Improved Medicare for All
Improved Medicare for All
compared to
the Original Medicare Plan (age 65 and over)
and its privatized Parts C and D
| Improved Medicare for All Non-Profit Single-Payer: Simple, Efficient, Lower Cost, Full Coverage |
Original Medicare Plan Complicated, Partial Coverage, Expensive, partly due to privatization |
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ALL MEDICALLY NECESSARY CARE What is Covered: All of the above … and no major bills?; Really?!! As also noted below, read the information at the following links to confirm that this works, based on many other countries already having the benefit of no major bills … and based on how insurance works: — Costs - No Major Bills. Read the testimonials of Americans living and working in other countries who KNOW that there will be no major medical bills. — Lowest Risk and Excellent Economic Bonus Read about how a large country like the United States can win instead of lose with a “large risk pool” and the ability to negotiate prices … instead of having Americans continue to finance global corporations with our money while all other countries negotiate their prices! |
LIMITED BENEFITS Ages: 65 years and older From the 2010 Medicare handbook: The Medicare handbook “Medicare and You” makes the situation very clear: “Medicare doesn’t cover everything. If you need certain services that Medicare doesn’t cover, you will have to pay out-of-pocket unless you have other insurance to cover the costs. Even if Medicare covers a service or item, you generally have to pay deductibles, coinsurance, and copayments.” “Items and services that Medicare doesn’t cover include, but aren’t limited to, long-term care, routine dental care, dentures, cosmetic surgery, acupuncture, hearing aids, and exams for fitting hearing aids.” The following explanations in quotations are details about coverage and payments. See pages 120 and 121 of the 124 page handbook. The handbook is available at this website’s copy of the handbook (pdf) or via the Medicare website’s copy of the handbook (pdf). Special Note about Coverage (Benefits) In addition to what is below, please see the remaining details above coverage and costs at these pages in the Medicare handbook: — Part-A Covered Services pages 19 through 20 — Part-B Covered Services pages 25 through 39 WHAT YOU PAY IF YOU HAVE ORIGINAL MEDICARE: Part-A Costs for Covered Services and Items p. 120 Blood: “If the hospital has to buy blood for you, you must either pay the hospital costs for the first 3 units of blood you get in a calendar year or have the blood donated.” Home Health Care: - “20% of the Medicare-approved amount for durable medical equipment.” Hospice Care: “Medicare doesn’t cover room and board when you get hospice care in your home or another facility where you live (like a nursing home).” Hospital Stays — “$1,100 deductible and no coinsurance for days 1–60 each benefit period” — “$275 per day for days 61–90 each benefit period” — “$550 per “lifetime reserve day” after day 90 each benefit period (up to 60 days over your lifetime)” — “All costs for each day after the lifetime reserve days” — “Inpatient mental health care in a psychiatric hospital limited to — 190 days in a lifetime” “See “Medical and Other Services” (below) for what you pay for doctor services while you are a hospital inpatient.” Skilled Nursing Facility Stay — “$137.50 per day for days 21–100 each benefit period” — “All costs for each day after day 100 in a benefit period” WHAT YOU PAY IF YOU HAVE ORIGINAL MEDICARE: Part-B Costs for Covered Services and Items p. 121 Part B Deductible — you pay the first $155 yearly for Part B-covered services or items. Blood: — “… you will pay a copayment for the blood processing and handling services for every unit of blood you get, and the Part B deductible applies. If the provider has to buy blood for you, you must either pay the provider costs for the first 3 units of blood you get in a calendar year or have the blood donated by you or someone else. You pay a copayment for additional units of blood you get as an outpatient (after the first 3), and the Part B deductible applies.” Home Health Services: — “You pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount for durable medical equipment.” Medical and Other Services: — “You pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount for most doctor services (including most doctor services while you are a hospital inpatient), outpatient therapy, most preventive services, and durable medical equipment.” Footnote about outpatient therapy: “In 2010, there may be limits on physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech‑language pathology services. If so, there may be exceptions to these limits. Mental Health Services: — “You pay 45% of the Medicare-approved amount for most outpatient mental health care.” Other Covered Services: — “You pay copayment or coinsurance amounts.” Outpatient Hospital Services: — “You pay a coinsurance or copayment amount that varies by service for each individual outpatient hospital service. No copayment for a single service can be more than the amount of the inpatient hospital deductible.” |
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SIMPLE WITH MINIMAL COSTS Payment of taxes to the Medicare for All fund, which for most individuals and families is the Medicare payroll tax as the only tax contribution required. Examples of taxes from paychecks. All family members get health care, because everyone is always covered.
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MANY COSTS FOR THE LIMITED BENEFITS Medicare payroll tax Part A (Hospital Insurance) Monthly Premium: Most people don’t pay a Part A premium because they paid Medicare taxes while working. BUT, if you don’t get premium-free Part A, then, in 2010, you pay up to $461 each month. If you pay a late enrollment penalty, this amount is higher. Part B (Medical Insurance) Monthly Premium: depending on your yearly income, as documented on your annual tax return, you will pay anywhere from $110.50 per month to $353.60 per month. Most people pay around $100 per month: over $1,000 per year. Other costs related to “LIMITED BENEFITS” above – Not all seniors can afford the costs indicated, so some seniors will have an interest amount(s) during the payment of medical bills Examples of Other Costs that impact some seniors – Our federal and state taxes used to pay for-profit insurers: – Incentives to health insurance companies – Tax benefits to employers who provide health insurance – Medicaid & many other programs in 50 states, many run by for-profit companies THE PRIVATIZATION: ADDED COSTS TO GET MORE THAN THE “LIMITED BENEFITS” Part C Medicare Health … pay additional amount for this benefit, if you want it and can afford it. Part D Prescription Drug Plan … pay additional amount for this benefit, if you want it and can afford it. After this table are some more details about the privatization factor of Medicare, as initiated by the U.S. Congress in the year 2003. |
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PEACE OF MIND Having the Peace of mind of … - No major medical bills, the cause for positive experiences - Health care for all with dignity; show card & get care. - Everybody In; Nobody Out. |
STRESS Financial, physical and emotional stress of those who cannot afford the Medicare costs |
Privatization of Medicare
The removal of privatization occurs automatically with improved Medicare for All.
Due to a law the U.S. Congress passed in 2003, Medicare is already very much privatized via “Medicare Part C” (private Medicare Advantage plans) and “Medicare Part D” (private Prescription Drug Plans). That process of privatization is scheduled to take another large step. We need to have an improved Medicare by returning Medicare to the simple, efficient program that it used to be: non-profit single-payer health insurance … and providing it to everyone. Instead of fighting against the details of the privatization, we need to work for the implementation of single-payer: improved Medicare for All. It’s much better to have a vision and effort FOR ONE law to eliminate all privatization of Medicare … and provide it to all … than it is to work piecemeal, trying to eliminate the various topics of the privatization of Medicare and still only provide it to persons 65 and older.
- Medicare used to be simple and efficient before the U.S. Congress in 2003 started the process of privatizing it. Congress went into the wrong direction.
- First: Medicare Advantage plans — privatization.
- Second: Medicare Part D — privatization.
- The Medicare website already looks like a government-maintained advertising guide to health insurance companies
- Next step scheduled for 2010 – this year even more! The Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 mandates a six-city trial of a partly-privatized Medicare System in 2010.
- Now Medicare has hundreds of middlemen health insurance companies included, causing unnecessary complexity and unnecessary costs.
- That process of going in the wrong direction is scheduled to continue in an even bigger step to privatization in 2010.
- We must tell the U.S. Congress in massive numbers that we want non-profit single-payer health insurance (improved Medicare for All).
- We need to have an improved Medicare by returning Medicare to what it used to be: non-profit single-payer health insurance.
- We need to provide improved Medicare to everyone, not just people 65 years and older.
- We want non-profit financing of health care: everybody in, nobody out, like all the other free-market, high-income industrialized countries of the world (26 of the 26 other free-market high-income countries). The U.S. is the only one of the 27 free-market high-income countries that still needs to have non-profit health insurance, such as the best version: non-profit single-payer health insurance.
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