There is a knee-jerk reaction among proponents of a single-payer system for health insurance who keep mindlessly reciting the mantra, Medicare For All! The problem is that even though Medicare is one of the most popular government programs–a veritable sacred cow politically–the fact is expansion of the plan to cover all Americans would never work. If you doubt me, do the math.

What supporters fail to take into account is basic actuarial science. This is the backbone (or at least should be) of insurance pricing decisions, but the public rarely considers the statistical work that goes into making an insurance policy financially sound.

You see, we all pay Medicare premiums from the moment we start working–meaning we usually pay premiums for 40 or more years before ever drawing a benefit after hitting 65. Not to mention the fact that those people who die before 65 never draw a benefit, no matter how long or how much they paid into the insurance fund.