ABC News' Medical Editor Dr. Tim Johnson says the U.S. health-care system is in Critical Condition
Jennings: Now, I think that the conventional wisdom is still the single-payer system, as you and others have described it, is socialized medicine and that isn’t for the U.S.
Johnson: Socialized medicine means that the government both finances health care and owns and operates the doctors and the hospitals.
Jennings: Like Britain?
Johnson: Like Britain. In Canada, it’s a split system. The government indeed does collect the money and disperse it. They run the financial part of health care. But the delivery system is free. People can choose whatever doctor or hospital they want to go to. So, we have a system like that in this country. It’s called Medicare. That’s exactly what happens with Medicare. So, to call the Canadian system socialized is to call Medicare socialized. I think it’s a pejorative word and inaccurate.
Jennings: When I walk past people who know that we’re doing this series this week and I mention the single-payer system, they just say, “Never in America.”
Johnson: I’ve talked to elderly people who say they love Medicare but they don’t want the government involved. They forget that the government has a role to play in setting standards, maybe in handling the money with lower administrative costs. It would be a tragedy for the government to try to run the health-care system in terms of delivery.
Jennings: On top of which, many Americans hold it to be conventional wisdom that private is better than public. Period.
Johnson: In fact the government does a few things well. And I’ll hold up one example in the health-care system: The NIH, the National Institutes of Health, is the shining gem of medical research in this entire world. It’s owned and run by the government. They can do some things well, especially when it comes to health care. Not everything, but some things.