Those Wanting Medicare for All Have Not Been on Medicare

[Right_in_Virginia]

Those Wanting Medicare for All Have Not Been on Medicare
Townhall, Mar 31, 2019, Bruce Bialosky

The people who work on governmental health policy quite often have not experienced having the insurance they regulate.  Recently single-payer insurance (i.e. government operated and controlled medical insurance) has been recast with the cutesy name “Medicare for All.”   As someone who recently became a Medicare-covered individual along with the Beautiful Wife (BW), let’s talk about reality.

As you know, Medicare is a program begun in 1966 to cover people 65 years of age and older.  The program is to be paid through lifelong payroll tax payments akin to social security.   Unlike social security, the benefits are not related to how much you have paid into the program. An important point to understand is (for most people) the vast majority of medical expenses are incurred near the end of one’s life. When the program was established, it was not anticipated that people would be living as long as they do.  This has also driven up costs; i.e., keeping older people alive.

As an aside, Medicare covers for pre-existing conditions. 180 million people who are covered by corporation health insurance also are covered for pre-existing conditions as well as those covered by Medicaid. That is over 90% of Americans, so we can dispense with that canard.  Some politicians want you to believe people are threatening to take away coverage for pre-existing conditions when that is just not true.


More:  https://townhall.com/columnists/brucebialosky/2019/03/31/those-wanting-medicare-for-all-have-not-been-on-medicare-n2543901