PAUL KRUGMAN: The Plot Against Medicare

The plot against Social Security failed: President Bush’s attempt to privatize the system crashed and burned when the public realized what he was up to. But the plot against Medicare is faring better: the stealth privatization embedded in the Medicare Modernization Act, which Congress literally passed in the dead of night back in 2003, is proceeding apace.

Worse yet, the forces behind privatization not only continue to have the G.O.P. in their pocket, but they have also been finding useful idiots within the newly powerful Democratic coalition. And it’s not just politicians with an eye on campaign contributions. There’s no nice way to say it: the NAACP and the League of United Latin American Citizens have become patsies for the insurance industry.

To appreciate what’s going on, you need to know what has been happening to Medicare in the last few years.

The 2003 Medicare legislation created Part D, the drug benefit for seniors — but unlike the rest of Medicare, Part D isn’t provided directly by the government. Instead, you can get it only through a private drug plan, provided by an insurance company. At the same time, the bill sharply increased payments to Medicare Advantage plans, which also funnel Medicare funds through insurance companies.

As a result, Medicare — originally a system in which the government paid people’s medical bills — is becoming, instead, a system in which the government pays the insurance industry to provide coverage. And a lot of the money never makes it to the people Medicare is supposed to help......

http://freedemocracy.blogspot.com/2007/04/paul-krugman-plot-against-medicare.html

And they still voted the fuckers in. Let em eat shit for all I care.

by private health insurance corporations. This is a fact and public knowledge. All you have to do is search the GAO.gov website. It's publicly available information. It's very interesting reading and worth the while of any concerned citizen to research the GAO.gov website. It's your tax dollars at work. (or not at work):dem:

BY FEATHER BEDDING AND OVER PAID EXECUTIVES THEY EASILY ADD 30% TO THE TOTAL COST.JUST
THE LAWYERS AND OTHER NON-HEALTH TRAINED EMPLOYEES CREATE A MAJOR COST INCREASE TO THE PROGRAM.