Hochul bounded to the stage of a union hall in Amherst, just northeast of Buffalo, late Tuesday as the newly elected congresswoman from the ruby red congressional district that brought us Jack Kemp, Bill Paxon, and Tom Reynolds. After all the requisite hugs and thank yous, she mentioned her plans to fight to close corporate tax loopholes and make millionaires pay their fair share. “We can do all that,” she said, “and not decimate Medicare.” Hearing that single word, the crowd erupted with the mantra of the Hochul campaign. “Medicare! Medicare! Medicare!”
Now I want to make two points.
First, a tale of Medicare from one there. I watch my blood sugar, just in case, family history and all, diet and exercise, try not to get any of the sequellae that I see and write about. So now Medicare pays for the glucose strips, under the new law. Since that change in January my supplier changed billing from me to Medicare, then because the supplier always used my plain old name, no middle initial and no Jr at the end, never really used that, Medicare denied payment. So I called the supplier, mistake number one, they got Medicare, mistake number 2 and here is the result. Since Medicare pays I am not allowed to. But since the supplier has the wrong spelling, Medicare will not pay, but since the wrong spelling can only be corrected with a new prescription and an re-registration, I must re-apply to my supplier under my new name, wait till they tell Medicare etc, you kind of get the tale, and Oh yes, I am not allowed by law to buy it myself!
So what is the problem of medicare, a bunch of GS5s and idealists as managers who have no idea what the real world i like. Hours patiently getting the cats herded and yes we still have not remedied the problem. I cannot buy it myself! If however my kidneys were to fail, then they will pay!
Now to Medicare. Some facts:
1. It is a train wreck in process. Folks, it will not last and Ryan recognized that.
2. Vouchers and private insurance will not work. Just look at the confusion over Part D, the drug component.Some 70 year old with mild dementia is really going to have a tough time selecting a plan and managing it.
3. The principle of Medicare is a valuable one, it has merit.
4. Medicare is truly inefficient and spends too much. My classic example if $300,000 for an IgG transfusion for Lyme disease, yes they pay for that!
5. Every system is scammed, and there is fraud and waste, but the current system almost encourages that.
6. There should be means testing. There should be a slight Medicare Tax increase, and the age should be pegged to a life expectancy number, not a specific date.
Ryan should have approached this incrementally, I suspect he has a tin ear. The problem now is that the Democrats will push back, nothing will happen and we go down the financial tubes.
Poor, poor politicians.
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