Medicare's Hidden Traps: How Medicare Advantage Is Reshaping American Healthcare

Moore To Consider: Welcome to another edition of Moore To Consider. I have on again today Twila Brase who is a nurse and she's a co-founder and president of Citizens Council for Health Freedom. She is the author of Big Brother in the Exam Room, The Dangerous Truth About Electronic Health Records. We were on together the other day and when we finished that show, we talked about some things to talk about in the future. And one of the big topics is Medicare, some of its history, Medicare Advantage. How are you today, ma'am?

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: I'm good, thank you.

Moore To Consider: Okay. So, you know, we talked a little off the air, the old radio term off the air about, you know, the Medicare history after John F. Kennedy's assassination, Johnson gets across in 1965, Medicare and Medicaid. then like I said, he used a little memory thing I used to hear was, you you aid the poor and you care for the elderly. So that's kind of what that was. But it was basically government intervention into people of a certain age or people of a certain economic situation. involving healthcare and that's gone through some gyrations through the decades. now, you know, six decades removed from this. So there's some questions now about Medicare Advantage. So what is Medicare? What do you want to tell the public here, especially as some people are approaching the age of 65? What do they need to know about this history about Medicare and maybe some of the pitfalls of not knowing what's going on?

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: So I think what I'll do is I'll just start out by saying we wrote a guide and we wrote a guide because we really wanted to make sure that people don't get caught in what we call the 10 traps of Medicare. But there are lots of things I'll just say. So you can find this guide at cchfreedom.org, cchfreedom.org. It's been called one of the best guides ever written by people who have looked at a variety of guides to figure out how do I figure out I'm turning 65 or I am 65 or my parents are going to be 65 and how do I even understand this behemoth called Medicare. So it's really important because what you do and what you choose in Medicare can impact your life, your health, how long you live and your income. So there are great and ⁓ important things to understand and do not just make the decision willy-nilly. And I'm going to just start with this caveat that I'm ⁓ a nurse. I'm not a Medicare agent. I'm not a financial agent. I'm not an insurance agent. so you cannot take this as medical advice, legal advice, insurance device, Medicare advice, whatever it is. You've got to figure out this on your own. And we created the guide to give you some help. But ultimately there are some questions you're probably going to have to call up a Medicare agent and ask. We do warn you that agents will often, because they get Moore money, ⁓ if they do this, but they might try to get you into Medicare Advantage because it does pay them Moore. They get paid both ways, but it does pay them Moore. And so we have these different Now you asked about the history and you asked about just Medicare in general. The important history I think about Medicare ⁓ that ⁓ happened under Johnson ⁓ ⁓ The attempt was being made under Kennedy. And Kennedy gave a really big speech about the importance of Medicare and how great this would be for all of them if this law was passed. But then he talked to the physicians of the nation and the American Medical Association, which at that time was a pretty pure, good organization. Now I could say other things about it. However,

Moore To Consider: Right.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: However, he became convinced it was a really bad idea because it would put the government in charge of the doctors, of medical decisions. It would be a budget that all these seniors would be under suddenly a government budget. But then he was assassinated and Johnson came in and ⁓ said, got it passed ⁓ on behalf of the martyred president or in the name of the martyred president. which was just really a lie because the president had decided, Kennedy had decided this was a bad idea. And then, ⁓ and Harry S. Truman, when we were talking together, you and I, Harry S. Truman, he was pushing national health insurance back in the late 1940s and he got the first Medicare card. ⁓ Johnson handed it to him after passing the bill.

Moore To Consider: Hm. ⁓

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: Right? Okay. So, we see what that kind of history was. And I wrote an article called, ⁓ what was my own article called here? ⁓ Because I talked about the history of Medicare and the run, ⁓ it was called Blame Congress for HMOs. But I talked about the run on the US Treasury. So 19 million people suddenly had access to free medical care, free hospitalization, free, free, free, free, free. 19 million who had never paid a dime into the program. And suddenly there was this huge run on the treasury and there were all sorts of attempts to figure out how to stop it. But nobody really backtracked and said, well, let's repeal Medicare, right? Because suddenly all these people had free access to medical care. It would have been probably a boondoggle to do it. ⁓ And so they created the HMO to ⁓ control the care that patients get. And today the HMO is a health plan and in Medicare it's called Medicare Advantage. So now I think it would be a good, if you have a question, let me know, but otherwise I can just explain the difference between original Medicare and Medicare Advantage.

Moore To Consider: Yeah, absolutely.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: Okay, so original Medicare is the Medicare that has been here since 1966 when the first person was allowed to receive services under Medicare. You can go to 98 % of all healthcare facilities, 98 % of all doctors, 98 % of all practitioners. There is virtually no prior authorization. You pay the money, the doctor orders the care, you get the care. However long the doctor orders the care for, you get the care for that long. Now, in order to stop the run on the US Treasury, which can happen out of that, they started doing a variety of things. But one of them in 2003 was to bring us Medicare Advantage. And this is where the government takes a certain chunk of change from taxpayers and hands it all over to the health plan on behalf of everyone who enrolls in Medicare Advantage. And so, I can't remember exactly what it is and it differs, but you know, $14,000 a year, $16,000 a year, whatever it is. So the federal government gives all this money to the health plan and the health plan has the power to say no. You don't get the care the doctor has ordered.

Moore To Consider: So in other words, let me ask you this then. So you're saying it's going to be X number of people times X number to get to a boatload of money goes to these people who are then going to manage the care. So therefore you're in a boat with a group of people that you're going to have your needs managed against everything else to stay within a particular budget is what it amounts to.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: That and the fact that the health plans have negotiated, if you want to call it that, they've demanded in order to stay in the program and protect this for Congress, they have demanded a certain amount of money per enrollee per month, no matter whether those enrollees ever walk into a doctor's office or not. They get a certain amount to manage. trying to drive people into Medicare Advantage, they have done several things. They offer zero premiums. Why? Because even this year in 2026, the estimation is that Medicare Advantage will get 14 % Moore in taxpayer money than for the money that is paid out in original Medicare. So what can they do with that 14 % Moore money? They can say zero premiums. We don't need your premiums. You just come on in, right? And then every time one person comes in, the health plan gets this chunk of change that they have complete control over and can deny access to care. But they got 14 % Moore. So what else do they do? They offer free benefits, free over-the-counter things. You get a booklet, shows all of these things. You can get over-the-counter for free. You can get free vision. free hearing, there's free gym memberships because they've got so much Moore money. But then as I say in, as we say, and I wrote part of it, as we say in the Medicare how-to guide, we quote a woman who says, what does a free membership matter when you're dealing with cancer and they say no to the treatments you need? What does it matter? Who cares about the gym membership, right? You wanted the chemo, you wanted the best ⁓ oncologist for your physician and they say, nope, you can only have the one in our network. Okay.

Moore To Consider: All right. So what you're saying, in a sense what you're saying is these people who want to see greater numbers because they're getting a greater check from Uncle Sam, the people that are running this operation, they can get Moore and Moore money, but it also sounds like they have an incentive to maximize profit or to maximize the money coming in, not going out. So are these people that you're saying are getting paid this and even this increase based upon the people they're enrolling? Are they actually government employees? Are there an independent organization that's contracted with the government? So they don't, they don't really come under the umbrella of government than do they? Even though they're running a government operation.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: They're health plans, United Health Group, Cigna, Aetna, Humana. These are health plans. So they are health corporations. And so these are the people who get the money and have the power to say no, have the power to say, only can be seen in these two hospitals or this one hospital. You can only be seen by this oncology group. You can only get your x-rays here or there, right?

Moore To Consider: But what I'm saying is they're not government actors.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: No, they have no because the government sends these private corporations called health plans a certain amount of money and they are empowered as a health plan to say no if they think it's not medically necessary or they deem it to be unnecessary. Right.

Moore To Consider: Well, has this been raised? Has anybody brought this up like as a legal argument that if you're going to require and or make almost when we were talking earlier, you mentioned potential penalties to not opt in or try to opt out and all the rest. So if on the one hand, the government is sort of forcing you into certain situations, but it's almost like, and this is a great example, I guess, or a bad example. But it was almost like when they started going to private prisons. You know, one of the things that came up, know, the, the, ⁓ judge that got busted in Pennsylvania, it was awful. He was incarcerating young kids in a juvenile detention home. Then they find that he gets 2.3 million in kickbacks because the people that ran the private detention center were paying them under the table to give kids all these extra amount of months or years of incarceration. So he had an incentive as a government employee. He's a judge with a state level. He's got a private industry that's saying, we have farmed in with the government to be the person. So any private prison, the private prison has a profit ⁓ motive here, but they're getting people that the power of the state is now sending to prison, jail, detention centers, whatever. Then you got a judge that gets in here and gets corrupted by it. And he ends up getting prosecuted and convicted because he's taken money from the private organization. I use that example to say, and that brought up a lot of heat because people are like, wait a minute, why in the hell do we have a private industry in their housing people who have been convicted by the state? That's a state action. So the state should be solely involved in incarcerating people, not some private industry that has a profit motive. And what I'm saying is whatever the government might be saying relative to pretty much what you have to do, as a citizen resident, you're then being regulated by somebody who's not a government actor. You're getting forced by the government into basically a private actor who has its own motivations, its own profit incentives and all the rest. I just wonder, has anybody brought that up to say kind of like, that's a problem because how can the government tell anyone to do anything and have to relate to this type of private industry? How can they be forced to do so if it's not a government agency running it really?

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: Well, everybody has a choice of whether they want to have original Medicare or Medicare Advantage. Now the government wants you in Medicare Advantage where these health plans on behalf of the government will constrain costs by rationing care. However, that has not proven to be true. As I told you, they are paying 14 % Moore for every person to have them in Medicare Advantage. So one of the I guess it'd be a conflict of interest sort of here, is that the government does not want to take over paying the bills for the Medicare population. Now, because they would just as soon just give this money per member, per month over to the health plans and say, I'm done with it. I'm not going to deal with, you know, I'm not going to deal with ⁓ appeals. I'm not going to deal with all of this stuff.

Moore To Consider: Mm-hmm.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: We, the government will just pay the money and let these health plans do this. And it seems a lot simpler. Of course, the very best thing of all is to not have Medicare, let everybody get out of Medicare and have real health insurance, have the real health insurance pay cash to every person. And then people take their cash for surgeries, they take their cash for cancer, they take their cash for all of these things and go get the best price, the best doctor, the person who really cares about them.

Moore To Consider: Mm-hmm.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: have a real competitive force here and then have charity to boot. Because a lot of doctors tell me if they just weren't having to do all of the government regulation, all of the health plan, ⁓ jumping through the hoops for all of the health plans, all of the crossing the T's and dotting the I's that are in today's medicine, they could afford to be very charitable with people. And because charity is not very expensive.

Moore To Consider: Right, right.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: All of these other third party payment systems make healthcare incredibly expensive. I did, it does occur to me though that your listeners, because I never really talked about really what is original Medicare versus Medicare Advantage. I should perhaps do that.

Moore To Consider: Right. Sure.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: So like I said, you know, back in 1966, the first of 19 million people started to enroll and then it has really just expanded. The difference between Medicare Advantage and Original Medicare is really important. And I talk about that in our Medicare how-to guide. So you can see the difference, but I found out that a lot of people don't understand the ins and outs of Medicare and then they hit 65 and then they're panicked.

Moore To Consider: Mm-hmm.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: and they know there's penalties and now they don't know what to do. And they can be sold a bill of goods if they don't get prepared in advance. So like I say, go to their Medicare how-to guide, but here are the differences, the basic differences. We have Medicare part A, Medicare part B, Medicare part C, and Medicare part D. And part A is hospitalization. Part B is outpatient services. Part C is Medicare Advantage. It's just another part. And then part D is pharmaceuticals. So drug coverage. The real split is between original Medicare and Medicare Advantage. And Medicare Advantage will combine part A, part B and part D usually into one package for a person. pay their Medicare part B premium. and the government pays the health plan, they pay their, and then the whole kit and caboodle comes out of there. Whereas original Medicare, you pay your, you don't pay your Medicare part A unless you haven't worked enough in your life. You pay your Medicare part B premium and you pay your Medicare part D premium. And then you have freedom. You have freedom to go to 98 % of all doctors, all hospitals. You, Because of Part D, however, you do not have freedom when it comes to drug pricing. And this is something, and I explained this in the guide, this is something Congress did to try to push people into Medicare Advantage was to create Medicare Part D. Because Medicare Part D, your drug coverage used to be part of Part B, your outpatient coverage. So there used to be just A and B.

Moore To Consider: Mm-hmm.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: A was hospitalization included all the drugs hospitalized. B was outpatient and included all the drugs outpatient. And then to try to get you into part C, Medicare Advantage, the health plan version of Medicare, they created Medicare part D. It was a bad thing to do. And ⁓ there's a lot of exploitation that happens across the board here. But the real thing that people approaching Medicare or their parents are approaching Medicare, the real thing that they should understand is that original Medicare is the freedom version of Medicare and Medicare Advantage is the rationing version of Medicare, the restricted version. But what will happen when you get to a Medicare agent? They'll say, well, do you want to pay the Medicare where you've got all these different things you have to pay?

Moore To Consider: Mm-hmm.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: A, well not A, most people don't have to do A, but some people do. So we'll just stick with most people don't and say, do you want to have to pay your B and your D and then do you want to have to have a supplemental plan for the costs that Medicare Part A and B do not cover? Or do you want to make it really simple? Just go into Medicare Advantage. 70 % of the time you won't even need to pay a premium. It'll be simple. All you have to do is pay your part B and you're golden. You're only golden until you really need help. Because once you really need help it's explained in our guide, you will end up probably paying even Moore in Medicare Advantage. And then what happens with Medicare Advantage says, well, I know the doctor said you're probably going to care in ⁓ in a,

Moore To Consider: Mm-hmm.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: in a rehab facility for 21 days, but we only cover five. The rest of it was going to have to come out of your pocket. Now, if you were in original Medicare for that situation, the hospitalization part would pay for it. Part B might pay for it, but no matter what, you got a supplemental. It pays for 365 days of care in the year.

Moore To Consider: Mm-hmm.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: ⁓ And so, so a lot of people just think of Medicare as being insurance. It'll cover the whole kit and caboodle, but it's not true. It's not true. Medicare part A is a defined benefit. So there's a certain number of days of hospitalization it'll cover. And then you start paying Moore for every day after that. And then finally, Medicare cut part A original cuts out. And that's why you need the supplemental because it'll just continue to pay for every day. It'll even not even charge you for those other times. So when you're in original Medicare, you basically have three bills unless you didn't work in your earlier life, in which case you have to pay for part A too. You have B, D, and supplemental. But that is where the freedom is. That's where you can't have your life rationed away. And there are cheaper versions of supplemental, like high deductible, which I spend a fair amount of time, this part that I wrote in the guide, talking about High deductible can be like, I think right now it's $54 a month rather than $250 or almost $300 a month. So there's a lot of things that people need to know. But the current political situation, do you have questions for me? Or I can talk about the current political situation because it's really important.

Moore To Consider: No, tell me current. yeah, tell me that.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: Okay. So we told president Trump in a letter, please do not put Dr. Oz in as head of CMS, the centers for Medicare and Medicaid services. Don't do that because he wants Medicare advantage for all. And I do mean for all. He wrote an article in 2020 with a former head of a health plan and said that, you know, Medicare for all. is the answer for healthcare in America so that everybody who's not getting Medicaid for the poor should be in Medicare Advantage. And he said that there would be an affordable 20 % payroll tax to pay for this. 20 % payroll tax. Okay. So, um, so anyway, but he chose Dr. Oz. And so what is Dr. Oz doing right now? as head of the Medicare administration. There's two things that he's doing that everybody should know. He is trying to bring Medicare Advantage into Original Medicare. And by that I mean, he's taking the Medicare Advantage model of denying access to care, forcing you to go through prior authorization to get care. He's starting on January 1st of this year. It started in six states. of this country. So let me see, I did have a little list here, Arizona, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, and Washington. ⁓ In the past week or so, there's been an article out of Washington state talking about how people in original Medicare who are now in this model are having to wait four times as long as people in the other states of the country that don't have this model. So this is one thing. This is how Dr. is trying to turn the entire Medicare system into Medicare Advantage where your life can be rationed away from you. ⁓ But the other thing is that his administration, Trump's administration and the ⁓ CMS under Dr. Oz are talking about auto-enrolling people into Medicare Advantage when they turn 65. And then there's a bill by an Arizona member of Congress that would lock you in for three years. Now the bill claims that there'll be some kind of opt out provision. For all we know, it could be once you figure it out, you only have a month, or maybe you have only a month after they auto enrolled you to figure out that they auto enrolled you and you have to figure out how to get out so you can get back into the freedom version of Medicare.

Moore To Consider: Mm-hmm.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: rather than being stuck for three years in Medicare Advantage. The whole plan here is to get you into Medicare Advantage, make it a burden for you to get out, and then Moore people will just get stuck there. They'll think it's great because they aren't paying any money for it. The government is passing all these taxpayer dollars to the health plans. The health plans are rationing care to people who are really sick, but they're saying zero premium dollars to most people in Medicare Advantage. So it seems appealing and wonderful. until you get sick. And then the federal government has three reports out talking about how Medicare Advantage is rationing medically necessary, Medicare approved care to the elderly. And it's a burden to go through the appeals process. But if you do go through the appeals process, 75 % of the time, the health plan will change its mind and give you the care that you need. But because it's such a burden, only 1 % of denials are ever appealed. So this is lucrative for the health plan. Just deny, deny, deny, deny, deny, who has the wherewithal, who has the language skills, who's willing to go into the environment and have the fight, right? Who's not dying, you know, who's well enough to have the fight. And then if you fit all those criteria, well, you can probably get the care that you need. Everybody else is probably going to get nothing.

Moore To Consider: Mm-hmm. Well, it comes to mind too, very much like the model of the prisons. there, are these groups that are running these healthcare plans? Are they lobbying Congress people? Is there money running back and forth as far as what Congress people are getting in donations for their campaigns and things like that? Is there some, has that been discovered or shown?

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: Yeah, I think if you go into I'm trying to think what the name of that group is that shows you where all the lobbying money is. Yeah, so it's not it might be open the books, but there I think there's another one, too. ⁓ Anyway, so very clearly, health plan lobbyists are some of the biggest lobbyists in Congress. So ⁓ I'm sorry, health care lobbyists. And so it could be the health plans. It could be the hospitals. It could be pharma.

Moore To Consider: Lobby, right? Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: All of them together are either lobbying or of course they might be funding the PACs, you know, for the different parties. There's a lot of money in the healthcare and because it's such a lucrative position and because Congress really gave it to the health plans and Obama really moved everything to the health plans and took away regular insurance for everybody, not just for seniors, but for everybody. Made it ⁓

Moore To Consider: ⁓ huh.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: illegal, essentially, to sell a major medical policy to anyone over the age of 29. That's what Obamacare is. That's what the Affordable Care Act says. So what's really disappointing is how the Republicans are continuing to move in that direction to the corporate version of socialized medicine, which is the health plan, and continuing to push seniors into Medicare advantages. This is a good thing for them.

Moore To Consider: Mm-hmm.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: It's not a good thing for them. If you want to stop the run on the U.S. Treasury from original Medicare, give the seniors the money, not the health plans. Give the seniors the money and let them buy major medical policies. You know, get the health plans completely out of there because there's such a diversion of income ⁓ to these health plans, not only in Medicare, but also employment sponsored coverage.

Moore To Consider: Right.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: basically these health plans come through the employers and say, this is what we're going to charge you. And so, people, young people, they don't get as much in their wages because the health plans keep telling their employer that it's higher and higher and higher and higher that the employer has to pay. So, you know, it's just an incredible theft through the health plans across the entire country in every part of healthcare. But in Medicare, which we are talking about now, you know, lives are at stake perhaps even Moore than at the other levels because these are seniors and they get to a certain point where they can't fight anymore.

Moore To Consider: Mm-mm. Well, this is a silly question. I'm sure it's a juvenile question. It's silly, whatever. But I'm sitting here thinking like in land of the free home of the brave. Is there anyone that could approach a certain age? Maybe have put away some money. They're pretty financially well off, whatever. They just don't want to play this game. Is there an opt out of the whole game? I don't want my social security. I don't care about Medicaid. So you can do that. And what would be the cost?

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: Well, I have talked to some people who have done it, who are losing, you know, $40,000, $50,000 a year in social security benefits. They gave it up. That's correct. I also know people who are not social security or Medicare age who have decided that health insurance is a really bad deal. And so they're just using their own income for any healthcare expenses that they might have, including a hospitalization or a surgery.

Moore To Consider: They just gave that up. Yep.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: And the fact is, of course, they could just go to the surgery center of Oklahoma and get a cash-based, cash-price surgery and really inexpensive. But because of the stipulations on Medicare, like Medicare patients can't go to the surgery center of Oklahoma because of, because they're a cash-based practice and so they're not considered a Medicare provider. And so you, you can't go. And even if you give cash, I think I'm correct in that even if you give cash because of the potential legal problems that they might have to deal with. So what if you could pay $10,000 for a surgery cash that even Medicare won't give you? They say, we're not going to give that to you. And you say, fine, I'm going to go to the surgery center of Oklahoma and pay $10,000 to get that surgery. And then because of realities, maybe the surgery center says no. And so then you say, well, let me see. I think I'll go to India. Because in India, I can get it. Medicare has said no. All the facilities say no because they all take Medicare. And because they take Medicare, they're not going to even give you the surgery that you need. You know, this is what people understand how big of a control Medicare has over everything that happens in health care.

Moore To Consider: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: And I do mean everything, no matter what age you are. Medicare and Medicare regulations, they demand, Medicare demands that if your doctor sees even one Medicare patient, they can have access to your medical record. You might be 26 years old, you might be 48 years old, you might be a child. And Medicare says in order to check the quality of your doctor, we're going to have access to everybody's medical record.

Moore To Consider: Wow.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: And then they decide what quality is and they might not pay the doctor as much because the quality because the doctor doesn't follow the government's guidelines and pushes things like like during COVID, right? The government didn't want push. Right? So, you know, people don't understand and and lots of seniors today, they look at Medicare as amazing because it's a Ponzi scheme.

Moore To Consider: Yeah.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: It is amazing. If you look at the prices, I just ask every senior or everyone who has a parent who is a senior, please look at the explanation of benefits and see what the price is. So the price is the gaming price. The price that comes out is the gaming price because they're just trying to get enough money for Medicare. So just view it in that they wouldn't have to charge $6,000. They might only have to charge $1,000. But in order to get $1,000, they have to charge $6,000 because then what you'll see when you look at the EOB, you'll see the charge and then you'll see the Medicare approved amount and then you'll see the Medicare payment and then you'll see the patient's responsibility. So in order to get the Medicare payment, whatever that payment is,

Moore To Consider: Mm-hmm.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: they have to have the price so high so that the Medicare approved amount is high enough to get them the actual amount that they need to be paid plus whatever the patient pays. It's a big game. so when patients look at that, they go, oh my goodness, it was a $6,000 I would have had to pay.

Moore To Consider: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: But Medicare says it's only worth $1,500 or $1,000. And then Medicare says, we'll pay $800 and you, the patient, will pay $200. And the Medicare patient says, wow, I only have to pay $200. And otherwise I would have to pay $6,000. But it's all a game. And if the Medicare wasn't involved and other third parties weren't involved,

Moore To Consider: Mm-hmm. Sure.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: The doctors may have charged $1,200 or $1,000 or they may have charged the $800 that Medicare paid because they don't have to deal with all the paperwork and all the reporting and all the machinations of third party payers. And they would just pay, they would just charge you the price that they need to be paid to stay in business and have enough of a profit. And then they would also have a little bit of money to do charity alongside.

Moore To Consider: Yeah, that's all, all of this makes me wonder whatever she was shown to Kennedy prior to his assassination, whatever Johnson was doing in the whole great society and everything that happened in the sixties. You see how things play out and you see how people become mass or certain groups are massively enriched by these government programs. And it certainly isn't the citizen. And then you wonder, is this. You use the term Ponzi scheme and that's what some of these government programs have certainly been through the years. Has this always been designed to just basically raid the public coffers or do these people really believe they're doing good? That's what I've always sort of wondered. could Lyndon Johnson have thought like, well, I really want to make sure that the poor are taken care of, the elderly are taken care of, and we're going to take care of their health. Or do we s- Cause this, you know, the Medicare advantage isn't a thing yet, but they're starting with these certain programs or these certain ideas. And it just seems like so much of what government directs to think or, or they present is going to be helpful to people. Somebody else along the way gets massively rich. And, but I understand what you're saying. That's so true. Then if you show somebody a $6,000 bill and they pay 200 out of pocket and they're told all these different things, when the actual going price of the surgery should have been. $1,500. They never see that part of it or, you know, in a world where there was actually a free market, it wouldn't cost nearly that much. And anybody's seen, and everybody knows this, anybody that goes to the hospital for Moore than two days, and then you see, you know, the $27,000, $40,000 bill or whatever. It's $13.14 for an aspirin. you see these things itemize. If you ever see an itemizer, like, that's gotta be the craziest thing I've ever seen. But that's the world we're in. Because the person's always looking at, what's the bottom line? And you probably know that thing about too. think it was a guy that worked in retail sales that went to FDR during the, I think it was during the Great Depression, during that era and said, if you start doing the payroll deductions, You can take all the taxes you want from these people. That was supposed to be the story because he's like, well, what do you mean? goes, well, if they have to come down once a year and pay their federal taxes, they're going to be pissed. They're going to look and say, I got to pay that much. But if you take it, they're going to look at their take home pay and go, well, that's how much I make. So when people make a hundred grand and they get 40 of it, you know, they don't, they don't see the fact, well, I'll just, you know, I work on, I make this much. So all these things that take and take and take from us in the end may not pay off. Somebody's getting enriched by it. All right. So all that being said, ⁓ know you're again, you're not given legal advice. You're not really, you're not given medical advice and all the rest. And you've given the resource. You've talked about where somebody can go in there and, and go in and research and say like, Hey, I'm approaching a certain age. And I got to really kind of know what's getting ready to happen before I turned 65. Are there some other, I guess what I would ask is, I hear some advertisements sometimes for Moore of like a co-opt where people are like pooling resources together to try to take care of insurance and all. Is that a thing? that something that can connect combat this even?

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: Yeah, so we talk about it in the guide and we talk about using healthcare sharing. And so I actually talked to somebody who they're both over 65, they're both unemployed. And for his wife, he had her do part B, but for himself, he's doing healthcare sharing. So many of the healthcare sharing organizations have an amount to

Moore To Consider: Mm-hmm.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: They have something special for 65 and over. ⁓ When we got the executive order, one of the things that the attorney from the White House asked me ⁓ when I was in the executive office building for a meeting, he said, is there anybody that this would help right now if we gave them the right to opt out of Medicare and keep their social security benefits? And I said, well, the people on Samaritan Ministries, healthcare sharing.

Moore To Consider: Mm-hmm.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: because Samaritan Ministries is one of the few, if not the only, that does not require you to go into Medicare when you turn 65. And so you could just stay with them, but of course you can't just stay with them if you're planning on getting your social security benefits. so all of the, not all of them, but several of them, Metashare, Samaritan and others, have a 65 and over benefit. If you do go into Medicare and you are on Samaritan, they do require you to submit the bills first to Medicare and then they will pay for that which Medicare does not pay. So like I said, this one couple, the woman went into Medicare Part B and so then she got supplemental insurance. she was in, they were both, they were both in original Medicare. but he chose not to pay a premium and not to get part B and instead have a healthcare sharing ⁓ organization be his outpatient. then the other thing that the Samaritan, not Samaritan, but then these ⁓ ministries as well, you have to look at the guidelines. You have to look at the guidelines because some of them will then also cover if Medicare part A quits paying because you've been hospitalized for a long time.

Moore To Consider: Hmm.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: We might then kick in and pay those hospitalization costs and act as a supplemental policy for you. But you do need to look carefully at the guidelines. And if you have pre-existing conditions now and you're not in healthcare sharing, you need to see what they do with those conditions. Do they make you wait five years before they cover them? Do they never cover them or ask their members to cover them for you?

Moore To Consider: Let me make sure I'm straight on one other thing. What you're saying though is to, if one were to receive social security benefits, taking it whatever age up to, think what's the max that you can get is 70, 70 is like you're going to max out whatever return you would receive. You're saying if you don't play one of the Medicare games, you never get that money. Correct? That's correct. Okay. Okay. So in the, yeah.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: That is correct. Yep, they divide it together. Now, there is something I should say about the money. I can just see some of your listeners, younger, middle, or seniors, and they'll say something like this, because I get this all the time at presentations. But we paid into Medicare. We deserve these Medicare. Why would we get out of Medicare? So there are two answers to this.

Moore To Consider: Mm-hmm.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: One of them is that Medicare is scheduled for insolvency in 2033, seven years from now. Now they may just print money, right? Or they may increase the payroll tax. That has been under consideration and discharge the younger people even Moore to keep you in there. But so it's going insolvent. It will only pay 89 % of its

Moore To Consider: Mm-hmm. Sure, most likely.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: costs and 89 % of its costs, which means 11 % not paid. In 2022, if it had not paid 11 % of its costs, it would not have paid $99.5 billion. So what would have happened? What would have happened? Either the doctors or the hospitals would have eaten that cost.

Moore To Consider: Wow.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: And Medicare keeps cutting the amount that they're paying doctors, right? So doctors are increasingly leaving Medicare and hospital systems are leaving Medicare Advantage because of these reduced payments and poor payments, right? And so they're like, we're out of here. Okay. So the other thing that could happen is they just ratchet up the rationing. And I think that's what's happening with bringing prior authorization into the freedom version of Medicare, which is Medicare.

Moore To Consider: Mm-hmm.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: original Medicare. They're trying to get out of the freedom version of Medicare. ⁓ The other thing that people need to understand is You really didn't cover the cost. For every $1 that you put into Medicare through your payroll taxes, you're going to get $3 of care. it has been, many a study has shown that let's just say you paid $100,000 into Medicare, you're going to get $300,000 back. So in no way, shape or form is your money

Moore To Consider: Uh-huh.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: making up for the care, the money you paid, ever paying for the care that you're getting today. And that's why it's a Ponzi scheme, because there are fewer and fewer workers to deal with, particularly the baby boom generation. And so the rationing is coming and everybody, and it's already happening, and everybody should want a way out, especially when they're most vulnerable, they cannot protect themselves.

Moore To Consider: Mm-hmm.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: And there is no other option. We need to have the ability to get out of Medicare and begin a system of freedom and affordable coverage, even for seniors on the outside.

Moore To Consider: Yeah. Once again, that's why I just never really see any of this ever working out minus total collapses of some things because people are so bottom line. Like you say, I paid into it. I deserve this, whatever, but they're all accepting something from its inception that I don't think should exist. I mean, the government involved in certain things. And I remember in social security, I think I heard this story that when it first began, social security. It was a 16 workers for everyone receiving the benefits. When the benefits started, it was whoever qualified at that time. And then I think in like the year 2000, they said it had run to like three to one. There was three workers for every person receiving. And then eventually as it was said, that number is going to bypass. There's just going to be far Moore people receiving than there are people working to pay it. And then it collapses. I mean, it's just, could see the math and you, but And there's just been all these kicking the can down the road over and over and over trying to figure out a way to keep these things. But we're of an age. I mean, certainly the whole nation, pretty much when you think about people, I who was around for the beginning of the social security. So there's no one around to have ever thought like what all that was entailing. It's just, it's born into it. It's baked in that we all think it should examine. Social security, course, security. FDR, right? Yeah, sure. That's a great thing. So yeah, there's a, there's a That politically is something you're not going to see go away. And Medicare, again, minus a big collapse and a restructuring, I think people just think these things should exist because they've always existed, it's all they've ever known. All right. On our way out here, let's close down here. So, ⁓ you've given a lot of great information. think the best, I think you would agree, is to go to your website of your organization and look and see what you've put out there to kind of guide people through. One of the things I thought about though too is are financial planners good at this? Are there people, ⁓ I guess the perfect person to find is a medical legal background that also does financial planning or something because I could think there's probably some people trained. already talked about sort of the incentive maybe of the person working for Medicare to push you into things that benefit Medicare, but there's gotta be some independent people out there that one could trust. mean, what would be the best field? the best field to go to get advice for a particular person in their financial situation.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: and an independent Medicare agent. And by independent, it means that they're not accepting the Medicare Advantage dollars, or they might be getting some, but they have chosen not to. So they've chosen not to push for that. So in the guide, I made sure that we extensively quoted certain Medicare agents that just showed the harms that could happen if you went into Medicare. Because clearly, if they're talking about the harms and the dangers of Medicare Advantage, they're standing apart and they're not taking all the money from Medicare Advantage and they're there to help you to the best of their ability. Now you have to evaluate every one of them. You could talk to different independent agents and see what kind of advice that you get. But the last, you have, ⁓

Moore To Consider: Yeah.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: You have three months before you turn 65, the month you turn 65 and three months after. We talk about the 10 traps. Read the 10 traps and the penalties and the penalties of not paying on time, the lifelong penalties if you wait. Somebody waited to go into Medicare Part D and they just thought, oh, this is going to be just fine. Well, they waited 10 years. They've got 10 years of penalties that will go on forever and now they don't know if they can even afford to get into part D. You have to weigh the costs and you have to look for the best advice and you have to think of how's the cheapest that you can do Medicare and still be good to go. And then ask your members of Congress, how do I get out of this rationing machine that could take my life away? Why don't you sign on as a member of Congress to the Retirement Freedom Act? Why aren't you moving us this way? Now, I will say from the very beginning of Medicare, I think to today. ⁓ I think it might have even been Johnson, and you might even know this better than I, who said, basically, once you can give the people enough, you know, make them dependent on you, you'll have their vote forever.

Moore To Consider: Yeah. Well, he said something very inflammatory. Yeah. Well, it's actually much Moore inflammatory. ⁓ And it's been disputed that he said it was basically, I won't even get it. The people listening will know. ⁓ There is that argument though, that he felt like he was targeting groups of people, people in particular situations or setups that if you give them enough, you're right. But it was a very, very, very inflammatory and rude statement. Now, if it's true, ⁓

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: Something like that, right? Okay.

Moore To Consider: It has been said to be true that, but given the life of Lyndon Johnson that I have studied, that absolutely would align with what I think. but that's my, when you were just saying about Congress people and all the rest, I mean, I look at this present state of things and it's no different. mean, you go back 150 years, it's no different politicians or politicians. They're going to. what has become with the career politician, it is whatever's in their best interest to keep the gig and have the money flow in from all these different things. So none of them are thinking about best interest of citizen, best interest of their health concerns or that they're going to get the best healthcare in their elderly year. They don't care about any of that.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: Well, they might. I mean, some of them might, right? Some of them might, but they are the rare person. But it's all still about getting the vote, right? So if it was back then how to get the vote and keep people, you know, and here we got to run on the treasury, 19 million people suddenly free healthcare for all. There's a great book called Medicare's Midlife Crisis that talks about how I don't know if it was the hospitals that doubled their prices or quadrupled their prices. That was bigger pocketbook, right? So there's the people who are gaining money off of it, but then there's the people who are just gaining votes and they should have immediately, immediately repealed Medicare, but they didn't, right? And now they had this lock. They had a solid voting block probably as a result of what they did. And it's the same today.

Moore To Consider: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yes.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: They should move towards real insurance and letting people out of this rationing machine. But it's considered terribly controversial. Just the freedom to leave and have real health insurance. Controversial.

Moore To Consider: No. Well, and I think that, you you mentioned 2020 earlier, um, about certain things as it related to COVID. That's what frightened me having read 1984, brave new world, you know, kind of growing up and seeing these type of novels that, that illustrated mind, think, and certain types of, I just saw things happening. I couldn't believe that people were buying into the things that we're buying into that, you know, kids were getting arrested. On the beach in California, cause it went out alone on a beach to go surfing. then there's guys are running down there and tackling them. you're like, this safest place for them to be is in the sun at the beach. They're by themselves. And so like the insanity of it, know, people screaming at you, where's your mask and all the rest. Like when you start to see that. So, I mean, I thought that was a clear illustration of there are things now that are, again, baked into the, into the experience that.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: I wasn't saying.

Moore To Consider: You start talking about Medicare, start talking about, or you were talking about social security, you're about taking away anything that these people feel is a birthright now. It's worked. It's gotten to the point. So the fact that it could be failing or even the country's going under as a result, it's going to be hard to convince people out of that. who's going to be, well, I happen to love Ron Paul for many reasons. And he said all this. And he said, Hey, let's audit the Fed. And people were like, you're crazy. You can't talk that way. And, know, he talked about the endless wars and all the crazy money that was spent. And people thought he was a coup. The guy's brilliant. He's a medical doctor. He's done all kinds of great things. was a, he was a service member, served in the military. If you listen to Ron Paul and Rand Paul, son, I, you know, it's the post or relative to everybody else in the Senate. I'm kind of a fan, but when you listen to him, And how many people, there was a movement with him, but there was a lot of people that thought he was nutty because he was telling you that these government programs are going to break down there. You know, this is all an illusion. It's not going to work. People don't want to hear that. You you're taking away, you're taking away the things that they were raised on. All right. What would you like to say on your way out? Let's try to find some better Congress people for one thing. What else would you like to say?

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: Yeah, I do. I have to think that rather than thinking about taking away Medicare, we want to give them affordable coverage and freedom that won't ration their lives away. And so I believe that this will this there will come a time where the situation becomes very dire.

Moore To Consider: Okay.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: And the real question is whether we will have already created the escape route and just a few people are leaving, right? A few people, but now suddenly everybody sees there's another way. So we have the 3C solution, cash catastrophic coverage and charity. We want the whole country to move in this direction because it's either socialized medicine or the 3C solution. And the 3C solution is pre-health plan.

Moore To Consider: Mm-hmm, right.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: government and how it worked. It was a real mission. Medicine is a mission. It kept all the third party payers out and all their grubby little hands that make healthcare really expensive today. And so that's where we need to go. That's where our organization plans to take this country. And we would love for people who are listening to who support this kind of vision in life and in this country.

Moore To Consider: Mm-hmm.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: because if they take over healthcare, they will take over the country. You are vulnerable. You will do whatever they say. Look at COVID, right? you know, come support our organization. Become a donor to our organization at cchfreedom.org. We would just love to talk with you. We'd love to have you join our army of building a real solution to healthcare in this country that is patient-friendly, privacy-friendly, free market-focused. transparent, every price transparent, affordable. So cchfreedom.org is where I encourage people to go to support this effort. We're very serious about stopping socialized medicine in this country. And we're very serious about starting a moving healthcare back to the mission that it was founded on. So that it's ethical and moral and principles and patient friendly. And you don't have to be Moore afraid of the bill. than afraid of the condition that you're facing.

Moore To Consider: Twila Brase, thank you so much for being on. This is Moore to consider. Please like, subscribe, comment. Now we've done shows on like the Real ID and we've gotten into Medicare and we've gotten into all these questions. And all of them are based upon, I think you would agree, questions of freedom. until people really start to, know, over, was it, I think it was Benjamin Franklin, those that would choose security over freedom shall have neither. I think that's kind of what the concern is. And I'd like to see more people express that opinion that freedom is far more important. God bless. Thank you so much for being on.

Twila Brase RN CCHFreedom.org: Thank