First, Wal-mart does provide health insurance coverage for its employees, and over 90% elect to have it according to them.

Second, I agree that the Medicare system is going to collapse soon, and that cutting benefits and raising taxes cannot possibly save it. Major reform is needed, and quickly.

However, when facing a problem such as this, why does your gut reaction tell you that bigger and larger government is the solution?

My gut reaction tells me that the efficiency and productivity of the private sector is the solution to the impending collapse of Medicare.

There is a key economic principle you have to understand here - welfare loss. When the government taxes me $100 out of my paycheck, that does not become $100 in Medicare benefits for a retiree - it becomes more like $50 after the original $100 is run through the bureaucratic gauntlet, being syphoned off left and right.

My gut reaction tells me of a solution where if I had a private health account from which I could purchase private health insurance (which results in far greater benefits than Medicare), $100 in assessed taxes enters my private account and actually grows greatly beyond $100 in the decades leading up to my retirement (through secure investments by a highly capable firm, we're not talking me personally gambling on the stock market), and it would allow for the ability to choose from several options - Medical Savings Accounts, private insurers such as an HMO - encouraging price competition which will encourage market efficiency and keep premiums lower.

That is, at least, my gut reaction. Choice and control over my own life.