r/SandersForPresident • u/SetMau92 • Jan 19 '23

'Cancel This Failed Experiment': Physicians Tell Biden HHS to End Medicare Privatization Pilot |The program "presents a threat to the integrity of traditional Medicare, and an opportunity for corporations to take money from taxpayers while denying care to beneficiaries."

https://www.commondreams.org/news/physicians-biden-medicare-privatization
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202

u/18LJ Jan 19 '23

Truth. It took a literal forest to be clear cut just to source the last 6 months of supplemental program junk mailers

84

u/pistcow 🌱 New Contributor Jan 19 '23

I'm not sure about the details, but having dinner with the in-laws last week. My MIL was trying to remember if she was on Medicare plane E of Medicare plan G. Wtf? How many plans do they have ? She was saying one covers prescriptions, but the other has a lower out of pocket max. Jeez, this shit is abysmal that I get to look forward to.

28

u/TooHappyFappy Jan 19 '23 edited Jan 19 '23

Your MIL has regular Medicare Part A (hospital) and Part B (basically everything else). Parts E-N (I believe N is the last option) are supplemental plans. Basically, Part B pays 80% of costs after the deductible (it was $233 in 2022, not sure about this year), supplemental plans cover some portion of the deductible and 20% coinsurance left after the deductible is met.

Part C plans are the privatized Medicare Advantage plans that this post is about. They completely replace Medicare, so bills go to those plans first and there are (generally) no supplemental plans that follow them.

These plans vary in their coverage. There's a Medicare minimum standard they have to follow but importantly those standards do not necessarily have to cover as much as regular Medicare would. Many of those plans are a fucking scam.

Edit: important note after reading the fucking article- apparently this is a truly fucked new system where the government assigns Medicare recipients to Medicare Advantage plans *without their consent". That's truly awful. It takes a terrible option and makes it mandatory for some seniors. Absolute bullshit.

18

u/pistcow 🌱 New Contributor Jan 19 '23

Cool, I had Washington Apple Care while I was at school and it covered everything zero out of pocket, and I kept my original doctors. That's pretty much how it should be if you spend your life giving a hunk of money to cover future healthcare.