It’s the wrong question because when you’re 65 the problem isn’t getting insurance. It’s paying for health care. But the public debate has become so obsessed with health care insurance we’ve forgotten what the real issues are.

When you turn 65, the high cost of insurance isn’t the problem. The problem is that you’re old. A lot more things are going to go wrong. Yes insurance is going to be costly. But that’s because so many things are more likely to break in your body. The high cost of insurance at that point is just a result of the problem. It’s not the problem itself.

It’s like saying that if you drive your car in a demolition derby, it’s hard to get coverage for collision damage. No kidding.

What’s needed isn’t more insurance for the elderly but more savings. Providing savings through insurance is just a way to disguise what’s really going on. It’s not insurance, it’s a subsidy for the savings that weren’t done before or it’s a wealth transfer from people with high incomes to people with low savings.