As an observer of this process and a shopper for Medicare programs for years, I doubt that this "shopping" is going to help.

The cost of medical insurance is a product of medical prices. For years medicare management has been available through Blue Cross, Humana, United Healthcare, and various other carriers local and national. The plans offered by the various carriers are different yet they are the same. The premium is based on available services and it becomes a guessing game as to what you may or may not need. You can pay a large premium and avoid or lessen co-pays for equipment and hospital stays or you can choose a program that is fully paid by your Part B premium and eat the co-pays for medical equipment and hospital stays. The cost of doctor visits and prescriptions is virtually identical for all.

Bottom line the insurance actuaries are good at what they do and the whole thing becomes a crap game. We all know the house always wins.

The only way to lower the cost of health insurance is to control prices. This can only lead to the single payer system that conservatives dread and liberals love. Liberals believe that single payer will result in wonderful health care for all and conservatives are convinced that it will lead to lower quality care for the general public with premium care available to the rich at private clinics such as those available in Europe or hospitals in this country that they flock to for special care.

I think that good routine services will be available to the general public but as technology advances we will probably see the privileged living just about as long as they wish and the general public living just about as long as the privileged believe they should.