Medicare: An American Addiction

Controlled substances can be God-sent, but only when properly managed. If prudently applied they can help alleviate the threat of physical agony. When poorly managed, they will destroy the individual.

It's quite the same with medicare, a system designed to dispel the threat of pauperization when one becomes sick. However, we have come to see that Medicare's design is deeply flawed and, if left uncorrected, will bring down the American economy and everything that hinges on it, such as jobs and national security.

Like anything else that's addictive, Medicare is difficult to fix. The public is of no mind to go cold turkey. They need their fix. Instead, the country must be weened from its addiction slowly and with great care. America needs a kind of methadone.

The answer to our problem must of necessity come through the political process. Paul Ryan's proposed Medicare fix was meant to be a first step in negotiating a suitable solution to our dire health care problem. But, rather than negotiate a "fix" acceptable to all, the Democrats have chosen to use the Ryan proposal as a cudgel with which to assault Republicans. And, in this, they have been highly successful.

Recent results from an upstate New York election serves to illustrate an important point; namely, that dealing with an addiction such as Medicare becomes excruciatingly difficult when you have standing next to you an enabler such as the Democratic Party.