OK, the good news is that Part B premiums are unchanged again this year. The bad news is that the far left journalists all around the United States are politicizing something that is likely totally tied to demographics but possibly tied to the good work of George W. Bush over a decade ago, and claiming the credit for the Obama administration and Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010 as amended. This October 10 story in the Globe is one example but I've seen dozens like it (in fact, they are all based initially on a feed from the far-left-wing Associated Press).
The three worst progaganda points floating in the ether claim
- “Medicare… costs-per-beneficiary have barely risen the past four years. That is because of spending cuts by President Obama and Congress, as well as low inflation in health care.”
- Actually not even the Medicare actuaries can figure out the cause. The most likely causes are not mentioned in the article. It is probably a result of the relatively better health of the baby boomers entering the Medicare program (simply because we are younger, not because we are actually healthier than our parents) and possibly a result of the reforms passed in 2003 by President Bush that went into effect in 2006. It is almost certainly not PPACA because its cuts to Medicare have not really started yet and the downward trend in health costs has been going on for 8 years.
- “Medicare’s hospital deductible will rise... But many people carry additional insurance to cover such costs.”
- Saying "many people carry additional insurance" is totally misleading. They want you to think that it is a small fraction of the people on Original LBJ/Democratic-Party/”as we know it” Medicare. In fact, well over 90% of the people on Medicare make additional supplemental arrangements because Original LBJ/Democratic-Party/”as we know it” Medicare is the worst insurance ever devised. Ask yourself how bad must a government program be that over 90% of the people for whom it is designed have to make other arrangements?
- “For the approximately 50,000,000 residents in Medicare Part B… (or plug in your state's name and some much smaller number) premiums and deductibles will remain unchanged in 2015 at $104.90 and $147 respectively.”
- In other words, just about everyone in Medicare. I cannot imagine the purpose of publishing this precise but immediately outdated number, but it is wrong; all of us are not paying $104.90.
- About 15% of the people on Medicare Part B pay nothing or a greatly reduced amount for their Part B
- Because of PPACA -- about 10% of the people on Medicare pay 50% to 200% more than the rest of us pay for their Part B insurance in order to partially fund healthcare insurance for people not of Medicare age.
- And about 5% of the people on Medicare have paid a lot more than the rest of us pay since around 2007. That extra money from the top 5% since 2007 is how the Bush administration and the 2003 Congress funded Part D, you know the Medicare drug program that the Democrats always claim was/is “unfunded” and that the Democrats have tried to repeal for the last 12 years.
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