Seniors "Running Up" Medicare and Social Security Tabs? In Fact, Too Many Risk Going Bankrupt

"Maybe Elizabeth Warren - a Boomer- will finally raise taxes on her generation which is running up the tab on Medicare and Social Security" -  Joseph Sternberg, WSJ, Sept. 13, p. 15A

"Yeah, I'm turning 65 next year.  Can't wait to go broke  trying to make ends meet with Medicare coverage. I worked 40 plus years paying into a system that will - at some point - kill me.  Yes, I can afford supplemental insurance at this point, but sometime in the future I may not be able to because of deteriorating health as I age."- Denver Post letter writer, Nov. 2, 'The Needs Of Our Seniors', p. 3K

It may stun many people to know that Medicare is by no means a "freebie" or entitlement. First, people have paid into it over a life time at the rate of 1.45%  in FICA taxes per paycheck. This is what appears on your W-2 tax form as "Medicare wages". It is that amount deducted from your pay for Medicare. Thus, it is most certainly not "welfare" and I'd even argue that it cannot be called an "entitlement". 

Second, no genuine "entitlement" would require a beneficiary to cover extra expenses like eye glasses and dental - two aspects that cannot be ignored and can come to thousands of dollars a year.  In addition, no entitlement makes increasing claims on one's budget  - as the Denver Post letter writer complained about - in regard to having to buy supplemental insurance. 

To fix ideas, my Medicare Part B supplemental (Part  B) insurance premium has just gone up to $144 a month.  This is in addition to my private supplemental insurance (which covers hospital procedures and tests Medicare B doesn't) which has now gone up another $30 a month to $273 a month. or $3,276 /yr.  At the same time Janice's private supplemental insurance has similarly gone up to $250/ month. So the total for both of for a year, with just supplemental insurance costs alone is now $5,004 + $4,728 =  $9, 732 for next year.  The Medicare supplemental insurance is offset by increasing the Social Security monthly payments in tandem, but all that means is that there is negligible benefit from any Social Security cost of living (COLA) increase, see e.g.

The Social Security cost-of-living increase is a cruel fraud ...

 

And:

The Mythical Social Security Cost Of Living Increa...


It is clear then, as the LA Times report notes, that current cost of living increases to Social Security are simply "cruel frauds" - i.e. if they can be wiped out with a simple offset.  "Here you go, sir, your Social Security increase for the new year....But...your Medicare supplemental (Part B) is being increased too - just  that amount -  so will be deducted from your COLA to pay for it!"

Lastly, one needs to enroll in a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan (Part D),  critical since you only get one shot getting lower cost access to prescription drugs. Even if you're not currently on any drugs per se, counselors assure you that the best bet is to at least sign into one, in case you have to rely on a prescription (say for blood pressure) later.  Right now I am on a blood pressure med (amlodipine besylate) and a statin (prevastatin) both of which I need to control a tendency to malignant high blood pressure, plus control the condition of hyperlipidemia - the tendency to collect too much fat in blood and liver.  

Fortunately, I can get both as generics so keep the total drug costs down to about $15 a month.  But at the same time, the plan provider (Humana) has now announced  the third monthly annual premium increase in a row - from what used to be ($18 / month), to now $60 a month.  Hence, the monthly premium is now four times what I pay for the actual meds. For Janice the factor is a bit smaller as she takes more meds, but the monthly increase is no less painful. So for prescription drugs alone we are talking about another $1,440 a year.  

Added to the cost of supplemental insurance - and leaving out the Medicare supplemental because it's offset by deduction from the Social Security COLA - that comes to: $7, 716 total.   But this doesn't include any dental or glasses etc. which easily adds another $2, 500 a year for both of us. That makes a grand total of $7,716 +  $2,500 =  $10, 216 a year in premiums and procedures etc. not covered by Medicare.  I show all this to also indicate what costs would be like for anyone who "buys into" Medicare.

Clearly, such proposals on offer from one or more Dem candidates need to be put into realistic perspective that people aren't just going to buy into the program and get a freebie. Not any more than those of us already in the Medicare program.  It can't be otherwise.  As for the 'Medicare for all' pipedream which claims all premiums can be wiped out for millions,  I will believe that when I see it. 

Adding up all these  Medicare -related costs up it is clear Joseph Sternberg (top quote) is talking twaddle when he claims seniors are "running up the tab".  In fact, the tab is being run up on us (including via the Medicare Advantage program which is bleeding traditional Medicare into insolvency.  All one need do is run the numbers to see, in fact,  that Medicare as we now know it fails to work for many retirees, leaving them in danger of going bankrupt.   The corporo-media tends to give that short shrift.  

Point of fact: . A study published this year by Gallup and West Health, a research organization dedicated to lowering health care costs, showed that people over 65 had withdrawn an estimated $22 billion from long-term savings accounts in the previous year to pay for health expenses Medicare didn’t cover.  This is why T. Rowe Price and other investment centers emphasize a retiree today needs at least $250k saved just to cover medical expenses.

Few may recall that Medicare Advantage is the privatized spawn of the  "Medicare Modernization Act" that Billy Tauzin and his Reepo criminal congress forced through back in 2003 - to the cheers of Big PhRMA.  It was no wonder that soon after it passed, Goldman Sachs estimated the benefit to PhRMA ( in terms of corporate welfare), would be over $13.7 b over ten years. It's probably even more now.

Indeed, another vile aspect of the 2003 law was that it barred Medicare from negotiating for lower drug prices like the VA does. The law actually left the negotiating to private insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers. The very existence of this refuse denied Medicare the ability to drive down prices - and indeed control prices. 

But then many of us at the time suspected the Bushies were behind this recklessly expensive, bogus law as a means to rush Medicare toward insolvency - the better to privatize it. They even embedded a Trojan horse in the law called "Medicare Advantage" which is now spending $12b a year more than traditional Medicare.

Moreover, our money is daily being pilfered, "borrowed" from the Social Security Trust Fund to pay for military -defense spending, as well as other national budgetary incidentals.  The total now owed is estimated at $3.4 trillion.  So it is outrageous that Sternberg could even suggest higher taxes on Social Security beneficiaries.    But this is the skewed political landscape we inhabit now. 

 It's no surprise Sternberg would try to make a specious case to tax Medicare and Social Security given the 207 GOP tax cuts have sent deficits soaring.  So the Reep defenders want some way of replenishing the revenue lost by the reckless tax cuts. But no one with even  a normal intelligence is biting. 


See also:

10 Reasons Medicare Advantage Plans Will Never Meet Our Needs

Healthcare Policy | Insurance

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/diane-archer/81747/10-reasons-medicare-advantage-plans-will-never-meet-our-needs


And:

Social Security

Dean Baker

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Social Security

A Bold Plan to Strengthen and Improve Social Security Is What America Needs

Doctors Are Correct to Wage War On Drug Prices

Under the header "It's About damned time",  is the outcry less than a month ago by more than one hundred oncologists from top cancer hospitals that the cost of cancer drugs is way too high. Indeed, the cost of many drugs is too high, and Americans are literally being taken to the cleaners by Big PhRMA.  So no surprise many doctors, not just oncologists (cancer specialists), are calling for new regulations to control the costs.

In fact, the oncologists and other doctors are only the latest to make vocal complaints. Preceding them have been insurers, state Medicaid officials, and most of all patients - many of whom have been forced to forego prescriptions because of the exorbitant costs.  All this in the wake of prescription drug prices rising more than 12 percent last year, and many prescriptions increasing more than 100 percent.

For example, as noted in an NBC News segment last night, one pharmacist complained that "it was the craziest price increase ever seen" in his life. He cited the wholesale price for the diabetes drug Glumetza which went from $1,000 for 90 days supply in January to just over $10,000 in July. He noted he had no choice but to pass the higher costs on.

The plight of patients was highlighted in one Mayo Clinic Proceedings editorial in which the financial burden was emphasized with the out of pocket costs bankrupting many just as they're fighting a deadly disease. As a result 10 to 20 percent of cancer patients don't fulfill their treatments as prescribed - and their cancers metastasize.  And 75% of other prescription drug takers have cut back on their medications, risking complications. No country with any dimension of decency can allow this to go on.

Fortunately some members of congress are on to this and have demanded that the pharmaceutical companies justify the pricing of hepatitis C medication which now runs tens of thousands of dollars per patient.  

Bernie Sanders, for example, has already advised the Department of Veterans Affairs to break the patents on hep C drugs so that generics companies can manufacture more of them for ailing vets. The problem is the Repukes won't hear of it as it constitutes "statist" interference in private business - so let the vets fend for themselves.

But this ought not be amazing or surprising given this is the typical Reptile response to everything concerning regular citizens - i.e. those not born with gilded spoons in their mouths.

Meanwhile, more sobering for many, has been the announcement from Medicare's Board of Trustees that expensive new medications will drive a sharp increase in the program's prescription drug spending over the next decade. In this milieu cancer medication increases have drawn particular ire with the average price of new cancer drugs having increased in the U.S. five fold to ten fold over 15 years to over $100,000 a year in 2015.

This isn't merely criminal, it's an abomination given those who can't afford the drugs are being issued a death  sentence. The newest and most effective drugs are those that harness the patient's own immune system and these can run up to $150,000 per patient per year. And the annual cost per patient could approach $300,000/ year if cancer drugs are prescribed in combination

As one Mayo Clinic hematologist put it:

"What we're fighting is the greed. The greed and the additional maneuvering that is being exercised after you've already recouped what you've invested. There is no control, no regulation."

This raises the plausible thesis that this "additional maneuvering" with no oversight - was actually built into the "Medicare Modernization Act" that Billy Tauzin and his Reepo criminal congress forced through back in 2003 - to the cheers of Big PhRMA.  It was no wonder that soon after it passed, Goldman Sachs estimated the benefit to PhRMA ( in terms of corporate welfare), would be over $13.7 b over ten years. It's probably even more now.

Indeed, another vile aspect of the 2003 law was that it barred Medicare from negotiating for lower drug prices like the VA does. The law actually leaves the negotiating to private insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers. The very existence of this refuse denies Medicare the ability to drive down prices - and indeed control prices. But then many of us at the time suspected the maggot Bushies were behind this recklessly expensive, bogus law as a means to rush Medicare toward insolvency - the better to privatize it. They even embedded a Trojan horse in the law called "Medicare Advantage" which is now spending $12b a year more than traditional Medicare.

Of course, the usual excuse trotted out by PhRMA for its current skyrocketing drug prices is that it "costs so much for research" - which is arrant bull pockey. The truth is the drug companies are blowing most of their profits and returns on TV advertising. Just look at a typical prime time news broadcast on any of the networks, you are sure to see at least five drug ads including one for Cialis or Viagra, every damned night.

All hope is not lost but it will still be an uphill battle, especially against the defenders of the PhRMA goons. Already, some Senators - such as John McCain (R-AZ) and Amy Klobuchar (D, MN) have supported legislation that would allow patients to import cheaper drugs from Canada. (Which option had also been foreclosed under the 2003 'Modernization'  Act.)

Others have called for the pharmaceutical industry to justify its rising prices - which I believe is one of the most urgent steps to hold these bastards accountable.  These efforts include one California bill demanding the PhrMA leeches provide a detailed breakdown of costs, including for clinical trials, regulatory expenses, advertising, manufacturing and acquisition costs - and for all drugs that have an annual wholesale price of $10,000 or more.

This is a step long overdue and let's hope it succeeds! For all our sakes!

What Do The TPP Backers Do When They Lose? Punt and Delay!

"Hehehehehe....now we shall have six more weeks to twist the arms of the weaker ones to get this deal passed! Then our corporations can rule!"

The "unholy alliance" (of a putative Dem Prez and his usual R-enemies) behind pushing fast track TPP lost big yesterday and they knew it.  Despite pushing, cajoling and bribing  D- House members over the weekend, when Tuesday arrived the pro-TPPs knew it was a lost cause. Did they let the acknowledged result go through and finally allow this demonic 'baby' to be put out of its misery? No way!  Boehner, McConnell and Obama finagled the legislative loopholes to come up with a 6-week delay  - during which time interval they are sure they can sway enough votes (of fence sitters) to their pro-abomination side.

Can you say cheat? One Dem Rep (Doggett, TX) put it bluntly, quoted in The Financial Times:  "Looks like the fast trackers have become back trackers".

Indeed, and make no mistake we've seen this before, some 12 years ago in the drive to push through another abomination:  the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act.  This beast provided one of the largest corporate welfare handouts ever, while ostensibly giving seniors a "drug benefit" - IF they didn't fall into the "donut hole" - wherein they'd end up paying the full cost for all their drugs. 

The top pusher of this grubby bill, Billy Tauzin (R-La), after numerous delays,  eventually succeeded in getting it through by holding congress critters "hostage" until 3 a.m.  after a late  'no' vote and then making the specious promise that the total cost would come in under $500b.  The weaklings,  including Dem weasels, finally caved and the corporate enclave and its lobbyist rats broke open the champagne. (Goldman-Sachs in one WSJ piece at the time predicted a $13.6b windfall for Big PhrMA over ten years - even as millions fell into the donut hole).

What exactly is this whole TPP kerfuffle about? It is basically about whether we still have any kind of democracy or whether we have moved to a full Neoliberal corporatocracy.  Bill Moyers, in a recent article on the  blog smirking chimp, put it thusly:

"The issue before us is not “free trade,” which, like any policy, has its pluses and minuses. The issue is that a multilateral trade agreement should not be negotiated in secret, but in the open by our State and Commerce departments, with input from all organizations concerned, including those representing workers and environmentalists.

Then there should come a draft document for all to see, to be laid before the people’s representatives in Congress assembled. If and when a majority of them ratifies the agreement, it can go to the president for signature. This is how democracy should work....

This whole affair is outrageous. After 226 years of constitutional government, is this where we’ve finally arrived?"

Moyers, in his piece, also called out the Republican Constitutional purists (or constructionists), for not robustly fighting against this perfidy.  If they were indeed so firm on the defense and provisions of the Constitution, why were they not fighting tooth and nail against this piece of crap bill that removes citizens' will and delivers it to corporate powers? Good question! One can only surmise that they have been bribed or threatened just as the holdout Dems will be over the next 6 weeks.

What it means for the rest of us is this fight isn't over, not by a long shot. No one can rest on his or her laurels including the moderate successes so far. We must be prepared to fight to the bitter end, until this TPP turd is finally laid to rest, and its unholy alliance quieted - once and for all.

In the meantime, energized readers can use clicktocallcongress.org to contact their reps and insist they hold strain.  Tell them to vote the right way- against TPP!

See also:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/dave-johnson/62690/sea-change-citizens-beat-wall-street-and-multinationals-in-congress

And:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/bill-moyers/62678/fast-track-derails-democracy