[Riot]

Originally Posted by Danzig

least expensive for whom?

As I said, Medicare is one of the least expensive insurance delivery systems, very efficient, with most of the dollars going to patient care - the government does it way better than privates.

And yeah, that efficiency is why the government can charge 70 and 80-year olds much less than any private company would, if someone could even get private insurance at that age at a remotely affordable price without exclusions for everything (cancer, cardiac, etc)

The alternative used to be no insurance whatsoever, until we decided to start Medicare. Because old people couldn't get and afford insurance when they needed it most.

So complaining about Medicare seems pretty silly. Try to get private insurance such as the Ryan plan recommends. The GOP Medicare plan is, "Crawl off and die in the woods, Granny"

It would be great to bring the cost of Medicare down even more, and increase coverage.

First start would be not to privatize it as the GOP wants (what a disaster!) but to increase government involvement, to allow the government to bargain for drug prices as the private insurance companies are allowed to do now. That would be huge savings, billions.

Then, open up Medicare to a healthier population. Start with people 50 or 55 and older. As a preface to opening it up to the entire population.

I don't know where you are getting your figures, most of the older people I know pay $300-$400 a month for their health insurance supplemental needs while on Medicare. Considering it would be at least a thousand dollars from a private insurer, with nothing covered (no cancer, no cardiac, etc) it's a damn good deal in my eyes! And Medicaid pays for nursing homes if the patient didn't plan for that.