How should Medicare be paid for and to whom?

[Below, we ask you to respectfully and conscientiously consider the following for the good of the country toward coming to better solutions for us all.]

Given the guarantee that those who can't afford it otherwise will be covered as well as they are presently under Medicare, I would choose the following:

____ Yes, ___ No.   To have the government pay to a private insurer, with rules to assure mandatory coverage equivalent to what is there now.  This is anticipated to lower costs because of competition.

____ Yes, ___ No.   To have personal responsibility and to see what the costs are so that I make more responsible choices.  This has been proven to work better than where people have no responsibility and no awareness of the costs.  (See what happened in Indiana, below, before you make your choice.)

____ Yes, ___ No.    I believe the government is a good manager of services.

____ Yes, ___ No.    I only believe the role that government can do adequately is pay out the money.

Checkmark this if you agree with it:

___ If I am guaranteed the same benefits, I do not buy the accusation that Medicare is being taken away from us. 


Express any concerns you still have:

____ I'm not sure that competition will work to lower costs.

Other comments:  



Please send your answers to your congresspersons.

The Rational NonPolitician

P. S. I recommend that a polling organization do a statistically valid poll to see what the choices are once a person is more informed.


THE INDIANA RESULT: (Excerpts:)

Overall, participants in our new plan ran up only $65 in cost for every $100 incurred by their associates under the old coverage... It turns out that, when someone is spending his own money alone for routine expenses, he is far more likely to ask the questions he would ask if purchasing any other good or service:

Indiana covers the premium for the plan. The intent is that participants will become more cost-conscious and careful about overpayment or overutilization.

What we found:  individually owned and directed health-care coverage has a startlingly positive effect on costs for both employees and the state.

Most important, we are seeing significant changes in behavior, and consequently lower total costs.

They were much more likely to use generic drugs than those enrolled in the conventional plan,
resulting in an average lower cost per prescription of $18.

They were admitted to hospitals less than half as frequently as their colleagues.  Differences in health status between the groups account for part of this disparity, but consumer decision-making is, we've found, also a major factor.

Source:  WSJ article 

Educaton And Charter Schools

Yes, I realize that there is a strong lobby of the teacher's unions to keep the status quo at public schools.  But the public interest is in having a much better education for the students.  And, if teachers are qualified, tthey need not be protected from losing their jobs as they can work with the charter schools. 

The charter schools will take the same fees and costs that are paid for each student in the public schools and provide better education, using the efficiencies and motivation of private business to solve problems better than government. 

Other than special interests, is there any reason not to take the much better education?  Are we willing to compromise at such a great cost: the loss for a lifetime of lower quality education?

Now is the time to stop settling for mediocrity and let's get our education up there so that each student stands a better chance for a good future and so that the U.S. stays productive.  The types of jobs that will be available in the US are the high knowledge jobs - and they are the ones that provide high salaries, for they are the high-value-providing jobs.  If we don't do this on an urgent basis, we will find ourselves too far behind, with vacant high value jobs that have to be filled by foreigners.

Please choose and act with the greatest urgency and don't put up with less than high urgency action by the legislature - it is our very future as a nation and our individual prospecrity that is at stake!

The Rational Problem Solver