The House of Representatives under Speaker Paul Ryan and the U.S. Senate are considering ending Medicare as we know it and replacing it with medical contracts.
Such replacement would not affect those already on Medicare, but would end Medicare for those not yet covered by the provision.
Healthcare costs are rising, and it appears that our Congress, rather than finding ways of controlling a largely unregulated industry, is looking at ending the system instead of fixing it, and replacing Medicare with medical contracts.
The budget for these medical contracts would be done annually, it is presumed, with money allocated for those to be covered.
A couple of considerations are not quite clear, however, such as whether the budget for these medical contracts will keep pace with the rising cost of healthcare, and whether patients with or without disastrous illnesses will see a prohibitive rise in their copay to cover the shortfall. The other consideration is, in not addressing rising healthcare costs and Congressional inability to withstand the powerful lobbies from the healthcare industry, it will drive voters to consider a single payer program, like the 26 other modern industrialized nations of the world.
Richard Nielsen, Royal Palm Beach
