This weekend is my 65th birthday, and appropriately enough, I am happily heading back to Florida now. So, like every U.S. citizen approaching that important milestone, I recently signed up for Medicare Part A and Part B with the Social Security Administration.
But after a careful and thorough investigation, I decided against Part D and all those unnecessary and overhyped Medicare “supplemental” plans. And you should too, as I’ll explain in a moment.
First, let’s talk about the good parts of A and B as provided by the Social Security Administration itself.
Finally, some good, old-fashioned “major medical”
To be honest with you, I was more than ready to get rid of my government-mandated private health insurance. The laughable and dishonestly entitled “Affordable Care Act” forced us to pay more for more things we didn’t want or need — in order to subsidize others in the “insurance pool.”
Plus, over the past seven years, my health insurance rates had fully doubled. But during that same time period, the Obama administration told us that inflation and the annual cost of living increases were artificially near zero.
So, yes, I was happy to finally get rid of my stingy, over-priced private insurance.
In fact, one of the best things about Medicare is finally not needing to deal with private health insurance companies anymore. No more wasting time, frustration, and humiliation for their permission, their process, and their measly payments!
For one, Medicare Part A covers inpatient hospital care, lab tests, and surgery. It’s similar to the good, old hospitalization insurance — or “major medical.”
You should think of Part A as real, old-fashioned “insurance” against a catastrophic event, should you be trapped in a hospital for impossibly costly care. It’s a lot like having property insurance if you lost your home, or auto liability insurance if somebody tried to get millions in damages from an auto accident. Medicare Part A protects you from going bankrupt as a result of major health events and hospitalization.
Medicare Part B is outpatient medical insurance, similar to what you’ve likely had for decades. It covers doctor visits and outpatient care, as well as durable medical equipment, home health care, and some preventive services. For Part B, there’s a required, reasonable payment to Social Security, which is similar to any regular private insurance plan, but much less costly.
Frankly, Parts A and B, as provided by the Social Security Administration are all you should ever need or want — especially if you’re conscious about your health and utilize all the effective and natural approaches to prevent and reverse chronic conditions. (And if you’ve been an avid reader of mine, you’re quite knowledgeable about many of these strategies.)
That means you can skip all those unnecessary, overhyped Medicare “supplemental” plans, which are relentlessly pushed on all those stupid, smarmy commercials. All that money spent on advertising is money not spent on reimbursing your care. When you pay more for additional private insurance it ends up adding up to as much as you were paying before going on Medicare.
It makes no sense.
But it makes dollars and cents for the insurance industry, which just can’t stand seeing 60 million older Americans who don’t need to keep paying them anymore. Furthermore, why on earth would you want to continue dealing with insurance companies when you don’t need to?
Plan D’s deep pocket dig
Then there’s Medicare Part D. The crony, corporatist health insurance industry and big pharma just couldn’t leave well enough alone. They had to dig their hands deeper into the pockets of the 60 million older Americans on Medicare. So, they came up with Plan D. Suddenly, we all “needed” Plan D’s “supplemental” drug insurance too.
Well, as I said a moment ago, I also spent a lot of time looking into Plan D. (As much as we think the government is a thief of our wealth and labor, it’s also a thief of our time.)
And I became convinced it’s BS. (Unless you’re a hypochondriac, addicted to a regular fix from the mainstream medical industry.)
I also came away with some very clear conclusions I just had to share with you…
Older Americans foot the bill for higher drug prices
Introduced in 2003 as an “optional” prescription drug plan, Medicare Part D appeared to be another “wealth transfer” program from you to big pharma.
In fact, Plan D made the federal government the biggest buyer of drugs in the world. But it also forbade the federal government from negotiating drug prices!
On September 18, 2018, my colleague Bill Bonner at Agora Financial explained how the federal government ended up with such a bum deal:
Former U.S. Representative Billy Tauzin worked very hard to expand Medicare to include prescription drugs. (Say thank you to Billy.) He also worked very, very, very hard to make sure the government couldn’t use its massive new negotiating power to bring drug prices down — the way most sane countries do. (Say what, Billy?) Then, after announcing his retirement in 2004, Tauzin became head of the drug manufacturers’ lobbying arm, PhRMA, at an annual salary of $2 million.
So — Part D now ensures the U.S. government pays full freight for these awful, new drugs. And older Americans subsidize the whole thing by paying their “fair” share.
How is that fair?
My poor mother ended up living mostly on Social Security. And the government deducted the cost of Medicare Part D directly from her meager monthly check before she ever saw it. (And as we all know, taking your money before you ever see it is one thing the government is good at…)
The feds consider it another “withholding tax.”
What a great “product” — for them. They get an automatic payment each month, whether or not their customers need the “coverage” Plan D provides. And clearly, most customers don’t need it, or it wouldn’t be such a profitable business.
Plus, what you get for the money just isn’t worth it…
Stick to safer generics and save money
As you know, I’m always sharing safe, natural approaches to preventing — and even reversing — chronic conditions like heart disease and Type II diabetes.
But if you must take a drug, I always recommend looking at generics first. These drugs have stood the test of time. And, generally, they have a far better safety profile than newer drugs.
Plus, generics are far less expensive. They won’t cost you $1,000 a month like some of the toxic big pharma concoctions that doctors love.
So, if you aim to stick with generic drugs — as you should — paying extra for supplemental Plan D is like throwing more money down the drain.
Medicare supplemental plan salespeople prey on uncertainty and fear
Frankly, if the Social Security Administration did a decent job of informing and educating people about Medicare Part D, you wouldn’t be left in the hands of salespeople who prey on you when you’re desperately trying to learn basic information.
The government has known all about you for decades. They know exactly when you turn 65 and require you to sign up.
But do they contact you to help you figure it all out?
Of course not.
They just send you threatening notices that you’ll be “penalized” if you don’t sign up!
By comparison, look at all the relentless Medicare supplemental and Plan D sales pitches and commercials. They make a “supplemental” plan sound as though it’s “required.”
But it’s really just another insurance scam.
Plus, all the money the industry spends advertising is money that’s not being spent on paying your care.
Now, after a frustrating journey that wasted enormous amounts of my time, I ended up realizing all I really need is the regular Medicare Part A and Part B, as provided by the government. Which is the real point of the whole program from the beginning!
In my view, Medicare Part D and Medicare supplement plans belong to the same, big scam as big pharma and the crony, corporatist, corrupt “health” care system. In fact, “private” Medicare plans may be the biggest scam of all!
So, you can tell all those annoying fools who promote “supplemental” insurance on the evening commercials to go take a hike.
And once you’re old enough to go on Medicare, enjoy the moment, and finally save some money. You’ve earned it! Just make sure you never spend a dime on Medicare Part D or supplemental plans. In the long run, you’ll have more money in your pocket for other kinds of care that you really want, and will really boost your well-being — like massage or acupuncture!
Don’t keep subsidizing the dysfunctional mainstream healthcare system any more than you need to.
Above all else, it’s important to take your health into your own hands (and not rely on the government) to stay vibrant, youthful, and healthy well into your 70s, 80s, 90s — and beyond. Which is one of the exact reasons why I authored my most recent protocol, The Insider’s Ultimate Guide to Outsmarting “Old Age.” If you’d like to learn more about this online learning tool, or enroll today, simply click here.