Steve,

We may have very little disagreement. I absolutely agree, the original idea behind MA was that it would cost less. Then incentives and entitlements were added to it, and it now costs more. My point was not that MA is a good idea--only that you can't use it as an example of how private insurance is more expensive than Medicare.

As it happens, I think that some of these additional benefits should be included in any health plan. Or there should at least be some provision to waive Medicare's co-payments for poor beneficiaries. (Something that in practice some doctors already do, despite the fact that the government, in a nearly Orwellian twist of language, considers it "Medicare fraud")

Mark