Thoughts on Medicare Changes?

[missedearly62]

Is anyone here concerned about the possibility of losing Medicare when this new "administration" takes over? Especially with Price now selected by dt. GOP cuts in Medicare may be next after dismantling Obamacare - AOL News

 

[NYEXPAT]

Most of us are too young for Medicare and I subscribe to the thinking "you can't lose, what you never had."

 

[missedearly62]

Most of us are too young for Medicare and I subscribe to the thinking "you can't lose, what you never had."

Really? Too young? Guess I figured some had crossed the threshold into Medicare even if this is "Early Retirement".

 

[Teacher Terry]

There are plenty of people on this board in their 60's and above. I was looking forward to getting it in 3 years but now you never know. It was going to save me a lot of $.

 

[braumeister]

I see no point in getting concerned about anything like that right now.

 

[REWahoo]

I see no point in getting concerned about anything like that right now.

Yep. No reason to concern ourselves over the asteroid until we actually know it's on a collision course.

 

[DrRoy]

I would not say 'concerned'. If it changes it changes. There has been a proposal to make future Medicare a voucher, that one would use to buy private insurance, but only for those younger than 55. If you were over 55, it would not change. That's just a proposal and could change or not happen at all.

 

[haha]

Medicare will not be repealed, ever. Any administration that did that would never win another election. So at most, there might be a 2 year kerfluffle which will not happen, never.

It may get worse and worse re access quality, etc, but go away, nope.

Ha

 

[Katsmeow]

I disagree greatly with those who think that there is nothing to be concerned about yet. I also disagree with those who think that it can't happen. I think it has never been in more danger of happening.

First, Speaker Ryan has an explicit plan for Medicare privatization. See his plan A Better Way. Much of that plan has actually been passed by the House previously. Ryan has said explicitly that he wants to do the Medicare privatization as part of the ACA repeal within the first month of the new Administration. If done as part of ACA repeal, I think it could easily be done without many people even realizing it was happening.

Tom Price is an explicit proponent of Medicare privatization. He will be HHS Secretary. In his capacity as Budget chair he said that Medicare privatization would be done in about 6 months.

For reasons that I won't go into because I don't want to get into political stuff I think it is highly likely that Ryan/Price will try very, very, very hard for Medicare privatization. And, I think it is very likely to pass unless there is a lot of public outcry.

One way Ryan's plan tries to assuage seniors is by allowing those on Medicare and those over 55 to continue with traditional Medicare. That might sound OK on the surface. However, this would mean that traditional Medicare would have ever shrinking numbers as recipients died off and were not replaced by younger Medicare recipients. Even now, the "younger" Medicare recipients need far less care than older ones which holds down Medicare costs.

If traditional Medicare only has a fixed pool of people without new people (those now under 55) coming into it, that will be a huge problem.

It is possible that traditional Medicare would be allowed for those of us over 55 (DH is on Medicare, I am 62) but that there would be a voucher that would initially cover the cost. But, as the traditional Medicare pool got smaller and smaller and costs went up and up (as the age of recipients still in it only went up), then the voucher would no longer cover the cost and recipients could end up with a voucher which covered only a small fraction of the cost of traditional Medicare. The goal there would be to force those people to buy the privatized insurance instead which would have much higher out of pocket costs, would likely be more HMO like with narrow coverage networks.

I don't think that they will get rid of standard Medicare for people my age and those on Medicare already. But, I think many people don't understand how people our age could be harmed by privatizing Medicare even for younger people. And if people don't understand that harm then they may not fight against it.

 

[samclem]

Let's set the terms of the discussion: Are we going to compare proposals to the >old< Medicare, and just pretend that it's not on a totally unsustainable path? Or should we compare the proposals to the available realistic alternatives?

'cause comparing proposed future benefits (proposed by >anybody<) to the unsustainable present ones is a bit of a shell game. Nobody thinks the present system can go on without significant changes. The responsible thing to do is to address the problem early -- the easier thing to do at present is to ignore the problem.

Finding a way to control expenditures is going to be key.

 

[Aerides]

I'm ER'd just this year at 47 so won't get to grandfather in, between ACA and MC my plans might have to change significantly. Probably enough time for any MC changes to prove disastrous and be fixed but that's probably the best case if it does get privatized...

I'm on my MC insurance thru next year, then can cobra for 18 months but was planning to switch over to ACA for 2018 so that's up in the air now.

Fun times.

 

[Bamaman]

I just got on Medicare and have a very low cost supplement through my ex-MegaCorp. Almost makes you glad to hit 65 years of age--since I'm type II diabetic and my wife had cancer 8 years ago--and we're uninsurable essentially. Medicare Plan B is paying almost $600 per month for insulin, and my wife's meds are frighteningly expensive.

It's all out of our hands. All we can do is live below our means because we'll eventually be paying out more and getting back less. Those too young for Medicare will need to hang back and take every day as it comes--and pray.

 

[Car-Guy]

I never thought I'd be happy to be on Medicare but after the last few years of dealing with private medical insurance, I'm finding Medicare a blessing. The DW is still on private insurance and every time she sees a doctor or needs new medication, the insurance rules change, get more complicate and more expensive. I'm not sure how much of it is due to the ACA but it is a real mess and getting worse very fast. And we have platinum coverage. I hope they leave Medicare alone but they will probably screw that up too.

 

[Katsmeow]

Let's set the terms of the discussion: Are we going to compare proposals to the >old< Medicare, and just pretend that it's not on a totally unsustainable path? Or should we compare the proposals to the available realistic alternatives?

'cause comparing proposed future benefits (proposed by >anybody<) to the unsustainable present ones is a bit of a shell game. Nobody thinks the present system can go on without significant changes. The responsible thing to do is to address the problem early -- the easier thing to do at present is to ignore the problem.

Finding a way to control expenditures is going to be key.

I do think that there are some things that can be done. And actually the years in the Medicare Trust Fund increased with the ACA changes (but those are going to be repealed most likely unfortunately).

The funny thing about privatizing Medicare is that it doesn't reduce overall healthcare costs. It may shift some costs from the government (and ultimately taxpayers) to the elderly, which may be fine for some but not others. But, privatizing overall increases the cost of healthcare for the elderly not reducing it.

Something that would help would be to give Medicare the ability to negotiate prescription drug prices. There are many other suggestions I could make (including increasing revenue for the program rather than focusing on cutting costs), but I won't since I don't want to politicize the discussion.

 

[growing_older]

I don't see how there's any actionable thing to do. There aren't even any serious proposals to make changes. Yes, some of the Republicans who likely will have a prominent voice in the incoming administration have been opposed to Medicare and ACA in the past, but they do not agree among themselves what they want to do.

Maybe you can save extra and be prepared in case costs rise? Otherwise I don't see any constructive preparation that can be made for hypothetical and unidentified changes.

 

[samclem]

The funny thing about privatizing Medicare is that it doesn't reduce overall healthcare costs.

I don't think it's funny, why do you think it is funny?
The medical care itself is already (for the most part), private (with the exception of those seniors who are in prison, getting seen within the VA system, etc). If somebody wants to say that private entities overseeing the payment of providers will be less efficient than government entities, that's fine, but that's opinion, not fact. How efficient the private administration proves to be will depend almost entirely on how the payment system/incentives are set up in any future system, and neither you nor I know that today. People cite the "low administrative costs" of Medicare, but overlook the very considerable degree to which the present Medicare system produces higher costs overall through inefficient rules (e.g. mandating rental vs buying of durable medical equip), the higher fraud rates compared to private insurers, and the large amount of "back office" work that Medicare pushes onto medical providers. Medicare has low apparent overhead because the architecture pushes the cost elsewhere--and it's not a good bargain.

 

[Senator]

Is anyone here concerned about the possibility of losing Medicare when this new "administration" takes over?

I would me much more worried about a lot of other things. Luckily, many of those things are no longer in the cards, for now.

 

[Senator]

For reasons that I won't go into because I don't want to get into political stuff.

Too late. Your post is 100% political.

 

[Major Tom]

And, I think it is very likely to pass unless there is a lot of public outcry.

I think there would be a huge public outcry.

 

[Ronstar]

Thanks for the great discussion. In future threads/posts about ACA, or anything political in nature, please stick to the facts and avoid partisan political comments. Even partisan innuendo can set off a barrage of commentary that flusters the membership or goes off topic.