to amply cover the Social Security benefits for maybe 30 years of retirement each. It's our Medicare that we do not pay for when we are young.

Europeans do not have this problem. That is because no matter what sort of insurance coverage they have they pay into pretty much the same insurance fund all their lives. Thus, when they are younger they pay premiums that not only cover their current medical expenses but also that cover the medical expenses of the very elderly.

In our system, we (or our employers on our behalf) buy health insurance from private companies during our working years. Those premiums cover the medical costs of all who are in our pool -- but don't cover the costs of people on Medicare. Since our medical care is not that expensive when we are young -- most of the money on our care is spent in the last years or months of life -- private insurance companies can afford to pay their CEOs handsome salaries and even pay a little in profits to their private investors. The high cost of caring for the elderly in the expensive years is shifted into the government budget.

If we adopt a single payer system similar to any one of the forms used by the Europeans, we will be able to spread the high costs of medical care for seniors across our lives. It's smarter for everyone. It's fairer.

I think that the movement in the Senate toward at least starting a public option may be motivated by a recognition that we cannot balance the budget ever, ever, ever unless we reform health care insurance so that the high cost of medical care in the final years of life are spread across our entire lives. We have to pay for the medical care of the seniors who are older now. Most of them paid into private insurance all their lives. That money is gone. We have had a flawed system all these years.

Obama needs to talk straight with the American people and explain this reality. Medicare does not need to be cut. It needs to cover everyone -- cradle to grave.