Pop Quiz! Traditionally, what is the most consistent, highest turnout voting category in the country? Senior citizens. I should know, I’m one of them, and I haven’t missed a national election since Christ was a carpenter. And they also tend to be one of the most treasured turnout voting blocs left for the GOP.
If you omit the pampered rich shitpokes that reside in the Villages, senior loyalty tends to be a combination of a lifetime of tradition based on shared values, and fear of change. But they also tend to be extremely pragmatic, they pay close attention to issues that affect them, rate the candidates on those issues, and most definitely vote their pocketbooks, since most seniors are on fixed incomes. I know I am.
Pop Quiz! Is there anybody here reading this who knows somebody on Medicare? Mother, father, grandparent, aunt or uncle? Yeah, me too. On fact, thanks to my disability, my own Medicare will start 6 months early, on August 1st. And my honeymoon cruise is to take it out for a spin for cataract surgery and stents to control my glaucoma pressure.
So, we all know someone who is either on Medicare, or has been on Medicare. Follow up question. Have you ever heard anybody, and I mean anybody who is on Medicare that bitched and complained about the service or reliability? I have had parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles on Medicare, and I’ve never heard a peep. In fact the opposite, everybody praises how effective it is. The only universal complaint is that everybody on it wishes it did more.
And that’s the core of this article. Because the GOP is already unified in their opposition to the Democrats human infrastructure plan. And what’s in that plan? Not much. Just some fluff and nonsense about expanding Medicare to include things like Dental, vision, and hearing. All items that have been on every senior’s wish list since they qualified for the program.
This is actually a devilishly wicked and vindictive thing for Sanders to do. Medicare open enrollment starts in November every year. Perhaps you’ve noticed that starting in September you’re besieged by an avalanche of Medicare Plus plans for seniors to opt into as an alternate to traditional Medicare? And what are their strongest selling points? Vision, dental, and hearing coverage. But why would a senior want to have to pay more, and/or put up with insurance company coverage and service restrictions when the same thing is already on their basic Medicare coverage? Adios Medicare Plus plans.
But Bernie Sanders has another cookie in there that he wants to toss out to seniors. He wants to lower the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 62. This is a masterstroke. In the era of 401k’s, there are millions of Americans who would love to retire earlier than 65. And their companies would love to get younger blood in there. But the obstacle is having to pay personally for medical coverage once you lose your employee coverage, until you qualify for Medicare. Lowering the age to 62 allows these people to follow their dreams, without the risk or expense of medical issues. And in many cases, their Medicare plan will be at least as good as, of not better than their company coverage.
If the Democrats can get the human infrastructure bill passed into law with the Medicare expansion, Democratic candidates are going to go into 2022 with one of the most powerful campaign tools in decades focused on one of the last remaining GOP core constituencies. Also, the Democrats want to use the bill to extend the Child Tax Credit, which will continue hard cash monthly payments to 55 million children, including lower and lower middle class GOP voters, as well as white suburban GOP soccer moms. And what are the GOP going to be running on? Critical race theory and Stop the Steal! As a retired senior on a fixed income, which way do you think I’m going to go? Shit! In my long ago days as a lower middle class father of four daughters, which way do you think I would have went? Who do I want running the show when my wallet and way of life are at stake? If the Democrats get this bill home, that’s exactly what tens of millions of non Trombie Republicans are going to be asking themselves in 2022 and beyond. Don’t touch that dial.
Follow me on Twitter at @RealMurfster35TheBigLie
There are people like me who worked contract and *had* to retire at 62. Believe me, when I could get ACA coverage for a reasonable price, I did. The stuff at work – it might have been good, but it was expensive, and aimed at 30-somethings.
(Medicare covered much of the cost of my cancer treatment – not all, but I could afford the rest without going broke. Next month my sister gets her cataracts out – with Medicare. It ain’t perfect, but it’s better than NO insurance.)
I qualified for Medicare once I was approved for SSDI four plus years ago. Given the quality of care I get (at quite low copays for medications – none at all for my surgeries and hospitalizations due to my limited income) via the VA healthcare system my Medicare card has sat untouched in a file. It’s not worth trying it out and maybe fucking up the smooth sailing I’ve had with the VA. I do have the benefit of access to one of the best in the country after all, and I had no complaints back when I lived up north and got care at the Martinsburg, WV VA. But the lack of dental is a problem. I need dental work. And have already had teeth pulled that should have had to be pulled because I couldn’t afford any other option.
That’s the case for tons of people. Dental care has gotten ridiculously expensive. Dentists would I’m sure fight like hell to keep things exactly as they are – what isn’t straight fee for service has them in the driver’s seat with employer insurance plans that offer dental and the amounts for crowns, much less implants are out of most people’s reach even if a company’s plan offers them. And almost none cover implants. Yet Dentists bitch and whine about people “taking the cheap option” and having teeth pulled. A gal who was I guess my best pal when I lived in northern VA and then moved to WV (to her and her dad’s farm to look after their racehorses) and I had multiple discussions about this. She of course hated the idea of govt. getting involved in providing dental care even as part of Medicaid. Yet when I pointed out that while the fees might not be what she could charge in fee for service or the difference between what the relative few with dental insurance (which at times I had) would cover for a crown and what the dentist got to collect directly from a patient she’d lose steam. Why? Because I’d pointedly ask her how many teeth she pulled every freaking day that could have been saved because people couldn’t afford a root canal, or a crown, or for someone like me who at one point would have been able to shell out crown type money for an implant if part of THAT would have been covered. I’d follow that up with another question – as in even if the govt. reimbursement (like Medicaid does) wasn’t as much as the old model how many more of those expensive procedures she’d be able to do AND how much more money she’d make as a result. That’s the kind of thing that shut down such discussions because I’m sure I was right and she was just being stubborn. A “this is how it was for my dad and it’s how it should be for me” type thing.
They KNOW they would make more money over the course of a year but they are just too fucking stubborn to cede the control they have so they pull countless teeth for relative peanuts just because they can’t charge Cadillac prices!
As you can guess, I’m all for Medicare (and frankly Medicaid too) getting into providing dental for people. And dentists can suck it. They will piss and moan for a year or two then see how much more money they are making. And kick themselves in the ass for not lobbying for inclusion years, or even decades ago. It would also create a lot of good paying jobs in dental labs across the country, including in poor states or poor areas of states. Someone has to make those crowns and implants (and dentures too) after all. And while it would be tempting to have them made say down in Mexico (cheap but still good quality if you use the right lab) time is a factor. Most dentists use local shops for such things, and for a reason.
I wish Sanders luck, and hope the Party goes all in on this. And if they want to REALLY go all in they should add in having the VA Health Care System provide dental, even if it means using local dentists that don’t work directly for the VA. Or, if there’s a nearby dental school (there’s one at UNC in Chapel Hill) partnering with them like they do with medical schools – my VA hospital is across the street from Duke University School of Medicine (and the main Duke hospital) and has a great working partnership with them. We are already peeling away Veterans from the GOP and this would be a GREAT way to peel away even more!
And in my case, it would be very much appreciated because like I said I don’t use my Medicare at all. I’m pretty sure if I did my annual review/approval wouldn’t go through without a hitch as it has always done. Hell, for years I haven’t even had to file any paperwork – they just pull whatever records they need including from the IRS and Social Security. I’d love for both Medicare AND the VA to add fairly comprehensive dental to coverage.
And if you add a plan F supplement to that, if something is covered under Medicare A or B, it’s absolutely free to you – no copay. I had to have a right heart catheterization, which I seem to recall was billed at about $22,000. But I wasn’t made to pay a single red cent because it was a covered procedure.
I have been extremely happy with Medicare.
I have Medicare and Tricare. My husband gets Medicare this year. Tricare was great. When he had heart surgery in 2014, 3 weeks in the hospital with blood clots,and pneumonia, a bill for $200,200. We owed $200 of it.
I have Medicare and Tricare For Life,,which means I pay nothing in co-pays. Drugs aren’t great. I live on antihistamines,and OTC is expensive. My new D.O. have me a prescription which cost $.65 for 90days instead of of $18-25 for 30. It helps lot.
We couldn’t afford dental.so I lost teeth. I think it is permanent dentures with implants as,anchors.