As a pre-Baby-Boomer, I do participate in the Medicare [not Medicaid} system.  I did a little math the other day while doing my taxes and found out that my wife and I each pay about the national average for health insurance for individuals who are NOT on Medicare... between $5,000-6,000.  That's to cover the basic Medicare plan which is not free, the big portion not covered by Medicare, and the prescription insurance portion.  In other words, we paid for the coverage, so what did the government provide that an private insurance company could not have for the same price?

But beyond that, the latest round of Federal regulations has change the patient experience with their doctors.  Yesterday, I went back for a follow-up exam at U-M Medical Center.  A physician's assistant took the standard vitals and spent several minutes entering the information into a computer system which was designed to meet Federal requirements.  This was followed by an intern who did a brief visual examination and spent about 5 minutes entering information into the computer system.  This was followed by the surgeon and RN who finished the exam and asked some follow-up questions while entering their observations and my responses into the computer system.

So, for about 17 of the 20 minutes up to three people in the room with me at one time were looking at a computer screen and typing while trying to interact with me as a patient.  They all, at one time or another, apologized for not being able to converse toward me because they were forced to interact with government regulations rather than their patient.  

My exam was rather routine, so I just smiled and made a couple of remarks about how this must improve the administrative aspect of the hospital system, but maybe not so much the treatment aspect.  The doctors did not disagree.