A Response to Paul Ryan’s War on Medicare

I am 64 years old.
I have private health care insurance from Blue Shield.
I am in excellent health and take no medications.

The cheapest plan Blue Shield health insurance plan available to me is their Spectrum 5000 plan;
Premiums for Blue Shield= $6000 per year.
Deductible for Blue Shield= $5000 per year
That means I have to pay $6000 in premiums and $5000 out of pocket before the plan even begins to cover a dime of my doctor visits or medical care.
A total of $11,000 per year before.

In two months I will be on Medicare.
Premiums for Medicare =$1300 per year
Deductible=$0

This means I will pay $0 out of pocket and have all my doctor visits and hospitalization COMPLETELY COVERED for $1300 a year.

Compare the two plans. Now tell me why I would want a private insurance company to be a middle man between me and my doctor?

Anyone who is covered by private insurance knows that:
1. Every year your deductibles, premiums and co-payments go up…. and your coverage goes down.
2. Insurance companies have become more aggressive about finding creative ways to challenge claims and deny benefits.
3. at least 20% of every private insurance dollar is lost to administrative costs: CEO and executive salaries, advertising, sales reps etc.

Medicare covers 40 million Americans and is administered by 4000 employees. The “CEO” makes just $200,000 a year. Administrative costs are just 2% and the government drives such a hard bargain with doctors and hospitals complain that health care providers complain they aren’t being paid enough.

Only the foolish can believe that private insurance companies are going to run Medicare more cost effectively than it is being run now. Don’t be fooled.

When you are in your last years of life and require expensive and frequent medical care…the private insurance companies will expect you to mortgage your house and spend down your retirement savings to pay your medical bills.

You won’t have a dime to leave to your kids.

From an original report at: http://blogs.bostonmagazine.com/boston_daily/2011/06/13/the-7-most-awful-truths-you-need-to-know-about-paul-ryan%E2%80%99s-war-on-medicare/