WHY
MEDICARE ISN’T THE PROBEM; IT’S THE SOLUTION
By
Robert Reich
To see this directly from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdEPeLUZAXY
Again
and again the upcoming election you’ll hear conservatives claim that Medicare -
the health insurance program for America’s seniors - is running out of money
and must be pared back.
Baloney.
Medicare isn’t the problem. In fact, Medicare is more efficient than private
health insurance. The real problem is that the costs of health care are
expected to rise steeply.
Medicare
could be the solution – the logical next step after the Affordable Care Act
toward a single-payer system.
Please see the accompanying video – #11 in our series on ideas to make the economy work for the many rather than for the few. And please share.
Some
background: Medicare faces financial problems in future years because of two
underlying trends that will affect all health
care in coming years, regardless of what happens to Medicare:
The
first is that healthcare costs are rising overall - not as fast as they were
rising before the Affordable Care Act went into effect, but still rising too
quickly.
The
second is that the giant postwar baby boom is heading toward retirement and
older age. Which means more elderly people will need more health care, adding
to the rising costs.
So
how should we deal with these two costly trends? By making Medicare available
to all Americans, not just the elderly.
Remember,
Medicare is more efficient than private health insurers whose administrative
costs and advertising and marketing expenses are eating up billions of dollars
each year.
If
more Americans were allowed to join Medicare, it could become more efficient by
using its growing bargaining power to get lower drug prices, lower hospital
bills, and healthier people.
Allowing
all Americans to join Medicare is the best way to control future healthcare
costs while also meeting the needs of the baby boomer and other Americans.
Everyone
should be able to sign up for Medicare on the healthcare exchanges set up under
the Affordable Care Act.This would begin to move America away from its reliance
on expensive private health insurance, and toward Medicare for all – a single
payer system.
Medicare
isn’t a problem. It’s part of the solution.
ROBERT B. REICH, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at
the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center
for Developing Economies, was Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration.
Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of
the twentieth century. He has written thirteen books, including the best
sellers “Aftershock" and “The Work of Nations." His latest,
"Beyond Outrage," is now out in paperback. He is also a founding
editor of the American Prospect magazine and chairman of Common Cause. His new
film, "Inequality for All," is now available on Netflix, iTunes, DVD,
and On Demand.