Attention

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent our advertisers

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Sen. Brown: Why Not ‘Medicare for the Whole Country?’

(CNSNews.com) – While speaking with liberal talk-radio host Thom Hartmann last week, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said he agreed with the idea of lowering the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 0, and essentially establishing a national, government-run health care system, claiming it “would be terrific.”

Hartmann, while discussing the King v. Burwell case now before the Supreme Court, which could potentially end federal Obamacare subsidies for people in 34 states, said to Sen. Brown on Mar. 3, "Might it be a good time to start talking about alternatives, like, for example what Robert Ball, the guy who wrote the Medicare bill back in the ‘60s, is on the record saying ... that they put Medicare together in a way and with the assumption that a future president or a future Congress would simply start lowering the eligibility age by a decade every couple of years, giving a couple of years for the bureaucracy to absorb that many new enrollees, until eventually the eligibility age for Medicare was Zero."

Senator Brown said, "Yeah, which I think is -- would be terrific. You may remember, Thom, because we talked during this process, I had written a provision in the Affordable Care Act to bring Medicare eligibility to 55, which was what Mr. Ball -- one of the things he suggested then and President Clinton worked on it 20 years ago and we thought we had that vote and Senator Lieberman changed his mind and we couldn't get the 60th vote then."

More on this

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

This makes more sense system in place. Fund it better make deal with drug companies and doctors. By the way im 55..but insurance companies could become obsolete or have less influence..

Anonymous said...

Give people the option to buy into medicare as a competitive option with regular insurance. Have medicare function as always for those over 65.

Anonymous said...

Many countries have this. Drug deaths down. disease and cancer as well. It will never fly. To Mich money involved.

Anonymous said...

Why not medicare for the world?

Steve said...

Why not a free market competitive between States? And if you work and don't have it, you either lose everything to pay the bills, or stay ill till you die?

Why are you idiots on here in favor of "improving" Obamacare, the biggest healthcare disaster ever?????

Don't you get that adding 10,000 government administrators in implementing it just made the costs skyrocket? And now you want to make it BIGGER????

WTH are you smoking????

Anonymous said...

I am a doctor and just quit Medicare--and a huge percentage of doctors that I know will do the same thing---So--300 million people on medicare--Few doctors to take care of them... and if they force our hand--I would rather just quit--

There's your free care--Good luck!

Concerned Retiree said...

I love it when people speak from their A$$ because they want something for nothing out of their wallet.
This would quadruple Government, more Idiots becoming millionaires as Government Administrators, Quadruple or more fraud and most of all who would be treating you? The Government don't pay Doctors now or they pay so late it is a wonder Doctors even have their own practice.
Guess you can use the Islamic / Muslim radicals. Then they can take over America without firing a shot. I heard that before.

Anonymous said...

Look at the VA Med situation. That's socialized medicine already at work for years. The whole system is screwed up with delayed appts, billing errors, prescription errors. And now just look at the screwed up start-up of ObamaCare. Govt health care services are corrupt and costing us billions of $$$.

Anonymous said...

Never trust the government to do something you can do for yourself.

Anonymous said...

Sherrod is a moron. I can solve the healthcare problem in 24 hrs. give the uninsured the same program that the congress has at the same price. case closed.