Healthcare: What Should Have been Done; a fix If We Are Tough Enough

The author means well with the article but the reader can tell that this person if venting some anger about Medicare. I am betting the writer is mid to late 30's working professional who knows of no one who is benefiting from socialized medicine.

Maybe not old enough to remember that prior to Medicare these financial burdens were primarily handled by donations to the poor and sick through charitable organizations. Medicare said we will treat all our sick with dignity for all who need it. If you are one of the 30% who are healthy and affluent enough to think this should not be an entitlement then shame on you for you are not a compassionate conservative. For that matter I don’t know to many who are?

As an insurance agent who works with all types of clients I will say there is an argument that can be made about means testing for Medicare beneficiaries.
However, let’s try to look at this more fairly. Think of Medicare as insurance such as we do with flood, homeowners -fire-theft etc. We all pay into a system that many of us never use.

For me, I could choose to be upset that I have helped 72 year old Nicaraguan women who has worked as a maid for the past 40 years here at minimum wage and has nothing to show for. No house, no money, and just two grandchildren she loves to care for. She had a stroke and because this hard working American Citizen paid 24% of her wages to both Medicare and Social security we are to say to her "I am sorry mam we have no money to care for you in a humane manor due to poor planning, a war and because 1/3 of the working class decided it would be in there best interest to avoid funding Medicare due to a means test exemption.

So dear women here is an IV drip and a bus ticket to you country as we don’t care if you worked and paid into our system $153,600.00 to be cared for should you need help. You see we put you money in some municipal bonds at 3% yield and they did not perform as well as we had hoped.
Maybe we should have put up a sign on the Statue of Liberty that says "Welcome all who want to work here and to be free but post a $1,000,00 bond to enter legally.

Let’s move on the some other points about this article: RESPONCE IN CAPS!

The writer rights to say:
I have written several times on Healthcare, or more specifically Medicare and Medicaid, so my views are pretty well known by any who read my blog.

LET'S TRY TO STAY ON ONE TOPIC!
IS IT MEDICARE UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE FOR ALL?
OR THINGS I DON’T WANT TO PAY FOR?

I am opposed to Universal Healthcare.
APPOSES HELPING ANYONE LESS FOURTUNATE THAN MYSELF!
I am also vehemently opposed to the universal healthcare we now have for anyone 65 years old or older which we know as Medicare.

THE TERM UNIVERSAL COVERAGE REFFERES TO THE 45% OF UNINSURED AMERICANS WHO CAN NOT AFFORD THE AVERAGE COST OF PRIVATE INSURANCE CURRNETLY AT $230 PER PERSON OF $900 PER FAIMLY WHEN THEY HAVE ZERO DISCSPOCABLE INCOME.

A need for government involvement in insuring medical care for the poor was seen to be necessary in the early 1960’s and so in 1965 Congress *“enacted as Title XVIII and Title XIX of the Social Security Act, extending health coverage to almost all Americans age 65 or over (e.g., those receiving retirement benefits from Social Security or the Railroad Retirement Board), and providing health care services to low-income children deprived of parental support, their caretaker relatives, the elderly, the blind, and individuals with disabilities."
FAILED TO UNDERSTAND YOUR POINT HERE? SO?

Seniors were the population group most likely to be living in poverty in 1965;

BUY THE WAY THESE WERE THE BACKBONE OF THE COUNTRY DURING THE POST RESETTION YEARS AND THE POST WAR WORKERS OF WHICH WE OWE A DEBIT OF THANKS AS WE DID NOT HAVE 401 PLANS THEN

"about one-half had health insurance coverage.”
*THE OTHER HALF HAD NOTHING BUT CHARITY UNTIL MEDICARE STEPED IN.
WHY DID THE OTHER HALF NOT HAVE ANY?
SAME REASON AS TODAY!
NO MANDATED PLAN.
SUBSTANDARD UNIVSERAL HEALCARE PLAN IS IN PLACE CALLED MEDICAID.

They made the mistake that will destroy the greatness of the United States by causing the bankruptcy of the Federal Government!
LOOKOUT THE SKY IS FALLING! BEEN FALLING NOW SOME 300 YEARS!

Medicare and Medicaid took up 25% of the 2007 federal budget. ARE YOU SHURE THAT WAS NOT THE VIETNAM AND IRAQ WAR TOTALS?

And eventually as the population age’s medical costs will skyrocket even more than their runaway double digit inflation of the past 40 years and totally overwhelm the tax payers.
ITS REALLY ONLY 3.5% MOVING AVERAGE ACCOUNDING TO ARE GDP FIGURES.

In fact, a large part of the deficits our government runs every year is due to the support our tax payers give ALL seniors and not just those who need it.

NOT REALLY! EVERYONE WHO PAID INTO OUR SYSTEM IS JUST GETTING BACK ONLY THE INTERRST OUT GOVERMENT WAS SUPOSED TO BE INVESTING IN MUNI BOUNDS AND FANI MAE LOANS.

So the next time you Grandparents visit Johnny and Sally you be sure to thank them nicely because they will be paying when they grow up for the checks you receive in the mail each month now! THAT IS IF THEY HAVE A JOB AND STOP WATCHING MTV!

Make note of the above quote from Health care Review 2005 which states that Seniors were the population most likely to be living in poverty (today it is children 18 and under); "about one half had health insurance coverage". If this was the case and one-half of seniors had medical insurance then why did Congress feel it necessary to make health care FREE to ALL seniors? It made no sense to me then, and it makes less sense to me now. Medicare should NEVER have been enacted. MAKES GOOD SENCE TO ME?
WE ALL PAY OUR FAIR SHARE (EXCEPT THE RICH) OF TAXS TO HELP THOSE WHO WE STIFF IN CHEAP WAGES.
MAKES SENCE WHEN YOU PUT IT THAT WAY!

Medicaid on the other hand was the program that should have adequately covered the health care needs of the All of the poor children, elderly and disabled needy. And instead of directly paying medical bills for these people and therefore getting into the insurance business, the government should have merely provided the funds for them to purchase health care insurance.

THINK ABOUT THIS ONE AGAIN...LET ME SEE NOW, I GET A CHECK TO CASH BECAUSE I DONT HAVE A JOB AND YOU WANT ME TO CHOOSE BETWEEN GIVING IT TO THE MAN OR GETTING POPEYES CHICKEN FOR THE REST OF THE MONTH? TUFF CHOICES TO MAKE?

Competition among insurance companies would have kept health care insurance premiums reasonable.
LETS SEE NOW.. OF THOSE WHO HAVE HAD INSURANCE OVER THE PAST 40 YEARS AND HAVE PAID SEVEN TIMES WHAT THEY ACCUTALLY TOOK OUT IN CLAIMS I THINK IF THEY ARE THAT STUPID TO CONTINUE PAYING BACKWARDS WHY NOT TAG ON ANOTHER 20% YEARLY INCREASE TO COVER THE MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR SALERYS WE PAY THESE GUYS FOR KEEPING OUR PREMUIMS SO LOW?

I KNOW HOW WE CAN FIX THE SYSTEM..
ON APRIL 1ST THIS YEAR LETS ALL STOP PAYING OUR INSURANCE PREMIUMS FOR ONE YEAR. THEN WE CAN SPEED UP GROWING UNIVERSAL HEALCARE DEBATE.

THAT SHOULD GET SOMEONE ATTENTION.
WHATS THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN ? STROKE ? NO WORRIES.
CHAPTER 11 AND KEEP HOUSE AND THE HOUSE IN BAHAMAS THE SWISS BANK ACCOUNT AND THE ENRON STOCKS WE ARE HOLDING FOR GOOD LUCK. MAYBE THEN WE WILL ALL BE ON THE SAME SIDE FOR HEALTH CARE FOR ALL?

I have made the undeniable assertion that Medicare should be means-tested and one comment I received from a reader is the rallying cry whenever any mention of this has been made, he said, “ There is no perfect solution for Medicare. Means-testing Medicare beneficiaries punishes those that saved best for retirement and worked hardest.” I will explore this argument later in the week.

"MEANS TESTING"
MEANS I DONT WANT TO PAY FOR ANYONE ELSE BUT ME.
CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOUR POSTS.

REMEMBER THIS OLD SAYING:
GOD HELPS THOSE WHO CANT HELP THEMSELVES!
NOW READS:
GOD HELPS THOSE WHO HELP THENSELVES!

CUBA IS STARTING TO LOOK MORE ATRACTIVE NOW THAT FIDEALS IS RETIREING, WHAT DO YOU THINK?

kdr55, Nope, your wrong on that one. I am a 65 year old lower middle class female who is now on Medicare. Why am I on Medicare? Because in 1965 the government got into the medical service business and at that point medical services, supply and insurances went up in costs astronomically yearly; double digit inflation! No other commodity or service costs inflated at this rate. Not until the government again got into the educational loan business and then education costs began to spiral out of sight.

And I remember well how things were before 1965 when Congress saw fit to enact Medicare and Medicaid. My father was a factory worker, my grandfather a coal miner. And I was a beginning school teacher. My father had complete family insurance coverage thru his employer with no co-pay, my grandparents had affordable insurance coverage provided by their children and I had my own coverage which was I was told by other insurance people an outstanding policy which cost me all of $20 a month. For the very poor there were Free Clinics in most large cities and some smaller cities. In small towns, yes you are right poor had to depend on charities. NOW PLEASE TAKE A GOOD LOOK AT PARAGRAPHS 5 AND 7. I am not naive nor am I stupid. I have been an activist for the poor and needy for all of my adult life so I am quite familiar with the plight of the poor and needy. I have also seen more and more people become "poor and needy" over the past 40 years as medical and educational inflation has robbed their saving and income of value. You Sir, need to do some research. Fortunately with computers and Google it is very easy. Just type in a word or phase, hit search and it takes you to all kinds of good information.

kdr55: LET'S TRY TO STAY ON ONE TOPIC!
IS IT MEDICARE UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE FOR ALL?
OR THINGS I DON’T WANT TO PAY FOR?

It's just the opposite Sir, I want to pay for my own health care and did until the double digit inflation made it impossible for me and others in my financial bracket to do so. If you bothered to read Para: 5 & 7 you will see that I also wish to pay for the coverage and medical needs of the poor and needy who can not pay for their own.

kdr55: THE TERM UNIVERSAL COVERAGE REFFERES TO THE 45% OF UNINSURED AMERICANS WHO CAN NOT AFFORD THE AVERAGE COST OF PRIVATE INSURANCE CURRNETLY AT $230 PER PERSON OF $900 PER FAIMLY WHEN THEY HAVE ZERO DISCSPOCABLE INCOME.

I believe I have answered this question above. The skyrocketing inflation of medical service, supply and insurance in the past 40 years took my family which was independent of government largess and pushed us right into the ranks of the working poor who were unable to afford their own insurance. We can afford our own homes because the government isn't in home mortgages on a wholesale business so the inflationary increases in home values have not gone beyond the middle class worker. We can afford our own food and car and auto insurance (you being in the insurance business) and eve a vacation or two each year. But I and my two professional college educated children CAN NOT afford our own medical coverage. Now tell me in your own words just what factor would you suggest caused all this if it is not the governments involvement which allowed the greed of the medical establishment to get out of hand. It is the free market competition for customers which keeps costs in hand, without that competition there is no reason to not indulge in what ever a company/person can get for their product or service.

kdr55: THE TERM UNIVERSAL COVERAGE REFFERES TO THE 45% OF UNINSURED AMERICANS WHO CAN NOT AFFORD THE AVERAGE COST OF PRIVATE INSURANCE CURRNETLY AT $230 PER PERSON OF $900 PER FAIMLY WHEN THEY HAVE ZERO DISCSPOCABLE INCOME.

Please Google Federal Budget 2007. And I don't buy into that back bone of the country stuff. my parents and grandparents were just people living in their times just as I and even you are people living in our times. No generation deserves more credit than any other. As far as 401K's please again do some research; people had saved far more of their income in the 1940's, '50's and '60's than have saved since. And these people also have very low debt ratios. Today the savings rate is the lowest it has ever been and the debt rate is astronomical.

kdr55: Medicaid on the other hand was the program that should have adequately covered the health care needs of the All of the poor children, elderly and disabled needy. And instead of directly paying medical bills for these people and therefore getting into the insurance business, the government should have merely provided the funds for them to purchase health care insurance.

I was speaking here of the working poor who would need help. The unemployed and unemployable would be cared for differently. In fact, I suggest a Medicare type plan for them where all of their needs are taken care of. As I stated above due to the government encouragement of medical coverage inflation that happened with the enactment of Medicare in 1965 me and my family have been thrown against our will into this group of working poor who can not afford our own insurance. This although we are all better educated and with much better jobs than my parents or grandparents had. I should make that father and grandfather because you see back then my mother and grandmother WERE NOT REQUIRED TO WORK TO MAKE ENDS MEET!

kdr55: You have much anger yourself. Most of it as far as I can see is the situation that you find yourself in just as the one my children are in: working hand and just barely making it. You can not however see what caused the problem. It was uneven inflation in the medical and educational areas of our economy. Please do some research? Please? Now you want the government to take on the whole nation and cover all their needs. Do you not understand that the government MAKES NO MONEY OF IT"S OWN. The government GETS THE MONEY TO DO WHAT IT DOES FROM YOU TAXES. You are the government! Or is it that you want to soak the rich? Hells Bells, I just want the elderly rich to pay for their own health care! and let me pay for my own and we will both pay for those who are in need.

You are welcome to my main blog where I have many more articles and references to back up my claims. Http://triadblogs.com/BrendaFayBowers