Comments about ‘Letter: Retirees need protection from Congress restrictions on Medicaid law’

Having access to medical care tied to employment is insanity. The two have nothing to do with one another. Veterns benefits, medicare and medicaid should be the dog whistle that says "hey folks given the opportunity for a do over in medical access and care even we don't tie it to employment. We find a way to universilize it and socialize it.

Until we break this bond we'll never fix the access or cost problems.

And all the things you are hoping to improve are things Mitt wants to destroy.

Excellent letter. Absolutely, this solution should be part of health care reform.

Medicaid should only pay for those without asetts and income to pay the cost themselves.
The amount of money that was withheld/taxed while working comes nowhere close to the cost that is paid out in medicare benefits.
Some retirees use up 250k+ in benefits. Some go over a million dollars in health care cost.
I do feel that we need to provide medical benefits to all citizens who can not afford it.
We should not pay medical benefits if the person has the money to pay for it themselves.

VIDAR..so just what does it mean "we should not pay medical benefits if the person has the money to pay for it themslelves"? Say a person works 50 hours a week for 45 years as a brick layer and now at age 70 has social security and a nest egg of $100,000. They live modestly and get by. Now they get cancer and a single chemotherapy shot is $20,000 (not made up). Would you make them spend all of their $1000,000 on the first five shots and then say tough luck after that or maybe pay for everything after the $100,000 is gone and just let them fall into poverty and other governments programs after the chemo is over and they are lucky enough to live?

I can see the point of the opinion, however, in the case of retirees the states and medicaid are not the prime insurer. Medicare is and it is paid for by current employers and their employees contributions to Medicare. The difficulty is this system is currently more costly than the monies raised to support it, and will become increasingly so as the baby boomer generation are added to it. Now is the time to make the fixes necessary to keep it solvent, which was one of the recommendations of the President's by-partisan commission on the budget. Of course for political reasons, the President ignored the report and it remains a pressing problem and part of the federal expenditures generating the annual deficit.

pragmatistferlife
salt lake city, utah

What would happen to anyone under the age of 65 in this situation?
I guess you can put out cans for coins at convience stores, and appeal to people to help pay for it.
That is pretty much what we tell parents with young children with cancer that cannot afford it.
I think our entire health care system needs to be overhauled.
Under Obamacare everyone would have access to reasonable health insurance.
Seniors are simply not paying their fair share for the amount of services they are receiving.
We are taking money from young families who do not have health insurance, and using it to subsidized wealthy seniors health care cost.
Medicare is welfare; those who have assets to pay medical cost should use the assets first, and then go to the government-taxpayer for help.
This is what we expect from anyone under the age of 65. Why do we have two classes of people in our society?
Medicare is a bad system, all citizens should be under the same obamacare system.