Switch to Medicare for everyone

I enjoyed commentary writer Marcia Angell’s piece regarding expansion of Medicare. She is right (“Happy birthday, ‘Obamacare,’ ” The Forum, March 27).

I am a retired health care executive formerly with large national firms. I am now a county commissioner in Georgia, responsible (with four other commissioners) for choosing the health plan for our 150 employees. My county has had to increase employee deductibles and co-pays each year because of higher insurance premiums. The alternative is to cut programs such as public safety/courts (our biggest item), or raise property taxes yet again.

The small for-profit firms that I mentor face the same dilemma, only worse. Plus, the larger firms that are picking up more of the tab are looking to move their operations out of the U.S. due to steadily rising costs, including health care, making them uncompetitive internationally.

The best solution is to go to “Medicare for all” right now, which would both contain the rise in costs and provide coverage for all Americans. Single-payer is what the vast majority of developed nations have enacted, and their per capita costs are less than half of ours.