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Prof. Wolf, PLEASE correct your statement that the elderly on Medicare get free medication! We do not! This perpetrates the current ignorance about traditional Medicare and it’s serious limitations and costs to the elderly. Part G, for prescription drugs was just another massive giveaway to the insurance industry, requiring seniors to purchase monthly prescription coverage that is a nightmare to navigate and understand and which constantly changes in what drugs are covered what tiers they are in, which of the innumerable drugs on the market are covered, while making seniors pay a very large percentage of the cost of those medications. Dug prices immediately shot up when Part G was enacted. On top of that, the insurance industry offers differing plans and premiums depending on the area, and their premiums keep rising. As in Obamacare, insurance companies are constantly quitting the market. Even covered generics, while mostly less expensive are NOT free under traditional Medicare – and that includes opiates

I also suggest you look into and discuss Medigap which as I’m sure you know is private insurance that covers a percentage (depending on plan) of the 20% Medicare doesn’t cover. It is the same nightmare as part G with the exception that Medicare, way back, set the options on each plan level simplifying it somewhat, but of course, no limit on premiums. Seniors who don’t enroll immediately are gouged later, and those who get sick are then underwritten, frequently forcing them to stay with their initial plan, regardless of suitability or rising premiums. Traditional Medicare also does not include dental, hearing, vision or long term care. (I’ll let you look into the nightmare of the private Advantage plans). With “Medicare for all” presumed to be some kind of solution to the country’s health crisis, people need to be correctly informed of the realities, the costs, and the influence of the insurance industry on traditional Medicare. Drugs are NOT free.

It struck me as wryly amusing when the Prof. described the events unfolding in Seattle and Detroit. Especially the Detroit Renascence. Why? Well, how many of you remember the movie “RoboCop” *1987)? Or to go further back in time, 1975, the movie “Roller Ball”. Both described what is now taking place in obviously many cities all over the world. What made me smile and think of RoboCop was the fact that one man was doing it. In the movie a Corporation led by one man was building the New Detroit. And thus we see the predictions of our science fiction authors coming true, right before our eyes. Which makes me wonder how far from “Mad Max” we may be…….
We need to get our act together and move in a different direction, and do it NOW! For if we do not find that better way soon, we will be doomed to bring to life the artists vision laid out in the movie “Elysium”.