No looney lefty lie is more recurring than the one that public Part C Medicare Advantage health plans are "private" and that Original Democratic-Party/LBJ Medicare is "public." Part C Medicare Advantage plans are no more private or public than Original Medicare.
That is, all four Parts of Medicare --- A and B, better known as Original Medicare, and C and the Part D drug program -- are
- all administered by private insurance companies today (and always have been)
- all paid for publicly1
So you can either say all Parts of Medicare are all private or all are public but you cannot say some are private and some are public.
Whichever, neither term means much.
1The government sends the private insurance company a check covering the services paid fee for service under Original Medicare or for the capitation fee under public Part C Medicare or for the defined contribution under Part D Medicare with the money from two Medicare trust funds containing money the beneficiaries gave the government over the years in payroll and income taxes... plus interest on one of those trust fund's balances -- which was in surplus from the mid 1980s until recently -- and from those who sadly never made it to Medicare age. In addition the programs are paid for via ongoing monthly premiums paid for -- in most cases -- by the beneficiary once on Medicare.
Comments