MEDICARE IS NOT FREE!

I pay $135/mo. for Medicare B that covers physicians and surgeons.  Also Medicare pays only 80% so I also have to cover the other 20%.  For this I have a backup insurance for which I pay an additional$119.03/mo.that covers the deductible period and copayments for Medicare B.

I am not familiar with Medicare D (Prescription Drugs) because the backup plan I refer to above has a prescription drug plan in it; however, on average the cost is said to be $33.19/mo.*  Many Part D plans also have a deductible that you pay before the Part D payments kick in.  Apparently these can be as high as $450/mo although some may be zero.*

I also am not familiar with Medicare C which is called Medicare Advantage.  These plans cost the government about 15% higher than Part B but many also provide things like "free" admission to wellness facilities.  These plans also cover some of Medicare A and Medicare D.  Medicare Advantage was constructed to bribe HMOs (like Humana) to participate.

Medicare A covers (within limits) Hospital Care, Skilled Nursing Care, Home Health Care and Hospice Care.  Here is the real sticking point.  I paid for Medicare A by a payroll tax during my working life (It is 1.45%; since 2013 and there is a 0.9% surtax on incomes over $200,000).  In the beginning, it had a cap in which the payments stopped above a certain number (like Social Security), but at some point, the cap was done away with and I paid the tax on my whole salary.

I say that Medicare A, that is very complicated,** is the real sticking point because if you have Medicare For All, there will be people early in their career that will have paid little or nothing into Medicare A.  I'm not sure how this will covered.  Someone in their 20s may not require many hospitalizations but there will be those that will.  For examples, automobile accidents, drug addiction, and rare diseases.  One solution might be to pay $411/mo. (for 2016 the rate single stay-at-home moms pay) at the beginning of your career and have the sum reduced as the years go by and you build up payroll taxes.  But can a college student or graduate afford such expenses along with educational loan payments?  More likely, early payments will be small and build up as the years go by.

Please note that MEDICARE B, C, AND D ARE ALL VOLUNTARY and you are not required to take them.  THEY ARE ALSO VOLUNTARY FOR PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS who may or may not accept Medicare payments.  Usually, those that do have a cap on the number of Medicare patients they will accept.  Where I live, the area is loaded with retirees and they roll you through appointments pretty fast, I'd say a typical appointment takes less than 10 min, maybe 5 min.  You must be prepared when you enter to tell the physician about your problems.  If the problems are very serious, more time will be spent on you.

The above is pretty complicated and I think people who want Medicare for all do not know the costs.

NOTE ADDED 02-28-2019: A bill called Medicare For All has been introduced in the House.  It is not Medicare at all, and they should think of a new name. (https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/27/democrat-pramila-jayapal-introduces-medicare-for-all-health-care-bill.html)

* http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2011/07/reunite-gondwanaland-november-2009-2016.html
** https://www.medicareinteractive.org/get-answers/medicare-covered-services/medicare-coverage-overview/summary-of-part-a-covered-services?
*** https://www.quora.com/How-do-stay-at-home-moms-get-medicare-after-age-of-65