Medicare As A Single Payer System
As I knew would happen, the first of the year has brought a lot of travel. Last week I posted about my trip to Philadelphia, which was a great trip, especially since I missed all the cold weather and snow in the Northeast.
On Friday I returned from a trip to the Northwest, specifically the Seattle area. As I understand is normal this time of year, it was cloudy and cold, but no snow. As I always have time to think on long trips, and this was a long one in the air, I turned my attention to medicare and the structure of that program. This was on my mind due to the client I was visiting.
My understanding is that Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich is the only candidate that wants a true single payer system for healthcare in America. The other candidates on the Democrat side want at least a government ran program as an option for the uninsured or for those that might choose it based on certain criteria. It sure concerns me that any program like those proposed by Hillary Clinton or Obama might turn into a single payer system (meaning the government controls our healthcare). For all the potential problems with a similar model proposed by Hillary, study the Tenncare mess that occurred in Tennessee.
However, getting back to Medicare, my “air time” brought me to the conclusion that we of course already have a single payer system in Medicare. It just happens to be for a certain age range. As I recall, Kucinich would like for Medicare to just be turned into the program for us all, a single payer healthcare system. Yet, the more I learn about Medicare and the government regulations via CMS; I know that we must create free enterprise and competition into our healthcare system, not government control. So, I am studying all the candidates’ healthcare plans before I cast my primary vote on February 5th.