Study: Romney-like Medicare plan costs seniors more

Think this might come up at the debate?

Nearly six in 10 Medicare recipients would pay higher premiums under a hypothetical privatized system along the lines of what Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has proposed, according to a study released Monday.
The report by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation also found striking regional differences that could lead to big premium hikes in some states and counties. That finding instantly made it ammunition in the presidential campaign.


In the senior-rich political swing state of Florida, the hypothetical plan modeled by Kaiser would boost premiums for traditional Medicare by more than $200 a month on average. In Nevada, another competitive state, 50 percent of seniors would face additional monthly premiums of $100 or more for their coverage. A new pattern of regional disparities would emerge from overhauling Medicare's payment system, the report said.

Read more here: Study: Privatized Medicare would raise premiums - AP State News - The Sacramento Bee​

Study: Privatized Medicare would raise premiums - AP State News - The Sacramento Bee

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AdamT said:

Think this might come up at the debate?

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I don't know.

But I have no problem with seniors paying more for Medicare, especially if it's dependent upon income.

My mom pays $99.00/month for her Part B Medicare insurance, like most seniors. Her Part A Medicare insurance is free, like most seniors.

Right now, Medicare premiums already go up depending upon income, but not nearly enough. The highest premium listed at this link is paid by those who jointly earn $320,000 to $428,000 yearly, and it's $259.70 a month. To even come close to actuarily covering one's insurance premium, it should be probably at least $1,500 a month. Which, of course, is why Medicare is going broke. Can someone earning $320,000 a year afford $1,500 a month for health insurance? I think you'd agree with me, "Yes, he can." So, if Medicare is going broke? Why isn't that income level paying that premium??

You go, RR, you go.

Part B costs | Medicare.gov

Potentially.

Future seniors are going to have to pay more of their share regardless and I don't think Ryan/Romney have been dishonest about that. Seniors' premiums/out of pockets go up regularly under the current plans too. One lady told me her premiums always go up just a little less than the COLA's so she only ends up getting maybe $1.50-$2.00 more per month more on the medicare side but that the part D out of pockets always go up on her every year because they shift commonly prescribed maintenance drugs into different tiers requiring higher co-pays more often than not so her premium looks about the same but her actual drug costs go up.

AdamT said:

Think this might come up at the debate?

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Key AMA Committee Endorses Paul Ryan-Like 'Defined Contribution' Reforms for Medicare - Forbes

MaggieD said:

I don't know.

But I have no problem with seniors paying more for Medicare, especially if it's dependent upon income.

My mom pays $99.00/month for her Part B Medicare insurance, like most seniors. Her Part A Medicare insurance is free, like most seniors.

Right now, Medicare premiums already go up depending upon income, but not nearly enough. The highest premium listed at this link is paid by those who jointly earn $320,000 to $428,000 yearly, and it's $259.70 a month. To even come close to actuarily covering one's insurance premium, it should be probably at least $1,500 a month. Which, of course, is why Medicare is going broke. Can someone earning $320,000 a year afford $1,500 a month for health insurance? I think you'd agree with me, "Yes, he can." So, if Medicare is going broke? Why isn't that income level paying that premium??

You go, RR, you go.

Part B costs | Medicare.gov

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The study isn't just talking about costs going up for wealthy people.

As far as what people actually pay, I know my folks pay a hell of a lot more than $260/month. I think it's something like six or eight times that amount.

But it's interesting that Obama's Medicare cuts, which do not raise costs for seniors, are "stealing", whereas Romney's plan, which does raise costs for seniors, is just common sense!

AdamT said:

The study isn't just talking about costs going up for wealthy people.

As far as what people actually pay, I know my folks pay a hell of a lot more than $260/month. I think it's something like six or eight times that amount.

But it's interesting that Obama's Medicare cuts, which do not raise costs for seniors, are "stealing", whereas Romney's plan, which does raise costs for seniors, is just common sense!

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Your folks pay six or eight times $260 a month for Medicare? Impossible. They may pay something more for their Medicare Supplement, but I can assure you that don't pay $1,200 - $1,800 a month for Medicare. You don't know what you're talking about.

Why do you find it interesting that people think raising the cost for Medicare is common sense? You don't think it is?? You don't know what you're talking about.

AdamT said:

The study isn't just talking about costs going up for wealthy people.

As far as what people actually pay, I know my folks pay a hell of a lot more than $260/month. I think it's something like six or eight times that amount.

But it's interesting that Obama's Medicare cuts, which do not raise costs for seniors, are "stealing", whereas Romney's plan, which does raise costs for seniors, is just common sense!

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Did Romney's plan cut benefits too? I know Obama's cut spending for Medicare, but kept the benefits.

of course it will be more expensive. the plan will have private, for-profit insurance companies covering the segment of the population that costs the most because they are aging / end of life. and i wonder what those "death panels" will look like. anyone who thinks a private company is going to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in care in exchange for a fifteen grand voucher is probably smoking the good stuff.

MaggieD said:

Your folks pay six or eight times $260 a month for Medicare? Impossible. They may pay something more for their Medicare Supplement, but I can assure you that don't pay $1,200 - $1,800 a month for Medicare. You don't know what you're talking about.

Why do you find it interesting that people think raising the cost for Medicare is common sense? You don't think it is?? You don't know what you're talking about.

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My guess would be that they got sucked into one of those private medicare alternative policies that seniors get tricked into thinking it is a even better Medicare only to find out that the day the signed up, they were permanently booted from the real medicare system. I think that they use Medicare in their names to help hoodwink seniors.

MaggieD said:

Your folks pay six or eight times $260 a month for Medicare? Impossible. They may pay something more for their Medicare Supplement, but I can assure you that don't pay $1,200 - $1,800 a month for Medicare. You don't know what you're talking about.

Why do you find it interesting that people think raising the cost for Medicare is common sense? You don't think it is?? You don't know what you're talking about.

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I don't know what the breakdown is on what they pay -- I'm sure it includes whatever they think they need to make it comprehensive. I was shocked when they told me what it was costing them. I'm pretty sure it's between $14k and $15k/yr.

Interesting was the wrong word. The right word is hypocritical. My personal view is that there are a lot of things that need to be done to get Medicare costs under control. I think that the provider and Advantage cuts are necessary. I think that Medicare as a whole should negotiate for better Rx prices. I think that review board should have more teeth so that it can actually do the things that Republicans falsely claim it can do: namely, ration care -- particularly extraordinary end-of-life care, and dictate treatment protocols based on cost/benefit.

Fisher said:

My guess would be that they got sucked into one of those private medicare alternative policies that seniors get tricked into thinking it is a even better Medicare only to find out that the day the signed up, they were permanently booted from the real medicare system. I think that they use Medicare in their names to help hoodwink seniors.

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My father is a doctor who has been running his own practice for 50 years, so I'm pretty sure he didn't get tricked into anything.

AdamT said:

My father is a doctor who has been running his own practice for 50 years, so I'm pretty sure he didn't get tricked into anything.

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Medicare Part B Medical Insurance: Coverage, Premiums, Coinsurance & Deductibles | California Health Advocates

The max 2012 premium for medicare B for a couple making over $426,001 is $319.70 per month and having worked for 50 years would suggest he has no Part A premium (Summary of Medicare Benefits and Cost-Sharing | California Health Advocates) so you have something wrong if they were not tricked.

AdamT said:

I don't know what the breakdown is on what they pay -- I'm sure it includes whatever they think they need to make it comprehensive. I was shocked when they told me what it was costing them. I'm pretty sure it's between $14k and $15k/yr.

Interesting was the wrong word. The right word is hypocritical. My personal view is that there are a lot of things that need to be done to get Medicare costs under control. I think that the provider and Advantage cuts are necessary. I think that Medicare as a whole should negotiate for better Rx prices. I think that review board should have more teeth so that it can actually do the things that Republicans falsely claim it can do: namely, ration care -- particularly extraordinary end-of-life care, and dictate treatment protocols based on cost/benefit.

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My mom is 85 years old. She has the best supplement money can buy. She never pays a dime for in-hospital/outpatient/doctor visits/surgery/tests, etc., etc. She doesn't need a referral from her "primary" to see any specialist on earth, picks her doctors; she has the best most comprehensive insurance available. Her Medicare costs $99.00 a month like most everyone else's. Her supplement costs $293 a month. If your parents are paying more than that? They're getting screwed. (That $293 a month is from BCBS and goes up depending upon her age. So if your parents are younger, they should be paying comparatively less.)

And that wonderful insurance? All subsidized for all seniors by a broken-down messed up Medicare program that's going freakin' broke. Because what they're paying doesn't come close to covering actual costs from an actuarial standpoint.

As for lowering hospital fees. When mom gets an x-ray, the hospital charges maybe $140. Medicare probably pays about $20. How much would you like to cut that reimbursement?

It's not Medicare costs that need to get under control. It's fraud that needs to be stopped. It's unnecessary procedures. It's lining up homeless men for laproscopic gallbladder surgery. It's giving terminally ill people $50,000 worth of chemotherapy and not telling them it won't work anyway. But more important than that? Seniors, most especially in the higher income group, need to start paying their way.

AdamT said:

My father is a doctor who has been running his own practice for 50 years, so I'm pretty sure he didn't get tricked into anything.

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Then you are completely incorrect about what they are paying.

We have a medical system going broke, yet there are people who think that no one should have to pay any more. It appears that these people think that maintaining the status quo will will lead to a miraculous self-correction at some point. Social Security and Medicare have gone up far more in the last 40 years than income tax. You want to know what's eating up your paycheck, check your SS and Medicare deductions. Social Security has gone up the most. All those benefit increases our grandparents voted for themselves, we have to pay for. So you add benefit increases to plain old cost increases, and you have a formula for disaster.



And for those that want to blame the baby-boomers, don't. We didn't start retiring till 2011. That's right, the WWII generation, those heros who've remained untouchable like angels from heaven (your granny), they were the greedy ones who forced their elected officials to vote for increases in benefits and COLAs (bad times and good); and consequently the workers who supported them had more and more taken out of their paychecks to pay for it. These same people never paid the same percentage of their paychecks into this system as those who followed them. Nevertheless we're stuck with this ****ed up system that everyone wants to keep fixing, in spite of the history of madness. The system was never meant to be more than a supplement, but entire populations have let it become their sole retirement plan, and ultimately let Medicare become their sole medical plan. :doh