Make Medicare an option

We need to keep the ACA (Affordable Care Act), but amend it to allow Medicare to be added as one of the options for anyone at any age. Why are we so deeply entrenched with the idea that businesses must provide and subsidize the premium for health insurance for their workers? Imagine if businesses did not have to worry about any of the hassle or paperwork of health insurance because they could choose to have their workers bypass the insurance companies, and be insured directly with Medicare. Imagine if workers would not lose their coverage when they lost their jobs or retired.

The ACA has been a huge improvement over the old pre-ACA nightmare days of health insurance, the days when everyone had to get a physical and you could be denied coverage if you weren’t in perfect health. The problem with the present program is that it does not have a public option to break the stranglehold of the for-profit insurance companies. The fastest way to make health insurance cheaper for everyone is to force the insurance companies to compete directly with Medicare.

Christy Anderlik

Liberty Lake