The danger is that the bulk of health spending will be in the last 6 months of peoples' lives making modern health systems an expensive way of dying and not cost-effective in terms of allocation of national resources. Doctors are not always good at controlling this problem, as they argue that only by striving will they improve their skills and results. Patients want as much care as possible, and the technology and drug companies are keen on as many sales as possible. Medicare has Strong and Persistent Enemies 1. Private Health Insurers.
Health insurance is very lucrative.
Huge amounts of money are paid in premiums. But private insurers are not as efficient as Medicare. Because Medicare is so large, it can detect fraud by looking at the statistics of who does what. Because it is universal, it does not have to look at every little bill and determine whether the individual patient is entitled to the service. Big companies want to make profits, and this is over and above the return shareholders want.