By William M. Fogarty Jr., M.D.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Letters, July 30, 2012
Today Medicare celebrates its 47th birthday. The system has served our elderly and disabled citizens well and could be a vehicle to serve all Americans. In a recent article published by the Commonwealth Fund, satisfaction with coverage, quality of care, access and out-of-pocket expenses was far greater for Medicare beneficiaries than those of the group or individual insurance markets. If Medicare were expanded to cover all Americans, some $400 billion now lost to administrative overhead and insurance company profits could be saved annually. Those savings could cover the 50 million people who lack coverage at present or the 25 million who will remain uncovered under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
As a physician who practiced under Medicare for 30 years and has been a beneficiary for 12 years, I can assure you that dealing with Medicare is far less stressful and wasteful of time and effort than any insurance company.
Efforts to turn Medicare over to private insurance companies are being made. Why would it make sense to convert an efficient system with high satisfaction to one with higher costs and lower performance? Medicare isn’t perfect, but with some improvements it could be made available to all at far lower cost and with significant improvements in quality and patient satisfaction.
Happy birthday, Medicare. I hope that all Americans will soon have the opportunity to choose “Medicare for all.”
Dr. William M. Fogarty Jr. is a member, member, Leadership Committee, Physicians for a National Health Program-St. Louis. He resides in Webster Groves, Mo.