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Thursday 10 September 2009
Medicare Part E – “Everybody”

The President this morning admitted on national television that he lost control of the message with health care.  It’s time to reboot – and use a very, very, very simple message so all Americans can understand it.

Let’s use Medicare, which nearly every American understands.  Just create “Medicare Part E” where the “E” represents “everybody.”  Just let any citizen in the US buy into Medicare.

It would be so easy.  No need to reinvent the wheel with this so-called “public option” that’s a whole new program from the ground up.  Medicare already exists.  It works.  Some people will like it, others won’t – just like the Post Office versus FedEx analogy the President is so comfortable with.

Just pass a simple bill – it could probably be just a few lines, like when Medicare was expanded to include disabled people – that says that any American citizen can buy into the program at a rate to be set by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) which reflects the actual cost for us to buy into it.

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