Twice the price, half the service

Charles Parrish, Las Vegas

Sunday, Sept. 2, 2012 | 2:01 a.m.

My wife and I are both retired and have Medicare and a private insurance plan. As far as I can tell, neither of these entities provides any medical care; both are simply administrators who collect our monthly payments and pay for the medical services we receive from doctors, nurses, etc. — and of course keep some of our money for their administrative costs and, in the case of the private insurance, for their profit. Our costs for Medicare are about half our costs for private insurance. We have never had a problem with Medicare taking responsibility. It promptly pays the amounts due and keeps us informed of their status. The private insurance, on the other hand, seems unable to pay promptly or recognize legitimate billings. This keeps the actual medical care professionals we deal with in various states of unrest. So, for twice the price, we get half the service with private insurance. My question is: Why do Americans go along with this sort of treatment? What the country needs is a single-payer medical system that could easily be implemented by expanding the present Medicare system to include everyone.