Hope I Die 'Fore I Get Old

Why is it vital that insurance companies, which don't "produce" anything, get a cut of people's health expenditures? Megan says:

My idea about helping the poor get medical care is more about helping them enter the private system, not exit it.

(But she's all about helping the poor "exit" the public school system, as referenced by brad below. Maybe "exit" is trapped in her mind somewhere, trying to get out.)

Seriously? If an insurance company takes your money, and gives it to someone else, why is that any better than the gov't. doing it? Because the insurance company uses your money to create propaganda that convinces you that it's a "good choice" to buy insurance?

If I were in charge, the government share of healthcare would shrink, not rise--I'd provide more for some kids and poor workers, but a lot less for old people.

On the other hand, were I in charge, I'd be less concerned about the gov't.'s share, & more worried about whether or not people were getting healthcare.
Oh, wait, Megan too:

But I come neither to praise public programs, nor to bury them. To me, the programs are a means to an end: educating all of America's children, keeping the old and weak from starving. The question is, do they do a good job at reaching these ends, and at what cost?

Uh, wait, no, no...if it's voucherizing the schools, or privatizing Social Security, she's neutral. "Whatever works best, man." However, as it's already proven that the private insurance system provides the biggest bang for the fewest bucks, let's keep that out of gov't. hands. Except, of course, that the U. S. pays the most & the largest percentage of something or another (as compared to other western industrialized nations) for health care that, apparently, is not as statistically satisfying as the health statistics for those industrialized democracies. You know, life expectancy, infant mortality, little things.

I'm almost 20 yrs older than Ms. McArdle, & I suppose some Boomer Derangement Syndrome will be focused on me when I bring this up, but can we add ageism to the list of her crimes? Besides the "a lot less for poor people" approach to health care (no, I don't think we should keep earlier-born people alive forever, especially if their minds are mush, but we are talking human lives here, not statistics) there's this:

I recently came across a cable channel devoted specially to older viewers. Now I can't find it. Anyone know what it is?

Supposed to be humor, apparently. And here I'm fully w/ brad on the "Don't Blame Your Audience If They Don't Get The Joke" theme. I did wonder for a moment why Megatron, w/ her new fashioned computerized music & "Gadget/Object of The Week" would be interested in television for educated, thoughtful adults, but since a day seldom passes w/o her asking for information or advice (just look for the word "Bleg" as the title) it didn't seem at all remarkable that she'd ask. Maybe that was part of the joke too, but she doesn't just seem self-aware or ironic enough.