“I’m scared of Obama! He’s a socialist.” “Keep the government out of my Medicare!” These are some of the countless cries from town hall meetings this past August.
Since the start of the health care debate, many citizens have expressed their concerns and exposed several misconceptions about the current bill, as well as the idea of universal health care.
Given President Barack Obama’s weak role in the debate and trash media scare tactics, it’s not surprising that many are confused or scared.
Hopefully, these three definitions can help clear things up:
1. Government-Run Health Care System: Hospitals are government-owned institutions. Doctors are government employees.
2. The Public Option: The government funds one insurance plan that competes with the private plans in the marketplace.
3. Single-Payer: Everybody is covered regardless of income, job, or age. Hospitals and doctors remain private. No premiums or co-pays are necessary.
The U.S. is home to many of the world’s best doctors and hospitals. Maybe you’ve heard of Canadians coming to the U.S. to receive care and treatment. The quality of our hospitals and doctors is something of which we should be proud.
The health care reform debate is not about drastically changing any of that. No one’s proposing an actual government-run health care system.
If anybody (Fox News) is mentioning such a system, they are obviously not talking about the same issue and are further confusing people.
The reform that’s currently being argued over is the “public option,” which is a government-run insurance plan that competes with private plans, starting in the year 2013. Both a public plan and a private plan would allow you to choose your doctor.
As opposed to current insurance plans, the public option does not discriminate against pre-existing conditions, and it allows almost everyone to have health care coverage while aiming to control costs.
However, I don’t believe the public option warrants unconditional support. Despite the mentioned benefits, it will be unable to compete with the private insurance plans and unable to effectively control costs. Administrative costs will still exist, estimated to cost taxpayers billions over the years.
From here, we could say that we just shouldn’t support a public option and remain with the system we have now. I propose we go in a different direction: Let’s abolish all private insurance plans.
Ask yourself this question: What value does private insurance bring to our health care system? Private insurance companies have failed to care for Americans because their profit comes when they deny citizens health care.
On the other hand, the single-payer health care option takes the profit-driven insurance companies out of the picture entirely and puts health care into the hands of the people.
Instead of insurance companies paying for health care, the government pays through taxes.
This isn’t socialized medicine because hospitals and doctors would remain independent and private, and Americans would still be able to choose their doctors. Single-payer health care just eliminates the insurance companies; without private insurance, our money would no longer go to wasteful company advertisements, CEO and manager bonuses, or to their investors. Instead, it goes back to the health care system, to patients and taxpayers. It will improve our health care and save Americans money.
How much would a single-payer health care system save? An estimated $387 billion annually, according to H.R. 676.
The progressive tax proposed for single-payer would be less than the cost of private insurance premiums for 95 percent of Americans.
Economist Dean Baker, co-founder and co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, found that single-payer would require a family of three that makes $40,000 annually to spend $1,900 for health coverage through taxes, instead of $11,000 through average premiums.
Several more studies conducted by Lewin Group have consistently found that a single-payer system would reduce administrative costs and save Americans money.
Doctors care, insurance companies don’t.
Reuters polls have shown that 59 percent of American physicians support a single-payer plan.
A single-payer system is the only way to stop private insurance company bureaucrats coming between you and your doctor. It’s also the only ethical, efficient, and democratic stance in the health care debate.
The aggressive PR campaign from insurance companies, lack of media coverage, and the fact that many Democrats receive contributions from insurance companies make it difficult for single-payer health care to gain public support.
However, a single-payer bill, H.R. 676 has been proposed by Representative John Conyers, D-Mich., and will be brought to a vote in the House of Representatives later this month.
You can read the single-payer bill by visiting www.pnhp.org (don’t worry, it’s only 30 pages). You can also visit www.healthcare-now.org for more information.
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