So why wouldn't Medicare for everyone work? Facts please - not diatribes of hate and fear.?

Question

So tell me in logical plain English, why having everyone in Medicare instead of a thousand for profit private insurance plans would not work. Please give logical, factual answers, and not the crap that the talking heads on the right and left spew.
My Dad who is turning 80 is in very good health for his age. And yet when he tried to get supplemental coverage to go along with his Medicare, the lowest quote was for almost $5000 a year, with Medicare picking up 80% of the tab and the supplemental insurer only paying 20%. Logically, if they had to pay 100% of the costs after copays, they would be charging $20,000+ for the policy.

My private insurance is $12000 a year for a family of 4 on a
group policy that covers 5000 employees and their families.
It covered 100% of all expenses after copays for Rx.
Medicare paid $7200 / person last year to cover old and sick people. Private insurance paid $6800 / person to cover young healthy people. So little difference considering groups.

IF the government run Medicare program can provide coverage for a very old, much sicker group of people, and do it for only $7200 per person. Then why is it costing $6800 per person to provide far less coverage for a much healthier group when private insurance does it?

If Medicare had the healthier and younger people as part of it's group, the average cost would have been lower that that of private insurance. Private insurance and the talking heads will tell you it won't work that way. But that is exactly how they explain the way actuarial tables work in insurance. The more healthy people in a group the lower the cost per person ( premiums) to all.

And all the fear mongering about being forced to go a doctor you don't want is garbage. Medicare has always used private doctors, and nearly all accept Medicare.

A doctor that feels he is superior and should charge a higher fee than Medicare allows, would be free to do so. Let the market decide if you stays in business or fails.

"Because medicare trumps any incentive to bring prices down."

What the h does that mean??? Medicare has lower costs for a given surgery or procedure than almost any private insurance company. The only problem Medicare is having bringing down pricing is the bought and paid for politicians, mostly Republican, that insist it not be allowed to negotiate pricing on drugs or other services. That hurts the profits of the big political donors.

Beesting

I am not at all upset with your reply, I just think you have fallen for the lies told by the insurance companies.

You say it is a proven fact that when government gets involved cost escalate. Yet the current Medicare system is providing for a far sicker and elderly population than the FOR PROFIT private insurance , and are only paying slightly more per person than the private companies.

And Medicare is not just basic care. My mother had two cataract surgeries paid by Medicare. She waited two weeks, because they had to schedule the procedure. My father had Gal bladder surgery, rotator cuff surgery, and coronary bypass surgery while on Medicare. All were covered, all were done within a week, two within 12 hours. So it is all scare tactics to say you will not have good coverage.

And the talk of hospitals shutting because of Medicare is false also. My wife works at a Hospital that takes Medicare and Private. Medicare pays more for many procedures than private doe

Lea Are you kidding me?

"The costs for Part D have been lowered than originally projected because of competition. Competition can lower prices."

The cost is now estimated by the GAO to be nearly triple what Bush said it would be. And there is no cost savings for Medicare on drugs, as they have been expressly forbidden to negotiate lower pricing.

As for the hospitals considering Medicare charity cases. My wife is a nurse at a major hospital, the largest charity hospital in our region in a top 15 metropolitan city. They have no problem taking in Medicare patients, and are often paid more for the Medicare patient on the same care, than they receive from the private pay patients.

You have been reading to many of the drug companies propaganda paphlets.

Answer 1

it would work and very well unfortunately too many of our elected officials have been bought and paid for by the for profit health insurance companies. It works in canada, france, britain. Hell even mexico and cuba have free health care.

Answer 2

Do you believe that Doctors get into medicine hoping to make some money?. Medicare caps what doctors can charge fairly low. I can understand why as a consumer this seems to be a good thing, but if someone has to go through 8 years of school and years of long hours then they what they can make is capped only slightly below their own costs, and they have to jump through a number of hoops with the paperwork they must process, what incentive is there to bring on new doctors, when they can do other fields, make more money and have far less expense and trouble on their part.
The only hospital in our area just announced that they are closing after the new year because they primarily are handling medicare patients, and the profit margin is just to low.
So I think we have to look past the initial cost, and not be afraid that we'll be told which doctors we can go to, but if there will be enough doctors to treat everyone if the profit is no longer an incentive to the medical profession.

Answer 3

Medicare is going bankrupt. It only has 10 more years of life. The true premium cost per month per person for medicare: part A $420, Part B $96, and Part D $26. A small number of people do buy into Part A. For a family of 4, the cost runs about $26,000 per year. Most hospitals consider medicare patients to be charity cases. Hospitals have to charge everyone else higher prices because of medicare patients. We're getting to a point where hospitals and doctors will stop accepting medicare.
The costs for Part D have been lowered than originally projected because of competition. Competition can lower prices.
Add: The average cost of the premiums is lower than expected. Most premiums are lower than what Medicare sets them to be for a basic plan. Hospitals which receive many Medicare/Medicade patients get extra money. For the hospitals which don't receive the extra money, the patients can become a burden. So, the hospitals have to up the diagnosis code to get the needed money.

Answer 4

Medicare is basic healthcare. That will be the similar Universal Healthcare if we get Hillary Care. In other words, you better not need an operation or expensive medicine because it won't be covered. That is why you need a supplemental insurance plan. The best plan is for insurance companies to be able to sell health plans across state lines. Then you would get lower prices. Another way to lower the cost of healthcare would be if the government reeled in the lawyers that make a fortune in lawsuits to hospitals, doctors, and clinics. That is why a doctor will insist on a ton of expensive tests. He is just covering his own a.s.s. when it comes to a lawsuit. There are no easy answers but remember if you get "free" Universal healthcare, it will mean you will have NO healthcare. Wealthy people will go to private pay hospitals and private pay doctors. You and I will wait in line only to find out, they have seen their quota of patients for the day and are locking the doors.

Answer 5

I am totally confused on the health care system . I have Medi-Cal now,and I'm eligible for Medicare next year.
I don't pay for anything, covered for hospital and pay only for a few drugs, not the ones I take regularly.
Yet next year when I do have 2 insurances, Medicare and Medi-Cal, I will have less coverage coverage.
I don't believe that private insurance is an options for the elderly.This is why it is important for our next President to change this.

Answer 6

Because medicare trumps any incentive to bring prices down. Look up Ron Paul. Ron Paul is the only doctor running for president and he would know better than anyone else I can imagine. Also he is awesome.

Answer 7

Hubert. i admire the call, actual like it, yet all and sundry i comprehend merely says "Hubert? HAHAHA! What an unlucky call." *sigh* i could in all probability use Beulah as a center call, reason oddly i might desire to work out human beings making the leap from Beulah and Beluga - as a result incomes nicknames like "whale"... I dunno, in line with threat i'm merely a sort of weird and wonderful people who makes weird and wonderful institutions and my concept line shouldnt be taken too heavily... i could ask some babies of distinctive a while what the call makes them think of of, see if it is merely me being weird and wonderful =p. *edit* to a various poster: i admire the call Rupert too! yet all and sundry i've got ever asked approximately it hates it. =/ I watched this teach while i became youthful a pair of undergo named Rupert and fell in love with the call then. it is merely been floating on my to blame excitement record on the grounds that then. yet, oddly, human beings like it extra advantageous than they prefer Hubert... individually i think of they are extremely comparable so liking Rupert extra advantageous than Hubert is slightly weird and wonderful to me... *edit lower back... lol it rather is becoming to be commenting, sorry* to ?p? ?: *will boost hand* i admire Bartholomew. it is on my record for a boy.

Answer 8

That's a good point and I believe it would work. Except our government is a government for large corporations which include insurance companies, pharmaceuticals, etc.

Answer 9

It's a good question, so please don't get angry with my answer:

Medicare is a Socialistic Plan!

The old Soviet Union collapsed, because the working producers of real wealth, became overburdened with excessive Government spending.

It takes money from one group of people earning money, and provides money to another group, that can't cover their own medical expenses.

Which makes the first group that much poorer, because they end up spending money they earn on others who in many cases overwhelm the system. {illegal immigrants, school drop-outs unable to earn high incomes, accident victims, pregnant woman from all over the world, war casualties, etc. etc.}

Apparently, it's a proven fact, that once government gets involved in a project, prices "ALWAYS" escalate.

Ron Paul, as a doctor worked for $3.00 per hour treating people many years ago.

What he saw was way too many people overwhelming his clinic, mostly with minor ailments, which didn't allow him time to treat the real needy patients.

Bottom Line:
If medical insurance becomes mandatory, many insurance companies will become wealthy, while many low income workers will become poorer.

Many hard workers, still don't even earn $12,000 per year! Ask a small self employed farmer, how much he "CLEARS" at the end of the year?
Thank you for the question.
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[edit]
Mr. Mcgoo, I think you missed my point.
As the population gets older, and there are less & less workers contributing to all mandated cash deductions, where is the money going to come from to pay for these things?

The wars & excessive government spending {including intitlements} are bankrupting America.
Please check the financial pages for the "VALUE" of the dollar.
9 Trillion in debt & growing.

Answer 10

Enlightened self-interest should answer both sides of the issue