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Medicare Is A Cash Cow Milked By Crooks
DIANE L. GRUBER: DIANELGRUBER.SUBSTACK.COM
Let’s be clear.
By passing and implementing the Affordable Care Act, AKA Obamacare, in March 2010, the Democrats* had a short-term goal and a long-term goal. The short-term goal was to deny Medicare benefits to Baby Boomers, the FIRST generation to pay Medicare taxes our ENTIRE WORKING LIVES. And just in time, as the oldest Baby Boomers started claiming their Medicare benefits in 2011. The long-term goal was to destroy large parts of the private insurance market, hoping Americans would BEG for Socialized Medicine. After 14 years, the jury is in: Obamacare decreased both the quality of and access to healthcare for Americans, while doubling/tripling the cost.
With the execution murder of the CEO of United HealthCare, by a trust fund baby, Americans are discussing Obamacare’s “failures.” United HealthCare is one of the largest healthcare insurance companies in the USA. It profited significantly from Obamacare’s mandate, which forced everyone to buy insurance policies only from government approved insurance companies while outlawing the private insurance market. [Americans call these failures, while Democrat politicians and bureaucrats call these successes. Obamacare is working as designed.]
1. MEDICARE IS A PYRAMID SCHEME
Medicare was enacted in 1965, when Democrats owned the US House, the US Senate and the White House. My grandparents, born in the 1890s, were immediately eligible for benefits, even though they never paid any Medicare taxes. My parents, already in their 40s, immediately started paying Medicare taxes, but did not receive any Medicare benefits until 1988.
When I got my first job, I immediately started paying Medicare taxes. I PAID & PAID & PAID, and before I became eligible for Medicare benefits the Dems passed Obamacare, slicing Medicare benefits to the bone. Obamacare was funded by stealing 50% of Medicare funds and using them for new entitlement (welfare) programs for people WHO HAVE NOT PAID INTO MEDICARE, including illegal aliens.
PYRAMID SCHEMES WORK GREAT EARLY ON, LATER PARTICIPANTS ARE CHEATED BIG-TIME
Pyramid schemes are illegal under Federal Statute because the early “investors” make out like bandits, and later “investors” are cheated big time. My beloved grandparents, bless their hearts, lived to ages 89 & 96, and made out like Medicare bandits. Living to ages 85 & 89, my parents received a handsome return on their modest Medicare investment.
My parents and grandparents relied solely on Medicare for their health insurance because the benefits were sufficient to cover their medical expenses. In contrast, my husband and I have private health insurance to supplement Medicare. The premiums have more than doubled since Obamacare was enacted. Medicare currently pays so poorly and covers significantly less than it did for my parents and grandparents. And I suspect the generation currently in their late 40s & early 50s will see little or no return for their Medicare taxes.
ALL pyramid schemes are illegal because they CHEAT PEOPLE. Somebody always gets cheated. By their very design pyramid schemes will fail when the scammers run out of OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY.
2. DEMOCRATS SAW BABY BOOMERS AS CASH COWS
Not only was the Baby Boomer cohort the largest generation in US history, we were also the first generation wherein the majority of married women were in the workforce. The Left literally salivated over how they could get they grubby hands on our wages, concocting all kinds of excuses for why this or that new program was needed. Medicare and Medicaid were two such programs that politicians claimed were desperately needed.
This American is a member of the Baby Boom generation, that HUGE cohort of children born after WWII, 1946 to 1964. The Vietnam War notwithstanding,** when Medicare was enacted, politicians and bureaucrats knew that Baby Boomers would be getting old eventually. They knew there would be A WHOLE LOT OF US signing up for Medicare beginning in 2011 and continuing until 2029.
3. THIS WAS NOT A SURPRISE.
So, after sucking Baby Boomers dry throughout our working lives, the bureaucrats and politicians sure did not want to give us the benefits we had worked for. Viola! They created Obamacare. Medicare will be insolvent by 2026, as planned.
4.
ACCESS TO MEDICAL CARE IS BEING REDUCED FOR SENIORS
Obamacare was partially funded by stealing $716 BILLION from Medicare during its first 10 years. How much are our federal overlords stealing THIS decade? The Dems used Medicare as a cash cow to fund Obamacare on the eve of when Medicare began serving the largest number of seniors, that is, Baby Boomers. Currently, 8,000 to 10,000 Baby Boomers are turning age 65 every day.
Cuts in Medicare payments are drastically reducing ACCESS TO CARE for seniors. Payments to hospitals, home health agencies and skilled nursing facilities were significantly reduced under Obamacare. The Biden Regime slashed payment for home health care services beginning in January 1, 2023. These facilities had no choice but to close their doors or cut back their services to Medicare patients.
5. A PERSONAL EXAMPLE
I lost my Ophthalmologist in 2012 because of Obamacare. Anyone who has visited an eye doctor has noticed that the majority of people sitting in the waiting room are elderly. Indeed, watching many patients struggling to walk and accompanied by relatives, I felt like a teenager.
When Obamacare was enacted I was not yet a Medicare patient. Nevertheless, I was negatively impacted by it. My eye doctor’s Medicare payments were about to be cut to the bone. He was forced to close his doors and move to a group practice in another state.
6.
KILLING OFF SENIORS HAS AN ADDED BONUS FOR THE GOVERNMENT
During his sales tour to force Obamacare down our throats, President Obama knowingly lied to Americans 28 times: “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor; if you like your plan, you can keep your plan. The average American will save $2,500 per year in insurance premiums.”
Obama knew that many Americans would lose access to their doctors soon after Obamacare was fully enacted. He also knew, as time went on, there would be fewer and fewer Medicare doctors for seniors and the disabled.
Obamacare significantly lowered payments to Medicare doctors. Due to that, and due to the burdensome paperwork required, doctors are taking on fewer and fewer Medicare patients. Indeed, more & more doctors are choosing NOT to become Medicare doctors. In addition, Americans are likely to see fewer medical students entering specialties which have high numbers of elderly patients, such as Internists, Cardiologists & Ophthalmologists. This, at a time when America will have its largest numbers of elderly citizens.
Denial of health care for seniors does have an added benefit for the Federal government: The sooner seniors die, the less Social Security benefits will be paid out. Crass? Yes, but factual. And the bureaucrats have already calculated how many will die and how much Social Security money they will “save” for every grandpa who goes to his grave earlier than he should.
DIANE L. GRUBER: DIANELGRUBER.SUBSTACK.COM
WILL BOBBY JR. BE ABLE TO RESCUE MEDICARE?