The Choice....Medicare Part E or a 39% rate Hike?

From Thom Hartman's blog
http://www.thomhartmann.com/

Does the 39 percent rate hike in Anthem Blue Cross's health insurance price for many Californians predict future costs in healthcare? Wellpoint, which owns Anthem Blue Cross, says no, and blames the economy plus they say only a few policies are affected. But that's only a part of the story. The real truth is that the hike only applies to individual policies, not coverage through employers. These hikes impact a huge number of Americans who no one wants to talk about- the 46 million with no insurance at all. For people who don't get insurance through their jobs, often the only option is the individual policies like the ones in WellPoint's just raised by 39% at the same time its parent company was declaring a quarterly profit of over two thousand million - that's two billion - dollars. Medicare Part E - E for everyone is what we need. This blows up all the rumors about death panels and grandma and everything else: everybody knows what Medicare is. Those who scorn it can go with United Healthcare and it's $100 million/year CEO, or Anthem/Wellpoint and its $2 billion quarterly profit. Those who like Medicare can buy into Part E. Simplicity itself. And it could be passed by reconciliation with 51 votes in the Senate.