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Some Thoughts About Medicare [1]

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Date: 2023-11-18  

I went for an eye exam this week; my eyes are fine except for the fact that my vision has gotten a bit worse since the last exam, which is something I expected. What I didn’t expect was that my primary care person referred me to a clinic that is out of my Medicare Advantage Plan’s insurance network. I actually found 2 pairs of glasses that looked really good on me (glasses I like are hard to find), but I can’t get them.

So I called the insurance co the next day, and found out I could get those cool glasses; they would reimburse me $200 if I paid up front for the frames and prescription. Great, but the price for their least expensive glasses & lenses is over $400. Yeah, I also noticed the math doesn’t quite work out. I did get info on some in-network opticians, and found out (from an optician, not the insurance co) that my insurance company was in the process of outsourcing their vision coverage. So I may still have to pay full price up front and wait til the red tape gets untangled and spits $200 in my direction.

Which brings me to the reason for writing this diary. I’m sure the original idea for Medicare came from a genuine effort to help elderly and disabled people. What it’s become is a massive trough of money from which lobbyists and giant corporations feed. And it seems to get more complicated every year when I open the giant catalog filled with all the things my Advantage plan will no longer cover, and all the stupid “extras” I get instead. Like the complimentary “medication review” which is a person on the phone who may or may not have some experience or training in the pharmaceutical field. I am currently seeing at least half a dozen specialists for cancer and heart disease and have a lovely rainbow of pills I take every day. I have no desire to talk about it all with yet another person who doesn’t know my medical history, and is probably not going to do anything constructive to help me.

Speaking of medication, I’m old enough to remember when our Republican-led government thought it was a great idea to make drugs a separate plan from the rest of Medicare. I imagine GW sitting at the Resolute Desk, nodding vacantly as a group of Pharmaceutical lobbyists are gleefully telling him about how people would be able to choose a separate drug plan (and pay a separate amount of money) from the rest of their insurance coverage. All those old people will be so very delighted at the idea of a smorgasbord of medical coverage choices. Of course, the whole scheme was to make more money for the corporations, and it ended up confusing the hell out of people who could least afford yet another health insurance expense.

I’d love to have a conversation with the person (or persons) who thought it made sense to take vision, dental and hearing out of overall Medicare coverage. Of COURSE it was the insurance lobby’s idea, and it was designed to make those people rich.

Yes, we need to take money out of politics, but while we’re at it, let’s take money out of medical care. We’re the richest country on earth, at least that’s what I’ve been told, so why are citizens having to crowdfund to afford critical operations, medicine & hospital stays? Not to mention eyeglasses, hearing aids (yes, they’re an OTC item now, but still expensive, if less so) and dentures. All we can do to change that is vote; and vote with our brains, not the gut feelings the Republican idiots talk about.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/11/18/2206672/-Some-Thoughts-About-Medicare?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web

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