Healthcare: is it Medicare or Medicrap?

I, one of the tens of millions of baby boomers, always had the impression that if I was lucky enough to reach 65, all of my health care costs would be covered by Medicare. I thought it was one of my rights, my reward for working … and paying for Medicare … and surviving … until retirement.

I was looking forward to the day when I could drop my outrageously expensive private PPO high-risk health care coverage (which costs more than my monthly rent) and get what I was entitled to, get what I paid for for a lifetime of work. .. Medicare. Three months before I was eligible for Medicare, I decided to do some preliminary research to enroll in Medicare and also to see what my benefits would be.

This is what I discovered … painfully.

I went to the official US government website for Medicare, medicare.gov. The government website, medicare.gov, did an excellent job of describing and explaining what Medicare is and how it works. And how to enroll in Medicare. The devil, however, is in the details and the details are evidently absent or extremely difficult to find and / or understand. I challenge any human being in America, other than a Medicare insurance specialist, to discover and understand the advantages and disadvantages of the various Medicare options you must choose from. It is impossible!

In essence, this is what I discovered …

Plan A: hospitalization coverage. Free
Plan B: covers doctor visits. Cost: $ 110 per month

However, Medicare does NOT cover ALL hospital costs or all costs for doctor visits. You must purchase a supplemental private insurance policy to cover those gaps. In my zip code (Los Angeles), the cost of a supplemental private insurance policy, to cover the 20% gap in hospital costs and your doctor’s copays not covered by Medicare, is over $ 200 a month. So now my so-called “free” Medicare will cost me $ 110 plus $ 200, over $ 300 a month. Out of your pocket. But wait, it gets worse. Medicare does not cover the cost of prescription drugs! Zero coverage. That? No drug coverage? What kind of health insurance policy is that? No drug coverage? The average number of prescription drugs taken by people 65 and older is 11. None of which are covered by Medicare. So that means you have to buy another health insurance policy to cover the cost of your medications. In my case, there were about 30 different “supplemental” insurance policies available in my area for prescription drug coverage and it is up to the individual to compare all the plans. I had a headache? Yes. Was I able to figure out what the best plan was for me on my own? No. Although the monthly premiums for these plans were very reasonable ($ 35- $ 65 per month) NONE of the available plans covered all of my drug costs. They all had copays. My 5 drug copays would add up to $ 300 … every month. The copays are much lower if I substitute generic brands for my medications, but I can’t, there seem to be no generics for my cardiovascular medications.

So now my “free” Medicare will end up costing around $ 600 a month. About the same cost as any decent normal private health care policy you had before you were eligible for Medicare. And, under Medicare, you could end up with 3 different policies for your coverage (or 2 policies if you want to combine supplemental coverage and drug coverage, which is called “Medicare Advantage”, except you can’t figure out which “Medicare Advantage” policy is good or what advantages and disadvantages each has).

So after paying for Medicare and hitting the 65-year retirement milestone, you’ll end up getting nothing you didn’t have. With Medicare, you don’t get free health care coverage, and worse, you likely end up paying about the same as you paid for your health care coverage before Medicare, unless you were getting free or subsidized lifetime health coverage. from your employer. Or, if your free or subsidized health coverage from your employer stops when you stop working, then under Medicare, you will pay MORE. Much more.

The government collected money from Medicare from your paycheck (and from your employer) during your working years. The government raised that money during his working years to cover the cost of his Medicare. It just doesn’t cover the cost of your health care at age 65. Not much less. Instead of receiving free and comprehensive health care under Medicare, at age 65 you may have to pay $ 500 or more per month, out of your own pocket, to get adequate and comprehensive health and drug coverage. And to add insult to injury, the government wants to cut Medicare benefits even further!

Is this what baby boomers worked for their entire lives? Is this what baby boomers get for paying Medicare for their entire working life? Is this the payoff for baby boomers who survive to age 65?

This begs the question: is it Medicare or Medicrap? Is Medicare A Giant Government Scam? Is Medicare a gigantic government scam of an entire generation of baby boomers? Is Medicare a giant government scam of baby boomers, aided and abetted by the private insurance industry? As millions and millions of us approach age 65 and Medicare, baby boomers will have to decide … and deal with it. And we will. Starting right here. Starting right now. Baby boomers have power. Much power. We have education, we have money, we have strong voices, and we have tens of millions of votes. Baby boomers are activists. We march, we protest, we change the world. And now we are armed with email and cell phones. Baby boomers can bombard our senators and members of the House of Representatives in Washington on issues that deeply concern us. Like Medicare. Baby boomers have power. Much power. Use it or lose it!