Sorry, Senator Wyden but by posting your thoughtful explanation concerning what is wrong with Medicare today -- and why the problems need to be fixed -- on the Huffington Post web site you wasted your time. Readers of that web site know nothing about Medicare and simply parrot what President Obama and the Democratic Party tell them to say about the subject.
The Wyden article is a great piece for people who really want to understand the A/B/Cs of Medicare. I would only ask that Wyden go back and check his Oregon facts (he's from there). If Oregon is like the rest of the country (see lower right of chart below), it is likely that most of the 44% of current Oregon seniors he mentions that are not supplementing Medicare Parts A and B with Medicare Part C or Medigap are getting retiree insurance as a supplement. Almost no one in the country depends only on Medicare Parts A and B.
(Note: Chart is about 2007 and is from the 2010 MedPac Databook).
As I'm sure Senator Wyden knows, Medicare is terrible insurance with lifetime limits (no catastrophic coverage), up to $6000 a year in in-patient hospital deductibles if admitted, unlimited 20% copays if inpatient and only observed or if outpatient or visiting a doctor, no vision/dental/annual-physical/drug coverage, and geographic restrictions. Less than 10% of us seniors depend on it and as the senator also would know the Medicare bureaucracy has recruited over 25,000 volunteers around the United States to try to get those few remaining people to choose one of the supplemental options.
Basically we seniors today already have Wyden/Ryan but with incredible confusion and paperwork (see the Wyden story about the elderly couple with a box full of insurance policies). The Wyden/Rayn proposal to fix Medicare just simplifies the situation for our children and grandchildren.
Comments