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This poll is a fail so I didn't vote but I will take the time to lay out my thoughts on universal health care.
My wife and I have been on Medicare for a few years now and we love it. We like it so well we would like to see it be a universal coverage that any American citizen (note that I said American citizen) can participate in.
We have Medicare Part B which is hospitalization and then we have a Medicare Plan G supplement which picks up Doctor bills and co-pays with the exception of our annual deductible which is $166 for each of us.
That's right; my wife could break her hip ending up in the hospital for 3 months while I could go through a quadruple heart bypass with prostate cancer to boot and our total out of pocket for the year would be $166 each or $332 as a couple. That's it, that is all we would pay and that in the event of a total catastrophe hit both of us.
Imagine having an health insurance policy where everything, with the exception of a simple $166 deductible for each participant in the plan, was paid for?
If you are salivating then I think you should have exactly what I have and have it for the same price I have it for. Sound good to you?
Part A, this is hospitalization, is sort of free so I would cover that last. Just so you know I don't pay anything for Part A and you shouldn't either.
So first thing you got to do is pay your monthly Part B premium which is $121.80 for each participant in the plan. Husband and wife together would pay $243.60/month while a family of four would pay $487.20/month.
If you think that is to high my wife and I are on social security and we pay that so what makes anyone else more special?
But we are not done yet, with Part B after your deductible is met, you typically pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount for most doctor services (including most doctor services while you're a hospital inpatient), outpatient therapy, and durable medical equipment.
This can get pricey.
First off when in the hospital there is a $1,288 deductible for each benefit period
Days 1-60: $0 coinsurance for each benefit period
Days 61-90: $322 coinsurance per day of each benefit period
Days 91 and beyond: $644 coinsurance per each "lifetime reserve day" after day 90 for each benefit period (up to 60 days over your lifetime)
Beyond lifetime reserve days: all costs
So what you want to get to protect against these high co-insurance costs (you pay 20% to the doctor with Medicare Part B) is to get a supplement plan.
My wife and I each have a Aetna Plan G policy which picks up all those deductibles and for this we pay $132.28 and $123.02 for a total of $255.30.. This added to our Plan G brings our total monthly premiums to $498.60/month.
What about drugs? We have a Plan D for that and we pay $44.70 and $39.80 in premiums for our drug plan which brings our total cost to $583.10 for two or $291.55 for each of us.
We're on Social Security and that is what we pay so why would anyone have to pay less?
In addition to the monthly premiums you would continue to pay Medicare taxes just like I did which covers the "free" part A. How much did I pay for this free Part A insurance? Looking at an old Social security statement from 3 years ago over my life I paid over $25,000 and my employer paid just over $25,000 for a total of $50,000 over my lifetime. I paid the taxes over my life and so should you.
You ain't the type thinking you deserve a free lunch are you?
$255.30 every month for every member of the family sounds fair to me.
What I don't like about the idea of universal health care is so many translate it to mean something free and if you got experience like I do then you know there's no free lunch.
Schools? Keep them like they are but allow vouchers so parents can take their kids out of crappy union run schools putting them in a private school EXACTLY like our elected leaders are doing.
If you're against universal healthcare, but support taxpayer-funded public schools (or vice versa) -- what do you think is the key distinction in why you don't support/oppose them both?
Schooling is locally funded and locally provided. Universal healthcare, as generally proposed, is not. Statewide universal healthcare is likely a better system than federal. County/municipal universal healthcare could work very well.
(I oppose more distributed systems, like California has. Which, incidentally, contributed to the precipitous decline in public schooling in that state.)
Edit: And just to add to that, a big part of that is the scope of failure and success. It is difficult to recover from a national K-12 failure *coughnochildleftbehindcough*. Local failures have less impact and are relatively easy to recover form. Success can come in many forms because of the wide variety of schooling options; and can then be readily replicated. Success on the national level is relatively rare simply because few national systems can even be attempted due to the sheer scope. National programs in K-12 work best when they bubble up from local successes.
Maybe these "regressive conservatives" dont like failure. which Democrats seem to have embraced so heavily. Things like welfare stimulates economies as economic theories..
utter garbage..
Quote:
Originally Posted by T0103E
It's not just conservatives...and yes, I'm against forcing people to pay for other people's kids' indoctrina...er...education. It's not even that controversial to be honest. Public schools suck.
I'm sorry, but I'm just stunned by these arguments. The American public school system led the world in the early to mid-20th Century, and was one of the principal factors in positioning America for global dominance in the middle to latter portion of that century. Obviously, the current state of the American public education system is terrible and getting worse, and I don't think anyone disagree with that - but to propose that the solution is to abandon public education altogether rather than fix the dysfunctional system is absurd. If your car breaks down, do you throw the car away and buy a horse and buggy, or do you just... you know... fix the car? If you want to get rid of public education, what do you propose as a viable alternative?
Actually, it's a very good poll, and an excellent question.
But it does have some of the dumbest responses ever. 50% of the people are against public education? God, I hate regressive conservatives with a deep, burning passion.
Well, considering how asinine it is to be against public education, the folks that are advocating just that are almost all products of public education...if they're examples....
This poll is a fail so I didn't vote but I will take the time to lay out my thoughts on universal health care.
My wife and I have been on Medicare for a few years now and we love it. We like it so well we would like to see it be a universal coverage that any American citizen (note that I said American citizen) can participate in.
We have Medicare Part B which is hospitalization and then we have a Medicare Plan G supplement which picks up Doctor bills and co-pays with the exception of our annual deductible which is $166 for each of us.
That's right; my wife could break her hip ending up in the hospital for 3 months while I could go through a quadruple heart bypass with prostate cancer to boot and our total out of pocket for the year would be $166 each or $332 as a couple. That's it, that is all we would pay and that in the event of a total catastrophe hit both of us.
Imagine having an health insurance policy where everything, with the exception of a simple $166 deductible for each participant in the plan, was paid for?
If you are salivating then I think you should have exactly what I have and have it for the same price I have it for. Sound good to you?
Part A, this is hospitalization, is sort of free so I would cover that last. Just so you know I don't pay anything for Part A and you shouldn't either.
So first thing you got to do is pay your monthly Part B premium which is $121.80 for each participant in the plan. Husband and wife together would pay $243.60/month while a family of four would pay $487.20/month.
If you think that is to high my wife and I are on social security and we pay that so what makes anyone else more special?
But we are not done yet, with Part B after your deductible is met, you typically pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount for most doctor services (including most doctor services while you're a hospital inpatient), outpatient therapy, and durable medical equipment.
This can get pricey.
First off when in the hospital there is a $1,288 deductible for each benefit period
Days 1-60: $0 coinsurance for each benefit period
Days 61-90: $322 coinsurance per day of each benefit period
Days 91 and beyond: $644 coinsurance per each "lifetime reserve day" after day 90 for each benefit period (up to 60 days over your lifetime)
Beyond lifetime reserve days: all costs
So what you want to get to protect against these high co-insurance costs (you pay 20% to the doctor with Medicare Part B) is to get a supplement plan.
My wife and I each have a Aetna Plan G policy which picks up all those deductibles and for this we pay $132.28 and $123.02 for a total of $255.30.. This added to our Plan G brings our total monthly premiums to $498.60/month.
What about drugs? We have a Plan D for that and we pay $44.70 and $39.80 in premiums for our drug plan which brings our total cost to $583.10 for two or $291.55 for each of us.
We're on Social Security and that is what we pay so why would anyone have to pay less?
In addition to the monthly premiums you would continue to pay Medicare taxes just like I did which covers the "free" part A. How much did I pay for this free Part A insurance? Looking at an old Social security statement from 3 years ago over my life I paid over $25,000 and my employer paid just over $25,000 for a total of $50,000 over my lifetime. I paid the taxes over my life and so should you.
You ain't the type thinking you deserve a free lunch are you?
$255.30 every month for every member of the family sounds fair to me.
What I don't like about the idea of universal health care is so many translate it to mean something free and if you got experience like I do then you know there's no free lunch.
Schools? Keep them like they are but allow vouchers so parents can take their kids out of crappy union run schools putting them in a private school EXACTLY like our elected leaders are doing.
As a healthcare professional I could not agree more.
So the Armed Forces of the United States of America suck?
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Shining examples of conservatism.
