The maddening thing about this slice of socialism is that the republicans in Ohio are behind this.

Medicare coverage is so bad that 75% of beneficiaries carry supplemental coverage. But Medicare is cheap for beneficiaries – at least out-of-pocket (on average $1100/year) – so that 80-90% are satisfied with the program.

Eventually someone is going to make the phony argument that the overhead for Medicare is only 2%, much lower than the private plans, and the VA system isa marvel of efficency, don’t believe it. [I'll explain in a later post (no time right now).]

The vast majority of Medicaid recipients -young women and children – are also actuarily the cheapest to insure. So why is the cost per unit the ~ the same for Medicare and Medicaid? [Hint - 2 governments instead of 1 involved]

The bottom line: ~$600 BILLION per year is spent on Medicare and Medicaid just by the federal and State governments (~$7000/beneficiary + supplemental + out-of-pocket). If all that wasted money was turned over to the private sector as bloc grants, every beneficiary could be covered with a better plan for a cheaper per unit cost for everyone because of the enlarged risk pools and reinsurance. Plus we could eliminate 2 of the largest government agencies or at least seriously scale them down.