I think Bidens buy into Medicare is a great option!

[Peacetrain]

Not everyone has private insurance..and we all know the disasters that follows from that.. People love their private insurance that is subsidized by the companies they work for.. and they are in total fear of losing their insurance..

VP Bidens idea of a buy in to medicare if you do not have access to private insurance is awesome.. one of the reasons private insurance is so expensive is because the insurance companies can charge what ever they want.. Medicare has set payments for health care..

Medicaid for people who do not have money to buy into any insurance plan is just the right thing that we need to keep funded.. it is going to run dry..

They take our taxes out of our paychecks.. our social security.. medicare for all if you cannot prove you have private insurance or are eligible for medicaid.. just sort of covers where everyone is at this point in time and place and moves us forward..

The right wants to fight us tooth and nail.. well how easy is that to explain.. even the most brain washed of those on the right should be able to understand that.. Yes I know.. Obamacare 2.0 but we will not tell them..

https://www.newsweek.com/2020-candidate-joe-biden-backs-medicare-all-policy-you-all-should-have-choice-1409332

[progressoid]

1. Biden's idea?

Democrats roll out Medicare buy-in proposal

The legislation, spearheaded by Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Rep. Brian Higgins of New York, is a more moderate approach to promoting affordable coverage -- a main goal of the Democrats and a key plank in the 2018 midterm elections.
It's considered a stepping stone to the more progressive Medicare for all framework, favored by several declared and potential candidates vying for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

The bill's co-sponsors include 2020 Democratic hopefuls Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kamala Harris of California and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, as well as Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Jeff Merkley of Oregon, who are considering bids. Several of them, including Booker, Gillibrand, Harris and Merkley, also backed Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2017 Medicare for all legislation.

...https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/13/politics/democrats-medicare-buy-in/index.html

[Peacetrain]

2. I know that..but that is what Biden is running on..

as are others.. that is their idea.. that is where they are going to run on.. with a buy in..you have to be able to sell this.. and Biden knows how to reach people. He was explaining this on Wednesday and for some.. even Democrats... it was like the shades went up..

[Nuggets]

11. Medicare buy in came way before Bernie

decided to make it part of his campaign. This is why I can’t support him. He’s a back stabber to the Democratic Party. He steals their ideas and the berates them for being “establishment”.

Jan 13 2009
”I fear the people who are advocating the Medicare buy-in are doing so not because they think it will give more help to these Americans than the subsidies and exchanges, but because they see it as a big step toward a single payer system as Congressman Anthony Wiener [sic] and others have explicitly said."



Regarding the “Medicare buy-in” proposal, the more I learn about it, the less I like it.A similar idea was part of the Democratic platform of 2000 which I ran on with Al Gore. But that was a very different time. The federal government had a surplus, Medicare wasn't facing imminent bankruptcy, and there wasn't a health care reform bill that created a vast new system of subsidies and tax credits and exchanges which will probably provide more assistance to this 55-65 year old population than the Medicare buy-in will.

Joe Lieberman
https://www.politico.com/blogs/on-congress/2010/01/weiner-joe-cant-spell-my-name-or-back-stab-024130

SO the “establishment” had this in their 2000 platform and Bernie can apologize to the party he uses and his supporters can quit telling us that he is pushing the Democrats to the left.

[theophilus]

3. I favor "Medicare for all who want it". For those of us under 65 we need it as a

Public Option. Also, those of us who are having a hard time affording insurance on the exchange need a more affordable option. Medicare needs to be good enough and affordable enough to encourage younger, healthier folks to buy into the program. That will help the whole thing survive into the future.

[Politicub]

9. I'm with Mayor Pete on his approach

I fundamentally believe the ACA to be one of the most consequential pieces of legislation of our time. Unless people work in the healthcare industry or have a good understanding of the law, it is difficult to see how entwined it is in our overall health system. The ACA goes far beyond Medicaid expansion and the Exchanges.

I do not want to see it scrapped. It is the most direct way to get to single payer by providing a public option that undercuts insurers. The ACA provides a stable platform on which to build. With political will, there is nothing stopping amending the law to include a public option.

Here is my beef with Sanders and his Medicare for all Approach: his proposal is not medicare. At least medicare as we understand it. It does away with the substance of Medicare and only keeps the name. This is not to say Sanders' idea is bad; I would rather like living in a country with it. It is just kind of dishonest to call it Medicare.

There's a second path to universal coverage, which is amending the law enacted in the 80s about how emergency rooms can not turn away anyone based on inability to pay. While it would be more difficult than using the ACA to get to single payer, I don't understand it as much so I'm not going to comment on it.

[uawchild]

4. Need much more information on this to make an informed decision

Has Joe detailed his vision of the this plan yet?

In particular, I am worried that once poorer people or people with expensive conditions whom insurance companies want to dump start getting on an expanded Medicare, the more affluent won't want to adequately fund the increased costs of Medicare.

Allowing private insurance while proving medicare for all, like in Canada, is one thing, but establishing a two tier system makes me nervous. History shows the poorer tier always gets screwed.

[DownriverDem]

5. We do need details

I think Medicare for All is a great idea. However we need the details. Medicare Part A is paid for from the years you were working. It comes out of your pay. Medicare Part B is taken out of your Social Security (or they can bill you for it). Then you have to get a policy that covers what A & B don't. So my concern is do folks realize that you have to pay for it?

[emmaverybo]

6. I don't think people currently on Medicare know much about it

If I did not have an employer provided plan bundled with Medicare, I wouldn’t have quality coverage. And it seems people think Medicare covers round the clock home care. I don’t think so. Medicaid covers eight hours a day.
Medicare coverage will have to be drastically made over.
I am afraid those who will lose the most flexibility and quality in their care will be those on Medicaid.
Currently, Medicare covers the cost of skilled nursing facility for a max of 100 days, has deductible for hospitable and limits on days in hospital. And Medicare is not free.
Candidates supporting Medicare for all need to tell us a lot more.

[marylandblue]

8. Sanders has told us about his Medicare for All plan, and it is bad.

It promises the sun and the moon and the stars, far more than any other system in the world, yet my personal out of pocket costs will go up because I have doctors and dentists who will refuse to take it. I was told by DUers, that these doctors will unconstitutionally be forced to take it, but they would sooner close up shop than take any insurance.

And on top of that, it covers full eyewear, which is either useless to me or unfair to you. Useless to me because I like my fancy, expensive precision lenses that help me see well. Unfair because you shouldn't have to pay for my preference for precision ground lenses.

[peggysue2]

10. Promises are the easy part

The implementation is another matter. Think we all should take a gander at the problems Vermont's Governor Shumlin faced, someone who was gung-ho on the program(Green Mountain Care), only to discover with lots of trying that they simply could not make the numbers work. Numbers, btw, that would have shocked state residents and businesses alike.

And so the program and the promises were DOA.

I'm all for experimenting with expansion, rolling out the option to 50 or 55 year olds and assessing as we go--the upsides and downsides--then adjust accordingly. We get phase 1 to work? We lower the age bracket.

Pretending you can install a Medicare4All system that includes all the bells and whistles without causing economic chaos is ridiculous. And downright cruel for those in desperate need of quality care at affordable prices.

We can do much, much better. But promising the sky and delivering bitter disappointment is a recipe for disaster. Although Obamacare was sabotaged by the Right, voters came to appreciate the system. And it could have been far more successful had the program not met with gale-force headwinds and criticism.

Governor Shumlin and his people tried their best in a state where conditions appeared ideal. And still, they could not get the program off the ground. That should tell us something and act as a cautionary tale: there is no quick fix or easy route to a perfect healthcare system.

And anyone proclaiming that there is? Snake-oil salesman!

[NYMinute]

7. K&R

[Cha]

12. Thank You, Peacetrain!