Medicare for everyone?

In general, an actuarial comparison to other health insurance plans shows that Medicare provides significantly fewer benefits than coverage for federal employees, small employers, or Medicaid.

That is from Medicare Matters: What Geriatric Medicine Can Teach American Health Care, by Christine K. Cassel.  It should be noted that a) Cassel is much more positive about Medicare than that quotation alone would indicate, and b) this is an honest book which recognizes the weight behind many different points of view.

What percentage of the federal budget is Medicare?  Will Medicare be?  How many books on Medicare have you read?

Get the hint?

Addendum: I like supplying contrarian material; this article (registration but free) is an excellent critique of the usual libertarian defense of pharmaceutical companies.