maxherr
Expert
- 71
Of course, no one has mentioned anything about personal responsibility in any of this. We think of these so-called "entitlement" programs as a free pass for all of a person's needs in life. There would be no need for Medicare Supplement insurance if the government truly covered all of an older person's health care expenses.
But the sad fact is that people operate under the misconception that Social Security and Medicare are their solutions to retirement and health care in their old age. And the problem with that is the fact that neither was ever intended as such. When a president of the U.S. stands before the public and says, as all in the past 30 years have said, "I'm committed to strengthening Social Security for our seniors," he's blowing smoke up the noses of all Americans, because there is no way to salvage, let alone strengthen, the system that, combined with Medicare and Part D PDP expenditures, has a structural long-term funding shortfall of some $120+ TRILLION -- and just in case you haven't noticed that fact, it is an amount that virtually exceeds all of the combined assets in America. In other words, if America were liquidated today, there still wouldn't be sufficient resources to maintain, let alone, strengthen Social Security and Medicare. The problem with that is, simply, no one cares.
Even the Social Security Trust Fund and the Medicare Trust Fund trustees admit this. Yet they still manipulate the numbers in such a way that there is enough money to "keep the programs going" for 10 or 12 more years than expected, and the cost of Medicare Part B premiums has remained the same for three years (counting 2015) -- while the PPACA has driven up the cost of health insurance by at least 15%-20% in the same time period.
The deception is appalling.
Government's Plan B is the one that my favorite uncle (who did not live long enough to collect any of his Social Security retirement benefits) talked to me about 38 years ago . . . "If the government needs more money, they'll print more money." As a snot-nosed 24-year-old, four years away from first entering the insurance profession, I was ill-prepared that afternoon in Pittsburgh while on vacation in May 1976, to overcome that argument. No so today.
Printing more money may represent a temporary "fix" but it does nothing to solve the problem. Just look at all the billions of TARP dollars the Federal Reserve printed up which have done exactly nothing for folks who continue to lose their homes while the banks continue to sit on that money in their invested reserves, and states and municipalities that continue to squander their finite resources on employee payrolls and pensions used the TARP money they received for "shovel ready" projects that mostly fixed potholes and built center medians on freeways and surface streets. Meaningless fixes with the government dole.
It only makes things worse for everyone -- and America will have to pay for this sometime. World War II was precipitated by this very situation in Germany under the Weimar Republic and the "liberal democracy" that it fostered. Literally out of money to pay its debts, the government printed billions of new Deutschmarks, making everyone instant millionaires, and still no one had what they needed to buy milk, bread, or meat -- at least not without a wheelbarrow to move the money around town on shopping day, only to have the wheelbarrow stolen because it actually had more value than the money it held.
Hitler rose to power thanks to the failure of "liberal democracy" on the assurances that he would make things better for the people. But how did that work out for the German people between 1937 and 1945?
The reality is that social programs weaken society. They rob government of the resources needed to maintain infrastructure so the rest of society can function. Instead, we have supplanted personal responsibility with the belief that after working and supporting the government for 40 or more years of our life, the government owes something back to us in the form of lifetime benefits. We are in the very midst of the worst "liberal democracy" the world has ever witnessed.
The solution for the so-called controversy over "admitted" vs. "observation" is personal responsibility through the purchase of Long Term Care Insurance. In an LTCI policy (or rider attached to a life or annuity contract when available), there is no requirement to have ever been hospitalized. With LTCI benefits, one needs not rely on government to fund their expenses. One need not spend down his or her "countable" assets to $3,000 to qualify for Medicaid assistance (which is funded with Social Security dollars) to help cover the cost of care.
And what does Medicare pay for anyway when it comes to SNF confinement: 100% for 20 days. Then the balance, in 2014, that exceeds $152 for the next 80 days. Followed by $0 for the remainder of what may be a person's lifetime. And for any standard of care below SNF . . . $0 from Day 1, with only limited benefits for home health or hospice (under Part A, still the requirement for three-days' prior hospital admission, but no such requirement under Part B).
Instead of petitioning the government for more access to Medicare, you should all be petitioning the government for either tax credits or expanded deductibility of premiums to help folks pay for LTCI. When people provide for their own needs, they generally do a much better job of it. With the aid of an experienced insurance professional, they may be able to do even better for themselves and their loved ones. Access to LTCI, just like moving people from Medicare Supplement to MAPD plans, will save the government far more in the long run.
But the sad fact is that people operate under the misconception that Social Security and Medicare are their solutions to retirement and health care in their old age. And the problem with that is the fact that neither was ever intended as such. When a president of the U.S. stands before the public and says, as all in the past 30 years have said, "I'm committed to strengthening Social Security for our seniors," he's blowing smoke up the noses of all Americans, because there is no way to salvage, let alone strengthen, the system that, combined with Medicare and Part D PDP expenditures, has a structural long-term funding shortfall of some $120+ TRILLION -- and just in case you haven't noticed that fact, it is an amount that virtually exceeds all of the combined assets in America. In other words, if America were liquidated today, there still wouldn't be sufficient resources to maintain, let alone, strengthen Social Security and Medicare. The problem with that is, simply, no one cares.
Even the Social Security Trust Fund and the Medicare Trust Fund trustees admit this. Yet they still manipulate the numbers in such a way that there is enough money to "keep the programs going" for 10 or 12 more years than expected, and the cost of Medicare Part B premiums has remained the same for three years (counting 2015) -- while the PPACA has driven up the cost of health insurance by at least 15%-20% in the same time period.
The deception is appalling.
Government's Plan B is the one that my favorite uncle (who did not live long enough to collect any of his Social Security retirement benefits) talked to me about 38 years ago . . . "If the government needs more money, they'll print more money." As a snot-nosed 24-year-old, four years away from first entering the insurance profession, I was ill-prepared that afternoon in Pittsburgh while on vacation in May 1976, to overcome that argument. No so today.
Printing more money may represent a temporary "fix" but it does nothing to solve the problem. Just look at all the billions of TARP dollars the Federal Reserve printed up which have done exactly nothing for folks who continue to lose their homes while the banks continue to sit on that money in their invested reserves, and states and municipalities that continue to squander their finite resources on employee payrolls and pensions used the TARP money they received for "shovel ready" projects that mostly fixed potholes and built center medians on freeways and surface streets. Meaningless fixes with the government dole.
It only makes things worse for everyone -- and America will have to pay for this sometime. World War II was precipitated by this very situation in Germany under the Weimar Republic and the "liberal democracy" that it fostered. Literally out of money to pay its debts, the government printed billions of new Deutschmarks, making everyone instant millionaires, and still no one had what they needed to buy milk, bread, or meat -- at least not without a wheelbarrow to move the money around town on shopping day, only to have the wheelbarrow stolen because it actually had more value than the money it held.
Hitler rose to power thanks to the failure of "liberal democracy" on the assurances that he would make things better for the people. But how did that work out for the German people between 1937 and 1945?
The reality is that social programs weaken society. They rob government of the resources needed to maintain infrastructure so the rest of society can function. Instead, we have supplanted personal responsibility with the belief that after working and supporting the government for 40 or more years of our life, the government owes something back to us in the form of lifetime benefits. We are in the very midst of the worst "liberal democracy" the world has ever witnessed.
The solution for the so-called controversy over "admitted" vs. "observation" is personal responsibility through the purchase of Long Term Care Insurance. In an LTCI policy (or rider attached to a life or annuity contract when available), there is no requirement to have ever been hospitalized. With LTCI benefits, one needs not rely on government to fund their expenses. One need not spend down his or her "countable" assets to $3,000 to qualify for Medicaid assistance (which is funded with Social Security dollars) to help cover the cost of care.
And what does Medicare pay for anyway when it comes to SNF confinement: 100% for 20 days. Then the balance, in 2014, that exceeds $152 for the next 80 days. Followed by $0 for the remainder of what may be a person's lifetime. And for any standard of care below SNF . . . $0 from Day 1, with only limited benefits for home health or hospice (under Part A, still the requirement for three-days' prior hospital admission, but no such requirement under Part B).
Instead of petitioning the government for more access to Medicare, you should all be petitioning the government for either tax credits or expanded deductibility of premiums to help folks pay for LTCI. When people provide for their own needs, they generally do a much better job of it. With the aid of an experienced insurance professional, they may be able to do even better for themselves and their loved ones. Access to LTCI, just like moving people from Medicare Supplement to MAPD plans, will save the government far more in the long run.
