Democratic Primaries
In reply to the discussion: Unless the "public option" is free or inexpensive it's snake oil.. and dangerous snake oil at that. [View all]iwannaknow
(210 posts)There is no out-of-pocket spending cap on simple/government Medicare, which means you can easily go broke if you get a serious illness. But you can pay an additional premium (and it's expensive on a fixed SS income) to a private company to supplement your costs and provide an out-of-pocket cap. Then there's the issue of pre-existing conditions. Most people don't realize that these private supplemental insurance companies can still refuse to insure applicants with certain pre-existing conditions, unless those applicants apply within 6 months of their eligibility date (65th birthday). In addition, there is no dental, vision, or hearing coverage; and you've gotta pay an additional premium for drug coverage.
Medicare Advantage, run by private companies, comes with: drug coverage; a reasonable out-of-pocket-cap; no pre-existing condition limitation; dental/vision/hearing coverage; and requires no additional premium (i.e., you just pay the $135 or whatever it is). However, co-payments are high for specialists. And of course you lose the freedom to select any Medicare provider you want.
Hopefully, MFA will fix these deficiencies, and I believe Bernie's plan does. Candidates who support keeping the ACA, and reforming it, should address these issues in their campaigns.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided