Eh? Every source I've read on the subject says Medicare doesn't cover the cost of service. And that is, in part, the reason for the "byzantine and obfuscatory

Eh? Every source I've read on the subject says Medicare doesn't cover the cost of service. And that is, in part, the reason for the "byzantine and obfuscatory private insurance regime". When you go to the hospital you're paying for the medicare patient in the next bed, and you're paying for the indigent guy in the bed beyond. But they can't very well give you a bill that with a line item that says "shifted costs from the old guy in bay 3 - $900".