Peeeed off

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spyderdoc

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OK, so I am a little stewed over this issue since I am shelling out $110k in tax money this month.....

How is it that someone who has never lived in or paid a dime of tax in this country can walk in when the are 70 and all of a sudden have medicare and medicaid?!?!? Don't you got to do work and pay into the system before you can become eligible?

I've seen several of these in the recent months....

I even had a guy recently who is a Chinese national VISITING from China on vacation here, who somehow had Medicare and Medi-cal. WTF?

I won't even go into it about the illegals who also seem to get into the Medi-cal system....

Just had to vent a little...

I guess from a taxpayer this is a huge pisser...However on the bright side, as a provider, at least I will get some (albeit, very little) reimbursement for seeing them...

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OK, so I am a little stewed over this issue since I am shelling out $110k in tax money this month.....

How is it that someone who has never lived in or paid a dime of tax in this country can walk in when the are 70 and all of a sudden have medicare and medicaid?!?!? Don't you got to do work and pay into the system before you can become eligible?

I've seen several of these in the recent months....

I even had a guy recently who is a Chinese national VISITING from China on vacation here, who somehow had Medicare and Medi-cal. WTF?

I won't even go into it about the illegals who also seem to get into the Medi-cal system....

Just had to vent a little...

I guess from a taxpayer this is a huge pisser...However on the bright side, as a provider, at least I will get some (albeit, very little) reimbursement for seeing them...

my grandparents immigrated in older age. they pay for medicare part A and B(which people who worked here for x number of years get for free) at a cost of roughly 6K per year per person. perhaps the chinese national was paying for it as well.

Medi-cal or medicaid would be a secondary option if they had nothing in the bank or if they had spent down all their assets on healthcare (usually nursing home/assisted living costs).

You should get off your high horse. These folks with medicare that you're treating who clearly never worked here likely paid full price for it. it's a little more noble than walking into an ER, giving a fake name and address, and stealing from society.
 
Anyone want to share a bag of popcorn for this one?
 
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I guess from a taxpayer this is a huge pisser...However on the bright side, as a provider, at least I will get some (albeit, very little) reimbursement for seeing them...

Dude. How sweet is it that your'e basically paying yourself. Maybe that hsould make you feel better.

Oh wait. It probably won't.

;)

Q
 
my grandparents immigrated in older age. they pay for medicare part A and B(which people who worked here for x number of years get for free) at a cost of roughly 6K per year per person. perhaps the chinese national was paying for it as well.

Medi-cal or medicaid would be a secondary option if they had nothing in the bank or if they had spent down all their assets on healthcare (usually nursing home/assisted living costs).

You should get off your high horse. These folks with medicare that you're treating who clearly never worked here likely paid full price for it. it's a little more noble than walking into an ER, giving a fake name and address, and stealing from society.

Wait, wait, wait . . . . can't we pay them to come in, you know, make it worth their time for having to sit in that waiting room so long
 
You should get off your high horse. These folks with medicare that you're treating who clearly never worked here likely paid full price for it. it's a little more noble than walking into an ER, giving a fake name and address, and stealing from society.
It's not a high horse if you're the one getting screwed. As EPs we pay the taxes AND dole out the free care.
 
Wait, why do you owe so much???? :confused:

He made 2.8 bajillion dollars.:laugh: :laugh:

(somebody give the OP a copy of turbotax to help him find more deductions)
 
Maybe he's using somebody else's insurance card?


My thoughts as well. I won't go into the details of Medicare or Medicaid eligibility, but let's just say it takes more than a handshake and a smile to get benefits. The system is not designed to reward those that Spyderdoc is upset about, but some people abuse the system and benefit anyways. :shrug:
 
my grandparents immigrated in older age. they pay for medicare part A and B(which people who worked here for x number of years get for free) at a cost of roughly 6K per year per person. perhaps the chinese national was paying for it as well.

Medi-cal or medicaid would be a secondary option if they had nothing in the bank or if they had spent down all their assets on healthcare (usually nursing home/assisted living costs).

You should get off your high horse. These folks with medicare that you're treating who clearly never worked here likely paid full price for it. it's a little more noble than walking into an ER, giving a fake name and address, and stealing from society.


Honestly, I am not on a high horse....I really want to know how and why this can happen. If you tell me that all these folks are paying 6k/yr for this, then at least it is somewhat of a relief to know that they are not just walking in to our country to reap all the benefits without paying a dime.......

I am sure there is a lot of card fraud as well (duplicates/sharing, etc). but this is really a different topic. My initial gripe is with the thought (and apparently a wrong one) that they come over and automatically get these benefits during the age for which medical care is extremely expensive.....Well, if what you say is true, then I must say that I stand corrected.

OK, as far as taxes goes, my $110k is really $70k for 2006 and $40k for 2007 quarterly estimates......I made the minimum 2006 quarterlies that I could without penalty, so I knew I would be paying a hefty amount at the end of the year....Luckily, I knew about how much, so I did put the difference into savings.....
 
Be proud!!!!! You financed 15 feet of the "Bridge to Nowhere" in Alaska!!!!!!!

You can forever call that piece of valuable government real estate yours!
 
Honestly, I am not on a high horse....I really want to know how and why this can happen. If you tell me that all these folks are paying 6k/yr for this, then at least it is somewhat of a relief to know that they are not just walking in to our country to reap all the benefits without paying a dime.......

I am sure there is a lot of card fraud as well (duplicates/sharing, etc). but this is really a different topic. My initial gripe is with the thought (and apparently a wrong one) that they come over and automatically get these benefits during the age for which medical care is extremely expensive.....Well, if what you say is true, then I must say that I stand corrected.

OK, as far as taxes goes, my $110k is really $70k for 2006 and $40k for 2007 quarterly estimates......I made the minimum 2006 quarterlies that I could without penalty, so I knew I would be paying a hefty amount at the end of the year....Luckily, I knew about how much, so I did put the difference into savings.....


signing up for medicare is a pain in the butt, even if you're paying full price for it. it took several months of waiting, several trips into their office and so on.

there is certainly card fraud and other underhanded ways of getting healthcare that people most certainly do take advantage of. but we tread very dangerous waters when we start assuming that every non-white, non blond, non "AMERICAN" Ford pickup driving person that walks into the ER is mooching off the healthcare system.

personally, i have no sympathy for the folks who mooch off the system. I don't like 'em. I don't want to be around 'em. I don't want to take care of 'em. and I don't want to be sued by them. But going into emergency medicine, you shouldn't exactly be surprised when an indigent patient walks through the door. You don't have to like it, but it is what it is and it's not going to fix itself anytime soon. This is one of a few reasons why I didn't go into EM, even though i loved the field itself.
 
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