The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Flip This Question Around

Posted on | February 25, 2012 | 3 Comments

by Smitty

Should seniors have the freedom to opt out of Medicare?

How about: why does the government get away with coercing anyone into any entitlement? We cannot overemphasize the point: Progressives are false.

Category: Progressivism

Comments

3 Responses to “Flip This Question Around”

  1. richard mcenroe
    February 25th, 2012 @ 3:59 pm

    In the words of an old Japanese cartoon: “We will never approve of independence from our federation!”

  2. Dana
    February 25th, 2012 @ 5:27 pm

    It kind of depends: while a senior citizen who wanted to get his Social Security check would have to enroll in Medicare, he’s under no obligation to actually use Medicare.

    However, if he maintained his private insurance, whenever he presented for a bill, the private insurance company would inquire, before paying the bill, whether the insured was covered by a primary insurer like Medicare.  Someone like Rush Limbaugh, who is self-insured, wouldn’t have this worry, but most seniors would.

  3. Adjoran
    February 26th, 2012 @ 2:42 am

    There is no requirement to actually USE Medicare.  Theoretically, one could use private insurance or cover their own bills. 

    As Dana observes, though, every private policy contains clauses about coordination with other insurance and with Medicare for those eligible.  They are NOT going to pay any more just because you don’t want Medicare – and why should they?  It’s an entitlement you have, the choice not to use it is yours alone, why would they pay for your voluntary action?

    In theory you could pay extra for a policy which covers what Medicare covers already – IF you can find a carrier to write such a policy, and there is no guarantee you could.  So Dana’s point about it only being relevant to those able to self-insure comes up once more, and since you can already pay your own bills if you wish, proves the whole argument moot.

    The FreedomWorks article seems to be ignorant of this, although ignorance seems to be the rule at that organization.