Medicare is good.  Our politicians who so adamantly want to destroy Medicare should try it, they might like it. (You knew this blog was going to get political sooner or later.) Would someone give me an answer to a very simple question:  Why is it bad for our government to provide universal health care for all its citizens?  It's a very straight forward question.  What is wrong with our government doing what the government of every civilized nation on the planet already does?  Are you going to tell me that it was wrong for Medicare, a government program that pays medical bills for old people like me, to pay for my cataract surgery and cancer treatment? Are you going to tell me the much touted private sector would do it better?  Just lie in a hospital pre-operation room where you are separated from other patients by flimsy curtains and listen as I did.  "The insurance company refused to pay for an expensive test my doctor ordered saying it was not medically necessary."  So who decided on "medical necessity"?  Not the doctor, the insurance company.  "In the state we came from my husband's insurance paid for my diabetes treatment.  When we moved here, the new health insurance company called it a pre-existing condition and refused to cover it."  Death panels?  We already have them.  They're called private insurers.   Anyone who thinks insurance companies are noble entities eager to provide you with health care is either hopelessly naive or incredibly stupid.   Insurance companies are in business to make money.  Period.  Are there things that need to be fixed in Medicare?  Of course.  Is health care getting more and more expensive and costs need to be brought under control?  Certainly.  Are there sensible solutions already proposed that can be applied to fix what's wrong and really give us the best health care system in the world?  Yes. The problem is the lack of political will.  One of our major parties has become so ossified in its thinking that it will not even consider alternatives or new ideas. (Even though the “private mandate” was originally a Republican idea and was included in Romney’s Massachusetts health   program.)  All they think about is privatizing everything (schools, social security, health care, prisons, military security.) This will drive many people I know up the wall but there are some things government can do better.  To be continued.