I wish I understood this subject better. Here are a few observations and thoughts.
When I retired, my company provided health insurance until we received medicare, at which point all support stopped. The company claims to have contributed the first $10,800 per year for premiums, and my wife and I paid an additional $7,000 per year. $18,000 per year for premiums for 2 people, with a large deductible. How many Americans can afford that?
Any universal coverage will have to have limits and make compromises that will disappoint some folks. To pick one example, is fertility treatment coverage a necessity? These decisions will will cause some heated discussions.
It seems like Medicare is government run universal health care for old folks, and it seems to work pretty well for those that have it. I don't know if it's sustainable. I do know that my health care costs have gone down a lot since we are on Medicare, and we have no complaints about what is covered.
We are fortunate here in The Villages to meet a lot of folks from Canada and I often ask them what they think of their medical system up there. Not one has had personal complaints about how their system works.
No answers here. Just some personal observations.
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