My mother died of liver cancer three years ago at age 81. Before that she had other health problems as well. What if she had a voucher and had to navigate the world of health insurance?
My mother was a very healthy woman for most of her life. She exercised, ate sensibly, quit smoking after the surgeon general said to, drank moderately and generally took good care of herself. She began having problems with balance in her early seventies and was diagnosed with an inner ear growth that also began to affect her brain functioning. Its removal helped return her mental faculties but her balance remained a problem and caused her to fall and break her ankle. Over a period of years, she needed a great deal of medical care, from appointments, medications and therapy to walkers, wheelchairs and finally hospice care when she was diagnosed with stage four liver cancer. All of this was covered by Medicare.
What if my mother had been compelled to shop for health insurance, which as a 58 year old, I absolutely dread? What if she had to compare multiple plans and judge which one worked best with her coupon? I am constantly confused by changing deductibles, in-network providers (last week yes but this week that doctor is no longer "in network"), yearly premium increases and co-pays. Seniors often have vision and hearing problems. Try calling Blue Cross and getting somebody with an accent when you can't hear. Try reading your policy with macular degeneration or cataracts. One of the great gifts of Medicare for our seniors is not just that their health care is covered, it is this; they don't have to navigate it. It just gets payed for. They don't have to find out what part they owe or re-submit a bill. Most of the frustrating annoyances that those of us with crappy health insurance deal with all of the time, go away when you get Medicare. Why would we subject our seniors to that?
So instead of returning our older more vulnerable citizens to the complexities of the insurance system, let's make Medicare be available to ALL citizens.
Republicans, you're going the WRONG WAY.