You SURE do know how to get on my good side! ;-)
The elderly are costly to care for, and without the strong arm of the government, there is no reason for health insurance companies to accept them.
No question... the government already IS in charge of the elderly. We're surely not going to change that.
But, even the government COULD apply the principles of a high deductible plant to Medicare. Offer older people MONEY each year.. that, if they DON'T spend on health care, they CAN use on other things. Then, I believe you will have fewer elder scheduling monthly visits to their Doctor, just so they have some place to go and someone to talk to. My wife worked for a private practive physician. They had a NUMBER of such patients.
Having power of attorney of an elder relative, I can assure you that the problem I see is the physician overscheduling every darn test and procedure possible. (And the ensuing anxiety such testing causes...) Surely there is a large gray area between death panels and spending tens of thousands on grandma with very little benefit for the money spent.
The waste I have seen with this one relative is shocking. And the overmedication. Ugh A 90 year old on tamoxifen for stage 0 (DCIS) cancer? Seriously?