Boost Medicare to eliminate others

In the months to come, much will be said about a national health-care program - with the usual holdouts ... for their own interests.

How can we afford it, they say? But aren't we, as a society, already paying for this - without all the benefits? Add it up. Mindful of your employer costs in lieu of that value in wages that you should be getting, and the overhead insurance and health maintenance organization costs that add dearly to our overall health care costs, there it is: a big, big chunk of what could pay for it if we could work around these functionaries - who really add no medical value to the system.

Extended Medicare for all? Great. Medicare's overhead runs about 2 or 3 percent, while the insurance companies run nearly a third of total health-care costs. That's what we could save if we can do an end run around these people.

And that's the problem now with Medicare - too many private functionaries that are bleeding the system. On average, Medicare will now cover less than half of your medical costs. We can't afford this, even with Medicare. You have to buy private supplemental insurance or join an HMO to help make up the difference - at much, much more costs.

So a major move would be for Medicare to cover all medical costs, no bickering about it - and eliminate the private functionaries. In fact, these people have already managed to do this with other health plans, supposedly to avoid duplication. So why not themselves? Extend Medicare to all, yes, but without these private functionaries that would add to our costs - and even maneuver the rules against us. Skilled nursing, for example, costs much more with them than with Medicare alone - and we pay them to do this! Check your benefits guide. AARP would disagree with my contention - since they are in the insurance business.

Let's do it right.

Charles W. Atterberg

Hanover Park