I am like you, over 65, still working and paying for private insurance as well as Medicare.
I disagree strongly that anyone should be striving to make Medicare affordable. Medicare should not exist; it is collectivism, pure and simple.
If the government would “get out of my way”, medical care would be affordable.

"the powers that be should be striving to make Medicare more affordable."
Perhaps making health care more affordable would be an admirable goal of the free market. However that is not the goal of government since that would result in less central government power, less central government spending, more individual liberty, and less opportunity for corrupt pay-offs to "public servant" looters. The very existence of Medicare must result in higher cost of medical care.
The stated goals are never the same as the hidden agenda of governments and looters.

The lefties wish to also abolish insuracne companies which provide the secondary insurance.

The point of "medicare-for-all" is to enslave doctors.

Under the guise of altruism the government sells their power grab as: "for the overall good".

Once the intelligent (and "rich") can be told what they can and cannot do by the government then everything is in play and complete control of everything and everyone becomes possible to those who lust for power.

Hopefully we will see both "the rich" and doctors retiring in droves.

I pay for Medicare every month. Have been doing this all of my working life. I have not, and will not, hopefully, ever use it. I am covered by other insurance. But I get all the junk mail trying to get me to 'enroll in Medicare'. I can use Medicare if I choose to, but I don't.

You already realized it: we can't afford "Medicare for all". We can't afford it either economically or morally. And the same goes for Medicare as it currently stands where it is eating 30% of the Federal Budget.

If we want to improve the healthcare industry, a few changes are in order:

1) Eliminate company-sponsored plans entirely. Move everything to individual plans and allow employers to deduct their contributions against taxable income. Why? Because this can eliminate the problem with prior conditions non-coverage. It gives more flexibility to individuals to find a health insurer which can provide them what they need and only what they need. Additionally, portability means that the person can take their plan with them wherever they go which is good for both the provider and the patient.

2) Eliminate all State prohibitions on entrants into the health insurance market. As it currently stands, healthcare is one of the few industries where you must pay the State for a license to practice in that State - and for which they routinely deny all applications. Government has created this pseudo-monopoly and it needs to go. This is also critical to 1) above.

3) Put statutory caps on punitive damages for medical malpractice. All these do is drive up the costs of doctor care through excessive and unneeded tests and predatory lawyers. Patients need to be told that there are no guarantees in medicine. Doctors shouldn't be held liable as long as they were following best practices.

4) Eliminate the laws requiring hospitals to take anyone who shows up in the emergency room. All this does is drive up the costs of care for everyone else. Allow such to be diverted to urgent care facilities.

Absolute common sense! Do any of these liberals have the ability to think in those terms? Their, not only stupidity, but their lack of ability reason, just is unreal.

Direct Primary Care (DPC) restores the doctor-patient relationship, with the patient a subscriber to the doctor's services for routine treatment, including injections and tests, for a set monthly rate (as low as $50). Some doctors that offer this service will also sell prescriptions direct, at the price they negotiate with the pharm companies, and the price is often cheaper than the co-pay under insurance.

Expanding the health savings accounts, increasing the amount that can be saved tax free is another way to make health care affordable.

Requiring hospitals to post their fees for surgeries will increase competition. Some surgery centers already do this.

Making catastrophic care insurance, for unexpected hospital stays, available across state lines will increase the competition there as well.

The problem isn't going to be resolved immediately, as there's the issue of retirees that have paid into the Medicare system all their working life, and deserve consideration for payment, just like the Social Security system that was mandatory. A transition plan could be made workable, if there was the will, but there's no political incentive to do that.

The whole medical insurance industry needs to be overhauled to make their product more affordable so there wouldn't be Medicare. Parents and then schools help train young children about saving and investing their money when they get older and have jobs.

Those among the public demanding "Medicare for All" have it confused with Medicaid, which covers up to 100% of medical costs for millions of people considered to be in what the law calls "poverty." Those politicians pushing "Medicare for All" know this, but have no reason (lacking a conscience) to correct the misapprehension.