No, Medicare is run well for any health insurance program. I agree that it has financial difficulties. No question there. But considering the population that they serve and the increasing costs of the services they cover, it is really surprising that Medicare is in as good a shape as it is. There are some difficult decisions to be made about getting Medicare back on sounder financial footing. Those decisions have been being put off a long time in the interest of political expediency. But look at how much private health insurance premiums have risen. If Medicare was run anywhere close to the way private plans are that program would have failed decades ago.
Judah On Mon, Oct 5, 2009 at 3:17 PM, Gruss Gott <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Judah wrote: >> On the other hand, the Federal government has a pretty decent record >> running Medicare and Medicaid for a good long time now. So what is so >> bad about expanding a Medicare(like) program to people under >> retirement age? >> > > Because the core problem with Medicare is that it's run great for an > insolvent company: > > * Boomers start filing claims in 2011 > * Medicare is *currently* in the hole about $35 trillion > * This doesn't include social security, Medicaid, SCHIP, and any new programs. > > The funding gap can only be closed by > > A.) substantial tax increases, > B.) large benefit cuts > C.) both, or ... > > Unless we drastically lower costs. > > And the only time proven way to do that is when consumers bring their > power to the market. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:305158 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
