How utterly insane do people have to be to WANT to pay 20% more for health insurance? The last time I worked the numbers and recorded the findings in Dkosopedia, it looked to me like private insurance costs 17.6% more than Medicare insurance would cost. What's that you say? You say that 17.6 isn't equal to 20%? That is true for round one. But round two happens when the number of people paying Medicare premiums as opposed to private insurance premiums completely stomps the hell out of the "private" operators. As more and more people "join" the Medicare consumers union, the high prices for medical care will abate. The prices will also come down simply because of consolidation in records keeping and ease of access for practitioners regarding medical records. Then, of course, there is the diminished paperwork concerning claims. I think 20% is very conservative.
So what happens if we give back 5% of that 20% savings in order to further subsidize the elderly? It seems to me that Medicare Buy In is the way to resolve the supposed "Medicare Problem" while saving the American people a lot of money. The secret is just to make Medicare Buy In available in competition with the blood sucking leeches that call themselves the private medical insurance "industry". A transparent and competent nation wide insurance company called MEDICARE. Imagine!!! Allowing people to buy insurance across state lines!!! WOW!!! That's a capitulation to the Republicans. And speaking of insurance: Why not "federalize" the malpractice insurance?? I am almost certain that "malpractice insurance" absolutely should be very expensive based on preexisting conditions such as incompetence. We might get rid of a lot of quacks.