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NAVIGATION PNHP RESOURCES
Posted on September 29, 2009

The Single Payer Solution For Health Care Reform

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The Chattanoogan
Posted September 25, 2009

An open letter to Senator Corker, Senator Alexander and Representative Wamp:

Honorable Elected Officials:

I’ve spent considerable time reviewing the experience of other countries and states within our country, and am disappointed that the for-profit health insurance industry has defined the debate, to the detriment of an affordable, workable solution.

I’m an advocate of the best of capitalism and a free market for most commodities. However, health care is not in the same category as a bushel of corn or an automobile. A health care delivery system that is designed to maximize profit will never deliver the ultimate objective: affordable, universal access to quality health care.

Americans currently spend twice per capita ($7,000 per year) on health care as most other industrialized nations. We’re currently paying more than enough for universal quality health care, but are not getting it.

Our health care outcomes are poorer than other countries, and we continue to leave millions with inadequate care.

Health care costs are a leading cause of personal bankruptcy. It is imperative that we get health care costs under control.

All plans currently under serious consideration in the U.S. Senate and House lack a single payer financing mechanism. Therefore, all these proposals will require large tax increases over the long term.

Plans such as that proposed by Max Baucus would preserve a central role for the private insurance industry, sacrificing both universal coverage and cost containment.

Single-payer health reform solutions have been introduced into both the U.S. Senate and House.

A “single payer” method of collecting and distributing payments for medical services leaves the delivery of medical care in the hands of the private sector. It is not “socialized medicine” like our military health care system, but is “socialized insurance” like our Medicare program. This approach is endorsed by Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP.org), with 17,000 members nationwide.

S703, the American Health Security Act of 2009, is unlike other proposals.

This proposal would cover all of the 46 million Americans who currently lack coverage and improve benefits for all Americans by eliminating co-pays and deductibles while allowing free choice of physician. It is the most fiscally conservative option for reform.

Single payer slashes private insurance overhead and bureaucracy in medical settings, saving approximately $400 billion annually that can be redirected into clinical care.

Highlights of the bill include the following:

Patients go to any doctor or hospital of their choice. By eliminating the high overhead and profits of the private, investor-owned health insurance industry, along with the burdensome paperwork imposed on physicians, hospitals and other providers, the plan saves $400 billion annually - enough money to provide comprehensive, quality care to all. Comprehensive benefits, including coverage for dental, mental health, and prescription drugs.
The program is paid for by combining current sources of government health spending into a single fund with modest new taxes amounting to less than what people now pay for insurance premiums and out-of-pocket expenses. While federally funded, the program is to be administered by the states.

A similar single payer bill, HR 676 (Expanded and Improved Medicare for All) has over 80 co-sponsors in the House.

An article published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that over 30% of health spending in the U.S. is consumed by administrative cost - nearly double what Canada spends. If we cut our bureaucratic costs to Canadian levels, we’d save nearly $400 Billion annually. This savings would allow the U.S. to provide comprehensive, quality health care coverage to all our citizens, while eliminating premiums, business subsidies, deductibles and co-pays.

By simplifying its payment system, Canada has cut insurance overhead to 1% of premiums (1/20th of Aetna’s overhead) and eliminated expensive paperwork for doctors and hospitals.

A “public plan option” will not realize such savings. Incremental tinkering with private for-profit health insurance will not ultimately control costs. States have tried individual mandate plans and found them not to work.

Single payer is not a panacea. However, without it we will never reach the imperative of providing universal access to quality health care.

It’s time to give the for-profit health insurance companies their pink slip, and provide retraining for their employees who will be displaced.

I recommend you watch an excellent documentary titled Health, Money and Fear.

It addresses the many drivers behind escalating health care costs.

This film was produced by an emergency room physician, and features the former governor of Oregon, Harvard physicians and the former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine among others.

Thanks for your financially responsible leadership on this critical issue.

Matthew Hine, M.D., M.P.H.
Fellow, American College of Preventive Medicine
Member, Physicians for a National Health Program