Buttigieg’s Medicare plan is lacking

Pete Buttigieg may be smart, but what matters is how you use your smarts--to serve people or fool them. Here, Pete gets an F.

At first, for instance, the mayor supported single-payer Medicare for All. But he now pushes a new paradigm: 'Medicare for All Who Want It” (MFAWWI). He 'trusts us to make the decision that's right for us.”

Then why hide the facts?

MFAWWI is not Medicare for All, but rather a government-sponsored (but not government-funded) public option. The consumer pays all bills. You may choose the plan but not your doctor, unless he or she is in network. Most enrollees will already be sick. Private plans won't take them, and when outsized payouts overrun the revenue stream the plan is designed to fail.

So, Pete, why the switch to such an inferior plan?

Alex Kotch of Sludge reports that, 'Pharmaceutical, health insurance, and hospital industry donors have flocked to Mayor Pete all year. As he rails against Medicare for All, health care executives have kept the money flowing.” Buttigieg's war chest swells with health industry booty, second only to those of Trump and Biden.

With true Medicare for All you get the care you need when you need it - from any doctor, any hospital--with all bills paid out of the general tax base. Pete, on the other hand, offers the old for-profit package tied with a new bow.

Lorna Lewers

Cedar Rapids