Via Healthblawg, Ted Kennedy and accomplice John Dingell are promoting a Medicare for All bill. According to Senator Kennedy’s press release, the legislation would morph the current Medicare program into a cradle to grave project:
Their bill will extend Medicare to all Americans, from birth to the end of life and will reduce costs and improve quality, including more effective use of health information technology.
Will this bill accomplish its stated goals? If the current Medicare program is any guide, the answer is a resounding “no.” As I discuss here, the current program is a bureaucratic and regulatory nightmare. To extend its reach over the entire health care system would probably be a disaster.
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