Medicare for All (military please reply)

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_Gunnar
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Re: Medicare for All (military please reply)

Post by _Gunnar »

It seems to me that if MFA is passed, Tricare for Life would be unnecessary or redundant, unless, as RI suggested, the version of MFA eventually passed doesn't really cover everything that Tricare for Life does.
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_Res Ipsa
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Re: Medicare for All (military please reply)

Post by _Res Ipsa »

Jersey Girl, It looks to me like Warren has adopted Sanders’ plan, although she may do the tax part differently. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... story.html
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Re: Medicare for All (military please reply)

Post by _Res Ipsa »

Gunnar wrote:It seems to me that if MFA is passed, Tricare for Life would be unnecessary or redundant, unless, as RI suggested, the version of MFA eventually passed doesn't really cover everything that Tricare for Life does.


Gunnar, I think that’s right. As I understand the current situation, a vet eligible for Medicare signs up for parts A and B, paring the part B premium as any other recipient would. The Medicare coverage is primary and the TFL coverage is excess — covering costs within the TFL program that Medicare does not pay for. No premium is charged for TFL. Medicare makes the decision as to whether a particular service is medically necessary.

I haven’t looked at the differences in coverage between Medicare and TFL. Obviously this would be an issue of importance to vets and their families, as well as those who believe that supporting our troops requires more than lip service. In general, I’d be opposed to an MFA program that reduces existing Medicare or TFL benefits.
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_subgenius
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Re: Medicare for All (military please reply)

Post by _subgenius »

Jersey Girl wrote:Hello my military people!

Medicare for All. In this case, without a private option. What happens to Tricare Prime and Tricare for Life? Anyone know?

I haven't seen this addressed by Democrat candidates. Have you?

I do not follow your question here...it is possible to have TricareFL and Medicare at the same time....military status, age, and location of service (private vs VA) are circumstances that define that relationship.
Likely the reason that candidates have not addressed this is because they don't really have real world details for their pipe dream of ruining American Heath Care.
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_Gunnar
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Re: Medicare for All (military please reply)

Post by _Gunnar »

Res Ipsa wrote:
Gunnar wrote:It seems to me that if MFA is passed, Tricare for Life would be unnecessary or redundant, unless, as RI suggested, the version of MFA eventually passed doesn't really cover everything that Tricare for Life does.


Gunnar, I think that’s right. As I understand the current situation, a vet eligible for Medicare signs up for parts A and B, paring the part B premium as any other recipient would. The Medicare coverage is primary and the TFL coverage is excess — covering costs within the TFL program that Medicare does not pay for. No premium is charged for TFL. Medicare makes the decision as to whether a particular service is medically necessary.

I haven’t looked at the differences in coverage between Medicare and TFL. Obviously this would be an issue of importance to vets and their families, as well as those who believe that supporting our troops requires more than lip service. In general, I’d be opposed to an MFA program that reduces existing Medicare or TFL benefits.

That's the way Medicare and TFL has worked out for me, so far. I recently completed a 45 day course of daily radiation treatments for prostate cancer and Medicare and TFL paid for it all with no co-pay required (thank goodness!). by the way, as far as doctors can tell on follow up visits so far, I appear to be cancer free now! :biggrin:
No precept or claim is more likely to be false than one that can only be supported by invoking the claim of Divine authority for it--no matter who or what claims such authority.

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Re: Medicare for All (military please reply)

Post by _Res Ipsa »

Congrats, Gunnar. That’s great news.
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_Jersey Girl
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Re: Medicare for All (military please reply)

Post by _Jersey Girl »

Will Tricare Prime get sucked into MFA?
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_Res Ipsa
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Re: Medicare for All (military please reply)

Post by _Res Ipsa »

Jersey Girl wrote:Will Tricare Prime get sucked into MFA?


It doesn’t have to, but I think the theory is to fold all existing fed health insurance programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare, current insurance for Government officials and employees, etc. into a single program. In theory that would save administrative costs by eliminating duplicative bureaucracies. So, yeah, I suspect both TFL and Prime would be folded into MFA.

It seems to me there are a couple of things to watch out for: is the scope of the coverage going to be less than what Tricare covers now, will MFA require payments in the form of co-pays and deductibles that you don’t have to pay under Tricare, and will vets be exempt from the taxes that will finance MFA?

One solution could be to include in MFA a provision that coverage available to those eligible for Prime/TFL cannot have their benefit reduced under MFA. I certainly would support that, as I don’t believe that vets should lose anything in the transition. Another would be to make sure that MFA provides coverage at least as broad as TRICARE.

The cost side can be fixed with a tax credit. I don’t know whether any plan has gotten down to this level of specifics.

I’ve never seen Tricare from the inside. Assuming you had the same coverage you had before and the cost was the same, are their other concerns you’d have about replacing Tricare with MFA?
​“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.”

― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1951
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Re: Medicare for All (military please reply)

Post by _Jersey Girl »

Primers pay copay for off base services. Life when combined with Medicare does not currently have copays in our experience.

For example, had Gunnar been under Prime during his treatment, he would have had some fairly hefty copays to deal with though I don't think as high as the civilian community with which I have zero experience.

Just mentioning for the sake of mentioning.
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Re: Medicare for All (military please reply)

Post by _Res Ipsa »

Jersey Girl wrote:Primers pay copay for off base services. Life when combined with Medicare does not currently have copays in our experience.

For example, had Gunnar been under Prime during his treatment, he would have had some fairly hefty copays to deal with though I don't think as high as the civilian community with which I have zero experience.

Just mentioning for the sake of mentioning.


Thanks. I read more on TFL than Prime.

Be glad you aren’t in the private market. I’m self employed and pay almost 3K per month for health insurance — no vision or dental. And that’s with pretty hefty co-pays and deductibles. After 25 years of self-employment, I’m looking for a job just to get health insurance.
​“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.”

― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1951
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