As to trust issues make Congress pass a law to keep their grubby hands off of Social Security and repeal the stupid rule that the surplus has to be used to offset the deficit..er...I mean, invested in government debt. Talk about a scam! Do the same with Medicare. Make it untouchable by the greedy politicians. Social Security and Medicare should only be used for their intended purposes.

What about the denial of claims by the private, for profit insurance corporations. Lindajoy, ask any senior citizen how they like their Medicare. I would wager that 98% of them are satisfied with it. I know my 87 year old father is because I have asked him. Compare that to the satisfaction rate of the privately insured, especially in light of ridiculously high premiums and denied and limited coverage and high deductibles.

This from Physicians For A National Health Program (PNHP):

"Upgrading the nation’s Medicare program and expanding it to cover people of all ages would yield more than a half-trillion dollars in efficiency savings in its first year of operation, enough to pay for high-quality, comprehensive health benefits for all residents of the United States at a lower cost to most individuals, families and businesses.

That'€™s the chief finding of a new fiscal study by Gerald Friedman, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. There would even be money left over to help pay down the national debt, he said."

http://www.pnhp.org/news/2013/july/%E2%80%98medicare-for-all%E2%80%99-would-cover-everyone-save-billions-in-first-year-new-study

Friedman said the plan would be funded by maintaining current federal revenues for health care and imposing new, modest tax increases on very high income earners. It would also be funded by a small increase in payroll taxes on employers, who would no longer pay health insurance premiums, and a new, very small tax on stock and bond transactions.

"€œSuch a financing scheme would vastly simplify how the nation pays for care, restore free choice of physician, guarantee all necessary medical care, improve patient health and, because it would be financed by a program of progressive taxation, result in 95 percent of all U.S. households saving money,"€ Friedman said.

Don't you think that medical care should be a right for every citizen and not a privilege for only those that can afford it and the poor who get it for free anyway? I am 63 years old and cannot afford the $378.98/monthly premium and $6000.00 deductible on the only plan available to me in Texas, BCBS Bronze plan which then only pays 60%.

Even my doctor brother says that Medicare for All is the way we should go and cut the middle man (private, for profit health insurance corporations) out. It works in Canada and Canadians are 97% satisfied with their health care system despite the myths and propaganda put out by the private, for profit health care industry.

http://www.vox.com/2016/10/9/13222798/canadians-seeking-medical-care-us-trump-debate

"One salient reason they offer: Even if Canadians wanted to escape their system, most probably could not afford US medical care. "Prices for U.S. health care services are extraordinarily high, compared with those in all other countries, and this financial barrier is magnified by the extraordinary strength of the U.S. dollar. Private insurance for elective services, being subject to very strong adverse selection, is, not surprisingly, nonexistent."

As the lead author on the paper, University of Michigan's Steven Katz, told Vox, "A hip replacement [in the US] would cost nearly $100,000 out of pocket plus travel and living expenses." Waiting get one for free in Canada is easy compared to that, he added. "Canadians are happier with their system than we are and life expectancy and other health indicators are higher."

Very compelling, buffalo....Very!!

As for the private sector insurance industry they have actuarials that sit and do nothing but measure trends and pay outs on all they insure...Your a dollar number only...Watch and see how fast they change mentality if they think everyone insured with them will no longer be and all that lost premium revenue is gone...

Wouldnt bother me one bit, yet the lobbying they will do with Congress through all their special interest " investors" may well end it all...

You identify something I found when price shopping my insurance...Premiums are going up and coverage options as well as high deductibles make it near to impossible to afford and you better not get sick!!!

What about the FEHB program that allows some insurance companies, employee associations, and labor unions to market health insurance plans to governmental employees. The program is administered by the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM).... If its good enough for all federal employees why not us??? Why special treatment just because they work in federal jobs??

I understand they are still insured through that private sector who capitalize on it none the less...But from what I understand they get to choose the deductible and their own Drs..Like Bo's coverage they can not exclude pre~existing conditions etc..

What I don't understand is why they don't go after all the fraud perpetrated by the hospitals in over charges or Drs etc..Just as your post implies medical costs here far exceed other countries ...Why?? I suggest its the fraud that is allowed to take place...You scratch my back I'll scratch yours they are all involved in....Also since most charges are schedule rates they over charge to make up the differences not paid..

I like your idea but do want to research it more...You gave me a great starting point..

I know my mother had Medicare and BCBS and paid nothing between the two other than her monthly premiums...Coverage D when brought in under Bush, I believe, was welcomed ..
Likewise while some things were not covered it was typically an issue of wrong codes being used etc..

Yes, I remember! Even the right arm establishment (republicans) were against Trump because he was supposedly not controlled by that same establishment that controls both arms of the corporate party, dems and repubs. It remains to be seen if he will or weven can follow through on his promises. He promised to stop the "nation building"/"warmongering" for the benefit of big corporations and end the crap in the middle east. But has now appointed, "or will" a warhawk for Secretary of Defense. Hmmm.... I have also heard rumors that he is going to gut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid to the detriment of the elderly and the poor which is something the establishment elite of both parties has wanted to do for a long time.

Trump was elected because voters thought he could not/would not be controlled by the same elite 1%ters that have controlled Congress and the Presidency for decades now.

Mainly Trump was elected because the alternative was more than this country could bear.

General Mattis is a warrior, not a "war hawk". Bout time we got a SecDef with a humongous pair of balls.

If something isn't done about SS and Medicare, they will self-destruct in about 15 years. The SS directors have been trying desperately to warn congress and Obama that these programs are unsustainable. Almost from the beginning, Social Security became a Ponzi scheme, privatizing SS and Medicare is the only way to make these programs work.