I’m sorry if I upset you. I’m only taking of economic realities. For one, people who are currently collecting Medicare did not generally pay into the system nearly as much as they are getting paid out. Social Security is a similar program that’s under water. The ones who are collecting now are generally getting paid far more than they paid in. If these programs aren’t made fiscally solvent, then those who are currently paying in won’t get the same benefits.
Secondly, there’s no way to collect enough money to offer unlimited medical care to everyone who needs it. I doubt very many people paid hundreds of thousands into Medicare/Medicaid, but that is what some procedures can cost. Nursing home care is also very expensive. Yet, retirees think they are owed it simply because they paid a proportionally small amount of it when they worked. Since government is picking up the tab, it is inevitable that rationing will and must occur.
Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are underfunded by trillions upon trillions of dollars. Enjoy what you get while you can, because those programs are not solvent. Making them solvent on the backs of current workers, something current retirees depend on, will destroy the economy. There simply isn’t enough money.
Insurance benefits should be capped at the amount each individual paid in? Then what would be the point of taking out an insurance policy in the first place? And who gets the money left by people who die before collecting the money they paid in? Do you refund it to their survivors?
Do you see our whole medical system as the patient, the elderly as the disease, and health care reform as the cure?