"Medicare would cost more to administer, because the government regulates things. But we would save the cost of CEO reimbursements and other large salaries of private insurance companies."

Which is it? For years I have read that overhead costs for Medicare are about 3% of total costs, while overhead for private insurance carriers, though varying, are in the 15% range. Are you saying that government regulation of the "industry" would add more than 12% to total costs? Wouldn't some government regulation, such as supplies and pharmaceutical procurement ($20 burn bandages for a friend recently!) save money? Wouldn't universal "best practices" treatment and cost leveling for imaging and procedure nationwide save money? Wouldn't central storage of medical records using a uniform format, save money for clinics as well as patients? There are so many inefficiencies and duplications of efforts in our current chaotic medical practice that must certainly raise costs.