[Gaussian]

Just terrible. There are thousands of similar, less sensational stories generated by the U.S. health system every month. All parties in the system are to blame, as all parties have twisted incentives—profit—when it comes to providing and paying for healthcare. This isn’t news, obviously, and without some kind of legislative sledgehammer that alters the potential earnings of millions of people who are now cogs in this system, the problem will remain intractable.

[arbuge]

> legislative sledgehammer that alters the potential earnings of millions of people who are now cogs in this system

Doing this all at once might not be palatable to a lot of people. In reality, boiling the frog slowly may be the better way to go here. Reduce their earnings a fraction each year, over say a 20 year timespan. Decreasing the eligibility age for Medicare each year by a year or so might partly accomplish this.

[cloudwizard]

It is much more likely that Insurers will buy Congress and the Medicare age will go up and Republican states will opt out.