2013
I recently received e-mail from a seasoned citizen vehemently opposed to Obamacare and vowing not to give up Medicare and get insurance from one of the new marketplace exchange plans. (ironic he likes Medicare, but not Obamacare).
Good thing because he can’t do that anyway. Americans eligible for Medicare are not eligible for a federal exchange plan. They keep their Medicare, get a few more benefits and nothing much changes.
Individuals who have employer coverage, unless it does not meet the affordability test, are not eligible for tax credits in an exchange either.
Bottom line is that ultimately (less in the near term) only about 10% of Americans will be using a Obamacare health insurance exchange.
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- A health insurance exchange is coming at you – even if you have employer coverage (quinnscommentary.com)
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
The old fart is really stupid for liking Medicare over Obamacare insurance.
— Obamacare insurance has no lifetime limits; Medicare has multiple lifetime limits
— Obamacare has annual limits on out of pocket (OOP) spending; Medicare has no limit on annual OOP spending
— Basically combined these two benefits of Obamacare insurance give the Obamacare beneficiary protection against medical catastrophe; Medicare does not protect us seniors against catastrophe
— Obamacare insurance is supposed to be designed to cover at least 60% of your OOP healthcare costs; Medicare covers less than half (counting what we seniors spend on supplementals)
— Most Obmacare plans will include annual physicals; Medicare does not
— Most if not all Obamacare plans include prescription drug coverage; we seniors have to buy it as an extra or pay OOP (and pay a penalty if we want it later in life)
— Many exchanges will sell dental insurance; the Medicare exchange does not
And finally — maybe this is why the old fart is angry — he’s paying for all these benefits for someone else because most of the money to fund the tax subsidies for people under 65 that buy Obamacare insurance comes out of the Medicare trust funds that — depending on his age — he paid into for 50 years (if he’s older than 67, he didn’t have to pay when he first started working because Medicare didn’t exist).
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How do you conclude that money for the subsidies is coming from the Medicare trust fund? There is no relationship between the two.
Dick
Richard D Quinn
Blog http://www.quinnscommentary.com Twitter @quinnscomments
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I draw that conclusion from CBO and Medicare actuary reports — and interviews with President Obama — that say somewhere between a third and two thirds of the costs of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are being funded by taking money from the Medicare trust funds (with the rest coming from taxes on insurance policies including Medicare insurance policies, taxes on medical equipment most of which is used by Medicare beneficiaries, higher Medicare Part B and Part D premiums for some Medicare beneficiaries, and some other minor taxes such as the ones on tanning salons — about the only aspect of PPACA funding that is not especially relevant to Medicare beneficiaries.
Where did you think the money was coming from?
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What they claim is that there will be savings in Medicare and those savings will offset part of the cost of Obamacare. A large part of that is an assumed 27% cut in physician payments which has not happened and will not happen. Where does the money come from? Simply adding to the deficit. There is no money in a trust fund to take. Look under the Medicare section of this blog and you will find the status of the Medicare trust.
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Replying back to 4:20 am reply (WTF are you doing up at this hour?):
1. You apparently have a Clintonian/Obamanian view of the money I’ve had deducted from my pay checks and paid through my self employment for the last 50 years. I have a Rooseveltian view of that money. But whatever view you take of how it comes out, there is no question that it goes into the trust funds.
2. It is not correct that the “doc fix money” is factored into the CBO and actuary estimates of how much in so-called “Medicare savings” will be applied to PPACA. What the actuary said in April 2010 (and at multiple Congressional hearings) is that the March 2010 CBO estimate is pretending there won’t be a “doc fix” when everyone knows there is one every year (likely to be made permanent soon) and therefore PPACA is not revenue neutral as claimed by CBO. I think he also claimed that many other of the “so-called Medicare savings” are likely not to occur, further putting PPACA out of balance. This in fact happened when the Obama administration changed the Part C Medicare Advantage bonus program and bidding rules the last two years, already reducing the so-called savings originally promised.
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I don’t know what you are saying except the same thing I am saying. CBO is required by law to assume the doc fix happens because it is current law even acknowledging it won’t actually happen.
That still has nothing to do with the Medicare trust funding Obamacare. You originally stated that they are taking money from the Medicare trust fund for Obamacare and that is not correct. Any shortfall in funding for Obamacare as there will be, adds to the overall deficit, it’s not taken from the Trust fund.
Dick
Richard D Quinn
Blog http://www.quinnscommentary.com Twitter @quinnscomments
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