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twitterLETTER TO THE EDITOR:
Medicare increase doesn’t make sense in this economy
Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009 | 2:01 a.m.
The Las Vegas Sun’s Wednesday report, “Their stories heard on the Hill,” which included discussion of health care premium shocks, hit home with me this week in a way that will hit seniors in the Las Vegas Valley.
My monthly premium for Medicare Part D drug coverage is set to nearly double from $23.60 this year to $44.60 in 2010.
The culprit? Not the insurance company to which I pay premiums, but the government. My insurance company tells me that the increase was mandated by Medicare.
A check with Medicare confirmed the insurance company’s statement. But no one I was able to reach on the phone was able to explain this near 100 percent increase for a year when:
• The country is in the worst recession since the 1930s;
• Social Security checks in 2010 will not include a cost-of-living bonus (and the president is begging Congress for a one-time $250 payout for the elderly);
• And 10 million to 12 million people are unemployed.
What costs in the Medicare system could possibly have gone up to justify such a dramatic increase?
Medicare suggested I should write to its Medicare Beneficiary Contact Center if I wanted to find out. And I will.
I am obviously not going to be alone in opening an envelope with this kind of surprise in the coming days.
Do you think that if all we seniors deluged them with queries, someone in the administration might think better of this plan? Especially if elected state officials got wind of it. Or am I just showing my naiveté?
Discussion: 12 comments so far…
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More of what you can expect when Obama/Reid/Pelosi run all of the Health Insurance rules.
First they will raise the cost for people making under $250k and then they will not tell you why.
Obama, Reid, and Pelosi are tone deaf. They do not respond to our phone calls, e-mails, townhalls, or rallies. They refuse to listen to us because we are lairs to them, but mostly because they know we do not believe them or trust them. Harry called us evilmonger and Nancy called us un-American.
As an illiterate unwashed redneck white trash tea-bagger I realize that we have no right to question the spin that the Democrats are putting out.
Obama is fond of saying we "are not something he is losing sleep over."
Obama in addressing the American Nation from the "Halls of Congress" felt he was right to ridicule and call my opposition position "a lie, plain and simple.
To Philip Jordan-If you are a Veteran you may be able to get your prescriptions through the VA under certain conditions. Cal1-800-827-1000 or call your local VA rep. You could change your plan-go to page 122c of the Medicare and You booklet-United Healthcare has a plan for a premium of $20.40--no deductible with a $9-$90 Co-Pay or 33% co-insurance. You also could join a Medicare Advantage plan that has no premium or part D deductible and some of those plans cover the gap, mostly generic.
Future says: "As an illiterate unwashed redneck white trash tea-bagger I realize that we have no right to question ..."
What do you know, he finally got something right!
Future says: "Obama is fond of saying we 'are not something he is losing sleep over.'"
He is beginning to get it. No one is losing sleep over the noisy minority.
The most likely reason his phone calls and emails aren't responded to is that they are probably as rude and impolite as those teabagging parties and as raucous as those mob gatherings. The rabble, roused or asleep, aren't worth a second of anyone's time.
The above comment is to you, but not for you, so don't get a swelled head that I seem to have recognized you.
I don't think Obama is loosing sleep over anything. Particularly Afghanistan, the ecomony, unemployment or the housing problem.
They only thing Obama is worried about is getting more frequent flier miles on Air Force One.
Medicare drug plans are so expensive because Medicare pays the drug companies full retail price, rather than to use the massive purchasing power of millions of Medicare beneficiaries to negotiate costs down at least 40%.
Medicare Advantage Plans are cheaper to Medicare beneficiaries because they cost the govt - you & me - more. The Medicare system pays them astounding amounts of money to "manage" patient care - which means denying benefits.
Insurance companies & drug manufacturers make humongous profits by employing thousands of lobbyists - and the costs of these are passed along to all of us.
This isn't a democrat or republican issue - this is a human issue and WE NEED CHANGE NOW!!!
Louise-What is a "humongous" profit? I think the only thing "humongous" is the taxes we will have to pay to fund this piece of garbage. Please tell me what a "humongous" profit is. "Thousands of lobbists". I bet you could not name ten lobbiest.
What is a "human" issue? If they want more of my tax money it is inhuman, they take a lot more than they are worth now.
Geeze Louise and you still won't get it free.
Hey Louise:
The AARP got a financial windfall in return for its support of the healthcare bill. Over the past decade, the AARP has morphed from an advocacy group to an insurance company (through its subsidiary company). It is one of the main suppliers of Medi-gap insurance, a high-cost, privately purchased coverage that picks up where Medicare leaves off. But President Bush-43 passed the Medicare Advantage program, which offered a subsidized, lower-cost alternative to Medi-gap. Under Medicare Advantage, the elderly get all the extra coverage they need plus coordinated, well-managed care, usually by the same physician. So more than 10 million seniors went with Medicare Advantage, cutting into AARP Medi-gap revenues.
Presto! Obama solved their problem. He eliminates subsidies for Medicare Advantage. The elderly will have to pay more for coverage under Medigap, but the AARP -- which supposedly represents them -- will make more money.
Louise--That was a great post--hit the nail right on the head--the right wing brownshirts hate the truth like it were a plague.
The doughnut hole will be closed and the elderly will pay less in the new bill.
Right-wing wrong again. They seem to be
wrong on everything.
Us right wing brownshirts hate the parasites that feed off of us like the leeches that they are. Louise, I question whether someone as stupid as you is really a human.
jlb101 said:
"Us right wing brownshirts hate the parasites that feed off of us like the leeches that they are. Louise, I question whether someone as stupid as you is really a human."
Well, my little friend....the true you is starting to come out! I'm glad to see that you have finally recognized the fact that you and your buddies are right-wing brownshirts....
See, admitting the truth isn't always bad.....right?