Originally Posted by Glassquilt
I'm now on Medicare & doing a happy dance.
I had a $5000.00 deductible and paid $829.54 every two months. As far as I was concerned since I had to pay for everything, I wasn't insured - just catastrophic insurance.
Glassquilt, please pay attention to what is going on in Congress these days. There are proposals to give Medicare recipients a 'voucher' to purchase health insurance - voucher amount poposed as $5,000 - which seems like a lot of money, until you try to buy a decent health insurance policy with it.
I'm watching that issue closely as will be 65 in 3 years. I don't see vouchers helping anyone but insurance companies.
So far I haven't heard one word about what MUST be included in a health insurance policy that could be purchased with a voucher, nor have I seen whether the proposed voucher would have to be paid up front by us (and then refunded as a tax credit or something when we file federal taxes) or whether it will be automatically paid by the federal government. If it has to be paid up front, how many of us will have the $$$ to do that?
I wonder if insurance companies will be allowed to refuse treatment for 'pre-existing' conditions - most of us over 65 do have at least one pre-existing conditions - a very important question.
What happens when insurance company raises prices or cuts benefits or both?
This particular issue is a very important one for people approaching retirement. Many of us count on having medicare plans to help us with medical expenses as we age. I think Medicare 'vouchers' have a great potential to wind up costing us much more money, providing fewer benefits us more than current Medicare costs, giving fewer benefits and/or just plain price us out of the health insurance market altogether.