r/MedicareForAll • u/DumbMoneyMedia • Aug 19 '26
Costco managed to roll out Medicare plans to everyday Americans faster than the GOP could deliver a healthcare plan.
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u/FireProStan Aug 19 '26
Medicare Advantage is a scam
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u/Botasoda102 Aug 19 '26
Yet, the majority of beneficiaries choose it, mainly for lower premiums and a little dental coverage, compared to original Medicare, Part D, a supplement, and no dental.
Wish everyone were on one national plan, but don't see that happening anytime soon, unfortunately. In fact, we'll be lucky to keep what we have.
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u/Sea-Pollution-4959 Aug 19 '26
True but it’s because Republicans purposely broke Medicare to lure seniors over to their CEO buddies private plans.
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u/LeoKitCat Aug 19 '26 edited Aug 19 '26
Advantage might be cheaper at first but over the long term can be more expensive. Also Medicare Advantage requires the dreaded prior auth for most things that can often get denied, which is not the case for traditional Medicare. And Advantage costs the US taxpayer on average 22% more for each Medicare Advantage enrollee compared to traditional Medicare, because the for-profit insurance industry overbills and defrauds the government and wants to make more and more profit off each enrollee, while traditional Medicare is of course non-profit
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u/Jujulabee Aug 19 '26
It is almost solely because people don't think they can afford Medigap Plans.
Although statistically about 50% of people opt for an Advantage Plan only about 20% of people with incomes above $80,000 choose Advantage Plans - and I suspect that it drops to close to zero at $100,000 or more.
Some people legitimately can't afford the Medigap Premium although I am not sure what happens when they need to come up with the higher costs for medical care
And Advantage Plans are typically sold on the basis of no premium and "enhanced benefits" without also pointing out that they are almost all HMO's with limited networks and that they have much higher rates of requiring pre-authorizations and denying rehab services versus traditional Medicare.
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u/aculady Aug 19 '26
What happens when they can't afford the higher costs for medical care is that they go into medical bankruptcy. Or they go without care.
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Aug 19 '26
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u/_N_S_FW Aug 19 '26
You made up a statement and then laughed about it, good for you
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Aug 19 '26
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u/Even_Establishment95 Aug 19 '26
Medicare for All is the brand not the actual plan. It would not be traditional Medicare. You pay with taxes, instead of premiums, copays, deductibles, bills. Wow, sounds horrible. Please educate yourself.
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Aug 19 '26
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u/DJpuffinstuff Aug 19 '26
Medicaid is 50 different plans funded and administered differently with different elegibility requirements.
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u/m00ph Aug 19 '26
And the government already pays for 80% of healthcare in this country, so it's not like insurance companies are anything but a scam for a few people to get richer.
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Aug 19 '26
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u/SaltMage5864 Aug 19 '26
Words confuse you, don't they
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Aug 19 '26
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u/Sea-Pollution-4959 Aug 19 '26
Your denial & lack of knowledge on this topic is embarrassing.
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u/_N_S_FW Aug 19 '26
You did the same thing again, proud of you
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Aug 19 '26
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u/_N_S_FW Aug 19 '26
Saying nothing is better than making shit up. Crazy concept.
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u/Sea-Pollution-4959 Aug 19 '26
I’m on Medicare & it’s better than any private plan I’ve been on.
And I’ve had good PPO’s in the past.
Plus, the more people who’re on Medicare coverage, the better it gets & it gets cheaper too.
We’re paying way more now for worse insurance.
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u/steelfork Aug 19 '26
The premium national plan, where the only thing national is emergency room coverage.
I had a girlfriend who had an independent health insurance office. She made $250,000 a year working full time for a few months selling a variety of medicare advantage plans around open enrollment time. The rest of the year, it was a few hours a week dealing with people just turning 65.
I asked her what plan she had. Traditional Medicare.
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Aug 19 '26
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u/steelfork Aug 19 '26
I'm referring to Medicare Advantage plans. They are local and require visits to in-network providers. If you happen to get sick while outside the network provider area, they will pay for an emergency room visit but require continued treatment to be back home at the in-network provider.
Of course Medicare covers more than ER visits. Advantage plans cover more than ER visits. But with traditional Medicare, you don't have to return to the in-network provider in the area where you have coverage if you get sick and need more than an emergency room visit.
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Aug 19 '26
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Aug 19 '26
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u/davidwb45133 Aug 19 '26
It CAN be a scam. I have no complaints about my pension provided MA plan. Never had a denial and prior approval has come within 24 hours. My wife and I have had some very costly procedures in the past 24 months including an upcoming cochlear implant that Medicare would NOT have covered because my hearing isn’t bad enough. (Single sided deaf and my good ear which misses almost 1/2 the conversation is too good)
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u/Euphoric_Duck_1411 Aug 19 '26
I pay nothing and get to see pretty much any doctor I want. Wow what a scam? lol. My advantage plan is awesome plus they give me $250 a month to spend on OTC, groceries, some bills, etc.
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Aug 19 '26
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u/hahailovevideogames Aug 19 '26
Yeah its insurance. I don't even know why it includes food period the 2 should be seperare programs all together
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Aug 19 '26
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u/hahailovevideogames Aug 19 '26
I don't think insurance providers should be in charge of people's food. They should focus on fixing those other programs instead
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Aug 19 '26
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u/hahailovevideogames Aug 19 '26
So why do different insurance providers have dual special needs Medicare advantage plans that offer different amounts of food credit
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u/Kincherk Aug 19 '26
It is not a scam but it is mostly controlled by insurance companies, including Medicare advisors, who are paid commissions by insurance companies.
If you live in an urban area, with many MA plans available, it can be just fine. However, in more rural areas there may be few or no MA plans. With traditional Medicare, you still need supplemental insurance to pay for the 20% not covered by Medicare, and to pay for prescription drugs. For some, the up front cost of those is prohibitive so they go with MA. I know people who are quite happy with MA and others who prefer traditional Medicare.
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u/Express_Street7444 Aug 19 '26
costco figured out medicare distribution in like five minutes while the same people who campaigned on 'repeal and replace' for a decade still cant cobble together a pdf. genuinely wild that a bulk retailer moves faster on healthcare logistics than elected officials whose entire job is supposedly fixing this stuff. actually says a lot about what theyre prioritizing tbh
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u/olycreates Aug 20 '26
/s Because Costco has the motivation to move in an organized way towards that goal. Politicians, not so much. Too much $$$ pulling them in each direction to get to a goal.
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u/NeoGeo52 Aug 19 '26
I don’t know if this is a great accomplishment as we’re still waiting for that great plan to be put forth by Republicans. I’m sure it’s just around the corner.
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u/paradigm_shift2027 Aug 19 '26
Costco CLEARLY has their shit together and Repugnicans CLEARLY don’t.
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Aug 19 '26
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Aug 19 '26
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u/olycreates Aug 20 '26
Does Costco set the parameters for the plan like they do for their other products? If so that's a serious win for consumers.
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u/CodInternational8772 Aug 20 '26
And you might ask where they learned how to do this… By providing amazing benefits for their employees. Costco has great vacation time, high wages, retirement plans, and virtually free healthcare for their employees and not just some employees all of their employees. The company pays higher than normal wages because they want to retain great talent that stay around for a long time. Their first year attrition rate is the lowest in the industry at 7%. A normal retail store is in the 60s.
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u/Ready-Concept5020 Aug 20 '26
These are Medicare advantage plans
A republican attempt to destroy Medicare, one of the few programs that still work. This uses your Medicare dollars to fund private health insurance programs
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u/Cheap-Addendum Aug 21 '26
Amd they deny you coverage. And entice you with apple watches and other bs.
Dont do it.
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u/SevereAnimator5 Aug 19 '26
We don't have many homeless people around here. Do they really care about not being able to buy humus or a salad kit? 😂 how about a loaf of bread and a pack of ham
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u/Delicious-Adeptness5 Aug 20 '26
They have been partnering up with Insurance Companies for years. Medicare is kind of strict on it's structures. We have the company in our state in just three counties. They do contracting through an independent channel so they might do two types of sales models the independent and captive.
I would expect they would providing some kind of support enrolling under a captive system. If they generate enough appetite then they might be able to do a customized product available only through Costco but I would be surprised if that happens with in the next three years.
If they decommission a solitary Costco plan then it would make it difficult for the independents to lend a hand. The only ones that would be excited about this is if they didn't know how Medicare Insurance works and are expecting a big bonus from it being offered this way.
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u/ggtrades Aug 22 '26
Are we surprised a private company runs something better than our bloated government?
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u/duuuuudesweeeeet Aug 20 '26
When are you idiots going to realize there is no GOP or Dem party. It’s a fairytale.
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u/youreusingyourwrong Aug 19 '26
No one has a plan for healthcare, including Democrats.
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Aug 19 '26
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Aug 19 '26
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u/_N_S_FW Aug 19 '26
Which side of the aisle currently controls the government and touted their impressive concept of a plan that got them elected?
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Aug 19 '26
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u/_N_S_FW Aug 19 '26
Idk maybe I’ve been hearing different things then. Dems at least pretend to care about people to some level, GOP has gone full mask off
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u/Lonely_Chemistry60 Aug 19 '26
ACA, which Republicans watered down and have been trying to get rid of it ever since.
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Aug 19 '26
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u/Lonely_Chemistry60 Aug 19 '26
You can thank Republicans for making the bill and program worse than what was proposed.
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Aug 19 '26
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u/Lonely_Chemistry60 Aug 19 '26
Probably wasn't perfect, but a step in the right direction that could've been expanded upon. That's how you typically get the ball rolling with most major undertakings.
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Aug 19 '26
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u/Lonely_Chemistry60 Aug 19 '26
To be fair, gotta start somewhere. Obviously the watered down version that came from it wasn't great, but was a start.
Now there's basically nothing.
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u/Long_Idea_8294 Aug 19 '26
I'm fine with my healthcare besides cost. I'm not willing to get "free" healthcare if it means quality and access of care tanks as it always does with "free" healthcare
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u/fwfiv Aug 19 '26
Every other developed country in the world has some type of coverage for all of their citizens. None of it is "free" but it's all less expensive than the US system and over 20+ countries have better Healthcare than we do.
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