Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, Californias former Insurance Commissioner for eight years, today submitted the following question during President Obamas online health care town hall:
Mr. President, Im Lt. Governor John Garamendi from California. Thank you so very much for your leadership on this crucial issue for America. Mr. President, we actually solved this problem 41 years ago when we created Medicare. Its a program that works and provides coverage for everyone. Why dont we just go Medicare for All? Send your insurance premiums to the Medicare office, have universal coverage, have a benefits package that is uniform across the nation. Its efficient, its effective, and its a whole lot cheaper. Why dont we just do that?
More information on the Presidents online town hall: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/A-National-Discussion-on-Health-Care-Reform/#T...
The White House Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=63811549237&share_id=101125406122&a...
John, that isn't a bad idea, but it has some problems, as you probably know. Medicare has so many problems of its own, that Obama might do better to start all over with another system anyway.
doctorheather 2 years ago
When government's Medicare program IS PROHIBITED BY LAW to negotiate collectively for better drug deals, That demonstrated how powerful the health care industrial complex is.
Four hundred millions lobbying dollars spent a year is no small change!
teleutube 2 years ago
It's a whole lot cheaper because participating physicians aren't getting paid what they need just to continue practicing and it's just as expensive as private insurance for most people. Step one should be regulating costs. If we want a National-for-everyone type plan, we're going to have to pay for it. The difference between Obama's plan and the current state of affairs in this industry is that you'll get what you pay for without precondition.
GaiaTaurus 2 years ago
Why can't we have Medicare for all? Because it's going broke in less than 10 years!
wuzhig 2 years ago
Medicare requires that you give up everything that you own.
ScarlettKnights 2 years ago