Your cost of ignorance — the Medicare version

We’ll begin, as always, with three simple truths:

1. When the U.S. government created the U.S. dollar from thin air by passing laws, it arbitrarily created the number of dollars it wanted and gave those dollars the values it wanted.

2. Since then, the U.S. government has retained the powers to pass laws, create as many dollars as it wants, and give those dollars the values it wants (i.e. prevent and cure inflation). It regularly exercises those powers (termed “Monetary Sovereignty”).

3. The U.S. government cannot unintentionally run short of dollars, no matter how many dollars it spends or taxes. Simply by passing laws, it could spend trillions of dollars without levying a single dollar in taxes.

Thus, unlike state/local (monetarily non-sovereign) government taxes, which fund state/local government spending, federal taxes do not fund federal spending. 

All federal spending is funded by new-dollar creation.

The lack of understanding regarding these truths stems from the widespread dissemination of “The Big Lie,” which is the assertion that the federal government “cannot afford” to provide certain benefits, or that doing so is “unsustainable.”

(See: “The rich will try to cut Social Security and Medicare by telling you the Big Lie in economics,” “Obeying the rich: Telling the Big Lie and cutting benefits to the middle and poor,” and “The useless, no harmful, battles over the Big Lie, among many others.”

The Big Lie has cost the American public trillions in lost federal services and wasted private sector dollars.

The following are excerpts from an article in the October 2024 AARP Bulletin. I will remind you of AARP’s stated purpose: “AARP is dedicated to protecting Medicare and ensuring quality, accessible health care for older Americans. We 

HOW YOUR MEDICARE COSTS COULD GROW, by Brandy Bauer,  joint center director of Senior Medicare Patrol and State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) resource centers.

From 2023 to 2024, the standard Medicare Part B premium—paid monthly by most Americans 65 and older—grew 5.9 percent.  

Each year, the government determines what you’ll pay for Medicare Part A, primarily hospital insurance, and Part B, medical insurance.

Part A is premium-free for most people, but over the past 20 years, the Part B monthly premium, now $174.70, grew at an annualized rate of 4.9 percent, compared with inflation of about 2.6 percent.

If you wonder why Part A generally is free, while Part B collects premiums, here is the (false} reasoning: Most people don’t pay a premium for Part A because they or their spouse paid Medicare taxes while working. Part B isn’t funded by payroll taxes.

The reasoning is false because federal taxes do not fund federal spending. Their purposes are:

1. To assure demand for the U.S. dollar, by requiring dollars to be used for tax paying.
2. To control the economy by taxing what the government wishes to discourage and by giving tax breaks to what the government wishes to reward.
3. At the behest of the rich, to widen the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest. Without the Gap, there would be no rich. We all would be the same. The Gap defines the rich. The wider the Gap, the richer they are.

The tax structure is such that the rich pay a lower percentage of their income than those who are not rich, making them richer.

Very few Americans understand this basic truth: The purpose of your Medicare premiums is not to fund Medicare but to make the rich richer. Ignorance is costly.

On top of premiums, people pay 20 percent of most outpatient costs, with no cap on out-of-pocket expenses.

Affordability is a function of wealth. The fact that the rich can afford more and better healthcare than the middle and lower income groups helps the rich widen the income/wealth/power Gap that defines them.

There’s little sign that costs will grow more slowly. Medicare trustees estimate that Part B premiums will increase by 6.2 percent on an annualized basis through 2033, and overall Medicare spending will grow even faster. On an annualized basis over the same time period, the deductible for Part A is forecast to increase 3.6 percent; the Part B deductible, 6.4 percent.

These unnecessary costs are a more significant burden on those who are not rich than on the rich. They comprise a higher percentage of a middle-income person’s finances than a rich person’s finances, and that is the whole point: To make the rich richer.

The federal government has the infinite power to pay for non-deductible health insurance that fully covers every man, woman, and child in America, regardless of age or previous health, and do it without levying a single penny in taxes.

As this would narrow the income/wealth/power Gap, the rich, who run America, don’t want it. That is the sole reason it doesn’t exist.

Original Medicare doesn’t cover prescription or non-prescription drugs, so if you want that coverage, you must pay extra for it to private, for-profit insurers. These are called “PartD” plans.

Premiums for stand-alone drug plans have risen about 2.8 percent annually since 2006. The average base premium this year is $34.70, although Part D plans’ premiums, covered drugs and out-of-pocket costs vary considerably.

In 2025, out-of-pocket costs for covered drugs will be limited to $2,000 for the year; that cap will be updated annually. In 2026, prices will drop for 10 of Medicare enrollees’ costliest and most widely used drugs. 

Medicare Part D covers many prescription medications, from generic to brand-name drugs. The specific drugs covered can vary depending on the individual plan’s formulary, which is the list of drugs the plan covers.

There is no reason why Americans are being forced to pay for what the government could provide free. The covered drugs are: Eliquis (apixaban),  Jardiance (empagliflozin), Xarelto (rivaroxaban), Januvia (sitagliptin), Farxiga (dapagliflozin), Entresto (sacubitril/valsartan), Enbrel (etanercept), Imbruvica (ibrutinib), Stelara (ustekinumab), NovoLog/Fiasp (insulin aspart)

Why does Medicare pay for doctors and hospitals (though with deductibles) but not for drugs? The answer can be given in one word: bribery. Private insurance and pharmaceutical companies bribe politicians to create a Medicare that favors the rich, the insurance companies, and the pharmaceuticals.

One great weakness of every government—be it democracy, monarchy, oligarch, republic, or communist—is bribery. In America, the rich bribe all sources of information to promulgate the Big Lie, which is intended to keep lower-income groups from asking for benefits.

The rich bribe:

1. The politicians, via campaign contributions and lucrative jobs, later
2. The media, via ownership and advertising dollars
3. The university economists, via endowments and jobs with think tanks.

Monthly premiums for Medicare supplement insurance (Medigap), designed to cover costs that OM does not, range from $40 for a high-deductible policy to several hundred dollars for the most comprehensive coverage.

There is no financial reason for you not to receive the best, most complete health care at no cost. From the standpoint of healthcare, everyone in America is equally deserving.

Everyone first enrolling in Part B after age 65 gets a six-month Medigap open enrollment window during which companies must offer you a policy at the best available rate regardless of your health history.

This should begin at birth, not at age 65, and it should last forever, not just six months.

Unlike changing MA or Part D, you can’t easily switch Medigap plans in most states, so shop carefully; after your guaranteed issue period, companies can refuse to sell you a policy or charge higher premiums because of preexisting medical conditions.

Only four states—Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and New York—prohibit denial of enrollment or coverage based on medical history.

There is no reason why Americans living everywhere do not receive the best terms.

Pricing for Medigap policies falls into one of three structures, which affect how their costs increase.

Community-rated (or “no-age-rated”) policiescharge the same premium to everyone in a particular geographical area and rise only with inflation.

Issue-age-rated policies are priced based on how old you are when you enroll; after that, premiums may rise with inflation but not with age.

Attained-age-rated policies increase premiums based on your age as well as inflation. If you have a choice of pricing methods—in many states, you don’t—be aware that, over the long run, community-rated policies tend to be the most affordable choice.

If Medicare were free to all, these different policies would not exist.

Average price increases for Medigap went from less than 4 percent in the early 2000s to 5 to 8 percent in recent years.

Price increases are unnecessary. All Medicare should be free.

Brandy Bauer is joint center director of Senior Medicare Patrol and State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) resource centers.

And the final statement of The Big Lie:

If you can’t afford Medicare coverage, you may qualify for financial help. Options include Medicare Savings Programs, Medicaid and, for Part D, the Extra Help program.

To learn more, visit medicare.gov/help or contact a State Health Insurance Assistance Program at shiphelp.org.

The federal government has the means to begin with one assumption: Every American should receive free healthcare as a human right. To have healthcare doled out on the ability to pay is unnecessary and a disgrace, based on The Big Lie.

The question is: Do you believe the AARP really “advocates for policies that strengthen Medicare’s financial stability — and to expand coverage and reduce out-of-pocket costs”?

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

Monetary Sovereignty

Twitter: @rodgermitchell
Search #monetarysovereignty
Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell;
MUCK RACK: https://muckrack.com/rodger-malcolm-mitchell;
https://www.academia.edu/

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The Sole Purpose of Government Is to Improve and Protect the Lives of the People.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

(Ever wonder why federal spending cuts demanded by debt nuts are designed to widen the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest, while the federal spending increases they want are designed to reward and protect the rich?)

Source: https://mythfighter.com/2024/10/12/your-cost-of-ignorance-the-medicare-version/