Biden is just terrible about Medicare.
He raises costs to retirees. He moves to privatize the system. A double whammy.
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Listen.
I voted for Biden because Trump was not an option.
While habitual Boomer Democrats continued to vote Democratic in 2020, Biden was not an overwhelming favorite of those over 65.
Biden only got the votes of 48% of those 65 and over.
Two Biden policies impacting Medicare do not bode well for the Democrats in the coming midterms.
In my last post I wrote about the Biden administration’s decision to quietly to pursue the record increase of 14.5% in the 2022 cost of Medicare in spite of federal health officials' decision to restrict coverage of the expensive and potentially ineffective Alzheimer's drug that drove the increase in the first place.
But that is only the most recent bad decision Trump - I mean Biden - has made about Medicare.
I confuse the two because Biden has decided to continue the Trump administration plans to privatize all of Medicare.
Bernie may have called for Medicare for All.
Biden is planning on privatized senior health coverage for all.
It is a bonanza for the insurance industry.
It’s a loser for the rest of us.
How many House and Senate seats does Biden want to lose?
Because I’m telling you that that 48% of reliable Democratic voters who are over 65 are not happy.
They may not vote Republican.
They may stay home.
The reason is that Biden has expanded Medicare privatization with the involuntary ACO REACH program and continuing to promote ever-increasing Medicare Advantage enrollment.
Medicare recipients pay premiums for outpatient care, which is called Medicare Part B.
We can choose to put that money into traditional Medicare plans or into Medicare Advantage plans run by private insurers that make profit by denying services, even those services that are recommended by our health care providers.
The Biden plan is to remove the choice and move us all into a Medicare Advantage-type program run by insurance companies like United Healthcare.
I guess I don’t expect electeds to care how this will negatively impact health care for the elderly.
But I vote.
Or don’t.
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/06/02/inspector-general-ama-and-aha-agree-some-medicare-advantage-plans-are-endangering
There is no ADVANTAGE in Medicare Advantage plans. Propaganda and its cousin, Advertising, does stuff like this. Think about all of the legislative bills and political organizations with titles that do the exact opposite of their titles. (In my school district Moms for Liberty is trying to ban Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-5 and dozens of other books.) In the land of the Insurance Industrial Complex, their mere insurance is called healthcare. It's actually for-profit insurance. Period.
I have friends here in Florida who have Medicare Advantage programs because of their lower costs and because their previous employers subsidize their costs. Two of my friends have discovered, the hard way, how limiting that coverage is when it comes to their healthcare needs.
President Biden delivers his brief platitudes about Medicare, healthcare, etc. complete with a gritty eye-to-camera glint and serious tone of voice and a promise to be on our side. Platitude, eye contact, promise. Followed by... What? Followed by either nothing or a quiet opposite semi-undercover opposite set of actions from "the White House" power grid.
Yes, I vote.
I always vote in every election and have done so for decades.
I do not vote for every item or political position listed on every ballot for obvious reasons.
As I presently face a few immediate medical problems, I cannot continue the farce of selecting the lesser of two evils that are guaranteed to sicken, cripple or kill me as I wait for the next elections in 2024, 2028, 2032, 2036, 2040...