Medicare 101

Some basic information about how Medicare works.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Medicare
• Healthcare
• Reform
• Seniors
• Privatization
• of
• Social
• Programs
• Insurance
• Company
• Profits
• AMA
• AARP
• Catastrophic
• Coverage

[Z200a]

People should read a 3 part series that Noam Chomsky published in Z Magazine in 1995, entitled "Rollback."

If you just google for the words Chomsky and rollback, it will be the first hit.

People who understand our political system knew what was coming a long time ago. It's an incredibly prescient piece of writing, and should not be missed by any serious participant in this discussion.

[55ella2007k]

Thanks for reminding me....

yeah...absolutely crucial to the discussion.  I might do a follow up on this....thanks for comment z200a

[PASMdude]

The cost of Medicare part B depends on the company you choose. Mine is about 120 dollars a month. There is one doctor in the area that will take it and she does not speak English well enough for me to communicate my problem to her. It is far from perfect.

[55ella2007k]

Exactly...that's precisely what I was trying to say. The system is far from perfect...but it's better than having NOTHING at all. Which is precisely what will happen, if everything is privatized even further. As a sick and old person you are simply a liability period to any kind of profiit - so, the sooner that even theses safety nets are pushed into bankruptcy, the better for Wall Street. So the sooner you die, the more profits can be made.

[CitizenCindy]

This is far, far superior to the analysis of the so called "experts" ie propagandists. Thanks Ella.

[msfullroller]

Thanks so much for this information.

[joujou1963]

What's missing? What can't this cure?

I don't mean this in a bad way. Maybe I'm missing something.

I'll define parasite as I know it; An organism that feeds on the host and doesn't give back a thing but benifits 100%.

[medicatedsaint]

Good idea and a good thing to do. But it's not a cure all.

[medicatedsaint]

Thanks for the information. I'm taking care of my elderly mother along with doing my freelance job.

[joujou1963]

A stitch in time is worth a pound of cure.

A vegetarian based diet may be the way to go to prevent from ever needing these clown (doctors, dentists and politicians). The longest living animals on land are the elephant, gorilla and turtles to quote Gary Null. The fountain of youth seems to be found in the Green live foods that clean out junk from the body and allow it to repair and recover.

Term limits for polician is another solution. The clowns can do do much damage and be gone. Peace

[KamikazeKoscki]

A highly placed U.S. intelligence agent was asked to inquire among other federal insiders as to the full extent of healthcare fraud over the last ten years, after which the agent later said, Intelligence officials in a position to know have estimated the real dollar figure to be about $ .5 trillion in stolen Medicare and Medicaid funds, adding, healthcare entities have defrauded the United States government to the extent that the whole system faces either bankruptcy or hyper-inflated costs.

[KamikazeKoscki]

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bushs association with Novations Tenet Healthcare comes after Tenet was audited in 2004 by the California Department of Health Services after overcharging the states Medicaid program, Medi-Cal, by $11.9 million at Redding Medical Center, linked to a Tenet probe by fired San Diego U.S. Attorney Carol Lam, a 45-agent FBI raid and multiple subpoenas signed by a Dallas assistant U.S. attorney found dead the day before Senate healthcare anti-trust hearings.

[KamikazeKoscki]

had something in common: all seven were investigating Medicare and Medicaid fraud in the United States healthcare system involving overcharging for hospital supplies and medical fees amounting to billions of dollars in fraud

[KamikazeKoscki]

According to Medical Supply Chain CEO Samuel Lipari who is suing hospital supply company Novation LLC, Missouri Democratic Senator Claire C. McCaskill knew that seven U.S. attorneys—two assistants who turned up dead, three assistants who resigned or were fired and two U.S. attorneys who were also forced out.

[KamikazeKoscki]

Los Angeles Times, 11/16). In October 2002, federal officials launched an investigation into Drs. Chae Hyun Moon and Fidel Realyvasquez, two physicians at Redding Medical Center who allegedly performed unnecessary surgeries and defrauded Medicare

[KamikazeKoscki]

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday said they have settled civil claims against physicians at Redding Medical Center -- formerly owned by Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare -- accused of performing unnecessary heart surgeries, the Los Angeles Times reports (Girion,