[dickens]

Medicare was doomed to failure from the onset. It is simply socialized medicine and socialized medicine doesn't work. Our medicare system needs to be totally overhauled as an umbrella for the ones that need it....the poor. There is no reason why the taxpayer should pay for Bill Gates' mothers medical care or medication. It should be available to people, based on income and financial need. One size does not fit all and paying the medical care for the rich only takes the limited available funds away from those that need it.
We also need reforms in the tort system to stop some of these lawsuits. A woman drinks and uses drugs her entire pregnacy and then blames the MD when the baby is born is fetal alcohol syndrome. If this kind of thing doesn't stop, we won't have to worry about the medical care because all the doctors will have left the profession because they can't pay their malpractice insurance.