Health care/Medicare?

[boondocks]

I'm a bit off from retirement but have always figured Medicare would be available. Now that it looks like it might well not be, I'm wondering (given current costs of modern medicine), how does a body put sufficient funds aside to buy private health insurance from age 65 on? Even with a bit of a voucher provided, I can't imagine how to do this...Will the cows take care of me? :idea: Can I teach them to give me meds with a dart gun?
Anyone else starting to wrestle with this?

 

[Aaron]

If your willing to be self-employed as a farmer - this is a good backup plan. Medical service might not be to the same standard universally, but you certainly won't be asking the questions you are right now. 90% of people up here would be dead if they had to pay the premiums you do nowadays. As a result, you're going to see a lot of people working longer in their profession to retain their benefits.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/ctc-vac/getting-started.asp

 

[boondocks]

If your willing to be self-employed as a farmer - this is a good backup plan. Medical service might not be to the same standard universally, but you certainly won't be asking the questions you are right now. 90% of people up here would be dead if they had to pay the premiums you do nowadays. As a result, you're going to see a lot of people working longer in their profession to retain their benefits.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/ctc-vac/getting-started.asp

I do love your great country Aaron but we surely can't all descend on you. Or can we?
I know Canada has single-payer health care; how does it work for retirees? Do they pay premiums and co-pays? We have single-payer for retirees here (a/k/a Medicare). I can't imagine taking it away from people that are already on it. And it would tick me off to have paid in so much already and then have the ladder pulled up just in front of me. It's one of the few govt programs here that most people seem to think does a decent job for the $ spent.

 

[True Grit Farms]

Medicare is very wasteful and you just feel entitled to it, same can be said for SS. I personally can't see how our government can deny us Medicare and SS. I feel like I've paid my share and I assume you feel the same way Boondocks? Do we let the poor go hungry? Do we let the old go without any medical attention? Even if they've been freeloaders and deadbeats their whole lives what do you do about those folks? Shooting them behind the ear would fix Medicare and SS, but that's not a very popular option.
If the government would just let us buy our medicine from Canada without a doctor's prescription NAFTA might not be such a bad thing. Heck if we could buy drugs from Africa they'd be free, and all we'd pay is for the shipping. That is unless we could cut the middle man out and buy from the factory, that makes the drugs right here in the good olé US of A. The government is getting hosed by the medical industry, and we are the government, so you know who's going to be paying the bill.
The science thread is tied directly to this thread. IMO

 

[callmefence]

The government is getting hosed by the medical industry and the medical industry is getting hosed by the insurance company. The smallest practices have to have full time employees . my doctor has two. That just negotiate with the insurance companies. If they can get half the money. Right now with the cost of my insurance , I think I'm better off putting the money in the bank. And with the exception of a major catastrophic policy. That is exactly what I'm doing.

Ss and Medicare are ponzi schemes. Time to cut bait

 

[Margonme]

I'm a bit off from retirement but have always figured Medicare would be available. Now that it looks like it might well not be, I'm wondering (given current costs of modern medicine), how does a body put sufficient funds aside to buy private health insurance from age 65 on? Even with a bit of a voucher provided, I can't imagine how to do this...Will the cows take care of me? :idea: Can I teach them to give me meds with a dart gun?
Anyone else starting to wrestle with this?

Boondocks,
Medicare and SS are fiscal nightmares but I do not see either being eliminated.

 

[Caustic Burno]

SS wasn't as originally written
LBJ tore the lid off Pandora's box with his Great Society. He couldn't stand the billions in surplus and used it to fund his welfare state.

 

[hurleyjd]

SS wasn't as originally written
LBJ tore the lid off Pandora's box with his Great Society. He couldn't stand the billions in surplus and used it to fund his welfare state.

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/encore/201 ... -security/

 

[Caustic Burno]

SS wasn't as originally written
LBJ tore the lid off Pandora's box with his Great Society. He couldn't stand the billions in surplus and used it to fund his welfare state.

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/encore/201 ... -security/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/romanticpo ... ent=safari

 

[Caustic Burno]

LBJ was the sorriest pos to occupy the White House
You need to research that socialist all the way back to his George R Brown roots

 

[Aaron]

If your willing to be self-employed as a farmer - this is a good backup plan. Medical service might not be to the same standard universally, but you certainly won't be asking the questions you are right now. 90% of people up here would be dead if they had to pay the premiums you do nowadays. As a result, you're going to see a lot of people working longer in their profession to retain their benefits.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/ctc-vac/getting-started.asp

I do love your great country Aaron but we surely can't all descend on you. Or can we?
I know Canada has single-payer health care; how does it work for retirees? Do they pay premiums and co-pays? We have single-payer for retirees here (a/k/a Medicare). I can't imagine taking it away from people that are already on it. And it would tick me off to have paid in so much already and then have the ladder pulled up just in front of me. It's one of the few govt programs here that most people seem to think does a decent job for the $ spent.

No premiums, no co-pays. Only out of pocket cost will be some generic prescription meds which are ridiculously cheap - national PharmaCare plan is talked about a lot up here, so maybe a decade from now, that won't even be out of pocket. Not perfect, but it works. Surgeries and special treatments may take more time to schedule then in US, but not drastically out of line - wait times have improved greatly in the last 10 years. Example - took government a while to realize that all the baby boomers want new hips and knees to start off their retirement with a bang, so more investment in those areas was made years ago.

 

[JSCATTLE]

LBJ was the sorriest pos to occupy the White House
You need to research that socialist all the way back to his George R Brown roots

I agree 100 percent ..

Someone else said we feel entitled to ss and Medicare. Your damn right I do . I pay into it I want something out of it .. now if they would let me opt out of ss right now I would. I could make alot more with my 7 percent than I'll ever get back from the government.

And as far as single payer you can keep it Arron . I have good insurance through work and retiree insurance through work . I'm not willing to pay more for the same coverage people with lesser means pay for .. I know I sound like a ass hole but I look at it like this why should I pay 8 dollars for a gallon of milk while you pay a dollar for the same gallon. It's not my fault the other person didn't get a good job. Or bust their butt to better themselves.

 

[TexasBred]

Medicare is very wasteful and you just feel entitled to it, same can be said for SS. I personally can't see how our government can deny us Medicare and SS. I feel like I've paid my share and I assume you feel the same way Boondocks? Do we let the poor go hungry? Do we let the old go without any medical attention? Even if they've been freeloaders and deadbeats their whole lives what do you do about those folks? Shooting them behind the ear would fix Medicare and SS, but that's not a very popular option.
If the government would just let us buy our medicine from Canada without a doctor's prescription NAFTA might not be such a bad thing. Heck if we could buy drugs from Africa they'd be free, and all we'd pay is for the shipping. That is unless we could cut the middle man out and buy from the factory, that makes the drugs right here in the good olé US of A. The government is getting hosed by the medical industry, and we are the government, so you know who's going to be paying the bill.
The science thread is tied directly to this thread. IMO

You dam right....been paying SS since 1963 and medicare since 1965 and still pay a premium every month. Pay me or give me a refund.

 

[True Grit Farms]

LBJ was the sorriest pos to occupy the White House
You need to research that socialist all the way back to his George R Brown roots

I agree 100 percent ..

Someone else said we feel entitled to ss and Medicare. Your be nice right I do . I pay into it I want something out of it .. now if they would let me opt out of ss right now I would. I could make alot more with my 7 percent than I'll ever get back from the government.

And as far as single payer you can keep it Arron . I have good insurance through work and retiree insurance through work . I'm not willing to pay more for the same coverage people with lesser means pay for .. I know I sound like a be nice hole but I look at it like this why should I pay 8 dollars for a gallon of milk while you pay a dollar for the same gallon. It's not my fault the other person didn't get a good job. Or bust their butt to better themselves.

That's pretty harsh JSCATTLE. But I agree with you, but what happens if you loose your job, and you have to go back to being self employed and struggling to pay the bills?

 

[JSCATTLE]

I won't struggle. I learned a trade at an early age. I can make as much as I do now working construction in the plants. If I lose my job I'll go to work at another plant either construction or in operations. I will get hired before these kids coming out of college with a p tach degree because of experience. I've never been without a job since I was 13 years old . Now I do agree with taking care of the people with health issues . And by health issues i mean thunks that keep you from being able to work. Cancer etc. But being fat isn't an excuse . So I'd be very strict on who was actually sick.

 

[hurleyjd]

I won't struggle. I learned a trade at an early age. I can make as much as I do now working construction in the plants. If I lose my job I'll go to work at another plant either construction or in operations. I will get hired before these kids coming out of college with a p tach degree because of experience. I've never been without a job since I was 13 years old . Now I do agree with taking care of the people with health issues . And by health issues i mean thunks that keep you from being able to work. Cancer etc. But being fat isn't an excuse . So I'd be very strict on who was actually sick.

Could you perform your skills that make your living confined in a wheel chair.

 

[hurleyjd]

For Caustic:
President Johnson, in his annual State of the Union message to Congress, asks for enactment of a 6 percent surcharge on personal and corporate income taxes to help support the Vietnam War for two years, or "for as long as the unusual expenditures associated with our efforts continue." Congress delayed for almost a year, but eventually passed the surcharge. The U.S. expenditure in Vietnam for fiscal year 1967 would be $21 billion.

 

[JSCATTLE]

I won't struggle. I learned a trade at an early age. I can make as much as I do now working construction in the plants. If I lose my job I'll go to work at another plant either construction or in operations. I will get hired before these kids coming out of college with a p tach degree because of experience. I've never been without a job since I was 13 years old . Now I do agree with taking care of the people with health issues . And by health issues i mean thunks that keep you from being able to work. Cancer etc. But being fat isn't an excuse . So I'd be very strict on who was actually sick.

Could you perform your skills that make your living confined in a wheel chair.[/quote

No. That's why I said I agree with taking care of those who have actual disabilities and long term medical issues that prevent you from preforming a job . But I'm smart enough to learn a desk job if I was confined to a wheelchair ..

 

[Caustic Burno]

Let's not forget the thousands of boys that died in or because of Vietnam all the while LBJ was robbing the coffers to pad B&R wallets.
My older brother was one.

 

[Anonymous]

In my opinion, there is almost no way of predicting what future healthcare or insurance cost will be. What will your dollars be worth? With the Federal debt steady increasing and more people on social programs, more dollars will be created by The Federal Reserve to pay for these programs...making products and services more and more expensive. What cost x today could very well cost xxxx in 10 years. I'm sure most retirees receive more Social Security and Medicare benefits in dollars than they ever paid in. But the question is, What was the value of dollars paid in back then vs value of dollars in benefits at the time received? In 1970, the average yearly income was $7700. In 2010 it was $48,000. Currency inflation. A dollar in 1912 would buy the same thing it would in 1889. The Federal Reserve was created in 1913 and look what has happened the last 100 years. I think you'ld need a crystal ball to answer the question .