Quote from fhl:
Nobody is required to sign up with medicare. You do not have to pay any money if you don't want to. I'd say that is a pretty substantial difference.
The reason anyone with a brain who is not filthy rich does sign up for it is because it is subsidized and better than any deal out there. As a result, it is projected to nearly bankrupt the country somewhere down the line.
The gov't cannot even pretend to subsidize the entire country with obamacare like it does with medicare. So, most people will be <i>forced</i> to pay for their obamacare and get, most likely, something less than they pay for, rather than more as in medicare, because they are subsidizing the people at the low end who don't pay.
The difference in medicare from obamacare is large enough to drive a million trucks through. They are not anything alike.