Public Healthcare vs. Private Healthcare: You Decide

Medicare was created 44 years ago to provide health insurance for Americans 65 and older. No American senior has been denied enrollment in Medicare or been denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions. No senior has had a Medicare policy terminated or been hit with premium increases designed to force him to forfeit his coverage. No senior has been denied his choice of physician or hospital. Between 1970 and 2009, the 65 and older population increased 100 percent, or 20 million, yet these additional seniors added nothing to the nation’s uninsured population.  Note the spike in those reporting they are covered by health insurance in the following graph at age 65, the age in which Medicare enrollment is available, and note this high rate of coverage continues into old age when health risks and their associated costs are enormous.  Government has provided better coverage for the most difficult to cover population, than is provided by private insurance to any other age group.   Government has served well those who have the greatest per capita share of serious health problems. 

The major source of insurance for those under age 65 is private health insurance. Between 1970 and 2009, the under 65 population grew 47 percent, or 85 million Americans. During this period, the uninsured population grew 150 percent, from less than 20 million, to nearly 50 million, despite substantial increases in Medicaid enrollment, and the development of SCHIP to care for uninsured children. It is the failure of the private insurance system that has left one in six Americans uninsured.

I don’t fear government-financed healthcare. I most fear we’ll continue to put faith in the private health insurance system, hoping that doing the same thing we’ve always done will somehow produce a better result.