[HelenLCSW]

Originally Posted by Northwoods

PLEASE don't make this political. I'm watching the Democratic debate on healthcare. Many want Medicare for all. I had healthcare covered by my company (large company) which included prescription drugs, vision and dental. Cost was relatively low. I'm now on Medicare. I prefer my company's healthcare! The dental was better, vision was better, and I paid less for some prescription drugs.
I'm curious... are you happier on Medicare? (Is your Medicare supplemented by a company?). Or would you prefer to be on your employer's healthcare plan?
Can we please have an intelligent, non-political discussion on this?

I like my Medicare better than any of my previous employment plans, however, I certainly would like your employment plan. I don’t believe Congress (no matter which political party is in) will ever pass a health plan that removes options.

[fastboat]

I served in the armed forces for 20 years and was always told I and my family would be taken care of. When I retired we had Champus and all was well. Then they moved us to Tricare and Tricare Prime. We had to pay for that but a very reasonable premium, all things considered. At age 65 we HAD TO go on Medicare and our monthly premium, deducted from our SS, was nearly 10 times more than we paid for Tricare but our generic prescription were free. Now we pay for all presciptions, at a very reasonable sum but even those on Active Duty pay for coverage for their dependents. However, Tricare for Life as a supplement to Medicare can't be beat. That is until the government comes back and changes the rules AGAIN.

[Cedwards38]

My understanding is that the phrase "Medicare for All" does not mean the current Medicare program, but rather is a plan to provide all health care needs for all Americans. It recognizes that health care is a basic human right and not something that should be available just for those who can afford it. It would keep all of us from possibly experiencing bankruptcy if a catastrophic health condition occurs. It also includes using volume discounts to lower the cost of health care for everyone.

[GrumpyOldMan]

Originally Posted by Cedwards38

My understanding is that the phrase "Medicare for All" does not mean the current Medicare program, but rather is a plan to provide all health care needs for all Americans. It recognizes that health care is a basic human right and not something that should be available just for those who can afford it. It would keep all of us from possibly experiencing bankruptcy if a catastrophic health condition occurs. It also includes using volume discounts to lower the cost of health care for everyone.

This is my understanding also.

For those that feel it will be too expensive or run up the debt. There are several plans that have been suggested, and in those tax increases to pay for the plan are included - yes, people will pay more taxes. On the flip side, the plan will pay all healthcare costs, which will result in a net reduction in living expenses for most people.

The rub is that some people don't believe they need healthcare/health insurance because they are "young and healthy" and that works fine until the drunk runs a stop light and puts them in an emergency room where you and I get to pay to save their lives, because they don't have insurance. That works fine until they get a contagious disease because they don't have current vaccinations and we and our children get sick and we have to lose work and pay medical bills because they didn't.

There has been a lot of work studying the true costs of healthcare and there are a lot of costs to the government in the form of lost income tax from lowered productivity due to sickness and injuries.

The problem is not a simple one. But, other nations have shown it is possible to have universal single payer healthcare to provide basic healthcare and then to have private health care insurance for people that want it and can afford it.

[leftyf]

NO, I liked my employer paid BCBS a lot better, but I turned 65

[OhioBuckeye]

I agree, l’ll take my companies Ins. over Medicare anytime. Medicare is going to continually going to get worse. My Ins. I had with my company almost pays more than Medicare & my companies is secondary.

[glenbrook]

Originally Posted by Northwoods

PLEASE don't make this political. I'm watching the Democratic debate on healthcare. Many want Medicare for all. I had healthcare covered by my company (large company) which included prescription drugs, vision and dental. Cost was relatively low. I'm now on Medicare. I prefer my company's healthcare! The dental was better, vision was better, and I paid less for some prescription drugs.
I'm curious... are you happier on Medicare? (Is your Medicare supplemented by a company?). Or would you prefer to be on your employer's healthcare plan?
Can we please have an intelligent, non-political discussion on this?

I used to be on private health insurance with a big company until I retired. It was a great plan paid for by the company. However, when I turned 65 I did not have a choice. I had to go on Medicare. Which I think most companies do to save money. I agree, the company paid plan was much better than Medicare.

Many people are not as fortunate as us. Medicare may be their only option or improve ACA.

[bilcon]

Everyone wants something for nothing. Selfish. I love medicare and my supplemental insurance. I was in the hospital for 3 days and the bill was over $100,000. I paid about $80 out of pocket. America is great!

[ValSetz]

Originally Posted by Madelaine Amee

Agree .... Medicare and AARP J Plan serves us very well. Never see a bill, but it does not come cheap! I guess it depends what you want to pay for in life. If you are a young retiree you probably would not want to spend the money on this type of plan, if you are an older retiree you really really need it.

If I understand the rules for signing up, no restrictions at 65 regarding health status. However if Advantage plan to start and then wanting to make a change health status could be used to reject.

[GrumpyOldMan]

Originally Posted by bilcon

Everyone wants something for nothing. Selfish. I love medicare and my supplemental insurance. I was in the hospital for 3 days and the bill was over $100,000. I paid about $80 out of pocket. America is great!

Why preface your comment with that? No one is proposing something for nothing. They are being very up front with the costs, some of which are enormous. But, they are proposing methods to pay those costs which involve increased taxes and lower healthcare so in the end you pay less than today.

America used to be great at finding and implementing solutions to big problems - Post Office, Interstte Highways, Moon landings, Social Security, and on and on. Now it seems no one wants to solve this problem and we are caught in an endless debate on why it can't work. Funny, it is working in lessor countries. Even Ecuador, a poor 3rd world country manages to ope it's borders and allow foreigners (me) to go there and receive quality healthcare for 1/4 the cost of the same care here.

Come on folks, let's make America truly great again, and show the world how to provide our citizens with the best healthcare in the world, instead of our current #17 rating for 2 to 3 times the cost of other places.

[Wayne S. Smith]

I must retain my employer sponsored health plan which the Villages Health said they would accept when they encouraged us to join. Less than three years later they dropped us from their services, insisting we enroll in their much inferior plan. We are still upset with Village Health.

[eweissenbach]

I have been on Medicare for eight years and have also had an AARP supplement plan F for all that time. My wife has had numerous health issues and has been in the hospital off and on for 30-40 days in the last 3 years with zero $ out of pocket. If you review the bills you find that the amount medicare pays is a fraction of the billed expense. I guess I would wonder how the healthcare industry would survive on only medicare approved charges. Not that they couldn't survive on a great deal less than their maximum charges, but it is a question in my mind.

[GrumpyOldMan]

Originally Posted by eweissenbach

I have been on Medicare for eight years and have also had an AARP supplement plan F for all that time. My wife has had numerous health issues and has been in the hospital off and on for 30-40 days in the last 3 years with zero $ out of pocket. If you review the bills you find that the amount medicare pays is a fraction of the billed expense. I guess I would wonder how the healthcare industry would survive on only medicare approved charges. Not that they couldn't survive on a great deal less than their maximum charges, but it is a question in my mind.

At least one solution is to regulate the healthcare industry and big pharma so that they are guaranteed a fix percentage of profit - say 10% to 15%. In return they have only one customer to negotiate with - the US government. It does mean no more $25 epipens for $1500. Insulation at prices the rest of the world pays, durance etc. Personally I would prefer that no profit be allowed, but I am sure that won't fly.

It also means 100s of thousands of health insurance employees will have to be retrained to work in the medicare devision of the US government.

If you begin thinking of healthcare as a right not not a profit center then a lot of things change. There are plenty of profit arenas in the world, it will not kill us (pun) for the healthcare industry to no longer be one.

[Twiganne]

I too have VA healthcare as I am 100% disabled Veteran. While I agree the care is good the government red tape it takes to get a referral outside of the system is long monthly wait. I just went through it and if you don’t keep on top of it and make plenty of phone calls you soon get forgotten in the seas of others who need the same services. I had my top teeth removed April 9th. To date I still don’t have any dentures to eat with. Can you imagine having to not have teeth for over 4 months and eating soggy cereal. I just got an appointment to start the process but it took a call to DC Veterans Healthcare to get it up and moving. I will agree when you get care the appointments with the doctors are not rushed. They are not under insurance time restraints of having to see so many patients a day and schedule plenty of time with each patient to discuss concerns. Ok now imagine every citizen is offered the same type of care. Can you imagine? After working as an RN in healthcare for 20 years I can guarantee that there will not be enough doctors to see that many people. The care will decline. Also do people who have worked all of their lives for the benefit of having Medicare want to lumped into a group including every US citizens. Hospitals stay open not because profits they make from Medicare but from private insurance. Hospital administrators have already said if Medicare for all were implemented it would close their doors. What would we do without hospitals. Private insurance has worked fine for years. It was only when the government started getting involved in healthcare did we have problems that are massive. The Medicare and social security programs are already broke because our lovely congress had borrowed from it. I don’t think the cost of Medicare for all would even be feasible. Thoughts??? Just my two cents worth that is probably only worth a penny!

[Twiganne]

Just keep in mind just because you are in good health things can change quickly and drastically. At the age of 49 and with a good job as a RN I got sick with a common childhood virus which is serious in adulthood. My life changed overnight. I went to never sick a day in my life to severely sick for over 6 months, left with other complications and never able to return to work. Luckily I am a veteran because the cost of my medicines would be crippling. I was only on one medication but the cost of it was 1000 dollars a prescription. The cost of COBRA was astounding. I went from taking one medication a day to taking 10. That is how quickly it changed. Fine one day and the next day so sick I couldn’t hold my head up. Luckily I still had my hospital insurance for 6 months because I was having tubes of blood drawn twice a week and many diagnostic tests. I got so sick that I thought I was going to die. I am glad you are healthy. My point is that illness is not always progressive.