What Is Romney/Ryan Medicare Plan as You Understand It?

I think this is a great question, I want to do my part as a citizen of this country. i read a few of those links and it seems like just a jumbled mash of lies.(whatever a jumbled mash of lies is)

So romeny Changed his position on Abortion and Obama is spreading lies because his commerical didn't show that Romeny changed in the last 6 yrs???? AND I"m am pretty neutral as i really don't know anything about politics but that sounds like a bunch of twisting of the truth on Romney's part to me.

I"m still waiting for a little bit better of a synopisis of what this plan is. than you to E.S for explaining it.

Robin,
You hush your mouth. And you'll pardon me if I don't believe one word on Romney's website as he lies out his face with every turn he takes.

I'm 42 and their plan terrifies me! God help us if they're elected.

Basically, there would be two Medicare options. Private plans, which as we all know, LOVE people with preexisting conditions. If Romney/Ryan overturn Obamacare, we're back to being turned down for preexisting conditions. So, healthy seniors will have the option of private insurance and the rest of us with conditions will be stuck with Medicare. Since Medicare will be stuck with those needing more medical care, it's likely to go bankrupt pretty quickly. I can't even imagine what I'd do at that point, since I already know private insurance didn't want me in my 30s (can you imagine what they'd think of me in my 60s?). Right now, I only have health insurance because of a group plan. Otherwise, I can't get it until the preexisting condition clause of Obamacare kicks in.

Oh where is my father when I need him. He could explain it better than most because he has been on the plan since he retired in 84. See what the plan is is the exact plan retired Federal workers are on. The odd thing about Federal employees is their spouses go on Medicare where they get the Federal plan. Then again, I never asked if perhaps if he were more important spouses would be included.

When my mom was dying of Alzheimers my dad was more than aware of how much better his plan was than what my mom was getting. It was sad that her illness almost killed him too but there was nothing offered to help him. 20 home nurse visits a year hardly made a difference.

So my father for no out of pocket GETS better care than those on Medicare! NO out of pocket other than copays!

As my father put it, do these Democrats think we old people are stupid? We talk to each other, we understand what they are talking about. My father is 72 years old, he will be voting for Romney as will his friends. They are not afraid, not because they are grandfathered in but because they know it is the best choice for their children and their grandchildren.

So the plan itself, you get a voucher and you buy the insurance you want and need. Sure if he wanted all the bells a whistles he would have to pay out of pocket but with no out of pocket he still had a better plan than Medicare.
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LL, is my word good enough, my father has lived this plan for 26 years, I think I more than most know it works.

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CA, my father has had several strokes, he is not considered healthy, he is till insured with no out of pocket.

Sorry but what scares me the most right now is how easy it is to scare people into voting for you. On most subjects I am not sure if Romney has it right but on this one, and only this one I know it works.
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Denise, am I reading your post right. Are you saying that seniors are going to throw us under the bus because of one issue that doesn't effect them? I ask because that would be irrational.

I don't think the constant throwing around of the word "lies" is helpful here at all, and I agree with some of you more sensible ladies that there are plenty of websites that support one view and plenty that support the exact opposite. I fear that most of the responses you will receive here are going to be designed to swing your vote to the candidate of the responder's choice rather than actually answer your question.

Politifact is one possible website but they've made some mistakes as well. Factcheck.org is another one that is accurate. Anything from the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) is completely non-partisan and involves a ton of number-checking. Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats have ever accused the CBO of being wrong - they just choose whether to cite the numbers or not.

Now, it's essential to sort out the rhetoric. For example, Romney/Ryan keep citing the $716 billion (I think that's the number they've been using) that "Obama took away from Medicare to pay for Obamacare." And that's the same number that Paul Ryan included in his own budget, so he must not have a problem with it really.

So both sides agree on the number, but conveniently leave out that not one dime of that came from senior citizens' benefits! It came from overpaid insurance companies and over-charging hospitals (and other providers). Also some waste & fraud - which I'm sure we all agree can be cut.

So you can argue whether or not that's a good idea, but you can't accuse Obama of taking that money away from seniors. Someone else posted $555 billion - but again, that is NOT taking money out of benefits! So read the fine print, folks!

The second thing is to evaluate voucher plans - if you are given a certain amount of money (as a credit) to buy your own plan (which is what Romney/Ryan propose), the questions to ask are: What guarantee do I have that I will, with costs rising and inflation, be able to actually purchase a plan with that money? If costs go up (which they will) and my voucher amount is fixed, how will I buy coverage? Am I guaranteed coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions? (Depends) If I have not been covered continuously and try to buy a plan, will I be covered for pre-existing conditions? (no).

What happens is that healthy people with few costs can buy their own private insurance, because the insurers love them. They will be able to use their voucher and, if they are well off, pay more out of pocket to buy an excellent plan. They pay premiums and don't require much in paid benefits. So the insurance companies make more profits. Some say "that's free enterprise" but others say "Isn't health coverage a fundamental right?" The sicker people without a lot of extra cash will be the only ones left on Medicare, and that will bankrupt the system a lot sooner. It's not affordable for the US and the system will implode much sooner.

And Romney's recently-stated plan that poor people can just to the ER if they are sick is very irresponsible. In fact, he worked to implement universal health care here in Massachusetts just to get away from that philosophy of "use the Emergency Room for a hangnail" that has driven costs up so absurdly over the years. It's financial unacceptable, and he knows it, and he said so himself when he was governor. I don't want my elderly mother in the ER with a doctor who doesn't know her and who's trying to care for her in an acute situation. I want her getting preventive care and avoiding the expense and the mental trauma of the ER. And I think everyone should have that fundamental right regardless of their economic or health situation.

you can read this for yourself, as well as other ACCURATE info that outlines Governor Romney's ACTUAL plans, beliefs, etc-not the puke that spews from biden and obama :

http://www.mittromney.com/issues/medicare

I don't know, but as a very healthy married couple, my husband and I have both been denied coverage for healthcare at the ripe old age of 40 and 42. My husband was denied coverage because he took Ambien....one prescription after my sister (who works for the DEA) suggested it. Yep, now we just save our money and hope we don't have to go bankrupt if one of us gets a major illness.

As far as I'm concerned, if you think things are working in this county healthcare-wise, it's because you have a corporate/govt job and haven't had to deal with it. The rest of us are screwed. We're not even remotely sick, have money and they don't want us. Think about other people and let's make some changes.

Careful with that Romney website, A.! He even contradicts himself on his OWN website! Doh!

Ironic that seniors will have a large impact on this election when they're the only ones that will NOT see a change to their plan!

ETA: Um, yeah, Jo....what I'm saying is that if you've been conscious at all for the last year or so, you KNOW that current recipients of Medicare will have ZERO changes to their plan. So it is IRONIC that the issue that current seniors tend to focus on in this campaign is MEDICARE. And THAT just might be considered "irrational"!

Robin, I'm sure the OP can read that, as I did. But she asked what people thought of it. To me, their site is very vague.

From what I understand, the Romney/Ryan camp will instill the voucher program for those 55 and under and keep Medicare as is for those who currently receive it.

Either way, insurance companies are big lobbyists so let's just say anything is subject to change.

This is an excerpt from
http://www.nrlc.org/HealthCareRationing/LifeatRiskLongfor...

"Denying Senior Citizens the Right to Make Up Medicare Cuts With Your Own Money
According to an August 2010 Congressional Budget Office estimate, the Obama Health Care Law will cut $555 billion from Medicare over the next ten years. Most senior citizens know that the law will significantly cut government funding for their Medicare. Less widely known is the law’s provision allowing Washington bureaucrats to prevent older Americans from making up the Medicare shortfall with their own funds–taking away their right to spend their own money to save their own lives."

I can't post the whole thing here, but there are more details in the report.

Personally, I do not think anyone knows exactly what the plans are. The
one thing that is clear is that Medicare will be affected. No the money is not
taken from seniors directly. Payments to doctors will be reduced drastically. That is causing more and more doctors to drop out of Medicare.
So seniors will be affected! I think young people today have to plan in a very
different way for their future.

A., National Review had a fantastic article a few issues back on just this very subject. I didn't understand it before, but they laid it out in a very understandable way. It was a long article (though not long in comparison to say.... all the rules/regs in Obamacare, lol), but very enlightening.

I am trying to go back and figure out which issue so I can give you the specific issue number, but husband is gone to bed already (early golf in the morning out of town) and I think a few of the back issues are lying around in the bedroom. If I can locate it, I will edit my response.