Opponents of single-payer health care and early access to Medicare have said they fear the costs will increase the federal deficit. Those fears are based on Medicare’s track record. Costs for the program in 1990 were 10 times higher than projected in 1964.

Opponents and supporters alike seem unaware of how much modern treatments have added to that projection. Opponents are fighting to protect those treatments. Supporters champion evidence-based medicine and want to make it the standard.

Medicine since the 1970s has become more dependent upon expensive tests, machines, prescription drugs, and years of extensive research to prove their effectiveness. Research and treatment methods have not always been so complicated or so profitable with such questionable results. [Read more...]