I hear you, sir, and hope your treatment is successful and you never again deal with cancer! One reason I am vegan and an exercise, yoga, fasting and otherwise a “health fanatic” is I can’t afford to get sick, just like you outlined, it is too expensive.
Alas, even a health fanatic could get cancer or have some other medical emergency–
I got run over by a car while bicycling. I have zero health insurance. No Medicare, medicaid, etc.
So I dragged my bicycle and myself off the road into a little picnic area and waited for three hours hoping I would be able to walk back home, because I knew as soon as an ambulance comes I am on the hook for $800, the ER will charge $4000, and then worse and worse until I am bankrupt and lose my home.
Somebody saw me and called police, who FORCED me into an ambulance under threat of arrest. I had a severely broken femur and would never have been able to heal myself. Surgery and addictive opiates cost $111,000. I declared bankruptcy and lost most of my savings and can barely afford to keep my home.
The police refused to look for the hit and run driver, saying: “It’s suicide to ride a bicycle around here, best if you don’t ride.”
Thank god you have a good insurance plan!!!
AARP sold out. It’s the American Way™
I have an adult child who is permanently disabled. He is limited to a Medicare Advantage Plan by virtue of being under 65. It is impossible to get him the help he needs. That needs fixed and borders on criminal neglect!
Conservatives from both parties accept bribes to help companies rape and plunder the American citizen. As far as I am concerned anyone who votes for conservatives is either brainwashed, pig ignorant or an outright traitor to this country.
Methinks you exaggerate a bit 
Several million, say 3 million?, insurance agents signing up 30 couples (60 people) in one day would be 180 million signed up…there are less than 50 million people over 65 in the U.S.
Swiss citizens MUST buy private basic insurance (which covers hospitalization and most other things) and the companies selling it are not allowed to make a profit on it. The government pays for (or subsidizes) it for poor people.
We have rationed health care in the US. It is rationed by one’s ability to pay.
It is not Medicare Advantage that is the problem. The necessity for and the whole of insurance is the problem. Medicare Advantage is very popular with the retired. Why? Because Medicare Advantage is more than just a simple GAP insurance plan. Seniors like it because it offers more and saves them money.
Insurance’s first fiduciary duty is to its shareholders, not the insured. This means they’re gonna find every way possible to cut costs and increase profit. Cutting costs mean you don’t get the care you need. Hint: don’t expect 'em to tell you that. Most elderly, et al, take what they can get and are grateful for it.
The stupidest thing about insurance in this country, besides the fact that it even exists, is that you’ll drive by 20 doctor’s offices, three ERs, and six clinics before you’ll get anywhere that’ll even take your insurance. This is stoopid.
FIx Medicare first. Eliminate the premium deducted from Social Security payments which essentially takes food off the table of the elderly (for christsakes, these are seniors and the disabled, most are well beyond their employable years), close the 20% GAP, thus eliminating the need to buy additional insurance; cover vision, hearing, and dental; eliminate all out-of-pocket costs: co-pays, deductibles, and prescriptions. Once Medicare is a better deal for all, all will want in.
The “ACA” is better called the “MCA”. Mandatory Care Act. It didn’t address problems. Just made it necessary for everyone to be forced to buy insurance at a cost determined by the insurance company. Ka-ching.
My 2 bits as always.
November december are the sign up periods. Big rooms of agents on the phones. About 1 mil agents sell it. Some 2 policies a year, some 200 plus. Of course Broadway Joe Namath works for free.
I could be wrong, but I thought the republicans succeeded in dumping the mandate.
Way to many moving parts to our healthcare system.
Even Medicare 4 all would have it’s confusion points.
just do real healthcare----single payer!-----not killcare!
Lynn, if we seniors are not getting the care we need, why are so many of us enrolling in Medicare Advantage programs? See my comment above. Our plan has provided excellent care for my wife’s numerous serious debilities and covered more of the costs than would traditional Medicare. The government requires that the plan devote a set amount of its revenues to patient care. The competition for beneficiaries is intense which keeps the customer service level higher than any government bureacracy I’ve ever dealt with. When I became eligible, I tried another provider to see if it might be better than the company that had been covering my wife. It wasn’t, so after a year, I switched to my wife’s provider. Good care, dental and vision coverage, and my fitness club to boot. I can’t get all that through regular Medicare.
Medicare Advantage: you think it’s Medicare, but it’s just somebody taking advantage.
I am not a Hillary fan but Trump is as useless as a foreskin on an asshole.
That’s why the Clintons and their media buddies encouraged his run. This isn’t good vs. evil, it’s bend over and flip a coin.
I’m not debating that. I know Medicare Advantage is very popular with those on Medicare. The issue many have about it is that it costs the government/taxpayers (not seniors) more than regular Medicare.
My issue is with insurance-provided medical care. BTW for many who Medicare Advantage and other insurance is good, it’s good until it isn’t.
I enrolled in a medicare advantage plan because they were going to take the money out of SS check anyway, so it was a choice between nothing for my money, and a little bit.
Your personal anecdote does not an argument make. We need one comprehensive plan for everyone, stop the bullshit about shopping for a plan, missing deadlines that affect you for the rest of your life for no actual reason, getting “the wrong plan” because the marketplace is intentionally stupid, etc etc etc. Get over yourself and recognize that literally millions of people are hurt by the present system you are here defending with one personal story.
Wow, a shill for a new corporation! You know you’re not supposed to post spam here.
You don’t get “nothing” for your money. You get out-of-hospital care, doctor visits, etc…usually with a 20% co-pay of what Medicare pays the provider, but some things are free.