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Well, Medicare for all will require all working people to pay into it, as well. And, Medicare now is still 75% subsidized by the govt., at least, despite participants having paid into it. If one goes with an Advantage plan, one can have coverage for $135/mo. in some cases. Clearly, that sum barely pays for one doctor visit, much less catastrophic illness, surgery, etc.
As usual, there will be winners and losers. Those healthy people w/employer subsidized insurance who rarely doctor, will resent the higher taxes. Those who use a lot of medical services with employer insurance and required to max out their deductibles may find "Medicare for all" less expensive.
Biggest obstacle to the concept have been and will be the health insurers and their employees, many of whom will lose their jobs. I've read posts on this board from people in the industry who say "what happens to all the people working for health insurers who will lose their jobs?
And, that doesn't even consider the tens of millions earned by the executives of these major insurers.
Never will we have Medicare for all. Money rules.
Oh, I agree with this. There has to be a limit. Herculean efforts made to prolong lives needs to be carefully examined. Gasp - now we're talking about death panels! Common sense needs to be exercised, whether it is a newborn or the elderly - and anyone in between.
I don't really care if the employees of the health insurance companies lose their jobs. They can get other jobs. Health insurance companies shouldn't be in the business of making decisions as to whether or not a person can get treatment. They just base it upon how much profit there will be for themselves, not on how it can help the person. People shouldn't have to fight for medical treatment and even go to court over it and be attacked by the insurance company lawyers. The medical decisions should be up to the doctor, not someone at an insurance company interested in profits only.
And things don't have to cost so much. I think a good single payer system could make a plan to keep costs down by not paying exorbitant prices for products. Also, so much paperwork and red tape when you get the insurance companies involved.
In this country it's always about the money. If there is some way of not making everything be about money, there is a good chance we can have single payer Medicare for All.
I knew some folks from Canada a few years ago. They liked their system, payed about $150/month per person. The two main complaints were long wait times to see a doctor and expensive/complicated procedures not being available. They had to travel to the states for a few procedures. Not really sure how that worked for them. They were in their middle 60's and seemed very healthy.
It's probably been discussed in the Politics forum and that's where I predict this thread will end up.
I'm for it but think that the government could not run it successfully and within a cost that could be borne by Americans. Remember that you (and I) contributed to Medicare for probably 45 years before being eligible to participate in the program.
And, even after retirement, everyone continues to pay for Medicare. 40-45% of all Medicare costs are funded through general tax revenues.
I think if they come up with a single payer system, they would have to keep Medicare just as it is now. The people who are not yet qualified for Medicare would have to pay into the single payer system until they qualify for Medicare and then access Medicare the same as we do now. At the same time they will have to pay into Medicare, the same as today’s recipients had to do all their working lives, while also paying for their health insurance. When they do finally qualify for Medicare their premiums would likely be less than what single payer was costing them.
I ran across some survey results from asking people what they thought of various health insurance possibilities for the future.
1. Medicare-for-all
POSITIVE:62 NEGATIVE:33
2. Universal Health Coverage
POSITIVE:61 NEGATIVE:33
3. National Health Plan
POSITIVE:56 NEGATIVE:34
4. Single-Payer Health Insurance System
POSITIVE:48 NEGATIVE:32
5. Socialized Medicine
POSITIVE:44 NEGATIVE:43
I'm into my second year with Medicare Part B (haven't had to use Part A yet, knock on wood), and I've been very happy with it. I also carried over into retirement my BC/BS Federal from my working days that now acts as my secondary insurance. Between Medicare and BC/BS, I haven't paid a penny out of pocket for medical expenses since turning 65. I pay premiums for both Medicare Part B and BC/BS, but the premiums are *known* .. health care costs are not, except that as I continue to age, health care costs are likely to go up.
So, according to the figures GreenGene managed to find, it's all about semantics. People generally liked Medicare for All, or Universal Health Coverage, but by the time you got down to talking about Socialized Medicine, the favorable numbers were way down.
This tells me the battle is going to be about people's perception of whatever plan is proposed. And you can be sure the vested interests are already preparing their spins.
It's probably been discussed in the Politics forum and that's where I predict this thread will end up.
I'm for it but think that the government could not run it successfully and within a cost that could be borne by Americans. Remember that you (and I) contributed to Medicare for probably 45 years before being eligible to participate in the program.
Most people would be for it but the big question is how do we pay for it? And what about those who paid into already for 40 years or so? And how could the government handle this unless they enlist some of the private health car companies?
Easy to say all people should have but who could ever imagine what this would entail!
Most people would be for it but the big question is how do we pay for it? And what about those who paid into already for 40 years or so? And how could the government handle this unless they enlist some of the private health car companies?
Easy to say all people should have but who could ever imagine what this would entail!
The Affordable Care Act was a start. It wasn't for people who are on Medicare so maybe if it could be fixed or implemented the way it was meant to be, that would be the answer. People who already paid and are still paying for their Medicare wouldn't be affected.
Non Medicare people would pay premiums just like we paid premiums when we worked. We had to pay for future Medicare and we had to pay for our current health care too. We paid through our employer but it was spotty and kind of scary if you lost your job or changed jobs. Health insurance needs to be divorced from employment. You will still pay health insurance premiums but not to your employer. To the government like the ACA or to some private companies that the government approves.
I think maybe Medicaid for the poor and regular health insurance could be merged with the very poor paying only around $10 a month. But everyone should have to pay something so they won't take it for granted. Nothing is really free. All people under Medicare age should pay into the same place, not a hodgepodge of health insurance companies. There could be a national health care company that would handle all of it and they could negotiate for cheaper costs.
But there will always be those who will refuse to pay, thinking they are special. Either they don't think they will ever be in an accident or they are extremely rich and would like to buy their own health insurance by themselves. But it doesn't work that way. If we are one country, we should all pull together, not be so selfish and uncaring about other Americans.
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