My husband is a physician of 42 years. We have lived through the first government based health care, Medicare. I can't begin to express how stressful the last thirty years have been as a result. My husband was no longer able to keep his practice because of Medicare cuts. His patients were with him from cradle to grave and were all aging until we had 65% Medicare; anything close to 45% could have put us out of business but he stuck it out for his patients until we could do so no longer. When we closed our doors, Medicare owed us $28,000 but you have to keep sending them paperwork to collect it and this means you have to be in business, so they still owe us this amount. I call that Medicare fraud but it doesn't work the opposite way. I once had to turn away an 83 year old woman who, although eligible for Medicare could not afford the premium. This would have put us in a compromising situation with the FBI and our government because, although we would have seen her for nothing, we would have been committing Medicare fraud because if you don't charge every patient the same as you charge (charges are now dictated by the government) Medicare, you are in essence, cheating the government - Medicare fraud. I found a doctor in the area who took welfare and was able to help her get that. It took time away from our patients but at least she got the help she needed.
If the government was truy interested in REFORM, why not have them set up facilities for Medicare and Medicaid within the same facility, have it run by an established physician for a decent salary, staff it with senior medical students, interns, residents, nurses, PA's, nurse practitioners, medical office help and anyone else who is studying for a career in medicine as part of their degree training. This would not cost the government a cent. It should be overseen by an administrator who is FBI trained to make certain there are no abuses. The government could make deals with pharmaceutical houses to obtain medication at a better rate because it would be bought in bulk and distributed through the same agency. Give medicine back to the doctors so that they are able to take care of the people who do NOT want related medicine. Just the cutting of paperwork alone would allow doctors to charge a decent rate and not go out of business but people would get the care they are paying for. Insurance needs to become more competitive and able to go across state borders and TORT REFORM WOULD CUT ALL MEDICAL COSTS TO THE BONE. If there is a flaw in this thinking, I'd like to hear what it is, aside from insurance companies not being paid the astronomical amounts they get for malpractice insurance or the obscene rates they get for charging people for insurance they don't really need so they can make more money faster.

This is so well said, but I fear that those in power will take this issue by hook or by crook. Our 65 + age group surely knows that they will lose the promised care that they have paid into their whole lives. Our younger workers surely understand that their taxes are to be shifted to pay for the current retirees (younger people have much lower health costs).

The result will be a delay in the bankruptcy of Medicare but a hastening of the bankruptcy of our nation, and a severe drop in the standard of living we are used to in America.