February 11, 2007
AFTER 40 YEARS OF UNIVERSAL HSA'S AND MEANS TESTING IT WILL BE JUST A WELFARE PROGRAM:
Bush's Proposed Health-Care Cuts Get Mixed Reviews: Some See Salvation, Others See Doom for Medicare and Medicaid (Christopher Lee and Lori Montgomery, 2/11/07, Washington Post)
A little-noticed section of that law, however, for the first time required the more affluent to pay higher premiums. Starting this year, about 1.5 million beneficiaries with incomes of more than $80,000 annually ($160,000 for couples) pay monthly premiums of $106 to $162.10 for Medicare Part B coverage for physician services, up from the standard premium of $93.50.Posted by Orrin Judd at February 11, 2007 12:01 AMThe Bush budget would no longer adjust the income thresholds annually by inflation. And it would tie drug benefit premiums to income starting next year, a move that would affect 1.1 million beneficiaries, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services calculates. The changes would save more than $10 billion over five years.
Budget hawks say Democrats should swallow hard and sign on.
"I know Democrats are reluctant and resistant and don't like the concept, but they have to scale back the federal commitment in some way," said Robert L. Bixby, executive director of the nonprofit Concord Coalition, which advocates reducing the federal deficit. "This does so in a progressive way, which is a principle the Democrats should be able to support."
But many seniors and their advocates, including the AARP, say an income test is unfair and threatens to make Medicare a welfare program instead of a broadly supported social insurance effort.
Cut the crap, Medicare is a welfare program. It was billed as a social insurance program to force us to pay into the fund. FICA is a tax, Medicare is a tax, taxes that increase every year without opposition from the people. Taxes that increase without politicians voting for it, providing them deniabilities. For those making $160000 in their senior years, they don't need medicare, they can afford to have private insurance. The total premium is about 1% of their income, less than half a cruise trip per year. In fact they are only paying $70 more per month than the lower income folks. One less dining out a month.
Posted by: ic at February 11, 2007 2:04 PMIf by one percent of their income of $160,000, you mean that premiums are $1,600/annum for a couple, you are far off the mark. Our income falls far short of that sum and we are paying nearly $3,000 per/annum for just our BC/BS supplemental insurance and another $3,000 for medications not counting Medicare and Part D insurance premiums.
If I had my druthers, I wouldn't have Medicare or any other government program, but unfortunately, we were in minority, so when we retired we learned that the only option to Medicare was an HMO.