I don’t know how much cost savings we would get from the program.

Nobody knows. (I don’t trust the figures in the Conyers-Kucinich bill.) Cost savings would only happen early in the transition; medical care continues to increase in costs and our population will be more costly to treat as it ages. That there should be savings initially, I don’t think it’s possible to dispute.

It would however be more equitable…

[Righty anti-collectivist least-common-denominator remarks suppressed *wink*]

It would help prevent people choosing between bankruptcy or their health…

Yes.

And it would hopefully catch expensive issues early, when they are cheaper to treat.

This may happen sometimes.

And, I agree more effort should be set on checking fraud. Along with a bit more realism in setting reinbursement too. A lot of that fraud is incentivised due to barely breaking even or going negative on treatment/care I bet.

Medicare/aid seems no more complex than any other insurace. X is covered (or not) for Y though Dr. Z on dates blah blah blah… Okay they check age too. But that is the small potatoes when it comes to complexity. I wrote my past co’s elegibility check myself so I know wherefor I speak, or at least think I do. Now add in gap insurance and things get a bit trickier I agree…

I don’t know how much cost savings we would get from the program. Other countries do see large savings and improvement in precieved care quality… But that will not neccessarily translate to our environment I grant.

It would however be more equitable… It would help prevent people choosing between bankruptcy or their health… And it would hopefully catch expensive issues early, when they are cheaper to treat. Granted the patient would have to follow through and not all will, but still it would improve at least somewhat in that regard

The insurance companies often don’t deny claims accidentally while guarding their interests. They have people who are dedicated to the idea of denying legitimate claims based on anything they can come up with. This is fraud just as bad as anything you think happens in Medicare, just aimed at the customer. It is considered SOP on their part. Conservatives complain about fraud but have no real interest in doing anything about it. Missouri Republicans last year refused to pass a law to investigate fraud by providers but are really happy to go after patients. So much for worrying about defrauding the government.

I really can’t see how medicare, or private insurance, matters a jot, at least fraud wise anyway.

It’s considered worse with Medicare because of the size of the program, its complexity, and the lure of easy money (whereas insurers are likely to second-guess claims and frequently deny legitimate claims, something I’m seeing right now as an insured individual, in fact).

Not that that doesn’t discourage people from advocating Medicare for all — their reply is that yes, fraud is a problem, but they still claim large cost savings and a guarantee everyone gets medical care if we had Medicare for all. Fraud can be addressed and remedied at the same time the program is expanded.

However, fraud in general is rampant in the medical industry regardless of your insurer. I worked for a private medical insurer and there was even fraud internally. Imagine that. No idea how much, as that was not data/area I really worked with in that regard, but I still learned of it from time to time.

I really can’t see how medicare, or private insurance, matters a jot, at least fraud wise anyway. Scamming one way or the other seems par for the course in the industry.

The US is the only Western industrial country without a single payer system, that speaks much louder than anything about Medicare.

Medicare is a “single-payer” system, for the existing beneficiaries. (Who is the payer? Government, i.e., the taxpayers.)

One of its problems is fraud.

We have a problem of waste and corruption in the awarding of gov. contracts to private contractors of all kinds. Stop the practice?

DOD contracts have huge problems. Plus, it has never set up a responsible bookkeeping system. Should we get rid of the DOD?.

I’ll start taking warnings about governmentt programs setiously when an equal aooportunity rule is adopted tor misdeeds in all progroms, government run and contracted.

Picking and choosing according to personal preferance is not acceptable.

The answer is, of course, oversight, transparency and accountability.
Where money flows, there will always be waste and corruption, unless proper safeguards are put in place. It matters not one iota through which mechanism the money is passed. on.

The problem will be much worse if children or the entire population get on Medicare. You’re warned.