Editor:
They say Medicare is going bankrupt and Medicaid is already gone at the federal level, as I understand it. They also say that health insurance premiums are rising and deductibles are growing so fast that, before long, no one will be able to afford either healthcare or health insurance.
It looks to me like health care, as presently structured, isn’t working in the United States. What’s more, Trump and his ilk are now wanting to do away with the ACA again, so millions more will be uninsured.
You can blame doctors’ fees, hospital bills, pharmaceutical costs and every other reason you can think of for our predicament. And, they all may be true. But, let’s look at the facts to try to figure out what’s really wrong:
1. My Medicare insurance premium, which supposedly covers 80 percent of my doctor and hospital costs, is $135.50 per month ($1,626/year);
2. My Blue Cross Blue Shield supplemental Medicare premium, which supposedly covers 20 percent of such costs, is $241.20 per month ($2,894.40/year).
Using these same ratios, if I was paying the same rate for Blue Cross Blue Shield as I am for Medicare, my monthly premium would be only $33.87 — $207.33 per month less than I am now (about $2,500/per year less).
I probably sound like some flaming liberal, which I’m not. I just like to follow the facts to their logical conclusion. So, I think it’s about time to call a spade a spade and urge our legislators to recognize that a single-payer system is far more frugal for taxpayers than the so-called capitalistic, free-market or multiple-insurer version of health care coverage.
It’s really a question of whether you would rather be governed by your elected representatives or the profit-driven insurance companies.
Bert M. Grimm Jr.