Kip Sullivan and Ralph Nader Talk Tradition Medicare vs Medicare Advantage
This podcast came to me by way of Kip Sullivan, the expert on Traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage. We have had a running dialogue for about a year now. Most recently, Angry Bear featured Kip’s PNHP Single Payer Healthcare Financing Series detailing why healthcare is expensive in the US.
I have put up numerous posts on healthcare, Medicare, Medicare Advantage. This podcast by Kip and Ralph Nader gets into the take over of Traditional Medicare by Commercial Healthcare Insurance. I think this podcast will answer the the question of why the same benefits are not found in Traditional Medicare.
A Simple answer; Congress will not allow Traditional Medicare to offer the same benefits. This is why there is Part D and MediGap plans. Furthermore, Traditional Medicare is paying for those benefits in Medicare Advantage out of the Medicare Trust Fund.
Medicare Advantage does over-code and over-charge for the benefits it offers under a limited network of doctors and hospitals. As Kip and Ralph detail, you really do not know how good your plan really is until you are seriously ill and the the fun starts the same as what one experiences with Commercial Healthcare. There is also no argument of Commercial healthcare insurance or Medicare Advantage being less costly or than Traditional Medicare.
They are not . . . Medicare Advantage plans “are vastly over” paid by Congress.
Each time I post on this topic, it is to educate people on the differences between Traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage/trump’s Medicare Direct Contracting plans. The ratio today is commercial Medicare Advantage versus Traditional Medicare.healthcare is 46% to 54%.
This podcast is about an hour long. I hope you listen to it.
A Stat:
Healthcare Cost in 1970 was 7% of the economy. Today it is 18%. Almost three times an increase. Is it the over use of healthcare as railed upon by advocates for ending Medicare? It is as Uwe stated; “it is the prices.”
Nine percent of our people are uninsured. Thirty-four percent of every dollar of the $4 trillion spent on healthcare is for administration. With Single Payer, this could be cut to 15%.
Even with healthcare insurance, underuse is a far bigger issue than over use of healthcare. People are afraid of going to the doctor and the bills resulting from it.
If you have been paying attention to my posts on hospital, pharmaceutical, etc. costs; it comes across very clearly. It is also the prices coming from commercial healthcare and insurance.