Medicare proposal stings those under 55

To all Republican children age 54 and less: Please take a look at the health of your parents and grandparents. Unless you are totally mentally constipated, I think most will agree that your health will be approximately the same when you reach their age.

If you are lucky enough to have health insurance now at work, your employer is probably paying in the neighborhood of $2,400 per employee (not the minuscule fraction that is deducted from your paycheck). The only reason that premium is that low is that the pool of those covered is dominated by younger and generally healthy people. Now can you imagine how stupid an insurance executive would have to be to insure a base consisting only of elderly people, most of whom have significant geriatric related health problems at anywhere near the current premium? It would be absurd!

There will be some that tout that Medicare Part B and supplemental insurance already covers those expenses, but that only shows how Pavlovian people can be with an artfully constructed flimflam. Part B is essentially doctor’s office care, and the supplemental insurance plans cover only a tiny fraction of the overall medical costs that are left over from Medicare A and B. When you add all of those three coverages together, you won’t find a policy anywhere near the voucher price that you will be faced with.

So before you sign onto the Ryan bamboozle, take a look at the health of your parents and grandparents. That’s you in a few years. You might want to skip the Kool-Aid.

James Prescott

Schaumburg