WWWendy is due shortly, and we have a very busy day. Done. Exhausted Hugs!
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 5:24 (average 6:39). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Take:
From NY Times: More and more Democrats, fed up with private health insurance companies, are endorsing the goal of a government-run, single-payer system like Medicare for all Americans. But they have discovered a problem. More than one-third of Medicare beneficiaries are in Medicare Advantage plans, run not by the government but by private insurers.
Whether to allow younger Americans to enroll in such private Medicare plans has become a hotly debated political question as Democrats look to 2020.
When liberal Democrats started advocating “Medicare for all” more than 25 years ago, Medicare was the original fee-for-service program run by the government. Since then, it has changed in big ways. More than 20 million of the 60 million beneficiaries are in comprehensive Medicare Advantage plans sold by private insurers like UnitedHealth, Humana, Kaiser Permanente and Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
Enrollment in private Medicare plans has shot up roughly 80 percent since 2010. Older Americans are attracted by the prospect of extra benefits, a limit on out-of-pocket costs and a doctor or nurse who can coordinate their care.
“Medicare for all” has become a rallying cry for progressive Democrats, though it means different things to different people. Supporters generally agree that it is a way to achieve universal coverage with a system of national health insurance in which a single public program would pay most of the bills, but care would still be delivered by private doctors and hospitals.
One-third of Senate Democrats and more than half of House Democrats who will serve in the new Congress have endorsed proposals to open Medicare to all Americans, regardless of age.
Frankly, I love my Providence Medicare Advantage Plan. I would prefer to keep it unless a single payer plan offered full coverage with lower out of pocket costs than I now pay. RESIST!!
Cartoon:
16 Responses to “Personal Update – 12/30/2019”
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We’re on Medicare, and have been pleased with the services. I’m also on board for Medicare for all too. We certainly need it for others.
My guys won 20-3 Jags. I’ve caught something, and I feel awful, sore throat, temp.
At least it’s free, right? lol.
Hi, WWWendy! Hope you have a good evening, take care, and Thanks, Tom.
*This just in: dt: “I am going to serve two terms. One in Federal prison, and one in NY State prison.”
This just in – from your keyboard to God’s monitor!
Amen Pat! ?
5:14 Now THAT is one SERIOUS patina.
NYT – I’m not surprised more than 1/3 are in Advantage Plans … I suppose most, like you, are actually benefitted by those, but the way the companies push them, I have to wonder. Yes, it does make a difference in how any bill would be worded. I’m not in one; I have a part D, because signing up for something is a condition of my continuing to receive my HSA form a former employer, and it’s the HSA that really pays for everything. I haven’t needed the additional coverage of an advantage plan. At any open enrollment, I’d have the option of switching to an advantage plan, and I may have to start thinking about it, but so far I am thriving. Thank you for bringing it up. I’ll be interested to read other’s thoughts.
Cartoon – LOL !! Truth can do that to you.
We need a health care program like what they have in Western Europe. To those who howl about its shortcomings, I say: Are you happy with a system that results in 600,000 personal bankruptcies a year? Are you happy with paying through the nose for prescription drugs? Are you happy with putting your life in the hands of insurance companies that are more concerned with profits than your life?
People on Medicare pay through the nose for drugs too, after we fall through the “donut hole”.
Man. Wish I could get on Advantage. I just got my low-income help taken away. I’m hurtin for certain now. My main script is over $42 a month. And I have other ones besides that. Seems like I got screwed by them this year since my husband passed. Never had to pay that much before. And the donut- hole is gonna be a bald-headed bitch for me. I may have a real problem when that comes up.
But I hope that you have good coverage on Advantage. Sounds like you do.
Take care, TC missing all of y’all now! Happy New Year to ALL!! ??
I switched my Mom from traditional Medicare to AARP Advantage years ago – and it was wonderful!
But AARP, apparently losing money on their Advantage plan, dropped it.
One of the problems w/ HMO Medicare plans like AARP Advantage is staying in Network. One of the others is if you want to switch back to traditional Medicare … good luck! It’s not all that easy. UNLESS the plan is terminated (like my Mom’s). Then it was pretty easy-peasy for me to get her back on traditional Medicare.
So far I’m staying on traditional Medicare because of those concerns. When things finally settle down (after we replace President Pinocchio with a REAL President) – I’ll revisit the options.
Vivian, Advantage is a type of Medicare coverage, in which the government pays a private company to provide your benefits. My plan covers those, what a supplement would cover and prescription drugs under part D. I sure hope you get your care worked out.
NYT: Yes our country does need to have better health insurance. Why can’t we have one that offers it to all??Sorry to hear the Broncos didn’t do well today.
3:57 (average 6:39) Lovely picture, which I haven’t seen before, I think.
NYT: Nobody said it would be easy and it will only work if there’s some consensus about the number of people that will be forced to partake even if it may cost them a bit more. The young and rich will now pay less, simply because statistics tell the insurance companies that they are low risk, i.e. do not cost them much, so they’ll still run a large profit with lower premiums. Only when all insurance companies are forced to accept a normalized number of people of all layers of society and all have about the same coverage for the same price, i.e. limited competition, can there be Medicare for all. Next question: how are insurance companies made to comply?
My guess is that they’re allowed to continue offering additional plans (I suppose that Advantage is one of them) on top of the basic coverage. That is what happened in Europe and Australia too and that has brought inequality back in through the back door, when right-wing governments cut back on the basics because of “austerity”, but poor people not being able to pay for the plans. Something to be on the lookout for and avoid.
Puzzle — 4:58 Fittings on an old ornate box with, as JD says, “…one SERIOUS patina”.
NY Times — I do not have the knowledge of US healthcare to adequately comment, however I can comment on Canadian healthcare which is closer to universal healthcare. Here each province is a little different. When I was growing up in Ontario, the system was more like the US. But in 1966, PM Lester Pearson introduced Medicare which had been championed by Tommy Douglas, a social democrat, who won the hearts of Canadians as demonstrated in 2004 when he was declared the greatest Canadian. In BC, where I now live, everybody must be part of the provincial medical plan. The premium is $37.50 per month for single coverage and covers doctor’s and hospital visits. It also covers eye care for example if you are a diabetic, but it does not cover prescription drugs. We have Pharmacare that does that on an income based basis. In Ontario for example, prescriptions are covered but how long that will last is unknown. Doug Ford, older brother to Toronto’s former mayor, the notorious Rob Ford, is the Conservative premier and is very Republican in the worst sense. Back to BC, if you have a low income, you can apply for premium assistance for your healthcare — it could include part or all of your premium.
Tommy Douglas, healthcare as a right — “…his belief that every Canadian deserved the right to have quality health care, regardless of their economic or social situation.”
Tommy Douglas on social justice — ““Social justice is like taking a bath. You have to do it every day or pretty soon you start to stink.””
Cartoon — Republican Elephant — “I like alternate facts best.”
Thanks and last hugs of 2018.
The last or the first . . . they’re ALL FANTASTIC!!!
If we didn’t have universal healthcare in Oz, i would be dead!