Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medical Assistance expansion, OR Single Payer

Article link: https://buffalonews.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/a-traumatic-brain-injury-and-500k-in-medical-debt-it-feels-unbearable-sometimes/article_d87cf454-fcba-582e-8a13-79f8ccfafcbe.html   We need to keep sharing these stories/facts about the need to stop this in the USA and join all the modern countries that don’t allow this to happen. “Mais isn’t alone. One in every five people in Texas has medical debt that is in collections, one of the highest rates in the U.S.; medical debt has become a nationwide crisis, with 13% of U.S. adults impacted by past-due medical bills, according to data collected by the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C., public policy think tank.” After I read that article I saw this column in our local small-town daily: "Healthful Hints: Medicare, Medicare Advantage plans: Basic differences" https://www.winonadailynews.com/news/local/column/healthful-hints-medicare-medicare-advantage-plans-basic-differences/article_4df87355-1852-50d8-95f9-339d36a0b161.html   Then I submitted this LTE to the paper: Health Care Access Thank you so much for the front page article Sunday (11/13/22) about medical debt. That is a problem for so many in this country. We need to learn from other developed countries about how to avoid this problem. We have been brainwashed to think that inability to pay for unexpected medical costs is somehow a personal weakness and a way of begging other citizens to pay our bills. Big-money corporations have been responsible for our lagging behind the rest of the modern, caring world. Most of that money is with for-profit insurance companies who are now taking over more and more of our actual medical providers. (BTW – insurance companies DO NOT provide care – they make money by not caring). Then on page 5 of the 11/13 edition, you had the Dr. Bures column. This time he talked about Medicare. He does not take sides but he does show the difference between Medicare and Medicare Advantage. I have been retired and covered by Medicare for many years. I am so grateful to the insurance agent who years ago recommended regular Medicare with a supplemental plan of my own instead of the Advantage plan offered by insurance companies. It provided me with freedom of choice and has worked well. Insurance companies give millions to members of congress and spend millions on advertising to keep making more and more money off of our need for medical care. I don’t want a for-profit company between me and my medical providers. We need to do what so many countries have done and make a simple single-payer medical care payment system part of how we treat our citizens. It should be treated like public schools, public roads, fire departments, police departments, etc. The government pays our private providers. Our access to health care without the risk of bankruptcy should NOT be in the hands of for-profit companies. Craig Brooks