Perspective              

Medicare and the Uninsured

A recent article in The New York Times reported that health insurance executives from around the country are taking steps to promote universal health care coverage for all Americans.

While it is good to know that health insurers are looking for innovative market-driven ways to provide health care coverage to the 41 million Americans who are uninsured, Congress and the public need to examine all the options.

The insurance marketplace demonstrates full well that enormous demand for health care coverage does not generate policies that people want at prices they can afford. Even people with coverage have little if any choice of health plans, struggle to pay the premiums, and are often locked into networks that prevent them from getting care from the doctors they know and trust.

In sharp contrast, Medicare, the nation's health care program for 40 million older and disabled individuals, offers them affordable coverage because the government is able to negotiate lower health care prices for medical services than private health plans and has administrative costs that are a fraction of those of private health insurers. And, Medicare still offers people the wide choice of doctors and hospitals they so value as well as a choice of health plans. The question for President Bush and Congress is: Why not extend Medicare to all Americans?

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