The Mayo Clinic, the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association and the Federation of American Hospitals have all come out strongly against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) Medicare buy-in plan for Americans aged 55 to 64. Every one of these core health care providers recognizes that expanding an already unsustainable program would mean disaster for the American health care system. The left in Congress sees it differently. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-CA)tells the Los Angeles Times:

Expanding Medicare is an unvarnished, complete victory for people like me. It’s the mother of all public options. We’ve taken something people know and expanded it.

And make no mistake: expanding Medicare to people between 55 and 64 is just the first step. Back in 2005, the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) explicitly named such a Medicare buy-in proposal as just the first step towards Medicare for all, government run health care. Watch: