A new study reveals that older Americans—whether on traditional Medicare or Medicare Advantage—face higher out-of-pocket costs and more barriers to care than seniors in other wealthy nations.
I've lived it, and I know it well. I was born a US citizen in a US Army hospital in West Germany not long after World War 2. I now have dual US-EU citizenships. I have lived many years in both US and Europe. I also served for 6 years in my 20s in the US Army stationed in West Germany, where I saw the European health care systems at first hand. What they offer their citizens is a human right, a genuine religious caring about our fellow humans... which answers the question that many of us had while stationed there: why did so many U.S. military personnel and civilians (Civil Service, etc) choose to retire on the West German economy rather than return to the USA? The principal reason for their retirement in West Germany or other European nations was health care.
You are 100% on target. I might tweak one sentence in which you compare the US system (corporate for-profit wealth care) with "most" other wealthy countries. The fact is: ours is FAR worse (criminal!) than the health system in ANY other industrialized nation.
About Medicare: Let us never forget to shame the corporate republicans by recalling the immortal turds of their ridiculous leader Ronald Reagan, who in 1965 went on record saying "If Medicare becomes law, we will never again be a free people."
People in the United States have to be utterly delusional to have resisted Universal Health Care for the past century. Ours is the WORST medical 'care' system in the industrialized world by far. No other nation comes close to the statistics. See landmark (but ignored) 2009 Harvard University, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge MA Health Systems study that found "over 45,000" U.S. citizens die needlessly from for-profit medical decisions... we can add to that "how many millions are maimed or have their lives shortened for the same reasons?"
Add to that also "how many millions lose their pensions, their life savings, and their homes to pay for absurdly, criminally inflated health care ('wealth scare') costs so that bottom-feeder middlemen, who offer no care but sell so-called insurance, steal over a trillion dollars per year from the U.S. GDP. But oh no, it's "evil socialism" to have your child survive heart surgery, cancer, trauma... oh no, Ronny Ray Gun, we would never again be a free people if Medicare (a mild version of UHC for over 65s) becomes law. Consider also that the dishonest filth media in the USA have not adequately exposed the absolute filth and dishonesty of "medicare advantage" or should we say "mediscare?"
We need to get rid of Trump and his zoo of foreign agents who have seized power in this country while their owners Putin and Xi smirk... but we will still never be a free people unless we adopt Universal Health Care (pick any model... European, Japan, Australia, NZ, you name it, take the best features and make a new mix... UHC is faster, cheaper, better than our criminal wealth scare system. Let's become a Free People instead of Ronny Ray Gun's dishonest "FEE PEOPLE."
Not a German, but a Brit who said, "Americans always do the right thing, after trying everything else" (attributed to Churchill). Maybe we'll eventually do the right thing (and other fictions I've heard). Here though, profit taking always trumps (sic) the right thing, so getting the for-profit insurance companies out of the middle between patients (all of us at some point, with certainty) and health care professionals, may never see the light in the U.S.
Let's talk barriers and it's not just seniors allegedly choosing to avoid health care! Since reaching age 65 I have experienced both original Medicare AND three different Medicare supplement type plans. None were of any use whatsoever. Including original Medicare. Ms. Lieberman, what you may not understand is that it isn't necessarily seniors making a choice to "skip" health care. The FACT is that so few health care providers are accepting Medicare patients! Seniors usually do not have an actual choice whether to pursue health care! Among especially the Medicare Advantage insurance companies, though they claim (in false advertising and falsely packed directories of alleged enrolled 'providers') there are very few actual doctors - MDs or DOs - actually taking Medicare patients. Advantage plans even redirect patients into one of two treatment options: telehealth, or PAs -- or even moreso now, just NPs. While that's fine for minor issues, if seniors have more serious health concerns they are instructed to "just go to urgent care" (but many walk-in immediate care clinics may or may not - depending on the week or month - "accept" Medicare or Medicare supplement/Advantage patients). Or patients are told to just "go to the ER if you're THAT worried." I wish I was exaggerating. I wish I was just being sarcastic. No, I am speaking from direct personal experience AND from the direct documented experiences of the other elders in my family and circle of friends.
I have been working for 40 years and have had 12% for social security and 2.9% withheld from my yearly earnings (half from me and half from my employer...which BTW is still from my wage). At a salary of say 250,000$ per year, that would be 1.5 million dollars without inflation. Truthfully, I want it back to invest in my own healthcare and retirement, but our corrupt and incompetent government has stolen this money from me. I will likely never see a penny (and in fact will most likely be paying out of my own pocket for healthcare at some future date even though I already paid in for 40 years, a classic double charge). This may seem like an oversimplification, but the gist of it is real life. Insurance is designed to spread risk, not charity, after all.
We need to repopulate these funds and watch them like hawks instead of letting the money seep into the politician family and friend's pockets, as they have for decades.
Here is a newsflash, the American people are waking up to this shenanigan as we speak, and I will bet most will not agree that giving the government total control with Universal Healthcare is going to make much sense to sensible citizens.
Shame on the Boomers for letting this happen. Politicians and government bureaucrats need to be transparent and policed. Kicking the can only compounds debts for the future, and their grandchildren will hold the bag...The Boomers will be gone, but us GenXers will get to see the whole disgusting thing.
Listen to the podcast What The Health? by the KFF and you will see that it is not the government but the insurance companies that is the source of your problems.
Retired MD here with traditional Medicare and not an Advantage plan for me and my wife thank God.
Healthcare comparisons between the US and other developed countries is at best confusing; the only statistical analysis that’s meaningful is our health outcomes and it has nothing to do with access to healthcare. We have the worst health outcomes of all developed nations and it has nothing to do medical treatments. Entirely lifestyle choices and knee jerk bandaging.
Can’t go into it now but that “it’s the lifestyle to blame” canard has been shown not to be the cause (unless you factor out morbidity and mortality from guns.). RFKjr and Dr Oz will not be a good source of facts here for you. Go to KFF and The Commonwealth Fund for real data. You owe it to your family.
That is not a very nice way to communicate your opinions through belittling sarcasm. I have never read anything from RFK Jr or OZ. You’re part of the problem, Mr. MD.
Yes, to degree, the reimbursement system is a glaring conflict of interest. There is no meaningful incentive to get people well before they get chronically ill, and then it’s too late for the patient, but the money rolls in.
Republicans keep allowing the for-profit private health insurance companies to provide solutions. These corporations only want more corporate welfare and more profit.
Expanded and improved Medicare for all will provide solutions.
I've lived it, and I know it well. I was born a US citizen in a US Army hospital in West Germany not long after World War 2. I now have dual US-EU citizenships. I have lived many years in both US and Europe. I also served for 6 years in my 20s in the US Army stationed in West Germany, where I saw the European health care systems at first hand. What they offer their citizens is a human right, a genuine religious caring about our fellow humans... which answers the question that many of us had while stationed there: why did so many U.S. military personnel and civilians (Civil Service, etc) choose to retire on the West German economy rather than return to the USA? The principal reason for their retirement in West Germany or other European nations was health care.
You are 100% on target. I might tweak one sentence in which you compare the US system (corporate for-profit wealth care) with "most" other wealthy countries. The fact is: ours is FAR worse (criminal!) than the health system in ANY other industrialized nation.
About Medicare: Let us never forget to shame the corporate republicans by recalling the immortal turds of their ridiculous leader Ronald Reagan, who in 1965 went on record saying "If Medicare becomes law, we will never again be a free people."
People in the United States have to be utterly delusional to have resisted Universal Health Care for the past century. Ours is the WORST medical 'care' system in the industrialized world by far. No other nation comes close to the statistics. See landmark (but ignored) 2009 Harvard University, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge MA Health Systems study that found "over 45,000" U.S. citizens die needlessly from for-profit medical decisions... we can add to that "how many millions are maimed or have their lives shortened for the same reasons?"
Add to that also "how many millions lose their pensions, their life savings, and their homes to pay for absurdly, criminally inflated health care ('wealth scare') costs so that bottom-feeder middlemen, who offer no care but sell so-called insurance, steal over a trillion dollars per year from the U.S. GDP. But oh no, it's "evil socialism" to have your child survive heart surgery, cancer, trauma... oh no, Ronny Ray Gun, we would never again be a free people if Medicare (a mild version of UHC for over 65s) becomes law. Consider also that the dishonest filth media in the USA have not adequately exposed the absolute filth and dishonesty of "medicare advantage" or should we say "mediscare?"
We need to get rid of Trump and his zoo of foreign agents who have seized power in this country while their owners Putin and Xi smirk... but we will still never be a free people unless we adopt Universal Health Care (pick any model... European, Japan, Australia, NZ, you name it, take the best features and make a new mix... UHC is faster, cheaper, better than our criminal wealth scare system. Let's become a Free People instead of Ronny Ray Gun's dishonest "FEE PEOPLE."
John T. Cullen JTC Sheep Heil!
johntcullen.substack.com <---- please read!
https://www.johntcullen.com
https://www.galleycity.com <---- 50+ books
MARA Make America Real Again
Not a German, but a Brit who said, "Americans always do the right thing, after trying everything else" (attributed to Churchill). Maybe we'll eventually do the right thing (and other fictions I've heard). Here though, profit taking always trumps (sic) the right thing, so getting the for-profit insurance companies out of the middle between patients (all of us at some point, with certainty) and health care professionals, may never see the light in the U.S.
Republicans do not understand human rights nor most rights.
Let's talk barriers and it's not just seniors allegedly choosing to avoid health care! Since reaching age 65 I have experienced both original Medicare AND three different Medicare supplement type plans. None were of any use whatsoever. Including original Medicare. Ms. Lieberman, what you may not understand is that it isn't necessarily seniors making a choice to "skip" health care. The FACT is that so few health care providers are accepting Medicare patients! Seniors usually do not have an actual choice whether to pursue health care! Among especially the Medicare Advantage insurance companies, though they claim (in false advertising and falsely packed directories of alleged enrolled 'providers') there are very few actual doctors - MDs or DOs - actually taking Medicare patients. Advantage plans even redirect patients into one of two treatment options: telehealth, or PAs -- or even moreso now, just NPs. While that's fine for minor issues, if seniors have more serious health concerns they are instructed to "just go to urgent care" (but many walk-in immediate care clinics may or may not - depending on the week or month - "accept" Medicare or Medicare supplement/Advantage patients). Or patients are told to just "go to the ER if you're THAT worried." I wish I was exaggerating. I wish I was just being sarcastic. No, I am speaking from direct personal experience AND from the direct documented experiences of the other elders in my family and circle of friends.
Republicans think health insurance is care.
Ich bedanke sie, Frau Katze, und hoffe sie oefters wieder mit meinen Kommentaren zu erfreuen. Alles gute! JTC
My state (Arizona) discourages allowing children to be bilingual
I have been working for 40 years and have had 12% for social security and 2.9% withheld from my yearly earnings (half from me and half from my employer...which BTW is still from my wage). At a salary of say 250,000$ per year, that would be 1.5 million dollars without inflation. Truthfully, I want it back to invest in my own healthcare and retirement, but our corrupt and incompetent government has stolen this money from me. I will likely never see a penny (and in fact will most likely be paying out of my own pocket for healthcare at some future date even though I already paid in for 40 years, a classic double charge). This may seem like an oversimplification, but the gist of it is real life. Insurance is designed to spread risk, not charity, after all.
We need to repopulate these funds and watch them like hawks instead of letting the money seep into the politician family and friend's pockets, as they have for decades.
Here is a newsflash, the American people are waking up to this shenanigan as we speak, and I will bet most will not agree that giving the government total control with Universal Healthcare is going to make much sense to sensible citizens.
Shame on the Boomers for letting this happen. Politicians and government bureaucrats need to be transparent and policed. Kicking the can only compounds debts for the future, and their grandchildren will hold the bag...The Boomers will be gone, but us GenXers will get to see the whole disgusting thing.
Listen to the podcast What The Health? by the KFF and you will see that it is not the government but the insurance companies that is the source of your problems.
Retired MD here with traditional Medicare and not an Advantage plan for me and my wife thank God.
Republicans have lead the way to all this confusion all the while giving corporate welfare to for-profit private insurance companies.
Thank you & yes I will never choose part C. I will listen to the podcast and we need to rescue ourselves at this point.
Healthcare comparisons between the US and other developed countries is at best confusing; the only statistical analysis that’s meaningful is our health outcomes and it has nothing to do with access to healthcare. We have the worst health outcomes of all developed nations and it has nothing to do medical treatments. Entirely lifestyle choices and knee jerk bandaging.
Can’t go into it now but that “it’s the lifestyle to blame” canard has been shown not to be the cause (unless you factor out morbidity and mortality from guns.). RFKjr and Dr Oz will not be a good source of facts here for you. Go to KFF and The Commonwealth Fund for real data. You owe it to your family.
Retired MD.
That is not a very nice way to communicate your opinions through belittling sarcasm. I have never read anything from RFK Jr or OZ. You’re part of the problem, Mr. MD.
Thanks, in reality it’s premiums (profits) that determine the shape we are in.
Yes, to degree, the reimbursement system is a glaring conflict of interest. There is no meaningful incentive to get people well before they get chronically ill, and then it’s too late for the patient, but the money rolls in.
People seldom choose disease and suffering. Expanded and improved Medicare for all will help so many.
If every citizen in the US had a private Dr. under the current healthcare reimbursement, fee for service fiasco, we would still be in the same shape.
Greetings. Superb reporting. Found the study you referenced, thanks! At https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2024/dec/health-care-affordability-older-adults-how-us-compares-other-countries
Republicans keep allowing the for-profit private health insurance companies to provide solutions. These corporations only want more corporate welfare and more profit.
Expanded and improved Medicare for all will provide solutions.
Some of the worst run health insurance companies were and currently are non-profits