Now that the elections are over and the Democrats have swept to power in the House and Senate, one area of focus will be the misnamed “Medicare for All.”
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area → sweep → All
If Americans understand just what that entails, they’ll want no part of it.
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they → understand → it
First of all, those not yet on Medicare believe that it doesn’t cost the participants anything.
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it → believe → anything
The Medicare program, which began in 1966 to cover people 65 and older, is paid for through lifelong payroll taxes, similar to Social Security taxes.
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which → begin → taxes
But unlike with Social Security, the benefits are not related to how much you have paid in the program.
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you → relate → program
You might think that upon turning 65, you’ll be covered because of the payments you’ve made into the program for decades.
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you → think → decades
I personally have paid $212,121 into Medicare over the past 50 years.
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I → pay → years
(The government keeps track of your payment history through the Social Security website.)
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government → keep → website
Once Medicare coverage begins, you begin to realize how much it actually costs — even after paying Medicare taxes for years.
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it → begin → years
What’s more, the program’s complicated, on top of being costly.
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program → ’ → top
You need a tour of the alphabet to understand it.
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You → need → it
Parts A, B and D each require patient cost-sharing: some mix of premiums, deductibles, co-pays and/or co-insurance.
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A → require → premiums
Medigap Part F, supplemental insurance, can help cover the various out-of-pocket costs — but it comes with a monthly premium.
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it → help → premium
In 2025 we paid $8,056 for insurance premiums and about $9,000 out-of-pocket.
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we → pay → pocket
Add the amount deducted from our Social Security of $16,092 and the total outlay was $33,148.
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outlay → add → 16,092
And we are still paying into Medicare because I am still working.
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I → pay → Medicare
The program’s not always easy to use, either.
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program → ’ → ?
Our first experience with using Medicare came with shoulder surgery needed by the Beautiful Wife.
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experience → use → Wife
Both shoulders needed fixing but only one could be done prior to her 65th birthday, so the second was scheduled for afterward.
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second → need → birthday
The surgery was planned when we found out her friendly surgeon did not take Medicare.
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surgeon → plan → Medicare
He would perform the surgery, but we would have to pay his fee out-of-pocket.
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we → perform → pocket
Turns out, California doctors have a somewhat lower acceptance rate for Medicare than doctors in other states.
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doctors → turn → states
We called our doctor referral source, who is a non-practicing orthopedic surgeon.
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who → call → source
He knows almost every doctor in the area because he developed surgery centers and had a lot of docs as investors.
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he → know → investors
He told me he stopped accepting Medicare years ago because the reimbursement rate did not warrant the financial and insurance risks of performing the surgery.
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rate → tell → surgery
He recommended two top-flight doctors, and we were able to proceed with one.
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we → recommend → one
If doctors do take Medicare, they might charge an annual concierge fee.
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they → take → fee
The truth is, the “Medicare for All” schemed — peddled by Bernie Sanders Democrats and soon-to-be legislators like Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed — is just a ploy to further move us to government-controlled and -administered health care.
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Medicare → scheme → care
I have been writing on this point for years, and wrote that Obamacare was just a step along the way.
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Obamacare → write → way
The left continues to make private insurance more and more difficult to administer and then belittles the insurance companies for their operations.
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insurance → continue → operations
Sanders and crew would prefer to shove every American onto an expensive plan that they control.
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they → prefer → that
Then, we will all receive shoddy, costly, lowest-common-denominator health care “for all.”
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we → receive → all
Bruce Bialosky, a former presidential appointee, is a certified public accountant specializing in taxes.
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Bialosky → specialize → taxes
The Aporia
