Where is the US economy headed?

But am I correct, Okie, in assuming that I need to enroll in Medicare by the end of the month (Medicare B)? Medicare D or supplemental can wait a while. Is that right?
I visit a doctor once or twice a year but would you believe that never in my adult life have I had a prescription? I have never swallowed so much as an aspirin. Band-aids are another matter, as I am a bit of a klutz with knives and other tools.

At least part of what I at least found confusing is that there is Medicare A, B, C, and D. You seem familiar with those. Problem is that the Medigap policies come in Plans A, B, . . . to at least Plan F. Those lettered, privately offered plans have absolutely nothing to do with Parts A - D. Sorry for all the font effects, but this bears emphasizing before you even look at the pile of crap you have received so far.

Now, Medicare A is without premium, and you are going to get it whether you want to or not. It covers hospital treatment for most things, but don't assume that it will cover MRI or other diagnostic procedures. It is good. Take it. Medicare Part B is largely physician coverage. Some doctors accept it, some accept it from existing patients only, and many don't accept it at all. Premiums can vary if you have enough income, but I'll go out on a limb and say it's a great policy for nearly anyone. Also, this is one that imposes a penalty for every year you decline. Not sure, but I believe it's around 10% per annum.


Part C are the infamous Medicare Advantage plans. Infamous that is, because they became a target of recent Afford Health Care legislation. They are managed care things in which you assign your Medicare benefits to a private provider. I can't comment much because there are no such providers in my area, so I didn't research them.

Part D is prescription drug coverage. Once you get your Medicare cards, you can log in to mymedicare.gov, screw around for a few hours and get prices, deductables, and co-pays for your individual prescriptions. Since you don't have any to check, it won't help with your particular decision. The one I had last year was really good. For this year, they deleted from their formulary the only ongoing prescription I had. Furthermore, they raised the premium from 27something to 58something - a bit over a 100% increase for way less coverage. Did you catch that? Each plan not only has different premiums, co-pays, and sometimes deductables, each seems able to decide what drugs they will cover. My impression is that they are all offering swell coverage on the drugs that WalMart sells for $4.00, and not much else.

Part D is another part that penalizes you for declining coverage. In spite of their complex why of describing the formula, it amounts to about a 10% premium per year. I declined. One thing you and all other veterans should consider is that VA health coverage provides a letter of "Credible Coverage" for drugs. Unless you have a service connected disability or something like that, you will be over the income limit, but you might still have what the credible coverage that exempts you from the annual penalty. If you ever figure out the VA system, give me a call - collect.

Now, about those privately offered Medigap policies. . . . First, my understanding is that they will cover nothing that isn't covered by Medicare A and/or B. Some may pick up the hospital co-pay. Some may pick up the Medicare deductables, and some cover extended hospitalization - but only conditions and procedures that are approved for Medicare.

I examined several "Plans", and didn't much care for them. Plan A (NOT PART A) takes care of the Medicare deductable, 3 pints of blood, and not much else. I was looking at the hospital deductable of ~1068.00 and a monthly premium of $85.00 per month. You run the numbers and see if you wouldn't like to be in the insurance racket.

Second, Medicare B (at least) is way better than it sounds - for patients if not for providers. They say (they being insurance salespeople) that it only covers 80%. So it does, but 80% of what? Medicare covers 80% of the Medicare allowable charge for service or procedure. I'm going to give a personal example to show what that means. I had laser surgery for glaucoma that would have been 2100 on the open (without private insurance) market. My personal expense should have been about $420.00, right? They only charged me 80% of the Medicare allowable charge and I got off for something like $130.00 - disregarding follow up exams, treatment, and prescription drugs. Drugs which my Part D insurance hardly touched, by the way. I like Medicare. My doctors do not.

I do not know what idiot labeled the Parts with letters, and used the same letters to designate Plans as well.

Oh, you can sign up for any of this stuff within something like 30 days of your 65th birthday. You get another chance at the end of the calendar year, at which time you will also get another round of "literature" from the insurance companies. I do not know if you are hit with a penalty for not signing up in that 30 day period. This applies to all Medicare products, not just the Part B. Once you make the decision, it cannot be revoked till the end of the year.

Sorry for getting off the economy topic gang, but someone (especially veterans) might find this more helpful than the usual comments around here.

Thanks, Roger and Okie. I guess I should get off my butt and try to understand what this Medicare thing is all about. Medicare B is the immediate concern, I guess.
I have a "friend" who goes by the name "Hart." I put friend in quotes because I knew him casually in VN and periodically afterwards he would call me, usually asking for money. He was always inches away from grabbing the brass ring that would lead him to riches. If I could lend him some money.
He called recently, inviting me to his 67th birthday party. We talked. He is doing okay now, and I asked him about Medicare. It turns out that, according to him, combat vets from VN, or even non-combat vets from then and there, have GI benefits that trump Medicare. He claims to have gotten some $400K in treatment from VA hospitals over the last few years involving lung problems.

Sounds like Hart still has problems separating dreams from reality. If his lung problems are service connected, like agent orange and he can document his case, he's got the coverage. Otherwise, he established and used eligibility sometime before the end of the Bush administration AND his income is below $29,000 per year And he meets the asset test. I had a shoulder joint replaced by VA, for what it's worth. That was before G. Bush, and thus established eligibility. I am now in dispute with them over alleged income in tax year 2008. By the way, my treatment involved a trip of 200 miles with a shattered shoulder joint.

I happen to know a combat veteran who served in SE Asia with no, absolutely no VA medical coverage what-so-ever.

Medicare B is a no brainer in my opinion. Take it when it's offered. Just my 2 cents worth.

True re part B. Thanks.

I apologize for derailing the thread for a few days. Back to the economy in a bit.

indeed!

Cooler outlook for US economy

Jeez, insurance is so complicated. If only there were a system that covered everyone, with pretty much none of this hassle.

Conversations like this remind me what I fight for, and why.

Cycloptichorn

I noticed most of the complaints were about private companies and how they bombard with info or won't sell if you don't have a relationship etc.

I should have made that a bit more clear. The private (Medigap) policies are identical for each lettered plan. Plan A is identical coverage regardless of who sells it, as id Plan F, and all the other little letters. The only difference is in the price. This is a legal requirement.

During your period of initial enrollment, any and every company offering any Medigap insurance in your geographical area is required to accept all comers. Period. You can have End Stage Renal Disease, and they have to accept your application. In all subsequent years, I understand they can decline to produce a new policy. It kind of follows that if you have a long term, expensive condition requiring hospitalization you should seriously consider signing up for the best plan for you within 30 days of your sixty fifth birthday.

So far as bombarding you with their propaganda, some do; some don't. In the early days, they used to hold little "seminars" to describe their benefits. They were never in areas with public transportation, and often held on the third floor of buildings with no elevators. If you could make it to the meeting, you were their kind of client. They had a nice, healthy pool of customers and didn't have to refuse anyone. I don't believe they are allowed to use that kind of practice today.

Monday, May 9, 2011
Obama's Economy Getting Worse Based on Housing Numbers

Tailspin: Obama’s numbers on economy reach new low in NBC/WSJ poll

Reagan's recovery was robust, Obama's economy still sluggish

Obamanomics is so bad that he and his democrats are targeting retiree
funds as a last-resort measure to allow government to continue to pay its bills.

So the U.S. today hit the official debt ceiling of $14.3trillion. That is how much we owe. Akin perhaps to what the limit is on our credit cards. The treasury can do some short term manipulations on the "drop dead" date like raiding our kids' piggy banks after they have gone to sleep. August 2nd is the new date.
The total national debt is completely different than the current year's national deficit (revenues - spending) which adds to the national debt.
I was wandering around the internet today and came across some ideas from economists at the conservative Heritage Foundation. They floated some ideas, all relating to the notion of getting the government out of the private sector. These would reduce national debt:
> Sell all of the gold in Ft Knox (I saw $350BN)
> Sell off the gov't utility known as the Tenn Valley Auth
> Sell off some of the 650 million acres of land that the U.S. Gov't owns (1/3rd of the country)
> and buildings that the gov't occupies
> Sell off interstate highways and allow the new owners to turn them into toll roads.

I read all of this somewhere (Wash Post?) followed by an unscientific survey:
> Great idea: 9.2%
> Something to consider: 21.9%
> Bad idea: 41.7%
> Raise the debt limit: 22.0%
> Not sure: 5.1%

Things are looking up in one state, at least -



http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/17/us/17california.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print

Yaknow; I think about this, and then think about our nation as a whole, and wonder how much of our current 'crisis' is simply a lack of jobs. Why we are doing ANYTHING but working on getting that jobs number higher, I have no idea.

Cycloptichorn

On the right track there, at least unless the $6.6 billion unexpect revenue is accompanied by 6.6 billion or more unexpected expenses.

They'll probably give their lifeguards a raise.

Reduce spending and eliminate waste.

Outlaw federally funded healthcare
Outlaw employee provided health insurance.