CNN: Elizabeth Landau's "Medicare is socliazed medicine" - debunking the myth (health care, premium)

[azriverfan.]

On CNN today, Dr. Elizabeth Landau condescendingly remarked how most Americans are afraid of the concept of socialized medicine but are unaware that Medicare is a single payer and a form of socialized medicine. Both the anchor and Dr. Landau got a big laugh out of it essentially indicting the American public for being ignorant. President O'bama was mocking the idea that Americans are afraid of socialized medicine but love Medicare therebye implying that our current system with Medicare is identical to that of Socialized medicine that is being practiced in Canada.

As a physician myself, I can assure you that most Americans are not just being paranoid as Dr. Landau and President O'bama imply. Yes, Medicare might be a signle payer system and yes, it very well include components of socialized medicine. However, what Dr. Landau doesn't tell you is that most Americans on Medicare also have some form of secondary insurance. There are limits to Medicare such as the number of days one is allowed to stay in a hospital, postoperative care, and prescription managent among other limitations. This is why most Americans on Medicare elect to pay for secondary insurance. Therefore, our situation with Medicare isn't the same as a true single payer system in which our society depends entirely upon one system.

I also want to clarify another point. President O'bama claims that you will still be abe to have your private insurance should you choose that. The President further explains that he only wants to provide a government sponsored insurance option to provide competition to private insurance companies and to reduce rates. This sounds great doesn't it? Like Dr. Landau, what the President isn't telling you is this A Government sponsored option would not provide true competition. The Governement option would be able to undercut private insurance companies with regards to price because it many more resources at its disposal. What happens when a business is forced to endure most costs, they pass it onto the customer correct? Likewise what happens when a company is forced to lowering their premiums to stay competitive with the government, they will offer less services. This will mean longer waits, denial of procedures which translations to a lower the quality of medical care. In addition, this will also cause many insurance companies to go under because they won't be able to compete with the government's option. This will indirectly cause the membership in the government option to increase and thus provide them with more leverage in managing your care. As you can see, this will ultimately move closer to a socialized single payer system with the governement sponsored insurance plan dictating health care.

I just wanted to clarify some of these issues as it can seem confusing when the President and CNN imply that you will be able to maintain the existing services you already.