Medicare Advantage for All
Premise
Milton Friedman: “A major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that it … gives people what they want instead of what a particular group thinks they ought to want. Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.”
Paul Krugman: “An Insurance Company With An Army” [1]
Let’s agree with Mr. Krugman’s assessment that for the United States “[t]he vast bulk of its spending goes to the big five: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, defense, and interest on the debt.”
Mr. Friedman (no relation) argued for a free market - the market will supply the demands of the consumer.
Proposal
If the United States of America is already in the insurance business, I see no reason that it not provide a product for which it’s consumers demand. Riffing off of Bernie Sanders “Medicare for All” and knowing that Medicare Part C (a.k.a. Medicare Advantage) is associated with Medicare but can be argued is not a government entity, I am proposing “Medicare Advantage for All” - a free-market formula [2] that addresses a number of the issues with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) (a.k.a. Obamacare) without resorting to a Single Payer System (a.k.a. Medicare for All).
[2] Yes, we can debate the aspects to which this is a “free-market formula” vs. a socialized proposal - in fact I think we must