Reply #16: I feel the same way..

[flaminbats]

these problems cannot be separated, whether solved or not!

supply and demand tells the story. Seeing a doctor, filling a prescription, and everything related to healthcare cost more for a reason. Demand for healthcare is exploding as the babyboomers age, but the supply is not.

This means insurance companies will collect more in premiums, while covering less. It means payroll taxes will slowly increase, while providing less government coverage for medical expenses. It means Doctors will get paid more with each day, while doing less.

Increasing the supply is the solution, and the government can play a role in this. We can have more doctors, nurses, and prescription drugs..if the government played an active role in funding the research and education needed to make it affordable. More importantly, the quality of the coverage provided by Medicare would increase..if we all depended on it!

Doing nothing could result in a massive shortage that financially breaks our Social Security program, while making the basic needs of the public harder to get than luxuries. Or it could result health coverage for everyone in the country, while also producing the needed jobs for the children of babyboomers.