I was a Benefits Manager in my former working life, and Medicare is a disaster. Part of the reasons of the high costs are that doctors have to wait months for payments, the claim statements are complex and confusing, the coordination of benefits is a bureaucratic nightmare, and it takes extra medical staff to handle all of the paperwork - and that's not even including rampant fraud.
Newt, spineless Republicans, Medicare - you really had to get my blood boiling early this morning!