A single-payer system is not a government take-over; this is the people reclaiming control over the

[midnight]

their own health care. This is the only way to keep everyone healthy, and to do it efficiently."

"Right now, we are paying exorbitantly – the highest per capita expenditure in the world – for a health care system that leaves too many people out. Even after the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented, 28 million people will still be uninsured in 2026, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Further, the specter of under-insurance, where insured individuals’ out-of-pocket medical costs are more than 10 percent of their income, is rising. Premiums, deductibles and co-pays are going up, deterring people from seeking needed care and exposing them to the danger of medical bankruptcy.

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This very expensive system is also ineffective. I met a patient who first lost her energy, then her appetite, then her hair, and then her insurance in the middle of cancer treatment. She finally lost her oncologist because the latter did not accept Medicaid.

I’ve met parents who guiltily admit they can’t afford their own medicine and use their children’s inhalers when they can’t breathe. I’m trained to ask if patients are taking their medicines and then to follow up: “Do you ever have trouble affording your medications?”

http://commondreams.org/views/2016/06/24/medical-student-prescribes-remedy-our-sick-system-needs

[Hoyt]

1. The only way single payer will be significantly cheaper is that providers take a good bit less and

patients accept some utilization controls. The latter should be easy, because unaffordable healthcare/insurance is the ultimate/harshest utilization control. Otherwise, the best we will get with single payer is to cut premiums, whether paid fully by wealthy or subsidized for less wealthy, 6 to 10%. And that assumes we have a Congress who doesn't decide to give us a crummy voucher system. Just to be clear, I've been for single payer since 1980s. Just don't think most people or providers are. A Public Option might be the best approach to get us there the fastest.

[bahrbearian]

3. Just like Canada and Europe had too . The Public Option is to damn hard, ask Obama. "Pie in the Sky"

[SickOfTheOnePct]

4. You've touched on the subject few want to discuss

when it comes to single payer. I'm in favor of single payer as well, but the notion that it will cost less than what we pay now is way off-base, unless providers are willing to take lower payments and patients are willing to accept that they will need to wait longer for some procedures and that some procedures won't be covered for everyone.

[midnight]

14. Single payer is what the elderly in our country use,medicare, and a reason why many also favor it.

The cost savings comes via removing the profitable private insurnace company premiums and their prolonging the illness in many via the appeals processes…

"I’ve watched the extent of insurance coverage determine treatment decisions for patients injured in car accidents. Or whether a patient with mental health problems gets treated at all."
http://commondreams.org/views/2016/06/24/medical-student-prescribes-remedy-our-sick-system-needs

[brooklynite]

15. Why is there Medicare Parts B, C and D...supplemental plans managed by private insurers?

Answer: Medicare for All isn't Single Payer.

[midnight]

16. Over the years this program has been watered down to destroy it. Lots during Bush years.

Private insureres can't stand the single payer model which Medicare is. Single payer is run by the govt. and not private insurance co. The state can and does contract out business to insurance co. But it is run by govt.



"Definition of single payer:Single-payer healthcare is a system in which the state, rather than private insurers, pays for all healthcare costs.[1] Single-payer systems may contract for healthcare services from private organizations (as is the case in Canada) or may own and employ healthcare resources and personnel (as is the case in the United Kingdom)." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-payer_healthcare

[SickOfTheOnePct]

19. Overhead is part of the cost savings

another big part is the low reimbursement rates, which result in many doctors not accepting Medicare patients, and in many hospitals charging more for non-Medicare patients to make up the losses they suffer on Medicare patients.

[midnight]

20. What you are describing is the descruction of a system that works… Look at what they are doing to

the V.A.

[JayhawkSD]

2. It is a government takeover, which doesn't mean it's a bad thing.

We had private firefighting companies for many years. It was a disaster. One home would burn down while the fire engines would stand by without attempting to put it out because the homeowner had not paid for fire protection. So they would let it burn and allow it to set fire to other houses which also had not paid for fire protection. Not until it set fire to a house they had been paid to protect would they leap into action.

Then there was a government takeover of fire protection. All homes are protected, and the cost is one hell of a lot lower.

[midnight]

11. Our public taxes are suppose to protect us with public services. Other wise the private

companies should not be taxing people, they should be billing them after a service.

[uponit7771]

5. I don't mind the government take over just the expenses paid out will not go down past 10%

... in total.

We're paying the doctors, pharma and hospital groups way to much money relative to the rest of the planets doctors.

[midnight]

18. I think that costs significantly go down once we wrestle pricing away from the insurance folks that

treat their priceing as a private source code.

[uponit7771]

22. The portion of the avg HCI payment is 10% (at most) the rest go to the 3 aforementioned...

... it never was the HCIs that took the lion share of HC funds in the US.

Its just they shouldn't be taking 10% when the gov programs are max half that...

[midnight]

23. I'm sorry to not be able to respond to this without more understanding of avg. HCI payment

stuff…

Let me get back to this… Thanks.

[bahrbearian]

6. Looks like the Insurance lobby has already checked in.

[Scuba]

8. Bingo.

[midnight]

10. It certainly reads that way...

[HughBeaumont]

12. The "No, we can't" faction on a progressive board is depressing.

So hey, let's just do nothing, let people go bankrupt and die, continue to feed the military monster and cling to 20th century problem solving . . . THAT we can afford. Because reasons.

[Igel]

7. People have the same control over their health care they always had.

If you can afford it, you get it. Otherwise, you're left to your own devices. Those often work.

There is no "reclaiming." It's not like the ability to take care of ourselves was taken away from us, that we owned it at one point. That's a nice bit of psychological manipulation--"You've been ripped off, you have to fight to regain what was yours." I don't like being manipulated. It's demagogic and Orwellian.


It tells people that they can't negotiate what they're going to charge with their customers. It makes corporations and individuals subservient to bureaucrats who are subservient to administrative interpretation of laws. It's like having public employees barred from union negotiations--government dictates, government writes the rules. It makes doctors and other medical professionals subject to something that looks a lot like command-capitalism. You may have ownership of your own body and business, but you don't get to say what you do with them. Others are in charge.

And there's always some "other" that deeply wants to be in charge, perhaps a good philosopher king, perhaps just somebody who resents being powerless and wants to do what he thinks the powerful do--push others around for the fun of it. Power corrupts.

[midnight]

9. Actually not according to many who are having insurance companies determine care...

But if you have the kind of health care many of our elected officials have obtained..Some refer to as Cheney care… Well then I can see how that idea of if you can afford it, you get it….

[Night Watchman]

13. S-S-SOCIALISM!

Why the hell not? Works great in Sweden and other prosperous countries!

[JayhawkSD]

17. We aren't Sweden.

That's Hillary's reply. It means nothing because she does not say in what way we are not Sweden that makes universal health care possible for them while ruling it out for us. Is it the climate? Is it the latitude? Do we not have enough snow?

Obviously we are not Sweden, we know that, but what is the difference between Sweden and us that she is referring to? She has no answer.

[hill2016]

21. the tax rates on the middle class

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_Sweden

The effective taxation rate in Sweden is commonly cited as among the highest in the worl

[JayhawkSD]

24. Then that should be her answer.

She should ask if we want to pay Sweden's taxes, or make some references to the cost of universal health care.

That would be a bit of a problem, because Sweden's high taxes pay for one whole hell of a lot more in the way of social services than health care. They pay for advanced education for everyone, and a lot more besides, but at least it would be an answer.

Of course then someone would come along and point out that universal health care would cost a lot less than what we are spending now, and that just because we copied Sweden in healthcare would not mean that we had to copy Sweden in everything else that they do.