
Today's featured reader comment comes from "Rob 654," who said the following in the post: "Comrade Ryan's Plan Has 110% Approval!"
If we do privatize medicare my prediction is this:
Within a few years of the change becoming law and people start having problems affording it...
Guess what - those people WILL be the old people that turn out and vote every election - and - they will demand that something be done for their medical care because they won't be able to get the type of coverage they need or can afford with the Ryan plan.
And Guess What - Congress will listen - because remember - Old People Vote - and BOTH Democrats and Republicans will rush to propose:*** Medicare Two ***
Medicare Two will ensure that all Americans over the age of XX are covered by a Government plan where they will ensured of coverage regardless of ability to pay or how bad their health gets...
Of course the current Private plan will be left in place as insurance companies will be addicted to the money...
And we will then be in a bigger mess because we will have multiple "Medicare" Tiers and systems running at the same time that I completely believe will end up costing more than if we had just left Medicare as it is...
This is a really good point. This project of multi-decade budgeting is fantastical. Even if we guess right what will happen in the future (which we certainly won't) we are deluding ourselves if we imagine that the future will agree to be bound by decisions from the past. Who in 2032 will say, "Senior citizens are clamoring for more government help with medical bills, but we must deny it to them, because Paul Ryan spake thus twenty years ago, and the words of Paul Ryan are true and enduring forevermore"?
Thanks for the Feedback is a recurring feature. Comment on the blog for the chance to have your question answered by David Frum.