Medicare info. I came across while doing research

[ashling]

Medicare Spending per Capita in the United States, by Hospital Referral Region, 2005 (taken from CBO paper)

[Flabbergasted]

1. I wonder what factors most effect the differences from area to area. nt

[Horse with no Name]

2. Abject poverty. n/t

[maglatinavi]

3. poverty re medicare

Wealthy persons get medicare if elegible... in other words, if they paid for medicare while employed... it has nothing to do with poverty ... I have known wealthy persons anxiously waiting to be 65 yrs. old to get medicare ... Geez!!! :tinfoilhat:

[Horse with no Name]

4. Well do you think that everyone that has Medicare at 65

ALWAYS had healthcare insurance up TO the age of 65--or do you think that it is possible that in the poorest sections of this country (which are highlighted in the darker colors) that have the highest rates of poverty, that once someone FINALLY reaches the age where they can receive healthcare for free, that all of the chronic conditions that have been building up and menacing them over the years aren't finally being addressed once they are back "in the system"?
Geez! Some folks don't understand anything.:dunce:

[REP]

5. Medicare is also for the disabled; Medicaid is for the poor

Medicare covers the disabled under 65 (or 67 or whatever age it currently is); a disabled 35 year old can use more resources than a healthy 70 year old. I'm one of the under-65s who's using Medicare resources like a sonofabitch.

[Horse with no Name]

6. Yep. Problem is--at least in Texas (some of the bluest on the map)Medicaid

a lot of folks--ESPECIALLY the elderly who do not yet qualify for Medicare--fall through the cracks and end up living on the edge for a few years with their untreated chronic illnesses taking a toll every day on their bodies and only seeking care when absolutely necessary and burdening the Emergency Rooms in the process.
I remarried my ex-husband strictly because he needed the health insurance. No other reason. He was uninsurable and I didn't hate him and had no desire to see him die for lack of health care.
Ours is a strictly financial arrangement. Nothing more. Nothing less. If we had universal care, I would surely be in a different place in my life.
I'm glad you were able to get Medicare at your age. Sometimes that isn't the easiest thing to do.

[REP]

7. I'm disabled; automatic Medicare

So thanks ... I think :)

[Horse with no Name]

8. Absolutely. It is what it is there for.

Trouble is, some people who are disabled don't always meet the criteria or can't complete the process to be declared disabled.
My doctor wanted me to start the process when I was in my late 30's because of my condition. I was insistent that I was going to work and pave my way as long as I could. I didn't want to take away from someone else.
Now, 15 years later and most of those doors closed now, I wish I had thought about it a little harder. I live in fear of relapsing and not being able to work and not having insurance...especially after this last bout of illness.
Good luck to you.

[dysfunctional press]

9. i'm 48, disabled and on medicare- but i can't get the supplemental coverage...

for the 20% medicare doesn't cover. i won't be able to get it until i turn 65 and there's open enrollment- until then, NOBODY will sell it to me at any price. so- i'm on the hook for 20% of all my medical bills.

[Horse with no Name]

10. Was that a congressional sellout?

I wasn't aware of that coverage gap.
I'm sorry.:(

[dysfunctional press]

11. i don't know the history of it...

i just know that it sucks.

and- even if i COULD get the coverage, because of being 'disabled', it would cost me 300-400 dollars per month- on a disability income of $1200/month- and just to cover the 20% that medicare doesn't cover. i just wouldn't be able to afford it anyway. and my actual medical bills aren't all that large- i don't have any type of therapeutic treatment(i do prescribed exercises at home), or any other kind of continuing treatments, because there's not really anything much they can do for my condition at this point(ankylosing spondylitis) other than treat the pain from the mechanical damage that happened earlier on in the progression of the disease. i'll most likely be taking copius amounts of narcotics for the remainder of my existence.

and since my medical costs don't come anywhere NEAR several hundred dollars per month- it makes no sense for me to pay that much for coverage of 20% of my costs.

BUT- that means that if i have some type of catastrophic incident(cancer or hospitalization for other reasons), i could suddenly be on the hook for 20% of a very big bill.