Welcome! My guest today is Rosemary Gibson, who is an author and renowned speaker and presenter on the subject of healthcare. Rosemary is currently the senior advisor at the Hastings Center, and the founding editor of Less is More narratives in JAMA internal medicine. In 2014, she was the recipient of the highest honor from the American Medical Writers Association in the field of medical communication. Her books include Medicare Meltdown: How Wall Street and Washington and Ruining Medicare and How to Fix it, The Battle over Healthcare, The Treatment Trap, and Wall of Silence.

Tell us what the Hastings Center is and what you do there.

The Hastings Center is a healthcare think tank that looks at ethical issues from the perspective of public interest. It’s a non-partisan, non-profit organization with whom I’m proud to be affiliated. We seek to inform the public on critical healthcare issues of the day. I do this work as a public service because we have the right to know!
 

Where are healthcare costs headed for beneficiaries?

Costs keep going up! The reason is that hospitals, doctors, and medical device companies can keep billing for whatever they want and as often as they want. There is no one to stop it! Their motto is “Bill, Baby, Bill!” Medicare is taking a larger and larger share of social security tax. Millions are facing a 50% increase in their Medicare Part B premium. Your Medicare card is the credit card for those doctors, hospitals, and medical device companies and you can’t do anything about it! When Medicare started, there were no healthcare companies on the Fortune 100 list, but now there are 15! The system is full of corruption that is off the charts!
 

What is the answer? How can we stop this?

You have to take charge of your health and not trust it to anyone else! Healthcare is something they want to SELL to all of us, and we cannot assume that they want the best for us. Rosemary calls our condition “The Marinated Mind,” because we’ve been marinated to believe that any procedure recommended by a doctor is ok. Baby boomers have been brainwashed to NEVER question what the doctor says. Rosemary teaches you her “exit strategy,” where you can respectfully decline a procedure, ask for more time to think about it, and discuss it with the doctor at a later date. Listen in for details! The truth has been hidden from us, but we need to become empowered to make our own decisions!

Find Rosemary Gibson’s books at www.rosemarygibson.org or www.amazon.com. 

Medicare Nation listeners, you know I’m always reminding you that we each play a part in reducing Medicare fraud. We all have to do our part. Always examine your monthly summary statement for anything that looks suspicious. One more tip: It’s Medicare enrollment time, so STAY AWAY from the high-pressure seminars! Read the material and visit www.medicare.gov or www.samm.com for more information. Do your research or find the right advisor who has your best interests in mind. Thanks for listening!
 
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