Getting older, feeling mellow, feeling good.

Americans 65 and older are among the most content in the nation and, in large part, this is the result of a government-run health care system.

Yes, that system is called Medicare. It has proven effective and it has shown that our government can improve the quality of U.S. health care. It already has!

This is worthwhile remembering when all those private insurance companies came at you, trying to bamboozle you into thinking that if the government gets its foot in the door U.S. health care quality will fall.

Check out these figures. They make a good case. In 1966, 28.5 percent of Americans ages 65 and older lived below the poverty line; in 2007, 9.7 percent do.

By contrast, current poverty rates for children and for adults ages 18-64 are little changed from the mid-1960s. As a result, the poverty rate for older Americans is now lower than that for children or for other adults.

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