Medicare gives patients more choice, and a greater range of free-market options than does private insurance.  While Medicare has had its financial challenges, it is an example of a government-run program that gives patients choice.  Sometimes, private insurers refuse to include physicians in their plans; Medicare does not exclude physicians.

The insurance companies insist the idea of healthcare reform to include a public option – such as Medicare – but it’s important to look at the facts that includes a government-run plan.  According to a recent article in Mother Jones magazine, “Survey results demonstrate that Medicare beneficiaries are less likely than those with private coverage to report negative experiences with their insurance plans – including having expensive medical bills for non-covered services, being charged a lot more than insurance would pay, and physicians not taking their insurance.”

According to a study by the Commonwealth Fund, 37 percent of Medicare patients are completely satisfied with their coverage and report few problems accessing and paying for healthcare.  Only 20 percent of people with employer provided plans reported the same level of satisfaction.

One argument often used against the public health plan option is the following: I want to choose my own doctor, and I don’t want a government bureaucrat making that decision.  That’s wrong.  Under private healthcare plans, your only choice is to pick a doctor who has negotiated costs with your insurance company.  Doctors unwilling to negotiate are excluded.

In seeing the way the healthcare debate has been framed, perhaps the administration would have been better off describing the proposed reform as the extension of Medicare to the entire population.

A public health plan option will not introduce a bureaucracy into healthcare; that bureaucracy already exists.