So, Donald Trump and the Republican Congress are repealing Obamacare. But will it be replaced with? Trump has said that he will not only repeal it, but also replace it. With what?
Two provisions of Obamacare may survive, the pre-existing conditions rule and children being carried on their parents’ policies until age 26.
Trump’s greatest concern is that every American has access to health coverage, which is not only beneficial from an altruistic perspective, but also from a business perspective. Many hospitals have been bankrupted from having to care for the uninsured, especially in areas with large illegal immigrant populations like California.
I have not seen this discussed anywhere, but why not simply expand Medicare to cover those who are not insured otherwise? The system is already in place and with the following improvements will cost far less than implementing a separate and parallel system….
- Medicare is an administrative headache, burdening physicians with excessive paperwork. Streamline the system to reduce paperwork to a minimum.
- Medicare is rife with corruption and abuse. Clean it up! Stopping a fraction of the abuse and corruption should pay for the expansion of the program.
- The Medicare pay scale is considerably lower than the same treatment paid by private insurers. Make the pay scale comparable.
- Medicare payments are slow. This should not be difficult to fix. Pay faster! Physicians have bills too.
I would be in favor of privatizing Medicare. Civilians can run ANYTHING more efficiently and less expensively than the government.
"No sane person believes we can just leave this alone," @michaelcburgess says of Obamacare. https://t.co/Md39uM2PH8
— CNN This Morning with Kasie Hunt (@CNNThisMorning) November 30, 2016