Yogi Berra said, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” We are not making predictions but we do have a few suggestions. We are attempting to address three issues: cost of health care (national), affordability, and availability.
Our healthcare system which is Medicare plus Medicaid plus private insurance is not working well. Health care is the largest industry in America consuming ~17% of GDP. Many patients are still uncovered and the “Obamacare” Affordable Care Act (ACA) mosaic of private plans is clumsy and inefficient. The Congressional Budget Office has found that Medicare administrative costs are ~3% compared to ~10% for private insurance for similar populations.
Senator Bernie Sanders has proposed “medicare for all” as a solution to health care availability. He proposes to do away with Medicare as we know it and institute a new single payer national health insurance system. He would abolish our most efficient health care program. We are opposed to a single payer system as inefficient and unaffordable.
We recommend continuing Medicare as a fee for service system. Over age 65, no changes. Under age 65, $10,000 deductible. Medicare supplement insurance rates under 65 would probably run from $100 to $700 per month depending on age. Those who chose not to buy a supplement would have “catastrophic health insurance.” There would be no uninsured. For those under the poverty level, Medicaid would cover the deductible. ACA changes in Medicaid would be rolled back. Deductibles are essential to control costs.
This program would cost less than private insurance based ACA. Current medicare reimbursements are modest but few physicians have opted out of the program. 54% of physicians favor increasing Medicare coverage to lower age groups. Medicare is our most cost effective system and we should take advantage of it. Changes here are incremental and feasible compared to single payer.
Yogi said, “You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you’re going because you might not get there.”