Do urologists think that Medicare should be privatized?

It doesn't make any difference if it's privatized or if it's run by the government. It depends on the efficiency of the person who's running it. The most important thing is to keep the operating costs down. If it's run by a private business, that's no guarantee it's going to be more efficient.

The answer is, it has to be given to a responsible individual. Private operation doesn't guarantee success; it doesn't guarantee it will be run ethically or honestly."

"I'm one of those people who believe that, for the most part, private industry can do things better than government. So to privatize Medicare might be the better way to do Medicare, but I don't see that happening.

Medicare is hard enough for elderly patients to deal with-all of the little rules they have to follow, the donut hole on drug plans-so most of our patients struggle with Medicare as it is. I don't think it would make much difference, as far as recipients having to deal with the program, if it were privatized, because they pretty much depend on the personnel in doctors' offices to walk them through it anyway-whether it's private insurance or Medicare."

Starling Evins, MD
Franklin, TN

The concept is not a bad one if it's done efficiently and is cost effective, because the government programs are notoriously overstuffed with costs. There is so much Medicare waste.

If a private company could take it over and make it cost effective, it would probably save millions of dollars.

Every day, you read about some new Medicare rip-off. You get the feeling if some smart CEO could organize the system, it would probably work more efficiently and there would be less waste."

Malcolm Cosgrove, MD
Encino, CA