I'm in a similar position. I have VA insurance which pays almost 100% & costs me nothing but the aggravation of dealing with them. But I'm paying for Medicare, which costs up front & as well as not paying anywhere close to 100%. I guess I'm sort of paying extra for husband's Medicare.

Volunteering at a pharmacy and seeing the shopping bags full of meds that are prescribed at a breakneck pace. Treat the symptom. Why worry about the cause? Reversible diabetes? That would cut into the bottom line now wouldn't it?

various other reasons too. When my son unexpectedly died 18 months ago, in addition to the emotional trauma my daughter-in-law was terrified because she was a stay-at-home mom with three young children (8, 5, and 3 at the time) and all their medical coverage and income came from my son, and she didn’t know what she was going to do.

But for now she and all the kids are collecting Social Security Survivors Benefits, all three kids are on Medicaid, and she is on something called Medicaid Share. She’s learned that Medicaid patients are definitely treated like second class citizens but at least it’s something and they try to stay healthy!

But my son did have a very good life insurance policy too which has also been a big help to them financially so I can see why you might want it. He had no problem getting a good policy because he was young and fit and in good health, until the day he keeled over and died!

well I’m on Medicare also and I’m a huge fan! When I went on Medicare it was like getting a $500/month raise as that’s how much cheaper Medicare was than what I was paying for medical insurance before Medicare.

That is a huge misconception about countries with national or universal health care that there is no choice, for one, and that we have greater freedom in spending our health care dollars. Some years back I was hemorrhaging during a time when I had "Cadillac insurance". I called many offices and was given a 4-6 month wait for each one even though I was soaking a pad every ten minutes for six weeks. And I live in a town with amazing access to health care. Try rural areas and see how much choice you have under a capitalist system.

Our average tax percentage is 24% (19% for low income earners) We still get a choice of doctor or hospital and the right to seek second or third opinions. Our health system is second to none in my opinion and we have some of the best research facilities in the world.

As a rule, people in the United States have no true facts about Universal Health care, only brainwashing. They are led to believe (and willingly swallow it) that Europeans are overtaxed, when it is middle-income US Citizens who pay 1/3 of what they earn and get almost nothing except wars for our tax dollars.

I've lived under the Capitalist Healthcare System, Universal Healthcare System and Medicare. Most people aren't even aware that we pay a good amount (last year it was $1626 for those in my age group) deducted from our Social Security checks every month for Medicare Part B and that only covers 80% of the bills. This is just for the privilege of having Medicare Part B, and it is mandatory.

When I lived in Europe and was covered by Universal Health Care I was younger and fairly healthy, but the health care I needed never cost me a penny.

When I was covered by Military Health Care, I paid a co-py of $2 per doctor's visit and nothing for having my baby. This was in 1972. BTW, this is known as Cadillac Health Care and is what Congress has.