Voters disconnected from their health policy reality

There is an enormous disconnect between the political views of voters over 65 and their economic interests with regard to health.

They like the conservative, John McCain.

Yet this same group is said to be most resistant to changes in Medicare, a government program providing their health care.

As President, McCain has said he would support efforts to privatize care, expanding the use of Health Savings Accounts so people might buy just policies against catastrophe. He calls this restoring control to patients.

Which means that, in practice, those who are the chief beneficiaries of Medicare's rising costs are least likely to support the program in its current form.

Here's the way Megan McArdle of The Atlantic views this group:

Since they pay relatively little in taxes, their desire is for unrestrained spending on healthcare, and because they are one of the nation's most powerful voting blocs (arguably, they are the most powerful voting bloc), the aging of the population, combined with government funded healthcare, will keep the rate of healthcare cost inflation high.

Actually, not so much.

Younger voters, by contrast, are supporting the Democratic Party, which seeks to make health coverage universal and use the instrument of government to control costs.

Both young and old voters are voting against their economic interests on health, yet analysts on both sides of the political fence are ignoring this in their calculations.

If they figure it out, compromise just might break out.