How can anyone not want Medicare for All?

[liberal_at_heart]

My husband just celebrated being alive for a year after his heart attack. Unfortunately that anniversary comes with some surprising news. He was having some chest pain, went in for a stress test and now has to have exploratory heart surgery on Tuesday. The stress test showed a different quadrant of his heart struggling to pump blood. Here goes tens of thousands of dollars. The good news is he has Medicare with a supplementary policy. We will never see a single bill. Ironically he is the only one in the house who can afford to get sick. How any human being could oppose Medicare for All is beyond me.

[antigop]

1. Some people haven't been burned (yet). Some people think it won't happen to them. nt

[hollysmom]

7. oh my goodness yes that is true, someone on another board wanted to

be able to get into an insurance where they did not take pre-existing people so her rates could be lower. She said other politics could take pre-existing people and no one could convince her this would not work. Some people just can't process the big picture. she said she did not need a pre-existing coverage, so her insurance does not need to cover it. duh, and this is someone who is supposed to be wise.

if it affects them some people close their eyes and do what is good for them even if it is bad for others.

[stopbush]

2. One can support the idea while not supporting a plan that seriously

underfunds such a program, as does Sanders' plan.

[dchill]

5. Riiiiight.

[BillZBubb]

29. One can come up with any bullshit excuse one wants

to support their conservative candidate.

How about just coming up with a better plan to do it than Sanders? Isn't that the progressive approach? Nah, just say we can't do it, or the republicans won't let us, or Sander's approach isn't good. Face it, you don't support the idea in reality.

[niyad]

3. glad your husband can get the care he needs.

but, come on. . . if you are big pharma, big medicine, hmo's, bankruptcy attorneys, etc., of COURSE you don't want medicare for all!! I mean, how would you gouge the public?

[Quackers]

8. By mandating the public to buy insurance from a private for-profit company?

[GoCubsGo]

13. And, if you are not big pharma, etc...,

you are probably somebody who believes that only certain people are entitled to healthcare, rather than it being a right for all. (E.g., only people who work. Screw those not fortunate enough to have a job.) Usually, these people are the types that normally go out of their way to let everyone know they worship a guy who went around doing things like curing poor lepers, and who often want to force everyone else to worship this guy, too.

[raccoon]

24. Yep, I live in the same state, and there are plenty like that. nt

[Thunderbeast]

22. Or perhaps someone who buys or provides Conseirge Service

As with all things in our economy, the REALLY GOOD STUFF is reserved for the very wealthy. If you have the means, you have a physician on retainer (for a hefty fee) who guarantees that he/she will only treat a very limited number of patients. Rather than having a thousand patients in their care, the doctor has 200. When you call for an appointment, you get one that day. A fully qualified physician will administer your botox when you want, where you want.

No mucking about in the waiting room with those financially challenged folks. Your kids will only come into contact with others wearing the sweater from their own prep school.

If you are paying tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege of "jumping the line", why the hell do you want to pay into a system that funds all of the "others"?

[dchill]

4. Beyond me, too.

They must simply NOT believe that we're all in this together, which strikes me as flagrantly undemocratic.

[DesertFlower]

6. can i ask how much that supplemental plan costs.

my friend who is older than her husband couldn't wait to get medicare. they were paying $720 through her employer for health insurance. now with medicare and supplemental they pay $710 and a few of their docs won't take medicare.

i have medicare. i took the cheapest supplemental i could which runs me $61.50 a month plus $18.20 for part D. my out of pocket max on the supplemental is $4850. don't have to worry about losing my house if bills get high. last year my out of poclket drug costs came to $970.

when my husband was alive IBM covered him. i paid $71.50. that covered drugs too. the out of pocket max was $6100. his medical bills ran in the millions but all i paid was $6100.

bottom line -- even with medicare you stilll need an insurance company. if we were to get medicare for all it should pay for everything.

sending positive energy to you and your husband.

[fizzgig]

9. my best to your husband for a full and easy recovery

and to you as well

my husband is recovering from a month-long illness that ultimately landed him in the hospital for two days. we're in our mid- to late-30s and are covered by my mostly decent plan through work. well, i checked our claims today and we're already at 1500 for the first er visit with who knows how much more to come, then we have a second er visit and two nights in the hospital. i'm fully expecting the whole shebang to equal about a third of my yearly pay.

got an email from hr today about it being time to re-up our benefits but, due to "obamacare", the company has to change plans and we have to fill out a more expanded medical history than we have ever had to. the company is going with cigna and a little poking around on their coverage fills me with dread.

i see no godsdamned reason why people should be buried in healthcare debts and sure as hell don't see any justification for healthcare being a for-profit institution.

[liberal_at_heart]

10. Thank you and good luck to you and your husband as well.

You're right. No one should be buried in health care debt and insurance company CEOs sure as hell shouldn't be getting rich off of other people being sick.

[DesertFlower]

11. did you read my post?

[msongs]

12. millions of people who have a much BETTER health care situation? nt

[Scootaloo]

31. Definition of "I've got mine so fuck you" right there

[DesertFlower]

14. if there's no cost to you, you've got

to be paying a hefty amount for your supplemental plan -- which negates how great "medicare for all" is.

[Skittles]

15. it is called conservative hypocrisy

they're just afraid brown people may benefit

[CreekDog]

16. I do, but Bernie wants a different system, one that is state by state

not the national program called medicare that we have now.

it's true.

[DesertFlower]

17. bernie has never said that medicare

does not pay for everything. he never talked about supplemental plans or how they would be done away with and medicare paying for everything.

if you have no experience with medicare you'll be surprised. i suggest everyone check it out. if you have no money and nothing to lose then it could work but most seniors have some savings and a paid for house. without a supplemental policy you could lose everything.

[PennyK]

18. I turned 65 last December

And in March this year I was diagnosed with breast cancer. We have Medicare, supplemental plan F, and a drug plan.
So far, I've had two surgeries, a dozen expensive tests, and two chemotherapies, and I have paid $10 out of pocket for something relating to one of the surgeries.
We did have to pay a lot for prescriptions, but I'm so thankful that we didn't go for the cheapest supplemental plan!

[DesertFlower]

20. i have Plan K. there's a deductible, but the

max out of pocket is $4800 -- i can afford that.

my doctors visits usually come to about $7.25. i don't see a lot of docs.

[shadowmayor]

19. We're No. 1

How many people in Germany or France or Britain or most other civilized countries went broke because they got sick? Zero.

The number one reason why folks go broke in the good ol' USA? It's getting sick. Especially in the older years. It is one of the most tragic and reprehensible realities we rarely hear about, and it is by design. Completely unethical and cruel, and "we" seem to put up with this mess. That everybody isn't clamoring for socialized medicine shows the degree to which our propaganda prevails. Again, number one reason for going broke is getting sick. Not losing a job, or downsizing, of bad stock market investments or even a bad mortgage. And in other countries, people do not go broke when they get sick. Zero zilch nada.

Chew on that if it won't get stuck in your throat and force a trip to the ER where the first thing they talk to you about is your deducible if you're "covered".

[DesertFlower]

21. true -- but it's got to be medicare with no

deductibles or co-pays. we shouldn't have to pay for medicare and then a supplemental policy through an insurance company. need to get insurance companies out of the health care business.

[raccoon]

23. ITA. I knew this right-wing woman once, when I said Medicare should cover everyone, her

response was, "Oh, no! Then they would spend more on the younger people."

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

25. If Medicare for All includes Medigap and other niceties ...

... like vision, dental, etc, then it would be very nice, almost like single-payer.

Would it replace the plans enjoyed by former presidents and senators? Would it replace the Veterans Administration health system? Would it replace the medical arrangements for active-duty military and families?

Would it really be one-plan-for-all?

[CrowCityDem]

26. Are you asking about Medicare or a Bernie style single-payer plan? They're completely different.

[libdem4life]

27. Only those whose mantra is "I've got mine, sucks to be you."

I'll trade a MIC war-inspired tank for decent health care any day. That's the simplistic reason we can't do it. Empire does not need healthy people, let along older folks. Just young ones for cannon fodder.

I was an advocate for senior care, and what I learned was obscene. (This is Kaiser in Northern Cal) They would make a senior come back 3-4 times often before much of anything was done. Obviously many seniors can't do that, so they drop off and save Kaiser a bundle of money. Also, they fight Medicare for all tooth and nail.

[Shadowflash]

28. Because

If you are owned lock, stock and barrel by insurance companies and their lobbyists, they pay you and your campaign big bucks to be sure the gravy train just keeps chugging along. The little people don't matter.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

30. A lot of it's rooted in racism and contempt for those whom they believe don't deserve it. nt

[Doctor_J]

32. Must. Pay. Billions. To. Hillary. Donors.

Clinton supporters and the rest of the far right don't think Americans should get "free stuff". And now of course anyone who doesn't like Heritage Care is a racist who hates Obama. Years of corporate brainwashing and identity politics have made the populace as a whole brain dead corporate right wing zombies.