My wife and I have a Medicare Advantage Insurance The combination keeps our co-pays and deductibles affordable. For the uninformed, Medicare has a prescribed rate for about everything. United Health Care pays much or most of the remaining and we pay what’s left.
We have been covered by insurance since our first days of work. Few people can say that today and even will less in the future. Medicaid will become more important as jobs pay less and less of us are employed. Medicaid means the government is already picking up the total tab. I have yet to talk to someone from another country who would change their system for our mess.
The simple answer is people do not have a “right” to good health but I think we have a moral responsibility to keep Americans from dying on hospital steps. A simple program (nothing is simple in government) could be based on Canada’s highly successful program. I have talked with Canadians who remember when they had our system and they feel sorry for us. They know it’s because the political right and the super rich, who can afford the best care, won’t allow a change.
Companies with health plans can eliminate them. The military plans can be eliminated. High priced individual plans can be greatly reduced because the government covers most expenses. Those on Medicaid will see no difference in care. The backlog of V.A. hospitals and visits would be eliminated.
Those who cite costs of the program don’t count the savings from all the duplicated programs and the money each American would pay. Just like other countries, if I want to get elective surgery now, I pay for it myself instead of waiting my turn. Oops, that sounds like pre-Medicare insurance.
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