Exposing Looney Left Lie 14: We Seniors Really Really Pay For Our Medicare Hospital Services

In a previous post I laid out the complete flow of funds in the United States Medicare system illustrating how anyone fully under Medicare since its beginning in 1965 is paying his or her own way.

As the bold parts of the illustration show, this is particularly true of the funds that go from the Part A trust fund to pay for fee for service procedures in acute-care hospitals (if admitted) and rehabilitation services in skilled nursing facilities.

In fact, that fund has run a fairly large surplus in recent years and by law has had to invest in government bonds (which actually began to redeem in 2012).

1This statement is based on analysis -- as with all similar analysis -- that assumes the "premiums you pay" into Medicare Trust funds for the 40-50 years before you begin drawing benefits from Medicare are invested at a reasonable rate of return the way they would be if a real financial services company -- instead of the inept Federal government bureaucracy -- were involved.