Let's take a peek into the past to see how estimates play out;
Quote:
"The cost of Medicare is a good place to begin. At its start, in 1966, Medicare cost $3 billion. The House Ways and Means Committee estimated that Medicare would cost only about $ 12 billion by 1990 (a figure that included an allowance for inflation). This was a supposedly "conservative" estimate. But in 1990 Medicare actually cost $107 billion."
Do you know why medicare was even created? Because the elderly couldn't find health insurance. In 1965, when medicare was implimented, only 14 percent of ederly folks had insurance. Now 99 percent are covered. The reason the costs keep going up, is because of medical advancements such as replacement hips and knees and high blood pressure medications and on and on. Basically, things that improve the lives of our aging senior citizens. I've been saying it all along and it's the truth, that anyone opposed to medicare, is either young, healthy, has nothing to loose in terms of a home or retirement, or already has a cadilac health insurance plan because they are a retired doctor or CEO. Believe me when I tell you that things look a whole lot different when you've worked your butt off your whole life through to secure yourself a home and a little nest egg, only to loose it because you can't afford health insurance or you have pre existing conditions that aren't covered. This family has came so close to that numerous times, until my wife just got on medicare....... (WHEW!) Unless you've actually been there though in my humble opinion, then opinions don't count. If people are genuinely concerned about deficits and budgets, then let's start with cutting back on our military or doing some privatization there. To me, the health of our elderly is much more important that spending billions on war. Why kick the cane out from under grandma?
Used by an estimated 40 million people, Medicare is a federally funded health care program providing basic medical care to elderly and disabled individuals across America. As the country's leading health care program, Medicare offers qualified residents an affordable solution for their medical needs. Although that, in a nutshell, explains why Medicare was created, for a thorough understanding of the program, you should also consider its history and requirements.
History
Although the concept of Medicare was first created by President Truman in 1945, it was not officially signed into law until 1965 by President Johnson. Medicare was just one part of the Social Security Act of 1965. Despite a growing fear of socialized medicine, Johnson believed Medicare was a necessity, and in an effort to provide affordable insurance to elderly residents, he became the first U.S. president to approve a national health insurance policy.
Requirements
Medicare benefits are available to all U.S. residents, regardless of their income level, but a few basic requirements must be met to qualify for coverage. First, you must be a permanent resident of the United States and have at least 10 years of working history. Additionally, you must be either 65 or older or permanently disabled and already receiving Social Security benefits. Individuals with end-stage kidney disease who require dialysis or a kidney transplant are also eligible for Medicare.
Types
The two original parts of Medicare are known as Part A and Part B. The Part A policy, or hospital insurance, covers all hospital expenses such as meals, diagnostic tests, doctors' fees and room charges. Part B Medicare, on the other hand, provides standard medical care, including outpatient surgery, medical equipment and other primary care services. With the recently developed Part C policy, recipients can privatize their Medicare policy by selecting either an HMO or PPO plan. Finally, Part D Medicare provides prescription drug coverage for those who choose to purchase it.
Enrollment
Once eligible, individuals should contact a Social Security office in their area to apply for benefits. However, those currently receiving Social Security benefits are automatically enrolled in Medicare Parts A and B, with the option to enroll in Part C or D if she desires. All other individuals must wait until the open enrollment period to apply for Medicare benefits, which begins three months before the applicant's 65th birthday and ends seven months afterward.
Funding
Contrary to what you may think, Medicare does not provide free health care. In fact, the majority of the program's funding comes from taxpayers. The Federal Insurance Contributions Act, or FICA, is a 2.9 percent payroll tax that is automatically deducted from every citizen's paycheck. These funds are then transferred to a federal savings account and used to pay certified physicians, hospitals and private insurance companies that provide coverage through the Medicare program. With an estimated cost of $277 billion per year, Medicare costs take up about 13 percent of the nation's federal budget.
To be fair, you need to preface that pie chart as being three years old, and coming from the "War Resister's League."
while I think some of the numbers they use with the interest are a little biased, I think just that we spend more on our military then all other major countries COMBINED should be enough indication we are spending way, way too much, even if we reduced it to be TWICE what any other country spends we would cut the military budget in half.
I think just that we spend more on our military then all other major countries COMBINED
During the Cold War that made sense. Now China is our largest trading partner and Russia is Capitalist.
To afford Healthcare there must be controls on personal injury suits. Too many are frivolous lies. Controls too on pharmaceuticals and Healthcare corporations. I'd nationalize their butts.
Weiner gets 12 million plus for sexting and short service. Why not just Social Security like the rest of us?
__________________
I'll believe corporations are persons when Texas executes one.: LBJ's Ghost
....
To afford Healthcare there must be controls on personal injury suits. Too many are frivolous lies.
the problem is many are NOT frivilous and will lead to a life time of expenses, yes receiving $700,000 for pain and suffering seem like a lot when someone gets it but this has had to account for a huge whole in our healthcare system and that is that the person in many cases WILL NEVER be able to buy health insurance on the "open" market meaning one auto wreck could wipe away ALL of that money in a flash
most controls on personal injury suits are really aimed at making lawsuits impossible, who is going to sue the big guys if they know it is going to cost 5 times the most they can get back, especially if a company gets known for just sicking the lawyers on any lawsuit then no lawyer would consider the lawsuit as regardless of how valid it is.
a jury exists for a reason maybe they need to have a little more instruction or guidance from the legal system specifying what the goals are or something along those lines but limitation of awards just sets a dollar limit for the accountant to know a risk level, If you don't think corporations will take that into account on the safety side you are disillusioned
Quote:
Controls too on pharmaceuticals and Healthcare corporations. I'd nationalize their butts.
Quote:
Weiner gets 12 million plus for sexting and short service. Why not just Social Security like the rest of us?
true, we should absolutely reduce their benefits to the bare minimum of what the law requires, have them buy healthcare on their own, plan for their own retirement and healthcare since none of that is required, live life like the rest of americans under 30 who will never see a pension or medical benefits post retirement
also keep in mind with all this social security discussion that it is a trust fund that we have paid enough into that theoretically even with the amounts we are paying in it should take till the year 2037 to exhaust it, however yes we have taken money out of that trust fund to use for other needs so the overall deficit is still there, so essentially at the end of the day the government is using your retirement money to pay for war.
I would love to see the federal budget broken into two in a way, have military spending separated so people can se how much it is and have the two funding sources remain separate so there is no pushing the budget around, let people know that each person is paying a fortune for the current wars and military presence around the globe.....
I think once people start seeing how much of it actually goes to military uses then the support will drop. at a minimum we need to make non-directly defending our shores wars a pay-as-you-go deal, if the people aren't willing to pay the war tax then we don't go.
ideally everything should be done in an per user economical democracy where each citizen could have a say if we could make it work which with the current technology I think we could although it would be quite a radical change.
Linear Mode
