User:Woozle/ParaPundit/2011/05/24/Medicare

This is in response to this comment. I tried three times to post, and it did not appear. There was nothing to indicate that it was being held for moderation or that I had entered the CAPTCHA incorrectly.

Paul137: I would be interested in seeing (and collecting) your sources on those pieces of information.

On looking into Medicare more intensively, I was at first very discouraged by much of what I saw in Wikipedia, which seems to be confirming much of what has been said here -- specifically, that the GAO has stated repeatedly that Medicare will be in trouble financially in less than a decade.

On digging into other sources (ironically, one provided by an opponent of Medicare) I find that your first claim was refuted in 2009.

For your second point, I would be very surprised to find that those costs were comparable to (or higher than) revenue collection costs for private insurers. Medicare revenue collection is rolled into the larger tax revenue collection "service", and I would think that economies of scale would be in full force.

For the 3rd point: what you're saying, then, is that Medicare would probably cost even less per person if they allocated more money to fight fraud. This seems a reasonable suggestion.

And for your conclusion... I too would prefer to see the government not involved in healthcare, but what I don't see at present is any mechanisms whereby such healthcare could be (a) monitored for quality and (b) delivered universally (i.e. even to those who can't afford to pay for it). I have some ideas for how this might be done, but are we at least agreed that it's a solution for which there is a problem? In discussions about getting government out of healthcare, I have yet to see anyone seriously addressing these issues.