It’s that time of the year - deep summer in the high mountains - which means guests galore at our place, so I’ll be spotty for the next week or so.
Just a quick note to spotlight an issue I’m passionate about - healthcare as a human right (and also as a pro-economic force). Here is an article from the WSJ a day or so ago:
Insurance Companies’ Medicare Pullback Is Here
Insurers are planning to scale back benefits, trim plans and exit from markets. Investors are cheering.
Many seniors enjoy the perks that come with Medicare Advantage. But those extras—like dental coverage and free gym memberships—are being scaled back.
Insurers are cutting benefits and exiting from unprofitable markets, and Wall Street is cheering them on. Once rewarded by investors for rapid expansion in the lucrative privatized Medicare program, companies are now being applauded for showing restraint amid rising medical costs and lower government payments…
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While I’ll write more about healthcare in the future, let’s just be really clear: Medicare Advantage is a scam, simply a means to transfer healthcare dollars from taxpayers to private companies like United Healthcare, Aetna and Cigna.
All we need to do is remember why we needed Medicare in the first place. Seniors are bad risks when it comes to health insurance simply because they have more health issues as they age (duh!) and it is simply nearly impossible for health insurers to make a profit on seniors. So, either there was no coverage for seniors, or the coverage premiums were prohibitively expensive. And as a society (back when we were a tad more compassionate than our current leadership), we decided we didn’t want our grandparents dying prematurely. The result? Voila - a government run insurance program that was NOT designed to make a profit, but solely to ensure seniors got the health care they needed (and deserved).
What couldn’t work for profit-driven insurers in the past (affordably insuring seniors) was never going to work now or in the future repackaged as Medicare Advantage - unless - the government paid private for-profit insurers with our tax dollars. And that is exactly how Medicare Advantage is structured today. Just another example of elected officials consciously redistributing wealth upwards.
The cult of the “free market” will destroy our society. More on both MCare Advantage and my views on the free market in future posts…
Off to hike up some hills with flatlander friends…
