Depends, were they responsible people in thier working life and saved for retirement or were they planning to live on SS and get medicare?

I know, atleast in my industry, competitition lowers prices significantly. It goes the same for Goverment work as well, the more bidders, the lower the prices. I would be willing to bet by that logic that Deregulated healthcare would benefit all. Look at what competition has done for the prices of Cable TV.