MetaFilter posts tagged with medicare

The First Ripples of the Silver Tsunami

Acromion — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 11:18:53 -0800

Nearly 1 in 5 young adults is out of work. Student debt is the highest its ever been. With a 10 year job growth of negative 230,000 jobs, the pool of available jobs is the lowest its ever been as a ratio to available college grads. And even with this dwindling tax base, in order to sustain Medicare and Social Security by 2020, we will need to tax 1.5 workers for every retiree. The dominant media narrative now is focused on the racial tensions surrounding Obama's health care reform. But in reality, the strongest opposition to Obama now comes not from young whites, who stand to benefit the most from medical reform. It is largely from 'angry white seniors' who fear cuts in the their Medicare. Are you ready for the Silver Tsunami?

Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine

Astro Zombie — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 11:59:54 -0800

Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine. Via Wikipedia: Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine is a 1961 LP recorded by Ronald Reagan. In this 11-minute recording, Reagan "criticized Social Security for supplanting private savings and warned that subsidized medicine would curtail Americans' freedom" and that "pretty soon your son won't decide when he's in school, where he will go or what he will do for a living. He will wait for the government to tell him." The LP was a product of Operation Coffee Cup, a stealth program by the American Medical Associaltion in opposition to what would later be Medicare. A history of the campaign from HuffPost.

Where do you get your health insurance from?

sid abotu — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 22:25:54 -0800

A simple question shows how complex the issue is. Chris at "Cynical C" asks his fellow citizens where they get thier health care (insurance) from and the incredible diversity of the current options and situations is immediately apparent. Quite spontaneously (but surely not unexpectedly), the question of "How much does it cost you?" becomes an essential part of the answers. Outsiders opine and tell stories and commiserate. For further information regarding the issue and the forces at work this Canadian has leaned on Bill Moyers and The Daily Howler.

It Begins

nasreddin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:51:32 -0800

Three committees of the United States House of Representatives have released the House's version of healthcare reform--the America's Affordable Health Choices Act. The bill [1000 page pdf] [summary] introduces a Health Insurance Exchange, minimum standards for benefit packages, protections for consumers, and a "level playing field" public insurance option with the right to use Medicare rates for the first three years. Initial reactions are positive.

Your Tax Dollars At Work

fourcheesemac — Sun, 17 May 2009 05:59:50 -0800

A message from baby Emily. Most popular baby names + Medicare advice + awful Elvis impersonation = EPIC FAIL. A single link video post from the Social Security Administration. You will laugh. Until you remember we (USians) paid for this. (via Andrew Sullivan)

Coverage with Evidence Development

ikkyu2 — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 13:04:06 -0800

Coverage with Evidence Development. Never heard of it? Me neither, until today. It's what they call this idea: if you want to be covered by Medicare, you're forced to participate in medical research. The AMA approves (article abstract only). So much for informed consent.

Is the U.S. Bankrupt?

ikkyu2 — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 20:34:26 -0800

Is the U.S. Bankrupt? [332Kb PDF] Laurence Kotlikoff, writing in this month's Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, says "yes" - to the tune of $66 trillion! [more inside]

In which a bill is being unconstitutionally treated as law

rxrfrx — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 11:39:30 -0800

In February, President George W. Bush signed into law a bill that did not pass the House of Representatives. Did he do so intentionally, and will the error be corrected?

Congressional Staffer Attacked

pandaharma — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 23:51:47 -0800

Newsfilter: Emilia DiSanto, chief investigator for Chuck Grassley was attacked at her home. Was the attack connected to the Finance Committee's investigations into Medicare Fraud, drug secrets and insider trading, or the Abramoff scandal? (via)

Paying for Katrina

wadefranklin — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 14:42:09 -0800

Paying for Katrina: Republican congressman Zach Wamp of Tennessee suggested today that the costs associated with Katrina were 'good reason to at least delay' expanding the Medicare prescription drug benefit. Should the elderly and poor be expected to bear this burden?

Mysterious Fax Adds to Intrigue Over the Medicare Bill's Cost

jpoulos — Fri, 19 Mar 2004 07:17:36 -0800

Mysterious Fax Adds to Intrigue Over the Medicare Bill's Cost
"Late one Friday afternoon in January, after the House of Representatives had adjourned for the week, Cybele Bjorklund, a House Democratic health policy aide, heard the buzz of the fax machine at her desk. Coming over the transom, with no hint of the sender, was a document she had been seeking for months: an estimate by Medicare's chief actuary showing the cost of prescription drug benefits for the elderly....

"Ms. Bjorklund had been pressing Mr. Foster for his numbers since June. When he refused, telling her he could be fired, she said, she confronted his boss, Thomas A. Scully, then the Medicare administrator. 'If Rick Foster gives that to you," Ms. Bjorklund remembered Mr. Scully telling her, "I'll fire him so fast his head will spin.'"

(NYTimes.com, reg req)

Misleader

four panels — Mon, 15 Mar 2004 08:01:37 -0800

Bush administration pays actors to pose as TV journalists praising the benefits of the new Medicare law.

New Medicare Bill Bars Extra Insurance for Drugs

Irontom — Mon, 08 Dec 2003 04:48:16 -0800

New Medicare Bill Bars Extra Insurance for Drugs
"Millions of Medicare beneficiaries have bought private insurance to fill gaps in Medicare. But a little-noticed provision of the legislation prohibits the sale of any Medigap policy that would help pay drug costs after Jan. 1, 2006, when the new Medicare drug benefit becomes available. This is one of many surprises awaiting beneficiaries, who will find big gaps in the drug benefit and might want private insurance to plug the holes — just as they buy insurance to supplement Medicare coverage of doctors' services and hospital care." [warning: NY Times link]

aflakete — Sun, 04 Feb 2001 12:04:05 -0800

Why bother with insurance forms--go to the Luxury Hospital. And they're helping Medicare costs stay low too!! (?)