As co-founder of an eyecare practice serving southern West Virginia and the tri-state area, I have serious concerns about the push by some legislators in Washington, D.C. to radically overhaul our nation’s health care system. Drastically expanding the Medicare program or creating a “public option” for health care could threaten access to quality care for seniors in West Virginia and throughout the country.
Medicare trustees have been warning us that the program is already at risk for today’s seniors, with part of the program projected to be bankrupt in just five years. Massively expanding the program would just fast track that bankruptcy. As a state with a disproportionately high percentage of residents on Medicare, these kinds of proposals would have an even larger impact on West Virginia communities. It could threaten access to care and lead to even longer wait times for thousands of West Virginia seniors who have paid into the Medicare program their entire working lives.
Medicare was designed to meet the healthcare needs of a very specific patient population. Recklessly expanding it is not the way to fix health care in our country. We should focus on improving access and quality by addressing what is not working in our current health care system, not trying to create an entirely new one.
Adding tens of millions of new Americans to a program that is already under financial strain is not the solution some lawmakers seem to think it is. Now more than ever, we should be working to ensure access to care for those who need it most. Unfortunately, these kinds of proposals, whether it is Medicare expansion or the public option, would do just the opposite. Congress should focus on addressing the actual factors that impact access, affordability, and quality.