I’m confused. Well, not really, or probably not any more than the rest of you. It’s about Medicare. The government says it’s breaking the bank, there is no money, and they’d like nothing more than to get rid of it. Getting rid of it is unlikely because the insurance companies fund so much of their campaigns.
So here’s the rub. Turn on your TV and all you see, one right after another, are ads from insurance companies enticing you to sign up for their Medicare insurance policy, typically advantage plans. We’ll give you this, and this, and this, and here’s our advantage they say. But if you look at the stats, they’re now paying the doctors less, charging you more for hospital stays, increasing out of pocket costs, etc, mostly because of government cuts. But to listen to their ads, you’d think they are the greatest thing since sliced bread. Some even say they’ll give you up to $75 a month to spend on healthy food options. Freedom even gives its members $500 a year to spend on golf, or health clubs. Really?
So here you have politicians who want to severely cut or get rid of entitlements, and the insurance companies who are literally tripping over themselves trying to get you to sign with them. There must be a lot of money to be made with Medicare or the greedy insurance companies would get out of it. So is there a lot of money or not? Do you believe the government or the insurance companies? Both are known to be liars.
Tom Connolley is a resident of the Village of Palo Alto.