General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsUnicorns, and Affordable Private Health Insurance for Seniors
The Romney/Ryan Repeal Obamacare and End Medicare movement is based on the idea that the entire health care system must be funneled through private insurers, and on whatever terms they set. (Because private insurers are teh awesome)
So money collected for Medicare will be redistributed to seniors in the form of coupons to buy private health insurance.
(Talk about a mandate! The government takes money out of your paycheck for your entire working life and, if you are lucky, "gives it back to you" in the form of coupons for a specific product!?)
One of the many problems with the Romney/Ryan plan to Repeal Obamacare and End Medicare is this...
Who in their right mind would sell heath insurance to seniors? Seriously. Being of advanced age is the ultimate pre-existing condition.
What does private health insurance in America cost for someone in their eighties? Nobody knows. Because of Medicare we do not have a big insurance market for seniors.
Medicare is non-profit and has massive efficiencies of scale. It is impossible... I will say that again, IMPOSSIBLE for the private sector to offer comparable benefits for the same money, let alone for less money. We might as well give people coupons to buy unicorns.
But Ryan guesses that private insurers will be lining up to offer affordable health insurance to seniors (which is absurd), and if not... fuck 'em. They should have thought of that before getting old.
The Romney/Ryan plan is simply the elimination of Medicare. Saying it will be replaced with vouchers to buy a product that doesn't exist but that Ryan imagines might be affordable is the elimination of Medicare except as a way for the government to rob working people of their wages to then funnel those wages into the pockets of private insurance companies while providing much, much, much less coverage dollar for dollar.
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)nc4bo
(17,651 posts)and that is most seniors' minds aren't as sharp as they used to be, of course there are exceptions.
I'm taking my soon to be 80 yo mom as an example, there is no way she could handle the coupon/voucher system. She has at least 5 doctors she sees, not counting specialty practices. She'd not only be confused as all hell but she'd never be able to keep up. She has problem balancing her checkbook. I'm sure she's not the only one.
Of course kids would be the ones that need to keep track but not every senior has this luxury. What about them? Who takes care of them?
This is not fair to people like my mom.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)I know it's not but thought it'd be another thing for seniors, senior's families and caregivers to think about. What they don't need is more complications in their lives, neither do their families.
Fucking vultures.........
virgogal
(10,178 posts)considerably in the last five years and it certainly isn't going to get any better.
I wouldn't insure me.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)Triloon
(506 posts)be seen as a government subsidy of private insurance corporations. Like privatisation schemes everywhere it converts the Public Trust into Corporate Profit. And to hell with the consumers and taxpayers.
cthulu2016
(10,960 posts)Skittles
(153,212 posts)they'll still be allowed to do the copay/deductible bullshit
gollygee
(22,336 posts)They'd have to charge enough to know they wouldn't lose money, and older people's health care is very expensive.
People would just die a lot younger, due to lack of medical care. Maybe the Republicans are OK with that. They're all about "pro-life" for fetuses, but not for grandparents, veterans who fought wars to protect our rights, and everyone else among the elderly.