Can we talk just a second about the side costs of Medicare for All

[Peacetrain]

Medicare is an insurance plan that pays 80% of your cost... you still have to cover the other 20% or buy supplemental insurance that can be quite pricey if you have health issues.. and when supporters Medicare for all compare prices , I do not think they are including that extra 20 % that we are paying out of pocket... when they do the comparison

But that is not the only hidden cost..


Medicare pays only a portion of what someone on work insurance is charged.. because that is the deal they have cut with the Dr'sf and hospitals.. Which means that many Doctors will not take Medicare patients..


Hospitals and Health Centers in smaller towns would go bankrupt if it were Medicare only.. so we would lose a lot of local access to health care for those who do not live in large Metro areas..and to keep them open, we would have to add on to the costs of that Insurance choice..

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. This is true. Medicare is great but if you don't buy supplemental coverage

you could still be stuck with some huge bills, and there are copays and deductibles for the supplemental insurance and for Medicare itself. Typical supplemental coverage is about $200/month. Even in countries that have a universal healthcare system through the government, there are copays and services that aren't covered. I hope we can find a way to a system in which everyone has access to affordable medical treatment but if we think any version of universal health care will be free, we are kidding ourselves.

[stopbush]

7. So, if you are a senior with Medicare and a supplemental plan,

your cost is $335 a month (basic Medicare @ $135 + supplemental @ $200). That works out to $1340 A MONTH or $16,080 a YEAR for a family of 4 on MFA, assuming the premiums stay where they are.

BTW - supplemental Medicare coverage in my neck of the woods (SoCal) is $0 per month.

[question everything]

18. Depending on the specific plans.

I had to select a new plan for 2019 and the provider had several plans.

One of them did offer $0 premium but $400 deductible for prescription, $25 co pay for primary physician, $50 copay for specialist. Lots of co pay and annual exam, routine vision and hearing are not covered. And, I suppose, different networks.

I selected the one at $137 where no prescription deduction and routine exams covered.

Thus, depends on your health and medical needs.

[Firestorm49]

2. Many other countries have seemed to work out the bugs. No, it won't be cheap,

but the benefits to society in general, and preventative care specifically will make the ends justify the means.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. Nobody anywhere has worked out the bugs completely.

All of the government-subsidized health care systems in other countries also have deductibles, copays and services that aren't covered. While most of them do a much better job than we do of making health care available to their citizens, there's no completely free system anywhere in the world that covers everything for everybody. And in the countries that have close to full coverage, the taxes are correspondingly high. There's no free lunch; these services have to be paid for somehow. A promise of "free" health care for everyone is a false promise, and candidates should be careful not to offer too much pie in the sky.

[Autumn]

15. The subsidies that people receive for the ACA have to be paid for too. I don't remember MFA

ever being touted as free healthcare. Well except by the Republicans, but they lie.

[stopbush]

3. And what about the payroll contribution 100% of workers currently pay into Medicare

to support a program that serves 19% of the population? Wouldn’t that contribution have to increase FIVE FOLD if it had to support 100% of the population?

And how about the Medicare monthly premium, which is now $135-a-month PER PERSON? If you are a family of four, your monthly premium would be $540 under MFA, or $6480 a year. How do you sell that reality to a family that currently enjoys employer-provided insurance with a reduced or no monthly premium for the employee and their family?

[spooky3]

8. And that $135 is a minimum. If your income is higher

You have to pay more.

[stopbush]

11. Many people I talk to who advocate MFA don't know that Medicare has premiums.

They think you turn 65 and everything is suddenly free. They never do the math and extrapolate out to a family of four, etc.

Then the excuse is offered that “everything will be reworked”...which is uninformed code for, “yeah, but it would end up being free.”

[HerbChestnut]

4. M4A would overhaul Medicare.

Here's the introduced legislation from earlier in the year.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/1129/text

[Hoyt]

6. Yeah, but there are all these other costs that will be reduced. I've been hearing that since 1977,

yet those savings never seem to materialize.

I don't really care about health insurers going out of business. That's just tough, they've had a good run.

I do care about getting into something that gets cut every time the political group in charge needs to find some money to spend elsewhere, wants to punish some group of people, our individual costs go up when healthcare providers want more money, etc.

Don't have the answer, but we do need to get everyone covered.

Until candidates come out with a detailed plan -- including exactly what the average Joe/Jane or 30, 45, 50, 55, etc., will pay in premiums, taxes, and any cost-sharing -- it's all BS.

[stopbush]

9. Agree. Without the details, it's BS.

[HerbChestnut]

10. Here's the M4A bill released earlier this year.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/1129/text

Maybe you can find what you're looking for there.

[stopbush]

13. I didn't find any real details in there on how this is paid for.

Perhaps you can point me to that section of the proposed legislation.

[Hoyt]

14. I guess you are going to have to point out where that Bill says what it's going to cost in aggregate

and what the average Jane/Joe is going to pay by age and income, either in taxes or premiums.

That's what is missing.

[Andy823]

12. I would also like to hear

More about the 20% we need from private insurers when we are on Medicare. I am no sure either how that is going to work.

I also want to know how MFA will deal with the deduction every month from my SS check, for Medicare. Will that end, and insted we get that $134.00 dollars, in my case, put back in by SS monthly benefits?

I live in a small town, we have a hospital, and several clinics. Last year I had to go to he emergency room and by the time I got out, the bill had hit over $18,000.00. Between Medicare and my supplemental insurance, I only had to pay $50.00 out of my pocket. I had no problem with any doctor not accepting me because of medicare. That may be different In other areas, but I have never been turned down by any of the doctors, clinics, or hospitals I have gone to.

I would like to see a lot more details about the MFA from the candidates, and more from those who want to keep the ACA and how they plan to make it better, and how they plan on reversing all the things trump has taken away from the ACA, plus how much it will cost, how high will deductibles be, etc.

So far nobody has come up with the perfect plan, as far as I am concerned.

[Autumn]

16. Under MFA you can still purchase supplemental insurance, just as we do now.

Before I retired I paid over 500 a month for my share of insurance that was an HMO and covered only me. My Medicare takes care of more than my insurance did and I have yet to encounter a Dr who doesn't take Medicare.

[Andy823]

19. What about

The amount deducted from by SS check, what happens to that?

Also I thought I heard that "everything" will be covered, so why would we need supplemental on top of the MFA?

There are a lot of questions the need to be addressed not only with the MFA but also with Biden's plan to "build" on the ACA. I just hope every candidate can lay it out for the voters so we all know what will happen to those of us on Medicare already, and those who aren't on medicare yet, but need to be insured.

[Autumn]

20. I would think we still pay for it. Like the ACA there will be subsidies only with MFA

we are working with an existing program. Employers can also offer it to their employees. It also looks like vision, dental and hearing aids would be covered under MFA.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/1129/text#toc-idF335B3FF5174480D932838EA6641DB1E

[shraby]

17. There is a big problem with employer provided insurance.

It costs at least 500 per month more if several members of the family is covered also,
which is deducted from your check so you don't "feel" it. Then you need to go to the doctor/hospital/er that very same insurance coverage then gets off scott free for the most part because of the 5,000 (at least) deductible which comes out of your savings account if you have one.

Many never get a chance to have their insurance defer some of the cost of treatment.

[Eric J in MN]

21. Under Bernie Sanders' Medicare for All Act of 2019

...there are no co-pays for doctors or ambulances.

The reimbursement rate for Medicare is lower than with private insurance. But hospitals would benefit from Single Payer via less paperwork and from almost every patient being insured.

[Everyman Jackal]

22. Forget Medicare for All

Every person should have the same as me, I am 100% service-connected disabled and I don't pay a dime. Yes, there would probably have to be a tax increase but how much is the average person paying now for insurance, deductibles, and copay?

[SouthernProgressive]

23. What we are looking at is being done for two reasons.

1) It's a campaign gimmick.
2) Get the American people welcoming to the idea.

This plan is a failure on face value. It's not where we will end up. It isn't medicare. It's a campaign slogan.

Those who understand where we are at will move in the right direction. First and foremost, we need power.