The Paul Ryan plan to replace Obamacare eliminates Medicare.
This will be unfortunate for senior citizens whose health care costs are paid by tax dollars through Medicare. But have no fear: Grandma will be able to buy her own health insurance on the individual market.
If health insurance for a healthy single person in her 30s costs about $400 per month, you can safely estimate that for Grandma, whose age makes her more likely to be ill, the monthly premiums will be much greater, at least 50% to 100% greater. According to a 2007 AARP report, people 50 to 64 (younger than 65, the age of Medicare eligibility) spent an average of $6428 per year on health insurance premiums purchased on the individual market.
So that means Grandma will get to pay $600 to $800 per month for health insurance. (Those are very conservative estimates.)
Of course, that’s if she can get insurance. If Grandma has a preexisting condition, she likely won’t be able to get health insurance, or it will be even more costly — tack on another 50% to 100%.
But wait — the Ryan plan has “premium support” to help Grandma buy her own insurance on the open market.
The Ryan plan doesn’t say how much that premium support will provide per person, but since Ryan’s goal is to save the govt money by dismantling Medicare as it works today, a safe estimate would be $100 per year to help Grandma buy her insurance.
So, Grandma can look forward to spending $800 to $1600 per month on insurance. That’s $9,600 to $19,200 per year — if she can get coverage, which is a big “if.”
This is just one example of why electing Trump president was one of the most harmful things that poorly educated American voters could possibly have done this week.