Insolvency for Medicare Is Seen Closer

[midwestbroker]

This still cracks me up...

Medicare and SS are broke, but we should insure the whole nation. Has not worked so far with about 15% of the population, so let's see if we can screw the other 85%.

Medicare will not go anywhere...but we will see tax increases, reduced benefits, etc.

 

[Russ]

Last I heard one of the solutions being bandied about is to increase fice from employer/employee total of 15.3% to 24% of pay. Has anyone else heard more about this option?

I figured the government would do that. What other alternatives are there? They can't let the system go under. Maybe Obama does that under his 2nd term, knowing he's lame duck anyway.

Just an uneducated/educated guess.

 

[Norwayguy]

I figured the government would do that. What other alternatives are there? They can't let the system go under. Maybe Obama does that under his 2nd term, knowing he's lame duck anyway.

Just an uneducated/educated guess.

Your never going to get a fix for Social Security while allowing government workers and this includes the politicians to get out of the system and contribute to something else.

Lets end the state retirment systems and federal retirement system and roll those dollars into social security...I don't think this will solve the insolvency but I want them just as sc**ed as I am.

 

[somarco]

Has not worked so far with about 15% of the population,

Medicare & Medicaid cover around 90M, making it closer to 30% of the population. When you consider M/M became law under LBJ in 1965 it has only taken Congress 43 years to run a good idea into the ground.

Blue Cross traces its' roots to 1929 and really got started in 1939.

Kaiser Permanente started in the 1930's as a private plan for Kaiser employees and their families and became available to the public in 1945.

Both of those companies are solvent and going strong without ever receiving a dime of taxpayer money.

What is wrong with this picture?

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Mainly unchecked and rampant fraud that the gov't doesn't have the resources to curb or even investigate.

 

[Norwayguy]

Mainly unchecked and rampant fraud that the gov't doesn't have the resources to curb or even investigate.

That the goverment doesn't want to investigate...I was speaking to a Mainecare Fraud Investigator and he told me the Commissioner in Maine has gone on record saying there is less than 1/10th of 1 percent of abuse or fraud in the system. He also went on to say that he needs a court order to get a copy of someones tax return. So when people apply for Mainecare they self certify about there income...Why can't the state pull there Maine Tax Records and verify if you keep the people off the system in the first place you wouldn't have some of these problems.

 

[Russ]

Medicare & Medicaid cover around 90M, making it closer to 30% of the population. When you consider M/M became law under LBJ in 1965 it has only taken Congress 43 years to run a good idea into the ground.

Blue Cross traces its' roots to 1929 and really got started in 1939.

Kaiser Permanente started in the 1930's as a private plan for Kaiser employees and their families and became available to the public in 1945.

Both of those companies are solvent and going strong without ever receiving a dime of taxpayer money.

What is wrong with this picture?

The Government does a lousy job running things.

Money is the root of all evil and the system has been terribly abused.

 

[somarco]

Georgia moved to require proof of income for Peachcare (SCHIP) a couple of years ago after an audit determined there were several thousand receiving benefits who made too much money. They did likewise for Medicaid.

This closed some loopholes but left others wide open.

The new policy does not apply to pregnant women and newborns, who can receive immediate prenatal and postnatal care without waiting for eligibility verification. U.S.-born children of immigrants are citizens and are eligible for public programs such as Medicaid.

 

[Russ]

The new policy does not apply to pregnant women and newborns, who can receive immediate prenatal and postnatal care without waiting for eligibility verification. U.S.-born children of immigrants are citizens and are eligible for public programs such as Medicaid.

It's the same here in Florida, as far as I know, which is BS. Us taxpayers are paying for women to have child after child....why?

My wife's niece has already had 2...she's unmarried...lives with the man and told us..."she misses being pregnant". Look for child #3 within the next 2 years. Taxpayers are paying the cost of prenatal and postnatal care. If she had to pay for it herself she may not miss being pregnant so much.

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

Last I heard one of the solutions being bandied about is to increase fice from employer/employee total of 15.3% to 24% of pay.

I figured the government would do that. What other alternatives are there? They can't let the system go under.

The fallacy with that thinking has to do with a "death spiral".

Every time you raise payroll taxes, less jobs are created, leading to less people paying payroll taxes, leading to the need to raise payroll taxes. Rinse and repeat.

If they don't find another way, eventually the point will be moot, the country will be bankrupted (if it isn't already?).