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If you can't afford it and killing it is too politically risky, then there's only one option left---starve the beast. Mayo says it is losing too much money on Medicare patients so one of its clinics in Glendale, Az will stop taking patients on Medicare. A sign of things to come, seniors!
Good for the Mayo Clinic! They should not have to compromise the quality of care they have become famous for providing. Hope to see John's Hopkins and others follow but few have the convictions these days to stand up against the mighty Obamination.
I ownder if this also applies to thsoe with a supplement like Blue Cross? I read the article but it doesn't address that. When I was Medicare age, I talked to a friend of mine who is a Social Worker in a major hospital. Her recommendation, based on the fact that I have chronic health problems, was to NOT get one of the "advantage" plans but to go with the original Medicare Parts A&B and a supplement. Mine is Blue Cross. I haven't had any problems getting a new doctor yet.
Good for the Mayo Clinic! They should not have to compromise the quality of care they have become famous for providing. Hope to see John's Hopkins and others follow but few have the convictions these days to stand up against the mighty Obamination.
GREAT EMPATHY FOR SENIORS--you should be thankful you r wealthy enough to not have to use medicare in your senior years
GREAT EMPATHY FOR SENIORS--you should be thankful you r wealthy enough to not have to use medicare in your senior years
My, my you make assuptions don't you! I will never get to see the Medicare dollars I've paid into the system. The "entitlement" society has seen to that.
I have great empathy for seniors who have worked hard and contributed to they system, taking out only that amount they have paid in. I hae great empathy for seniors who are not able to pay. So much so that I spent years working with society's cast offs of senior citizens in Medicaid funded nursing homes with the seniors who's families abandoned them to the "system". So, how dare you write as though you know anything about me.
Does anyone HAVE to use medicare? I mean really, does the government place a gun to the head of senior and tell them that they MUST use Medicare instead of paying out of pocket for ALL of their healthcare?
Is it forced upon all seniors in a similar way that the government forces seniors to begin removing $$ from IRA savings accounts at age 72?
"Official" records show that 45,000 Americans die each year from lack of health insurance. The number is probably higher. If seniors did not have Medicare I have no doubts the numbers would be ten, fifteen or twenty times that amount. Medicare is the only good legislation for seniors to come out of Washington for the last 100 years, hell probably since the country was founded. That's why it has no chance of survival. Anything good for the American people costs too damm much money in the eyes of government and thus must be strangled. Hence, we'll see more and more of this as hospitals, clinics and physicians start to drastically cut mack on Medicare patients as the government slowly but surely reduces reimbursements even as costs for the former rise. Medicare is not sustainable in its present form. It's probably not sustainable in any form, given the immense number of seniors who will come to rely on it in the next 40 years. R.I.P.
My, my you make assuptions don't you! I will never get to see the Medicare dollars I've paid into the system. The "entitlement" society has seen to that.
I have great empathy for seniors who have worked hard and contributed to they system, taking out only that amount they have paid in. I hae great empathy for seniors who are not able to pay. So much so that I spent years working with society's cast offs of senior citizens in Medicaid funded nursing homes with the seniors who's families abandoned them to the "system". So, how dare you write as though you know anything about me.
Does anyone HAVE to use medicare? I mean really, does the government place a gun to the head of senior and tell them that they MUST use Medicare instead of paying out of pocket for ALL of their healthcare?
Is it forced upon all seniors in a similar way that the government forces seniors to begin removing $$ from IRA savings accounts at age 72?
how do you expect for seniors to pay for their health care out of their pocket and if they cannot should they just go off to die when they become ill--since you worked with seniors what is your immediate solution?
mayo clinic has long been moving towards optimum care for the wealthy only over the last 20 years by slowly shrinking the insurance companies they accept and requiring large cash input from their clients irregardless of insurance coverage
my, my you make assuptions don't you! I will never get to see the medicare dollars i've paid into the system. The "entitlement" society has seen to that.
I have great empathy for seniors who have worked hard and contributed to they system, taking out only that amount they have paid in. I hae great empathy for seniors who are not able to pay. So much so that i spent years working with society's cast offs of senior citizens in medicaid funded nursing homes with the seniors who's families abandoned them to the "system". So, how dare you write as though you know anything about me.
Does anyone have to use medicare? I mean really, does the government place a gun to the head of senior and tell them that they must use medicare instead of paying out of pocket for all of their healthcare?
Is it forced upon all seniors in a similar way that the government forces seniors to begin removing $$ from ira savings accounts at age 72?
how do you expect for seniors to pay for their health care out of their pocket and if they cannot should they just go off to die when they become ill--since you worked with seniors what is your immediate solution?
mayo clinic has long been moving towards optimum care for the wealthy only over the last 20 years by slowly shrinking the insurance companies they accept and requiring large cash input from their clients irregardless of insurance coverage
Would your solution for them to be to provide care at such a loss that they would be forced to shut their doors completely? Would you choose to have the government force them to provide substandard care without compensation? Would you choose to force them to stop their research activities, to stop purchasing newer and more advance equipment with which to provide medical care?
Medicare was created as a "stop-gap" measure to help low-income seniors from falling completely through the cracks. It was not designed to pay for ALL of any senior citizen's healthcare needs. That far too many seniors believe it should meet ALL of their healthcare needs, costs, and coverage is completely unrealistic and it has helped to break the system.
People need to, as far as possible, be responsible for providing for their own healthcare needs and costs. This requires some out of pocket for everyone, seniors included, and I'm not talking about some little co-pay either. Medicare is seen by seniors as a "free-ride" for their healthcare needs. Should they get back what they put into the system, interest included? You bet! However, there is no way to provide more other than 1. rationaing care and 2. raising taxes....through forced enrollement by the government.
Perhaps if people planned better, more realistically, for their housing, food, healthcare needs from the time they began working and contributing to the system seniors would not be feeling the hardship and expenses they are with just the failure of the system to provide a cost of living increase.
Perhaps if the government did not take $$ for medicare out of people's income over the course of a lifetime, be it from their checks or via the "self-employment tax" but instead allowed people to save that money for their own healthcare needs down the road, seniors would not be feeling the crunch tat they are with the talk of cuts to the system and hospitals/doctors/clinics that minimize the number of Medicare patients and services they provide.
However, since control and dependence upon the government is the key goal of "entitlement programs" those unwilling to take personal responsibility, or unable, will always demand society take care of them.
If the current healthcare bill was about helathcare they would not be eliminating self-insured policies, they would not be eliminating the post income tax free avenue for citizens to save for their own medical expenses. Would they?
You may choose to surrender your freedom in your later years for security and medical care. I do not. I do not appreciate being held, nearly at gunpoint by our government to do so.
We see in other countries children taking care of their parents in their later years. There is less of that here in the U.S. . Perhaps we should learn that we do need to take care of our family members and keep them off the government payroll if we are to protect our freedom.
No one said the elderly should go off and die...except Obama when he mentioned the blue pill. Your accusation is more than a bit melodramatic and it is certainly not what this one branch of the Mayo clinic in Arizona is practicing. Did they personally turn you away? Do you have a legitimate axe to grind with them?
This isn't necessarily a bad thing. It might propel the government to address medicare issues.
Many doctors don't accept medicare because it doesn't pay. They are not obligated by law to do so.
Once more hospitals start rejecting medicare, politicans will be forced to make changes because seniors are a huge voting sector of the population.
And whoever made the comment about Obamination, this medicare problem has been going on for years and years prior to Obama taking office.
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