Problem one: Many industries are short on people.

Problem two: Health-care costs are high. The 500,000-strong private health insurance industry rations health care to people at eight times the cost of Medicare administration, and does a bad job. Before the Affordable Care Act health care was rationed according to wealth. Lots of wealth gets you great care. No money meant ER services if you are lucky.

With the ACA millions of subsidized people get OK health care. Post-ACA will bring back rationing according to wealth.

Employees of insurance companies sit at desks processing numbers and names, collecting premiums, deciding what expenses will be covered, and doing their job of maximizing profits for eight times the cost of Medicare administration, which does not ration according to wealth. CEOs get awarded millions to deny coverage to the people that paid the premiums.

Solution: Expand Medicare to all.

This would actually lower health care costs (Isn’t that a good thing?), get good health care to everyone (also a good thing), the upper class will always have great health care and live longer, and it will free up hundreds of thousands to work in industries that need them.

What is stopping us? Health-care industry leaders that personally benefit from higher costs, political leaders that personally benefit from higher costs, and people that have been taught to hate government, even though there are some functions that government does better.

Brad Sherwood

Waterville

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