Years ago I told a U.S. Senator that I was willing to leave everything on the table that I had paid in to Medicare and Social Security and make no future claim on these funds; I just wanted out. He admitted to me that everything paid in to these programs goes to current, not future beneficiaries. This, I pointed out to him, was the definition of a Ponzi scheme. He wanted no part of further discussion with me after I had made this obvious point.
Because the government that robs Peter for the benefit of Paul will always have the support of Paul, seniors (making up the vast majority of Medicare beneficiaries) vehemently defend “their Medicare” and support and elect representatives to guard their Medicare interests. “Don’t touch my Medicare,” I have heard many times from elderly voters or picketers. God help the legislator who even mentions changing this entitlement. Perhaps no government program in history has been more successful in pitting the interests of the young against the elderly, than the Medicare/Social Security program.
The AARP is quite possibly the most powerful lobby in D.C. and works hard to maintain or increase the benefits received by the folks “on Medicare.” I maintain that had the AARP had the true interests of seniors at heart, they would have lobbied hard for an alternative to Medicare, for as this bankrupt, socialized system unravels, the victims will be the very individuals the AARP claims to represent.
To slow the inevitable lunge over the falls, the folks at Medicare have used the tried and true price controls to ration the care Medicare beneficiaries receive. Not satisfied with the results, they have slashed private physician pay in order to force many of them into hospital-employment, where the physicians can not act as effectively as patient advocates. Once employed, they must do what their hospital boss tells them if they want to keep their job, regardless what is in the patient’s best interest.
Clearly not satisfied with the above two methods, Medicare has stepped up attacks on physicians, essentially criminalizing the practice of medicine on Medicare beneficiaries, as the following videos demonstrate. Also keep in mind that these videos are 6 years old. The availability of practitioners willing to deal with the Medicare bureaucracy has decreased dramatically since the testimony in these videos was given.
Many younger people are having a hard time making ends meet, while simultaneously forced to pay the health and retirement benefits of their elders. The FICA deduction on paychecks typically dwarfs the federal and state tax burden and often times hides or doesn’t include the amount the employer pays in, wages therefore not available to the employee. It is time that we admit that few if any of those currently paying in to these programs will ever receive any benefit. It think it may be time to encourage the current beneficiaries of these programs to call for an end or alternative, one not funded by so many who are saddled with this incredible burden. Hopefully the realization of these ideas will happen before the death panels accomplish their mission. While these ideas may anger many of you, I would argue that in the near future, the “beneficiaries” of any and all government health programs will see that it is in their interest to have a way out or an alternative.
G. Keith Smith, M.D.
G. Keith Smith, M.D.