Print this post.PATRICE GREANVILLE | editorial commentary
(This is a repost, first iteration 27 April 2015)
United Healthcare, one of the great vultures in the healthcare insurance industry, in association with aarp, an organization that is supposed to advance and protect the interests of senior Americans, but sells them down the river every single day, jointly push this message on American television.
The spot is simple, but the venom, potent. The setting, a middle aged couple in a car. They are chatting. Everything seems fairly harmless. They seem to be on a vacation trip. But wait. Things soon take a turn for the worse. Fear is invoked. The great fear that countless Americans live under, the fear of having inadequate medical insurance. This fear makes the toughest hombres shake in their boots.
Wifey, the voice of reason and prudence, knows the solution. It;s simply special insurance. Accordingly she is seen pleading with her clueless hubby (your average bonhomme American who, properly brainwashed —like her—accepts private health insurance as an INEVITABLE thing instead of a man-made scourge) to sign up with AARP’s supplemental plans, because, “Medicare covers only 80%…”
Yes, folks. Medicare “only covers 80% of your medical expenses.” But no one is asking, why does Medicare cover “only 80%”? Because it was written that way by politicians. Not a divinity. The 20% gap is not a product of irrepressible forces of nature, something dictated by cruel and capricious divinities.
Yea, that’s right. But in this insidious spot—all of them are— they make it sound as if this huge gap in coverage (they have even coined an industry term for this mini-industry: “medigap”) was God-ordained instead of simply product of political chicanery by humans, the bastards in Congress who, having the ability to draft a decent law, as many civilized nations have done, even capitalist ones, left the law hobbling with these deficiencies, thereby creating the opportunity for scavenger industries (like the supplemental insurance racquet) to gorge themselves on the rotten carcass of an unprotected, apathetic, and basically ignorant citizenry.
BTW, on YouTube, knowing that some people are going to denounce this bullshit, the sponsors have placed this verboten sign:
“Comments are disabled for this video.”
UPDATE
Comments may be disabled there but your mind is still free to think. So use it. Hmm. Now they have disabled the video itself at the source. Sorry. Keep an eye peeled, though. It’ll pop up on your tube. If it does, or when it does, be sure to throw a rotten tomato at the screen. Least you can do to retain your dignity. Fuck’em.
https://youtu.be/6fyFY6WjCaI
BELOW, FOR THE RECORD: EXCERPTS FROM THE SPOT’S ORIGINAL TALKING POINTS—
AARP Medicare Supplement Insurance Plans, insured by UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company
To find out more or to request a free Decision Guide, visit: AARPMedicareSupplement.com or call 1-800-523-5800.
A Sunday drive is the ideal time for a woman to talk to her husband about getting a standardized Medicare Supplement insurance plan.
Like all Medicare supplement insurance plans, an AARP Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan helps cover some of what Medicare doesn’t pay. So start the conversation — and then find the AARP Medicare Supplement Plan to go the distance with you.
AARP endorses the AARP Medicare Supplement Insurance Plans, insured by UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company. UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company pays royalty fees to AARP for the use of its intellectual property. These fees are used for the general purposes of AARP. AARP and its affiliates are not insurers.
Insured by UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company, Horsham, PA (UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company of New York for NY residents).
ETC., ETC.
Remember: All captions and pullquotes are furnished by the editors, NOT the author(s).
4 comments
Hey, there!
You omitted something: You should have mentioned that Medicare only covers 80% of the price that they determine is fair and reasonable, not of the amount the provider actually charges! So it is a double whammy for the patient. But it is better than pre-Medicare!
Most of us who think about this topic know that the real solution is universal, single-payer coverage for all! PERIOD
RE: fair and reasonable; when we had dental insurance through my husband’s job, they also paid 50% of what was fair and reasonable for any area. When a crown, for example, was $4,000, they considered fair and reasonable to be $2,500, so we got reimbursed a lousy $1,250 – good thing our teeth were good.
Addressed to me.
Addressed to my wife.
From mailbox to round file.
Til the end of life.
In 2009 in the midst of the health insurance debates that resulted in the ACA I was invited to join AARP and was shocked by its position on health care, poor naive me. Wrote this piece for the minnpost.com website (link to pdf at my box.com account: https://app.box.com/s/sz1v3jhn255mrn7keoz99c98iiahw47k. AARP is a tool for businesses profiting from oldness, not an advocacy group.
Tom, with your permission, we will be reprinting your excellent exchange with AARP. Stay tuned. Thanks for your illuminating comment. —The Editors