One more new underclass

[eridani]

Anyone aged 50-64 will officially be a second class citizen after the Senate HCR vote.

[leftstreet]

1. K&R

Yep!

[Goldstein1984]

2. It's worse than that...

If you are not among the top 2%, the best you can hope for is 3rd class.

Our boot-licking elected representatives have been promised 2nd class for their loyalty.

[DJ13]

3. Yay, Im second class!

Go team!

Please, just go.

We cant afford anymore "victories" like this.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. I'm bracing myself for the expected rise in insurance rates in June,

when I have a "milestone" birthday.

[eleny]

5. My nightmare

[glinda]

11. I just had mine. They raised it $100. That I do not have anywhere in my budget.

[eleny]

12. Mine went up the same so I switched plans

What I'll have now is less per month but the deductible is $6000. I never imagined it could get even worse but I guess it's coming.

[glinda]

21. I too am thinking of switching. Which Plan did you get?

[eleny]

31. Anthem BC/BS PPO 2

[eridani]

6. And with climate change, we are running out of ice floes

WTF do they plan to do with us now?

[thunder rising]

7. Modified to .. hand you a bagged sandwich and push you off a bridge.

[truedelphi]

23. At least, I am hoping tht we will get some choice as to what is

in the sandwich

Since it will be the Last Meal, I want a BBQ Pork sandwich with lots of sauce. (Since pork is not a healthy choice, it is not something I normally have. So I can hardly wait!)

[sandnsea]

8. You just wanted to buy into Medicare and fuck everybody else n/t

[glinda]

10. again, someone who is bitter and doesn't see that there are "many" that will have big problems.

[eleny]

13. How unfair for you to presume that from what the OP said

I don't know the OP but you definitely pulled your thought out the place where the sun doesn't shine.

And just so there's no confusion - For a long time I've been posting that I'm ready to pay more if we all could have coverage.

[sandnsea]

15. I wasn't presuming

The OP has said it on an almost daily basis, and really went on a rant during the increased Medicare proposal time frame. And has been perfectly happy with letting everyone else go without as long as she had her Medicare buy-in. Now she's ranting about being a second class citizen, for no apparent reason. She doesn't give a shit about anybody but herself and has made it clear for quite some time now.

[omega minimo]

16. if adding older people to Medicare opened the common sense door to Single Payer for All

and did it sooner rather than later, as www.ThomHartmann advocates, would that suit you?

[ThomCat]

14. You're mad at anyone who isn't kissing Obama's ass.

[proud2BlibKansan]

27. +1

[QC]

28. You've noticed that, too, eh? n/t

[eridani]

18. Everybody else doesn't have to pay three times as much for shitty underinsurance

What I want is for everyone to be on the hook for $125/month as required by HR 676. No age differences and no deductibles.

[truedelphi]

24. I hear you. And thank you fo r this topic.

Earlier today, not much was worse than feeling like I was the only old busy body left on DU.

So here is a small :toast:

[Hannah Bell]

20. you're confused. the people fucking everyone else = congress & this admin.

everyone else but the ruling class.

[glinda]

9. Yup, especially if they now pay for their own health care.

[Missy Vixen]

17. I'll be fifty in July

Something to look forward to, huh?

:woohoo:

[Hannah Bell]

19. Isn't it interesting, just as the boomers reach their retirement years.

how much would you like to bet that medicare is going to be steadily defunded over the next 10 years as well?

frog in the pot, kids.

[glitch]

22. Trial run for SS, it will be "fixed" shortly. Another HISTORIC accomplishment! nt

[Starbucks Anarchist]

25. How exactly?

[truedelphi]

26. try being unemployed when you are in your mid fifties.

Unless you have some very special speciality, like brain surgery, you will not get a job.

Why? Because the employers that might be hiring just cannot afford to hire us fifty somethings - the second that they do, their premiums shoot up out of control.

So a fifty something has to either be poor enough to get on a County supported program, or else go without a decent way to pay for your health.

Like some up thread have pointed out - they can get a health insurance policy now, but only by paying 300% more than people under 50, and they then have a $ 6K deductible.

So in the end, all we are doing is subsidizing the cost of Health Care for the of the rest of you.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

30. That's one instance, but the OP seemed pretty broad.

Also, I don't know how this technically translates to "second-class" status.

[Digit]

33. Yep, been trying to find work for over a year now and I am over 55

I believe I have had 3 interviews so far. The last interview turned out to be a commission only position but had been represented as salaried. Base for 1st month only, then you were on your own. No wonder I see the same position posted every two months.

I would happily work, but nobody wants to hire older workers. So much for affording deductibles and the difference before subsidies would kick in.

[tritsofme]

29. Because you have to pay more for insurance than a healthy 21 year old?

That makes a you a "second class" citizen?

Ridiculous hyperbole.

[eridani]

35. It fucking well does. Have you ever heard of this concept called

--shared risk? Every country that is not a third world shithole uses it to provide health care for everybody without age rating.

[tritsofme]

38. I don't think a 3-1 limit on age rating is unreasonable.

I think it is fairly generous, and reflects a tremendous improvement upon the status quo.

This group is already being subsidized at that level, I can't believe the 3-1 limit represents the true cost of insurance. So why should the younger folks be forced to subsidize the 50-64 age bracket at even greater levels?

[eridani]

41. Why don't you just call us disposable human garbage and be done with it?

FUCK THE STUPID INSURANCE COMPANIES and their "costs." There is no other fucking developed coutry in the whole goodam WORLD which uses age rating to provide health care for its citizenry. Even the Netherlands, which has mandated private insurance, has no age rating at all.

Anyone who thinks people ought to pay more for health care just because it costs more to provide it is a fucking sociopath. Women are more expensive than men, and many minorites are more expensive than whites. There is no reason why age should be treated any differently. In every age demographic, 5% of the populations accounts for HALF of all health care costs. That is the FUCKING PURPOSE of sharing risk--that the healthy pay for the care of the sick. All healthy in all age groups should pay for the sick in all age groups.

[tritsofme]

42. I think your complaints will fall on deaf ears, and rightly so.

The 50-64 age bracket is already highly subsidized at a 3-1 limit, and frankly I fail to see that as unreasonable. The hyperbolic rhetoric doesn't make your case.

Even with the limits on age rating the young and healthy are subsidizing the old, and as you point out, this is part of sharing risk. However if there were no age ratings the resulting product would be far more expensive for everyone else, and we would encounter an adverse selection problem as these younger healthier folks opt out of insurance because it is too costly, and just pay the fine.

[eridani]

43. Yes, undet this fucking stupid MANDATORY plan they would be more expensive

It would not be more expensive if there were direct controls forced on insurance (100 euros/month for EVERYONE) or HR 676 ($125/month for EVERYONE).

I guess those young folks can just get used to postponing career development and living in their parents' basements. Their parents will have to compete with them in the job market just to pay for health care.

If you've checked polls indicating the huge fall-off in Dem voting predicted for 2010, the complaints are not at all falling on deaf ears.

[WT Fuheck]

32. judging by the rampant ageism in the employment market,

we've already been second class citizens.

[Truth2Tell]

34. eridani, you rock. :) K&R

:headbang:

I hope you're doing well. :hi:

[Neecy]

36. I'm a double second class citizen

I'll be fifty next month *and* I'm one of those icky gay people that President Obama is so scared of.

[AngryAmish]

37. Please explain - I thought folks over 55 could get Medicare?

I don't understand.

[tonysam]

39. Nope. It's still 65. n/t

[AngryAmish]

40. Then how are the over 50s getting screwed worse than the rest of us?

Since they are now unemployable since they cost too much?