Senator Orrin G. Hatch, the Utah Republican predicts tens of millions of people will go into the government plan against their will. And, he added, the problem with government plans like Medicare is they are not sufficiently financed. Medicare, he says, will go bankrupt within 10 years.

The costs of the government plan will be astronomical. He says Medicare pays doctors 20 percent less than private insurers and they pay hospitals 30 percent less. He says those costs are transferred to the people who have private health insurance, and the average private health insurance policy goes up about $1,800 a year just to pay for what the government fails to pay for in their current government plan.

Is he making an argument for or against health care reform including a public option. Mr Hatch and Republicans in general will hitch their wagon to anything in an effort to save these “Health Insurance Companies”. Based on surveys I’ve seen, doctors,hospitals and patients rate the Medicare system quite good. As for reimbursement rates, Congress is the one who establishes the rates for Medicare. So the argument should be do the private insurers pay thirty percent too much, or does Medicare pay too little.