It makes no economic sense to divide the population into different population pools for purposes of health care. The result is not greater patient choice but greater limits on choice. The one plan that consistently lets any patient choose any doctor is Medicare, our one universal program. It is the for-profit HMOs that tell you whom you can't see or what treatment you can't have. Take the case of drugs.
Prescription drugs are the fastest-rising cost in the health care budget.
Elderly people now spend more on drugs than they do on doctors. Drugs are often the most cost-effective and painless treatment available, but most older Americans lack full prescription drug coverage. A great deal of the research behind new drugs is borne by taxpayers via government-funded research. Yet much of the benefit goes to private drug companies that benefit from generous patent protection as well as public research dollars. Year after year they keep prices high and usually enjoy the highest profit margins of any industry.