraced and exchanges are set up, the ACA works fine and premiums are reasonable. It's states the do NOT have their own exchanges, people have to work through the Federal exchange and they get very little support from the states in which they live. In THOSE states premiums are skyrocketing, mostly because they're not supported by republican governors/legislatures in those states.
In states that have accepted the ACA, it's working fine and it's "affordable" (the first "A" in ACA!)