Hooray for “socialism!”

When I retired, my health insurance became traditional Medicare, what right-wingers call “socialism.” I’d read enough not to be seduced by the candy offered in “Medicare Advantage” plans, the free market plans that were supposed to be superior to traditional Medicare. So far, no regrets for me. Sadly, tens of thousands of Americans do regret the Medicare Advantage choice.

“At 70, landscape artist Anthony J. Petchkis lives with a host of health problems. There was the heart attack that sent him on an ambulance ride from his home in the mountains of New Hampshire to Portland, Maine, for an arterial stent. His cholesterol is stubbornly high. He has diabetes, gout and rheumatoid arthritis. He takes eight medications a day.

“Until this year, he at least felt confident insurance would fully cover his medical bills, which he estimates run to several thousands of dollars a year. Then his Medicare Advantage plan dropped him.

“How am I going to pay all these things going into the future?” said Petchkis, who lives on about $24,000 a year from Social Security and the sale of the White Mountain landscapes he paints in his Conway studio. “Now I seem okay, but six months or a year from now, something really catastrophic could happen.”

While millions of Americans who are losing their Medicare Advantage plans can choose other such plans, a subset have no alternative but traditional Medicare.

“Petchkis was one of about 77,000 in New Hampshire forced off Medicare Advantage and among a subset who had no viable alternatives. He was forced to enroll in traditional Medicare, which only covers 80 percent of doctor and outpatient services. Because he said he can’t afford a supplemental “medigap” insurance plan to make up the other 20 percent, which would have cost about $200 a month, he worries he will face thousands of dollars in bills if he becomes seriously ill – money he does not have.

“Besides leaving elderly patients like Petchkis in the lurch, the sudden withdrawal of Medicare Advantage plans in rural areas shows how the privatized Medicare option – which covers roughly half of all Medicare beneficiaries in the United States – is fraying in some places.”

Of course, traditional Medicare isn’t really socialism. Socialism is when the government owns the means of production. There is still private healthcare in America and it can be paid for in a variety of ways. The advantages of traditional Medicare include that you can’t have your plan cancelled and that you’re not subject to a restricted provider network. If that’s government oppression, it works for me!

Medicare Advantage plans are disappearing