With $300 billion, we could end homelessness, fund cancer research for 40 years, and give every child free pre-K for over 7 years. Instead, Trump is sending it to Iran. This is not America First. Not even close.

It was a different healthcare world in the 1990s. The same issues i mentioned apply. Every single one of them. The processes, care mechanisms and economics for every company and person that touches the HC system we have today, would have to change. All that you have done is taken a group of people who are more likely to get sick, relative to a younger population, and put that burden on the taxpayers. What are you going to do for taxes to pay for them? Medicare has a 255b cash reserve. (FYI, non profit hospitals have a 280b cash reserve) and is expected to require a 20pct or more premium and tax increase in 2033, with a most likely reduction in services. And again. Those numbers are always wrong. Do you plan on saying that when you hit 55 or 60 your taxes go up ? Do you plan on increasing from 2.9 percent for those at the age that qualify. Or increasing the taxes on everyone, to only pay for that age group and losing every younger voter ? Politicians need to learn that IDEOLOGY IS NOT A STRATEGY You have to put yourself in the shoes of everyone that is impacted, which for HC is everyone. Then you have to put together a plan and figure out what needs to be done to get from where we are to where we want to be, and who will do it. You have to recognize that our culture, politics, size , expectations, costs to educate doctors, desire to extend life as long as we can, our entrepreneurial culture that is always investing in new drugs and technologies to solve what once seemed like unsolveable problems, is unlike every other country in the world. If you can't recognize our strengths and differences, you won't be able to put together a plan, let alone legislation. That's where both parties always fail. They try to use ideology to legislate. Which makes it very easy for money to sway them. Because, when you don't have a plan, and you don't understand the details of what it actually takes to disrupt the status quo and create change , you are willing to defer to the people that give you the most money. I've been doing nothing but healthcare every day. This shit is opague, convoluted, dominated by huge companies that have no interest in anything but getting bigger, and if they help a few people along the way. So be it If you think this legislation, in any way shape or form scares them, you are wrong. They are laughing at both sides because they know they can buy them , mislead them, or sue them, so that nothing changes. The same thing they do to their customers But I will say. I truly do appreciate that you engage with me in an honest fashion. I know you want to do the right thing. But I can't say it enough times Ideology is not a strategy.

Much of medicare , and Medicaid, is run by private insurance plans. Medigap. Part D. Medicare Advantage. And Managed Medicaid. Standard Medicare is not all that consumer friendly. This is the patient OOP for Part A when you don’t have any private insurance. Note the $1,736 is not annual. It’s per benefit period.