Tuesday, August 14, 2012

A couple of questions....

It's obvious that Social Security and especially Medicare are going to be the hot button issues of the upcoming presidential election.  It's all about cutting the deficit, and these two things will bear the brunt of any budget reforms.

My questions are:

Are you reasonably happy with Medicare as it exists now, or are you just comfortable with it because it is a known quantity?  

Do you just accept Medicare with all it's flaws because you are afraid of the alternative?

Are you afraid a voucher-type senior health care program will force seniors to pay money out of pocket (that they may or may not have) in order to get comparable coverage to what Medicare offers now?  In other words, in your mind, is a voucher-type system a step backwards?


7 comments:

  1. Healthcare is such a cluster f**k from the hospital side and the provider side. I do not have faith in any of it in terms of the common good.

    RVU medicine has made the physicians greedy...Basically it means your doc is paid on commission and by procedure.

    I fired all of my doctors who work on that basis.

    Do you work in an RVU system? Yes?...Goodbye.

    Oh man I could go on about this subject.

    As for Medicare? You know the RVU provider will only address one issue at a time for billing purposes? Bad....So you have to keep coming back if you are like the rest of everyone else who saves up two or three things to see the doctor.

    Medicare doesn't pay well either to the doc so they can flat deny seeing you.

    Awful system.

    So between the gov't, greedy docs, greedy hospitals and greedy insurance companies you have yourself one really shitty system.

    Fixing it? Forget it. Way too much greed....

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  2. I have been a repeat user of Medicare for 7 years now and probably would not be here without it. I am very happy with it. The Ryan alternative would leave middle class and poor people in the lurch, I believe. It's much the same as George Bush wanting to dump Social Security and letting people invest in the stock market for their retirement.

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    1. Yes but it is nuts the way many physicians treat the folks on Medicare. It sure bests the alternative however...

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  3. Seniors would be crazy to accept a voucher system. Costs will continue to rise yet the vouchers won't. Every six months or so seniors will be forced to pay more, possibly choosing between food and medicine. This is horrible for seniors, and anyone who reads the fine print on Ryan's budget proposal will see why. This also does nothing to lower the deficit within thirty years.

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  4. People try to make a case that money "invested" in Social Security would yield greater dividends in a private investment. Maybe, maybe not. Social Security and Medicare are known commodities. As to your question about a voucher system? Left to the insurance industry, or banker types what do you think would happen? They benefit, the payer gets screwed. If you have any doubts, look at how banking and insurance operate now. Do we really think we could trust a voucher system to avoid the escalating costs and built in greed that is a foundation for the system that still needs further and REAL reform.

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  5. I think it is criminal to make things so complicated for seniors that they need trained advisers to help them make choices about healthcare providers when we know hospitals are pretty much obligated to do everything anyway. Things should be as streamlined and simple as possible. Medicare can be improved but vouchers sound like a nightmare to me.

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  6. Based on what has been said here, plus responses to the same question I've asked people in person I've met, the idea of a voucher-type health care system is a non-starter. Looks like Romeny and Ryan are going to have a tough sell on their hands.

    S

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