Thom Hartmann: Medicare Under Siege: Trump's Radical Plan Now in Motion...

[CousinIT]

https://hartmannreport.com/p/saturday-report-83025-medicare-under



HERE is a link to Schweikert's Medicare privatization plan. It shoves all new beneficiaries onto cheap MA plans. They say it allows them to "opt out," but it will likely be as obscure and difficult as hell to do. Once the beneficiary is on MA, they are STUCK on it for 3 years and may find it impossible to get back on traditional Medicare. It's an evil plan by another Medicare-hating Republican to privatize Medicare by making it VERY difficult, if not impossible, to get on traditional Medicare anymore.

https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2025/07/22/house-considers-3-year-medicare-advantage-auto-enrollment/

[bucolic_frolic]

1. This is why Trump's decimated science, research, and CDC

My suspicion is that this AI system will grossly escalate the level of misdiagnoses because decisions won't be based on facts on the ground, on what the physician can see and test, but on statistical averages. All disease can be quantified in algorithms, amiright?

Heaven help us. I'd rather take my chances outside of Medicare. This system will be useless.

[gab13by13]

4. Right now Medicare is fantastic,

I am 78 and have had zero problems with what is covered. Krasnov is turning Medicare into Medicare Advantage, privatizing it. The only insurance left will be private insurance so yeah, if you want a Cadillac plan open up your wallet.

Krasnov's insurance plan is for only the rich to be taken care of. Maybe the new Medicare will cut off all coverage once I reach 80 years old?

This is a big reason why the stock market is booming, AI. When corporations have trouble making the bottom line the first thing they do is to fire people and Wall Street loves it. AI is going to fire a lot of people with the goal of ending up with a handful of monopolies.

Dylan Ratigan was fired by MSNBC many years ago because he was exposing this, was exposing crony capitalism. Competition and the Invisible Hand Of The Market won't be needed when Monopoly is set in stone.

[gab13by13]

2. Thom Hartmann predicted this years ago,

This is fucking horrible. I have had 5 or 6 surgeries done over the years and the doctors and finance people at the hospitals told me point blank that they love dealing with Medicare because there is no fighting over what is covered.

Fuck the evil bastards, the people in those first 6 states had better raise holy hell or your state's mortality rate is going to drop.

The billionaires are the problem.

This is a BFD it needs to be seriously protested. If you are having a heart attack or stroke in one of those 6 states make sure to call your insurance representative before you dial 911.

[CousinIT]

6. Did you mean...

...that their state's mortality rate would skyrocket? If it dropped, that would be a good thing.

[gab13by13]

7. I meant mortality rate as the average age that people live.

If the mortality rate for the people in those 6 states was 78 but then drops to 77, it is bad.

[dalton99a]

3. Kick

[gab13by13]

5. I remember back in March

when I was pushing for Senate Democrats to not pass the CR until they had guarantees that the Social Safety net would be protected. I wanted Democrats to take a stand back then.

I was criticized because I was told that Democrats would be blamed for a shutdown. I tried to make my point that this wasn't a political fight, it was a life and death fight. I was told that if Democrats passed the CR Social Security and Medicare would be protected.

Where are those critics of me now? Every fucking thing is being gutted including Social Security and Medicare and what did Congressional Democrats get for giving Krasnov his CR? Absolutely nothing.

Project 2025 is way ahead of schedule. Maybe I better schedule my 2nd knee replacement before Medicare is gutted in Pa.?

[multigraincracker]

8. Where it is coming from and how it works.

Must read book.
https://sobrief.com/books/when-mckinsey-comes-to-town

[gab13by13]

9. Interesting.

[CousinIT]

10. Thank you. I'm sharing that. It needs exposure. n/t

[Silent Type]

11. Doubt it will pass, but article states: "Officials would have to give the individual a chance to opt out."

Believe it or not, a some Medicare eligible beneficiaries take the "free" Part A, but don't sign up for Part B.

I don't think the proposed change is necessary, but don't think it is that bad either. I'd prefer signing them up to original Medicare, but that is also signing someone up for having to pay $200 to $400 a month for Medigap and Part D.

[CousinIT]

12. True. However most MA plans often don't cover major or catastrophic illness coverage or....

...they require pre-approvals for most anything significant, or at least some of them do. And that will cost a considerable amount more than $200/month, if the procedure or treatment is denied — something that we didn't have to worry about with traditional Medicare (until now).

Frank Bisignano wants his billionaire friends to have their hands in the Medicare cookie jar even more than they are now, so this "pre-approval" bullshit being imposed on traditional Medicare is just a way to deny needed care and funnel even more of our money into corporate billionaire pockets. IOW, it is enshittifying traditional Medicare to the same extent that Medicare Advantage and other wealthcare ie: private insurance, is enshittified, ruining and further privatizing Medicare.

https://archive.ph/ScC54

They need to leave Medicare alone, stop with the billionaire-enriching privatizing and enshittifying of it (ALL of that is bad), and institute Medicare for All.

"It's not that bad", doesn't apply when what is behind all this bullshit is simply letting the goddamned billionaires further profit off of sick, disabled, and aged people, and suck up more of our tax dollars that would be better spent and go a lot further in a not-for-profit Medicare for All system like civilized countries have. That is what everyone should be pushing for, not just shrugging and saying: "oh well, it's not that bad!" and going along with this profiteering crap.

It's bullshit. And no one should accept it. YET, we haven't heard ONE PEEP about this from Democrats OR the media.

[Silent Type]

13. Still think it's a good idea to put someone who isn't enrolled in Part B in the cheapest alternative to them. And that

is Medicare Advantage.

Until our Congress -- and that includes Democrats -- get off their rears and pass decent universal coverage, MA is what most poor people take because it's all they can afford. Over half Medicare beneficiaries turn to MA, and a significant portion of the other half think they ought to pay $400 a month, forgo dental coverage even if limited to $1000 or so, and other limited savings like $50/mo for OTC meds.