Imaginary Man Has Imaginary Discussion with Romney about Imaginary Medicare

Some Obama re-election web site (Wonder Women for Barry or something like that) has printed a letter from someone I've never heard of who supposedly walked past Mitt Romney in Massachusetts General Hospital on March 7 and then fantasized about the former Massachusetts Governor.

I don't want to go there for all the obvious reasons but it is important to point out the errors in the unknown person's (maybe he's imaginary too?) when it comes to Medicare.  The maybe imaginary man says:

"Now I am on Medicare, but have a Medicare Supplement policy that is competitively priced due to the (Massachusetts) Connector (Authority)."

Huh? This is one of many imaginary statements about Medicare by the imaginary man. The Connector Authority has nothing to do with Medicare supplements, also known as Medigap policies.  People eligible for Medicare cannot even use the Connector.  And our Medigap policies here in Massachusetts are among the most expensive in the nation.

(As are the policies available at full cost through the Connector -- for non-Medicare-eligible people -- because of its huge overhead, Massachusetts-political-rot, and minimal market share. Maybe he's fantasizing about getting some of the free or highly subsidized policies available from the Connector for those making up to $70,000 a year.  But that has nothing to do with Medicare either.)

The imaginary man goes on to say:

" I am now eligible for Medicare, since I turn 65 next week; March 12 to be exact.  So once I am on Medicare..."

If you turn 65 in March, you should have joined Medicare back in January because it starts the first day of the month you turn 65, not on your birthday. But if you wait too late to sign up, it won't start until two or three months later. And if you wait longer than that, you cannot sign up until the following January and may have to pay a penalty. Even if you receive insurance through retirement or are still working and receive insurance from an employer, make sure you sign up for "free" Part A. ("Free" only if you forget you paid Medicare taxes for 40 years.)

Relative to Medicare, the imaginary man concludes:

"I won’t have any... lifetime caps on coverage..."

Er. No, imaginary man, you have that backwards.  Medicare is terrible insurance with potentially devestating lifetime caps, as well as high co-pays and deductibles and no vision/dental/annual-physical/drug coverage. That's why you bought the supplement, right?

There was some further drivel that implied that Romney should not sign up for the Medicare insurance he paid for for 40 years of his working life depending on how he structured his income. So forgetting the fact that this thought goes against the "one for all/all for one" mantra of the Obama hope and change machine, Romney is in fact going to pay a much higher price for Part B than the rest of us and maybe up to $450 a month for his Part A. 

 

Having nothing to do with Medicare the imaginary man concluded his fantasizing about Romney by congratulating him for

  

 "...enacting the Massachusetts health reform back in 1996."

No, imaginary man.  That was the CelluciCare reform in 1996, not to be confused with DukakaCare reform in 1988. You need a scorecard to keep with up the almost every-other-year reforms of Massachusetts health care.

 

Now if the imaginary man was fantasizing about Wild Bill Weld instead of boring old Romney, that might be interesting.