Republican Medicare, Really Pretty Expensive and Not Worth the Money and Effort

One basic principle of the Republican plan to privatize Medicare is that seniors currently on the plan won't be affected. I wonder if their plan is so great why those seniors wouldn't clammor to get the benefit.

My dad might have the answer to that. He did a little math over the weekend and he'd like you all to consider it. The figures are rough, but make a point.

Dad pays $1200 per year for Medicare A and B. That provides 80% of his coverage. He also has a supplement that covers the extra 20% and costs him $261 per month or $3,132 each year. Just using those figures, if Dad had to pay for 100% of his coverage on the open market, using his supplement cost as a basis for comparison, his insurance would cost about $15,660 each year. The 80% now covered for $3,132 would then cost $12,528. He asks Republicans, is the government going to write future seniors vouchers for that kind of cash? Is that appropriate budget austerity?

These figures don't even take into account the likely premium increase if those old supplement plans become full insurers. Premiums will increase when insurance pools are flooded with the ill and aged that Medicare has covered and kept out of the pools for years.

You might argue that the calculations above are incorrect because Medicare is already covering the difference, but that's not exactly right either. Yes, Medicare is covering some difference, but it can limit what health care providers can charge, so the difference is less. On the open market, those controls don't exist. So, either Medicare or seniors will be paying that difference.

Dad has a few more points about Medicare D. He remarks that Republicans are so proud of it. They say it's great because costs are going down. Dad says that's because no one is using it having discovered that any savings in the cost of any particular drug is more than cancelled out by the Medicare D premium. Dad's right, usage of Medicare D plans is going down. They may have been duped when the plan was hyped and strong-armed through Congress under Tom DeLay's rules, but people generally vote with their pocket books in the end and those money belts are calling Medicare D what is really is, over-hyped junk based on a lie.

That might be what Republicans are going for. If they can ruin Medicare A and B modeled on what they did when they created D, then maybe usage will go down and they can end the program once and for all. My dad thinks Republicans may be misreading current seniors. They seem to think they will be able to impose their will on Medicare and win elections too with a senior vote. Dad thinks seniors won't fall for it and aren't that self absorbed. Current seniors know that Republican plans for Medicare are bad for future seniors, their children and grandchildren, and the country as a whole.