> Most people seem to like Medicare.

Except for the doctors that can't afford to treat Medicare patients due to the criminally low/skewed reimbursement rates for some services. There's a reason so many private practices don't take Medicare patients...

On another thread, it was explained to me that Medicare reimbursement for a vaccine doesn't even cover the cost of the vaccine itself. I'm sure there is a Byzantine reimbursement model, but something tells me that if the entire country switched over to Medicare overnight, vaccines would quickly get much more affordable.

> something tells me that if the entire country switched over to Medicare overnight, vaccines would quickly get much more affordable.

Quite the opposite - if the entire country switched to Medicare overnight, Medicare would have to dramatically increase its reimbursement rates, or else hospitals would literally go out of business, and doctors would close up shop. The only reason most can afford to stay in business currently at all is that they can make up the money the lose on Medicare by treating patients on private insurance.

This would result in extreme tax increases - not the proportional amount that you'd expect to cover the remainder of the population, but enough to make up for the difference that's currently being subsidized by private insurance premiums.

Medicare is a large and complex beast that typically underpays doctors and hospitals. My specific point, is that supply and demand allows the producers of vaccines to charge prices above what Medicare reimburses. In a single payer system, pricing power would force vaccine prices down. Apparently, by paying high prices, the USA is subsidizing the rest of the world.

That's the simplest way to do it, sure. Not the best, the most efficient, or really workable, but simple.

I wouldn't say it's not unworkable, but you are correct, it'd be simple and it's something that most people could understand. No "death panel" discussions.