Rich people have paid more for Medicare coverage since the program began in 1966. Subsequent changes have regularly increased the extra amount those with high incomes must pay for coverage. That history often seems totally forgotten in today’s Medicare reform debate about whether the program should be means-tested so as to require upper-income people to pay more.
In fact, that’s been a basic component of the program from the start, which makes the current debate so distracting and confusing. The real question is how much extra the rich should pay.
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House Speaker John Boehner recently confided in 
Adding Doctors Inflates Bills Without Aiding Health
Their plan responds to a projected physician shortage. There’s heated debate about whether there will be a physician deficit in the future and, if so, how to best respond. There’s less debate about whether increasing the physician supply will increase our medical bills. It’s intuitive. More doctors will not only bill more so they can make an adequate living, but will order more tests and referrals. Normal economic logic that increased supply drives prices down doesn’t work in medicine.
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