Apparently the Republicans think we are stupid or that we won’t do any investigation into what they say. Mitt Romney’s running mate, Paul Ryan, wants to give vouchers (per Merriam-Webster: “a form or check indicating a credit against future purchases or expenditures”) to future retirees for their Medicare equivalent purchases. The problem is that free-market insurance is very expensive. I will be 62 in a couple of months and have always had health insurance and am in decent health.

I called my insurance guy and the least expensive monthly premium option he gave me would require $250 per month with a $9,150 annual deductible. I would receive three visits per year for copays of $50, and one each of other visits for a copay of $200. I would receive 100 percent benefits once the deductible is fulfilled for all other visits. Prescription coverage is $10 copay for generic drugs and no coverage for Tiers 2 and 3 drugs. For an optional fee ($35-$45 per month) I could receive Tier 2 and 3 drugs after $50 and $100 copays.

Fortunately, I don’t need but a couple of prescriptions that, of course, are not generic. Since I am still a few years from receiving Medicare and what little I know is that the monthly premium runs about $100 per month for 80/20 coverage and a prescription doughnut hole that eventually disappears by 2018 under the Affordable Care Act. What we have under Obamacare is far superior to what the Republicans are offering. (When they tell us what they’re offering: “We’ll let you know after the election.”) The Republicans say their “premium support” plan will only affect those who are now under 55.

Well, all you under 55, when you are on a fixed income at 67-ish (that is, if Social Security isn’t privatized by Republicans who tried to do it before under the tutelage of none other than Paul Ryan), you “get” to buy your own insurance with annual personal outlays of more than $12,000 now. I for one do not believe that those premium supports will be much comfort in 2023 when Ryan’s plan goes into effect. That is, if Medicare is not bankrupt after Romney repeals Obamacare, whose $716 billion savings gives Medicare an additional eight years of life (through 2024). Do the math: Repeal could make Medicare go bankrupt in 2016.

Of course, most of us know that Republicans have never believed in Social Security or Medicare. Who do you believe will do everything in their power to save both of these programs? Vote a straight Democrat ticket from President Barack Obama to state Rep. candidate Shannon Savick and send a message that our country will survive only when Democrats and Republicans work together and believe in the middle class and not just the millionaires and billionaires who are trying to buy this election and keep the rigged system they have already bought. This is the most important election of our lifetime. Register and vote.

 

Patti Kimble

Emmons