Opinion | Letter: Medicare for all?
September 21, 2018
This is in response to Felicia Muftic's recent column on what the Democrats should run on in this November's election. One of her points is that a majority of Americans support the "concept" of Medicare for All and thus MFA should be an issue to stress in the election. I am not sure how the poll question was phrased but implementing MFA requires details, not just a "concept." At this point I see MFA as a feel good concept that unfortunately many equate to free health care.
During the June primaries our Congressman Jared Polis, ran adds stating his long standing support of MFA. I believe he indicated he had been a supporter for over 10 years. Based on his long standing support, I assumed he had some concrete proposal to implement MFA and I e-mailed him in June inquiring how he would address some specific issues I was curious about. To date, I have not heard back from the Congressman and, in fact, I recently sent a second email and still no response.
My concerns to Congressman Polis included the following:
Most current recipients of Medicare coverage paid into Medicare for 40 to 45 years before receiving benefits. How will you fund a system for millions who have never paid into the system or have paid for only a few years?
Coverage under Medicare is not "free." Monthly premiums start at $134 and go up to more than $400 for high income earners. At $134, the monthly premium for a family of four would be $536 and since Medicare does not pay for everything, most Medicate recipients elect to purchase supplemental coverage that requires an additional premium.
Before you vote for a candidate because they support MFA, ask them to detail how they propose to move from MFA as a feel good "glittering generality" to a specific program that is paid for.
Steve Gregory, Grand Lake
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