But in Indiana, when I made Medicare the butt of my jokes, everyone laughed. Why arenāt people laughing?
Wait, what? Republican candidates are feigning support for āMedicare for Allā to trick voters into voting for them?
Never mind.
Pretty scary for GOPers who have been trying to take away peopleās healthcareā¦
Just so weāre all on the same page here: CMS is the government agency that manages Medicare and Medicaid. The head of Medicare is making this ājokeā.
Personally, I find this one terrifying:
Wear nice dark suit, mount a calculator on your belt, carry a brief case with a sticker saying Blue Cross Actuary (or Aetna, or whatever). Scariest halloween costume ever. Theyāll ask you to leave.
She must be the individual responsible for dreaming up the plan to reduce CMSās budget by 80% so that there will be a shortage of navigators available to help consumers navigate ACA and choose the best plan.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has cut the amount of Navigator funding for the Affordable Care Act from $36 million this year to $10 million for 2019.
The grant money to Navigator organizations is to help consumers wade through ACA health insurance options, but CMS said the number of people who enrolled through the program didnāt justify the millions of federal dollars spent.
I am really starting to hate this woman, but then, she works for Trump.
That, in the nutshell, is the horror of the Trump administration.
Ha ha ha - Iām not going to lose my house and life savings paying for dumb old hospital bills. stoopid middle class losers!
Hereās a fun mask you can wear at all the many many parties youāre going to:
This woman is tone deaf but itās expected since she previously worked for Scott Walker.
Whatās even scarier is the thousands who die every year from lacking health insurance.
You figure someone with her health care background would understand that.
Yeah, such a frightening thought to have healthcare for all, asshole.
Six days until the tide turns.
Because thereās nothing scarier than people having health care.
I donāt think these people are driven by ideology or the cost of universal health care or anything like that.
I think they relish the notion of torturing the destitute and mocking the generous. Both groups serve no purpose in a capitalist system.
The destitute are labor and if they are sick they are too desperate to haggle for a better wage.
I guarantee that Seema Vermin is making a huge personal profit from her decisions. Sheās a classic self-dealing Trumper.
The āMEDICARE for allā notion is the scariest notion because MEDICARE and its putative āpartner(!?)ā are mismanaged shit holes. Two score and three years (23) after SSA regained its independence, it is still neck deep in, at minimum, two-thirds of what should be CMSās work. And the IT systems and cooperation between the agencies has 1965 (the founding year of MEDICARE) calling and asking for its technology and partnership justifications back.
A massive spike in MEDICARE enrollment would mildly burden CMS and crush SSA. Implementation of MEDICARE for all would turn millions of Americans in to right-wing, anti-government loonies.
Recall, that Obama had to conscript 20 and 30-somethings, many of whom had only been enrolled in an employer-sponsored health plan for 2-3 years nor had any special health insurance marketing knowledge, to fix the CMSās (aided by SSA IT losers) marketplace website disaster. Also recall that young novices such as the creators of HealthSherpa built on CMSās marketplace databases to create an intuitive web graphical user interface. (In my mind the easiest, idiot-proof part of the job.)
The relationship between the agencies isnāt symbiotic. The relation is parasitic. And MEDICARE is the parasite. Any agency that gave over 60-70 percent of its responsibility to another agency would be abolished by congress.
Compare the US Postal Service and the Stat Department in the area of passport applications. The demand for passports doesnāt justify the cost of State locating and maintaining a plethora of passport offices. As a result, State partners with the USPS and private agencies so that numerous, convenient,t venues are located throughout the U.S. where Americans can obtain forms, assistance with properly completing the application documents and potentially obtaining a passport -compliant photo. The burden on the USPS is minimal and the convenience for Americans is gigantic.
Venue convenience and the lack of modern, high bandwidth computer networks, in addition to the link between MEDICARE eligibility to SSA disability benefits and access to MEDICARE FICA data to verify those eligible at the minimum eligibility age drove the original design.
But post 1995, in the advent of a robust internet, WWW, computer data processing and storage capacity, in addition to robust network technology should have drove SSA executives to lobby congress to reduce its MEDICARE mandate.
Why? Technology. It could do two things. First, reduce the conflation between SSA and MEDICARE. Because people have to apply for MEDICARE through SSA, They think SSA IS MEDICARE. SSA processes and mails the enrollment notices and suspension or termination notices. SSA takes applications for the prescription drug premium subsidy (T18 program). Replacement MEDICARE cards must be ordered through SSA despite being generated and mailed by CMS. MEDICARE premium bills are issued under CMS letterhead but refer ALL questions to SSAās 800#. As a result, already overwhelmed field office employees and 800# agents have to deal with all manner of MEDICARE questions, beyond enrollment, such as coverage, doctors, specialists, durable equipment, how to chose a Part C supplemental medical (MEDICARE ADVANTAGE) and Part D (prescription drug) plans. CMS agents are supposed to answer those questions. SSA employees are neither competent nor authorized to answer those questions but can direct callers to MEDICAREās website and the comparison tool in the case of Part C and Part D selection questions . (The inevitable mission creep.) In addition, because of SSAās heavy involvement in MEDICARE, the agencyās 800# agents routinely refer callers back to SSA despite the fact that the questions or problems are soley under the aegis of CMS. (And no. SSA management doesnāt object to HHS/CMS.)
If SSA was allowed to focus on OASDI benefits and the administratively burdensome Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. Robust data exchange networks would allow the agencies to trade processing data efficiently. The SSA could and should still provide venues for people who want to apply for MEDICARE, prescription drug premium assistance (T18 program) in person. However, SSA can stay out of the matter by providing video-link enabled booths in each field office and applicants will be linked to MEDICARE customer service reps who can answer not only eligibility questions but also general questions on MEDICARE coverage.
Currently, individuals who are receiving SSA benefits are automatically enrolled in MEDICARE when they become age-eligible, or for those receiving disability insurance (DIB)upon satisfying the waiting period time frames. (I knnow, I know. Logically, someone who is awarded DIB should be automatically enrolled in MEDICARE, but such is not the case. Donāt ask.) Why exactly in an age where Facebook or any company whose website you access can tell you the color of your boogers and the number of corn kernels and carrot cubes in your fecal matter the agencies canāt create a data exchange program to seamlessly enroll/disenroll/reenroll MEDICARE beneficiaries?
I could go on, but allowing masses of Americans to be confused about the agencies and their respective responsibilities and the fact that SSA canāt even handle its core-core workload suggests change is necessary. (SSA implies that the bump of applying Baby Boomers is overwhelming it. Who knew? Imagine an agency that employs ACTUARIES, who use damn RELIABLE life tables, wasnāt prepared. Oh yeah. SSA has roughly the same number of employees as it did in 1995. A rough back-of-the-envelope calculation tells me that productivity is w-a-a-ay NEGATIVE!! In other words, the money the agency spent on IT would have been better used if the treasury provided the funds in cash and set it on fire,