Medicare needs to be restructured to simplify and reduce the heavy cost/complexity/inefficiency of private sector influences on our current Medicare Program.

1. Eliminate the private sector Medicare Advantage program.

2. Eliminate the need for the private sector Medi-gap insurance.

3. Eliminate the 20% co-payment requirement for Medicare Part B program.

4. Expand Medicare benefits including eye care, dental and hearing

5. Create simplicity with one comprehensive plan for every senior.

6. All Seniors would have one comprehensive Medicare plan w/out insurance companies

The private sector insurance component in Medicare has been confusing and costly especially for the most vulnerable group in America. Too many complex choices for seniors … traditional Medicare or an Advantage plan? Which Advantage plan to select? Which Medi-gap plan to select? Are my doctors covered? What about dental/hearing/eye care … etc.? With a new restructured Medicare, all seniors would get the same comprehensive health plan without all of the complex decisions that feed massive profits for health insurance companies.

With a new structure for Medicare, the next step is introducing this new concept to the rest of the country by age groups over time and/or giving every American the ability to choose a “public option”/Medicare option. Over time the need for health insurance companies would be eliminated establishing the foundation for lower costs, simplicity with one comprehensive healthcare plan for everyone that will be permanent and portable … from cradle to grave.

Yes, Universal healthcare would benefit millions of Americans without essential health insurance but more importantly, the concept’s core focus is significantly lowering overall costs of healthcare for every American. The current system is inefficient/costly/complex and immoral. Nearly $2.5 trillion/year is the unnecessary excess price Americans pay for this problematic/unsustainable healthcare system. Everybody pays this high price in lower wages and higher prices for all products and services.

The biggest beneficiary of UHC are those that have employer-based healthcare via health insurance companies. Employees like the system, but don’t understand how it radically impacts their lives/their paycheck/their ever-changing needs. Employers pay 85% of $19,000/year/employee cost to supply healthcare to its employees. Every dollar they pay for your healthcare means less dollars spent on your wage or a higher price they charge all of us for their products and services.

Establishing UHC with single payer lower costs and raise wages for everyone. The savings goes to every American, NOT just record profits for health insurance companies or private equity or Wall Street thieves. We get a simple but (one) comprehensive healthcare plan from cradle to grave and its permanent and portable no matter who we work for, if we work or if we want to start a new business or need to stay at home taking care of a sick family member. We control our destiny and ensure everyone has essential healthcare. It’s a moral and financial imperative. The status quo is not sustainable or moral.

Insurance CEO’s being paid tens of millions of dollars annually for driving up profits NOT patient outcomes there is something morally wrong with this country!

The crew from Mallorca's public emergency service (SAMU 061) was transferring Silvia, a patient in advanced palliative care. Knowing it might be her last opportunity, the paramedics took a detour to the coast, wheeled her stretcher onto the beach boardwalk, and let her listen to the waves and feel the sea breeze.

I wanted to share this because it reminds us of what medical care should truly be about. When healthcare is treated as a universal human right and funded publicly, the focus stays on human dignity and empathy, allowing professionals to go above and beyond for their patients. Everyone deserves this level of compassionate care at the end of their life.

A decade ago, centrists would have shot down a single payer option as unreasonable and unrealistic to pass. Now, due to the push left by the base, they’re trying to pretend they’re for it as a middle ground.

Fun fact: they won’t pass that either.

The U.S. healthcare system costs significantly more than any other developed nation while leaving millions uninsured or underinsured. A persistent narrative suggests that guaranteeing universal, publicly funded healthcare would inevitably require broad tax hikes. However, fiscal analysis reveals an alternative reality: American taxpayers are already paying enough to fund comprehensive universal coverage. Whether approached through a conservative lens of cutting government waste, eliminating corporate cronyism, and enforcing free-market price transparency, or a progressive lens of securing healthcare as a baseline public right, the underlying arithmetic is the same. The root issue is not a funding deficit, but a fragmented, heavily bureaucratic system that inflates prices and diverts tax dollars away from direct patient care.
Direct expenditures on medically necessary care currently stand at roughly $4.49 trillion out of an overall national healthcare footprint exceeding $5.28 trillion. A substantial portion of this expense is driven by opaque, artificial price inflation. While U.S. hospitals incur approximately $1.5 trillion to $1.6 trillion in actual operating expenses for labor, facilities, and supplies, they generate between $4.5 trillion and $7.5 trillion in gross billed charges. Using internal "chargemaster" rate schedules, sticker prices are frequently marked up 300% to 500% over the actual cost of delivery, serving as an inflated baseline for insurer negotiations rather than reflecting true economic value. In turn, massive healthcare conglomerates absorb tens of billions of public dollars each year through government programs and contracts—such as UnitedHealth Group's more than $265 billion in lifetime federal prime obligations—without corresponding gains in consumer affordability or population health outcomes.
By comparison, peer nations provide universal coverage at a fraction of the cost. The United States spends over $14,775 per capita on healthcare, while the United Kingdom spends roughly $6,747. This divergence is driven primarily by administrative complexity and unconstrained pricing leverage. The multi-payer American billing system forces providers and insurers into protracted claims arbitrations, creating administrative waste that consumes nearly 25% of all domestic health spending. Peer nations systematically reduce these burdens by negotiating standardized reimbursement schedules and leveraging bulk purchasing power for prescription drugs, stripping out layers of non-clinical bureaucracy.
Federal fiscal data underscores the scale of existing public investment. In Fiscal Year 2025, the U.S. government collected $5.26 trillion in total revenues and spent approximately $7.01 trillion across all functions. The single largest component was $1.98 trillion allocated to public healthcare programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, and the Veterans Health Administration. In effect, nearly 38% of all federal tax dollars collected are already dedicated to health coverage, yet these funds insure only about 40% of the population. The remaining 60% must secure private coverage, absorbing rising deductibles and out-of-pocket costs while their existing tax contributions already underwrite an inefficient delivery pipeline.
Applying peer-level administrative discipline demonstrates how far current resources could stretch. If the U.S. matched the UK’s National Health Service cost structure, covering all 340 million Americans would cost approximately $1.87 trillion annually—well beneath the $1.98 trillion the federal government already spends. Crucially, the U.S. does not need to accept the chronic underfunding or wait times that often challenge the NHS. If America simply froze per-person spending at its existing public rate of roughly $14,775 while eliminating bureaucratic churn, chargemaster markups, and pharmaceutical price-gouging, that same capital would support an exceptionally well-resourced system. The United States could deliver world-class clinical capacity, shorter wait times, and comprehensive coverage without levying a single cent in new taxes.
**Sources Used:**
1. Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker, "How does health spending in the U.S. compare to other countries?"
2. OECD Health Statistics / Health at a Glance, "Health expenditure per capita"
3. U.S. Department of the Treasury / Congressional Budget Office, "Federal Budget and Revenue Data for FY 2025"
4. American Hospital Association & CMS National Health Expenditure Data, "Hospital Expenditures, Operating Margins, and Gross Billed Charges"
5. USASpending.gov, "UnitedHealth Group Federal Prime Contracting and Sub-Award Obligations"
6. *Annals of Internal Medicine* / *Health Affairs*, "Health Care Administrative Costs in the United States and Canada: A Comprehensive Breakdown"

Nice notice in the mail today. My family of three buys health insurance through the Mass Health Connector, as we're self-employed and are not eligible for any employer health insurance. Our existing plan has a deductible $1k indiv./$2k family deductible and co-insurance, too, and was already $2,210 PER MONTH. The new premium effective January 2027 will be $2,657 per month, up 16.8%...even more than the forecasts I was seeing online. As you might have guessed we will have to downgrade our plan as $32k per year is more than we can handle with the current cost of living in tRumps america.

Hi Reddit, re: Healthcare....

We always get Congress's ATTENTION when they experience what the rest of us are going thru.

Sharing burdens help people UNDERSTAND, so......SB1:1

‘State Bill One to One’ .

Simply, Congressional Representative’s gets the same kind and $$’s of paid Healthcare as THEIR state's residents average. 1:1 

The people of each state decide how that looks, either ALL their state Representatives get %-less Monies (ie 50% subsidy) 

or 2 Representatives get the current 100%PAID subsidy, 

and other 2 Representatives get nothing Zer0$ - and will pay THEIR Healthcare privately. Like their voters do. 

I mean, we’re all in this together, whether we want to be or not….so Yah. Solutions Only, right?

Can this get on ballots? How do we Start?

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Congressional Bill 1:1

Title: Healthcare Equity Act for Government Employees

It is only fair that Gov’t Employees live by the rules they make.

Preamble:

Whereas equality and fairness are fundamental principles of governance,

Whereas ensuring equitable access to healthcare is essential for the well-being of all citizens, Whereas it is imperative to align the healthcare benefits of government employees with those available to their constituencies,

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America assembled,

Section 1: Short Title

This Act may be cited as the "Healthcare Equity Act for Government Employees."

Section 2: Coverage Alignment

•     Government employees, including elected officials, appointed officials, and civil servants, shall be entitled to the same healthcare coverage as the constituents they serve.

•     The healthcare coverage provided to government employees shall be subject to the same availability, terms, conditions, limitations and useage as the current healthcare coverage by the average of constituents within their respective state, as a whole state.

•     Any disparities between the healthcare coverage of government employees and that of their state’s constituents shall be rectified within a reasonable timeframe, not exceeding 6 months from the enactment of this Act. 

Section 3: Implementation

•     The Department of Health and Human Services, in collaboration with relevant federal agencies, shall be responsible for overseeing the implementation of this Act. Each county shall choose to share -%’s of lack by all, or draw straws as to who is no longer covered.

•     The Department of Health and Human Services shall work with state and local governments to gather data on healthcare coverage within each constituency and ensure that government employee healthcare benefits comply with the provisions of this Act.

Section 4: Compliance and Enforcement

•     Government agencies shall be required to annually report on the healthcare benefits provided to their employees, including elected officials, appointed officials, and civil servants, in comparison to the healthcare coverage of their constituents.

•     Any government entity found to be in violation of the provisions of this Act shall be subject to penalties, including but not limited to fines and sanctions, as determined by the overseeing authority.

Section 5: Funding

The necessary funds for the implementation of this Act shall be appropriated from the federal budget as needed.

Section 6: Sever-ability

If any provision of this Act, or the application of such provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder of the Act, or the application of such provision to persons or circumstances other than those as to which it is held to be unconstitutional, shall not be affected thereby.

Section 7: Effective Date

This Act shall take effect ninety (90) days after its passage into law.

This bill is presented to ensure fairness and equity in healthcare coverage for government employees, aligning their benefits with those of the constituents they serve

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#HealthcareEquity #Women'sHealth #EquitableAccess #PublicHealth #Healthcare #HealthPolicy #RepublicanHealthcare #Turchin #HealthcareDeaths #WomenChoice #CommunityHealthcare