Medicare as it is simply can’t be sustained. However, I think it would be unwise to end all at once, since there are so many people dependent on it.
The single change that would cut the costs the most while minimizing suffering would be to only cover drugs that are out-of-patent.
Unfortunately, some people are genuinely dependent on drugs discovered in the last 20 years. I think the best we can do for them would be to allow a personal use exception to pharmaceutical patents, so if they’re smart and determined they can legally make it themselves.
Disagree that it cannot be sustained. There are policies on here addressing Medicare. Government needs to manage money better which DOGE is helping. Much more to be done and more detailed changed need to be made. However, Government uses Medicare money to pay off debt. Even if they repay it, the amount is not equivalent and if they use it for other things then there isn’t enough for Medicare. So the problem isn’t Medicare itself but how it is used. Hospitals overcharge unlike private practices. Insurance Industry dictates treatment of a patient they do not clinically treat nor do they have the education to do so. There are many things that come in to play but Medicare itself is not one of them. HSA and Retirement Accounts should also increase the amounts that can be contributed and ways it can be used. Medicare itself does not reimburse private practices costs. They pay next to nothing. They are also guilty of treating the patient who they do not ever see and don’t have the education to make decisions on treatment. When that happens people get into chronic conditions which ultimately cost more. If the government can give billions if not trillions of dollars to foreign Countries they can sustain Medicare for our own elderly citizens. There may be disability issues that need to be revamped. There are some people who are legitimately disabled. But insurance industries that don’t want to pay for injury claims cause individuals with actual injuries to have to file for disability on the taxpayer dime because the private insurance company denies responsibility. It is definitely a mess. But it is not actually Medicare itself that is the issue. They just like to claim it is so we don’t look at all the other hands in the pockets.