Here's my semi-cooncrete mechanism. Seniors seem to love Medicare...
Every year for 10 years, reduce the age of eligibility by 1 year. At N+10, it will cover 55+.
For the next 10 years, reduce the age of eligibility by 2 years per year. At N+20, it will cover 35+.
You can also set up Medicaid to cover all children in a similar way (after all, most children have no income, so should qualify if judged on personal income rather than family income). Set a date and if you're born after that date, you get medicaid until you're 20.
At year N+20, there will be a 15 year gap for young people. Which is hopefully time enough for them to earn enough social security credits to qualify for Medicare.
And yes, medicare and medicaid taxes would have to go up. But private healthcare premiums should go down.
Rolling it out over 20 years allows for adjustments to be made as things go along. Criteria based on years is for simplicity... A better method would be increasing eligible population by 1% the first year, 1.1% the second, and so on until you're done.
If people really don't want to just pay for it socialized. Just make it possible to self pay for medicare at more ages; this is something that seniors without enough social security credits can already do. Again modulating the eligible age over time to allow for a transition without overwelming the system.
Every year for 10 years, reduce the age of eligibility by 1 year. At N+10, it will cover 55+.
For the next 10 years, reduce the age of eligibility by 2 years per year. At N+20, it will cover 35+.
You can also set up Medicaid to cover all children in a similar way (after all, most children have no income, so should qualify if judged on personal income rather than family income). Set a date and if you're born after that date, you get medicaid until you're 20.
At year N+20, there will be a 15 year gap for young people. Which is hopefully time enough for them to earn enough social security credits to qualify for Medicare.
And yes, medicare and medicaid taxes would have to go up. But private healthcare premiums should go down.
Rolling it out over 20 years allows for adjustments to be made as things go along. Criteria based on years is for simplicity... A better method would be increasing eligible population by 1% the first year, 1.1% the second, and so on until you're done.
If people really don't want to just pay for it socialized. Just make it possible to self pay for medicare at more ages; this is something that seniors without enough social security credits can already do. Again modulating the eligible age over time to allow for a transition without overwelming the system.