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Jim Burrows

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    • Medicare doesn't manage your health care. Medicare, like all insurances, tells you what it will pay for. Since you and your medical care provider are independent agents and not employees of Medicare you are free to make other arrangements to get any other care you want.

      Post: Quinn thinks “free” is a dirty word. 

      Link to comment from November 19, 2024

    • You and Richard appear to be talking past each other. Perhaps I can help. Yes, Medicare is a government run and managed insurance program. But that is not government run and managed health care. England's National Health Service (NHS) is an example of a government run health care. The NHS owns and operates all (or most) health care facilities. Hospitals, day surgery centers, doctor's offices, medical labs and so on. NHS, not supply and demand, determines how many and where all health care faculties exist. All (or most) medical professionals are employees of the NHS with the existence of their job and their compensation set and paid by the NHS. NHS determines how many and where each medical professional works and gets paid. That's a big difference from running an insurance program.

      Post: Quinn thinks “free” is a dirty word. 

      Link to comment from November 19, 2024

    • Bill Bernstein often says that finance is half math and half Shakespeare. Kind of captures Adam's thoughts.

      Post: No Perfect Answers

      Link to comment from November 10, 2024

    • John Bogle as the founder of Vanguard and chief advocate for index funds and passive investing. William (Bill) Bernstein who really brings history into focus for investing. Peter Bernstein who really help me grasp the concept of risk. Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky who opened my eyes on how flawed the human mind, including mine, is. Howard Marks for some really great ideas on how to use a flawed mind.

      Post: Who is on Your Personal Investing Mount Rushmore, and Why?

      Link to comment from November 10, 2024

    • I doubt that Dick only pays his premiums and Part B deductible. For a starter, very few Part D prescription plans, if any, cover everything. And then there are dental and eye care that isn't covered by Medicare or Medigap policies. Advantage plans are not all bad, no matter what you see in the press. Remember that horror stories about Advantage plans sell more papers and draw more clicks. Success stories don't sell. Some Advantage plans have little or no copays and coinsurance. I have family members whose only source of income is their SS benefits, and they all have an Advantage plan with no premiums. One big plus, they get dental/optical care that they otherwise would forgo. One just got a nice set of implants! Recently lost one family member after a long battle with cancer during which we had no issues getting care with less than $1,000 out of pocket over 18 months from an Advantage plan.

      Post: Prefer the Original

      Link to comment from October 25, 2024

    • Thanks for sharing. So, it costs about $3,300 per year to get that flexibility of staying on original Medicare. The average SS check for 2024 is about $1780 with a max of $3822. If someone is looking at Medicare Advantage for free or Medigap costing one to two months of their SS payments, I can see why they would go with the Advantage plan.

      Post: Prefer the Original

      Link to comment from October 24, 2024

    • Dick, Would you mind sharing what you pay for Medigap Plan G and your Part D?

      Post: Prefer the Original

      Link to comment from October 24, 2024

    • You really should stick with the financial pros and cons of various approaches to Medicare, the purpose of Humble Dollar, and take your conspiracy theories elsewhere.

      Post: Prefer the Original

      Link to comment from October 24, 2024

    • My bad for the spelling error on the data source. Fixed in above posts.

      Post: I’m depressed, not very optimistic about retirement by R Quinn

      Link to comment from October 6, 2024

    • Do you really believe that removing the cap on taxable income for SS while not using the income taxed above the cap in computing benefits would turn the program into welfare? The first problem I see with this position is your state of denial. Social Security already is a welfare program. Welfare is aid in the form of money those in need and any agency or program through which such aid is distributed. Social Security is, and always has been, nothing more than an income redistribution program. You have often made this point. The entire idea that one has paid for the benefits they receive is total nonsense. How many times have you pointed out the amazing short time period in which you received benefits that exceeded the total amount that you and your employer paid in?

      Post: Social Security Solutions

      Link to comment from October 6, 2024

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