[gdpawel]

Something many people do not realize, particularly now doing the health care reform debate, which many seniors do not realize Medicare is a government-run health care system. But when asked if they want to do away with their Medicare, "absolutely not" is their answer.

Medicare pays 80%. My mother pays $96.40 a month for that coverage (this is why people complain that Medicare only pays 80%). She also has Medigap insurance for the remaining 20%, which she pays $122.17 a month for that coverage.

The Medigap insurance is the same kind of program like the Medicare Advantage program. Congress did not want the Medicare program to be totaly administered by the federal government. Instead, it devised a public program run by many competing private plans to supplement the 20%.

However, when you look at what you're paying for ($96.40 for 80% vs $122.17 for 20%), I'll leave that thought up to you.

And Congress guaranteed premium pricing for pharmaceuticals, by prohibiting Medicare from negotiating drug prices and it provided hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. taxpayer subsidies to pay for these premium drugs costs by subsidizing private insurance Medicare plans.

Medicare has been paying private Medicare Advantage plans much more per enrollee compared with what the same enrollees would have cost in the traditional Medicare fee-for-service program. The monies to pay Advantage insurers is coming out of traditional Medicare.

Now it looks like that discrepancy is finally being rectified. Besides the signed legislation to cut the doughnut hole in half, the House health care reform bill has negotiated drug prices in it and stopping the subsidization of private Medicare Advantage plans.