Solution: Medicare Buy-in Option for All Ages

The Reason: End the restriction, high co-pays, unfathomable deductions and limited doctor choices of private health insurers.

How it Works: A new federal law could enable Americans of any age the option of buying into Medicare, the federal health program currently available only to people over 65. Younger Americans or their employers would pay the same amount they currently pay to more restrictive private health insurance companies. 

Medicare is a highly popular federal health insurance program created in 1965 that is not used by more than 70 million senior citizens.

While private insurance spends more than 25% of premiums on administration (often to challenge referrals or reimbursement, as well as for marketing, large salaries to executives, and profits to shareholders, Medicare operates with an administrative overhead of just 2%. 

As a result, unlike private insurance companies that require deductibles as high as $7,000 per year before paying fully the full bill for care, Medicare comes with an  an annual deductible, for most care, of just $283. 

Co-payments for tests and visits to doctors and specialists are also far lower with Medicare.

Medicare also offers patients a far greater choice of doctors and specialists that private insurance companies, which typically limit choice to health providers “in their plans.”