Myth number 4 -Obamacare looks out for seniors.
Obamacare has its most devastating effects on the Medicare population- those over the age of 65.
It does this in several ways.
First, Obamacare is destroying Medicare Advantage; insurance plans that have existed since 1997 in which over 10 million people have opted to enroll. Basically this gives the Medicare beneficiary the option of receiving their Medicare benefits through private insurance plans. Since the plans are similar to health savings accounts, the beneficiary is more informed about his/her health care and the costs of their treatment. By making more economical and informed decisions about their health care; they can save money in their accounts. Obamacare is destroying Medicare Advantage by eliminating the subsidies over time resulting in many insurance companies like Cigna to indicate they are not going to participate in Medicare Advantage any longer. The logical reason for trying to destroy Medicare Advantage and health savings accounts is to take away a citizen’s control of their health care and to promote an eventual government controlled health care system that will ultimately decide your health care needs for you.
Second, Obamacare did not take into account the fact that over 77 million baby boomers will enroll in Medicare over the next 20 years. Also, the elderly population is living longer and will require Medicare for more years than their predecessors. There will not be enough providers to care for the elderly and this will result in less access to doctors as well as less time available for the doctor to spend with the patients, resulting in lower quality of care. Also, Obamacare established an Independent Public Advisory Board composed of 15 appointed people who will determine ways to save money when cuts are needed in Medicare. This will result in rationing care where certain procedures or therapies will not be covered and this will then result in decreasing the quality of life for the Medicare recipients. In many cases this will lead to premature death in this population. How is this good for the elderly?
Third, Obamacare was unable to have any long-term coverage for the elderly such as nursing homes because of even more exorbitant costs (as if the costs of other programs in Obamacare were not exorbitant). As the population gets older, many citizens have elderly parents and if possible, they should consider long-term insurance coverage such as for skilled nursing homes or assisted living. Otherwise, the alternative would be to deplete the assets of their parents in order to obtain both Medicaid (indigent coverage) and Medicare to cover the costs of these nursing homes or assisted living facilities. These long-term insurance rates vary, but if there are enough assets, obtaining this type of insurance coverage may prevent the family from losing their savings. This is especially true because of a provision under Obamacare where the federal government can have your medical bills paid directly by automatic withdrawal without your permission.
Fourth, Obamacare has many hidden taxes that will affect many elderly citizens and this will result in decreasing their assets and make it more difficult to pay their medical bills. Since Obamacare is hiring over 16,000 IRS agents and this will make sure your medical bills are sequestrated first before you pay other bills such as rent, mortgage payments, utilities, food bills, etc. This will create more stress on the elderly and possibly cause a further deterioration of their quality of life and health. This then leads to increased healthcare costs and the cycle repeats itself.
Therefore, Obamacare is dangerous for the elderly in many ways, including their quality of life, economically, choice of available treatments and probably even premature death.
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